The Ibrahimovic who'd been singled out by Guardiola in the previous tactical meeting delivered a hat-trick, Messi grabbed both a goal and an assist, and Milan thrashed the home side 5–0.
Huang Kaiwen noticed a problem.
In the past, Guardiola didn't take him to away games.
Now, Guardiola still didn't take him to away games.
Messi was being used by Guardiola as a "small-sized" Yellow Ball King.
It's just that he wasn't being used quite so cautiously.
Thinking that Messi probably also wanted to play more, Huang Kaiwen decided not to tell Messi about this.
Guardiola was happy, Messi was happy—wasn't that a win–win? The Yellow Ball King, who didn't even need to go to away games to win matches, had actually won twice!
In the second leg that had the whole world watching.
Milan, back at home, cruised to a 3–0 win over Barca and successfully advanced to the quarterfinals.
