Chapter 267: Kaka can do it, and Lin Feng can do it too!
The position where Vieira committed the foul was quite dangerous, not far from the goal and close to the center line. With AC Milan having a free kick expert like Pirlo, such a foul would give the opponent a chance.
“Will he shoot straight at goal?”
Inter Milan’s human wall consisted of five people, and Torres, who was about the same height as Lin Feng, stood next to him.
"If it were me, I would probably choose to shoot directly!"
This place is less than 30 meters away from the goal, and the position is also very good, so you can try to kick the ball directly.
But Lin Feng is not Pirlo himself after all, and he doesn’t know whether AC Milan has any special tactical arrangements for set pieces, so he is not sure how Pirlo will play.
Pirlo positioned the ball and took a few steps back. When he looked up, the first person he saw was Lin Feng in the human wall.
Although the opponent is still very young, Lin Feng's free kick ability has been widely recognized in Serie A. As a master in this area, Pirlo naturally cannot help but have a competitive spirit.
Thinking of this, Pirlo started his sprint very seriously.
Lin Feng was also observing his running and force movements with great concentration!
After running a few short steps, Pirlo came to the ball, pushed the ground with his left foot, and swung his right leg hard.
With a dull 'bang' and a few flying pieces of grass, the football left the ground and flew into the sky.
The human wall on the opposite side jumped up almost at the same time, especially Lin Feng who jumped the highest.
After observing Pirlo's free throw action, he felt that Pirlo was kicking the arc ball that the opponent was best at. As long as this kind of ball went over the human wall, it could use its rapid rotation and fall to create a huge threat to the goal.
But it has a weakness, that is, it cannot be too high. If it is too high, it will leave the goalkeeper with sufficient preparation time and the suddenness of the shot cannot be achieved.
Pirlo's arc ball is not very high, so it is entirely possible to block it!
Although Torres jumped at the same time as Lin Feng, what surprised him was that Lin Feng, the attacking midfielder, jumped higher than him, the forward.
This made him doubt his life: I am a striker who has received heading training for years, but I can't jump as high as a midfielder. Is this reasonable?
With a dull thud, the ball kicked out by Pirlo made close contact with Lin Feng's forehead, and then bounced out of the baseline.
Lin Feng felt dizzy when he landed, and he almost lost his balance.
"Are you okay?"
Captain Zanetti saw that Lin Feng was staggering and his forehead was red where it had touched the ball, so he hurriedly supported him and couldn't help but ask with concern.
"Well, not bad!"
Lin Feng reached out and rubbed his dizzy head. It really hurt when the high-speed flying football hit his head!
No wonder everyone is so afraid to form a human wall in front of Carlos. Pirlo's ball speed is far slower than Carlos. A head-on collision still feels like being hit hard by someone. If he is really hit in the head by Carlos' free kick, it might result in a loss of life, right?
When Inter Milan fans saw Lin Feng block the opponent's free kick with his head, they all became worried, fearing that Lin Feng would accidentally hurt himself.
It’s only been a few minutes since the start of the game. If Lin Feng gets injured at this time, Inter Milan’s situation will be difficult.
Fortunately, Lin Feng was not seriously injured and he recovered quickly after resting for a while.
Pirlo was actually also shocked by Lin Feng's actions. He was relieved when he saw that Lin Feng was fine. At the same time, he was complaining in his heart:
This is a club match, not a national team match. Do you really have to fight so hard?
Even though he complained, Shui Pi still respected Lin Feng because of his actions just now.
This guy not only accurately saw the weakness of his own free kick, but also dared to fly to block the hole of the shot. He has both strength and courage. Such a person, even if he is an opponent, is an admirable opponent.
Of course, it would be even better if we could be teammates.
However, the possibility of Inter Milan's star player joining their city rivals is very low, especially after what happened with Vieri.
AC Milan attacked fiercely in the opening stage, but after withstanding the opponent's siege, Inter Milan immediately fought back.
In the 4th minute, Inter Milan launched an attack from the left.
Zanetti took the ball to the wing and made a straight pass. Lin Feng moved through the middle and passed the ball to the following full-back Grosso.
Grosso dribbled the ball down the field and then made a cross.
Torres received the ball with his back to the goal, but Nesta gave him no chance and he couldn't turn around.
Seeing Maldini approaching and preparing to team up with him to snatch the ball from his feet, Torres could only pass the ball away.
At this time, left midfielder Zanetti had already arrived near the penalty area.
After receiving the pass from Torres, Zanetti was quickly tackled by Maldini.
Zanetti had no chance to shoot, so he had to pass the ball again.
This time, the ball came to Lin Feng's feet.
When Zanetti passed the ball, Maldini had already predicted the opponent's passing route in advance, and decisively abandoned Zanetti and pounced on Lin Feng.
Almost at the same time, Nesta abandoned Torres, kept pace with Maldini, and moved towards Lin Feng.
Milan's two defenders blocked Lin Feng's shooting and forward passing routes almost in the blink of an eye, leaving him only one option on the side.
There is another Inter Milan striker, Crespo, but Lin Feng can't pass the ball to him.
Because when Nesta moved forward just now, Crespo had already fallen into the opponent's offside trap.
Lin Feng's mind was particularly clear. He did not fall into the opponent's offside trap, but decisively dribbled the ball along the side and broke into the penalty area.
But Cafu and Nesta formed a linkage again, forming an iron gate in front of Lin Feng, which seemed like they were closing the door to beat the dog.
He was walking on the outside while the opponent was moving on the inside, and Nesta had obviously predicted his choice, so he was well prepared. Lin Feng's breakthrough failed to shake off his opponent, but instead put him in danger of being surrounded.
Nesta stuck closely to Lin Feng, observing the opportunity and ready to tackle at any time!
Even in the penalty area, as long as he sees an opportunity, he dares to make a tackle!
And he was sure that he only touched the ball and not the person. This is Nesta's precision and elegance!
But just as Nesta was about to make a tackle, Lin Feng suddenly turned around and passed the ball.
"Milan's defense is very tight and Inter's attack can't get through!"
"That's right. Although the players on AC Milan's defense are a bit old, they are still in very good shape. Plus with Nesta at his peak, it won't be easy for Inter to break through Milan's defense from the front."
In the commentary booth, the two commentators were both amazed at AC Milan's solid defense. As expected, AC Milan is the team that conceded the fewest goals in Serie A this season. Their defense is really impressive.
In fact, for the defenders, when the attacking team passes and pulls the ball back and forth near their own penalty area, their attention can be easily distracted, and everyone will run after the ball, ignoring the opposing players who suddenly rush in from all directions, and then make irreparable mistakes.
But Milan's defense has a clear division of labor, and everyone knows what they should do.
The man-marking, assisting defense and backup defense were all done very well, leaving no chance for the opponent.
If the overall age of this defense line was not relatively old and slightly lacking in durability and explosiveness, AC Milan would probably have conceded fewer goals.
Seeing that their team successfully defended against the opponent's attack, the Milan fans at the scene felt very excited and gave warm applause and cheers.
This game was played at AC Milan's home ground, and the vast majority of the stands were filled with Milan fans wearing red and black jerseys. Inter fans were only allocated less than 3 tickets and occupied a small part of the stands, and were completely at a disadvantage in terms of momentum.
But even so, the Inter Milan players on the field did not take the noise of the opposing fans seriously at all.
Compared with the scenes in previous years when Dida was ambushed, the Meazza Stadium was ablaze, and Materazzi and Rui Costa watched the fireworks side by side, the current Milan derby is considered very harmonious.
After Lin Feng passed the ball, he pulled out of the penalty area, returned to his position, received the pass from his teammate and continued to organize the attack.
Although the previous attack didn't even result in a shot, Lin Feng was not in a hurry at all.
The game has just begun and there is plenty of time to play slowly. Besides, Milan's defense is very strong. It would be abnormal if it was easily penetrated by Inter Milan.
Ancelotti's Christmas tree formation is really interesting. In addition to the main striker, Kaka and Seedorf actively move forward to participate in the attack, and retreat in time when defending, cooperating with the three teammates at the back to compress the space in the middle, making it difficult for the opponent to organize an attack in the midfield.
Inter Milan's ball-holding players were forced to speed up the pace of passing under the pressure and interference of the opponent's midfield, and once the pace speeds up, mistakes are likely to occur.
This is obviously the situation Ancelotti wants to see, because one of Milan’s two attacking midfielders is named Kaka!
As long as Kaka is given enough space and the ball is passed to him after being intercepted in the backcourt, he can rely on his speed to single-handedly tear through the opponent's defense and deal a fatal blow to the opponent.
So, when Ancelotti saw Inter Milan launch an attack, he was not worried but very happy.
If the opponent doesn't launch a large-scale attack and doesn't push forward the formation, how can Kaka launch a counterattack?
The only thing worth worrying about is whether our defense line can stop the opponent's offensive. If it can't, then it would be counterproductive.
But after the successful defense just now, Ancelotti immediately had an idea in his mind.
In the short term, it will be no problem for AC Milan to block Inter Milan's attack.
The game seemed to be really going according to the script envisioned by Ancelotti. In the 6th minute, Grosso made another cross from the bottom, Vieira grabbed the ball at the back post and headed the ball towards the goal with all his might.
But his header went wide. He was originally aiming at the goal, but in the end his shot turned into a cross and the ball fell into the middle of the penalty area.
Torres was quick-eyed and quick-footed. Without waiting for the ball to hit the ground, he raised his right leg and tried to volley the ball.
But his shot was blocked by the defender in the penalty area. Torres immediately raised his hand to protest the opponent's handball. He saw that his shot hit Ambrosini's upper right arm, but the referee believed that it was an unintentional handball and did not give a penalty.
The Milan fans at the scene applauded the referee's "fair" decision, while the Inter fans booed, believing that the referee was biased towards the home team.
Handball seems to be contagious.
In the 9th minute, when Lin Feng passed the ball from the right, Gattuso, who was defending him, subconsciously raised his arm and blocked the ball exactly.
This time, the referee could no longer turn a blind eye. He gave Gattuso a yellow card and awarded Inter a free kick.
The ball was very far from the penalty area. Lin Feng did not choose to shoot directly, but instead he lifted the ball into the penalty area with force, letting his teammates compete for the header.
After Lin Feng's free kick was passed into the penalty area, there was chaos in the penalty area, and players from both sides were struggling to compete for the header.
But in the end, the defense was better and Kaladze cleared the ball before Crespo.
Kaladze's clearance unexpectedly facilitated Milan's counterattack. After getting rid of the defender, Pirlo passed the ball directly to Kaka's feet.
But Inter Milan was well prepared for Milan's counterattack!
After receiving the ball, Kaka was about to stride forward when he was immediately double-teamed by Vieira and Stankovic from the left and right.
Kaka's speed failed to increase, and faced with the awkward situation of being surrounded by men, he could only choose to brake and pass the ball back.
But Lin Feng had already guessed his intention, and he took a step ahead to block Kaka's pass.
The situation instantly changed from Milan's counterattack to Inter Milan's counterattack!
Lin Feng didn't wait for his teammates to catch up. He took advantage of the opponent's counterattack, when they had no time to retreat and their formation was not in order, and dribbled forward at high speed.
This time, Ancelotti began to sweat profusely.
Kaka can do it, and Lin Feng can do it too.
Moreover, this was a counterattack launched by the opponent. The formation of their own players was more chaotic than that of Inter Milan, which had just encountered a counterattack. This meant that Lin Feng's counterattack this time was far more threatening than Kaka's unsuccessful one just now.
With a bang, Ancelotti jumped up from the coaching seat.
His eyes were fixed on Lin Feng who was running with the ball, hoping that one of his players could step forward to stop him.
The person closest to Lin Feng was Milan's midfielder Pirlo. Seeing Lin Feng coming towards him, Pirlo bravely faced the challenge.
However, Pirlo's defensive ability is really a bit worrying.
Lin Feng fooled him into losing his mind with just a fake move of changing direction when spiking the ball.
But Pirlo's delay also worked, at least buying Gattuso some time to return to defense.
Looking at Gattuso who was rushing towards him aggressively, and Maldini who was about to intercept him, Lin Feng did not choose to get entangled with them any further.
He had a very calm mind and knew very well that humans could never be faster than the ball. Taking advantage of the last moment before Gattuso arrived, Lin Feng decisively kicked the ball and made a long pass into the penalty area.
In front, Torres with long golden hair is sprinting at full speed!
Torres, it's up to you!
Seeing Lin Feng's cross, Milan's goalkeeper Dida immediately left the goal. Torres almost simultaneously relied on his powerful explosive power to shake off Nesta and rush into the penalty area.
Dida jumped high and Torres also took off into the air.
With a dull bang, the two collided in the air, and the ball fell into AC Milan's net.
In the 11th minute of the first half, Torres headed the ball into the lower right corner from 8 meters in front of the goal, changing the score to 1:0.
(End of this chapter)
