Capítulo 252: Manchester City's Secret Tactic Shocks Everyone!
After the 33rd round of the Premier League, it was time for the Champions League again.
Like Manchester City, after their game against Real Betis, Barcelona arrived in Manchester two days early to prepare.
They used Manchester United's training base, just a few hundred meters away from Manchester City's. To avoid leaking any tactics, Pellegrini closed the training grounds to the public, sending fans and journalists away.
This move immediately sparked speculation:
"Is Manchester City planning something big?"
"Looks like it. I don't think they've ever done closed training before, this seems like a first."
"I wonder what Pellegrini has planned to counter Barcelona!"
Manchester City fans were very supportive of the decision to close training. After all, advancing in the Champions League was the priority. Not being able to watch the training didn't matter as long as they could reach the semifinals.
Of course, if Pellegrini kept training closed for too long, the fans wouldn't be happy.
For Premier League fans, seeing Manchester United in trouble, City might be the league's last hope. Naturally, they wanted Manchester City to defeat Barcelona at home, keeping the Premier League's pride alive.
Last season, no English teams made it to the quarterfinals, making the Premier League look weak compared to La Liga and the Bundesliga.
This season, Manchester City and Manchester United reached the quarterfinals, slightly redeeming the league's reputation.
But that wasn't enough. If an English team could reach the semifinals or even the final, it would mark the Premier League's resurgence!
At its peak, English teams frequently reached the final, even resulting in an all-English clash between Manchester United and Chelsea.
But last year, as top teams like United started to decline, the Premier League's Champions League performance hit a low point.
This season, Manchester United struggled, Chelsea's lack of firepower was evident, and Arsenal, as usual, was unreliable. Seeing no hope in these teams, fans put all their hopes on Manchester City.
However, for Spanish media and Barcelona fans, Manchester City's closed training left them displeased.
Barcelona's scouts had hoped to observe Manchester City's practice, but when they arrived, they found the training ground sealed off. Their plan to gather intel failed.
The Spanish media seized on this, accusing Manchester City of fear. They claimed the Premier League's future champions were scared of Barcelona.
Suddenly, stories of "Manchester City fearing Barcelona" flooded Spanish media outlets, though the British media largely ignored them.
Manchester City didn't respond to the taunts. Whether they feared Barcelona or not would be evident on the pitch.
At the pre-match press conference, Martino confidently announced that he had found a way to counter Manchester City and promised that Barcelona would leave Manchester with a victory and a spot in the semifinals.
Pellegrini, trying not to laugh at Martino's bold claims, answered reporters' questions with a playful smile:
"Yes, we've prepared something new. As for what it is, you'll have to wait and see on the pitch."
The Manchester City manager teased the reporters without revealing any details, fueling more curiosity. Everyone knew City had conducted closed training, and now they were desperate to know what had been prepared.
Upon hearing Pellegrini's comments at the press conference, Martino began to worry. What 'surprise' did Manchester City have in store for Barcelona?
The more he thought about it, the more unsettled he became.
...
April 10, 2014, at the Etihad Stadium. The second leg of the Champions League quarterfinal between Manchester City and Barcelona was underway.
Ten minutes had passed, and the score was still 0-0, but Manchester City's tactics had left everyone in shock!
"Wait, am I seeing this right? Manchester City is using the traditional English long-ball tactic against Barcelona?"
Sky Sports commentator Andy Gray was wide-eyed in disbelief as he watched City launch repeated long balls from the back toward their forwards.
"It looks like it's really long-ball football. This kind of tactic is rarely used in the Premier League anymore. Why is Manchester City suddenly employing it?"
Martin Tyler was equally puzzled. Long-ball football was typically associated with mid-to-lower-table teams, and elite clubs usually avoided this simple, low-skill strategy.
With the spread of technical football, even mid-table teams in the Premier League had begun adopting more sophisticated passing styles, moving away from long-ball tactics.
Yet, here was Manchester City, reverting to this old-fashioned, seemingly outdated approach.
What was going on?
Barcelona manager Martino was asking himself the same question. Was this the secret tactic Pellegrini had mentioned?
Was this what City had spent days preparing in closed training?
Is this a joke?
In the last match, Manchester City's counterattacks had frightened Barcelona. To counter this, Martino had specifically instructed his players to limit City's playmakers—Kroos and De Bruyne.
In the previous match, Barcelona hadn't been familiar with these two and failed to properly restrict them, allowing them to orchestrate City's counterattacks. But this time, they wouldn't make the same mistake.
However, to Martino's surprise, Manchester City had changed their tactics.
Instead of relying on specific players to start counterattacks, City's plan was simple: whenever they won the ball, any player could initiate a counterattack by launching a long ball into Barcelona's half.
This time, instead of starting Sergio Agüero, City had opted for Negredo, a tall striker capable of holding up the ball and providing a target for long passes. He could serve as a central pivot, allowing teammates to join the attack.
In the first ten minutes, Manchester City had already tried this approach three times.
Although Martino couldn't understand City's game plan, since it hadn't worked yet, he decided to stay calm and observe for a while longer.
After another failed Manchester City counterattack, Barcelona defender Bartra glanced disdainfully at Negredo, who had tried to challenge him for the ball.
Did they really think such a simple tactic could trouble Barcelona?
Impossible!
Negredo noticed Bartra's look of disdain but resisted the urge to flip him off. Instead, he thought to himself, "Just wait, you won't be laughing for long!"
The Manchester City fans at the Etihad didn't know why their team was using this tactic, but every time a long ball was launched forward, they roared in approval.
This was classic British football, exactly how they liked it!
They found Barcelona's intricate passing dull—dozens of passes with no shots, putting them to sleep.
But when Manchester City strung together passes as beautifully as Barcelona, their cheers were even louder.
See? Our City can play this fancy football just as well as any top club. Manchester City is the best!
Yes, this was the double standard of football fandom.
...
In the 17th minute, Manchester City launched another counterattack.
This time, unlike the previous attempts, the pass came from Toni Kroos.
The German midfielder delivered a perfect long ball, finding Lin sprinting down the flank.
Kroos' passing was a cut above the rest of City's players. Not only was it accurate, but the weight of the pass was also perfect.
Lin easily received the ball on the wing and, while charging toward Barcelona's penalty area, glanced at his teammates' positions.
To maintain a solid defensive shape, City only committed four players to their attacks.
Among the four, only Negredo had gotten ahead of Lin, but he was closely marked by Bartra, with Busquets trailing behind. Passing to Negredo would likely result in an interception.
Seeing this, Lin decided against passing and instead drove toward Barcelona's box himself.
Jordi Alba had initially moved to intercept the ball, but Lin beat him to it.
Alba was immediately on high alert. He knew how dangerous Lin's dribbling could be, so he didn't dare dive in. Nor did he get too close, focusing instead on blocking Lin's path toward the middle, hoping to force him wide and away from goal.
This tactic might have worked against a typical winger, but it was far less effective against someone like Lin, who loved to cut inside and shoot.
Lin deftly shifted the ball left as he moved horizontally across the field, dragging Alba along.
Alba could feel himself falling behind. If he let Lin continue like this, the space for a breakthrough would open up. In desperation, Alba stuck out a foot to intercept.
This was exactly what Lin had been waiting for. As soon as Alba stretched his leg, Lin performed a lightning-fast roulette move, slipping past him.
With Alba beaten, Mascherano was forced to slide over to cover, and Bartra also shifted to mark Lin, leaving Negredo to Alves, who had tracked back.
As soon as the two Barcelona defenders shifted, Lin played a pass to Negredo.
Negredo stopped his forward run, dropped back to receive the pass, and immediately laid it off back to Lin.
This was a rehearsed tactic that City had practiced countless times in training. If Lin could burst through now, he'd be clean through on goal.
Sensing the danger, Barcelona had no choice but to commit a tactical foul, with Bartra bringing Lin down just outside the box.
The referee issued a yellow card to the Barcelona defender and awarded Manchester City a free kick.
"If you can't stop him, commit the foul earlier. Don't wait until he's near the box!" Alves sternly scolded Alba, whose poor decision had nearly put Barcelona in serious trouble.
Had City scored, Barcelona would've needed to net three goals to advance.
After seeing his players stop City's attack, Martino breathed a sigh of relief, wiping the sweat from his brow.
If Manchester City had managed to score using such a simple tactic, Martino might have been ready to quit on the spot.
Imagine the mighty Barcelona, brought down by old-fashioned long-ball football. The thought alone was enough to make him cringe.
City's free kick didn't amount to anything, and now it was Barcelona's turn to attack.
Compared to the last game, Barcelona played more cautiously today.
To avoid giving City any opportunities for counterattacks, they circulated the ball patiently, refusing to shoot unless a perfect chance presented itself.
Barcelona had been playing possession-based football for years, and their mastery of the style was undeniable.
Their key to victory lay in passing, movement, and positional interchanges to pull the opposing defense apart, gradually wearing them down both physically and mentally.
Most teams that faced Barcelona eventually succumbed to impatience.
While it was easy to concentrate in short bursts, maintaining focus for an entire game was much harder.
Facing Barcelona required unwavering concentration for the full 90 minutes. One lapse in focus could gift them a scoring opportunity.
Many players could keep up with Barcelona's rhythm early on, but as fatigue set in, their concentration wavered, leading to mistakes.
Modern football relied on cohesive team defending. Coaches always emphasized maintaining defensive shape.
But if one player broke away from the unit to press alone and failed to win the ball, it could expose a gap in the defense.
The reason was simple: if one player pressed and his teammates didn't follow suit or were a step too slow, gaps would appear between them. Against a team as clinical as Barcelona, even the smallest mistake could lead to a goal.
All Barcelona had to do was wait patiently for their opponent to slip up, then punish them for it.
At their peak, Barcelona were ruthless at capitalizing on these chances. Even top teams had to play cautiously against them, knowing one mistake could be fatal.
While today's Barcelona wasn't as dominant as they had been, with Messi, Neymar, and Iniesta still on the pitch, their ability to exploit mistakes remained formidable.
However, today, Manchester City was playing with great confidence.
They showed no fear of Barcelona's passing game, with their players pressing aggressively. Even when they made mistakes, their teammates quickly covered, making it hard for Barcelona to capitalize.
Barcelona were growing frustrated, feeling as though their opponent had leveled up since their last encounter, becoming even more challenging to deal with.
Pellegrini, having found success in the previous game, once again instructed his team to focus on limiting Xavi's influence. As a result, Barcelona's playmaker struggled to dictate the game.
In his younger days, Xavi's ability to evade pressure had been remarkable. His signature 'magical turns' were a hallmark of his game.
But now, at 34, Xavi's physical attributes had declined. If it were the start of the season, he might still be in decent form.
But this late in the season, after months of matches, fatigue had taken its toll, and his performance had noticeably dropped.
Under constant pressure from Yaya Touré, Xavi was struggling.
It's up to you now, Iniesta, Messi!
Under heavy pressure from Yaya Touré, Xavi managed to pass the ball to Iniesta.
Iniesta played a one-two with Messi, shaking off Kroos' challenge and returning the ball to Messi.
But as soon as Messi received the pass, Demichelis slid in and brought him down.
The referee immediately blew his whistle, awarding Barcelona a free kick.
This was Barcelona's third set-piece opportunity in the match. The first two hadn't amounted to much, but this one was in a promising position. After a brief discussion, Iniesta and Messi decided that Messi would take the shot.
Messi placed the ball directly in front of the goal, while Joe Hart directed his defenders to form a wall on the right side. Hart himself positioned slightly to the left, covering the other side of the goal. No matter where Messi aimed, it would be tough to score.
Messi glanced at the wall and the goalkeeper's positioning before making his decision.
Most free-kick specialists in this situation would aim to curl the ball over the wall and into the top-right corner.
This would make it harder for the goalkeeper to reach. With a perfectly placed shot, it would be nearly impossible to save.
However, this required great precision, as the ball had to clear the wall but still dip under the crossbar.
More often than not, such attempts either struck the wall or sailed over the bar.
The alternative was to shoot toward the left side, but that would mean trying to beat the goalkeeper directly, which was no easy task.
Messi chose neither option. Instead, he aimed straight down the middle, as if he were taking a penalty!
This move caught the Manchester City players by surprise. Joe Hart scrambled to react, diving toward the center of the goal. But the shot was too fast, and Hart knew he couldn't reach it in time.
Was City about to concede so early at home?
Hart cursed himself in frustration.
The City fans collectively gasped, realizing the danger.
Meanwhile, Barcelona fans clenched their fists, ready to erupt in celebration as soon as the ball hit the back of the net.
But just then, a figure appeared in the ball's path, blocking the shot with his body.
Hart looked up in shock and saw the number on his teammate's back—10!
Lin had stepped up at the crucial moment to block Messi's seemingly unstoppable free kick!
After blocking the shot, Lin let out a sigh of relief.
Seeing Messi's stance, Lin had guessed that he might try a direct shot through the middle.
It wasn't something Messi often did now, but in another reality, it was one of his signature moves.
Barcelona took the resulting corner kick, but Hart came out confidently to catch the ball.
He let out a loud shout and quickly rolled the ball out to initiate a counterattack for Manchester City.
It was City's turn to strike back!
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