Both teams returned to the locker room after warming up. After a series of warm-up exercises, everyone's nervousness eased slightly.

But this didn't completely eliminate the fact that they were nervous.

In fact, Martin O'Neill himself was also nervous, so it was normal to be nervous. For them, it was normal to be nervous when participating in a match like the Champions League final.

Even Martin O'Neill was leading a team in the Champions League final for the first time. The coach had no experience...

However, Martin O'Neill had already completed his self-adjustment. While the players were out warming up, he was alone in the locker room making his own adjustments, trying not to think about unnecessary things...

He repeatedly deduced his tactics in his mind, trying to see where the problem was.

As he thought about it, he slowly became less nervous, because his nervousness had been thrown to the island of Java.

When the players returned from warming up, they saw a head coach who was no different from usual.

"No matter what Barcelona's tactics are in this game, I think they need to attack, so our opportunity is to counterattack. They will try to keep the ball firmly under their feet, which they are best at. But it doesn't matter, we don't need any ball control anyway. They attack, we defend and counterattack..."

In fact, these were nothing new. For more than half a month, the Liverpool first team had been practicing this, specifically targeting Barcelona's ball-control style of play. If Barcelona wanted possession, then let them have it. We didn't need those things; we just needed a successful attack rate.

So, Guardiola was determined to control the ball, but he didn't know that Liverpool didn't want any ball control at all.

After talking about tactics, Martin O'Neill planned to say something to encourage the players, because he could see that many players were a little nervous facing such an important game.

But he was worried that the more he said, the more nervous they would become.

So, he simply waved his hand and left the time to the players.

※※※

In Barcelona's locker room, Guardiola was also giving everyone final instructions.

"Liverpool is good at defending and counterattacking, so we must pay special attention to their counterattacks when we attack..."

Barcelona had their own way of dealing with the opponent's defensive counterattacks, which was to control the ball. As long as they kept the ball firmly under their feet, the opponent would not have many opportunities to counterattack.

At the same time, they were good at pressing high up the field, which could also greatly reduce the opponent's chances of counterattacking. Many counterattacks died in their cradles under their siege.

"So after you lose the ball, you must counter-press on the spot. You must actively block them and prevent them from passing the ball out of the backcourt..."

The Barcelona players listened to the coach's instructions with relaxed expressions, but only Messi looked serious and solemn.

This was another direct dialogue between him and Chen Hero. In fact, there were many dialogues between them, but not many direct ones.

This season, Chen Hero's performance had completely overshadowed him. He even watched the live broadcast of the game in which Chen Hero broke Dixie Dean's record at home.

He knew that it was not easy to compare a season's worth of goals with Chen Hero, but he could compete with him in one game.

Because the opponents the two people encountered in a season were different, it was not fair to compare like that. What if the opponents Messi encountered were stronger than the opponents Chen Hero encountered? Then it would be easier for Chen Hero to score goals.

But if they competed in a direct dialogue match, it would be very fair. Barcelona was strong, but Liverpool was not to be trifled with either.

Each side would rely on their own abilities to see who won and who lost in the end.

Now that Chen Hero's limelight had overshadowed him, he was very upset. He didn't think he couldn't afford to lose, but he couldn't lose to Chen Hero. He could lose to anyone, but he couldn't lose to Chen Hero.

So, he wanted to score desperately in this game and defeat Chen Hero's myth.

He was very satisfied with Guardiola's aggressive attacking strategy.

※※※

When the live broadcast stopped playing music and began to introduce the starting lineups of both sides, the two teams filed out of the tunnel.

Liverpool was led by captain Gerrard, while the Barcelona captain's armband was worn on Messi's arm—since Puyol and Xavi had retired one after another, Messi had become Barcelona's first captain.

The fans at the scene let out a roar of cheers, and of course there were boos.

Every name would cause cheers from the fans of his team and boos from the opposing fans.

Especially Chen Hero, who vividly demonstrated "love and hate."

The live broadcaster was also a member of St. Petersburg Zenit and had extraordinary feelings for Chen Hero. So when introducing Chen Hero, he added an extra sentence: "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome... heroooooooooooooooooooooooo——"

The fans of Liverpool and Zenit followed him and shouted loudly: "heroooooooooooooooooooooooo——!!!"

Then the Barcelona fans booed desperately and raised their middle fingers.

These two sounds collided and stirred in the sky above the Gazprom Arena, yet they were clearly distinct.

"Hero is still very popular here..." He Ping, the commentator from CCTV who came to the scene, said with emotion. "But his hatred value in the hearts of Barcelona fans is also very high, ha!"

He was not worried that Chen Hero would be affected by the boos of the opposing fans, because he was not the first commentator to commentate on Chen Hero's game. Although he didn't have many opportunities to commentate on Chen Hero's games, he knew this person's personality and temper very well.

He was like a stone. The harder you hit him, the greater the reaction force you would suffer.

Those who glared at Chen Hero with hostility in the end did not end well.

Obviously, the Barcelona fans had not understood this point...

※※※

After a series of necessary rituals before the start of the game, the players finally stood in their respective positions, waiting for the game to begin.

Gerrard won the coin toss, and Messi got the right to kick off for Barcelona—in fact, this was exactly what Barcelona wanted.

They could use the kick-off to launch an offensive, and then use their powerful ball control to always control the rhythm of the game in their hands, pressing on Liverpool's half for a siege, leaving Liverpool no time to take care of other things.

In fact, they did... I mean within the first five minutes of the game.

Barcelona had a total of three attacks. After the first attack failed, because they were all around the outside of Liverpool's penalty area, they quickly got the second and third attacking opportunities.

In these five minutes, Messi was the most dazzling person, because the ball would be passed to his feet, no matter where he was, the ball would be passed to his feet, and then he would complete the attack.

Barcelona's starting lineup had a center forward, and Villa was responsible for this task.

But he was basically not responsible for scoring goals, he was only responsible for providing cover and making the ball for Messi.

This was the misery of Barcelona's center forward. Although he was nominally a center forward, he did not score goals, nor did he have any right to shoot. The ball must be handed over to Messi in the end, and the work of scoring goals could only be completed by Messi.

Messi was indeed very good at scoring goals.

Logically speaking, Messi should be the center forward himself.

But no, neither Messi himself nor coach Guardiola intended to treat him as a center forward.

In fact, this was right, because with Messi's small stature, if he were to be a center forward, he would only be submerged in the opponent's strong defensive jungle, and it would be impossible to use his speed and skills.

Center forwards still had to be done by specialists.

But in this way, Barcelona's center forward was too pitiful.

It was no wonder that Ibrahimovic had a falling out with Guardiola, because Guardiola asked Ibrahimovic to sacrifice his goals, make tactical support points for Messi, and help Messi score goals.

So later, when Ibrahimovic fell out with Barcelona, he angrily accused Guardiola of doting on Messi like a child, which made him very unhappy.

Villa also wanted to score goals and be a real center forward. The previous situation was okay, although Messi was the core of the attack, he could still eat some of what Messi left over.

Later, the team suddenly changed its tactics and gave Messi unlimited firing rights. No matter where he was, when, no matter how good his position was, he had to pass the ball to him and let him score.

Now, there was completely nothing for Villa to do.

His task was only to run and create space, and then pass the ball to Messi. If he was lucky, he could get an assist, and if he was unlucky... he wouldn't even get an assist.

Villa was having a hard time in such days. Because of the few goals he scored, he could not even guarantee his starting position in the Spanish national team.

He also thought about leaving Barcelona.

But the question was, where could he go if he left Barcelona?

He was reluctant to part with these championship honors. Barcelona and Real Madrid were currently the only two teams in Spain that could win championships.

Real Madrid would definitely not want him. Although they had pursued him before, now they had Benzema and Higuain, and they simply looked down on him who was old and fading.

So after thinking about it, he stayed in Barcelona and became a green leaf supporting role for Messi.

Just like this game.

※※※

However, Barcelona did not score in these three attacks.

Since Liverpool was good at defensive counterattacks, then their defense could never be penetrated by their opponents within the first five minutes of the game.

Martin O'Neill was also very clear about the fact that Messi was the core of Barcelona's attack. After all, he also had to study the game video. After watching it too much, he would naturally find the pattern.

However, Liverpool did not target Messi alone in defense, but mainly maintained the integrity of the defensive formation. This could avoid being pulled apart by Barcelona's overall passing and cutting, giving Messi opportunities.

So under this well-organized defense, five minutes at the beginning of the game was not enough for Messi to score.

Barcelona made slight adjustments and planned to continue attacking.

But at this time, Liverpool's offensive was launched one step ahead of them...