Chapter 138 Milan's hope lies in Kaka
“What a passionate game atmosphere!”
"Yes, this is the charm of the Milan derby!"
"I'm so worried about Lin Feng. You must protect yourself and don't get hurt!"
“+1 for worry!”
……
The fiery atmosphere of the Milan derby made many fans who were watching this kind of game for the first time feel nervous.
It felt like the players on both sides were not playing football on the field, but fighting.
Liverpool legendary coach Bill Shanks once said: Football is not about life and death, football is above life and death!
Europeans' fanatical attitude towards football is indeed difficult for domestic fans to understand.
But it is precisely this fanatical obsession that has made European football the leading football in the world.
Kaladze's injury was not as serious as it seemed. After being treated by the team doctor, he soon returned to the court.
The game continues!
In the 6th minute, Inter Milan cooperated in the frontcourt. After Veron and Lin Feng passed the ball to Adriano.
The latter forced a kick in front of the penalty area and attempted a long shot.
Adriano was eager to score, but unfortunately the ball did not pose any threat.
Milan then launched a very threatening counterattack through the connection between Pirlo and Kaka.
Both sides know each other well and know how to increase their offensive threats with maximum efficiency, so the pace of the game is accelerated.
Seeing that the opponent's defense in the middle was tight, Inter tried to use the two flanks to create threats.
Figo has been in very good form in recent games, while Martins continued his excellent performance in the last Champions League.
The two players' breakthroughs on the wing created many crossing opportunities for the team, but under AC Milan's tight defense, most of these crosses were blocked by Milan's defenders and failed to turn into goals.
In the 11th minute, Adriano received a cross from Martins in the penalty area again. He stopped the ball with his chest and volleyed it directly without waiting for the ball to land.
The movements are very coherent and beautiful.
The only shortcoming was probably that he didn't grasp the angle well, making the shot turn into an anti-aircraft cannon.
AC Milan goalkeeper Dida had a false alarm. Adriano is well-known, and Dida gets very nervous every time he sees this guy shooting in the penalty area.
But after more than ten minutes in the first half, Ade had quite a few shots, but not a single one was on target.
"No wonder people say this guy was ruined by a woman's belly. It looks like it's just like the rumors!"
Dida breathed a sigh of relief as the opponent's top scorer was not in good form, so he had much less pressure in this game.
However, we cannot be completely careless. In addition to Adriano, Inter Milan also has a Chinese guy who poses a great threat.
When Adriano shot the ball, Cruz had actually run into the open space.
There was no one guarding in front of him. If Adriano had not chosen to shoot but passed the ball to him, it would most likely have been a goal.
But unfortunately, Adriano, who was eager to score a goal, did not notice this, leaving Cruz with nothing but helpless shaking his head.
In this game, in addition to Adriano who seemed very anxious, there was also someone in the opposing AC Milan team who played extremely actively after the opening!
That person was none other than Kaka, who was affectionately called the Son of God by Milan fans!
In the Champions League match three days ago, Kaka scored twice and was in great form.
He really wants to continue his good form in the league and help AC Milan conquer the Meazza Stadium once again.
It is definitely not because of a guy in the opposing lineup who plays in a similar style to mine that he is so active!
But just as Adriano is the focus of AC Milan, as the most threatening player in AC Milan, Kaka is obviously also a player that Inter Milan players are wary of.
In the 13th minute, Kaka broke through with the ball, but before he reached the penalty area, he was double-teamed by several Inter Milan fans.
He is not Messi and does not have Messi's ability to move swiftly in a small area.
But Kaka's speed advantage was too obvious. With just a few simple changes of direction, he forced Inter Milan defender Cordoba to commit a foul and received the first yellow card of the game.
The main central defender received a card, which is definitely not good news for Inter Milan.
The opponent will most likely focus on attacking Cordoba's side next, looking for a breakthrough through him.
But Inter Milan has no time to care about these things now, because the location of Cordoba's foul is very fatal, right in front of the penalty area, and the opponent's lineup also has a top free kick master like Pirlo.
Inter Milan is very clear about what it means to give the opponent a direct free kick in this position.
"Move the human wall a little to the right, leaving the left side empty!"
Inter Milan goalkeeper Cesar stood in the small penalty area, constantly shouting to his teammates near the penalty area line, directing them to form a human wall.
"The left side is open, what if Pirlo shoots from this side?"
After hearing Cesar's command, a teammate asked curiously.
"Humph, if he dares to hit the left side, I promise to save the ball!"
Cesar slapped his chest hard and spoke with great force.
The Inter Milan players did not shy away from anything in their conversation and almost conspired loudly in front of the AC Milan players.
Pirlo naturally heard this conversation and couldn't help rolling his eyes.
I had not originally intended to hit the left side, but since you said so, I'll have to give it a try regardless of whether it's high or low.
Pirlo took a few steps back and looked at the goal with a determined look.
Cesar stood in the middle of the goal line, not leaning to any particular side.
Seeing this, Pirlo no longer hesitated. He aimed at the left side of the human wall and attacked the goal with his signature falling leaf shot.
Inter Milan's wall jumped high, and when they saw the ball pass by them, they all turned back to look at their own penalty area.
In their sight, they saw Cesar move a few quick steps, jump up with all his strength, and hit the ball out with one hand like a volleyball player.
He really managed to pretend it!
After Pirlo took the free throw, he felt good about himself and thought there was a high chance that the ball would go in.
But he didn't expect the opponent to react so quickly and move so quickly that he actually blocked his shot.
This kid has something!
Pirlo looked at Cesar deeply, turned around and walked towards the corner area, preparing to take a corner kick.
After a corner kick, Pirlo kicked the ball to the middle of the penalty area and found AC Milan defender Stam.
But due to Materazzi's interference, Stam's header lacked power and the ball was confiscated by Cesar.
The game on the field was extremely tense, with both teams attacking like a tide, and each could reach the opponent's backcourt from their own backcourt within ten seconds.
In the 16th minute, Lin Feng received the out-of-bounds ball from Zanetti and made a clever breakthrough to get past the defender, and then tried a long shot from the penalty area line.
The quality of this long shot was extremely high, but unfortunately it went slightly off the left post. Even so, it still scared the Milan fans.
There were even a lot of gasps from the stands and sighs from Inter fans.
Seeing that Lin Feng almost scored a goal, Kaka felt an even stronger sense of urgency.
In the 18th minute, Kaka and his teammates intercepted Veron in the frontcourt. Seedorf made a good pass. Kaka dribbled the ball to the penalty area line and, as if responding to Lin Feng's long shot just now, he also made a shot.
But Cesar was very focused, and Kaka's shot ultimately failed to get past the Inter Milan goalkeeper.
Both teams played very well on offense today, but their defense was even better.
After more than 20 minutes of the first half, although both sides had completed more than 10 shots, the score was still 0:0 and no one scored a goal.
However, the balance on the field was broken by Inter Milan in the 25th minute.
In the 23rd minute, Inter Milan launched a counterattack. Lin Feng made a straight pass and found their winger Martins between Stam and Nesta.
The latter dribbled into the penalty area and was about to shoot when he was pushed down from behind by Nesta.
Although AC Milan players immediately raised their hands to signal that the opponent was offside and diving, the referee was very observant and ignored the opponent's protests. He not only gave Nesta a yellow card for the foul, but also awarded Inter Milan a penalty kick.
Slow-motion replay showed that Nesta did have a very hidden push and there was no problem with the referee's decision.
Seeing that the referee had awarded a penalty, Adriano, who was eager to score, didn't even ask his teammates, and didn't even care about Martins who fell in the penalty area. He went straight to the penalty area with the football, ready to take the penalty himself.
He is Inter Milan's main striker, so there is nothing wrong in theory with letting him take the penalty.
But his behavior made Martins very unhappy.
He felt that this was a penalty kick that he had worked hard for, but Adriano didn't even ask a single question and was not even willing to pull him up. He was truly heartless.
Adriano was unaware of his teammates' emotions, and he easily scored the penalty against AC Milan goalkeeper Dida.
The score became 1:0, Inter Milan took the lead at their home court and temporarily led their opponents.
After scoring the goal, Adriano seemed particularly excited. He hadn't felt the feeling of scoring a goal for a long time.
Although the outside world has been criticizing his attitude towards the game, slamming him for being undisciplined and not taking the game seriously enough, his form has declined so much this season.
But for this game, Adriano abstained from sex for several days and even gave up drinking temporarily.
He hopes he can do something for the team in this crucial game.
Father Morati has been so good to me. If I continue to degenerate like this, I will be so sorry for his kindness.
For Adriano, a penalty kick was not enough to quench his thirst.
He also longs to score more goals, preferably not from penalties.
However, it was AC Milan that launched a fierce counterattack against Inter Milan after conceding the goal.
In the 27th minute, Shevchenko's breakthrough won AC Milan an excellent free kick opportunity at the top of the penalty area.
The ball was only 19 meters away from the goal, which was quite close.
Pirlo stood in front of the ball again, but this time he did not choose to continue shooting from the left, but instead completed a falling leaf shot.
Pirlo is indeed a free kick master. This ball was extremely threatening. The football passed the wall and went straight to the goal.
Although Cesar made a save, he failed to touch the ball.
However, the crossbar of the Meazza Stadium saved the team, and the ball hit the crossbar and bounced out of the bottom line.
"Oh!"
There was a collective sigh at the scene, and all the Milan fans held their heads, looking annoyed.
Inter Milan fans subconsciously patted their chests, feeling fortunate that the team had escaped disaster.
We can't commit fouls like this anymore. This guy's free kicks are too threatening. If we give him a few more chances in this position, he might really score.
Mancini was obviously aware of this problem, and he called Cambiasso over to give him instructions.
Soon, fans noticed that Inter Milan's defensive tactics had changed.
They moved the back line forward and increased interceptions in the midfield to minimize the chances of opponents reaching their own 30-meter danger zone.
This was originally just a defensive strategy, but the improvement of the back line meant that Inter Milan's pressing intensity on the field increased.
Under Inter Milan's high-pressure pressing, AC Milan made several coordination errors, giving Inter Milan opportunities to counterattack.
In the 31st minute, Inter Milan launched a quick counterattack after intercepting the ball in the backcourt, but Kroos' shot was blocked by Stam and went out of bounds.
Veron took a corner kick, Gattuso made a mistake in the penalty area and accidentally kicked the ball to the feet of Inter Milan players.
Cambiasso himself didn't expect that pie would fall from the sky, he just kicked the ball without thinking too much.
Dida happened to be on the other side and could do nothing about Cambiasso.
Seeing that Inter Milan was about to expand their lead, Shevchenko, at the critical moment, used a sliding tackle to clear the ball on the goal line.
Seeing the ball being cleared, Cambiasso knelt down in the penalty area with his head in his hands, looking annoyed.
If I had known this would happen, I would have not pushed the ball and just kicked the ball directly!
In the stands, the roles of the two teams' fans were reversed.
This time it was Inter Milan fans who were sighing and lamenting, while AC Milan fans felt like they had survived a disaster.
Although Shevchenko performed a miraculous savior, Inter Milan's attack did not stop.
In the 33rd minute, Figo broke through on the wing and made a sudden shot, which went slightly wide of the post.
A minute later, Inter Milan's attack once again reached the penalty area of AC Milan. Adriano received a cross from his teammate and headed the ball into the goal.
Dida reacted quickly and stretched out his hand to block the ball.
During this period, Inter Milan had a climax in attack, and AC Milan was in constant danger in front of the goal.
The Milan fans in the stands were all worried, fearing that the team would not be able to withstand the opponent's attack and lose another goal.
For teams of the level of the two Milan clubs, it would undoubtedly be very difficult to equalize the score if they are two goals ahead of their opponents.
After all, there are only a few teams like AC Milan that suffered a reversal after leading 3:0. Falling behind by two goals means a high probability of losing the game.
Milan must launch a counterattack to reverse the unfavorable situation on the field.
Otherwise, they would probably be crushed by Inter's continuous offensive.
The fans' expectant gazes finally all fell on Kaka!
(End of this chapter)
