Chapter 167 Zebra Prince
"GOALLLLL!!!"
"Ibrahimovic's goal and his shot brought the suspense back to the game!"
"Juventus has not given up yet, they still have a chance to get points away from home or even turn defeat into victory!"
Ibrahimovic himself seemed particularly excited after scoring the goal. He has been trying hard to score from the first half until now.
God helps those who work hard, and his efforts finally paid off.
Thinking of this, Ibrahimovic looked at Lin Feng proudly.
On a stage like the Italian national derby, Zlatan will never let an 18-year-old boy dominate the stage!
The sudden loss of the ball made Inter Milan's players a little confused. Zanetti and Cordoba looked at each other with helplessness in their eyes.
The opponent's transfer was too fast and Ibrahimovic's forward run was too determined. It was difficult for the two of them to defend against this attack as they did not have time to get into position.
"Inter Milan needs to be careful. Juventus has been trying to use their wing advantage to launch attacks. Now that they have tasted the sweetness, they will definitely continue to make such attempts next time!"
In the CCTV studio, two commentators who favored Inter Milan began to sweat for them.
Inter Milan's head coach Mancini has already discovered the problems on the field. In fact, it's not just Juventus. Inter Milan's most active side is also on the wing where Figo is.
Since both teams had great restrictions on the middle of the field in this game, it was difficult for both teams to open up the situation in the middle and they had to look for breakthroughs from the flanks.
The difference is that Inter Milan is only strong on the right side, while Juventus is strong on both sides.
If they continue to play like this, Inter Milan will be at a disadvantage.
Thinking of this, Mancini called Zanetti over to give him instructions.
Soon, Juventus' head coach and fans at the scene discovered that Inter Milan adopted a tactic of defending on the left and attacking on the right.
Taking advantage of the outstanding offensive capabilities of three players on the right side, namely Zanetti, Figo and Lin Feng, they attacked the opponent's left flank to death.
As for the left side, Mancini never let the left back cross the half court, always guarding against the opponent's attack from this side.
His idea was very simple, which was to strengthen the defense on the left side, rely on squatting defense to resist the opponent's attack, take the initiative to start a team fight on the right side, and suppress the opponent's attack with powerful offensive firepower.
In this way, both flanks of Juventus were restricted.
This move really achieved good results. With Lin Feng actively moving to the right, Inter Milan's right-wing attack was very active.
With the support of Zanetti and Lin Feng, Figo frequently made breakthroughs and crosses on the right, causing a lot of trouble for Balzaretti and Chiellini.
With this move, Inter Milan suppressed the opponent's advantage on the flanks and even brought the rhythm of the game back under their control.
However, something unexpected happened soon. In the 59th minute, Figo took the ball and passed Juventus' left-back. When he was about to break through Chiellini, he was kicked on his right calf by the latter's shoe sole and fell to the ground in pain.
The referee showed Chiellini a yellow card without hesitation, and Figo had to go to the sidelines for treatment.
From the footage at the scene, we can see that Figo's calf was scratched by Chiellini's studs, leaving several bloody marks.
Chiellini's foul just now was quite harsh!
After receiving treatment for several minutes, Figo limped back to the field.
But affected by this, Figo's condition declined, and coupled with his great physical consumption, Inter Milan's offensive on the right gradually died down.
Without the defensive pressure, Juventus took the opportunity to launch another attack on Inter Milan.
Even when everyone's physical fitness had reached a bottleneck, Nedved, this iron man, became more and more courageous and his condition improved with each game.
In the 69th minute, Camoranesi and Nedved made consecutive passes, Ibrahimovic took the ball from the right and cut inside, his left-foot shot on the penalty area line was blocked.
A minute later, Juventus took advantage of Inter Milan's offensive round to launch a quick counterattack.
Cannavaro's pass found Ibrahimovic, who strode towards Inter Milan's half with the ball.
Samuel was forced to commit a tactical foul, knocking Ibrahimovic to the ground and was given a yellow card by the referee.
Ibrahimovic seemed to have hit his shoulder when he fell to the ground, and with a painful expression he signaled the head coach to make a substitution.
Juventus was also forced to use a substitution, replacing Ibrahimovic with Zebra Prince Piero.
A dangerous attack from the opponent was stopped at the cost of a yellow card, and an opponent's forward was replaced.
It seemed like a good deal, but after Piero came on the pitch, Inter Milan were shocked to find that their situation had not improved, but had gotten worse.
Although Piero replaced Ibrahimovic, he did not play as a striker.
Instead, he retreated behind Trezeguet and played as an attacking midfielder or shadow striker.
In 2006, Piero had already passed his peak and began to enter a downward phase.
This is also the reason why after Ibrahimovic joined Juventus, he lost his main position as the team's number ten.
But after experiencing injuries and being a substitute, he began his transformation.
Now Piero is no longer the team's main attacker, but a secondary attacker hidden behind the center.
He will use his dribbling and organizational skills to connect Nedved and Trezeguet and play his transitional role. He will only shoot when there is a great opportunity.
His style of play seemed to reduce the defensive pressure in Inter Milan's penalty area, but the defensive pressure outside the penalty area suddenly increased.
With an additional guy who can dribble, organize and is good at attacking, Inter Milan's midfielders and defenders have to be distracted to defend him.
With Trezeguet heading the ball in the penalty area, Inter Milan couldn't just leave it alone.
The result of both sides having to focus on defense is that neither side can be defended.
Within just a few minutes after Piero came on the pitch, Juventus's number of attacks into the dangerous area 30 meters in front of Inter Milan's penalty area increased significantly.
With the addition of Piero, Juventus' passing and coordination in the frontcourt became smoother and they created more and more opportunities in offense.
In the 71st minute, Nedved cooperated with Piero, broke into the left side of the penalty area, and passed the ball diagonally to Trezeguet in front of the goal.
This was a great scoring opportunity, but the French failed to seize it and the ball was cleared by Cordoba.
In the 73rd minute, the two cooperated again. After Nedved passed the ball to Piero, he repeated the same trick and rushed into the penalty area.
Inter Milan's defenders had suffered a loss once, so this time they naturally kept a close eye on Nedved and did not give him any chance to pass the ball.
However, seeing that Inter Milan's defender focused his defense on Nedved, Piero did not pass the ball, but instead moved the ball sideways, dodged the Inter Milan players who came to defend, and then took a long shot from 27 meters away from the goal.
The quality of this long shot was extremely high, almost aiming at the blind corner of the goal. Fortunately, Cesar was in great form today, and he reacted immediately, moving a few steps quickly and flying to save the ball.
Although the ball did not go in, it made Inter Milan players break out in a cold sweat.
They realized that they had neglected to defend Piero.
Ten years ago, when Piero was at his peak, there was a saying similar to Robben Corridor.
At that time, as long as Piero dribbled the ball inside and reached the 30-meter area, he could take a long shot at any time.
Moreover, this guy's long-range shooting accuracy is extremely high. Almost every shot is aimed at the blind corner, and he rarely fires anti-aircraft guns.
So when the opponent's goalkeeper and defender see him appear in this area, they will feel extremely nervous.
Although the Zebra Prince has lost his previous deterrent power, Inter Milan cannot be careless.
If this happens again, the defensive players must come up immediately and put enough pressure on Piero.
But if this happens, there will not be enough defensive players in the backcourt, and the team's midfield must also retreat significantly to participate in the defense.
Although this can strengthen the defensive ability, Inter Milan's formation is too flat. When attacking, they cannot deploy the formation in the first time and quickly advance the offensive to the opponent's half.
This invisibly reduced the deterrent power of their attack, allowing Juventus to be more confident and bold in investing more troops in the attack.
As a result, the game began to fall into a passive position. Juventus began to take over the game after the 70th minute and continued to put pressure on Inter Milan's defense.
"What's wrong with Inter Milan's coaching staff? Help them?!
"Mancini, think of a solution. If it really doesn't work, replace the offensive players with defensive players and just park the bus!"
"It's not bad to score points. Parking the bus can at least get three points. If we keep holding on like this, we might end up losing the game and losing face!"
Seeing that the situation was unfavorable to Inter Milan, the fans who were watching the live game gave advice to Inter Milan's coaching staff.
It’s a pity that Mancini, who was thousands of miles away, obviously couldn’t hear their voices.
Mancini was also hesitating whether to make a substitution.
Since Figo was injured, Inter Milan's offensive threat has dropped sharply.
These counterattacks could only be broken by the speed of Adriano and Martins on the left. They could have used Lin Feng's speed, but because he had to participate in defense, he retreated too deep and there was no space for him to sprint.
To be honest, Ader's condition today is really bad.
In the 76th minute, Inter Milan launched a quick counterattack. Martins broke through the wing and made a low pass to the front post. Ade was about to shoot but was blocked by Thuram, wasting a great opportunity.
If Ade had handled this ball more decisively and scored, the score would have become 3:1!
At the 76th minute, the score difference was widened to 2 goals again. Juventus' morale was bound to be greatly dampened, and Inter Milan could take the opportunity to catch their breath.
It’s a pity that even though the opportunity was right in front of him, he couldn’t make use of it!
Seeing that Ade was in poor form, Mancini replaced him in the 78th minute and replaced him with super substitute Cruz, who had made great contributions to the team many times.
Seeing Cruz come on the field, the Inter Milan fans at the scene burst into applause and cheers.
Now in the entire team, the people they trust the most, besides Lin Feng, are Cruz.
He is like Inter Milan's koi. As long as he plays, he can always find opportunities to score goals.
Fans hope that this time Kroos can continue his magic and help Inter Milan defeat the strong enemy.
"Mancini is ready to go all the way. He doesn't choose to strengthen defense, but continues to strengthen offense. Haha, quite interesting!"
Capello looked very surprised when he saw Inter Milan's substitutions.
Although he felt that Mancini's approach was not wise, it did not prevent him from admiring Mancini's courage.
After Cruz came on the pitch, Inter Milan's situation on the field did not improve.
Juventus' advantage is still huge and they continue to besiege Inter Milan's goal.
But there is not much time left. If Juventus cannot change the score within the remaining ten minutes, they will suffer the bitter fruit of failure.
Under such pressure, Juventus' attack was crazy.
In the 81st minute, Juventus got a great chance. Camoranesi made a low pass from the right, and Samuel made a mistake in clearing the ball at the front point, and his right leg touched the ball to Trezeguet's feet.
But the Frenchman seemed to have forgotten to bring his shooting boots, or perhaps his luck was extremely bad, as Trezeguet's left-foot shot from 8 meters in front of the goal hit Cordoba. Inter Milan cleared the ball in the melee and escaped again.
This thrilling process and Inter Milan's incredible luck made the fans at the scene feel like they were experiencing a roller coaster ride.
"This game is so damn exciting, I'm worried I'll have a heart attack if I keep watching!"
"Inter's luck is incredible. They were able to defend this. When I saw Trezeguet shoot, I thought Inter was doomed!"
"What happened to Trezeguet today? I can't even remember how many chances he wasted!"
"Maybe it's because of too much psychological pressure. After all, he is now 8 goals behind Tony in the scorer list!"
"Haha, what's going on? You're still thinking about the Golden Boot. You should think about how to win this game first. There's not much time left for Juventus!"
On the sidelines, Capello couldn't help but cover his head.
Such a good opportunity was wasted, you are playing with snakes!
As Trezeguet missed many good opportunities, Capello has lost confidence in him.
He placed all his hopes on Piero, who came on as a substitute, hoping that the Zebra Prince could step up and save the team once again!
It's not just Capello who thinks so. At this moment, the biggest hope in the hearts of all Juventus fans who are watching this game is their prince - Piero!
Piero seemed to have heard the calls of the head coach and the fans. In the 83rd minute, Nedved caused Cordoba to foul when he broke through.
Juventus got a free kick opportunity in a very good position, and Papares's decision made Inter Milan players very dissatisfied.
They tried to protest to the referee, but the decision was not changed.
The Zebra Prince stood at the penalty spot, ready to take the free kick himself.
The atmosphere at the scene was extremely tense, and many Inter Milan fans began to make the sign of the cross on their chests, praying for God's blessing.
However, God seemed to ignore them. Piero kicked a beautiful arc with his right foot from 23 meters in front of the goal, which went straight into the upper right corner.
Although Cesar tried his best, he really couldn't do anything about the ball.
The ball went in and the score became 2:2.
After scoring the goal, Piero stuck out his tongue and ran to celebrate. This was his eighth league goal this season and also the most valuable one.
Thanks to his goal, Juventus was two goals behind in the first half, but they scored two goals in the second half and tenaciously equalized the score.
There are only 7 minutes left in regular time. In the remaining time, whoever scores first will have the chance to win the game and get 3 points!
(End of this chapter)
