With the whistle of Hungarian referee Kashai, the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 knockout round of 16 between Inter Milan and Manchester United officially kicked off.

The first to kick off was the visiting team Manchester United.

After losing to Inter Milan in the Champions League final, the club's biggest event, last season, the Manchester United players had been haunted by the fact that they had been waiting for revenge, but UEFA was very face-saving, and the two teams met in the quarter-finals.

Now Manchester United has poached the core of Inter Milan, Gao Xiaodong, who is in excellent form, even if he faces the defending champions who have defeated him away, he is full of confidence, and he launched an attack on Inter Milan at the beginning.

Manchester United fielded a 433 attacking formation today, with the sword aimed straight at Inter centre-back Ranozia.

Ranozia is an Italian player who made a name for himself in Genoa, and because Inter's main central defender Samuel was seriously injured during the season, and almost the season was reimbursed, Inter Milan spent 15 million to buy Ranozia during the winter break.

Ranozia is 1.95 meters tall and has no problem with air defense, but his speed is slow to turn slowly, and it is impossible for Lucio to have any tacit cooperation, which is the key breakthrough of Manchester United's game today.

The ball passed back to the midfield from the middle circle, and then back to the backline, because Inter Milan played a little conservatively today, a 451 formation was discharged, and Inter Milan's marking focus was on Gao Xiaodong's body, Manchester United passed the ball from the back line to the midfield again without much effort, three passes and two downs, and the ball was passed to the feet of Scholes.

Scholes tried to pass the ball to Berbatov, but Inter also knew that their central defender was a weakness, and they also paid great attention to protecting Ranozia when defending, and Cambiaso was stuck in front of Berbatov, cutting off Berbatov's connection with the midfielder and reducing Berbatov's direct impact on Ranokchia.

If the opponent's air defense is poor, or his striker is an air bully, Scholes will pass the ball directly into the air, but Berbatov's header is not comparable to the Inter defender, Scholes chose to go on the side, split the ball to Nani, let Nani look for opportunities on the side or pass from the wing to the middle.

Nani was in good form today, taking the ball and pushing forward quickly to get past Inter left-back Zivo.

Although Zivo was not the main force of last season's treble, it was because he was injured last season, and in the position of defender, he is not weak, facing the menacing Nani, Zivo stepped back sideways to prevent Nani from using his speed to break through himself.

Captain Zanetti, who played in midfield today, did not let Zivo face Nani alone, he quickly approached Zivo and wrapped Nani.

Manchester United lost the Champions League final last season so painfully that the players wanted revenge, and Nani was not as sticky with the ball as he was in the league, and when he saw Zanetti pulling aside, he suddenly stopped and turned and passed the ball back to the defender O'Shea, who had come up with the assist.

If it were a normal game, O'Shea would have passed back to Fletcher or centre-back Nemanja Vidic, but today everyone was full of desire to attack, and O'Shea went straight to his centre-forward Berbatov.

The 30-year-old O'Shea's passing skills cannot be compared with the midfield, but at the moment the midfielders on both sides are inclined to the wings, and the number of people in the middle is relatively small, O'Shea's pass is not difficult, and the ball accurately finds Berbatov.

Berbatov was also active today, not standing still and waiting for the ball, but quickly moving forward to meet the ball.

If Inter Milan's central defenders are Lucio and Samuel today, Lucio will go up, but now Lucio is paired with Ranocchia, Lucio doesn't dare to go forward, so he can only let Ranocchia go to the top.

Ranocchia was not fast, half a step slower, and was unable to destroy the ball at the first time when Berbatov received the ball, and Berbatov cleverly passed the ball back to Gao Xiaodong, who was quickly inserted.

This is the essence of Manchester United's tactics today, which is to slam Inter Milan's shortcomings in the middle, allowing Berbatov to look for opportunities to single out Ranocchia, or to return to the middle to find Scholes and Gao Xiaodong.

Berbatov, who is not fast in the middle today, is to use Berbatov's passing ability, and if he replaces Hernandez or Rooney, his flexibility may be better, but his passing ability cannot be compared with Berbatov.

Berbatov did not live up to Ferguson's trust, and in the first minute of the opening game, he made a ball for Gao Xiaodong.

Gao Xiaodong has been marked by people today, Inter Milan has taken the tightest defense against him today, although it is not the whole field of people marking, but Gao Xiaodong has people following him in any area, and he resolutely does not give Gao Xiaodong the opportunity to get the ball.

However, Berbatov's kick back gave Gao Xiaodong a chance, Gao Xiaodong started quickly, and instantly got rid of Sneijder, who was marking him, and Stankovic, who assisted in the defense, did not keep up, and was grabbed by Gao Xiaodong to the landing point.

At 30 meters, Gao Xiaodong saw that he had entered his own range, and without hesitation, he met the ball with a long shot.

Boom!

The ball was hit by Gao Xiaodong's instep and flew towards the goal quickly, and the dull sound was transmitted to the ear drums of every fan through the TV screen.

Gao Xiaodong's long-range shooting ability Inter Milan fans know too well, don't look at the goal is still 30 meters away, at this distance, Gao Xiaodong's long-range shot is uncountable with both hands, and now Cesar's state is very average, Inter Milan fans tremble when they see Gao Xiaodong get up.

Fortunately, Cesar is also very familiar with Gao Xiaodong, and when he saw that Berbatov's ball was passed back to Gao Xiaodong, he played a 12-point spirit and was ready to save.

Move sideways, kick the ground, fly and leap!

Cesar saved a long-range shot from the left side of the net.

Lucio hurried over to pick up Cesar and patted him on the head, thanking him for the save he had just made.

Just now Gao Xiaodong was able to get a chance to shoot, the mistake was on the central defender, if the ball scored, the biggest pot was Ranocchia, but as Ranocchia's partner, Lucio must also be to blame.

Manchester United won a corner, Scholes came to the corner flag area to take the corner, Gao Xiaodong waited at the edge of the penalty area.

Gao Xiaodong's position is very cunning, he is a little far away from the big penalty area line, which makes Cambiaso who is marking him a little uncomfortable, he is close to Gao Xiaodong, if Gao Xiaodong inserts into the penalty area, he can't keep up, he doesn't follow Gao Xiaodong, Gao Xiaodong has a chance to shoot directly.

In the past, Gao Xiaodong's little cleverness benefited Inter Milan and the opponent was uncomfortable, and now it is Inter Milan's turn to feel this taste.

With Gao Xiaodong's first shot, Cambiaso didn't dare to let go of Gao Xiaodong, he clinged to Gao Xiaodong, and his hand was still dragging Gao Xiaodong's jersey, trying his best to slow down Gao Xiaodong's start.

Scholes glanced at the positions of Gao Xiaodong and Fletcher, and decisively passed the ball to the big penalty area, giving the midfielder a chance to shoot in front of the goal.

The moment Scholes got up, Gao Xiaodong immediately pushed Cambiaso and quickly inserted into the penalty area.

Cambiaso was originally grabbing Gao Xiaodong's jersey, and when Gao Xiaodong pushed him, he wanted to grab it hard, but he didn't expect Gao Xiaodong's jersey to be an ordinary jersey, his hand slipped and he didn't catch it, so he could only watch Gao Xiaodong rush into the penalty area at high speed, jump high, and compete for this header.

The penalty area is a man-to-man defense, Inter Milan players are staring at their own people, while staring at the ball flying in the air, no one can defend against Gao Xiaodong in front, Inter Milan central defender Lucio is preparing to head the ball, Gao Xiaodong grabbed the landing point one step ahead of him, and pressed Lucio's long-distance header to the upper right corner of the goal.

Cesar was also very attentive this time, but the ball was at a very good angle, and Cesar couldn't touch the ball after moving and flying to make a save.

However, Gao Xiaodong's height is still a little worse after all, the top part of the ball is not quite right, and the ball flew out of the bottom line against the crossbar.

There was an exclamation in the stands, and many Inter fans were frightened, if this goal was scored, Inter would be too passive, even if two more goals were scored later, it would not be an advantage.

Leonardo's face changed greatly, in order to defend Gao Xiaodong, he changed the formation on the spot, and swore to the players that he had found a way to defend Gao Xiaodong, but he didn't expect that the fart was useless, and Gao Xiaodong got two chances to shoot at the beginning, although he did not score, but they all caused a huge threat. It's a slap in the face.