Chapter 270: The lucky general shows his power, and AC Milan doesn’t have much time left! Seedorf's goal brought about a huge change in the situation of the game. AC Milan's attack seemed to have been activated and suddenly became unstoppable. In the 53rd minute, it was Seedorf again. He got rid of the defense in the middle and made a straight pass. Milan's substitute Gilardino forced a shot under the double defense of two Inter defenders and completed a poke shot from 13 meters in front of the goal. Fortunately, Materazzi stretched his legs in time to block the opponent's shot. But Milan's attack was not over. In the 54th minute, Pirlo made a key long pass from the backcourt and found Kaka who was moving on the left rib. Kaka stopped and dribbled past Stankovic, avoiding his pressure, and then used his speed advantage to sprint towards Inter Milan's penalty area with the ball. Kaka was the key target of Inter Milan's defensive tactics before the game. Mancini repeatedly warned his players before the game not to give Kaka any room to speed up and to kill his attack before his speed was fully up. At this time, the only defensive player near Kaka was right-back Maicon, and his teammates in the middle were too far away to provide support in time. Maicon is considered to be quite fast among full-backs, but it depends on who you compare him with! Compared with fast wingers like Bale and Mbappe who rely on their speed and impact, his speed is not good enough.
Therefore, when encountering this type of player, Maicon can easily suffer losses or even be beaten. Among them, the most classic matches were the two games between defending champion Inter Milan and Tottenham in the 2010-2011 Champions League group stage. Maicon, who was dubbed the world's best right-back by fans, was completely beaten by Bale on the wing in those two games. It is because of these two games that the world has witnessed Bale's terrifying strength, and Real Madrid is willing to spend a lot of money to bring him to the Bernabeu. Although Kaka's speed is not as fast as Bale and Mbappe, Kaka has a very good ability to connect with the ball. He hardly loses speed while running with the ball at high speed, and even feels like he is running faster and faster with big strides. After weighing the pros and cons, Maicon decided not to take the risk and instead fouled Kaka directly, preventing the opponent's breakthrough. Of course, a foul in this position will inevitably come at a price, and Maicon was given a yellow card warning by the referee for this foul. After being tackled, Kaka did not roll on the ground or scream loudly. Instead, he limped up quickly from the ground, as if he wanted to continue attacking. It can be seen that Kaka really wants to win! Seeing him limping, many Milan and Kaka fans felt sorry for him, while also cursing the butcher Maicon loudly in their hearts. Milan really wanted to take advantage of the opportunity when the players' attention was drawn to the foul and the referee's decision to quickly take a free kick and complete the attack. But unfortunately, Inter Milan was prepared, and as soon as Maicon committed the foul, Lin Feng ran over and negotiated with the referee about Maicon's foul and the yellow card, while pretending to pass by and 'accidentally' touched the ball out of bounds. Pirlo looked at Lin Feng speechlessly. Seeing that his eyes were always on the referee and he didn't seem to pay attention to his feet, he couldn't help but doubt, could it be that he didn't do it on purpose? Pirlo didn't think much about it. He ran to the sidelines, picked up the ball, and carefully positioned himself to prepare for the free throw. However, as luck would have it, Lin Feng had just finished communicating with the referee when he turned around and 'accidentally' touched the ball. Although the ball did not go out of bounds this time, Pirlo's previous arrangement was in vain. Pirlo glared at Lin Feng. He finally realized what he meant by accident. This guy clearly did it on purpose! Pirlo looked at the referee, signaled with his eyes the football not far away, and spread his hands to the referee. The referee did not notice what had just happened, and it was dead ball time, so he had no reaction to Pirlo's actions. Pirlo had no choice but to pick the ball back up and put it back in place.
Influenced by the previous episode, Pirlo, who had originally planned to discuss set-piece tactics with his teammates, seemed to have forgotten about this matter. When his teammates saw that he didn't actively communicate, they thought he was going to shoot the ball himself, so they didn't say anything. So at this time Pirlo could only bite the bullet and shoot directly! Toldo had obviously studied Pirlo's free kick technique. After Pirlo shot directly, Toldo moved quickly, jumped high, and blocked Pirlo's shot with one hand. The ball fell into the penalty area. The Inter Milan player's clearance was not far enough. The Milan player on the periphery passed the ball into the penalty area again. In the melee, Gattuso's shot hit the defender and bounced out. Pirlo immediately raised his hand to complain about Maicon's handball. Apart from him, no one else on the Milan side reacted. Farina himself did not see Maicon's handball, and Pirlo was doing all kinds of small movements just now, which made him feel a little strange. He looked at Pirlo suspiciously, and finally decided to ignore it. Milan's attack was like a tide. In the 56th minute, Gilardino dribbled the ball and caused Materazzi to foul. Fortunately, the foul happened outside the penalty area, otherwise, Materazzi would have given a big gift to his opponent. But he paid the price for this foul from behind and, like Maicon, was given a yellow card warning by the referee. Within just a few minutes, two Inter Milan defenders received yellow cards, which shows the great pressure Inter Milan was under on the field during this period. Milan, who were already playing like crazy, took advantage of the situation and in the 57th minute, captain Maldini made a diagonal pass from the left, and Gilardino flew to the top of the goal from 7 meters in front of the goal. Although Toldo judged the direction correctly, his saving action was a little slow, and he instead saved the ball into the upper left corner of the goal. Milan fans in the stands cheered loudly, and Gilardino also celebrated the goal. But soon, there was a huge booing from the audience. Near the baseline, the linesman's flag came belatedly, but was still raised firmly. The slow-motion replay of the TV broadcast showed that Gilardino was indeed offside and the linesman's decision was very accurate. Gilardino held his head in his hands, his mentality was about to explode! He felt that he was fooled by the referee. If it was offside, you should have raised the flag earlier. I was so happy for nothing. The opponent's attack was getting more and more frenzied, almost suffocating the teammates. Lin Feng actively sought offensive opportunities in the frontcourt. No matter whether it was a good opportunity or not, he would try his best, even if it was just to mobilize the opponent's players to return to defense and give his teammates a break. Seeing Lin Feng doing this, Torres followed suit. Crespo originally didn't intend to get involved, but Torres was running all over the field, while he was strolling slowly on the field like a grandfather, which seemed a bit too lazy in comparison. So this 30-year-old old man was also forced to join in with several young men in their teens and twenties. In an instant, Inter Milan's offensive trident turned into three troublemakers. Although Lin Feng and others' crazy pressing and seizing every opportunity to launch counterattacks did not bring any substantial threat to AC Milan, this style of play was too disgusting. Milan's defenders were having a hard time with them. Nesta and Kaladze had no way to leave their own half. Even because the opponent had three people, the two of them were not enough, so they had to let Maldini and Cafu come back to support them. As a result, Milan's offensive strength decreased, especially the support from the flanks began to decrease. Ancelotti's 4321 formation requires the full-backs to assist with the ball, otherwise, the two front midfielders will be concentrated in the middle, and the offensive surface will not be wide enough, and the opponent's dense defense in front of the penalty area will easily curb the offensive momentum. Affected by this, Milan's offensive threat suddenly dropped. Although they were still able to make shots, the number of shots and the threat to the goal were far less than before. This made Ancelotti on the sidelines frown. He didn't know whether Lin Feng and others' actions were spontaneous behaviors of the players or tactics arranged by Mancini. Although the classic attacking midfielder is gradually fading out of the football stage, more and more offensive attacking midfielders like Kaka are appearing on the field.
But isn’t Inter Milan’s attacking midfielder too comprehensive? It would be fine if he could complete the attack, but he could also defend? Well, even if he can defend, he usually retreats to his own half to participate in the defense. How can he defend in the opponent's half and press the opponent's defenders frantically? Is this still a attacking midfielder? Even the wingers and central midfielders are not so radical! Mancini was also a little confused. What were they running around for? Didn't I arrange for them to play like this? Wait, why has Milan's offensive threat decreased? Could it be that Lin Feng and his team’s interference worked? Mancini's mind was full of question marks. Although he didn't understand what Lin Feng and the others were doing, he felt that they seemed very powerful! He was even fascinated as he watched, wondering whether he could further improve this tactic and then implement it in the next game? Lin Feng and the other three were enough to disrupt Milan's backcourt. If the whole team came together, wouldn't it be overwhelming? The more Mancini thought about it, the more excited he became. He couldn't wait to try out his new idea. …… The actions of Lin Feng and others did have a certain impact on Milan, but it was obviously unlikely for only three people to freeze the opponent's attack. Seeing that the center back's pass was blocked, Pirlo consciously retreated to receive the ball. With the addition of Maldini and Cafu who could pass the ball from two flanks, Milan's defenders quickly adapted after the initial hectic stage. Lin Feng, Torres and others had consumed a lot of physical energy due to the previous crazy pressing, so the intensity of their pressing had also decreased at this time. As one side gained strength while the other lost strength, Milan's attack once again gained the upper hand. In the 60th minute, Pirlo made a long pass in the midfield, and Milan center forward Oliveira, who came on as a substitute, headed the ball from 14 meters in front of the goal, but was caught by Toldo. Seeing that the situation was not good, Mancini quickly made substitutions. Figo and Burdisso came on, while Grosso and Dacourt left the field. But shortly after Inter Milan made the substitution, Crespo was injured while competing for the ball with Nesta. After the team doctor came on the field to check, he found that Crespo's shoulder injury was quite serious and he could not continue the game. Mancini had no choice but to use his last substitution and replace the injured Crespo. But when it came to deciding who to substitute, Mancini hesitated. Although Inter still has the lead, Milan's offensive threat is too great during this period. If we are to be more conservative, replacing a forward with a defensive player to further strengthen the team's defense and try to drag the game through the last thirty minutes of the second half seems to be the most reasonable option. But if they really do this, it will be even more difficult for Inter Milan to threaten the opponent's goal. Now that Milan has lost its threat, its next attack will probably be even more unscrupulous. So after some ideological struggle, Mancini finally decided to make a substitution and replaced Cruz from the bench.
Although Cruz is a substitute, his strength is not weaker than the two main players. He is even better at seizing opportunities and seems to have better luck. He often brings surprises to the team when he comes on as a substitute. I hope he can still bring good luck to himself this time. Although there are elements of metaphysics, some things really cannot be explained, and we can only believe it exists rather than not believe it. Facts have proved that Cruz is indeed Inter Milan's lucky star. In the 68th minute, not long after Cruz came on as a substitute, Gattuso fouled Vieira in the middle and Inter Milan got a free kick opportunity in the frontcourt. Lin Feng discussed with Figo who came on as a substitute and gave the opportunity to Figo. Figo took a free kick from the right side. He did not choose to shoot directly, but passed it diagonally to the back post. Cruz headed the ball from 3 meters in front of the goal, but the ball hit the grass and bounced into the goal. The score became 4 to 1! AC Milan goalkeeper Dida spread his hands helplessly. Even a god couldn't save this kind of header. Mancini on the sidelines was almost going crazy when he saw Cruz score a goal so quickly! A lucky general, this is indeed a lucky general! No matter what kind of game it is in the future, we must bring him with us. Even if we don’t send him to play, it would be good for him to be a mascot on the bench! On the field, Inter Milan players were even crazier than Mancini. They chased after Cruz, the scorer, and ran wildly along the field. Even the old goalkeeper Toldo at the other end of the field rushed up and celebrated with his teammates. Cruz's goal came too timely and was too crucial. The opponent's attack just now almost made them breathless. Now, the score gap has been widened again, and they feel confident again. For AC Milan supporters, Kroos' goal was like a bucket of cold water poured over their heads. Just over ten minutes ago, when Milan launched a vigorous counterattack, they were all full of expectations, hoping to see a shocking reversal, just like when they were reversed by others. However, reality is not a fairy tale. The happy ending did not appear, but instead stabbed them in the heart. Many Milan fans stared at the scoreboard in a daze. The bright red number 4:1 was particularly eye-catching. What made them even more irritated and uneasy was the game time that kept ticking beside them! The second half has entered the 68th minute and there is not much time left for Milan! (End of this chapter)