Chapter 179: La Liga

Dongqiudi pinned: Match in progress, La Liga's Tianwangshan, Villarreal vs Barcelona.

【Messi is finally facing Tang the King】

【Messi doesn't look good today—is the pressure getting to him?】

【Neymar's form is average too; Barcelona's chances in this match are truly worrying】

【I'm betting on the Huang … I'm betting on Villarreal】

"Here!"

Tang Ye sprinted toward the flank to Gaspar, pointing to an open space on the right wing, signaling him to pass the ball in that direction.

Iniesta suddenly surged forward—he had been positioned deeper, but now accelerated straight to Tang Ye's side.

"Don't pass!"

Tang Ye couldn't guarantee he'd win the ball from Iniesta, so he urgently signaled Gaspar not to rush the pass.

With no choice, Gaspar pulled the ball back and continued scanning the central and left areas.

Messi charged toward Gaspar.

"Messi!"

"Messi!"

The away fans and neutral spectators erupted in loud cheers.

Gaspar was under immense pressure—he kicked the ball sharply to goalkeeper Asenjo.

At the exact moment Messi pressed Gaspar, Suárez and Neymar sprinted toward Asenjo.

"Though playing away, we can see Barcelona is applying tremendous pressure—Messi, Suárez, and Neymar's aggressive pressing is making Villarreal suffer greatly."

"Musaquio tries to help—Asenjo plays it out."

With a sharp kick, Musaquio, after gaining possession, decisively launched the ball out of bounds.

It wasn't that Musaquio didn't want to pass forward—it was that Suárez and Neymar had completely blocked all his passing lanes.

If he passed forward, he had a 50% chance of finding Rodri, but also a 50% chance of handing the ball directly to Suárez.

Villarreal couldn't risk a one-on-one break.

"Watch your support! Watch your support!"

"The holding midfielders pull wide!"

Escrivá shouted to the pitch, signaling Rodri and Bruno to make runs for support.

Barcelona's front-line pressing was intense, meaning Villarreal's two holding midfielders were under heavy workload today.

They had to cover more ground—participating in both attack and defense!

Roberto ran to the flank to throw the ball in, and at that moment, Tang Ye and Bruno together moved toward the center.

During Barcelona's attack, Villarreal must compress their defensive line tightly!

"Here!"

Roberto threw the ball to Neymar, who used his heel to flick it up over his head, letting it land in front of him.

"Oh～"

Neymar's flair helped him shake off Sansone's pressure and drew gasps from the viewers.

He dribbled toward the baseline!

Neymar ran fast—Costa rushed over to stick to him.

Rodri sprinted toward Busquets—he couldn't let Busquets receive Neymar's pass easily.

But Neymar had no intention of passing back—he seized the moment and cut the ball sharply to his left with his right foot.

The Brazilian forward's timing was perfect—the ball slipped cleanly between Costa's two feet.

It was a nutmeg!

"Wow!"

The crowd stood up—Neymar kept sprinting toward goal!

"Here!"

Messi stretched out his hand on the left flank—Neymar delivered a crisp cross!

Thud!

Messi stuck the ball firmly to his feet, paused to fool Ruiz's challenge, then suddenly accelerated.

!!!

Ruiz realized something was wrong—he reached out to pull Messi down outside the box, but Messi sidestepped him effortlessly.

He's agile!

"Hey!"

Escrivá clutched his head, eyes locked on the penalty area.

Musaquio came to block Messi's shooting angle—Messi passed to Suárez instead.

Suárez wound up to shoot, but Rodri, sprinting back, successfully disrupted him.

Rodri blocked the near post—Suárez had to aim for the far corner!

Boom!

He struck decisively—the shot slammed into the net's inner side.

Goal!

"Roar—!!"

Suárez spread his arms, sprinted out, and embraced Messi—they hugged shoulders and raced toward the corner flag.

In the 17th minute, Barcelona, playing away, took the lead!

Tang Ye, who had been tracking Busquets from behind, stood still, disheartened after Suárez's goal.

The defensive work in the back had been decent—Rodri even disrupted Suárez's shooting angle.

Yet Barcelona still scored.

Chewing his gum, Tang Ye felt a bitter taste in his heart.

Dongqiudi live update: Messi assisted Suárez's goal; Barcelona leads 1-0 away; MSN's combined assists now tied with Tang Ye's.

Messi earned his first assist of the match, tying Tang Ye's lead in assists over MSN.

Tang Ye was unaware—he was entirely focused on the scoreboard.

0:1!

They were behind!

"Stay alert! Especially the center forward!"

While Barcelona's players celebrated, Escrivá called several players to the sideline.

"Don't get distracted by Messi—Suárez is dangerous; he can enter the box anytime. Watch him closely!"

Escrivá had seen clearly: during that Barcelona attack, Ruiz and Musaquio had both been drawn to Messi.

The defenders were out of position—otherwise Suárez could never have received Messi's pass inside the box!

"Come on! Come on!"

As captain, Bruno stepped up with the team trailing—he gripped Tang Ye's neck firmly.

Tang Ye shook his head and sprinted back to his position.

Just one goal down—Villarreal still had a great chance!

In the 24th minute, another chance for Barcelona.

It was a counterattack!

Iniesta's long pass from the back found Neymar upfront!

"Neymar!"

"Beautiful!"

On screen, Neymar cushioned the ball with his thigh, showcasing his extraordinary ball control to the viewers.

He moved into the box!

He shot!

Goal!

2:0!

Neymar scored—Barcelona leads 2-0!

"..."

Escrivá remained silent.

Barcelona's form today was absurdly good!

At the 30th minute of the first half, Tang Ye's over-the-top pass hit Piqué's head and bounced out; Gómez seized the chance for a counterattack.

But Barcelona had a minor coordination issue during the buildup, leaving Messi with the ball in a dangerously exposed position.

Tang Ye was right behind him!

A tackle opportunity!

Tang Ye was ready to dive—then Messi, as if sensing danger, passed to Iniesta, who had made a run down the left.

The missed tackle left Tang Ye frustrated—he could only walk slowly, observing.

At this moment, the broadcast screen displayed both teams' possession stats.

Villarreal: 43%

ball possession: 57%

"We can see that over the past thirty minutes, Barcelona's ball possession has been slightly better than Villarreal's, but not by much."

Maintaining over 40% possession at home against Barcelona is enough to show that Villarreal's players are in decent form today.

Iniesta dribbles forward on the left flank, but Gaspar sticks to him tightly; Iniesta moves left and right with the ball but finds no opening to reach the byline.

Tang Ye turns to observe Messi's position and discovers Messi is watching him.

The two lock eyes; Tang Ye blinks, and Messi blinks back.

"…"

It looks like Tang Ye is watching Messi, but his peripheral vision has been searching for gaps around Messi all along.

Spotting a good position, Tang Ye signals to Rodri, then sprints toward Iniesta.

Iniesta has no passing lane, so seeing Messi's space open up, he decisively passes.

At this moment, Rodri has already moved to Messi's side as Tang Ye signaled.

With no positional advantage, Rodri uses his physical strength, shoulder-checking Messi to block his position.

Successful full tackle!

"Rodri!"

"Beautiful!"

"Rodri must have anticipated Iniesta's pass—Villarreal launches a counterattack!"

In this defensive action, Rodri displayed his extraordinary positional awareness.

He predicted Iniesta's pass to Messi before it happened!

The counterattack begins—Rodri's speed is explosive; one touch sends him past Busquets, who rushes to intercept.

Keep pushing forward!

Tang Ye sprints up from behind, but at this moment he has no chance to touch the ball.

Thwack!

Rodri passes to Bruno, who delivers a long ball to Bakambu.

Bakambu turns!

He controls the ball!

Villarreal's counterattack is lightning-fast!

"Dribble! Dribble!"

"Just go past him!"

"Bakambu, run faster!"

The fans in the stands are frantic.

They can tell this is a rare opportunity for Villarreal!

Bakambu sprints to the byline, applies light pressure on the defense, then instinctively looks for Tang Ye to receive the pass.

But Bakambu quickly realizes the problem.

Tang Ye just participated in the defense—he and Rodri are still back there, not yet up!

Should he wait a moment longer?

Bakambu wants to wait, but Barcelona's defenders are closing in—he must pass now!

Thwack!

Bakambu's return pass is perfectly accurate, reaching Bruno.

"This is a chance!"

Thwack!

Bruno delivers a short, 45-degree cross.

At the same moment, Alem is already moving!

But Bruno's pass is too slow; Piqué and Mascherano in the box have ample time to react.

Mascherano holds his position in the small box; Piqué runs to Alem, leaps first, and clears the ball away.

Damn!

Bruno buries his face in his hands.

He suddenly regrets it.

Alem's position was perfect.

He should've passed more aggressively!

Alem also sighs inside the box.

!

This attack was incredibly, incredibly close.

All the pieces were there—but the most crucial element was missing!

What was the most crucial element?

Tom isn't here!

Villarreal's offense relies on Tom leading his friends into attack.

An offensive reaction requires at least one Tom and one of Tom's friends to occur.

But only Tom's friends participated in that attack—Tom himself was absent.

A single compound can't trigger a chemical reaction!

"It's okay, it's okay, keep going, keep going!"

Escrivá shouts nonstop from the sideline.

By all accounts, this is likely his most active match on the sideline in the past one or two months.

With the team trailing by one goal, the atmosphere has dulled, so Escrivá turns to the stands and raises both hands upward.

"In our yellow submarine~"

"We all live in a yellow submarine~"

"Yellow submarine!"

"Yellow submarine!"

The Ceramic Stadium is gradually regaining its rightful energy!

"We can see that the screen below displays the current statistics for both teams."

At CCTV's commentator's reminder, fans in the live stream turn their attention to the data bar below the screen.

Ball possession still leads Barcelona by five to ten percentage points—the entire match has been much the same.

Next, attacking stats: Barcelona has three more shots and one more on target than Villarreal.

Villarreal rarely trails opponents in shot count.

But unfortunately, today they are trailing.

37th minute!

Alem and Sancione combine on the left flank but cannot break through Gómez and Roberto's defense to reach the byline.

"Here!"

Seeing this, Tang Ye runs Zhudong to the left flank to receive the ball; Alem passes back.

Thud!

Same familiar feeling—Tang Ye doesn't stop the ball, uses the inside of his foot to thread a direct pass ahead to Alem.

Alem only needs to extend his right foot to perfectly control it!

After completing the pass, Tang Ye doesn't stand still—he sprints toward the arc to see if he can receive a cutback.

But he finds his good friend Rodri has already filled his previous position.

Perfect!

Tang Ye is pleased—friends truly understand him best!

Sprint toward the byline!

The fans in the stands cheer; Barcelona's manager Enrique is now tense.

Because Villarreal has suddenly produced three forwards on the left flank!

The home side is intensifying attack down one flank; Barcelona's defense is under heavy pressure.

No choice—Piqué leaves the box to become a fullback; Dínez and Mascherano shift right, forming a new central defensive pair.

This defense is critical—Villarreal must not equalize!

"Come on, come on!"

"He's dribbling past! He can get past him!"

"Pass it to Tom!"

Fans on both sides of the corner flag are roaring; Alem faces Roberto one-on-one with the ball.

Don't rush the step-over yet!

Pass to Sancione on the byline!

Then move yourself into the box!

Alem is Villarreal's best header and poacher—right now he must stay inside the box!

Sancione attempts a dribble; Tang Ye watches the box while positioning himself near the byline.

"Come!"

Hearing Tang Ye's voice, Sansone dragged the ball back with his sole.

OK, this is Tom's chance!

Snap!

【De Bruyne's low cross Lv3: Simulation】

Proficiency: 41/400

Although low cross is only Lv3, Tang Ye's first touch adds 10% accuracy compared to normal.

Send it into the box.

That's Bakambu's position!

Thud!

Bakambu charged in from the right and smashed a header straight into the ground!

!!!

Ter Stegen sat down on the spot and blocked Bakambu's header with his body.

The ball bounced back to Bakambu's feet.

Kick it!

"Gggg—ooooooo—llllll!!!!"

"Bakambu!"

"Beautiful! Bakambu scores!"

"Score is now 1:2! Villarreal pulls one back!"

After scoring, Escrivá sat back down on the substitute bench.

Half-time was coming soon; he needed to think about the team's tactics for the second half.

How to improve the current tactics?

How to adjust tactics to equalize?

Even… to defeat the opponent?

"Ferran, look."

Ma Di turned his laptop on his thigh toward Escrivá.

Escrivá studied each player's heat map and quickly spotted what Ma Di wanted to show him.

Barcelona intensified pressing on Rodri and Bruno, forcing Villarreal's defenders to pass to Tang Ye, who had to drop back.

Once Tang Ye dropped back, he couldn't stay forward to launch quick passes.

In short, Barcelona's pressing split Tom from his best friend.

This is likely why Villarreal's attack has failed today!

"Biiiiii—!!!"

DQD Half-Time Report: Villarreal 1:2 trailing Barcelona; Suárez and Neymar scored; Bakambu tapped in to reduce the deficit.

【Bakambu cost me one assist from Mongol—too bad he didn't finish it directly.】

【Feels like Tang the King had few passing chances today—shouldn't Coach Sheng reflect?】

【Messi is treating Bruno like a highway—suggest Tang the King go support him with his incredible tackling!】

【You'd better remove your Real Madrid crest before commenting.】

【Villarreal's chances are running out!】

【Villarreal urgently needs a striker with explosive pace and finishing to receive Tang the King's passes—otherwise, second-half chances remain slim.】

【Are you looking for: CR7】

Half-time, home team locker room.

"You've all noticed—we keep struggling to pass out in the second half. This is serious."

"Our midfield is being suffocated!"

Escrivá scanned the room, then fixed his gaze on Tang Ye.

Tang Ye: …

"I, I've been tracking back."

Tang Ye muttered.

"I know you track back—good. But today, tracking back is wrong."

"Huh?"

Tang Ye stood with his mouth open, a piece of gum just pulled from his backpack—clearly confused.

Tap-tap-tap!

Tap!

Escrivá swiftly manipulated magnetic flags on the tactical board.

"We play 4-2-3-1. The attacking midfielder is positioned far forward—even ahead of the wingers. When defenders or holding midfielders face pressure, the wingers shouldn't stay put—they must drop back, receive, and even retreat more aggressively than the attacking midfielder!"

The two wingers Escrivá meant were Sansone and Bakambu.

Both Villarreal forwards now wore serious expressions, rapidly analyzing Escrivá's words.

Ma Di raised an eyebrow.

Wingers retreat more aggressively than the attacking midfielder.

Never heard of such a tactic.

But… whatever tactic solves the team's problems is a good tactic!

After detailed tactical analysis, 4–5 minutes remained. Escrivá sat beside Tang Ye.

"Can you still run hard in the second half?"

"Of course."

Though trailing by one goal, Tang Ye felt his condition was still good.

His confidence hadn't been shattered!

"Can I have a piece of your gum?"

Escrivá pointed to Tang Ye's backpack; the latter nodded and opened it himself.

Escrivá reached in, pulled out three pieces of gum, then patted Tang Ye's shoulder: "Thanks, Tom."

Walking through the tunnel, Tang Ye stood behind Ale, hearing Messi and Suárez chatting in Spanish nearby.

Just like when he saw CR7, Tang Ye wanted to go speak to Messi or Neymar—but after thinking, he decided against it.

His mission now was to win this match.

Though down by one goal, Tang Ye believed they still had a chance.

He would help his team score!

Then…

Claim that damn Barcelona Legend Chest!

…

PS: Last day of double monthly tickets, guys!

Please, I beg you—for monthly tickets!

(End of chapter)