Camp Nou

The Barcelona fans angrily raised their arms, creating a massive wave of noise with boos, whistles, and shouts. In their sight, Chen Zhong had shamelessly taken down Messi in the penalty area.

This was a disgraceful foul, a penalty! It must be a penalty!

Red card, Chen Zhong must be sent off with a red card!

Barcelona’s players were also agitated and gathered around. They couldn’t count how many times they had "surrounded" the referee, but if they could get a penalty and have Chen Zhong sent off, it would all be worth it.

"This wasn’t a foul, you should get up."

Chen Zhong turned to look at Messi, who was still sitting on the ground, and calmly said. Messi glanced at Chen Zhong, feeling a bit conflicted inside. Chen Zhong’s tackle was clean and decisive, and he had first touched the ball; it was himself who "collided" into him.

But hearing the passionate voices of the Barcelona fans and looking at his flushed teammates surrounding the referee, Messi neither pretended on the ground nor pressed the referee. He just sat quietly.

Argentina is the country with the "Hand of God" World Cup miracle, from a national perspective, it was a great goal. On the stage of the World Cup, using such a method completed revenge against England, that man could be considered a national hero.

But from a sports ethics perspective, it was not an act of sports fairness.

And Messi...

Once tried to replicate that man’s "Hand of God."

In the eyes of some people, soccer is just a continuation of war.

And for victory,

What’s wrong with using any means necessary?

Real Madrid’s players also gathered around, with a completely different purpose than Barcelona’s.

"What you did was unethical."

"I saw it very clearly."

"You dived." Cavaleiro bent down and accused Messi as he passed by, but Messi said nothing, just tidying up his shoes and socks.

"In the final moments of the first half."

"Messi fell in the penalty area."

"Barcelona’s players surrounded the referee."

"It was a decision that could determine the match’s outcome."

The referee squeezed out of Barcelona’s players’ encirclement and walked up to Chen Zhong. Chen Zhong, while tapping his left fist with his right hand, looked at the referee and said: "I touched the ball first, he couldn’t dodge in time and crashed into me."

His calm tone caused the referee’s previously furrowed brows to slowly relax.

No matter who you are, being surrounded by a group of sweaty guys shouting is something no one likes, and the referee was no exception.

He actually saw it very clearly and just wanted to confirm, to see what Chen Zhong had to say.

After hearing Chen Zhong’s words, the referee made the final decision.

"The referee pulled out a yellow card!"

"But it’s not for Chen Zhong."

"It’s for Messi!"

"The referee considered Messi to have dived!"

"It’s a bold decision."

Camp Nou exploded completely, and the stands were filled with a million misunderstandings from Barcelona fans.

They roared, angrily cursing the referee and Chen Zhong, but the referee remained unmoved. After giving Messi a yellow card warning, he blew the whistle for halftime.

From the stands, various debris fell, and the Real Madrid players ran back to the locker room under the escort of the security staff. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Guardiola and Mourinho exchanged a glance before each heading into the locker rooms to arrange their tactics.

In Real Madrid’s locker room, Mourinho decisively used his first substitution while standing in front of the whiteboard, replacing Negredo with Di Maria.

This action made the players in the locker room look up, curious about what this Portuguese man was doing.

No one knew why he made such an adjustment.

On the whiteboard, Real Madrid’s formation turned into

Kaka, C. Ronaldo, Di Maria

Alonso, Chen Zhong, Khedira

Marcelo, Cavaleiro, Pepe, Ramos

Casillas

Such a lineup was sure to give Guardiola and Barcelona quite a surprise. Mourinho couldn’t help but want to laugh at the thought of Guardiola’s astonished expression when he saw Cristiano Ronaldo become the center forward at the start of the second half.

The two of them had once "worked" together. Mourinho clearly understood Guardiola’s quirks, knowing that Guardiola liked everything to be under control, hoping all scenarios in a match would go as he imagined and not hoping for his opponents to see through him. Mourinho just wanted to play around with that.

It made him happy.

As the players filed out to head to the field, Mourinho specifically held back Di Maria.

Angel Fabian Di Maria, an Argentine player, nicknamed "Angel," is a rare left-footed player in football, and someone Mourinho is optimistic about as a winger, belonging to Mourinho’s core group at Real Madrid.

Mourinho patted Di Maria’s shoulder, looking directly into Di Maria’s eyes, and said: "Listen, the only way to defeat Barcelona is to surpass them in body confrontations, to become tougher, dare to slide tackle, and work harder in running than they do."

"I know you have a relationship with Messi, but I want to say, if necessary, take him down, if necessary, tackle him, if necessary, no matter what means you use, you must stop him."

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