Chapter 257 Two red cards, a hard-fought victory
The ball was cleared by Bayern's defender without any suspense. What was originally Inter Milan's offensive round turned into a counterattack opportunity for the opponent.
Originally, after Inter Milan's offensive round ended, the players had already started to return to defense, but because of the previous interception and counterattack, some players were still returning to defense, some players stopped, and some of the players with the fastest reactions had already started to run back and re-engage in the attack.
The attack failed at this time and the ball fell to the opponent's feet. It was very dangerous for Inter Milan because their formation no longer existed.
"Good chance, Bayern's counterattack!"
"Ort received the ball in the middle and passed it to Schweinsteiger!"
"Schweinsteiger's through ball into the penalty area!"
"Makai!"
"The ball goes in, Bayern Munich scores a goal!!"
Bayern's counterattack was very fast. Before most Inter Milan players had time to return to defense from the opponent's half, Bayern's attack had already reached their own penalty area.
By the time Lin Feng and others arrived near the center circle, their own goal had already been breached.
Bayern is worthy of being the top giants in European football. This strong ability to seize opportunities and textbook-level quick counterattacks are not something that ordinary teams can produce.
"Damn it!"
Mancini, who was standing on the sidelines, cursed under his breath. He already felt something was wrong when he saw Van Buyten clear the ball with his header.
Normally, when Inter Milan is attacking, there are players on the periphery to support them. But what happened just now was not a normal situation. Instead, it was a quick counterattack launched on the spot after the frontcourt players successfully intercepted the ball. The teammates did not have time to support them, resulting in a loophole in the connection between the frontcourt and the midfield, giving the opponent an opportunity to counterattack them.
In the game, the moment of transition from offense to defense is the most prone to mistakes, let alone continuous transitions like this.
But the fact that the opponent can seize such an opportunity shows that the opponent's pre-match tactical arrangement is reasonable, the players on the field have a stronger ability to read the game, and have rich experience in dealing with such situations.
I thought I could rest easy after the 2:0 score, but now it seems that it was too early to be happy.
This is indeed not an easy game. If they want to snatch the first place in the group from Bayern, they need to do better!
Inter Milan's troubles are still to come. After Bayern scored the goal, the morale of the players was greatly boosted.
And according to the tactics arranged by Magath during the half-time break, they had to guard against Inter Milan's attack in the opening stage, so they played relatively conservatively, but when the opponent's attack weakened, it was Inter Milan's turn.
At this time, the second half had been played for more than ten minutes, and Inter Milan's opening wave of attack had reached its end, so now it was Bayern's turn to exert their strength!
After the restart, Bayern launched a massive attack. Even the central defender Lucio rushed to the vicinity of Inter Milan's penalty area and was very active.
In the 62nd minute, Cambiasso fouled Lucio outside the penalty area, and Bayern Munich got a free kick opportunity in an excellent position.
Schweinsteiger chose to shoot directly, but his shot hit Cesar right in the arms.
In the 66th minute, Ma Kai dribbled the ball and broke through alone, trying to rewrite the situation with his personal ability.
But Inter Milan's two central defenders cooperated well and teamed up to stop him, and they almost intercepted the ball from his feet.
In the melee, the ball rolled out of the penalty area, and Van Bommel followed up with his left foot and shot directly, but his shot went high.
In the 69th minute, Bayern Munich launched another quick counterattack. Makaay headed the ball in the penalty area, overpowering defender Cordoba, but Cesar chose a very good position and easily blocked his shot.
Judging from the situation on the field during this period, Inter Milan played more passively, and Bayern's attacks came one after another, and the offensive was very intensive and fierce.
Fortunately, Inter Milan's defense and midfield interception were very effective and did not leave too many opportunities for the opponent.
Bayern, unable to penetrate Inter Milan's defense, began to try long shots from the outside.
Bayern players, including Schweini and Lahm, made several long shots that looked very threatening, but they all missed by a hair's breadth in the end.
Bayern attacked fiercely for more than ten minutes but still failed to gain any results. The stimulating effect of their goal just now began to gradually fade away.
Mancini breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the opponent's offensive weakened.
Normally, when the game reaches the 70th minute, the players on the field will reach a physical bottleneck. At this time, it is obviously impossible to continue the previous offensive intensity.
Now that we have reached this point in time, Inter Milan can basically be said to have passed the most dangerous stage.
But they cannot be careless because their psychological safety cushion is gone. Leading by one goal is not safe enough after all. If something unexpected happens on the field, the opponent may equalize the score at any time.
As Inter Milan was tied by Sporting Lisbon in the first round away from home, they fell far behind in group points.
If they fail to beat their opponent in this game, they will most likely be left behind by Bayern and Sporting Lisbon.
Although there are still four group matches to go, Inter Milan has not beaten Bayern at home, so it will be even more difficult to play away.
Add to that the adverse impact of Spartak Moscow's away game. If there is another upset, Inter Milan's situation of qualifying for the group stage will be very grim.
But if this game is won, the situation will be completely different.
After defeating Bayern, Inter Milan will be able to overtake Bayern in points and at least occupy the second place in the group.
If Sporting Lisbon loses unexpectedly to Spartak Moscow away from home, they will most likely be able to rise to first place.
Mancini calculated the score in his mind. The more he calculated, the more nervous and anxious he became.
He wanted to pray in his heart: Please don't let any accidents happen!
After praying, I looked up at the court and fortunately, nothing unexpected happened.
He even saw Grosso take an unexpected long shot from outside the penalty area. Although it was saved by Kahn, judging from Kahn's saving action, this shot probably posed a considerable threat to the goal he was guarding.
After withstanding the opponent's offensive, we were able to launch a counterattack. The situation on the field is pretty good!
As soon as Mancini thought of this, an accident happened!
In the 72nd minute of the game, Stankovic raised his foot too high in a fight with Schweinsteiger and received the second yellow card of the game. Then the two yellow cards turned into one red card and he was sent off by the referee.
Mancini was so confused that he really wanted to slap himself in the face. What nonsense was he talking about?
"Stankovic's foul just now was a bit inappropriate. That position is not a very dangerous area. Even if the ball was given to the opponent, Bayern's offense was also advancing forward. There was really no need to break the rules!"
"Yes, Inter Milan is leading now. We shouldn't be in a hurry. Just play slowly!"
The commentators were puzzled by this foul as the situation was developing in Inter Milan's favor.
But this makes the situation different.
Including injury time, there were still about 30 minutes left in the game.
After Stankovic was sent off, Inter Milan will be forced to play with 10 men.
This means that they have lost the initiative and can only passively defend in the following period of time.
"Mancini should consider making substitutions. He can withdraw one or two players from the front line to strengthen the midfield and defense. Stankovic's position must be strengthened, otherwise it is easy to have hidden dangers!"
As soon as the commentator finished speaking, Mancini asked Solari and Dacourt to warm up, as if he was preparing to replace them.
"It looks like Inter Milan is planning to replace two players at once!" Before Inter Milan had time to make substitutions, the situation on the field was already precarious.
Originally, Bayern's offensive had gradually stopped, but after Stankovic was sent off, the whole Bayern team saw hope of changing their away record of not winning against Serie A teams.
So they mustered up their remaining courage and launched another climax of the attack.
In the 73rd minute, Bayern took advantage of the space in the middle to find an opportunity. Schweini dribbled the ball forward and formed a wall pass with Makaay at the top of the arc, then dribbled the ball into Inter Milan's penalty area.
Both Samuel and Cordoba focused their attention on the aggressive Schweinsteiger and ignored Pizarro who was lurking outside the penalty area.
When the two of them stepped forward to intercept Piggy, Piggy suddenly passed the ball to the empty space on the right. Pizarro appeared quietly like a ghost, received the ball and shot!
It was a shot very close to the goal, and when he shot, there was no one around who could interfere with him.
Seeing this scene, Inter Milan fans were all in despair.
A shot this close, even a god can’t save it!
However, just when everyone thought that the ball was going to go in, Inter Milan's goalkeeper Cesar fell to the ground and blocked the close shot.
There was an uproar at the scene, and fans from both sides held their heads in disbelief.
Everyone was shocked that Cesar actually saved the ball!
Even Bayern's goalkeeper Kahn was stunned:
Is this a cheat?
Even if it was him, it would have been very difficult to save the ball just now.
Inter Milan's goalkeeper is really something!
Cesar's save was very morale-boosting for the entire team.
If Bayern had scored the ball just now, it would have been disastrous for Inter Milan.
After having one player sent off and the opponent equalized the score, one can almost imagine what kind of difficult situation they will face next.
Fortunately, they had Saint Seymour, who prevented this from happening.
Hymns to Cesar rang out at the Meazza Stadium, and Inter Milan fans sang Cesar's song in unison, singing the great achievements of Saint Cesar!
When had Cesar ever enjoyed such treatment?
He was already feeling very good after making that god-level save, and now being stimulated by the fans, he was like a chicken with its blood pumped up. He blocked several shots from Bayern in succession.
Several shooters on Bayern's front line were really driven crazy by Cesar's attack.
It seemed that no matter how they shot, they could not get past the opponent's defense.
I clearly didn’t think this guy was that powerful before, so how come he suddenly became stronger now?
In the 76th minute, the team was unable to score.
Bayern's head coach Magath was also a little anxious. He chose to make substitutions almost at the same time as Inter Milan, and both replaced two players at once.
Exhausted, Makaay was replaced by Santa Cruz.
Pizarro, who performed poorly, was replaced by Podolski.
Magath made a major change to Bayern's forward line, seemingly hoping that these substitute players who had been resting for most of the game could give him a surprise.
Mancini's choice was completely different. He replaced Crespo with Solari and Figo with Dacourt.
Although the players who were replaced were all forwards, two midfielders came on the field.
Bayern's threatening attack just now was launched by taking advantage of Inter Milan's lack of players in the midfield.
Such loopholes must be filled as soon as possible, otherwise they will leave more opportunities for the opponent.
After both sides made substitutions, the situation on the field had completely changed.
Inter Milan, which was short of players and had replaced two offensive players in succession, had completely leaned towards defense in its overall tactics. Even in counterattacks, they mostly relied on the speed of Lin Feng and Torres to fight alone, and absolutely did not invest too many troops in the offense, so as to avoid being seized by Bayern and launching a high-quality counterattack like before.
Although it seems a bit conservative, Mancini's arrangement is unavoidable due to the shortage of players.
But Inter Milan's choice of conservative tactics means giving up the initiative.
Bayern seized this opportunity without hesitation and used the final time to launch the most fierce attack on Inter Milan.
In the 82nd minute, Bayern Munich once again launched an attack from the left.
Schweinsteiger sent a cross with an excellent landing point. Bayern veteran Sauer, who is only 36 meters tall and years old, grabbed the ball with excellent predictive ability and completed a header in the penalty area.
Unfortunately, his header was slightly off target due to interference from Inter defender Cordoba.
Before Inter Milan's players could breathe a sigh of relief, Bayern's attack came again.
Podolski, who had just come on as a substitute, received a pass from Lucio, used his speed to get rid of the Inter Milan defender and forced a shot from a small angle on the left side of the penalty area.
Although the angle of the shot was small, Podolski's shot was very threatening. Not only was it powerful and fast, but the height of the shot also made Cesar feel very uncomfortable.
He was not sure he could catch the ball, so he could only dive sideways, but he pushed the ball out of the baseline and gave the opponent a corner kick.
After the corner kick, Bayern players swarmed in and there was chaos in the penalty area.
In the melee, Van Buyten, who had a clear height advantage, grabbed the ball and headed it heavily towards Inter Milan's goal.
However, Cesar's desperate big hands appeared in front of the ball, making Bayern's attack once again in vain.
Cesar's performance today is truly god-like!
In the final moments of the game, Bayern was still attacking relentlessly. Under the heavy pressure, several Inter players suffered from exhaustion and cramps.
In order to delay time and give their teammates a chance to breathe, Lin Feng and Torres fought desperately in the frontcourt, delaying the opponent's offensive rhythm as much as possible, and goalkeeper Cesar was given a yellow card warning by the referee for deliberately delaying time when taking the opening kick.
In the injury time, Inter Milan's left-back Grosso had a conflict with a Bayern player. Grosso lost his mind and elbowed Bayern's No. 2 Sagnol, and was sent off with a red card by the referee.
Inter Milan's number of players further shrank to 9, and they completely lost the power to counterattack.
Fortunately, there was little time left at this time. Although Bayern tried their best, they ultimately failed to break through Inter Milan's goal.
When the referee blew the whistle to end the game, all Inter Milan players on the field collapsed to the ground.
This game was really a fight to the last bit of strength. Inter Milan won very miserably at home and only managed to narrowly lose three points.
(End of this chapter)
