Chapter 273 Russian Shock
"This match, the cold weather in Moscow and the artificial turf, were disadvantages for Inter.
But Inter Milan also has its own advantages in terms of lineup strength, teamwork and technical tactics. Now it depends on whether they can overcome various unfavorable factors away from home, give full play to their advantages and defeat their opponents! ”
As a senior commentator of Serie A, Zhang Lu commented on the game before the game.
Judging from the strength on paper, Inter Milan is definitely at an advantage. After all, the result of the first leg between the two sides is here. Inter Milan won by three goals against Spartak Moscow, which shows that the two teams are not at the same level at all.
However, such a bad away environment will definitely affect Inter Milan's performance, and the home team, relying on the home advantage, may be able to burst out with stronger fighting power. As a result of this increase and decrease, the outcome of this game is actually hard to predict.
Before the game, the handicaps offered by several European bookmakers were very close, with the most optimistic one only offering a half-goal handicap for the away team.
In the last game at home, the handicaps offered by major European bookmakers generally showed the home team giving one or even two goals.
This shows that compared with the previous game, even the bookmakers are not optimistic that Inter Milan can escape unscathed from the away game.
Although the handicap of the betting company is not authoritative, the other party relies on it for their livelihood, and the general deviation in the prediction is not large. After all, if there is a problem with this thing, it is the betting company's own money that will be lost.
To be honest, if there wasn't the fierce tiger of Bayern Munich in the group, Mancini actually didn't want to send all the main players on such a long journey.
Such a long distance and the impact of the harsh climate environment away from home will cause great consumption to Inter Milan.
It would be even more heartbreaking if someone got injured or accidentally fell ill, resulting in a loss of manpower.
But there is no way. If they don't fight hard in this game, if they lose to Bayern away in the next round, they may not be able to maintain their first place in the group.
But it’s not all bad news for Inter Milan.
While they were suffering on the road in the snow and wind of Moscow, Bayern Munich was fighting against Sporting Lisbon, another main rival of Inter Milan in the group.
In the last game, Bayern won away from home. If Bayern defeats Sporting Lisbon at home again in this round, Sporting Lisbon's hopes of qualifying for the group stage will be even slimmer.
If Inter Milan can beat their opponent in this away game, Spartak Moscow will be eliminated two rounds in advance, and Inter Milan and Bayern will advance to the knockout stage two rounds in advance. The next game will be between the two teams competing for the first place in the group.
So for Inter Milan, they can really qualify with a draw in this game.
But a draw to qualify doesn't seem like a good thing, it seems more like a curse...
In order to qualify early, even if Mancini was reluctant, he had to be forced to send out all the main players.
For this game, he also made special adjustments to Inter Milan's formation and starting lineup.
Inter Milan's formation after the opening was 4312. Cruz replaced Crespo in the starting lineup. Lin Feng was still in the attacking midfielder position, and he and Vieira were one in front and one behind, becoming the dual core of Inter Milan's midfield.
The two have slightly different divisions of labor. Lin Feng is more inclined to offense and is mainly responsible for creating opportunities, using his broad vision and precise passes, as well as personal breakthroughs when necessary, to tear open the opponent's defense.
Vieira's focus is mainly on controlling the game and defending. When his teammates in front of him cannot open up the situation and cannot find any good opportunities, they pass the ball back to him. He controls the tempo of the game by dispatching and distributing the ball in a safer position in the back, while organizing the team's offense and finding better offensive routes.
In terms of lineup, Mancini is not conservative and even plays with great ambition.
For him, since he has come here, it is certainly not worth it to just get a draw. Since he has sent so many main players to play, he must try his best to win the game.
If they can successfully bag these three points, Inter Milan will be more confident when they go to the Allianz Arena to challenge Bayern in the final round of the group stage.
The home team had no idea what the visiting team was thinking. They had been influenced by local newspapers in the past few days, especially the image of Inter Milan's players shivering from the cold when they came out of the airport. This gave them more confidence and they thought they could use the advantage of home court to teach the opponent a lesson.
Therefore, after the opening, Spartak Moscow played extremely aggressively, even skipping the probing phase, and directly launched a fierce attack on Inter Milan's hinterland, trying to give the opponent a warning in the first round of attack.
They seemed to think that Inter Milan had lost their fighting spirit due to the snow and wind in Moscow and were at their mercy!
On the contrary, the opposite was true. Mancini guessed the opponent's intention to steal the opening and took precautions before the game.
As soon as the home team's attack started, it was immediately strangled by Inter Milan's midfield and backcourt, and the ball was quickly intercepted.
After Zanetti grabbed the ball, he passed it to Vieira without delay.
Vieira also did not dribble the ball for too long. After turning around, he passed the ball to Figo on the wing.
Before the game, some Russian media asked Figo about his advanced age of 34: He is too old, can he still make a living?
In this game, the 34-year-old veteran proved with his actions: Although he is old, he is still unstoppable!
After receiving the ball, Figo used his dribbling skills to pass the Sparta full-back who was trying to steal the ball. When he saw Lin Feng coming towards him, he did not choose to go down the flank, but instead decisively chose to cut inside with the ball.
When Lin Feng saw the other party's actions, he immediately understood Figo's intention.
He quickly changed the direction of his running, moving backwards to create space in front of him, while also observing the passing space in front of him to predict Figo's next running direction.
The Sparta players reacted quickly, with the center back and defensive midfielder quickly approaching Lin Feng and Figo.
But at this time Lin Feng moved again. Before Figo passed the ball to him, he suddenly began to move forward along the ribs.
This move disrupted the opponent's defensive deployment and made the home team's central defender and midfielder hesitate.
This position should be the defensive area of the full-back. If the central defender follows and his teammates do not fill in, the defense in the penalty area will be empty, which can easily give the opponent a chance.
But at this moment he is closest to Lin Feng. If he does not defend Lin Feng, the defensive midfielder may not be able to catch up, which will result in the opponent being able to handle the ball safely after receiving it. Once the opponent passes the ball without interference, the threat caused will be even greater.
So, after weighing the pros and cons, he chose to trust his teammates and follow Lin Feng.
But after seeing the opponent's central defender's choice, Figo immediately changed his tactics. Instead of passing the ball to Lin Feng, he continued to cut inside with the ball and made his way to the top of the penalty area.
The other central defender in the penalty area had to move forward, while the right-back who replaced him could only continue to retreat inside.
But this created space for the pass on his side. Figo did not miss such a good opportunity and passed the ball to the left side of the penalty area.
The blond Torres rushed over and shot the ball from the near corner of the goal. The ball went under the armpit of the goalkeeper who was lying on the ground to save the ball and hit the net.
The score became 1:0!
Inter Milan scored a goal less than a minute into the game!
This dream start made hundreds of Inter Milan fans who traveled with the team dance with excitement!
It also made tens of thousands of fans of the home team speechless!
The game just started, and they haven't been ready to enjoy the game yet, but the opponent has scored a goal?
Isn't it said that we have the advantage in this game and have a greater chance of winning?
But why was it the other team that scored the first goal, and looking at the process of their goal-scoring, it seemed as easy as eating and drinking?
Can our defense really stop our opponents?
Their confidence began to waver from this moment!
On the sidelines, after seeing Torres score a goal, Mancini just calmly high-fived several assistant coaches to celebrate, and did not show much excitement.
In the last game, they won three goals against their opponent at home. Inter Milan has long been aware of the true strength of Spartak Moscow, and scoring a goal against such an opponent is not something particularly surprising.
This goal only proves that his configuration is very successful, but it is only reflected on the offensive end.
Whether the defense can hold up depends on the performance of the players next!
A few minutes before the start of the game, the two most active players on Inter Milan's side were Figo, who was questioned by the Russian media, and Torres, who had just scored a goal.
Torres' problem is that he is too worried about gains and losses. Because the competition pressure on the front line is too great, he always wants to prove his strength, so he plays very eagerly.
But he scored a goal early in this game. Without the pressure of scoring, his attitude towards the game has improved greatly compared to previous games.
First, it reduced unnecessary individual dribbling and focused more on cooperation with teammates, making Inter Milan's offensive system run more smoothly.
Instead, he no longer worries about gains and losses. He passes the ball when it is time to pass the ball, and never hesitates when it is time to shoot.
In this way, Torres' advantage was magnified.
His move of dribbling the ball from the left and shooting into the far corner has threatened the opponent's goal many times.
Both Figo and Torres like to cut inside, one on the left and the other on the right, disrupting Spartak Moscow's defense.
In contrast, Lin Feng played very steadily. He dribbled the ball when he should and passed the ball when he should. At first glance, there seemed to be nothing outstanding about him, but if you look closely, you can find that his shadow is present in every attack of Inter Milan. Even if he does not touch the ball directly, he can help his teammates create offensive space with his excellent positioning.
As long as his teammates' attacks are blocked, he will always appear in the right position and provide timely support to his teammates. Even after the opponent steals the ball, Lin Feng will be able to stick to the opponent in the first place to interfere with the opponent's passing and deny the opponent a chance to launch a quick counterattack.
Gradually, the home team fans in the stands discovered the problem:
The opponent's No. 8 has a strong ability to read the game and can appear in the key position almost every time. It may be a coincidence once or twice, but it is like this so many times, it can no longer be described as a coincidence.
"Sukabulie, who is this guy?"
"He seems to be a Chinese, and he's only eighteen years old this year!"
"What? Chinese? When did the Chinese become so good at playing football!?"
"You must be kidding. If the Chinese are really that good, then why aren't there any Chinese players among so many players in the Russian Premier League?"
In recent years, with the continuous soaring of oil prices, the Russian economy, which relies on energy export as its main industry, has also taken off, and the oligarchs engaged in energy export have made a lot of money!
The big bosses of many Russian Premier League teams are these wealthy oligarchs.
Like Chelsea's owner Abramovich, before investing in Chelsea, he invested heavily in the Russian Premier League and built the new Russian Premier League team CSKA Moscow.
But the influence of the Russian Premier League is limited after all, and it is far behind the traditional five major leagues.
So Abramovich finally brought the model of money-driven football to the Premier League, leading to the rise of the Blues.
In Russia, under the influence of the oligarchs, the Russian Premier League is now booming. The oligarchs with huge financial resources are recruiting people all over the world, attracting many players and even stars to come and make money.
Under such circumstances, there is not even a single Chinese player in the Russian Super League so far. In the eyes of the Russians, this is enough to show that China is a football desert.
But in such a football desert, such a powerful guy suddenly emerged, which of course surprised them.
The home team was stunned by Inter Milan's goal right from the start, and it took nearly ten minutes for them to finally recover.
This is their home ground, what are they afraid of?
So, the home team mustered up their courage again and launched a fierce attack on Inter Milan amid the cheers of the fans.
It has to be said that Spartak Moscow is more adapted to playing on this artificial turf than Inter Milan.
Because they were not familiar with the quality of the turf, Inter Milan players were somewhat restrained in their movements, while the home team had no such concerns at all.
They have been playing on this kind of grass for many years and have long been accustomed to it. After discovering their opponents' concerns, they even seized this weakness and actively sought fierce physical confrontations with Inter Milan's players.
As the saying goes, those who are barefoot are not afraid of those who wear shoes. Most of the players in the opponent's lineup are stars worth millions or even tens of millions of euros, while most of them are ordinary players. There are very few stars, and even if there are, their value is far less than that of the opponent.
In that case, let's just exchange it with the other party. A player worth hundreds of thousands of euros for a star player worth tens of millions of euros. This deal is a huge profit!
Besides, with their familiarity with the venue and adaptation to the weather, they may not get injured, but the other side may not be injured.
As a result, the entire Sparta team unified their mentality, boldly pressed forward on the attack, actively sought physical confrontations, and played very aggressively.
Although their offense was not very threatening because the players' footwork was not delicate enough, they lacked creative passes and delicate coordination, and even their offensive tactics had many mistakes.
But what is obvious is that their number of shots has increased significantly!
(End of this chapter)
