Beep!
With a whistle from Turkish referee Kakir, the first leg of this highly anticipated Champions League semifinal officially kicked off at Camp Nou. The stadium instantly erupted with the deafening jeers of Barcelona's fans.
The first to kick off was Man City center forward Su Dong, standing in the center circle.
Barcelona fans had always held deeply conflicted feelings toward Su Dong. They missed the wonderful years he had spent at Barcelona, yet hated him for repeatedly leading his teams to slaughter Barcelona after leaving. They loved and hated him at the same time, caught in a deep contradiction.
Once, Barcelona had hated him more than they loved him. But after tensions eased last season, especially after Barcelona won the Champions League, their attitude toward Su Dong improved considerably.
But now, their resentment had begun to return.
There was nothing they could do about it. Su Dong was simply too strong.
Right from the start, Man City realized that Barcelona had changed their formation.
It did not look much like Barcelona's traditional style. Instead, it resembled a three-man defensive formation.
Puyol, Pique, and Mascherano formed a line across the back, from left to right.
Alves, who had originally been expected to appear in defense, had surprisingly moved into midfield on the right.
Barcelona's midfield therefore consisted of Seydou Keita, Yaya Touré, Xavi, and Alves from left to right.
Iniesta and Fàbregas played ahead of the midfield and behind Messi.
The Argentinian superstar was the lone striker.
It was a strange lineup.
Barcelona had never used this kind of system before.
It looked like a three-four-two-one, but when Man City's Sánchez carried the ball forward on the right, trying to open up the defense from the flank, Seydou Keita dropped back into the defensive line.
That proved Barcelona had