Chapter 1 Barcelona's Troubles

Whether the players and fans of Barcelona were willing to accept it or not, the fact was right in front of them all: Borussia Dortmund was leading Barcelona 1-0 on their home turf.

Now Borussia Dortmund not only led on aggregate, but also had an away goal.

If Barcelona only scored one goal to tie the score, they would still be eliminated.

What was originally a very favorable situation for Barcelona had unexpectedly turned into a favorable one for Borussia Dortmund in just eight seconds.

In the press box, a reporter suddenly shouted, "I get it!"

Some people looked askance, wondering why he was shouting.

"Get what?" they asked.

"I know why Zhou Yi emphasized that this is a two-legged match!" the reporter said excitedly.

"Why?"

"Because this second leg is Dortmund's away game, and as long as they can score, it's an away goal!" the reporter explained.

Everyone was stunned by this. The reporter didn't explain it in great detail, but these seasoned football reporters could naturally guess what he meant.

In other words, Barcelona didn't score in the first leg, so their away goal tally was zero. Now, in the second leg, because it was Barcelona's home game, they couldn't have any more away goals. On the contrary, Dortmund could use the full ninety minutes to get an away goal.

So Zhou Yi would emphasize that the Champions League knockout stage is a two-legged affair. This meant that Zhou Yi believed they could get an away goal on the road, giving his team an advantage in the competition to advance.

It seemed that Zhou Yi had been thinking of ways to help Dortmund score at the Camp Nou from that moment on...

If the reporters had figured this out before the game, they would have mercilessly ridiculed Zhou Yi's wishful thinking, thinking that Zhou Yi was daydreaming and fantasizing.

But now, facing the 0:1 on the scoreboard, they could only remain silent.

People said it, did it, and succeeded, what could you say?

Instead, it was Zhou Yi's turn to laugh at these reporters...

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There was some silence in the press box. In the commentary box, the Catalan commentator reacted and began to cheer for the team and the fans: "...Guardiola must have fully considered that Dortmund might score, so this goal should be within their expectations... The game has just begun, and Barcelona has plenty of time to tie the score and overtake it!"

In the commentator's mind, there was no reason for Barcelona, playing at home, to lose to Borussia Dortmund, so there was nothing to worry about with this goal. On the contrary, the players and fans of Borussia Dortmund should be worried, because their goal had angered Barcelona, and they would face a Barcelona that had come back to its senses and was firing on all cylinders!

In fact, when the game restarted, Barcelona's offensive firepower was indeed very strong.

As the Catalan commentator had said, Barcelona's players were indeed very unhappy, very, very unhappy.

Losing a goal after only eight seconds of play, their first reaction was – shame!

The second reaction was – revenge!

They would respond to Dortmund's provocation with more goals, and vowed that this would be Dortmund's last goal of the game!

Barcelona was indeed a strong team, and at their home ground, they should have the confidence to "beat all opponents."

But today's situation was a little different.

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After scoring a goal, Dortmund retreated to defend.

This was a very normal reaction. Any team that took the lead against Barcelona would do the same. If they continued to attack, they might concede a goal instead.

Dortmund retreated, and Barcelona attacked.

Moreover, their attack was not simple. Barcelona's attack and defense were inseparable.

They could continuously put pressure on Dortmund in their own half, and then tear through Dortmund's defense through continuous passing.

Passing was the key.

What was most impressive about Barcelona's style of football was their tacit movement and precise passing. They could pass the ball in continuous, uninterrupted movement. It looked like meaningless back-passing, but in this seemingly unintentional passing, they would slowly tear open the opponent's defense. When they found an opening, they would suddenly accelerate and break through the opponent's defense in one fell swoop, reaching the heart of the enemy!

It can be seen that accurate, tacit, and continuous passing is very important in Barcelona's successful attacks.

In the past, due to Barcelona's special football philosophy and their consistent training over the past twenty years, Barcelona's players were very smooth when passing the ball to each other, like flowing water.

But today, the flowing water seemed to have encountered a little resistance.

Puyol passed the ball to Xavi. After receiving the ball, Xavi looked up to observe, but did not rush to pass the ball, because there was no good passing point yet.

Dortmund's midfielder, Shinji Kagawa, took advantage of his observation time and leaned up, intending to steal the ball.

But Xavi seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. With a turn, he left Shinji Kagawa behind him, protecting the ball in front of him. At the same time, after he attracted Shinji Kagawa, a gap appeared in Dortmund's midfield, and Messi ran into this gap. Xavi turned again and passed the ball out.

This was one of Xavi's signature ways of playing, using ball control to attract the opponent's defensive players to press him, creating space for his teammates. Then he used a turn to protect the ball and pass it into the gap.

"Messi gets the ball!"

When Messi received the ball, the Catalan commentator's voice rose, and a cheer rang out over the Camp Nou.

All Barcelona supporters had high hopes for Messi. He was a superstar who could tear through the opponent's defense single-handedly and then blast the ball into the goal!

Faced with such a player, Dortmund's players also became nervous.

After Messi got the ball, Sven Bender immediately stuck to him.

Facing Sven Bender, Messi made a move to break through to the wing, and Sven Bender's center of gravity shifted to the wing. Messi, however, only made a feint, and gently pushed the ball inwards with the outside of his left foot, jumped up and flashed past Sven Bender, advancing towards the center!

"Messi breaks through Sven Bender!" Marcel Reif exclaimed.

Seeing Messi's straight breakthrough, Dortmund's defense immediately reacted, and two Dortmund players rushed towards Messi to defend.

Zhou Yi and Gundogan. Gundogan took the lead and rushed to Messi first, and then collided with him.

At this time, the Catalan commentator was extremely excited, thinking that Messi was about to make a one-stop run, straight to the heart of the enemy.

He shouted excitedly, "Friends, don't blink at this time! Otherwise..."

As he spoke, Messi was bumped by Gundogan. Although he still firmly controlled the ball, it became difficult to continue dribbling inside.

Perhaps the commentator and the Barcelona fans in the stands hoped that Messi could show his extraordinary skills and get past Gundogan.

But in Messi's heart, he had his own judgment. If he continued to break through forcefully, it would be an inefficient approach. After losing the ball, what Barcelona needed was not to show off, but to tie the score, to score a goal.

So at this time, the best way was to pass the ball out...

He had already attracted two Dortmund players, so there must be loopholes elsewhere in Dortmund's defense.

So Messi followed his tacit understanding with Iniesta and passed the ball to the left without even looking.

He knew that Iniesta would definitely be waiting for him there - countless Barcelona games had proved this, sometimes they didn't need to observe and determine the position in advance when passing the ball to each other.

This was tacit understanding.

But this time, there was a slight problem with his tacit understanding with Iniesta...

"...Otherwise you will miss the most exciting performance... Eh?" The Catalan commentator didn't finish his sentence when he noticed an unexpected situation on the field.

Messi didn't show his superb skills to break through Gundogan, but passed the ball out.

The Catalan commentator, who was very familiar with Barcelona, naturally knew that Messi was going to pass the ball to Iniesta.

But Iniesta didn't receive the ball.

Whose feet did the ball fall to?

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After Messi passed the ball, he turned his head to look, but found that the ball had not fallen to Iniesta's feet.

Between him and Iniesta, Zhou Yi suddenly appeared!

He appeared on the passing route, and with a slight stretch of his foot, he stopped the ball.

"Zhou Yi! Beautiful interception!" He Ping shouted excitedly. "He defended Messi's breakthrough!"

If you only heard these words and didn't watch the game, you would definitely think that Zhou Yi had directly snatched the ball from Messi's feet in a one-on-one...

But in fact, he just stole Messi's pass from the side.

But even so, it was easy to make Chinese people, including He Ping, feel proud and excited.

You must know that Zhou Yi's opponent was Messi! The world's number one superstar Messi! Being able to interrupt his ball in defense, even if it was just a pass, was not easy.

But Zhou Yi himself did not feel happy about it, or rather, he didn't think it was anything great.

After intercepting the ball, he did not stop and directly knocked the ball behind him with his heel. The ball was passed to Shinji Kagawa.

Messi watched Zhou Yi complete all this in surprise. At that time, he was burying his head in dribbling the ball, dealing with Gundogan, and he didn't see what was happening around him at all. He didn't know how Zhou Yi appeared there. Shouldn't he have come with Gundogan to rob himself?

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After Zhou Yi intercepted the ball, he passed the ball to Shinji Kagawa, and Dortmund took the opportunity to launch an attack. However, this attack did not succeed. When Shinji Kagawa passed the ball to Gotze, Barcelona's defense was also set up very quickly. After Gotze received the ball, he didn't have any good chances. He chose to forcibly break through Barcelona's right back Alves, but because he didn't have a speed advantage, his breakthrough was destroyed by Alves' tackle.

The ball rolled out of the sideline, and Dortmund's attack only got a throw-in. But thinking about how their penalty area was just now under the threat of Barcelona and Messi, this throw-in was also a good thing for Dortmund.

Taking advantage of this dead ball opportunity, the TV broadcast quickly returned to the scene of Messi's pass being intercepted.

At this time, those viewers who had been focusing on the duel between Messi and Gundogan saw how Zhou Yi intercepted the ball.

At first, he ran forward normally, pounced on Messi, intending to join forces with Gundogan to encircle Messi. But just when he was about to run behind Messi, he suddenly made a turn and ran towards the line between Messi and Iniesta.

Just as he ran to this line, Messi's ball was passed over, so he stretched out his foot and intercepted the ball.

This action seemed natural and like a fluke.

But anyone who knew Zhou Yi probably wouldn't think Zhou Yi was lucky.

After the ball went out of bounds, Xavi looked back at Zhou Yi who had run up.

This kid seems to be very familiar with our playing style...

This was a bit unbelievable, he had never played for Barcelona for even a day!