Other teams waited for Inter Milan to attack and then defended passively, but Barcelona held the ball and actively defended.
Since the ball was not at Lu Wenbin's feet, Lu Wenbin naturally could not break through or create a free kick opportunity.
Even if Inter Milan occasionally intercepted the ball, Barcelona would actively counterattack as a team, and the ball would often be intercepted by Barcelona before it even reached Lu Wenbin.
The Tiki-Taka formation played by Barcelona not only requires high ball possession, but also high pressing throughout the court.
Obviously, Barcelona's idea was to use ball-holding defense to drag the game home with a 0-0 draw and then return to Camp Nou for the second round to decide the outcome.
Mourinho has already noticed this.
After returning to Camp Nou, with the added bonus of home form, Barcelona having always been favoured by UEFA, referees being more favourable towards Barcelona, and with the superb acting skills of the La Masia Film and Television Academy, Mourinho really had no confidence that he could beat Barcelona at Camp Nou.
Half an hour later, Barcelona's possession rate was still as high as 75%, but the ball was basically passed in the midfield and backcourt, and rarely to the frontcourt.
Sometimes, the two defenders passed the ball back and forth, not only did the fans at the scene boo, but even many commentators who used to think that Barcelona played technical football could not stand it and kept criticizing.
However, the Barcelona players on the field will not be affected by the boos. As for the commentator's criticism, they can't even hear it, let alone pay attention to it.
Barcelona had a high possession rate but did not move forward easily.
Inter Milan played a defensive counterattack, had a low ball possession rate, could not get the ball, and naturally had very few attacking opportunities.
Half an hour into the first half, the two teams had only a pitiful three shots combined.
Barcelona had two shots, one of which was from Messi but hit the frame but was saved by Cesar.
Inter Milan only had one shot in 30 minutes, a long shot by Eto'o from outside the penalty area that went wide.
With Barcelona controlling the ball most of the time, Lu Wenbin's few touches of the ball in half an hour were all ordinary passes, and he didn't even have a shot.
The situation is rather grim for Inter Milan.
Inter Milan plays a defensive counterattack, and the two forwards Lu Wenbin and Eto'o usually go to the frontcourt to counter-attack.
But facing Barcelona, whose ball control technology has reached its peak, Lu Wenbin and Eto'o's counter-attacks could only be harassment and were almost unsuccessful. Instead, they became monkeys in the Barcelona backcourt players' game.
The teammates in the midfield and backcourt did not dare to rush forward to help Lu Wenbin and Eto'o.
Because Barcelona's midfield masters Xavi, Iniesta and breakthrough king Messi are waiting for Inter Milan's defense to reveal a flaw!
Once the defense line presses forward and a gap appears in the backcourt, Barcelona will speed up the passing rhythm and suddenly attack the frontcourt.
With Xavi and Iniesta's passing skills and Messi's breakthrough ability, any team that reveals a flaw against Barcelona would be fatal.
This resulted in Mourinho, although he saw Guardiola's plan, not daring to let the team's defense line act rashly.
A draw is still an acceptable result, but if the defense is rashly allowed to help with steals in advance and expose flaws, it may create offensive opportunities for Barcelona.
Amid the boos from Inter Milan fans, Barcelona firmly held on to the ball and defended until the end of the first half.
Lu Wenbin only had his first shot outside the penalty area in the 39th minute, but Pique rushed over and blocked the shot, and the ball was blocked out of the baseline.
This was the first time Lu Wenbin started a professional game, but he only had one shot in the first 45 minutes.
During the half-time break, the commentator supporting Barcelona regarded this as a huge success for Guardiola and Barcelona's tactics.
Inter Milan and neutral commentators called Barcelona's back-pass ugly football, which ran counter to Barcelona's technical football label.
In the locker room, Mourinho thought for a long time, and the gambling factor in his heart prevailed.
Therefore, Mourinho asked the whole team to press forward in the second half, intensify the pressing, and try to intercept the ball in the frontcourt and launch a counterattack on the spot.
All the players, including Lu Wenbin, were jubilant.
In fact, everyone played very uncomfortably in the first half.
Barcelona's ball control defense, or the back-pass defense, made everyone feel frustrated.
Now the head coach finally lets everyone press forward to grab the ball, instead of watching the opponent pass the ball back in the backcourt. It’s quite exciting.
Lu Wenbin and Eto'o naturally gave their full support.
They didn't understand the tactical issues, but the two of them were really annoyed by the Barcelona backcourt players in the first half.
The laughter of Barcelona fans in the stands also annoyed the two men.
Now, the head coach has finally let the whole team press forward to support the two of them. In the second half, Inter Milan will definitely have more opportunities to intercept the ball and counterattack in the frontcourt, which is beneficial to Lu Wenbin and Eto'o.
After a 15-minute break, the two sides changed sides and Inter Milan pressed forward as per Mourinho's tactical arrangement and also started pressing throughout the court.
The game suddenly became intense, and the neutral commentators and spectators were immediately cheered up: this was finally starting to look like a normal game.
The Inter Milan fans in the stands also became excited and cheered loudly for Lu Wenbin and others.
Inter Milan's whole team pressed forward, which really made Barcelona nervous. They no longer dared to play around in the backcourt easily.
Because not only Lu Wenbin and Eto'o, but also Sneijder, Stankovic, Biabiany and others pressed forward to grab the ball, Puyol, Pique and others could no longer pass the ball easily in the backcourt.
Of course, Barcelona has been able to develop its passing and possession of the ball to such a level that it cannot be easily broken by the opponent's full-court pressing.
Inter Milan's formation pressed forward and pressed throughout the field, which forced Barcelona to speed up their passing and increased their chances of making mistakes, but Inter Milan's own defense was bound to reveal flaws.
Xavi and Iniesta's passes and Messi's breakthroughs and shots are not in vain.
So, in the 68th minute, Inter Milan's full-court counterattack had not yet produced any results, and Barcelona instead took advantage of Inter Milan's formation to press forward and launched an efficient counterattack.
Xavi made a straight pass that avoided Zanetti's interception, hit the back of Lucio and Samuel, and broke through Inter Milan's entire defense line.
Messi successfully made an offside move and received a through ball from Xavi behind Lucio.
Although Lucio tried his best to chase back and even reached out to pull Messi, Messi still completed the shot at the top of the penalty area before he was pulled down by Lucio.
The ball flew past Cesar's right and into the goal.
Messi scored before Lu Wenbin, and Barcelona not only took a 1-0 lead away from home, but also scored an away goal.
Inter Milan is pushed to the edge of the cliff. (Seeking monthly tickets)