Chapter 187: Overhead-Volley Relay, Camp Nou in Wails
Luis Enrique's Barcelona truly are a strong side!
They did not collapse because they were two goals down. After kickoff they learned their lesson: one touch to receive, one touch to play out, rapid passing that gave Arsenal players no chance to mark up — and therefore removed the risk of being dispossessed.
After three or four passes the ball was driven into Arsenal's heart.
Yossi and Ivan Rakitić played a wall on the right, beating Gustavo, then with a change of direction Luke Shaw was easily wrong-footed.
After shaking off Luke Shaw, Yossi did not continue charging — he suddenly clipped a lofted through ball over the top, sending the ball to the very center of Arsenal's penalty area.
In the middle, Luis Suárez timed his run perfectly and broke the offside trap — one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
Facing the keeper rushing out, Suárez did not volley wildly; he calmly lifted his foot to control the ball, then readied his strike.
The ball slipped between Arsenal keeper Martínez's legs.
It looked destined to nestle into the empty net, but at that crucial instant Per Mertesacker fell from the heavens and, as the ball was about to cross the line, hooked it away with his heel.
Yossi cut inside to follow up, but Martínez was faster: throwing caution aside he dove at the ball at Yossi's toes and slapped it over the goal line with his hand to deny the follow-up.
Suárez hammered the turf and Yossi planted his hands on his hips and shook his head in frustration.
Although Camp Nou was thick with regret and unwillingness, Barcelona fans still applauded the two warriors who had nearly scored.
Online fans debated:
"…Just unlucky. Barcelona's attacking patterns were fine; the players were fine — just lacked a bit of luck."
"This is why we love football. The charm isn't only in goals…"
"The fighting spirit of Mertesacker and Martínez throwing themselves in — domestic players like Fu Huan should take note."
On the live stream:
"Barcelona are finding their shape; Arsenal must be careful."
On the pitch, a corner was delivered but neither side could win the first contact in front of goal.
The ball came to the edge of the box and Martínez leapt high and flicked it out with one hand to Kevin De Bruyne.
De Bruyne's long pass sounded the call for Arsenal's counterattack.
Theo Walcott leapt on the right, trying to chest the ball down, but Jordi Alba also jumped and used his chest to knock him over.
The referee hesitated for a moment, didn't blow his whistle, and pointed toward Arsenal's goal to signal that Barcelona had the advantage in the attack.
Arsène Wenger stormed out of the dugout to the touchline and spread his arms toward the cameras in a helpless gesture.
Alba had not actually controlled the ball; it was Sergio Busquets behind him who collected it.
Barcelona passed again, but after the halfway line Ivan Rakitić, pressured by Santiago Cazorla, erred and handed the ball to Gustavo, who hurriedly fed it to De Bruyne.
De Bruyne delivered a diagonal ball that found Theo Walcott on the right.
Walcott didn't trap it — he lofted the ball into Barcelona's penalty area.
Gerard Piqué and Javier Mascherano didn't dare step up for an offside trap; with good understanding they turned and tracked back.
Summer Qi (Xia Qi) timing his run, seized the moment as the two turned, came from behind and forcefully burst through between them.
He leapt at the dropping ball; Piqué, behind Xia Qi and seeing Xia Qi rise for a header, panicked and grabbed Xia Qi's shorts, yanking them down.
Xia Qi was pulled down and couldn't head the ball; he stumbled and fell to the ground.
Such an obvious foul — and the referee still didn't blow his whistle.
Wenger, having had enough, marched to the fourth official and roared: "That's not a foul? His underwear is showing!"
The fourth official shrugged helplessly; that wasn't his call to make.
"…Xia Qi is down in the box, penalty package! Oh! The referee didn't blow… this home-town whistle is way too obvious."
In the box Xia Qi was furious; he pointed at his backside and said to the referee: "Referee, my little underwear showing isn't a foul? Do you need me to show my bare arse for you to pull a card?"
The referee replied: "That action wasn't enough to make you fall…"
"Referee, you jump up and let me pull you and see…"
"..."
Play continued.
Barcelona attacked again, but this time with greater patience: after twelve passes, when Arsenal's central defenders were exhausted by their circulation,
Andrés Iniesta suddenly threaded a through ball.
Yossi darted out of the crowd, nudged the ball forward with the inside of his left foot. Per Mertesacker thought it was a feint and did not react properly,
and was beaten by Yossi's feint-that-was-real.
Samuel Umtiti had not expected his partner to be so easily bypassed with a single poke.
He had no time to cover.
He could only watch as Yossi drove toward the keeper and dinked a low shot.
Martínez reacted initially, but the angle was awkward and the ball traveled quickly — he was helpless and had to watch his compatriot slip the ball through his fingers.
"Yossi with a shot — goal!"
"24th minute: Yossi opens the scoring and it's 1–2!"
"That was a textbook Tiki-Taka sequence: twelve rapid short passes to unpick Arsenal's defense and then the fatal strike."
At the moment of his goal Yossi became the hero of Camp Nou; all Barcelona fans sang his name in unison, and he ran to the touchline, raising both hands to accept their cheers.
Arsenal players stood in the center circle waiting for the Barcelona players to celebrate and return to position.
Play restarted.
Xia Qi passed back to Kevin De Bruyne, then turned and charged forward with Walcott and Mario Balotelli.
Barcelona's front three — Neymar Jr., Luis Suárez and Yossi — ran toward Arsenal's goal.
Both teams trusted their midfield control.
De Bruyne saw Barcelona's forwards press toward him and instead of immediately playing forward he passed back to draw them in.
Cazorla calmly held the ball at his feet, looked toward teammate Gustavo as if about to pass.
Neymar stuck a leg out to intercept.
Cazorla calmly pulled the ball from his left foot to the outside of his right and — with the outside of that right foot — curled a pass toward Xia Qi on the left in the front third.
Xia Qi jumped and chest-controlled the ball, cushioning it to land behind Dani Alves, then drove forward to get past Alves.
"Nice control. Alves' forward press became a liability — he tried to nick the ball while Xia Qi was trapping it, but Xia Qi caught him out and stopped the ball behind him."
"Xia Qi cut inside and passed."
"Balotelli receives it. He collides with Busquets but retains the ball."
"The ball goes back to Xia Qi. Busquets' defending is too physical this time and in chest-to-chest duels Balotelli's strength didn't win him the advantage."
On the pitch the ball returned to Xia Qi.
The Alves who Xia Qi had beaten was now back in front of him.
Xia Qi was thinking how to finish this attack when Alves lunged forward — Xia Qi hurriedly pulled the ball between his legs to shield it.
In the scramble he could only avoid losing the ball but couldn't avoid contact.
Then something unexpected happened: Alves ran into him and was the one to be knocked off his feet.
Xia Qi couldn't help but laugh out loud; though slightly disrespectful, it really was funny.
Alves, trying to emulate Busquets, hurt himself instead!
With Alves on the ground, the path to the inside was wide open. Xia Qi seized the chance, cut in sharply, and struck a powerful shot before Piqué could recover.
The ball flew past Piqué's ear with terrifying speed.
Marc-André ter Stegen had no time to react and the shot slammed off the crossbar with a loud "boom."
In the center of the box,
Balotelli and Mascherano sprinted after the rebound.
They raced who would arrive first.
The ball dropped.
Balotelli, crowded by Mascherano and ter Stegen, didn't shoot immediately.
Instead he flicked the ball backward.
Balotelli then booted the clearance away — a surprising "helpful" action that caught every Barcelona defender off guard, and apparently surprised his teammates as well.
At the landing point the late-arriving De Bruyne overran it, seeing the ball fly past his head.
He spun and attempted a back-heel bicycle kick!
"Shot!"
Amid Zhan Jun's loud call, there was a tremendous "boom":
"Boom!"
Almost all Arsenal fans felt the wind leave them and slumped into their seats.
Their only thought: unbelievably unlucky! Did these players go to the nightclub last night? Party then fail on the pitch?
But then the stadium DJ cried out: "Careful, it's in!"
Arsenal's substitutes and coaches raced to the sidelines to cheer…
Fans who missed the action craned their necks to look at the LED replay.
De Bruyne's overhead volley had hit the crossbar and bounced toward Xia Qi.
Xia Qi is not an elite-level calculator; like De Bruyne he couldn't pre-calculate the flight. By the time he saw the ball coming, it had almost sailed overhead.
In a flash Xia Qi imitated De Bruyne's move.
He turned, leapt and executed a bicycle kick!
This time the ball struck the inside of the post, and as De Bruyne had already dived for his earlier attempt, Xia Qi's follow-up was essentially an open goal.
"Goal!"
"Such drama: first Xia Qi's cut-in shot hit the bar, then De Bruyne's overhead volley hit the upright, and finally the initiator of the attack, Xia Qi, completes the bicycle-kick relay to score the fourth goal for his team. It's 1–3 now and Xia Qi has a brace."
"Luis Enrique's Barcelona may have a dazzling record, but their defense has been criticized. Arsenal's players have occupied the first, second and third rebound spots; had Barcelona won any one of those, Arsenal wouldn't have scored."
"Yes, Barcelona's defenders have left too much space for Arsenal's attackers. When MSN's front-line is working you can bully opponents, but when MSN isn't, defensive flaws become exposed…"
"It's 1–3 now. Barcelona not only lose home advantage, they make their next leg much more difficult."
After his goal Xia Qi stood behind Barcelona's goal and waved to Arsenal fans in the north stand.
Online:
"Xia Qi's goal — world-class; celebration — neighborhood-level."
"Better to be a domineering CEO and not celebrate. Xia Qi's skills rise but his celebrations get lamer."
"Near the end, go under the south stand and sun your shirt."
"I have a feeling: over two legs, one game will decide it. Tonight's pastries: five-kernel mooncake or seven-up or maybe Lafite?"
Camp Nou lost the joy from Yossi's goal; they'd clawed one back only to concede again — that stung morale.
Camp Nou was a chorus of wails; no team had ever made them so desperate. They couldn't understand why Arsenal were so hard to deal with.
It was all because of him!
Barcelona fans' hungry eyes turned toward Xia Qi, surrounded by his teammates at the center of the pitch.
"For Barcelona now the key problem is not only to quickly equalize, but to stop Arsenal from scoring again. Three away goals are already a lot; they can't afford another."
"Of course, pulling the score back is important. After tightening their defenses, they must try to reduce the deficit."
Play resumed and Barcelona slowed their tempo; they knew they could not concede again.
Possession football eats time; when Barcelona didn't push urgently, Arsenal's high press lost some bite.
In the remainder of the half Barcelona had two shots that didn't score, and Arsenal countered once — Xia Qi's setup to Balotelli flew into the stands.
Balotelli shrugged and asked Xia Qi why he'd sent such a close chance skyward.
Xia Qi smiled bitterly — volley strikes without control are only for the likes of Robin van Persie; for most strikers, including Cristiano and Messi, volleys score less often than controlled strikes off the chest. Xia Qi was no exception.
His earlier volley from ten meters flew away like an airplane.
When first-half stoppage time ended, the score remained 1–3: Barcelona two goals down.
Xia Qi had a brace; Yossi scored Barcelona's only goal.
Both teams walked into the tunnel with very different moods.
Across international broadcasts people dissected how mighty Barcelona could be beaten to such a degree by a supposedly weaker opponent.
Arsenal fans huddled together to get food and use the restrooms, afraid to be left alone and possibly be ambushed by furious Barcelona fans.
Barcelona fans crowded together discussing how to break the deadlock; they counted players on the bench, hoping to find a hero…
But it looked like the most dangerous player was already on the field!
What can they do? Panic sets in.
(END CHAPTER)
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