Foul Outside the Forbidden Zone Line? (Seeking Collections and Recommendations)

After the restart, Barca did not launch a fierce attack, but instead began patiently passing the ball around in midfield.

For many years, this was the attacking pattern Barca used to dominate the football world.

However, the current Barca was far from the terrifying control of the "Xavi-Iniesta-Busquets" era; although they moved the ball quickly, they lacked that final, lethal pass.

Barca's offensive focus was on the left flank, while Li Mingyu waited for his moment on the right.

Originally, Sevilla had specifically assigned two men to closely mark Li Mingyu. Although he now appeared to be running low on stamina, his terrifying performance at the start of the match left a deep impression.

This was actually Barca's tactic: using Li Mingyu alone to pin down the opposition, forcing their defenders to neglect one area for another.

Sure enough, Sevilla's defensive formation began to shift toward their own right side.

Now, only Moreno remained by Li Mingyu's side.

The two goals conceded earlier had left Moreno feeling extremely frustrated.

Moreno had a very intuitive understanding of Li Mingyu's speed and knew that he must never allow the opponent a chance to accelerate; he would even resort to a foul to stop him if necessary.

Li Mingyu had been jogging on the pitch for about five or six minutes, and feeling his stamina recover slightly, he began to make intentional runs.

Seeing this, Moreno dared not be negligent, following closely by Li Mingyu's side while keeping his peripheral vision on the surrounding situation.

In a football match, it is impossible to remain tangled on one side of the pitch for too long; after all, the width of the field is limited.

After several failed attacks on the left, the ball was passed back to De Jong in the center.

But just as most of the Sevilla players assumed the opponent would continue to attack the left, De Jong spotted Li Mingyu reaching out for the ball.

The opportunity had arrived!

De Jong feinted a pass to the left, causing Sevilla's defensive focus to shift once again, then flicked his left ankle to deliver a subtle, tricky through ball directly into the empty space on the right flank.

Oh no!

Disaster!

The Sevilla players' expressions changed simultaneously as they all looked toward their left flank.

What met their eyes was Li Mingyu, who had taken the lead and was striding toward the ball, with Moreno running desperately to keep pace with him.

However, it was visible to the naked eye that the distance between the two was slowly widening.

Seeing that he was no match for Li Mingyu in a speed contest, Moreno gritted his teeth and reached out his wicked hand, grabbing at Li Mingyu's jersey.

But it was too late; the moment Moreno's fingers touched the fabric, Li Mingyu had already accelerated and surged forward, leaving Moreno grasping at thin air.

Li Mingyu looked at the ball ahead, then glanced at the situation in the center, noticing that the opposing defenders had begun to track back, with the full-back and center-back preparing to double-team him.

Griezmann and Dembele were also sprinting forward, drawing away the other defenders.

Facing the two incoming defenders, Li Mingyu did not hesitate; he tapped the ball with his right foot, preparing to slip past them.

The full-back, Navas, was a 35-year-old veteran. Facing a speed-based forward like Li Mingyu, he really had no good options and could only watch helplessly as Li Mingyu sped past him, managing only to nudge Li Mingyu with his body as he went by.

But that single nudge caused Li Mingyu to stumble slightly.

This was the experience of a veteran, for he knew that behind him was the young center-back Kounde.

Though still a bit green at only 22, this youngster had already shown excellent defensive awareness and quality.

As long as he could obstruct Li Mingyu for a moment, Kounde behind him would surely be able to clear the ball.

Kounde did not let Navas down, sprinting toward the ball.

It was a 50-50 ball between Li Mingyu and Kounde; it all depended on who could reach it first.

However, due to his lack of strength after being bumped by Navas, Li Mingyu's speed had dropped.

A smile appeared on Kounde's face, as he was a step faster than Li Mingyu and had already touched the ball.

Seeing Li Mingyu adjusting his stride and preparing to press, the young Kounde had an idea. He suddenly lifted his right foot, feigning a long clearance in hopes of scaring Li Mingyu off.

But Li Mingyu didn't care at all, extending his foot to block the ball.

Seeing Li Mingyu charging in, Kounde panicked.

He had intended to perform a feint, and when Li Mingyu turned to dodge, he would lightly tap the ball, stylishly dribble past him, and then pass it out.

But he hadn't expected Li Mingyu to not turn his head, instead pouncing like a tiger.

Kounde had no choice but to try and make the best of a bad situation by attempting a long clearance.

But this was a choice made in a split second, and Kounde made a mistake.

Under pressure from Li Mingyu, Kounde completely shanked his kick.

Li Mingyu intercepted the ball directly. A flustered Kounde moved up to challenge, but Li Mingyu's legs were like chopsticks; the ball, like a meatball, bounced between his feet and nutmegged Kounde.

Li Mingyu then surged directly past Kounde.

Feeling humiliated, Kounde was overcome with shame and anger; he reached out, grabbed Li Mingyu's jersey, and brought him down to the ground.

A shrill whistle brought Kounde to his senses.

Looking at the spot where Li Mingyu had fallen, it was right inside the penalty area.

Kounde looked at the referee with a pained expression, but the referee pointed directly to the penalty spot with his right hand.

Penalty!

Kounde jumped up instantly, rushed to the referee's side, pointed at his position, and said, "I pulled him outside the penalty area, it should be a free kick!"

The referee remained unmoved, pulled a Yellow Card from his breast pocket, and flashed it at Kounde.

The Sevilla players all crowded around, hoping the referee would change his decision.

However, the referee had seen the previous scene very clearly; although Kounde's position at the time was outside the penalty area, Li Mingyu's feet were both already inside the box when he was dragged down from behind by Kounde.

Moreover, if Li Mingyu had been allowed to charge in, he would have been one-on-one with the goalkeeper. If the referee had been more ruthless, showing a red card directly would have been within the rules, as he was the last defender.

The referee waved his hands impatiently to disperse the Sevilla players.

Li Mingyu had long since been surrounded by the Barca squad, and the friendly celebration consisting of a series of head pats, back slaps, and kicks to the backside sent Li Mingyu fleeing in a panic.