Football: My AI System Provides Max-Level Predictions-Chapter 699 - 491: He Can Defy Fate! Faking Out Messi, Dribbling Past 5 Players, and Delivering the Decisive Blow to Barça!
Chapter 699: Chapter 491: He Can Defy Fate! Faking Out Messi, Dribbling Past 5 Players, and Delivering the Decisive Blow to Barça!
-[Done! Time to sleep!]
-[Couldn’t keep up, Kolarov is too slow!]
-[It’s not about speed, he got distracted. Suarez was already in motion, who could catch up? Probably only Walker could in the entire Premier League?]
-[Iniesta’s through ball, really cunning, and Suarez’s run was beautiful!]
-[Playing 11 vs 11 is hard enough, let alone being a man down. Definitely going to lose this match.]
-[Kolarov is getting old, should have put young Robertson in, Guardiola was careless!]
-[What a pity, Tang Long’s explosive shot at the start, I thought Manchester City could win, sigh, so close yet so far!]
...
Messi stood at the penalty spot.
Bravo walked up, trying to distract him, and spoke a bunch of Spanish to him.
Messi made no sound, just looked at him calmly.
Suarez approached and flashed his buckteeth at him. Under the dazzling lights of Camp Nou, Bravo saw Suarez’s sharp teeth glinting, startling him into a shiver, and he quickly ran back to the goal line.
The referee blew his whistle!
Camp Nou fell silent as fans waited for the decisive moment.
Messi’s penalty success rate is about 78%, scoring eight out of ten, an average level, not particularly high.
But he has been in surprisingly good form with penalties lately, having scored consecutively in penalties across seasons six times. Many commentators believe this is the result of Messi’s intensive penalty training!
Bravo was concentrating on Messi’s movements, particularly his ankle.
As Messi’s right foot planted twenty centimeters away from the ball on one side, his favored left foot was already in midair, making a swinging leg motion.
On the goal line, Bravo suddenly saw Tang Long raise a hand at the top of the penalty arc.
"Hmm?"
Bravo frowned.
Because he noticed Tang Long pointed to his left side, while he had judged from Messi’s leg swing that Messi was going to shoot to the right side.
This was a disruption in Bravo’s judgment, his heartbeat wavered a bit;
but there wasn’t much time to think amidst the flashing moments!
He instinctively dove towards the direction Tang Long indicated.
Just as he shifted his weight, Bravo felt deeply regretful.
He clearly saw the part of the ball Messi contacted with his left foot, it was evidently intended for his right side!
"Messi’s shot!"
"Ah!?"
"Bravo guessed the direction correctly!"
"He saved the shot heading to his left side from Messi!"
"Neymar rushed in to follow up with a shot!"
"Tang Long was faster, cleared the ball off the line, what a close call!"
"Phew..."
"That was a perfect save!"
"Messi’s penalty, a ground strike, was perfect in both angle and speed."
"But unfortunately, he met the keeper Bravo!"
Bravo saved Messi’s penalty, becoming the hero in his teammates’ eyes!
Kompany, Stones, Gundogan, among others, rushed to him and high-fived him.
But Bravo pushed aside these teammates, sprinted to the fallen Tang Long, pulled him up, and hugged him tightly.
"Haha, Tang, you were right!"
Turns out, at the moment Messi took the shot, Tang Long’s AI system combined Messi’s penalty habits with his body language for a comprehensive analysis, predicting a 91% likelihood that the ball would go to Bravo’s left side.
This comprehensive judgment using big data and the specific situation on-site far surpassed Bravo’s solo judgment.
Nonetheless, Bravo contributing to blocking this ball was also significant.
Many goalkeepers, even when they guess the right direction, are still unable to save shots with tricky angles and great force—just like Messi’s ground strike penalty just now.
Manchester City’s players were celebrating and cheering, escaping from danger.
While Kolarov, after being sent off with a red card and now anxiously sitting in the locker room, heard sighs from Camp Nou knew the penalty was missed, and tears almost welled up.
Messi now stood at the same spot, somewhat dazedly scratching his face.
"Um, could it be that I’ve been foreseen?"
Even though they escaped the penalty scare, Manchester City, being a man down, had no choice but to abandon attacking and go all defense.
Though during halftime, Guardiola delivered an inspiring speech, he knew it was all predicated on equal numbers.
Now 10 vs 11, and at Camp Nou, he’s thankful just not to concede goals, thinking about scoring?
Guardiola’s not that naive.
He replaced the exhausted Diego with young Robertson, maintaining a four-back formation.
Simultaneously, he brought Tang Long from the front line back into midfield.
After Manchester City held firm against Barça’s siege for a while, seeing the situation unfavorable, Guardiola substituted Agüero for midfielder Delph.
Changed the setup to 4-4-1, leaving only fast-paced Sane at the front to slightly restrain Barça’s defense line from pressing too high.
Guardiola’s tactical adjustments slightly stabilized the situation.
Even being a man down, Manchester City’s compact formation left Barça unable to penetrate through the middle, and crossing from wide areas wasn’t their forte.
So towards the end, the home side Barça was getting a bit anxious.
In the 84th minute, Enrique replaced Rakitic with Paco, going for four forwards.
By packing the front line, the Manchester City box suddenly felt like a siege, in critical danger.
...
Until the 89th minute!
Iniesta attempted a direct pass from the midfield to find Suarez, aiming to break through Manchester City’s defense.
But Gundogan anticipated it and successfully intercepted the ball, first passing it to the retreating Tang Long in midfield!
Pressing and surrounding, Barça players quickly surrounded Tang Long!
The first to break in was actually Messi~
Tang Long slightly stretched his left shoulder out, a small shuffle step to the left with his left foot, causing Messi to shuffle one step to that side, then swiftly stepped right with his right foot, a tap then a push forward! Using their own tactics against them, a Messi-style shoulder drop trick, to floor Messi!
A gasp echoed across Camp Nou!
Because Messi doesn’t frequently engage in defense, seeing Messi being floored was a rare sight.
As Tang Long dodged past Messi, his heart surged with strong determination!
He knew well this might be one of Manchester City’s few counterattack opportunities, must seize it.
At this point, three Barça defenders, Iniesta, Busquets, and Depay quickly closed in, attempting to stifle this counterattack in midfield.
But with Tang Long about to unleash his sprint distance, suddenly he exerted force, like Ronaldo, relying on astonishing explosiveness, intensified his shoulder drop then briskly accelerated to the right!
A Ronaldo shoulder drop, bypassing the nearest Busquets;
while the assisting Iniesta and Depay were overwhelmed by Tang Long’s sheer speed!
"Nice shot, charge into the box!"
On the sidelines, Guardiola and Chiwo jumped up simultaneously.
Tang Long charged forth like a whirlwind, unstoppable, heading forward, with Barça having pressed so high, only left-back Alba remained.
Alba wasn’t slow, as Tang Long led the two of them front and back into the area right outside the penalty box, he combined Messi’s shoulder drop with Ronaldo’s!
First swiftly lowered to the left, nudging Alba’s steps slightly, before continuing a large drop to the left!
Alba thought Tang Long had prepared to move left and bottom, quickly trying to catch up.
Tang Long’s final step, however, was a cut, swung right past him, briskly going sideways past Alba;
then managed to fire a shot straight before Ter Stegen could intervene!
Ter Stegen couldn’t have anticipated Tang Long to act so directly?
The ball traced an arc, squarely slotting into the top right corner!
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