After Messi took the corner kick, the football dropped straight into the penalty area.
After Piqué saw that Messi's corner kick was heading towards his head, he immediately jumped up to prepare for a header.
At the crucial moment, Varane got there first and successfully contested the ball in the air, completing the clearance.
Piqué looked at the young Frenchman and couldn't help but curl his lip.
"That damn French kid... Just as annoying as Fly!"
Piqué didn't say this out loud, so Varane didn't have a conflict with him.
In the 17th minute of the match.
Messi once again completed a brilliant move on the flank, dribbling past two players. This time, however, he relied on his individual ability, enduring Varane's interference to force a shot.
The football ultimately went slightly over the crossbar and did not hit the target.
Barcelona's consecutive attempts on goal slightly dampened the atmosphere among the home fans...
After all, no one feels good seeing their home team being suppressed on their own turf.
Wenger, on the sideline, watched silently with his arms crossed. He had anticipated this situation before the match.
Barcelona is arguably the strongest pressing team in football today.
It's normal to be suppressed by them for a while...
But as the saying goes, Barcelona players are also human, and humans will definitely get tired!
Barcelona cannot sustain the continuous offensive they've shown since the start.
Once their stamina drops, Arsenal's opportunity will come...
However, the situation on the pitch soon took a turn that Wenger hadn't entirely expected.
In the 20th minute of the match.
It was Messi again. After a beautiful one-two with Alves on the flank, he directly tore open Arsenal's defense and entered the penalty area.
This time, Messi chose neither to shoot nor pass, but kept the football under his control.
Facing Varane who came forward to pressure him, Messi simply lured him towards the byline.
Just as Messi was about to reach the byline with the ball, the Argentine king delivered a very sudden cutback pass. The football went straight through Varane's legs.
At the crucial moment, Koscielny did not mark Villa in the center.
The Spanish starting striker met Messi's pass near the penalty spot and took a first-time shot.
The football flew towards the goal like a cannonball.
Facing the point-blank shot, Szczęsny clenched his teeth and dove to save, but in the end, he could only watch as the football slipped past his fingertips and flew into the net, rippling the white fabric.
Barcelona 1:0 Arsenal, taking the lead!
"Messi crosses, Villa shoots!"
"Goal!!!"
"In the 20th minute of the match, Messi, after a beautiful one-two with Alves on the flank, dribbled straight into the penalty area."
"Ultimately, after deceiving Varane's position, he delivered a cutback pass to assist Villa, who was near the penalty spot, in scoring a goal!"
"Barcelona 1:0 Arsenal, getting off to a winning start!"
"It's worth noting that this is the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal's home ground, yet Barcelona was the one to score first."
"With an away goal already secured, Barcelona currently holds the advantage in the two-leg tie. How will Arsenal respond?"
When Peter's commentary spread via hanger TV Station, a large number of viewers watching the live broadcast on television began typing on their keyboards.
[Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap! Too awesome, worthy of Barcelona, worthy of Messi. To actually score first at Arsenal's home ground, the Dream Three dynasty lives up to its name...]
[Too strong, is this Barcelona's dominance? I feel like Arsenal, who have been undefeated in the Premier League this season, are completely no match...]
[Indeed, I feel like ever since Fly completed that shot, Barcelona has been completely on top. Could the gap between the Premier League's best and La Liga's best be that big?]
[I said it long ago, Arsenal can only show off in the Premier League. Once they come to La Liga, they'll get the crap beaten out of them!]
[Exactly, exactly... Before the match, some people were asking who was stronger, Fly or King Messi. Isn't it obvious? King Messi has already completed several one-on-two moves on the flank so far in this match and even provided an assist. What about Fly? So far, he only managed one shot by taking advantage of Barça's unstable footing at the start. For the rest of the time, he's been completely invisible. Is this it? Does he even deserve to be compared with King Messi?]
[Just a goal scorer, completely incomparable to Messi's king-like style of play... Even if Fly scores 100 goals in a season with this style, he can't touch Messi!]
[Hehe... Are the dwarf fans upstairs getting excited so quickly? Don't you know that Fly always starts to exert himself in the second half of the match? This is just the beginning, yet you're so impatient to jump out and act like clowns. Aren't you afraid of being killed by a boomerang!]
[It's fine, let these clowns jump around first, otherwise they won't be able to jump later. For now, just consider it watching a circus performance...]
After Barcelona scored a goal, the mood of the Arsenal fans at the stadium, after a brief period of low spirits, immediately erupted into even louder cheers and support.
When their team was trailing, they had to stand together with the players on the field.
The more crucial the moment, the louder the cheers and support from the stands should be...
"Kid, how about it? Did you see Leo's performance? That's the gap between you and him. Don't think scoring a lot of goals makes you great. Compared to a true superstar, you're still far behind!"
After seeing his team take the lead, Piqué couldn't help but let his foul mouth get the better of him, barraging Fly with chatter.
Fly looked at this famous football gigolo in front of him and simply chose to ignore him.
Seeing this, Piqué thought Fly had nothing to say and pressed his advantage, saying:
"Hahahaha, speechless, right? Kid, let me tell you this, you won't score a single goal in this match, I guarantee it!"
Seeing that Piqué was being so shameless, Fly couldn't be bothered to indulge him anymore and retorted directly:
"Heh... Before this, many defenders said such harsh things to me, but do you know what happened in the end?"
Fly paused slightly here, made an explosive gesture with his hands, and then continued:
"The result was that I completely destroyed them, understand? Don't worry, it will be your turn soon..."
Seeing how arrogant this kid Fly was, showing no sign of being aware of the score deficit, Piqué's temper flared up, and he mocked:
"Heh... Then I'll be waiting. I just hope this softie doesn't cry and call for his woman to comfort him after the match."
Speaking of this, Piqué seemed to remember something and provoked with a smile:
"My girlfriend is much better than your woman. What 'American pop diva', what 'next world diva', my girlfriend is the real world diva, much more famous than your woman..."
Hearing this, Fly just curled the corner of his mouth and asked lightly:
"Really? Then may I ask how much your woman earned last year? Being so famous, her money-making ability must be very strong, right?"
Piqué was slightly stunned upon hearing this. Although his girlfriend was a Latin diva, one of the top female singers in the world today.
But when it came to money-making ability, compared to Taylor Swift, who was known as the "music industry's ATM", the difference was not just a little bit.
After all, Shakira's fans were mainly distributed in Latin-speaking countries, which are South America, Southern Europe, and Africa.
And these places have a common characteristic: they are poor!
To put it bluntly, although Shakira was very famous and her global recognition was temporarily a bit higher than Taylor, who hadn't 'left the village' yet.
But when it came to money-making ability, she was completely incomparable...
Taylor's fans are mainly concentrated in the most economically developed regions of the world, North America and Western Europe, including Australia and New Zealand in Oceania.
The consumption power of fans in these economically developed regions is far beyond what Latin America, Africa, and Southern Europe can compare to.
This is also why Taylor, even though she is not yet a world diva, surpasses even a world diva like Beyoncé in terms of income alone.
The most crucial point is that Taylor is a genuine American, while Shakira is a Colombian with little presence.
In this era where the United States dominates the world and Asia has not yet fully risen, the cultural hegemony and cultural output of the United States are no joke...
It can be said that as long as you can conquer the American market and become a big star in the United States.
Then you can become a global superstar.
This is the situation with Taylor at this stage.
Even from a realistic perspective, she hasn't truly reached the level of a world diva yet.
But the fact is, Taylor is incredibly popular in her native North America, ridiculously popular.
In contrast, although Shakira is known as the Latin diva, she is not well-regarded in the United States.
This directly leads to their commercial value being completely incomparable.
When it comes to their true status in the world music scene, Shakira, with her reputation as the Latin diva, may not necessarily measure up to Taylor Swift, who is merely a "pop diva".
Thinking of this, Piqué's face turned somewhat unpleasant, and as he left, he dropped a harsh remark.
"Hmph, you gigolo who only lives off women! Your woman being great doesn't mean you are great. I will make you cry in this match and let the world know that you don't deserve your woman at all!"
Hearing Piqué's words, Fly couldn't help but shake his head and smile.
Seriously, Bro, that's it?
I just put in a little effort, and you're already triggered?
Fly felt that Piqué's psychological resilience was just about this much...
But it doesn't matter, this is just an appetizer. Fly swore that he would make him lose face completely later.
It's just being temporarily down by one goal, what's the big deal?
Haven't there been many matches this season where Arsenal conceded the first goal?
Didn't they all come back to win in the end?
The outcome of this match will be the same!
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