Chapter 618 - 320: Messi Gets Walked Again

The scene was chaotic. The players from both sides were gathered together, cursing at each other in different languages.

Klopp was the same.

He knew the Barça players were deliberately delaying time. He was so anxious that he even started speaking German, constantly complaining to the fourth official.

The fourth official relayed the situation to the head referee, who then waved for the Barça stretcher to be brought onto the field.

A full 4 minutes were wasted before the match resumed.

At this moment, the hot-headed Liverpool players finally came to their senses.

Barça had substituted off the injured Coutinho for Semedo, a defender.

Now, Barça had a total of 5 defenders on the field.

Faced with the aggressive Liverpool, even Barça had to park the bus at their own home ground.

With Barça sitting deep, Liverpool easily won back possession through their press.

And then, Keïta went down with a cramp, without any contact.

In this match, Liverpool's high press had been almost non-stop. To be able to last until now was already a testament to their strong will.

Klopp quickly substituted on Wijnaldum, who had already finished warming up.

The Barça side also began to slowly make their own substitutions to delay the match time.

By the time Valverde had used up all his substitution slots, the match had already reached the 87th minute and was about to enter stoppage time.

The Liverpool fans were anxious.

Although there had been a lot of conflict in this match, logically, the stoppage time should not be short.

However, this was 2019. Before 2022, the stoppage time would generally not exceed 4 minutes.

Soon, the match entered the stoppage time phase.

The fourth official on the sideline held up a sign for 5 minutes of stoppage time.

The Liverpool players on the field also began to get anxious.

For them, this was a race against time.

Under the pressure of time, the Liverpool army had almost all pushed past the Barça half, exposing the space behind them.

Rakitić found this opportunity.

This main player of the Croatian golden generation had won the Croatian Footballer of the Year award in 2015 and was the core of the Croatian national team's midfield.

Croatia's runner-up finish in last year's World Cup was largely due to his and Modrić's hard work.

BANG!

The ball was sent out from the Barça backfield like a sharp arrow, precisely piercing the space behind Liverpool.

On the sidelines, Klopp's heart skipped a beat.

And then, Thwack! The Argentine superstar, Messi, got to the ball first. His perfect ball sense allowed him to easily control the ball at his feet.

And then, he moved his legs and frantically charged towards the Liverpool penalty area.

Messi had started his charge. The entire Liverpool team frantically tracked back.

The defensive behemoth, Van Dijk, gritted his teeth and went up to challenge him.

If he could stop him, Liverpool would still have a chance to make a comeback. If he couldn't, Liverpool would bid farewell to this year's Champions League, because behind him, there was only the goalkeeper, Alisson.

Faced with the strongest defender in the world today, Messi erupted with a heaven-defying step frequency.

4 touches per second, his speed was even faster than Tendou's.

In a daze, Van Dijk thought he saw Messi dissolve into particles before his eyes.

By the time he came to his senses, Messi had already passed him.

BOOM!

The fans at the Camp Nou erupted.

A one-on-one with the goalkeeper.

For Messi, this was no different from scoring a goal directly.

However, the moment Messi shot the ball towards the Liverpool goal like a bolt of lightning, a long leg suddenly appeared in front of the ball's flight path.

Thwack!

The ball, under the watchful eyes of the fans all over the world, bounced out of the Liverpool penalty area.

Alisson had dived for nothing.

He landed and looked up, only to see Tendou had tracked back.

"A chance!"

"Rakitić!"

"He's found the space behind Liverpool!"

"A long pass!"

"Messi receives the ball!"

"He's advancing with the ball, facing the world's best defender, Van Dijk!"

"He's past him!"

"This is Lionel Messi! The king of the Camp Nou!"

"..."

The on-site Barça commentator had already stood up in excitement.

As Messi completed his shot with the fastest release on the planet, the four big letters "GOAL" were about to come out of his mouth.

However, just as he thought that Messi was about to score this decisive goal, Liverpool's number 44 had actually chased back and cleared the ball at the last moment!

The 80,000 fans at the Camp Nou let out a sigh.

However, this was not the end, but the beginning.

The match was about to enter its final climax.

Thwack!

The ball bounced out of the box. Arnold found it a few steps away.

And then, Tendou started his run like an arrow. Van Dijk, without a moment's hesitation, directly passed the ball to him.

Messi saw this and, without hesitation, chased after him.

Messi believes in God and has expressed his gratitude to God on many public occasions.

And just now, when his goal was ruined, he had felt a piercing killing intent.

He believed this was God's will.

If they didn't stop that Liverpool kid, they would lose.

Messi was very fast. Although he was not tall, his step frequency was heaven-defying. When he ran, his two legs were like afterimages.

But then, even so, he still found that he couldn't catch up to the advancing Tendou.

Busquets keenly sensed that his old man needed support and took the initiative to challenge him.

Lightning erupted from Tendou's eyes.

His azure pupils were terrifyingly cold, as unpredictable as the sky.

"Release!"

Tendou quickly pulled the ball back and changed direction, dodging past Busquets in an instant and continuing to advance.

And at this moment, Messi was still desperately chasing behind him.

"Holy shit! Messi is being walked again!"

A scene suddenly popped into the minds of Messi and the Barça fans.

It was a friendly match in 2006.

Brazil versus Argentina.

The son of God, Kaká, had run 70 meters, walking Messi like a dog across the entire pitch.

On the field, Tendou's steps had not stopped.

Messi and Busquets were desperately chasing behind him.

...

The Liverpool fans were holding their breath.

They gripped the scarves with the Liverpool crest on them.

Some were clasping their hands together and praying to God.

The Barça defensive line was on high alert.

Rakitić, who had just made the long pass, had to come over to help. He saw Tendou's speed was like a phantom.

"The Death Pendulum!"

Everyone recognized this move.

Because the first European club the "Alien" had played for was Barcelona.

Even if it was only for one season, R9 had still left a deep impression on the Barça fans.

"Barça's midfield defensive line has been pierced!!!"

Zhan Jun roared in the broadcast room, his face red with excitement, his heart pounding.

Barça's midfield defensive line had been brutally torn apart by Tendou.

Now, in front of Tendou, there was only the last line of defense.

Piqué took the initiative to challenge him, determined to use his body to stop him.

BANG!

The two bodies quickly collided. Piqué attempted to push Tendou away as he had in the last goal.

But Tendou was prepared this time.

Although he couldn't activate his "thorn armor" while running at high speed and send Piqué flying, with his preparation, he was still not too affected.

Under the dumbfounded gazes of the fans, the Liverpool superstar, after a strong collision with Piqué, only stumbled for a moment before regaining his balance.

He was still running with the ball!

Like a knife stabbing into Barça's heart!

The Barça defenders wanted to go for a slide tackle, but Tendou was too fast and had already broken into the Barça penalty area.

Ter Stegen charged out again, coordinating with his teammates to close down Tendou's shooting angle.

With a goalkeeper in front and two Barça defenders on the side, almost all possibilities of scoring were cut off.

But Tendou, his eyes and brain were frantically observing and turning at this moment. In the seemingly impenetrable defense, he had found a loophole.

"Swoosh!"