Red Rebels

68o Who benefits?

It has almost become a routine, and the headlines the next day appeared again with the news that Cesc Fabregas is eager to join Barcelona.

This piece of news first broke out from the Spanish media, which excerpted a sentence from Cesc Fabregas in an interview with a Spanish reporter, "Barcelona is my belief, and I am eager to play for the Barcelona first team. "The driving force behind the move", and this sentence was also understood as a signal that Fabregas was eager to join Barcelona.

Almost overnight, the entire English football world was paying attention to the news of Cesc Fabregas joining Barcelona.

Piqué’s transfer has been finalized, and maybe Cesc Fabregas is not far behind either

But as Fabregas, he was very angry because there were some words before and after his sentence, but the reporter with ulterior motives deliberately cut off the beginning and the end, and only took the middle paragraph. As everyone knows, Fabregas Si's original words were that when he was in the La Masia youth training camp, Barcelona was his belief, and playing for Barcelona was his driving force on the court.

But now, it has completely changed

The media in Spain are hyping up the situation because Fabregas has become one of the hottest playmakers in football today. After Beckham has decided to retire at the end of this season, Fabregas has become a red star. The backbone of the Rebels, a super giant, has become another rising star in football.

If Barcelona can recall Fabregas, the impact will definitely be far greater than recalling Piqué, and it can also deal a painful blow to Real Madrid, because Florentino has also spoken highly of Fabregas on many occasions. Si, and said that he is a fan of Cesc Fabregas and is eager to recruit Fabregas to the Bernabeu.

Barcelona seems to be acquiescing to such hype. Even Laporta repeatedly stated in interviews that Fabregas is another top star coming out of Barcelona's youth training camp.

"He has the soul and temperament of La Masia. If he returns to Barcelona, ​​it will be as exciting as a wanderer returning to his mother's arms. If he returns to the Barcelona system he is familiar with, his talents can be maximized. I I believe this will be a perfect combination.”

"Fabregas is willing to return to Barcelona, ​​and we welcome Cesc back. Our only obstacle is the Red Rebels."

Obviously, in Spain, some media deliberately want to portray the Red Rebels as tyrants who use their contracts to kidnap players and prevent Fabregas from defecting to their favorite team with an iron fist. As for Fabregas, fans are even more concerned about it. More is welcome.

So when the Red Rebels arrived in Barcelona, ​​as soon as they walked out of the airport,

Immediately, more than a hundred Barcelona fans picked up the plane holding banners, but the words above made the Red Rebels a little embarrassed.

“Welcome back to Barcelona”

There is an F.c. in front of the banner, which becomes Barcelona, ​​so the banner means welcome back to Barcelona, ​​not the city of Barcelona.

It can be said that the banner represents the desire of Barcelona fans for Fabregas. After all, it has been very difficult for Barcelona to overturn Real Madrid in La Liga this season. Fans hope that the team can improve its strength through signings and strive to win the La Liga next season. Defeat Real Madrid to win the championship, and one of our own like Cesc Fabregas is undoubtedly the most exciting signing for fans.

After all, fans of every wealthy team hope that their team can be filled with players cultivated by their club.

When Fabregas saw this group of fans, his eyes flashed with excitement, but he quickly calmed down, especially when he saw clearly that the banner said Barcelona Club, he even flashed a hint of excitement. Definitely.

"Don't worry, Leo, I'm fine"

Feeling Messi's hand on his shoulder, Fabregas turned his head and forced a smile.

But everyone can see that he is still affected to some extent, especially during the game.

…………

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This is a gorgeous showdown that hundreds of millions of fans around the world are looking forward to. Everyone also hopes that this will be a classic battle that will be applauded by countless fans. But in the end, there are no fireworks or cheers in this game. , completely turned into a deaf-mute show at Camp Nou.

Many people say that the Champions League knockout rounds have become more and more conservative in the past few seasons. Only the Red Rebels can have the strength and characteristics that make people shine. Barcelona's style of play this season is also very elegant and very aggressive. , making everyone look forward to this duel.

But after 9o minutes, no one thought that this would eventually turn into an o:o

There were no goals, no obvious misjudgments, just the fouls and the green laser beams shining down on the Red Rebels players from the fans' stands.

The Red Rebels committed 6 fouls and Barcelona committed 6 fouls. This made everyone a little surprised, especially the Spanish fans. They never thought that Barcelona, ​​which they had previously dubbed the most gorgeous team in Europe, would now become Stadium butcher.

6 fouls, a total of 6 fouls, this is definitely the most shocking number.

The Red Rebels took control of the game. From the first minute, they attacked Barcelona one after another. Mourinho's attitude was very clear. He would score away goals and even defeat Barcelona.

Guardiola's team showed signs of resistance at the beginning. There was a counterattack in the first 5 minutes, but after Villa's hurried shot failed, Barcelona began to retreat and became conservative, because immediately after The Red Rebels launched a wave of attacks, threatening Barcelona's goal. Valdes was so frightened that he shouted angrily at Max and Milito in front of him.

The defense composed of Puyol, Max, Milito and Abidal, the field composed of Keita, Xavi and Iniesta, plus the trident composed of Pedro, Hleb and Villa, Barcelona's main lineup does not seem to have changed much, but in fact, Pedro and Hleb retreated very deep, and Villa was more like a full-back at some times.

The three lines retreated very deep, compressing the space at the front of the penalty area. No matter where the Red Rebels' offensive combination went, they would be suppressed by Barcelona, ​​and there would always be Barcelona players around to suppress them.

In the minute, the Red Rebels took a corner kick. Max made a handball clearance in the penalty area, but it was not seen by the Swiss referee. The Red Rebels players reminded him, but the referee still refused to award a penalty kick.

Barcelona shrank even more after that, and even the on-site commentator couldn't help but ridicule.

"I guess Guardiola must have learned this tactic from Manchester United, but they did it more thoroughly than Manchester United. At least Manchester United still has Robinho in front of them, and Rooney can also press forward, but what about Barcelona? Pedro and Hleb became full-backs, Villa became a defender everywhere, Xavi and Iniesta became more of a defensive midfielder."

Barcelona completely gave up space on the court. They stuck to the 40-meter area at the front of their own penalty area, preventing the Red Rebels from easily controlling the ball in this area. Once Barcelona controlled the ball, they basically quickly lost control of the ball. Being cut off, or directly making a big kick to clear the siege.

This is Mourinho’s tactical arrangement for Barcelona before the game

"Aimless crosses, puzzling stick balls"

Mourinho said that these are two major shortcomings of Barcelona, ​​and they are also the reason why Barcelona's current performance is not ideal.

As a time traveler, when Xiao Yu looked at these two major shortcomings with the eyes of later generations, a strange idea came to his mind, that is, Barcelona was groping, and Guardiola was also groping.

In his previous life, Guardiola figured out how to make cross passes purposeful and how to make the ball pass freely between players within one or two kicks. These two tactics constituted the most important tactics of Barcelona in his previous life. Two major tactical cores.

Now, the Red Rebels have obviously taught Barcelona a good lesson with one kick.

The passing success rate is as high as 89.4%, while Barcelona only has 74.%. One of the reasons for this is that Barcelona has shrunk its defense and the Red Rebels have pressed heavily, so the passing success rate in the backcourt is very high, but in terms of ball possession rate, 5% vs. 47%, the Red Rebels did not have much advantage.

This may be a regrettable game, because the Red Rebels had the advantage on the field, with 7 shots on goal. However, Valdez performed like a god descending from heaven in this game, defusing the situation many times. The Red Rebels shot.

Barcelona shot 4 times, none of them were on target, almost all of them were anti-aircraft guns.

Villa met his old owner. Before the game started, he and Hleb were still greeting the Red Rebel players in a relaxed manner, and even enthusiastically hugged Mourinho, but when the game came, his high-pitched brows were not removed. Pass.

This was his first time participating in a game as an enemy of the Red Rebels. He had been a member of the Red Rebels before, so he never knew that the football played by the Red Rebels could bring such a huge impact to the opponent. Pressure.

Barcelona's tactics before the game were not conservative, they were just defensive counterattacks, but the pressure exerted by the Red Rebels was so great that it seemed like you had to use individuals on the field to support it. As long as even one person relaxes a little, it will bring consequences. A devastating disaster.

So after the conscious counterattack in the first 5 minutes, the rest of Barcelona's defense turned to defense.

It is certain that they will be exhausted. The physical energy of Barcelona players is exhausted very quickly, but the effect is also obvious.

Once a Red Rebel player gets the ball, two or three Barcelona players will immediately block him. This is to imitate Ferguson's previous tactics, and Guardiola will copy it. After all, Keita is good at attacking and defending, and has excellent physical fitness. Xavi is good at running and has awareness. Outstanding, Iniesta is slightly weaker, but he is not inferior to his teammates in running.

Pedro and Hleb are more like full-backs and are pushed very deep, which makes Barcelona's offense almost unbeatable. Sometimes Villa is alone in front, which does not help at all.

However, although Guardiola's tactics are ugly, even conservative and destructive, they have achieved good results.

Fabregas' performance was sluggish throughout the game. Perhaps when he walked into the Nou Camp stadium and saw the big banners held up by the fans to welcome him home, his heart was shaken. , not firm enough.

But the most important thing is Guardiola's focus on Fabregas in this game. Xavi and Iniesta are by his side anytime and anywhere. These three signature stars of La Masia's youth academy, Now he has become a dueling warrior on the field. Fabregas's poor performance is not unrelated to their harassment.

Whether on the wing or on the road, Guardiola deployed heavy troops. Once they entered the 40-meter area, Barcelona's formation retracted and compressed the Red Rebels' offensive space. However, they played very smart and tried to concentrate their fouls outside the 40-meter area. , because there are many free kick masters in the Red Rebels.

"This has to be the ugliest game I've ever seen at Camp Nou"

After this game, even Maria Casanova, a die-hard Barcelona fan and editor-in-chief of Daily Sports, had to complain in his column. He even suspected that Guardiola had not thought about it from beginning to end. Gotta win.

"If Barcelona has not lost its dignity after losing the La Liga championship, then this game at the Camp Nou made it clear to me that Barcelona has lost its dignity. Dignified”

"Guardiola talked about attacking and adhering to Barcelona's artistic football and philosophy, but I only saw ugliness, destruction and anti-art in this game. On the other hand, our opponents, although they failed to score, their People have to admire their calmness in passing and controlling the ball. This is the difference.”

However, contrary to the doubts of many media, many media still recognized this game. After all, the home o:o draw with the Red Rebels has to be said to be a very suspenseful score.

To whom does it benefit?

It’s hard to say that Barcelona did not allow the Red Rebels to get an away goal. The Red Rebels are undefeated away from home. This allows Barcelona to easily face the second round at the Red Rebel Stadium. I believe that when the time comes, they will attack and work hard. Strive for away goals, then draw and win.

As long as there is an away goal in hand, even if it is a draw, Barcelona can eliminate the Red Rebels

And what about the Red Rebels? They will definitely strive to win at home, because only by winning Barcelona at home will the Red Rebels be more secure. If it is a draw o:o, the two sides will have overtime and then a penalty shootout. This is definitely what Mourinho wants. Don't want to see it.

So at the post-match press conference of this game, Guardiola smiled when facing the media and said that he was very satisfied with the result of this game. He believed that Barcelona's home o:o was not a failure, on the contrary, He considered this a half-time victory, and he believed that Barcelona had already taken the initiative in promotion.

After Mourinho satirized Barcelona's anti-traditional playing style and tactics, he also believed that the result of o:o was not bad. He said that when he returned to the Red Rebel Stadium, the Red Rebels would teach Barcelona a good lesson.

"Maybe they should learn what tactics they should use at their home stadium to make it easier to please their fans. I believe that at our Red Rebel Stadium, at least we will not see white handkerchiefs from fans, and we will not hear fans boos and dismissal”

Mourinho was obviously very dissatisfied with Barcelona's ugly tactics in this game and even ridiculed them, but this could not change the outcome of this game.

It's hard to say who is the loser in this game. Neither the Red Rebels nor Barcelona are the losers. After all, there is still the second round, but one thing is for sure. Cesc Fabregas must be the loser.