After Man City came from behind to beat Barcelona 2–1, the two teams completely opened up and began a thrilling end-to-end battle.
Barcelona launched a furious wave of attacks first, posing a huge threat around Man City's penalty area and goal. Man City immediately struck back, creating threat after threat in front of Barcelona's goal.
The two teams went back and forth like this, engaging in a full-blown attacking battle. The match moved at a blistering pace, and neither side was willing to give an inch.
Su Dong and Messi both had successive chances and created danger, but either the goalkeepers produced brilliant saves or the shots went just wide. The other players were much the same, resulting in an extremely bizarre scene.
Both teams played with complete abandon, yet somehow neither managed to score.
That was truly surprising, enough to leave anyone utterly dumbfounded.
The match was highly entertaining, the pace was fast, and both sides traded attacks with threats appearing one after another. Yet neither team could find a way to score, allowing the 2–1 scoreline to remain until halftime.
At the start of the second half, the complexion of the match changed once again.
Guardiola had been rather dissatisfied with some of the team's approach during halftime, mainly when it came to the tempo.
He believed that Man City's greatest strength was still possession football: slowing the tempo, using their advantage in passing and possession to build attacks and penetrate, rather than blindly matching Barcelona's pace and engaging in a shootout. That meant being dragged down to the opponent's level, which was unfavorable for Man City.
Thus, after the teams switched sides for the second half, Man City deliberately slowed down, patiently keeping possession and gradually working the ball forward.
Just four minutes later, Su Dong combined