Chapter 43: First appearance in the Champions League
In the second half, Barcelona still had a firm grip on the game. Even with Li Qi, who had the ability to chase back at high speed, returning to the back line to partner with another high-speed defender Puyol, Rijkaard pushed Barcelona's overall formation closer together, suppressing Betis' formation within the defensive zone 3...
So Barcelona surrounded Betis and bombarded them. In the first 10 minutes of the second half, they had 7 shots, 3 of which were on target...
In the 58th minute of the game, Iniesta, who came on as a substitute, broke through the middle and made a wonderful pass. Eto'o, who had successfully made an offside, did not waste the opportunity this time. After receiving the ball, he rushed directly into the left side of the penalty area and shot with his left foot from 14 yards, blasting the ball into the near corner!
The Cameroonian Cheetah scored his fourth league goal of the season and helped Barcelona to increase the score to 4-2.
After taking the lead, Barcelona played more patiently, calmly and easily... and Li Qi was also thinking about how to find opportunities to make assists or score goals to increase his presence...
But sometimes, when luck strikes, you don’t need to do much…
In the 70th minute of the game, Rijkaard had just replaced Giuly with Esquillo when Barcelona won a corner kick on the left. Xavi's corner kick caused a melee in the middle of the small penalty area. After several refractions and collisions, Van Bommel headed the ball again, but it was obviously off the goal...
But it flew towards Li Qi who was lying in ambush at the far post...
Pie in the sky really fell?!
The melee in the middle of the penalty area just now attracted the attention of most defensive players, and at this time Li Qi was almost unguarded!
But the angle was too small. If he shot directly at the goal, Li Qi was worried that his header technique was not stable enough, and the height and strength of the ball were not enough...
Once again, let the Kattan-style TV commentator provide the wonderful commentary:
"Xavi takes a corner kick..."
"Middle of the penalty area!"
"Eto'o... Van Bommel, header!"
"It's off... Li Qi!"
"Knock back to the middle..."
"Larson!"
"Ditch oooooh! Ditch oooooh! Ditch!"
"Larson made a comeback in front of the goal and knocked the ball into the net!"
"This is also Larsson's first league goal for the club this season!"
"Xavi's corner kick was quite brilliant, creating chaos in the middle, and Van Bommel's header found Li Qi who was lurking at the far end, and Li Qi volleyed this difficult half-high ball sideways back in front of the goal. Let's watch it again through slow motion..."
Yes, Li Qi finally decided to use a sideways volley to sweep the ball back in front of the goal. Li Qi, who had just triggered the "breaking point moment", knew that the goalkeeper was rushing over to block the near corner where he might attack, and he would definitely not have time to intercept the cross. At least three points in front of the goal were better positioned than the opponent's defensive players. As long as one point could touch the ball, there was a high probability of scoring!
As expected, Eto'o missed the first point, but Larsson cleverly knocked the ball into the half-empty net at the second point!
Li Qi also successfully obtained his second assist in the league this season: "Great! I can assist even as a center back..."
"Hmm? Another assist for Brother Larson? We need to give him a wake-up call while celebrating... Give him a hug and a throw? And then a human pyramid?..."
Shortly after Larsson scored, in the 76th minute of the game, Rijkaard used up his third substitution of the game and replaced Larsson with Maxi Lopez.
Not long after Maxi Lopez came on, Barcelona extended the lead again:
In the 77th minute, Xavi made a long pass from the midfield, Ezequiro headed the ball from the right, Maxi Lopez stretched his legs to stop the ball but failed, but instead shook the Betis center back, the ball bounced off Maxi Lopez's shin guard and slid past the Betis center back's feet...
Eto'o followed up and showed his cheetah qualities, pushing the ball into the far corner from 11 yards in the middle without stopping!
He scored twice, scoring his fifth goal of the season, and helped Barcelona change the score to 5-4.
Although Betis protested that Maxi Lopez was offside when he received the ball - slow-motion replays did show offside suspicion - the referee still insisted on the penalty.
With the assist data, Li Qi was more at ease to assist in defense and interception in the backcourt, and the ball hardly ever reached Barcelona's half... All the balls intercepted by Li Qi were handed over to Xavi or Iniesta to organize the offense...
In the final period of the game, Barcelona continued to score in the 89th minute. Assuncao made a mistake in passing back under the pressure of Maxi Lopez. Ezquero, who came on as a substitute, cleverly intercepted the opponent's pass, dribbled into the penalty area and shot into the near corner from 18 yards on the right...
Betis goalkeeper Dobras, who was robbed for the fifth time in the game, was in tears: "...This is so disappointing...Even our own people betrayed us! I don't want to play anymore..."
In the end, Barcelona defeated Betis 5-1 and won this timely away victory. The best player of the game was naturally Eto'o, who scored twice even after missing a penalty!
……
That night, the entire Barcelona team took a night flight back to Barcelona. It was a blessing to have a beautiful woman driving a Mercedes to pick them up at the airport late at night. Ronaldinho, Eto'o and others were so envious that only agents or bodyguards came to pick them up and whistled in envy...
Ricardo was very low-key. He got into Chiara's car with his tail between his legs and hurried home. This little guy was wearing too little to go out at night. He was looked down upon by others.
On the second day of training, Ricardo was notified by his boss that he was selected for the Champions League squad next week. It seemed that Rijkaard was rewarding him for his good performance in the previous game. Hmm, being selected for the Champions League squad twice in a row... Being on the bench is also a good start, isn't it?
Ricardo, in a good mood, took advantage of this opportunity and finally did what he had planned for a long time in the back seat of a Mercedes-Benz in a remote parking lot on the way to send Chiara to the airport under the cover of the dim night...
(In order to save time, I can only omit a thousand words here... The space is relatively small and I can't display it fully. Interested readers... use their imagination...)
As a result, Chiara almost missed her flight, but luckily she had no luggage to check in, and she arrived at the boarding gate in time when the second broadcast call came!
Chiara, who had just boarded the plane, was still catching her breath. She strongly condemned Ricardo's beastly behavior in her heart. Oh no, it was reckless behavior!
I just had it all come out while running! Uh, sorry, I was talking about ice cream...
……
At 9:27 on the evening of September 20th, local time in Barcelona, the second round of the UEFA Champions League Group C began: Barcelona welcomed the challenge of Serie A team Udinese at home!
Ronaldinho and Deco, who were benched by Rijkaard in last weekend's league, started in this game, replacing Edmilsson and Larsson respectively. Van Bronckhorst also replaced Sylvinho.
In addition, Messi, who had been sidelined for other reasons other than a groin strain, finally made his first start in the Champions League this season: the young Argentine player Messi, who obtained Spanish citizenship on Monday, replaced Giuly - it turned out that the non-EU quota was at work.
There was also good news. Although he scored a hat trick on the first match day, Iaquinta was excluded from the match lineup by Udinese coach Cosmi due to a contract dispute, and Barreto and Di Natale were replaced by him in the front line.
Seeing this self-defeating internal friction, Ricardo couldn't help but shake his head: "If Barcelona can still lose points at home in this situation...then Ronaldinho's father, you have to write me 200 autographed photos! Messi, you have to write me another 100..."
Barcelona's starting lineup for this game is still 4-3-3:
The goalkeeper is No. 1 Valdés;
The back line from left to right is No. 12 Van Bronckhorst, No. 23 Oleger, No. 5 Puyol, No. 2 Belletti;
The iron triangle in the midfield is No. 17 Van Bommel, No. 6 Xavi and No. 20 Deco;
The forward trident is No. 9 Eto'o, No. 10 Ronaldinho and No. 30 Messi.
In this game, Barcelona's midfield and frontcourt are truly a Dream Team II lineup: attacking, Udinese will definitely not be able to defend; as long as the back line does not make mistakes, Barcelona will definitely win a hearty victory...
Ricardo is very clear in his mind. Ronaldinho's father hasn't been to a nightclub for 4-5 days. He went there once before the league last weekend and hasn't been there again. He was holding back his emotions and was venting them in this game!
As expected, Barcelona, which had been in control of the situation since the kick-off, scored the first goal in the 13th minute of the game with a free kick from Ronaldinho's father!
First, Udinese's midfielder Vidigal fouled Messi who was dribbling through the penalty area when he returned to defense. He was penalized with a direct free kick and received a yellow card warning.
After taking a deep breath, Ronaldinho's father calmly took the free kick from 26 yards in the middle, drawing a wonderful arc. After passing the wall, the ball fell rapidly and hit the right post at the 9-minute corner!
Goalkeeper DeSantis had no reaction and could only watch the ball go into the net.
Although the speed meter showed that the speed of this free throw was less than 60 kilometers per hour, it can be seen that the angle of Ronaldinho's father's free throw was very tricky and the arc was exaggerated!
Barcelona then continued to rub against Udinese in the half, probably because of the big win in the previous round of the league with a rotation lineup, which completely stimulated the outbreak of the main players and frequently threatened Udinese's goal. Thanks to De Santis's high catch and defense, they were not defeated in the first 30 minutes...
While Barcelona was unable to break through the defense for a long time, Udinese took the opportunity to seize the loopholes in Barcelona's defense and stole a goal back through a counterattack!
Udinese equalized the score in the 23rd minute: First, Xavi failed to get into position in time during the transition from offense to defense, and Di Natale and Barreto made a wall pass to bypass Van Bommel's defense and then pressed Barcelona's defense to the vicinity of the penalty area...
Di Natale attracted the defense at the front of the penalty area and calmly faked a shot and passed the ball to Candela who came from behind, allowing the latter to shoot directly from 25 yards on the left!
The powerful shot, like a cannonball, was saved by Valdes... This was Udinese's first shot in the game and also the first shot on target.
Then Di Natale took a corner kick from the left side, and Barcelona's air defense was once again careless. Udinese center back Felipe pushed the ball into the goal with his left foot when there was no one guarding him 5 yards in front of the far goal, equalizing the score!
However, Barcelona took the lead again in the 32nd minute, thanks to Ronaldinho: the Udinese defense, which was broken up by the previous pass, allowed Eto'o to easily receive the ball and break into the penalty area. He then dribbled past Udinese center back Natali and made a triangle pass back to the penalty area near the bottom line on the right side of the penalty area...
Ronaldinho calmly pushed the ball from 14 yards on the left side of the penalty area, and the ball flew through the fingers of De Santis who fell to the ground and went into the far corner of the net! Ronaldinho's father scored twice in this game and helped Barcelona lead 2-0.
However, the first half was not over yet. In the 41st minute, Udinese midfielder Muntari fouled Deco in front of the penalty area, which was similar to the position of the first goal but slightly to the left.
Ronaldinho, who had already scored twice, generously gave the free kick opportunity to Deco who won this chance. The Portuguese player did not disappoint Ronaldinho. This right-footed free kick from 25 yards on the left also made a wonderful arc and went around the wall before falling into the near corner of the goal...
Goalkeeper DeSantis was once again helpless in getting the ball out of the net...
In the first half, Barcelona's overwhelming technical advantage made Udinese feel deeply desperate.
The Dream Team II entered the halftime break with a 3-1 lead.
Li Qi excitedly ran to warm up in the midfield. It seems that he may make his first appearance in the Champions League in the second half!
However, what made Li Qi even more overjoyed was that there was another surprise not long after the second half started...
In the 49th minute of the game, Eto'o received the ball and attracted the defense, then passed it to the right. Belletti received the ball and cut inside. If he broke through the last defender of Udinese, he would have a one-on-one chance! Vidigal, who came to defend, could only foul the Brazilian, and the British referee Bennett could only take out the second yellow card and sent him off...
Not only was Udinese trailing by a large margin, they were also one man short!
As a result, Barcelona controlled the situation more steadily in the second half, and Udinese, which was at a numerical disadvantage, found it even more difficult to achieve anything.
In the next 20 minutes, Barcelona and Udinese formed an attack and fired at the goal more than ten times, but unfortunately they failed to change the score... Then Barcelona made substitutions, replacing two players at once. Li Qi on the sidelines was very excited, as he could finally play in the Champions League!
No. 66 Li Qi came on to replace No. 6 Xavi, to assist Deco in organizing the midfield, and to assist Van Bommel in intercepting the midfield; No. 14 Esquillo replaced No. 30 Messi, and the youngster who had just recovered from a strain should be protected...
When Messi left the field, the audience gave the young Argentine player a warm round of applause!
Li Qi knew that the applause was definitely not for him. He was not that arrogant...
Although Messi did not score any goals or assists in this game, he did have several wonderful breakthroughs and passes, which posed a threat. This was also the reason why Rijkaard replaced Messi. He was worried that Udinese, who had lost both the game and the face, would kick Messi in the face if he broke through again. The youngster still doesn't know how to protect himself...
Li Qi had been on the pitch for less than 10 minutes and just when he had found his rhythm and was about to do something, Rijkaard made another substitution and played his last card of the game.
In the 79th minute of the game, Swedish striker No. 7 Larsson replaced the slightly tired Cheetah Eto'o.
So Li Qi had to change his strategy again and help Brother Larson find his rhythm and feeling first...
The game came to the last minute of regular time, and Li Qi finally won a chance. He suddenly played a series of wall passes with Esquillo at the front of the penalty area, and then faked a shot and passed it to Larsson who was diagonally inserted into the corner of the penalty area from the middle...
Larsson turned around without stopping the ball and made a fake move to deceive the opponent's close defender, then he made a low cross from the bottom!
Udinese center back Felipe had no choice but to foul Ronaldinho who had gained position in the penalty area, resulting in a yellow card and a penalty!
However, Barcelona's number one penalty taker would not concede penalties repeatedly like a certain weak-footed big cat who just came off the field. The Brazilian calmly punished the opponent and deceived the goalkeeper by changing the rhythm. He scored a hat trick with the penalty kick!
Eto'o suddenly sneezed off the field: "A-choo... someone seemed to be talking about me just now?"
Li Qi: "Let me tell you, Ronaldinho's dad, who hasn't been to a nightclub for a few days, will definitely perform well in this game!"
When the final whistle blew, the score of 4-0 allowed Barcelona, who had won two consecutive games, to top the group.
……
Another upset occurred in Group C this round. Bremen lost to Panathinaikos 1-2 away from home. Croatian striker Krasnic received a second yellow card in the 86th minute and was sent off.
What was this striker thinking? Was he accidentally diving or tackling the goalkeeper?
Ricardo, who didn't watch the broadcast, was also confused...
……
