Messi has been broken!

Seeing the area defended by left-back Zheng Tao facing immense pressure, Zhao Xuri had no choice but to come over to help.

Yet even so, the two of them still couldn't contain Messi.

In the 38th minute, Argentina took a quick free kick, and Messi, drifting wide, received a pass from a teammate in the center.

Seeing this, Zhao Xuri and Zheng Tao immediately double-teamed him from front and back, but Messi's footwork was simply too agile.

He first made a sudden change of direction to bypass Zhao Xuri, then immediately shifted again at high speed to shake off Zheng Tao.

Zheng Tao was left stunned!

Back when he played domestically, when had he ever seen such dribbling?

The frequency of the opponent's feet was ridiculously fast; he hadn't even clearly seen the opponent's movements.

Even if he had barely managed to see them, his brain couldn't keep up.

This, in fact, might not necessarily be a bad thing.

After all, a certain defender whose brain did keep up had made a complete fool of himself while defending Messi...

The ball seemed to have a life of its own at Messi's feet, darting left and right, forward and back, making it impossible to defend against.

Looking closely at Messi's dribbling, one could see his movements were very simple and plain, without a hint of flashy showboating.

Yet, these simple, ordinary movements appeared exceptionally lethal at Messi's feet.

Seeing Messi was unstoppable, Feng Xiaoting quickly moved to provide cover defense, while the goalkeeper Yang Cheng also shifted to the left side of the goal, preparing to block Messi's shot.

At this moment, Messi had already dribbled into the penalty area; if he were a bit more selfish, he could have forced a shot himself.

But Messi didn't do that, because he saw a teammate in a better position.

Before Feng Xiaoting could seal off the angle, Messi lifted his foot and sent a through ball into the center of the penalty area.

Cardoso, the Argentina midfielder, suddenly burst through, received Messi's pass, and swept the ball into the net with ease.

The score became 1:2, and Argentina took the lead once again in the first half.

The Argentina and Messi fans in the stands were all in an uproar.

Although it was Cardoso who scored, Messi deserved the credit for this goal.

It could be said that without his successful breakthrough on the right flank, the Argentina team wouldn't have had such a great scoring opportunity.

"Rio, beautiful pass!"

Cardoso clearly understood this as well, so immediately after scoring, he rushed toward Messi and gave him a warm hug.

Messi's frame swayed slightly, and he offered a forced smile.

At this moment, he was panting heavily, his breathing ragged.

Moreover, with every breath, his lungs felt as uncomfortable as if they were about to burst.

The high-intensity movement had left him drenched in sweat; the continuous changes of direction and breakthroughs had taken a massive toll on his stamina, not to mention the constant physical harassment and wear-and-tear from the opposition, which only exacerbated Messi's physical exhaustion.

Even just standing there, his legs felt faintly weak.

Having played for less than 40 minutes, Messi felt as tired as if he had played an entire match.

However, scoring another goal was at least a small consolation.

But a one-goal lead was not safe.

The opponent's previous counterattack proved that the China Youth Team was not a weak team that could only take a beating without the power to fight back.

On the contrary, they possessed a very sharp sword.

Once that sword was unsheathed, it was bound to draw blood.

The 2:1 scoreline was not secure; they needed to score more goals.

Thinking of this, Messi gritted his teeth, attempting to seize the final moments before the end of the first half to score once more!

"My fault, I lost my mark!"

Chen Tao raised his hand to signal, taking the initiative to admit his mistake.

Cardoso had slipped past his defensive zone, so the defenders couldn't be blamed.

"It's fine, our attention was all drawn by Messi and their forward in the penalty area; we didn't notice someone charging in from behind!"

Feng Xiaoting and Zhao Ming were both very magnanimous, showing no intention of blaming Chen Tao.

"Brother Chen, don't blame yourself. I had issues with that goal too; it was only after I left my defensive position that I gave the opponent an opening."

Zhao Xuri also stepped up to share the blame. Truth be told, he was the one responsible for marking Cardoso, and since it wasn't Chen Tao's duty to defend, it wouldn't be right to pin the blame on him.

"You had to go provide assist defense on Messi; this goal has nothing to do with you."

"..."

Everyone chimed in, one after another scrambling to share the blame, with no one wanting to shirk responsibility.

This left Lin Feng deeply moved; these teammates on the China Youth Team were still very pure at this time, not yet tainted by the Dye Vat of the domestic Football World.

Unlike the National Football Team, which is entangled in interests from all sides, rife with internal infighting, and divided into various factions, the young players of the China Youth Team are far more united.

Thinking of this, Lin Feng cherished his teammates even more, and at the same time, he became more determined to help them escape the Dye Vat that is the domestic Football World.

Their talent should not be buried; they deserve a much broader stage.

After some discussion, the China Youth Team made slight adjustments to their personnel assignments for defending Messi.

After the match restarted, in addition to Zheng Tao and Zhao Xuri, even Lin Feng and Zhou Haibin, who were active in the Frontcourt, began to join the righteous gang-tackle against Messi.

Messi is too strong; one-on-one is simply no match, and even two-on-one isn't guaranteed to win.

Since that is the case, the China Youth Team will give him the greatest respect—by using all their strength to deal with him.

When dealing with such a Big Boss, there is no need to talk about chivalry.

In the 41st minute, Messi received a pass from a teammate and intended to repeat his previous trick.

But the moment his teammate passed the ball to him, several Burly Men from the China Youth Team rushed over from all directions, surrounding him so tightly that not even a drop of water could leak through!

Messi was stunned!

He never expected that human hearts could be so sinister.

To deal with him, the China Youth Team actually abandoned all sense of sportsmanship!

Having already played nearly 40 minutes of high-intensity football, Messi's stamina had reached a bottleneck, and he was currently gritting his teeth and persisting purely on willpower.

Seeing four or five aggressive opponents charging toward him, Messi immediately sensed danger and wanted to pass the ball out at the first opportunity.

But how could the China Youth Team not be prepared?

When the several players moved in to Double Team him, they had already cut off Messi's passing lanes, isolating him from his teammates.

Messi now had only one choice—either hand over the ball obediently or have his inner cosmos explode, dribble past the five players surrounding him, and break out of the encirclement.

Messi is clearly not the type of person to sit and wait for death.

He took a deep breath, attempting to accelerate so he could use his nearly unsolvable dribbling skills to get past the defenders.

But just as he picked up speed, a red figure darted out from the left.

It was the China Youth Team's Attacking Midfielder, Zhou Haibin!

Another figure darted out from the right.

It was the China Youth Team's other Attacking Midfielder, Lin Feng!

Zhou Haibin and Lin Feng stood on his left and right, sticking to Messi like two personal bodyguards.

The two exerted force together, fully letting Messi experience the taste of the Chinese specialty snack, Roujiamo.

However, the role Messi was playing was the meat inside the Roujiamo...

The two men were very strong, and Messi simply couldn't break free.

He used every ounce of his strength, his face gradually turning the color of a pig's liver.

But it was of no use; he felt as if he were being hoisted up by the two, his feet almost leaving the ground.

The fans at the stadium and those watching the live broadcast saw Messi's awkward predicament and burst into laughter, doubling over in amusement.

"Too despicable, truly too despicable."

"Which wicked guy came up with this method?"

"Hahahaha, can football even be played like this?"

"Haha, these guys are so wicked, bullying Messi now that he's out of stamina, haha, I can't take it, I'm dying of laughter!"

"Messi is truly miserable; playing like this might leave him with psychological trauma!"

"I think after this match ends, Messi will probably need to go see a psychiatrist!"