Guardiola was punching the air on the sidelines. This was the passing and control he wanted, this was the charm of tiki-taka football.
For this, sacrificing Yaya Toure and Zlatan Ibrahimovic was the right decision.
Their abilities were not in question, but they added a slight "hesitation" to the tiki-taka, which was evidently incorrect.
Pellegrini's expression became quite serious, just like other teams feared Real Madrid's Chen Zhong, they also feared Barcelona's Messi.
"This is the seventh time Messi has broken Real Madrid's goal."
"This season he has already scored 40 goals across all competitions."
"He has scored 27 of those in the league."
"This is also his sixth goal in the last three games."
"It's clear he wants to catch up with Chen Zhong's goal tally."
"This season, Chen Zhong has scored 52 goals in all competitions."
"He has scored 34 of those in the league."
"He leads the scoring charts by a considerable margin."
