Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 609 The Frenzied Counterattack Speed
The whistle blew at the Camenes Stadium, marking the start of a crucial match in the La Liga title race.

Shan Yongzhuo has faced this Barcelona team more than once or twice, and personally, he feels that he is very familiar with this Barcelona team.

Barcelona's playing style has changed somewhat this season.

They passed the ball around less, no longer excessively pursuing possession, and instead relied more on attacks down the flanks.

However, as long as the core players remain the same, the core playing style is difficult to change.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, Barcelona's two most representative and lethal core players have been Ronaldinho and Messi.

Messi's style is very different from Ronaldinho's.

Even someone like Shan Yongzhuo, who isn't particularly talented in tactics, has been able to identify Messi's strengths and advantages after so many encounters.

In Shan Yongzhuo's view, Messi and he actually have a lot in common.

His most threatening area is the area around the penalty area, which is known in world football as the "Shan Yongzhuo Zone." In this area, Shan Yongzhuo's goal-scoring threat is extremely high, and many of his goals have been scored in this area.

And this is also where Messi poses the greatest threat.

Unlike Ronaldinho, who likes to roam the midfield, Messi's ability to organize and orchestrate the midfield is considerably inferior.

Messi's true brilliance lies in his ability to tear apart the opponent's defense with his speed and unparalleled dribbling skills, disrupt the formation in the area just outside the penalty area, either taking a shot himself or assisting his teammates with short passes.

This is Messi's greatest strength and most impressive skill.

However, the biggest problem with the 4-3-3 formation is that there is no striker in front to share the defensive burden with Messi.

This formation places Messi directly at the forefront of the central midfield.

Therefore, although the performances of players like Henry, Ibrahimovic, and Villa at Barcelona were criticized to some extent, their contributions were still significant. These players could all act as lone strikers, providing Messi with ample room to maneuver behind them.

But now, Barcelona no longer has that kind of person.

So when the match started, although Barcelona played a brilliant attack and directly dominated Granada away from home, anyone with even a little football knowledge could see that Messi was being contained.

The cunning Pellegrini also saw this weakness in Messi and directly used Van Dijk and Nainggolan to pin him down from both sides.

Moreover, after the start of the game, Granada's players deployed a very deep formation, leaving only Harry Kane in the attacking third. Even Shan Yongzhuo dropped back to his own half, which put considerable pressure on Barcelona's attack.

Furthermore, Barcelona has a significant problem: Alex Song, the midfielder, is unable to get up the pitch, and he is somewhat disconnected from the team's overall attack.

Therefore, Barcelona's attack largely turned into individual battles, becoming a personal showcase for the wingers.

It's hard to say that such an attack is very efficient.

Pellegrini completely adopted Atletico Madrid's strategy of eliminating Barcelona in the Champions League, using a tough defense to disrupt the connection between the two key players in Barcelona's 4-3-3 formation: Neymar on the wing and Messi in the middle, forcing them into individual battles.

This strategy has yielded excellent results.

In the opening ten minutes, Barcelona successfully suppressed Granada and launched more attacks. However, Granada's counter-attacks were quite effective.

In particular, Shan Yongzhuo's performance in this match was completely different from his previous ones.

Shan Yongzhuo is usually very lazy, so much so that people have always overlooked his current sprint speed.

However, in this match, Shan Yongzhuo constantly dropped back, and quite deeply at that, using his speed to launch counter-attacks. The combination of Shan Yongzhuo and Ziyech, two fast counter-attacking players, along with the support and playmaking of the striker Harry Kane, caught Barcelona off guard.

So much so that in those ten minutes of the match, many people had the feeling that Granada was very likely to score first.

It can be said that Pellegrini outmaneuvered Martino tactically, at least in terms of the pace of the game at the start.

The match had progressed to the 16th minute.

This time, Barcelona took a corner kick, and the disadvantage of not having a tall striker in front of them was once again exposed. They were no match for the ball in the penalty area, and Van Dijk cleared it with a header.

Nainggolan received the ball outside the penalty area, saw Shan Yongzhuo raising his right hand high, and then pushed the ball to Shan Yongzhuo.

That was a very comfortable pass.

The pass was designed with Shan Yongzhuo's sprint in mind, so he didn't need to stop to wait for the ball, nor would he be unable to catch up due to his speed. It was a perfectly timed pass.

Meanwhile, Shan Yongzhuo had already started to accelerate.

Through continuous training and improvement, his speed attribute has reached 97 points, which is an incredibly high number.

Normally, Shan Yongzhuo hides his speed and doesn't expose it too much, but once he unleashes it, it's astonishing.

Dan Yongzhuo sprinted forward with the ball, and even used the added advantage of his light-footed water-skimming skills, and Granada's counterattack was on again.

Barcelona quickly retreated to defend, but their speed was clearly not up to par. Shan Yongzhuo seized this opportunity and used two of his skills.

"Shan Yongzhuo's counterattack has begun!"

"We can see that Shan Yongzhuo's counterattack speed is extremely ferocious!"

"Alexander Song next to him was in a desperate situation; he didn't even have time to pull him away before he was beaten!"

"Incredible!"

Is Granada about to score first?

Dan Yongzhuo used his speed to leave Alexander Song behind, and under the effect of the whirlwind ground kick, Alexander Song could do nothing.

Busquets didn't have time to get back on defense, and now he only has Mascherano and goalkeeper Pinto to face.

Fifteen meters outside the penalty area, Shan Yongzhuo was met with Mascherano's defense.

Mascherano was well aware of his responsibility; even if it meant committing a foul, he had to stop him, otherwise the goal would be in danger.

Without hesitation, Shan Yongzhuo raised his foot, a signature shooting motion.

Mascherano no longer hesitated. Although the position was still ten meters from the penalty area line, it was already within Shan Yongzhuo's shooting range. Mascherano, who had faced Shan Yongzhuo many times, knew this well.

Without hesitation, he kicked out to block Shan Yongzhuo's shot.

However, the expected shot did not occur. Instead, Shan Yongzhuo changed his shot into a dribble, shifting his center of gravity accordingly, and skillfully bypassed Mascherano's attempt to shoot.

(End of this chapter)