Chapter 911: Closing the Door
After Wayne Rooney's goal, the Inter players finally attacked.
As the regular play time in the first half had already passed, Inter Milan goalkeeper Cesar launched an attack with a direct long pass, but unfortunately Cesar used too much force, and this long pass went directly to Manchester United goalkeeper Van der Sar.
Referee Casaj originally wanted to give Inter a chance to attack, but when he saw that the ball was picked up by Van der Sar, he directly blew off the game.
The players from both sides stopped their movements and walked together towards the locker room.
The away team took the lead, and the Manchester United players were very excited, except for Gao Xiaodong, who silently walked to the mixed channel, everyone else waved their fists and shouted at the stands to celebrate with the Manchester United fans who came to help.
There was no applause in the stands, but fortunately there was no booing, and the Inter players were disappointed, and everyone walked to the dressing room with their heads down.
Leonardo came to the home team's dressing room early to wait, and after the players arrived, Leonardo saw that the players were depressed and said: "Actually, in the first half, we defended well, but we were unlucky, otherwise I wouldn't have conceded the goal." ”
Inter's players silently took off their shoes, uncovered the shin guards, massaged the muscles, no one said a word, they felt that the coach might not even believe him, according to the situation in the first half, it should be said that Inter was too lucky, otherwise it would not be a goal to lose.
Leonardo continued: "Now Manchester United have an away goal, in the second half we can't defend anymore, we have to attack, Zivo rested in the second half, Sa went to play at the back, Pandev came on and partnered Eto'o, in the first half I observed, Manchester United's centre-back Smalling and full-back O'Shea have weaknesses, as long as we can catch the ...... However, we also have to focus on defence, which is as important as attack, and when you lose possession, all the players on the pitch have to come back, no one is exempt. ”
Several of Inter's attacking players were upset when they heard it, especially when they were one goal behind at home, and they put their defense on the same level as attack, did they want to win or do they want to die a better death?
However, in the first half, it was only one goal behind, or Rooney made up for the net, although the scene was too ugly, but the result was not too bad, and there was a chance to pull it back in the second half, and the players of Inter Milan did not openly question the coach's tactics, and they all put the doubts in their hearts.
In the away team's dressing room, the Manchester United players had a heated debate about whether to attack or defend in the second half, and the veteran players led by Scholes and Vidic thought that this was an away game, and the score of 1:0 was very good, but it was better to play a defensive counterattack to expand the score, and it was acceptable to not expand the score, and even to be equalized by Inter Milan.
Young players such as Gao Xiaodong, Rooney, and Nani all think that the 1:0 situation is very favorable, but it is not safe, and they have to continue to attack in the second half.
While the players were arguing fiercely, Ferguson arrived, and the old man was happy with the first half.
Despite only leading by one goal, United had the absolute upper hand on the pitch and played the defending champions like a relegation team, which really made Ferguson very happy.
The question of offense or defense, for the temperamental Ferguson, it is nothing, Manchester United scored away from home, with this ball at the bottom, even if Inter Milan equalized, Manchester United also took the lead, and returned to the home field 0:0 can eliminate Inter Milan, in this case, it is natural to continue to attack and see if you can lock up the win in the first leg.
The 15 minutes of the break passed quickly, and the two sides walked from the mixed tunnel to the court for the second half of the battle.
At the beginning of the second half, Inter Milan reversed the conservatism of the first half and launched an attack on Manchester United.
After Pandev came on, Inter's formation changed to 4312, with two full-backs, Zanetti and McCone, strengthening the assists on the flanks.
In the first half, Inter Milan's attacking players were depressed, and in the second half, with the order of coach Leonardo, not only the two sides, but also the back side also pressed forward.
Inter Milan's players thought that after Manchester United took the lead, they should have scaled back in the second half to play Inter Milan's counter-attack, but United did not, still pushing their defence into the midfield, starting to intercept and press from near the center circle to keep the enemy out of the box.
McCone held the ball and played a combination with Motta in the middle, shook off Rooney, and continued to attack the baseline, and the forward Sneijder moved closer to the wing to meet McConn.
Manchester United's left-back Patrice Evra saw Fletcher move to the flanks and immediately dropped back to wait for Fletcher to finch McConn.
McCone wanted to play with Sneijder in the middle, and seeing Gao Xiaodong following Sneijder closely, he didn't dare to pass the ball, so he ventured forward and tried to use his speed to eat Fletcher.
Evra was no slower than McConn, who couldn't get rid of Evra, forced a cross from the wing, and was blocked by Ever's stretched foot.
Inter Milan were awarded a corner.
Sneijder takes a corner and finds the pair of centre-backs Lucio and Ranocchia in the middle of the box.
However, United's air defense was not ambiguous, and Vidic grabbed the landing spot and came out headbuttless.
United didn't settle down in the second half, even when defending corners, leaving three players on the perimeter to grab the second point.
The second landing point of the ball was coincidentally grabbed by Scholes, and after Scholes grabbed the landing point, he quickly got rid of Mota's pressing and found Gao Xiaodong who quickly stepped forward with a cross. At the moment when the defense turned to attack, Inter Milan still had Stankovic, who was responsible for long-range shooting, staring at Gao Xiaodong, but it was useless, Gao Xiaodong suddenly started this very fast, even the peak Stankovic couldn't keep up, let alone the elderly Stankovic.
Scholes's pass was so beautiful that Gao Xiaodong didn't need to slow down after starting, and strode the ball forward, only to kill Zanetti and Cambiaso, who were left behind by Inter Milan.
Scholes didn't stand still after passing a good ball to Gao Xiaodong, and Jiang Tou ran forward with Gao Xiaodong desperately, preparing to give Gao Xiaodong a ball point when Gao Xiaodong was blocked from dribbling the ball.
Gao Xiaodong saw Scholes keeping up with the rest of his eyes, dribbling the ball more unscrupulously, constantly accelerating towards Zanetti, when he was less than five meters away from Zanetti, Gao Xiaodong suddenly slowed down, as if to make a pass and change direction, just when Zanetti and Cambiaso also slowed down, Gao Xiaodong suddenly poked the ball forward, and a sharp acceleration rushed between Zanetti and Cambiaso.
Neither Zanetti nor Cambiaso expected that Gao Xiaodong would dare to choose to break through between the two, and almost subconsciously both of them moved closer to the middle, trying to close the door, instead of fouling Gao Xiaodong.
Whether it is Zanetti or Cambiaso, as long as he stretches his legs to intercept, Gao Xiaodong can't break through, but both of them want to close the door, but instead give Gao Xiaodong a chance, the two "door" has not been closed, Gao Xiaodong has arrived, Zanetti and Cambiaso subconsciously reached out together to pull Gao Xiaodong's jersey, but it was too late, and before the two had time to exert their strength, they were rushed by Gao Xiaodong like a galloping armored car.