Barcelona coach Rijkaard's face was wrinkled at the sight of the ball flying into his own goal, and the 45-year-old Dutchman seemed to be getting a little old.

The Dutchman had no idea that Manchester City would play a defensive counter-attack.

His impression of Manchester City has always been attacking football, and he also knows that when Manchester City plays, they occasionally change tactics, but it is actually their 'OS-F' system football, and the difference is not so big.

But what he didn't expect was that Manchester City's tactics would change so much in this game!

That Chinese didn't even think about a classic 'offensive football battle' with Barcelona, but instead played a 'clumsy' defensive counterattack!

Thinking of this, Rijkaard gritted his teeth.

Manchester City plays defensive counterattacks, at most the game is a little ugly, but what he didn't expect was that Manchester City's defense was still so strong and the counterattack was so sharp!

It was City's best chance since the start of the game.

When Messi was cut off just now, Rijkaard was still worried about Messi's performance, Messi is the core of the team and the star, Messi's poor performance will affect the whole team.

But now that he's found out that the team has suffered, you're starting to worry about winning the game.

Manchester City's defence is solid, it is not easy for the team to score, and City's counter-attack is so sharp and efficient, which worries him even more.

Rijkaard knew City were difficult to play against before the game began, but in reality, he didn't have much to worry about playing at home.

Manchester City are very strong, winning the Premier League three years in a row, which is also a testament to their consistent form.

However, few teams can walk away with victory at Camp Nou.

Rijkaard is convinced of this.

But now Barcelona are 1-0 down, and no matter what Rijkaard thinks before, he must now think about how to regain the advantage.

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For Barcelona, conceding a goal was not to the end of the day, after all, it was a two-legged knockout game, not a brutal battle that decided the outcome of the game.

It doesn't matter so much about winning or losing a game, it's about scoring and conceding goals.

Barcelona's disadvantage is mainly because this is a home game, home and away are not the same, generally two legs, the home can play better, if the home team loses to the opponent, then it will definitely be more difficult to play away.

So Barcelona's priority was to try to equalise and they started attacking Manchester City in the half.

As it turned out, when the whole Barcelona team was fully committed to attacking, they were still able to launch a very formidable offensive.

After the game restarted, they attacked twice in succession, both of which hit the ball into the Manchester City penalty area.

The continuous crisis in the penalty area also forced Manchester City to shrink the lineup defense.

In the tense defense, the joy of scoring just now disappeared without a trace, and every player in Manchester City wanted to defend the goal.

For Barcelona, the focus became on how to break down the Manchester City goal.

Messi is tightly confined by Bloomer and Morris.

Although Barcelona still has outstanding attacking players such as Deco, Iniesta, Xavi, etc., Messi is a key figure in the middle, and Messi can't play, and Barcelona's offensive is very limited.

After a long time, Barcelona still failed to find the back of the net for Manchester City.

Looking at the team's solid defense, Wan Sheng felt very relieved.

Manchester City has prepared a lot for this game, and the style of defensive counter-attacking play is also specially prepared for Barcelona, in order to prepare for the game, they continue to train the defensive formation, defensive tactics, details into the game, how the players in each position run, how each player defends against the opposing player.

With so much training effect, plus the two defensive functions 'Solid Barrier' and 'Resolute Interception' effect bonuses, the team's defense must be very solid.

Wan Sheng is pleased that every player on the field performed well.

This kind of tournament is an opportunity and a challenge for young players, many players can't bear the pressure of the tournament and are nervous, and emotional tension can easily lead to out of control.

Wan Sheng didn't see a single player who was inconsistent.

Each of them was unaffected by the atmosphere of the tournament or by the shouting of the Barcelona fans at Camp Nou.

This shows that the young players in the team have matured, and the whole team has matured.

On the field, the two sides continued to compete.

Time was running out and Barcelona seemed to be hoping to go into the break with a draw, so they were even more aggressive.

They continued to link up and get the ball into the vicinity of the City penalty area, with the two wing-forwards Andres Iniesta and Samuel Eto'o both active and their frequent insertions into the box made the City defence nervous for a while.

However, due to Messi's restrictions, Barcelona's middle is not very active, and it is difficult to find opportunities in the first place with the insertion of two wings.

This situation made Rijkaard frown, and he sighed as he looked at Messi, who was severely limited on the field.

No matter how talented Messi is, he is still too young, 20 years old, his experience is limited, and it is difficult to show no matter how good his skills are.

The Dutchman knows what the most important thing to do in midfield.

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The first half ended with Xavi's shot from outside the area flying high over the crossbar.

This scene also proves that at least on the field, Barcelona has achieved a lot of pressure on Manchester City, but because they did not score, but Manchester City scored a goal with a counterattack, so in terms of score, Barcelona is the lagging side.

At half-time, Wan Sheng praised the team's performance and asked everyone to continue to work hard in the second half.

He highlighted a few things about the adjustments that his opponent might make.

The first focus is on the restrictions on Messi.

At present, Messi is the most important core of Barcelona, as long as Messi's point is blocked, he can limit Barcelona's offensive.

This is very clear and is pretty much what City have done in their pre-match preparations.

On the playing field, all fans saw was Bloomer and Morris constantly defending Messi tightly, but in fact, how could it be so simple to really block the play of a star player?

Wansheng has made very strict arrangements for this.

First of all, the targeted defense, that is, the defensive work embodied on the surface, is handed over to Brummer and Morris, in addition, the other surrounding players must also cooperate with the run, making it difficult for the Barcelona players to pass the ball to Messi's position, and at the same time, it is also difficult for Messi, who receives the pass, to pass the ball to his teammates.

The former is not very demanding, it depends entirely on the performance of Bloomer and Morris, and the latter is very demanding, and it took a long time just to do defensive training before the game.

Messi didn't show anything in the first half, and Barcelona will definitely make adjustments.

Rijkaard has two options, one is to give Messi some coaching work, and the position is to let Messi retreat, so that Messi's room to play will be larger, and it seems that it will be difficult to limit it anymore.

However, Wan Sheng doesn't care about this, even if Messi retreats, he will definitely participate in the attack, so the team will definitely be able to limit him if he plays according to the original targeted defense.

The other is to replace Messi and let Ronaldinho play.

Ronaldinho is what worries Wansheng the most, the Brazilian has had a nightmare this season, his private life has been exposed by the media at the beginning of the season, and the Barcelona club is so unhappy with the Brazilian's off-field indulgence that even teammate Edmilson has called him the "black goat".

In the days that followed, Barcelona had grown accustomed to the absence of Ronaldinho's side, with cold benches and stands becoming the places where the former World Footballer of the Year made more appearances.

The December 2007 national derby (Barcelona vs. Real Madrid) was Ronaldinho's last chance to prove himself to the club, and as a result, Barcelona lost 1-0 to defending champions Real Madrid, and Ronaldinho was completely left in the cold.

In January 2008, Barcelona FC announced that Ronaldo would miss a number of games due to a left knee injury, and in April, after rumors of a fraudulent injury, Barcelona officially announced that Ronaldonho, who had just returned, said goodbye to that season due to a muscle injury in his right leg.

Despite so many rumors, Ronaldonho still appeared on the bench in this game against Manchester City.

This proves that Rijkaard attaches great importance to the game and that Ronaldinho still has a certain place in Barcelona.

If Rijkaard chooses to replace Ronaldinho, then the team's defense will definitely not be able to play much role against Ronaldinho, who is 'in great form'.

In this way, Wansheng can only let the team defend as hard as possible and keep the advantage of the score.

Wan Sheng is actually not too worried, because he knows that Ronaldonho is past his prime, and now is the worst season of the Brazilian's career, why is Manchester City so 'unlucky', and meets Ronaldinho who suddenly broke out at this time?

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Soon the second half came.

The Manchester City players felt like the game was going on like a playbook.

Barcelona did not make any substitutions, but after a few minutes of play, they both saw that Messi's position had dropped a lot.

Many Manchester City players have more 'reverence' for Wansheng, and at the same time, they are more confident in the game.

Wan Sheng said that Rijkaard would choose to let Messi retreat, but Messi's position was really adjusted backwards, and the opponent's reaction was all expected by Wan Sheng, and Wan Sheng also specially arranged targeted defensive adjustments, and Manchester City players only need to follow it.

Manchester City players feel that the game is under the control of the coach, in this case, there is no reason for them to lose, maybe even the result of the game, is under the control of the coach?

Quite a few players think so.

They have 'deified' Wansheng in their hearts!

Wan Sheng doesn't know what the players think, predicting the opponent's tactical adjustment, is the job of a head coach, and he is happy that the opponent's adjustment is not unexpected, so the game will not get out of control.

The second half of the game was still played in the way of Barcelona attacking and Manchester City defending.

Barcelona's midfielders, the two wingers and even the defenders were all looking for opportunities to get the ball into the City penalty area, but then they knew why some of the British media thought City were defensively solid.

In this game, Manchester City's central defenders are Dunn and Lescott.

Dunn and Lescott, both standard England centre-backs, are combined to make City's penalty area look tight with their constant movement.

In addition to the two central defenders, Manchester City's wings Carlos and Ziegler's defense is also very entangled, Carlos needless to say, is Barcelona's old opponent, but he is now playing for Manchester City, Ziegler is not very old, but followed Wan Sheng from Derby County to Manchester City, nearly 4 seasons of top league experience, has made the Belgian boy completely mature, his defense makes Eto'o and Xavi have a headache.

There is also a midfield defense line in front of the Manchester City penalty area, Morris, Brummer needless to say, Ozil, Darren Bent, Ivan Crewe, the defense of the three is also very good, their individual defensive ability is actually not so strong, but the number of people is there, and it is not easy for Barcelona to jump over this line.

A lot of people say 'crowd tactics are the best defence', and the Ozil trio are trying to illustrate that with their overall performances.

Barcelona still have a headache in the face of Manchester City's strict defense, perhaps more mainly because their core Messi still has not been able to play his due role.

Rijkaard originally felt that after letting Messi retreat, Manchester City's targeted defense against Messi would not be so easy.

But after more than ten minutes of the second half, he realized that his idea was wrong.

Obviously, Manchester City has done a lot of training for Messi's defense, not only Bloomer and Morris will pay attention to Messi's defense, but other Manchester City players will mainly run around Messi and block his receiving and passing routes.

It is not easy for Messi to receive a pass, and even if he does, it is very difficult to pass the ball again with Bloomer's interference and other Manchester City players.

This is the most fundamental reason why Messi has not performed so far.

Messi's poor performance directly affected the offensive of the entire team, and their frequent attacks did not come to any gains, and after repeated failures, the Barcelona players were a little discouraged.

But they have not yet realized the danger.

Manchester City can't just let Barcelona attack all the time, it's not a half-time drill, it's the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals, a game of great significance.

When Barcelona's attack slowed down, City began to fight back.

Sharp counterattack!

Wan Sheng chose to play Ozil and Darren Bent in midfield, the purpose is to fight back with speed!

Mesut Ozil and Darren Bent were both very fast players, so fast that they got the ball and Barcelona couldn't even catch up.

Manchester City are very experienced in attacking quickly.

Not only can they play quick counter-attacks, but they can also play very good combinations when they counter-attack.

So in the 73rd minute, it was not surprising that Darren Bent, Mesut Ozil and Morris combined to get the ball to Torres in front of him in just seven seconds.

The rest of the work is also very simple for the Spanish golden boy.

Raise your feet and shoot!

The football rushes straight into the door of Valdés' handle! (To be continued.) )