Super Marshal

On the evening of September 15, 2010, it rained lightly.

Sixty-five thousand Milan fans and 5,000 England fans traveling with the away team gathered in the stands of the San Siro Stadium. England national team coach Capello attended the game in person.

The chief referee of the game was Frenchman Lanoir. This was his first time officiating AC Milan and his first time officiating Manchester City.

This is not surprising, Blue Moon has not played in the Champions League for decades.

AC Milan coach Allegri was wearing a crisp suit and tie. He stood on the roof of the home team's coaching bench, staring intently at the court. His frown made his whole face look like a real person. The embarrassing word.

In this game, he learned from the experience and lessons from the away game against Cesena three days ago and formed a 4, 3, 1 and 2 formation.

The goalkeeper is Abbiati, the defense is Jankulovski, Thiago Silva, Nesta and Abate, and the three midfielders are Seedorf, Flamini and the captain. Gattuso, the attacking midfielder is Kevin Boateng, and the double forward is the combination of Pato and Inzaghi.

This is also the most solid defensive combination that he can currently arrange.

Manchester City, playing away from home, still stick to their three-four-three style of play.

This team played like crazy in the Premier League three days ago. After hiding South American players such as Sanchez, Kaká and Mascherano, the cold team still bloodbathed Blackburn in the Premier League and showed great performance. Powerful attack power.

AC Milan must block Manchester City's attack to have a chance of winning this game.

The goalkeeper is Petr Cech, the defense is Kompany, Xavi Martinez and Mascherano, the midfield is Xabi Alonso in the deep position, David Silva and Modric are in the centre. Kaka burst forward, and the frontcourt was a combination of Cristiano Ronaldo, Benzema and Sanchez.

The Portuguese superstar only played 60 minutes in the league three days ago, but ended up with five goals. The offensive momentum was shocking, and neither Kaká nor Sanchez played in that game, especially Kaká.

But this game was obviously different.

The most difficult thing about Manchester City's offense is that they have a group of top superstars with outstanding personal abilities, and Gao Han is able to combine these superstars into an organic whole very well, which makes it impossible for opponents to guard against them.

You know, there are only four people on the defense line, and the defensive resources are also limited. If the focus is on restricting the wings, then Kaká, David Silva and Modric in the center will have more room for movement and are threatening. Not lost to the wing at all.

But if heavy troops are deployed in the middle, the side lanes will inevitably be vacant.

Just like in this game, Allegri lowered his posture before the game and concentrated on defensive counterattacks.

He knows very well that this is Manchester City's first Champions League game, and Gao Han is determined to win. In addition, Manchester City's recent form is really good, and AC Milan has no capital to fight, even at home.

But even if you want to defend and counterattack, you have to be able to defend it.

Therefore, he switched to playing three midfielders. Gattuso cooperated with Abate and Nesta on the right to limit Cristiano Ronaldo. Seedorf and Jankulovski were responsible for Sanchez's side of Manchester City's right. .

However, in order to avoid being too thin in the middle, Allegri's overall formation was retracted, which made AC Milan look very embarrassed and passive on the scene, and even completely gave up possession of the ball.

Fortunately, before the game, it finally rained in Milan after it had been cloudy for several days.

But is there no problem?

No, the veteran Seedorf's running ability is very poor. Two consecutive games have made him a little overwhelmed and he obviously can't keep up. Therefore, on the left wing of AC Milan, Jankulovsky is more one-on-one. Defend Sanchez.

The cunning Gao Han must have realized this. He made adjustments quickly after the opening. Manchester City began to increase their offensive intensity and concentrated their firepower on AC Milan's left wing. Sanchez began to be very active, frequently breaking through Jankulovski. Either passing the ball or breaking into the penalty area, like a dragon in the river, turning Milan's entire defense upside down and in a state of disarray.

In just ten minutes of the opening, Manchester City fired four shots. Although none of them posed a direct threat, this time they all made AC Milan break out in a cold sweat.

After that, Manchester City's offensive continued unabated. Relying on its skillful passing and control advantages, Blue Moon organized and planned attacks again and again.

Especially in the seventeenth minute, Manchester City suddenly moved the ball from the right to the left. David Silva pulled the ball to the left and passed it diagonally into the penalty area. Benzema grabbed the first goal. , the header was given to Cristiano Ronaldo, and the Portuguese shot from close range.

As a result, the shot hit the crossbar firmly and bounced into the penalty area.

Then there was a melee in the AC Milan penalty area. Kaka took advantage of the chaos and shot another low shot, but it was blocked by goalkeeper Abbiati. Benzema's follow-up shot was blocked by Nesta's key goal. Blocked with one kick and the bottom line popped up.

The whole process happened in an instant, but Manchester City shot three shots in the penalty area, and they were very threatening every time.

After the corner kick was taken, Thiago Silva judged the landing point and headed the ball to clear the ball.

As the ball flew across the half-court and watching Manchester City's players quickly exit their own penalty area, Allegri breathed a heavy sigh and finally survived another crisis.

But before he could completely let go, Manchester City sent the ball across the center line again and into Milan's half.

Allegri, who had half thought about it, raised it again.

"Damn it, it's not over yet!" Allegri cursed angrily.

Relying on their advantage in passing and control, Manchester City firmly controlled the ball, constantly organized and planned attacks, and entered Milan's half and penalty area.

"Our current problem is simply not being able to hold the ball." The assistant coach said depressingly from the sidelines.

It’s not without reason that Allegri took down Pirlo and Ronaldinho at the same time. Both players lack defensive ability. Facing the cold Manchester City, it is likely that AC Milan’s defense will be directly defeated by the opponent. wear.

In the last game, Cesena was active on both wings and defeated AC Milan with its powerful center. Allegri also had to learn lessons, so he won Ronaldinho and Pirlo in this game and chose Kevin Boateng and Flamini, two players with better defensive abilities.

But the price is also high. Only one Seedorf is left who can hold the ball.

But Gao Han focused on arranging Modric to restrain Seedorf in this game. As soon as Seedorf got the ball, Modric got close immediately to prevent him from easily creating a threat.

Once Seedorf was restricted, AC Milan's offense was difficult to launch. Kevin Boateng frequently retreated to participate in defense. Pato and Inzaghi were isolated and helpless in the frontcourt, more like decorations.

"Tell them that the referee's enforcement in this game was a bit soft and his actions could be bigger. Don't let Manchester City control the ball as they please." Allegri said angrily.

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"In the final analysis, AC Milan is still weak and has no choice."

Unlike Allegri who stood up to watch the game from the beginning, in the visiting team's coaching bench, Gao Han sat there like an old man, watching the game leisurely, with a relaxed and happy expression.

Today's AC Milan is no longer the Rossoneri when Gao Han coached Inter Milan. The current Milan is more like a late hero of the past, who has long lost the courage of the past.

Regardless of whether it is Nesta, Pirlo, Ronaldinho, Inzaghi or Gattuso, they have long lost the high-spiritedness of the past, and some are just getting stronger with age.

But in front of the young and powerful Manchester City, they simply couldn't sustain it.

From the beginning of the game, the ball and rhythm were completely controlled by Manchester City. AC Milan could only defend blindly and was unable to counterattack. In many cases, it was even difficult to even get the ball to organize a counterattack.

"Perhaps at this time he should consider taking down a striker and replacing him with Ronaldinho to increase the chances of getting the ball in the frontcourt." Brian Kidd suggested.

Sometimes, Gao Han's team will imitate the opponent's thinking during the game and predict the opponent's next move in advance.

But Gao Han shook his head after hearing this, "I don't think so."

"Why?" Brian Kidd didn't understand.

"Inzaghi is already thirty-seven years old and cannot support AC Milan's striker independently. However, Pato is relatively young and immature, and it is difficult to take advantage of him alone. That's why Allegri stubbornly chose Two forwards.”

In the final analysis, it is still caused by the unreliability of the players.

Pato was once the European golden boy that everyone was looking forward to and optimistic about, especially when he joined AC Milan. However, in the past two years, Pato's development has increasingly deviated from everyone's expectations, and his performance has also begun to decline. shrink.

Originally, AC Milan wanted to introduce Ibrahimovic from Barcelona, ​​but after a detailed discussion with Gao Han and the failure to introduce Villa, Guardiola gave up his mind, changed his decision, and kept Ibrahimovic. Brahimovic.

As a result, Ibrahimovic and Messi have cooperated more and more skillfully this season, becoming the two major offensive tools in La Liga.

AC Milan also once considered introducing Robinho from Chelsea, but later it fell through.

In the final analysis, it is because there is no money, no people, and the team is not strong enough.

Fortunately, Allegri did not play Pirlo and Ronaldinho in this game. Otherwise, these two veterans, plus Gattuso and Seedorf, would form a midfield with four veterans to use Manchester City's attack. It's powerful enough to kill them with overwhelming force.

But even now, Gao Han is still confident.

After the opening, Manchester City completely controlled the situation on the field. All data such as ball possession rate and number of shots are all ahead of AC Milan. According to the current situation, scoring a goal is a matter of time.

Because of this, Gao Han never meant to use the skill card.

He was useless against Blackburn in the last game, and the team still beat Blackburn 7-1.

If he had used the skill card in that game, he would have scored at least a few more goals, and it would have been possible to score double-digit goals, but in Gao Han's view, there was no point in scoring such a number, not to mention giving Al Let's save some face, right?

He was also very confident in this game, so he did not consider using skill cards for the time being.

"Their moves are a bit big now." Brian Kidd said with a frown.

On the court, AC Milan's Kevin Boateng tackled the Spaniard when he was returning to defend David Silva. He was fouled by the referee, but was not given a card. This made Manchester City on the court The players were a little dissatisfied.

Gao Han turned his head sideways, glanced at Allegri, and smiled, "This is probably his last move."

After a pause, Gao Han smiled proudly again, "Tell the players to keep controlling the ball and keep attacking. The goal is right in front of you!"

Brian Kidd quickly conveyed Gao Han's words to the court.

The morale of the Manchester City players was immediately boosted.

They know that Gao Han is always good at predicting things. If he says he wants to score, he must score!