Chapter 397: This Is the Derby (Part I)

Just as Gonzalo Higuain came to the sidelines for treatment, Torino, who played more and played less, created a very dangerous chance. In the eighth minute, Pjanic was suddenly surrounded by two players from the home team in midfield, and in an emergency, the Bosnia-Herzegovina international chose to pass the ball back to central defender Chiellini, but Benassi failed to use his exact strength under the interference of Benasi, causing Benassi to rush forward to clear the ball before the Juventus captain could kick in. With Immobile following up on the left, the home team instantly formed a two-on-one advantage, with only one defender left in front of the two attacking players.

When everyone's eyes were focused on this sudden opportunity to score, Benassi with the ball had already reached the position of about three meters outside the arc of the away team's big penalty area. Seeing that the only defender was drawn to him, Benassi did not lose his composure and used a clever change of speed to find the angle of the pass and split the ball from the Juventus centre-back to the left. Immobile is already running in place over there, once he gets the ball, he will form a one-on-one momentum, and with the current form of the striker who leads the Serie A scorers' charts, the chances of scoring are definitely more than 90%, and Juventus fans have subconsciously made a gesture of prayer, hoping that a miracle can be born at this moment.

But what no one expected was that a miracle really happened, and Immobile, who came to the big forbidden area, probably had already calculated a variety of ways to break the goal in his mind, and picked out which one was the safest. However, he made a low-level mistake in stopping the ball, which caused the ball to slide past his feet, you know, with the basic skills mastered by a player of this level, this simple stopping of the ball is almost 100% easy. Even if his eyes weren't on his feet, his turnover rate would never have been higher than one percent, but today it was the fatal mistake that completely missed the golden opportunity for the Red Bulls to score first.

The home supporters of the whole stadium, including Li Muddy on the sidelines, let out a loud sigh, but they could not change what should have been a one-handed ball that turned into a cross from the edge of the box in the blink of an eye. By the time the Torino 10 caught up with the ball, there were already as many as four visitors back in place, barely getting the ball down the middle, but it was clear that he couldn't avoid Chiellini's interception, and it was a shame that the attack was ruined.

In the ninth minute, Bareka crossed from the left, and Falco was a little slow to flank the ball at the back post in the box, allowing the ball to slip in front of his toe and fail to touch the ball. After two unfortunate brushes back to goal, the home team's players had some psychological swings and failed to take advantage of the opportunity to play one man more and take the initiative. Higuain insisted on a few minutes after returning to the pitch, and found that his left foot was still unable to exert his power normally, so he took the initiative to make a substitution. In the early quarter of an hour, Juventus made a substitution, with Bernardeschi coming in, and none of their three players up front were authentic centre-forwards, but they were correspondingly more flexible, and the frequent changes between the three made the Torino defence feel a little uncomfortable.

In the 18th minute, the visitors made a wide move in a positional attack, and Pjanic, who had the ball on the right flank, was given a chance to face centre-back Ranocchia, who could get past him and the Bosnian midfielder could take on Kassi. However, the former Inter captain is clearly not a reckless kid like Rugani, he used his experience to constantly adjust the distance between himself and the opposing player to prevent the opponent from speeding over, and then when Pjanic finally couldn't help but start to make a move to get rid of it, he struggled to implement a sliding tackle, forcing the latter to temporarily stop the ball to dodge, buying enough time for his team-mates to return to the defense.

Barreca, who had lost his position because of the marking, hurried back and sent the Bosnian to the ground with a sweeping leg and ankle, but the referee Orsato did not say anything and let the game continue, which caused strong dissatisfaction among Juventus players, coaches and fans. Allegri, who has always used facial paralysis as a personal label, also ran to the sidelines and yelled at the referee several times, which was responded by the home team's fans. Two minutes later, Khedira was not penalized for a foul when he knocked over Baseli in the scramble, and the referee's more lenient scale also greatly increased the level of confrontation between the players of the two teams, and the rhythm of the game was also raised.

The increasingly hot scene also stimulated the play of both sides, and in the next ten minutes, both sides completed several more successful cooperation, and it seemed that the score was rewritten, and it seemed to be getting closer.

In the twentieth minute, the black and white babe who had just come on the right side shook off two defenders like hot wheels and rushed to the bottom line to send a cross, the ball was guarded by Silvestri who was guarding the front point to change the defensive line, passed over the heads of several people ambushed in the middle, and was just picked up by Asamoah in the back. The Ghana international, who was five metres in front of him without interference, did not stop the ball and picked up his left foot directly into a half-volley. The angle of the shot was extremely tricky, and it happened a little suddenly, so that Cassie, who had just shifted his focus from the front point to the middle of the goal, did not react immediately. Fortunately, Silvestri stayed in place after fighting for the header, he subconsciously leaned back and blocked the ball with his right foot that stretched forward as best he could, and made two meritorious contributions in one round to defuse the opponent's attack.

Five minutes later, the hosts responded when Barcelona sent a pinpoint long ball into the visitors' box on the counter-attack, and Mobile used his speed to get caught between two centre-backs and try a side-hook sweep from just outside the six-yard box to the right, but it couldn't hit the target and the ball hit the side-netting at the near end.

In the 28th minute, the first shot of the game hit the woodwork was belated. Torino took a tactical corner, Falke picked up a cross from the corner on the right side of the penalty area to the back post, Silvestri pressed Desiglio at right-back to get to the spot just before the penalty spot, but the interference header failed to top the power and was saved by Szczesny.

Four minutes later, Juventus also had their first shot on target when Asamoah was booked for knocking down Immobile in defence, but the home side's set-piece was pushed off by Chiellini and Musis had to go to Sandro at the edge of the penalty area to give the visitors a well-placed set-piece. Pjanic opted to go straight at goal, his ball arcing widely, but it was ultimately limited by distance and angle, and Casillas flew to the side and punched the ball off the touchline.

And it was the follow-up attack generated by this sideline ball that finally broke the equilibrium on the field, and Li Mudi and his team were the victims of it. The Juventus players shifted the ball to the right after their attack on the left was blocked, and it was Bernardeschi again, still in the same Hot Wheels overtake he had done not long ago. The black-and-white babe used his speed to beat Boyer and Bareka in succession, and swept the ball into the front of goal from outside the six-yard penalty line, and after all three players of both teams missed the front point, Sandro easily blocked the ball with the arch of his right foot into the goal. Cassie, who blocked the near corner, had no time to return to defense, and could only watch the huge empty goal behind him be easily broken by the opponent.

Just as the Juventus players began to gather in a circle to celebrate the goal, the Torino team protested to the referee whether the scorer had just been in an offside position, and as the linesman's view was blocked by several players and he could not discern the situation, Orsato signaled a time-out of the game and went to the sidelines to check the VAR. The Torino coach checked the replays repeatedly through his FM system, and failed to calibrate whether Sandro was in an offside position at the moment of Benardeschi's pass, after all, the system's animated depiction of events on the pitch was still too rough. However, the system's judgment was that the goal was effective, which made Li Mudi's face more and more difficult to look at, because he knew that the FM system had never made a mistake in this regard.

Sure enough, two minutes after the fans on both sides provoked each other and even began to insult each other with songs, Orsato returned to the stadium and made a firm gesture to score a goal, and the entire Olympic Stadium instantly became half sea and half flames. But the Juventus fans' unbridled celebrations also infuriated the Red Bulls supporters, who were saddened by the goal, and the confrontation tended to move towards a clash that led the riot police, who had been prepared for a long time, to tighten their management methods.

Due to the care of the Football Association and historical reasons, the stadium with a capacity of 27,994 spectators today is full, but it has nearly a seventh of the away team's supporters, which is much higher than the proportion of normal matches, which also makes the level of rivalry between the fans of both sides reach the most intense level, but this is the regular form of the Turin derby, and everyone has long been surprised.

Immediately after the scoreline changed, both managers made new arrangements for their players, and the backward Torino team was sure to step up the attack, and Li Mudi instructed Boyer and Farke to revert to a 4-3-3 position. However, this idea was not realized in the face of the opponent's unusually powerful attack, and Allegri even ordered Juve to continue the onslaught, which is a rare time for everyone to see his tough and unconservative side.

The black and white babe was in a state of possession today, and he himself suppressed Boyer and Bareka, causing the home team's attack on the left to be completely paralyzed, while also affecting players in other positions, creating a lot of space for his teammates. In the 39th minute, Pjanic sent a through pass, and Benadeski shook off all the Torino players with an acceleration to form a single knife, but the linesman raised the flag to signal offside. Slow-motion replays showed that he was just one foot away, and the red bull narrowly escaped.

Two minutes later, Douglas Costa cut inside after a series of breaks down the right flank, and Sandro cut in the middle to almost replicate the goal, but it was still blown away for offside. Due to the short time it took to make the pass, the referee ignored the home players' complaints that the Brazilian had finished his shot after the whistle and was once again booed by the fans.

After two minutes of stoppage time, the game went into the half-time break, and the one-goal deficit was much to the frustration of Red Bulls supporters, but there were still 45 minutes left to turn the game around, which did not allow the fans to act more violently. There has already been a small group incident between fans on both sides, and if it weren't for the timely and proper handling by the police, the situation might have gotten out of control.

In the locker room, Li Mudi seized the time to make a summary of the process of the first half and several key events, put forward the issues that the players need to pay attention to in the following time, and then explained the latest tactical ideas in detail. He believes that due to the absence of many main players, Juventus's offensive ability is actually overestimated by everyone, they only have one organization point for Pjanic, as long as they strangle Bosnia-Negro, the away team can only use the individual ability of the striker to fight alone, although Benardski's form is a little too good to be ridiculous, but he is not Maradona after all, and he has not yet beaten a team's divine power.

So the Torino boss ordered the three midfielders to limit Pjanic's play at all costs, and then attack the combination of full-backs and centre-backs when the opponent is unable to threaten his own goal.

In the face of what may be the most important derby of the season, the morale and fighting spirit of the Torino players did not need to be mobilized, and everyone was holding their breath to step over the corpses of their rivals. So before returning to the field, under the call of the team's first captain Moretti, all the 23 players who entered the game squad gathered together, put their hands on their shoulders to form a circle, and shouted the slogan "Come on Bull, beat the old woman" before walking out of the players' tunnel with a resolute expression. The scene was clearly recorded by cameras on the walls on both sides of the tunnel, and it became a classic chapter in the summary of the team's difficult but great season a few months later.

The two sides restarted without any personnel changes, and the home team significantly increased their pressing in the midfield area, and Juve's attacking organization was greatly disrupted. But the adjustment ability of the Serie A hegemon is really the best in the entire league, Pjanic took the initiative to retreat behind the other two midfield teammates, and became a senior Pirlo-style playmaker back, and instantly cracked Li Moodi's targeted arrangement. However, as neither Sturaro nor Khedira had the delicate foot work to take on the ball and rush forward, the visitors' main attacking tactics shifted to cutting inside or crossing from the two wings, which also brought a new change to the situation on the field.