When Fly equalized, the Barcelona players didn't panic. Instead, they calmly continued to keep the ball under control.
For these seasoned players, Fly's goal was nothing more than a death throe...
Once the game settled into their familiar rhythm, Barcelona would undoubtedly defeat Arsenal!
Of course, among them, two players were feeling particularly annoyed.
They were Piqué and Alves, who had just finished trash-talking Fly.
Piqué and the future "Prison King" were truly embarrassed at this moment.....
They had just mocked Fly, only to be slapped in the face immediately.
They have pride too, okay.....
However, Fly seemed to have forgotten about it, never mentioning it or putting pressure on the two.
Piqué and Alves thought the matter was over and breathed a collective sigh of relief.
But little did they know, how could the narrow-minded Fly let it go just like that?
He was just temporarily focusing on the match, as winning the game was the most important thing for him.
Only by winning the game could he properly mock Piqué and Alves.
Otherwise, what right does a loser have to mock?
In the 42nd minute of the match.
Xavi delivered an unexpected through ball, which went straight between Alexandre Song's legs and was received by the overlapping Iniesta.
The latter played a first-time through ball, sending the ball to the right side of Arsenal's penalty area.
Messi received the ball, dropped his shoulder to change direction, easily bypassed Clichy, entered the box, and immediately followed up with a shot.
The ball was eventually saved by Szczęsny but rebounded off the inside of the right post and bounced into the six-yard box.
Villa immediately went for the rebound, but Koscielny was quicker and slid the ball out for a corner.
Barcelona won another corner.
However, this time, Messi's corner found Piqué at the far post. The Spanish center-back overpowered Varane, who was marking him, and headed the ball.
"Bang————"
A crisp sound of the ball hitting the crossbar rang out, and Arsenal survived.
Piqué saw that he had missed a golden opportunity and covered his face in self-reproach.
"Damn it... How did that not go in? God is really not on our side!"
"Beep, beep————"
Following Van Persie's shot that flew over the bar in first-half injury time, Arsenal and Barcelona were level at 1-1 at halftime.
Back in the locker room, Arsène Wenger only emphasized two points, telling the players to be patient and not impulsive.
Against Barcelona's frustrating style of play, the most important thing was to maintain patience and not be led by the nose....
After briefly encouraging Clichy, who had been comprehensively beaten by Messi in the first half, Arsène Wenger finally looked at Fly and said slowly:
"Fly, save your energy for now in the second half. Just exert yourself when it's most needed. I believe in you!"
Fly was touched by the Boss's trust.
"Don't worry, Boss.... I'm in excellent form this match. Scoring two more in the second half won't be a problem!"
"That's good. I believe you can do it!"
The 15-minute halftime break passed in a flash. Fly walked onto the pitch accompanied by Wilshere and Fabregas.
"Jack, Cesc, pass me the ball after 60 minutes, you know what I mean....."
Seeing Fly's eye signals to them, Wilshere and Fabregas nodded.
In such a high-pressure situation, they relied heavily on Fly.
Even though Wilshere and Fabregas had played exceptionally well in this match, especially the former, who held his own against Barcelona's "XaviestaBusquets" trio.
But they had long been accustomed to giving the ball to Fly to handle when the game was difficult.
This habit made them blindly choose to trust Fly.
They believed that Arsenal's super star player would definitely step up and turn the tide when the team needed him!
However, what Wilshere and Fabregas never expected was that the "difficult situation" they envisioned would arrive so quickly.....
In the 50th minute of the match.
After 5 minutes of passing the ball around since the start of the second half, Barcelona had completely pulled Arsenal's defense out of shape.
When Xavi noticed a clear disorganization between Arsenal's midfield and defense lines, he immediately realized an opportunity had arisen.....
Initially, he just passed the ball to Iniesta again, just as he had done many times since the start of the match.
The Arsenal players also didn't raise their guard, and it was precisely this oversight that gave Xavi the chance.
When Xavi passed the ball to Iniesta, Iniesta didn't pass it to Alves or Maxwell, but instead passed it back to Xavi.
Facing Iniesta's gentle pass, Xavi suddenly accelerated with a very quick short pass.
The understanding Iniesta jogged a step to receive the ball and immediately backheeled it to Villa a few meters in front of him.
The Spanish striker saw the pass and used his body to firmly hold off Koscielny behind him, then faked a move to the right, but with a flick of his ankle, passed the ball to the left side of the penalty area.
The timely overlapping Pedro received the ball and executed a fake shot, real pass, directly deceiving Varane's center of gravity. Villa, who had surged forward through the middle, braced against Koscielny's interference, preparing to force a shot.
Just then, Villa made a very intelligent dummy, letting the ball go behind him.
Koscielny, who was marking him tightly, was caught off guard by Villa's move. By the time he realized the ball had gone through his legs, it was too late to intercept...
"Not good!"
Koscielny suddenly realized something. With him being tied up by Villa, who could be in the space behind him?
Barcelona only had three forwards in total: Pedro, who passed the ball, Villa, who dummied it, which left the obvious one...
Messi!
Sure enough, when Koscielny turned around, Messi, who had used acceleration to temporarily shake off Clichy, struck the rolling ball with a direct shot.
A shot from this distance, and the shooter was Messi!
Basically, the goalkeeper could only pray to god...
After Messi's shot, the ball instantly turned into a cannonball, flying straight towards the Arsenal goal.
Szczęsny instinctively attempted a save against this ruthless shot, but it was ultimately futile...
The ball flew into the net, kicking up white spray.
Messi scored a goal just 5 minutes into the second half, helping Barcelona take a 2-1 lead over Arsenal again.
"GOOOOOOOOOAL!!!"
"Number 10, Léo Messi!!!"
"What a beautiful combination, what an intelligent dummy, what a ruthless shot."
"It's crazy, this is Barcelona!"
"They operate like a perfectly seamless machine in attack, making even the strong Arsenal feel exhausted....."
"Finally, it was when the Arsenal players were tired that Xavi gave the signal for the attack, Iniesta provided the transition, Villa and Pedro linked up with their intelligence, and finally, the Argentine King, Maradona's successor, Messi, finished it!"
"Oh my god..... This is truly a beautiful attacking masterpiece, unparalleled!"
"Arsenal are in danger now. They are trailing Barcelona 1-2 at home. The situation is not good..."
"Fly, perhaps you should step up and save the team again, just like you've done in previous matches."
Seeing the team concede another goal shortly after the restart, Fly couldn't help but smile wryly.
"Sigh.... The current squad is still lacking something. Their tactical execution isn't top-notch."
Fortunately, Fly was well-prepared mentally, so he didn't feel irritated for the time being.
No need to!
After all, the opponent is Dream Three Barça, isn't it normal for the team to be trailing?
Of course, while trailing is normal.
Fly was very clear about one thing: Barcelona has always been a "home dragon, away worm" in the Champions League.
That is to say, their performance away from home is completely different from their performance at home.
This characteristic holds true even for Dream Three Barça!
Therefore, if Arsenal truly want to overcome Barcelona, they must win this match!
Otherwise, if they can't win away, going to the devil's home ground, Camp Nou, will be like seeing a living ghost...
Even with all his cheats, Fly wasn't confident he could defeat Barcelona at Camp Nou!
"Can't concede any more goals, otherwise, even with cheats, it will be difficult to win this match..."
To ensure the team didn't concede any more goals before he activated his cheats, Fly even participated in some defensive actions.
To win this match, Fly was truly giving his all.
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