Chapter 744: Stalemate

(One update today, tomorrow to make up)

The first half ended soon after Chen Yu's goal, and with only two minutes of stoppage time, Barcelona couldn't do anything at all, even if they wanted to score again, and then they could score, they could only wait for the second half.

When the Barcelona players came off the field, there was no applause in the stands at the Camp Nou, and the score of 1:1 could not satisfy the picky Barcelona fans, who did not boo the Barcelona players because the scene was passable, and if they even lost the game, the Barcelona players were afraid that their home days would not be easy.

The Liverpool players received a standing ovation from the Liverpool fans, although in addition to goals and fouls, Liverpool is behind in all counts, but as long as the goal is scored, the Liverpool fans are satisfied, Liverpool has never been a team with a very beautiful style of play, at best, it can be described with passion, so Liverpool fans never pursue how good the game is, as long as they can win, they can win by a big score.

Chen Yu, who scored a goal, has also become the favorite and grateful player of Liverpool fans, and when Chen Yu walked towards the mixed aisle, almost all Liverpool fans were waving at him and chanting his name, and Chen Yu was also very excited to wave to the fans.

At the door of the locker room, Liverpool manager Benitez shook hands with the players one by one, praising them for their excellent performance in the game, Chen Yu was the last to arrive, Benitez stepped forward and held Chen Yu tightly, "Chen! You're playing too well! That goal was so crucial that with this goal, we have already done most of our mission to Barcelona. ”

Chen Yu was also in a good mood, and he said with a smile: "If Barcelona still plays like this in the second half, we still hope to win." ”

Benitez patted Chen Yu on the back and said with a smile: "I don't dare to think about winning, a draw with a goal is good." ”

Back in the dressing room, Benitez did not praise again, nor did he say anything about the appearance of the Liverpool players in the first half, but pointed out their problems in the first half one by one, hoping that they would not make mistakes in the second half.

“…… In the first half, we scored a goal, drew with the strong Barcelona, which does not mean that we played very well, there is nothing that needs to be changed, in fact, without this key goal of Chen Yu, we can only say that we played badly in the first half, but luck will not always take care of us, we must play better in the second half, and not a little slack......"

In the visiting dressing room, Benitez faked a knock to encourage his players to build on in the second half and try to get a better result while maintaining the advantage in the first half.

In the home team's dressing room, Barcelona coach Rijkaard was really angry, he didn't care about the face of any player, and directly criticized it in person.

'Where did we lose in the first half? We lost in midfield and couldn't get the ball, the state was bad for a while, we couldn't put pressure on Liverpool in 45 minutes, let them get a couple of chances, players like Chen Yu, you don't know, as long as you give him a chance, he can score, we must not give him a chance, even if it is at the cost of a foul, Crouch's header is also very good, but his problem is weak, we just need to rely on him and not let him jump down...... Also, I don't expect you to have the goalscoring ability of the opponent's striker Chen, but I believe that if we can create enough chances, we will score more goals than all of them......"

Rijkaard is not a very strict coach, he has a very gentle attitude towards his players, and today he is already very harsh in reprimanding his players, which also reflects Rijkaard's anxious mentality.

In fact, it is no wonder that now in the league, Barcelona is pressed by Real Madrid and Valencia, in the Champions League, they have encountered Liverpool, who have never won at home, and now the first half is over, Barcelona and Liverpool draw, and they were also stolen by Liverpudlian An away goal, if the second half cannot change this situation, Barcelona will be tragic today.

The Barcelona players all kept their heads down and didn't speak, and they were well aware of the current situation, but they didn't think they were playing badly, but they thought that Liverpool was able to score because they were lucky, and if Barcelona were lucky, the score would not be what it is now.

In addition, Barcelona's players also have some grievances against coach Rijkaard, such as Barcelona's striker Samuel Eto'o, who scored the most goals, only sat in the stands, and if Samuel Eto'o was there, Barcelona would certainly not have scored only one goal in such a passive situation when the opponent was playing. And Barcelona's players think that Liverpool's manager Benitez is more prepared than Rigkaard, because although they have a good field, but there are not many real scoring opportunities, Benitez took 541 deployment in this game, and it is 5311 in detail, with a total of eight players put into defense, only Bellamy and Chen Yu, Crouch are more involved in the attack, and Gerrard is a free man in the midfield. This arrangement allowed Barça's sharp wide attacks to be stifled, and apart from the first goal, they rarely threatened on the flanks. The central defense of Sissoko and Alonso greatly compressed Barcelona's attacking space, especially the Mali international Sissoko, whose excellent interception ability greatly limited Ronaldinho's play.

Barcelona's players hope to change the situation in the second half, but Rijkaard is not a coach with strong on-the-spot command ability, he plays more according to the tactical plan made before the game, and does not make targeted arrangements for the type of play and personnel.

Fifteen minutes of the break passed quickly and the Barcelona and Liverpool players walked out of the dressing room.

Walking out of the locker room this time, the atmosphere at the scene was completely different, the shouts and cries of the Liverpool fans suppressed the Barcelona fans, and the Barcelona fans watched from the sidelines to see how these players performed in the second half.

The atmosphere on the field is different, the mentality of the players is also different, Barcelona pressed forward after the kick-off, quickly pushed the battlefield to Liverpool's half, or hope to storm around Liverpool's penalty area like the first half, and use the accumulation of numbers to achieve the goal of scoring.

However, at this time, Liverpool's mentality and morale are no longer comparable to the first half, although they were pressed to their own half by Barcelona, but Liverpool's players did not take the initiative to retreat, their forwards Chen Yu and Crouch still stood in the position with Barcelona's back line, while other players launched a rush to Barcelona at half time, not allowing Barcelona to calmly organize attacks.

In the 46th minute, Motta fouled Gerrard at the back, who took the free-kick himself, and his free-kick from 30 yards was cleared by Valdés.

Valdés scored a goal from a mistake in the first half, and he was desperate for his team to beat Liverpool and get the ball on his feet.

However, such a high-altitude ball has no effect on Liverpool, the ball was pushed out by Carragher at the edge of the Liverpool penalty area, and when it fell to the midfield, after several people's header scrambles, it finally fell to the feet of Gerrard, Gerrard did not have a good performance in the first half, and in the second half he became proactive, dribbling the ball directly to Barcelona's half.

Xavi stepped forward to intercept and was forced by Gerrard with his body, and then Motta came over again to tackle it, but did not touch the ball, but tackled Gerrard down, and the referee showed him a yellow card and gave Liverpool a free kick again.

The free-kick was not far from the centre circle and there was no way to shoot directly at goal, and Alonso took the free-kick and played a long ball into the box to let his team-mate fight for the top.

Barcelona's biggest fear is the high-altitude ball, after the ball is passed to the penalty area, Barcelona's penalty area is a chaotic scene, there are more than a dozen people in the penalty area competing for the header, and finally the ball is still the highest Crouch top, but under the opponent's defense, Crouch is outrageous, and the ball is directly more than two meters above the crossbar.

In the 53rd minute of the game, Barcelona played a beautiful match in Liverpool's half, after they reversed the ball in a row, Deco got the opportunity to shoot, but was pulled down by Chen Yu, who grabbed back, and the referee verbally warned Chen Yu and awarded a free kick of 278 meters.

The free kick was taken by Ronaldo, but today's Ronaldo was in average form, and the quality of his free kick was not high, and the ball was far off the post.

Seeing that the scene has not been opened, and Liverpool continued to strengthen the pressing, which paralyzed Barcelona's attack, Rijkaard had to make an early substitution adjustment, he used attacking forward Andres Iniesta to replace the defensive defender Motta who received a yellow card, and continued to strengthen the attack.

Iniesta is not tall and not fit, and his capital for establishing himself at Barcelona is his ability to dribble and break through, and Rijkaard has replaced him in the hope that he can tear a hole in Liverpool's iron bucket formation.

Iniesta came on the pitch and broke Liverpool's midfielder Sissoko with a beautiful croquette on the wing, and then drove along the ribs into the penalty area, at which point Iniesta could already shoot, but Iniesta didn't seem to have the shot button, and he actually crossed to Saviola in the middle.

Saviola was a little prepared, but she missed a good chance to shoot when she missed the ball that was close at hand.

However, Iniesta, Xavi, Deco three midfield although the strength is insufficient, but their skills are a grade higher than Liverpool, their smooth coordination, and strong individual assault ability makes Liverpool's half-court pressing tactics difficult, coach Benitez once again decisively ordered the players to recycle, return to the 30-meter danger zone, reduce the space, and increase the pressing of the Barcelona midfield

In the 68th minute of the game, Crouch and Chen Yu quickly pressed Barcelona's defenders, and Max hurriedly passed back to goalkeeper Valdés, Valdés had a short circuit in his brain, and actually took Max's return pass with his hand. The referee decisively awarded an indirect free-kick in the box.

It was a dangerous free-kick, and the Barcelona fans in the stadium stood up nervously.

Liverpool sent a free-kick, Alonso passed, Gerrard followed up with a powerful shot, but Valdés made up for it, he made a miraculous save on Gerrard's shot, the ball bounced off and Chen Yu followed up with a volley, but the ball hit Zambrotta and deflected over the crossbar.

Seeing that the deadlock could not be broken, Rijkaard made another substitution in the 70th minute, winger Gyuli replaced midfielder Xavi and moved Ronaldinho to the forward position, making a second adjustment to break the deadlock.