In the following matches, Xavi not only orchestrated Barcelona's midfield, but also observed Zhou Yi.

He was genuinely curious about this young man who was said to have the same playing style as him.

In today's society with highly developed media, it is not difficult to watch a person's game. So Xavi had also learned about Zhou Yi, watched some of Zhou Yi's game highlights, and he also believed that Zhou Yi's playing style was indeed similar to his own.

But was this the result of careful imitation, or was it natural?

Xavi believed that it was difficult to understand clearly through the TV screen, and it would be better to get in close contact. So playing against him was naturally the best way to observe.

Because he could experience Zhou Yi's football up close.

As he watched, Xavi increasingly felt that Zhou Yi's understanding of Barcelona was very deep. He was very familiar with Barcelona's tactics and playing style, and understood the characteristics and styles of almost every Barcelona player.

This level of understanding surprised Xavi very much.

He had trained and played with this team for so many years, and received the education and training of Barcelona's football philosophy in the La Masia youth training camp since he was a child. The concept of Barcelona football had been integrated into his genes, and it was normal for him to know Barcelona like the back of his hand.

But why was Zhou Yi so knowledgeable?

Whether for Zhou Yi or for Barcelona, both sides should be strangers to each other.

Because this was the first encounter between the two sides.

Zhou Yi was a rising midfield star in European football, and could be considered quite famous. But in fact, before Barcelona's players encountered Dortmund in the Champions League, they didn't know much about Zhou Yi, and only knew some rumors. After all, no one would bother to pay attention to a player who had nothing to do with them, they weren't Zhou Yi's fans…

The name "Cosmic Team" Barcelona was naturally well-known. There were many people who knew and understood Barcelona, but those who could understand it to such an extent, apart from themselves, could probably be counted on two hands, and Zhou Yi was one of these very few people.

Xavi couldn't understand this situation at all. He felt that there was only one reason to explain why Zhou Yi knew so much about Barcelona—that was that Zhou Yi had really put a lot of effort into studying Barcelona.

And this kind of effort shouldn't appear on a player. It's normal for it to appear on a coach, such as Real Madrid's current coach Mourinho, who must have put a lot of effort into studying Barcelona. That's because he is now the coach of Real Madrid. As Barcelona's arch-rival, in order to defeat Barcelona, he must have a deep understanding of this team. Moreover, Mourinho used to work for Barcelona when he was young. He understands and is familiar with Barcelona's football philosophy and ideas. He is even regarded as a "traitor" by some radical Barcelona fans.

But Zhou Yi is an ordinary player. He has never received training in Barcelona before. Why does he know so much about Barcelona?

After thinking about it, there is only one reason that makes sense—Zhou Yi likes Barcelona's football style and philosophy too much, and he studies and understands it because of his love. This is like a fan always trying to find ways to understand everything about his idol, wishing he knew even the details of what position he sleeps in and whether he snores.

Zhou Yi's approach is very much in line with a fan's performance in the face of an idol.

After coming to this conclusion, Xavi suddenly thought about a few years later. Although his recent form has been quite good, he is still thirty-two years old after all. As a player, he will inevitably leave this stadium, whether it is retirement or transfer, he must leave. At that time, who will be his successor? Who can perfectly integrate into Barcelona's football system?

Xavi already has a candidate in his mind.

He felt that as long as the two clubs, Barcelona and Dortmund, could reach an agreement on the transfer fee, then there would be no obstacles for Zhou Yi himself to transfer to Barcelona?

You say he said he refused Barcelona before the game?

In that kind of sensitive time, there would be a problem if he didn't refuse, right?

But this kind of rejection does not represent real rejection. This is completely different from rejecting Barcelona in the transfer market.

Xavi is really a pure Barcelona person. For the future of Barcelona, his considerations have exceeded his identity as a player…

However, Xavi still underestimated Zhou Yi.

Because Zhou Yi's understanding of Barcelona is definitely not because he is a fan of Barcelona's football philosophy and studied Barcelona football frantically.

It's because Zhou Yi has a very powerful simulation system. He has already played more than a hundred games with Barcelona in this virtual space, and he can also directly understand the player's ability by viewing the opponent's player data.

In this way, how could he not understand Barcelona?

Just like just now, although Messi's position on the field is on the right, he often moves to the center. During the horizontal dribbling process, if he encounters an interception, he has three choices—dribbling, shooting, and passing.

Just now, Gundogan's collision left Messi with only one option—passing. If he wants to pass the ball, he will most likely pass the ball to Iniesta on his left.

Zhou Yi is almost tired of seeing this "Messi Corridor" in the virtual games between Zhou Yi and Barcelona…

So this kind of understanding has nothing to do with Zhou Yi's appreciation of Barcelona's football philosophy.

Zhou Yi neither loves nor hates Barcelona's football. Although his playing style is very similar to Barcelona's passing and controlling football, Zhou Yi will not look up to Barcelona's football because of this.

He believes that Barcelona's football philosophy is just one of the many football philosophies in history, and there is nothing special about it.

For him, the most beautiful thing in the football world is that there are many teams with different styles, playing football tactics with different characteristics, and they can all achieve success through hard work. It's not that only Barcelona's football can win the championship in this world. Those teams that insist on defense and counterattack, insist on total attack and defense, and insist on parking the bus tactics can also achieve success through hard work.

Just like nature, if the world only allows one color of flowers, how boring would spring be…

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In fact, not only Xavi, but even the commentators have seen Zhou Yi's familiarity with Barcelona.

Because he appeared in the right position at key moments several times in the defense and intercepted Barcelona's passes. He is like a dam, blocking the narrowest part of Barcelona's river, controlling Barcelona's flow…

Making it very uncomfortable for Barcelona to play.

After seeing Zhou Yi's performance, He Ping said: "For Zhou Yi, Barcelona seems to have become their 'most familiar stranger'. His understanding of Barcelona is surprising!"

Marcel Reif was also surprised by Zhou Yi's performance: "Zhou Yi is simply like a Barcelona player wearing a Dortmund jersey…"

The Catalan commentators were speechless and didn't know how to explain this phenomenon.

Seeing Zhou Yi's performance on the field, Guardiola suddenly thought of the report that Zhou Yi and La Masia had missed each other.

Now it seems that La Masia's technical director Garcia really has vision. Such a player is indeed very suitable for our Barcelona.

He was born to play for Barcelona.

But unfortunately, now he is wearing a Dortmund jersey and is Barcelona's enemy on the field…

At this time, he was somewhat concerned about the fact that La Masia did not sign Zhou Yi in the first place.

On the Dortmund coaching bench next door, assistant coach Buvac was also surprised by Zhou Yi's performance: "He didn't have such a performance in the last round. How did he do it?"

Klopp shrugged: "Who knows, but I'm glad he has such a performance in this game."

With his understanding of Zhou Yi, if he had to ask why for every performance of his, he probably wouldn't even be able to sleep.

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Because Zhou Yi's performance in defense greatly exceeded the expectations of Barcelona's players, now Barcelona's players have to choose long passes or fast passes in order to get rid of Zhou Yi's interception of their passes. First of all, long passes are not in line with Barcelona's football philosophy, and they are not proficient in them. Second, increasing the speed of passing means increasing passing errors, which even a team like Barcelona with passing and controlling the ball as their advantage cannot avoid.

So in the first half, Barcelona's attack in the first half was very unsmooth and very un-"Barcelona".

Therefore, they were unable to break through Dortmund's goal and equalize the score until the end of the first half.

When the first half ended with Barcelona trailing by one goal, many people were very surprised. In the pre-match predictions, everyone thought that Barcelona would take the lead in the first half at home, but the actual situation was completely opposite to their predictions, which really shattered the glasses of I don't know how many people…