After play resumed, Barca didn't launch a fierce attack. Instead, they began patiently passing the ball around in midfield.
For years, Barca had dominated the world of football with this style of attack.
But this Barca was nowhere near as terrifyingly in control as the old "Xavi-Iniesta-Busquets" trio. Their passing was quick, but they lacked that lethal forward pass.
Barca's attacks were concentrated down the left flank, while Li Mingyu waited for his chance on the right.
Sevilla had originally assigned two players to keep a close watch on Li Mingyu. Even though he now looked close to running out of stamina, his terrifying performance at the start of the match had left a deep impression.
That was Barca's tactic: use Li Mingyu to occupy two players and force Sevilla's defenders to spread themselves too thin.
Sure enough, Sevilla's defensive formation began shifting toward the right side of their own pitch.
Now, only Moreno remained beside Li Mingyu.
The two goals they'd conceded earlier had left Moreno deeply frustrated.
Moreno had seen firsthand just how fast Li Mingyu was. He knew he couldn't let him get up to speed. He'd have to stop him, even if it meant committing a foul.
Li Mingyu had been jogging around the field for five or six minutes, and he felt his stamina had recovered a little. So he deliberately began making runs to draw defenders out of position.
Seeing this, Moreno didn't dare slack off. He stayed close to Li Mingyu, keeping an eye on the surrounding players from the corner of his eye.
A football match couldn't remain tangled up on one side of the pitch for long. After all, the field had only so much width.
After several unsuccessful attacks down the left, the ball was passed back into the middle to De Jong.
Most of Sevilla's players still thought Barca would keep attacking down the left. But De Jong had already spotted Li Mingyu raising a hand for the ball.
The chance had come!
De Jong feinted a pass to the left, shifting Sevilla's defensive focus once more. Then he flicked his left ankle and sent a sharp, well-disguised through ball into the open space on the right.
Not good!
This was bad!
The Sevilla players all turned pale at once and looked toward their left flank.
There was Li Mingyu, leading the charge as he sprinted toward the ball. Moreno was racing alongside him with all his might.
But the gap between them was visibly widening.
Moreno realized he had no chance of matching Li Mingyu's speed. Gritting his teeth, he reached out to grab Li Mingyu's jersey.
But he was too late. The moment Moreno's fingers brushed the fabric, Li Mingyu accelerated away, leaving him clutching at thin air.
Li Mingyu looked at the ball ahead, then glanced toward the center. The opposing defenders were already retreating, with a fullback and a center-back preparing to close in on him.
Griezmann and Dembele were sprinting upfield too, drawing away Sevilla's other defenders.
Li Mingyu didn't hesitate when he saw the two defenders charging at him. He gave the ball a gentle tap with his right foot and prepared to slip past them.
The fullback, Navas, was a 35-year-old veteran. He didn't have much of an answer to a fast forward like Li Mingyu. All he could do was watch Li Mingyu speed past, then lean into him as he went by.
That nudge was enough to make Li Mingyu stumble.
That was the experience of a veteran. Navas knew that the young center-back Kounde was right behind him.
The 22-year-old still had a little growing to do, but he had already shown excellent defensive awareness and ability.
If Navas could slow Li Mingyu down, Kounde would surely be able to stop him.
Kounde didn't let Navas down. He rushed toward the ball.
It was a fifty-fifty chance between Li Mingyu and Kounde. Whoever reached the ball first would win it.
But Li Mingyu lacked strength, and after Navas's bump, his pace had slowed.
A faint smile appeared on Kounde's face. He was a step ahead of Li Mingyu and had already touched the ball.
Seeing Li Mingyu adjust his stride and charge in to press him, the young Kounde had an idea. He raised his right foot as if to launch the ball upfield, hoping to scare Li Mingyu off.
But Li Mingyu didn't care. He immediately stuck out a leg to block the ball.
Kounde panicked when Li Mingyu charged straight at him.
He'd planned to feint, wait for Li Mingyu to turn away, then nudge the ball aside and glide past him before passing it out.
But he hadn't expected Li Mingyu to keep his eyes fixed on him and pounce like a tiger.
Kounde had no choice but to follow through and clear the ball upfield.
But he'd made the decision in a split second, and he got it wrong.
Under Li Mingyu's pressure, Kounde completely miss-kicked the ball.
Li Mingyu stuck out a leg and intercepted it. Kounde rushed in to challenge him, but Li Mingyu's legs moved like a pair of chopsticks. The ball bounced between his feet like a little pill, slipped between Kounde's legs, and went through them.
Li Mingyu darted straight past Kounde.
Humiliated and furious, Kounde reached out, grabbed Li Mingyu's jersey, and pulled him to the ground.
A sharp whistle brought Kounde back to his senses.
Li Mingyu had gone down right at the edge of the penalty area.
Kounde looked at the referee in anguish. The referee pointed straight at the penalty spot.
A penalty!
Kounde sprang up and rushed over to the referee, pointing at where he'd been standing. "I grabbed him outside the penalty area. It should be a free kick!"
The referee didn't budge. He pulled a yellow card from his shirt pocket and showed it to Kounde.
Sevilla's players all crowded around, hoping the referee would change his decision.
But the referee had seen the incident clearly. Kounde had been outside the penalty area, but both of Li Mingyu's feet were already inside it when Kounde pulled him down from behind.
Besides, if Li Mingyu had made it into the area, he would have been one-on-one with the goalkeeper. The referee could even have shown a red card, since Kounde was the last defender.
The referee impatiently held out both hands and waved the Sevilla players away.
Li Mingyu had already been surrounded by his Barca teammates. They patted his head and back and even kicked him in the butt in a friendly celebration, sending him scrambling to get away.
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