Chapter 210 Witness the first Chinese player to win the Champions League On the day of the Champions League final, a large number of promotional posters for the Champions League final were posted on the streets of Paris, the capital of France. A large number of fans wearing Barcelona and Arsenal jerseys appeared in the city. Most of them came from Spain and England to cheer for their favorite teams. Of course, in addition to the die-hard fans, there are also fans like Lin Feng who take a neutral stance and simply come to enjoy the high-level game. Lin Feng, Chen Tao and others arrived in Paris one day in advance and had a small gathering together after they met up. Someone originally suggested inviting Feng Xiaoting out for a get-together, but unfortunately Feng Xiaoting and his team were in closed training, and everyone was afraid that it would delay his preparations, so in the end they decided not to do so. "Guys, who do you think will win?" After great effort, I finally squeezed into the stadium and found my seat and sat down. Before the game started, Gao Lin couldn't sit still and started looking for topics to chat. Hearing Gao Lin's words, Zhao Xuri quickly said: "Need I ask? Of course I support Xiao Feng and his team. If Barcelona can win the championship, Xiao Feng will be the first Chinese player to win the Champions League!"
Cui Peng quickly added: "Not only that, I checked, before this, no one in Asia has ever won the Champions League. If Barcelona wins the championship today, then Xiao Fengke will become the first person in Asia!" Although this championship has nothing to do with them, everyone was still excited when they discussed it. Feng Xiaoting is their teammate and also their good friend. Seeing their teammates win the championship, they also felt a sense of honor. Hao Junmin said worriedly: "I just don't know if Brother Feng can play today!" This is also the issue that everyone is most worried about. In an important match like the Champions League final, both sides will try their best to arrange their strongest players to play. After all, Feng Xiaoting is not an absolute main player for Barcelona, so it remains to be seen whether he can play in the Champions League final. Everyone didn't have to wait long, and soon, both sides announced their starting lineups. As expected, Feng Xiaoting was not on Barcelona's starting roster. But in the 18-man roster, everyone found his name! Seeing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and Chen Tao said with a smile: "Fortunately, Xiao Feng is on the substitute list. If we need to strengthen our defense in the second half, there is a good chance that he will be able to play!" Mao Biao also said quietly: "I hope Arsenal will kick harder and kick Barcelona's defenders down sooner, so Feng Ge can play earlier!" As soon as these words came out, everyone looked at him sideways. You might as well stop playing football and go to the underworld and become the King of Hell! Chen Tao glared at him and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? If Barcelona's defenders are injured, then Barcelona will be in trouble. If they lose the game, then even if Xiao Feng plays, it may not be a good thing. He may even be blamed by the unscrupulous media after the game and be the scapegoat!" As everyone was chatting, the game soon began. As the saying goes, the weather was not good. It started raining over the stadium before the game even started. This game had to be played in the rain, which was not a good thing for both teams that were pursuing ground cooperation. But rain is ultimately more beneficial to Arsenal. After all, the weather in London is notoriously unpredictable. With their better adaptation to playing in the rain, Arsenal launched several threatening attacks on Barcelona's half shortly after the start of the game.
In the first 10 minutes of the first half, Arsenal frequently launched threatening attacks, especially their ace killer Henry, who turned Barcelona's defense upside down. If Henry had not seized the opportunity and missed a key chance in the penalty area, Barcelona might have encountered a nightmare start. Although Lin Feng has never played against Barcelona on the field, it is obvious from the players' condition that Barcelona is not in the best condition now. Seeing that Barcelona was at a disadvantage, everyone was a little anxious: "What's going on? Didn't the outside world say Barcelona has the upper hand? Why do they feel like they can't beat Arsenal?" "Their defenders were simply committing a crime, letting Henry get the ball in the penalty area so easily. If the goalkeeper hadn't made a heroic save, Barcelona would have lost the ball!" Gao Lin looked at Chen Tao and asked, "Brother Chen, you have played against Barcelona. Is this the true strength of Barcelona?" Chen Tao thought for a moment and shook his head, "To be honest, I don't know either. After all, we are too weak. We lost those two games, and we could clearly feel that the opponent didn't use his full strength." Cui Peng felt a little strange: "That shouldn't be the case. Barcelona beat you like a piece of cake, but you were able to play a close game with Juventus, and finally lost by an away goal. This shows that Barcelona is very strong. How come you played so badly? You don't feel the strength of a top team at all!" Cui Peng's words drew unanimous approval from everyone. Everyone felt that Barcelona's current performance was a little bit inconsistent with expectations and wondered if it was exaggerated. Lin Feng did not agree with what everyone said, and explained with a smile: "After all, it is the final, the players' mentality will inevitably be affected. In addition, the rain will affect the players' condition. The slippery ground can easily cause injuries to the players, so they dare not make any moves. Just now, when Giuly was intercepted by Ashley Cole, his feet obviously slipped and he was unable to catch up immediately. But fortunately, he had good physical coordination and finally got the ball and shot it. This shows that Barcelona's players are gradually adapting to the field and the rain! ” Like London, Milan is also a rainy city. Sometimes it rains seven or eight days in a month. If we are unlucky, it is possible that several games in a row will be played in the rain. Therefore, Inter Milan is not too afraid of playing in the rain. This is probably the reason why they were not affected by the away weather when they played against Arsenal! The situation in Barcelona seems to be different. My impression is that the weather in Spain is relatively dry and hot, and it doesn't rain often. I'm afraid that Barcelona's players are not really used to this kind of rain game. Although the team was at a disadvantage, Barcelona head coach Rijkaard looked quite calm. He stood on the sidelines with his hands in his pockets, his body straight, not caring at all that it was raining. Just like that, he stared at the court with his bright eyes, telling his players in this way that he was always with them. Rijkaard was tall to begin with, and his eccentric behavior of standing in the rain quickly attracted the attention of players from both teams. The Barcelona players were greatly encouraged when they saw their coach's actions. As they gradually adapted to playing in the rain, their psychological burdens gradually eased. Barcelona gradually stabilized its position and began to look for opportunities to launch a counterattack against Arsenal. Lin Feng looked up at the time on the scoreboard and said to himself: It’s coming! In the 17th minute, Arsenal made a defensive mistake in the midfield, not only failing to stop Ronaldinho, but also allowing the opponent to seize the opportunity to pass directly into the penalty area. Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann left the goal to attack, but accidentally knocked down Eto'o who had a one-on-one opportunity. The ball was shot into the net by another Barcelona striker Giuly, but the referee's whistle had already sounded when Lehmann committed the foul. The referee from Norway showed the Arsenal goalkeeper a red card without mercy and sent him off directly. This penalty caused an uproar at the scene and stunned the fans around the world who were watching the game. How long had the game been going on, and they had to send one player off?
And the one who was sent off was the goalkeeper, a key position? Doesn't this mean killing the game in advance and guaranteeing Barcelona the championship? Arsenal players obviously could not accept this penalty and immediately tried to appeal to the referee, hoping that he would show mercy. But the Norwegian did not intend to do so. He saw clearly that Lehmann grabbed Eto'o's ankle, which was definitely a red card! "Alas, Lehmann's red card is too fatal for Arsenal!" "Yes, with a player being sent off so early, Arsenal can only make substitutions passively. In this case, they must ensure the integrity of the back line, so they will most likely have to start with the offensive players. Arsenal are already one man short, and if they replace another offensive player, Arsenal's offensive threat will be greatly reduced. Barcelona can attack Arsenal with confidence!" The two commentators looked at each other and saw the regret and helplessness in each other's eyes. In fact, the referee could have been more flexible. When Eto'o was knocked down, the ball was still at the feet of the Barcelona players. According to the principle of offensive advantage, there is no need to blow the whistle at that time. Since Giuly's shot went in, the goal should be judged valid, and Lehmann, who committed the foul, should be given a yellow card warning. In this way, Barcelona scored a goal, Arsenal retained hope, and the viewing quality of the game was not affected. Such a penalty was obviously more reasonable. But unfortunately, the referee of this game failed to make such an adjustment. Now that the game situation has completely reversed, Arsenal, who are one man down, will definitely focus on strengthening their defense. Although Barcelona has the advantage in numbers, it will also be a headache to figure out how to break through the opponent's goal. More importantly, the imbalance in the number of people will greatly reduce the viewing experience of the game. A game that everyone was looking forward to was ruined just like that. As expected, Barcelona gained the upper hand, and Arsenal, with 10 men, could only rely on defensive counterattacks to deal with their opponents. But facing Arsenal's iron-clad defense, Barcelona was helpless for a while. In the 36th minute of the game, Arsenal's counterattack caused Barcelona captain Puyol to foul. Arsenal won a free kick in the frontcourt, Henry kicked the ball into the penalty area, the ball flew over the heads of several Barcelona players, Arsenal defender Cambril rushed forward a few steps, accurately predicted the landing point, jumped high, overpowered the Barcelona defender, and headed the ball into the goal. Arsenal, who played with 10 men, unexpectedly took the lead! This scene was completely beyond the expectations of everyone present. The tens of thousands of Arsenal fans in the stands were all in disbelief, and after they realized what was happening, they began to celebrate wildly. On the sidelines, Wenger, who had been frowning since seeing Lehmann being sent off, finally breathed a sigh of relief after seeing Campbell's goal. The further the game goes on, the more disadvantageous it will be for Arsenal. Because they were forced to play with 10 players, in order to make up for the defect of one less player, each player had to run more than usual and consume more physical energy. So in the second half, Arsenal might not be able to hold on. But now, with this crucial goal, Arsenal feels much better. The hope and morale boost it brings to the players can help them persevere longer. Barcelona, who fell behind unexpectedly, launched a fierce attack on Arsenal in the last minute of the first half, but failed to score in the face of Arsenal's united defense and were forced to enter the locker room with a score of 0:1. In the stands, except for Lin Feng, everyone else looked at each other in bewilderment.
Gao Lin couldn't help but complain: "It's outrageous. Barcelona is playing with 11 players against 10. Are they going to lose?" Hao Junmin: "Arsenal is unexpectedly much stronger than expected. I feel that if no one was sent off, Barcelona might not be their opponent in this game!" Cui Peng patted Hao Junmin on the shoulder and said: "What you said is true. You are not unaware of your brother Lin's strength. Since Arsenal can eliminate Inter Milan, how can they be easy to deal with?" Lin Feng was speechless. Inter Milan was not very strong, and Arsenal's elimination of Inter Milan would not prove anything. But Hao Junmin seemed to be convinced and nodded: "Yeah, that makes sense. I thought Barcelona was more favored because they defeated AC Milan in a strong dialogue. But Inter Milan beat AC Milan twice in the league, and Arsenal also beat Inter Milan twice. With this calculation, it seems that Arsenal is really stronger!" Lin Feng was even more speechless. What kind of football chess is this? Is there such a calculation? Each team has a different style, and there may be restraint between them. You can't assume that A is stronger than C just because A beats B and B beats C. He replaced Larsson and asked Barcelona to play with four forwards to further stretch the offensive line. This trick worked wonders! Larsson lived up to the head coach's expectations. After coming on the pitch, he first assisted Eto'o to score in the 76th minute to tie the score. Five minutes later, he made a wonderful pass to Belletti, who also came on as a substitute, allowing Barcelona to overtake. In just five minutes, the situation on the field was completely reversed. Barcelona, which was one goal behind before, now has an absolute advantage. Arsenal, who were outnumbered and exhausted, tried to launch an attack but were unable to turn the tide. After 90 minutes of play, the Gunners had to accept the fate of a 1-2 defeat. In the end, Barcelona relied on its numerical advantage and a five-minute burst in the second half to beat Arsenal 2-1 to win this season's UEFA Champions League and become the "double champion" of La Liga and European champions. After the game, when the fans of the Red and Blue Army were immersed in the joy of the club winning the second Champions League trophy, far across the ocean, Chinese fans were also cheering for the first player in Chinese history to win the Champions League. In the 85th minute of the second half, Feng Xiaoting came on as a substitute, replacing Puyol who was exhausted and had cramps. Although there was little time left in the game, he still played and participated in the game instead of just acting as a water dispenser manager throughout, and he got a championship. Moreover, when Feng Xiaoting came on the court, Arsenal had not given up the attack. His several performances in defense were also remarkable, winning the trust of his teammates and head coach. Lin Feng and others did not leave immediately after the game, but waited until they saw Feng Xiaoting hold up the championship trophy with their own eyes before leaving with satisfaction. "Come on, brothers. I hope to see you in the Champions League in the future!" “I look forward to seeing you hold the trophy in the future!” (End of this chapter)