After the warm-up, they returned to the locker room, where Arsène gave a few brief instructions before Arsenal's 11 starting players walked into the player tunnel.
AC Milan's players had already lined up in the tunnel in advance.
Li Yufei took a quick glance and saw a host of stars he had only seen on TV in his previous life.
Ronaldinho, Pato, Pirlo, Seedorf, Ambrosini, Thiago Silva...
Adding Inzaghi and Gattuso on the bench.
It must be said, putting aside their ages, just hearing the names, who wasn't famous?
Looking solely at the paper lineup, AC Milan was undoubtedly the undisputed favorite to win the Champions League.
Especially with Ibrahimović set to transfer from Barcelona to AC Milan a month later, AC Milan's lineup would become even more luxurious.
However, given that most of this AC Milan squad were already in the later stages of their careers, their actual level was a big question mark.
Calling them 'paper tigers' wouldn't be an exaggeration.
After all, if Li Yufei remembered correctly, it was this very season that AC Milan lost 0-1 on aggregate to Tottenham in the Champions League Round of 16.
180 minutes without a single goal, and their opponent was Tottenham, a so-called BIG6 team that was consistently mid-table in the Premier League.
One can imagine that AC Milan's true strength at this time wasn't really that impressive.
Of course, Arsenal's situation wasn't much better.
Aside from having a younger squad than AC Milan, Arsenal was gradually transforming into the familiar 'top four contender' of later years.
As for the Champions League, while they could consistently reach the knockout rounds, their opponents in the knockout rounds were 'Barcelona for three years, Bayern for five years'.
Basically, they would enter the knockout rounds to experience the atmosphere of the match, and then go home.
The only trophy they could compete for each year was the famous 'Thermos Cup' (Thermos Cup) of the FA Cup.
Their situation wasn't much better than AC Milan's.
After entering the stadium, the Main Referee tossed the coin. Arsenal won the chance to choose first, and captain Fabregas chose possession.
Li Yufei played in his most familiar forward position in this match, replacing the Moroccan Chamakh.
Feeling the surging tide of fans at the stadium, Li Yufei took a deep breath and opened his system panel.
Just now, the system, which had been quiet for a long time, released a new mission:
【Mission Name: First Team Debut】
【Mission Content: 1. Help the team defeat AC Milan】
【2. Personally score a goal or provide an assist】
【3. Show affection to Taylor Swift in the stands after scoring a goal】
【Mission Reward: Each task completed earns 100 Intermediate Soft Rice Points. If all three tasks are completed, an additional 100 Advanced Soft Rice Points will be awarded】
Here it comes, here it comes!
Li Yufei had long guessed the system's reward pattern. As expected, matches with symbolic significance for Li Yufei himself would surely have generous rewards.
The difficulty of the mission content given by the system wasn't very high either.
After all, defeating this aging AC Milan team wasn't a huge problem.
Furthermore, AC Milan wouldn't be desperately trying to win a friendly match. In terms of attitude, Li Yufei already had the upper hand.
As for the second task, he could achieve it with some effort.
However, the third task was somewhat intriguing, as the content explicitly stated to show affection to Taylor after scoring a goal.
It was 'scoring a goal', not 'providing an assist'.
In other words, even if Li Yufei provided an assist and completed the second task, he wouldn't be able to perform the third task.
To put it plainly, the system was forcing Li Yufei to find every possible way to score a goal.
However, this was exactly what Li Yufei wanted, as the most eye-catching player in a football match is the one who scores.
Li Yufei wanted to become the world's best and history's best as quickly as possible, which could naturally only be achieved through continuous scoring.
With a whistle from the Main Referee, the match officially began.
The Russian Arshavin kicked off the ball, and the game officially started.
This friendly match between Arsenal and AC Milan was broadcast by Sky Sports.
Sky Sports Studio.
Andy Gray and Martin Tyler were introducing the starting lineups for both teams.
"OK, ladies and gentlemen, the friendly match between Arsenal and AC Milan has officially begun."
"Arsenal, wearing their red and white home kit, are attacking from the right side of the screen to the left, while AC Milan, in their white away kit, are attacking from the left side of the screen to the right."
"Let's take a look at the starting lineups for both sides."
"Arsenal start in a 4-4-2 formation."
"Goalkeeper: Almunia."
"Defenders: Sagna, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Clichy."
"Midfielders: Wilshere, Diaby, Fabregas, Alexandre Song."
"Forwards: Fly, Arshavin."
"AC Milan start in a 4-3-3 formation."
"Goalkeeper: Abbiati."
"Defenders: Bonera, Nesta, Thiago Silva, Antonini."
"Midfielders: Ambrosini, Seedorf, Pirlo."
"Forwards: Ronaldinho, Borriello, Pato."
"We've noticed one thing, which is that Arsenal's talented player, the son of Arsenal's major shareholder, Fly Adams, is in the first team for the first time."
"For what consideration, we don't know, but Arsène has put him in the starting forward position for his debut."
"Andy, what do you think?"
Hearing Martin Tyler's question, Andy Gray thought for a moment and said rather tactfully:
"I think Arsène wants to use AC Milan as an opponent to challenge Fly."
"After all, Fly is not an ordinary youth player; he has a father who is a major shareholder of Arsenal."
"For such a super rich second generation, it's difficult for him to maintain the right mentality without facing some setbacks."
"Football is ultimately a competitive sport, and your opponents won't go easy on you because of your background; in fact, your status as a super rich second generation might even ignite their fighting spirit."
"I know Fly dominated all levels of the youth academy, but I want to say that youth training and professional matches are completely different."
"Barcelona's Bojan broke Léo's records during his youth training, but his development in the Barcelona first team is not going well at the moment."
"So, I'm cautious about Fly. He needs to prove himself in official matches."
Martin nodded in agreement, saying, "Alright, then we can observe how Fly, this super talent who dominated all levels of the youth academy, performs in an official match setting."
...........
Li Yufei was completely unaware of the commentators' evaluations; at this moment, he was fully immersed in the match.
Apart from the first few dozen seconds when he was a bit nervous, Li Yufei's emotions had completely calmed down afterwards.
It was like the college entrance examination in his previous life; he was extremely nervous before the exam and couldn't sleep, but once he entered the examination hall, he became very calm.
The match was the same principle.
Arsenal passed the ball around in the midfield and defense for a while, then Fabregas suddenly accelerated and played a wall pass with Wilshere before sending a through ball towards the left front.
Fly felt Seedorf pressing from behind, moved forward to meet the ball, and without giving Seedorf a chance to interfere, he kicked the ball to the overlapping full-back Clichy with one touch.
AC Milan's defensive focus instantly shifted to the right.
After receiving the ball, Clichy drove towards the byline, with Bonera following closely. Bonera eventually forced Clichy into a position where he had nowhere to go, compelling the latter to attempt a cross.
The ball hit Bonera's leg and went out for a corner. The assistant referee at the byline faced the byline and signaled a corner kick from the left side, and the Main Referee immediately blew his whistle.
In the 4th minute of the match, Arsenal won the first corner kick of the entire game.
