Pirlo debuted as a midfielder, and he was once considered the successor to Baggio, with excellent footwork and elegant style. However, after moving to Inter Milan, he didn't get many opportunities due to the abundance of talent in the midfield position.

Moreover, his speed is not fast, his confrontation ability is weak, his style of play is soft, and he is not suitable for the modern role of a forward midfielder. The modern midfielder is like Kaka, who has the speed and a certain ability to fight, can both organize the attack and finish the game on his own, and can enrich the team's tactical play.

Pirlo did not put in an impressive performance in his few appearances and was dropped by Inter Milan.

After moving to AC Milan, Carlo Ancelotti overhauled him, dropping him back and allowing him to play in central midfield.

In the midfield position, Pirlo finally shined. His defensive ability is not strong, and his confrontation ability has not been fundamentally improved, but his excellent technique, big-picture vision and excellent long and short passing ability make him a unique midfielder, a midfielder who does not rely on defense, but relies on organizational ability to win.

With him there, AC Milan will be able to keep the ball under control in central midfield and let him control the tempo: whether to continue to possess the ball slowly and with short passes, or to attack with sudden long passes.

The traditional term "back midfield" can no longer define him, and he is by no means a back in the general sense. So the Italian press named his tactical role: regista.

If you want to describe his role simply, then he is a classical midfielder who appears in the midfield position.

In front of him, a strong and ferocious sweeping midfielder is needed. At AC Milan, Gattuso is such a character.

It can be said that without Shevchenko, without Kaka, without Maldini, AC Milan might still be able to win the title. But without these two, AC Milan would have lost most of their competitiveness.

For a player like Pirlo, it is impossible to overstate the importance of it, and in the first 30 minutes, Rojas arranged for Ricardinho and Antonio to surround Pirlo was the right choice.

However, perhaps given the rapid decline in the players' stamina and the fact that Sao Paulo's entire defence was retreating, Rojas asked Ricardinho and Antonio to stop surrounding Pirlo in order to ensure that the three lines were not disjointed.

In Ricardo's view, this may be a heavy blow to São Paulo!

Andrea Pirlo walks to the corner flag area and takes the corner. The ball drove out with a strong spin and flew to the middle of the penalty area, and Fabiano and Costa Cuta, who returned to the penalty area to participate in the defense, jumped at the same time, he touched the ball first, and the ball bounced. Ricardo chased after him, and Cafu also happened to rush up, raising his leg menacingly. Ricardo scrambled to kick the ball behind Cafu, who was then kicked squarely.

"Tick!" Ivanov blew the whistle in time and gave Cafu a yellow card. Ricardo grinned in pain, and it took a long time for him to recover. Cafu kindly extended his hand to him, patted him on the head, and said kindly in Portuguese, "It's all right, little one, sorry for not closing your feet in time." ”

Ricardo grabbed his hand and stood up, shook his head and said, "It's okay, I know you didn't mean to." ”

Cafu didn't show the spikes, it wasn't a deliberate injury, it was just that Licardo picked the ball too quickly and was kicked down by him.

However, it is also a pity that Ricardo was actually a good opportunity to counterattack just now, and AC Milan's backfield was empty. If Cafu doesn't knock him down, he takes the ball and moves it to Rico on the right, and he can create a 2-on-2 situation by rushing forward.

Sao Paulo took a free-kick from goalkeeper Cheney and passed it to Fabiano, but in the battle with Costacuta, Fabiano was defeated, and AC Milan handed the ball to Pirlo to organize the attack again.

After a couple of back-to-the-ground shots, Pirlo found his chance and suddenly delivered a long diagonal pass to Cafu, who was plugged in at high speed.

Ricardo quickly moved in, but Cafu didn't dwell on him, passed the ball to Kaka and continued to run forward, and Kaka passed the ball back to Cafu. It's a two-over-one fit.

Ricardo continued to chase back, and Gustavo. Inside's got Cafu in check, and in desperation, Cafu passed the ball back to Pirlo, who was responding.

Andrea Pirlo dodged Ricardinho's save, and the ball passed through the gap between several Sao Paulo players and rolled precisely to Shevchenko's feet, where Shevchenko flicked the ball away from Lugano and crossed it to Tomasson, who did not waste the opportunity as he fired a low shot from eight yards out that cut through Cheney's 10 fingers.

"Tomasson shoots! The ball is in! ”

"It took a series of great combinations to equalise for AC Milan through a goal from Maximon. Although it was Shevchenko who made the final pass, it has to be said that the biggest contributor to this goal was Andrea Pirlo, whose brilliant midfield play-up disrupted the Sao Paulo backline and created this opportunity. ”

Ricardo couldn't help but be a little frustrated. That's the difference between Sao Paulo and the really top teams, with AC Milan not messing around when they are behind, keeping the tempo in their hands and controlling the game as they please.

Perhaps Sao Paulo can do as well as AC Milan when playing downwind. But in the face of adversity, Sao Paulo is indeed far inferior to AC Milan.

The difference lies in the "strong team temperament".

With excellent players as the foundation, excellent traditions as the foundation, and a large number of victories as a source of self-confidence, it finally smelts the "strong team temperament".

When you are ahead, you can stay focused and consolidate your victory; When you are behind, you can have a calm mind, believe that you can equalize or even reverse, and the whole team is unified in thinking and sticks to the tactical style of play.

São Paulo does not have such a temperament for the time being.

When watching the Champions League semi-finals between Inter Milan and AC Milan, Ricardo still felt that AC Milan was nothing more than that. But when I was really there and became an opponent with AC Milan, I realized how tough the opponent was.

His own previous goals, with a certain element of luck, may not be able to replicate. AC Milan's goal is a very clear-thinking attack, with replication, if AC Milan does this again, Sao Paulo may not be able to prevent it.

Sure enough, after the restart, AC Milan continued to press Sao Paulo, and Pirlo used his dispatch to give AC Milan a firm advantage.

In the 43rd minute, his pass tore through Sao Paulo's defence again, and Shevchenko burst into the box and fired a powerful shot, but Lugano reacted well to keep the ball out. But Kaka followed up with a kick, and the football hit the post like a cannonball and bounced off the bottom line, which scared the players of São Paulo into a cold sweat.