Chapter 440: A Good Ball (Part I)
It may seem a bit too sudden to score so early, but football, or all competitive sports, is the way it is, and the final outcome of a game is determined not only by comparing who plays better on the offensive end, but also by who makes fewer mistakes on the defensive end.
Although he has become a well-known midfielder in world football at the age of 22, Frank Casey still can't escape the shortcomings of young people who sometimes make frizzy mistakes, and undeserved panic in the face of opponents' seemingly high-intensity pressing, after all, there were many teammates behind and around him as contact points, and such low-level mistakes should not have occurred.
However, the player's on-court state will also be affected by different factors and ups and downs, perhaps at that moment, Kessie suddenly found that Belotti who rushed over to intercept was simply handsome, and unconsciously fell into an indescribable emotion and couldn't extricate himself.
Okay, no more nonsense, let's get back to the game. AC Milan, who accidentally conceded a goal, will naturally suffer a certain blow to morale, but for them, who have no additional way out except for all three points, they have strengthened their determination to attack, and the worst outcome is just a loss, and it can't be any worse, right?
So after the restart, Gattuso directed his players to press forward with all their might, and in the next few minutes, the red bulls were firmly blocked in the half court and attacked. It's a pity that their performance today is like a former professional boxer who has been absent from the battle for a long time, and it looks like a straight punch and an uppercut, but they always can't hit the point, either blocked by the opponent or dodged, in short, they only see thunder and no rain.
After Montolivo gradually faded from the squad due to age and injury, even fans with a little knowledge of football can understand the main reason why this AC Milan team has made a big difference from the huge investment. After Pirlo's departure, they have never been able to find a world-class playmaker, resulting in an extremely inconsistent attacking output, with goals mostly relying on the individual bursts of a few players, and that kind of wonderful team play is hard to come by.
Prior to this game, the Rossoneri had scored a measly 43 goals in 32 league games, a serious mismatch for the value of their attacking players.
The 25 million wingback Conte has become a glass man, and he has been battling various injuries for half a season; Former Lazio captain Biglia, who was purchased for 17 million, had an excellent passing skill, but at the end of the season, he failed to have the chemistry expected from his new team, and his performance has been tepid and disappointing; Casey, who is on loan from Atlanta for 8 million, is a new generation of beast waist embryo, counting on him to grow into a superstar who picks up on offense and defense, and those who think like this should pinch their thighs first; However, the individual technical ability of the Turk Calhanoglu is more in line with the requirements of the midfield commander, but the habit of favoring individual attacks and the instability of playing time cannot be the ideal answer to this stubborn problem.
In order to make the team's attack not too scattered, it can only use the Spanish winger Suso, who has excellent passing and receiving skills and coordination awareness, as the starting point, but the actual effect is not too ideal, but it can also alleviate the embarrassment of organizational problems.
That's why Montella will ignore the outside world's doubts about AC Milan's unsuitability to set up a three-striker formation, and one is using a 4-3-3 position, and Gattuso will continue his predecessor's routine after taking over the team, because he really has no more suitable candidate to use. Unless Biglia suddenly completes their integration with the team, or academy youngster Locatelli develops rapidly, we will only have to look forward to finding the right playmaker in this summer's transfer window. However, most of these types of players are worth a lot of money, and there will inevitably be a purge to prepare funds and free up places, but I don't know if the Rossoneri, who have just undergone a major change, will be able to withstand the next wave of toss.
However, if you want to score goals in the game, in addition to wonderful cooperation, you can occasionally rely on the player's personal inspiration or luck to help you achieve it. No, after five or six minutes of siege failed to produce even a single threat to Casillas, the visitors eventually equalised the scoreline with Bonaventura, who started in central midfield today. The versatile midfielder, who moved from Atalanta in 2014, kicked a world-beating kick in the ninth minute of the game, giving the more than 800 fans who travel with the team a celebration once again.
It was still from Suso's instigation, he faced Barreka's interception in the right rib position in front of the penalty area, used a bicycle action to shake out a little space and then sent a delicate through stopper, Kessie, who made a big mistake not long ago, actively stepped forward and successfully came to the front of the small penalty area to form a single knife in an offside position. Unfortunately, the Ivorians were once again unable to keep enough composure against the onrushing Kassi, and a powerful shot hit the Torino goalkeeper's left palm, and then Kalinic was about to shoot but was blocked by Ranocchia, and the ball bounced high to the outside, causing chaos in the home team's penalty area.
The ball was fought for by players on both sides in the air and was eventually cleared out of the box by Barreca's header, but the second landing was still in the hands of the Milan players. Located in the front of the penalty area, Biglia did not choose to stop the ball by himself, but unexpectedly pushed the ball to his left side with his head, and waited there Bonaventura did not make any adjustments after unloading the ball with his left foot, and volleyed directly with the outside of his right foot 22 meters in front of the goal, and the ball drew a very strange parabola and went straight to the dead corner on the right side of the Torino goal. Even though Cassie had exerted all his strength to make a flying and sideways pounce, it could not stop the world wave, and AC Milan pulled the game back to parity on the road after falling behind for less than seven minutes.
In the face of such an unavoidable goal, the home team has no choice but to sigh that the opponent's luck today is a bit against the sky. After all, this kind of fairy ball is indeed unguardable, and when encountered, you can only consider yourself unlucky, who makes yourself sometimes play this kind of good ball that makes the opponent speechless. Excluding the famous world wave witness Joe Hart, this kind of damage is generally relatively conserved, and the number of benefits and injuries is basically the same for each team, but it is really helpless to come at such an important juncture.
After the score came to 1-1, the scene once fell into a stalemate, and there were no eye-catching wonderful shots for a period of time, until it entered the twentieth minute, and another wave of offensive battles broke out, gradually heating up the atmosphere of the game.
In the 21st minute, Benassi was brought down by an opposing defender in front, and Suso rushed over to prevent Torino from delivering a quick free-kick, which led to a fierce verbal clash between the two players, and referee Fabio Maresca hurriedly stepped forward to stop it and verbally admonished several thorns on both sides.
Four minutes later, Silvestri brought down Borini on the defensive end, causing the latter to lie on the ground and hold his right leg and wail, although the referee took out a yellow card to warn the Torino right wing-back, but some Milan players still relentlessly came forward to besiege him, making the smell of gunpowder in the field gradually thickened. Taking advantage of this free-kick opportunity, the visitors also played a wonderful combination, Biglia crossed, Bonaventura split the ball, and Borini, who had just been in pain, cut into the box on the left, but the final shot was blocked by Diego Llorente. The home fans in attendance let out loud boos to express their disdain and displeasure at the Milan winger's previous pretended injury.
The ensuing game turned into a hand-to-hand fight, the two sides fought fiercely in the midfield area, and the number of fouls also showed a high-speed upward trend, in just six or seven minutes, Vukocevic, Bonaventura and Baseli received yellow cards one after another, Maresca's tough law enforcement also had a certain effect, the situation of the two teams was controlled, and the football game did not turn into a group brawl in the end.
After returning to the right track, the players of both sides quickly showed their belief in the victory, first in the 33rd minute, the Torino team took the lead, Silvestri crossed diagonally from the right side of the penalty area, and Belotti accurately judged the landing point in the middle under the combination of three defenders, jumped high and shook his head to attack. The ball flew straight under the visitors' crossbar, but Donnarumma reacted quickly and was tall enough to jump back with all his might, and with his fingers tucking the ball out of the frame, the crisis was narrowly resolved.
A tactical corner from the left side of the Torino team then saw Benassi knock the ball to the edge of the box, and Bareka's low left-footed shot from the top of the arc was not on target, creating a cross-and-shoot effect. Immobile found the chance at the back post, but his relay effort from the edge of the six-yard box was disrupted by Colombian centre-back Zapata, who fired over the crossbar and missed a brace.
And AC Milan, who were in distress twice in front of the goal, were not to be outdone, and quickly found a way to fight back. In the 39th minute, Abate tackled Bareka on the right and assisted to the front, then chose to curl the ball into the box with a 45-degree curling cross. Kalinic, who followed up in the middle, couldn't hit the target with a header from seven yards out, and the ball bounced wide of the left-hand post, causing Gattuso to frown on the sidelines. Compared to Belotti's header a few minutes ago, the Croatian centre-forward's chances this time were undoubtedly much better, not only from the goal, but also several levels of defensive pressure around him. But Red Babe almost scored that time, and Kalinic just wasted a clever pass from his teammate, and the ability of the two was superior.
Borini then had a volley from the left that cut inside from the left, flying high over the crossbar under the mark of Diego Llorente, and could have been used to attack the aircraft (X-machine). Just before half-time, the home side also had a goal-scoring statistic, Benassi took a corner from the right, Belotti's header was blocked by his team-mate Leonardo Bonucci and Bounced off before Ranocchia did.
At half-time, in addition to the number of yellow cards, the two sides formed an evenly matched situation both in terms of scores and various technical statistics. However, it is clear that the managers of both teams are not happy with the result. AC Milan, who are in desperate need of points to challenge for European qualification, are naturally desperate for victory, and Torino, who have sent all the main players, do not want their efforts not to be rewarded accordingly.
In Li Mudi's heart, if the starting lineup is a few rotation players, a draw is still acceptable, but in the case of using all his strength, it is equivalent to a nirvana order. He has strategically forfeited the weekend's league game against Atalanta in preparation for the game against Marseille in eight days' time, so today's game must be won, otherwise it will really become a joke of stealing chickens and rice.
So after a fifteen-minute halftime break, the players on both sides returned to the playing field with the belief that they must win, so that the second half of the stage just started to form a state of fierce scrambling between the two sides again, and the incident of people turning over on their backs was not uncommon, and the referee's whistle had to sound frequently.
The combined number of fouls quickly surpassed 25, but with the deterrence of four yellow cards in the first half, the players' movements were kept under control and there were no overdrives. However, the excessive intensity of the confrontation also consumed a lot of physical energy of the players on both sides, and when the game reached the 60th minute, the hand-to-hand combat in the midfield could no longer be maintained, and the attack on both sides also improved, and the scene became more and more exciting.
In the 61st minute, Biglia split the ball, Suso cut inside on the right and kicked a low shot before Goldaniga flew to block, which was confiscated by Cassie on the ground. Two minutes later, Silvestri's cross from the right was headed out by Kessie, and Bareka chested the ball off the edge of the box before striking a powerful left-footed volley that grazed the intersection of the left-hand post and the crossbar.
Seeing some signs of loss of control in the midfield, Li Mudi decisively made the decision to make substitutions, and he replaced Vukocevic, who had a yellow card, with Argentine midfielder Musis opposite, hoping to re-establish the defensive rigidity in the front of the penalty area. And the effect of this adjustment was also immediate, Musis was on the field for less than a minute, and he brought down Biglia in a kick and did not foul him. The former Lazio captain limped to the sidelines for treatment, and although he still wanted to keep fighting, Gattuso replaced him with Locatelli after consulting the team doctor's advice, and Biglia was so depressed that he had to sit back on the bench with a black face.
Less than half a minute after AC Milan made a substitution, another midfielder, Kessie, fell to the ground injured in a scramble with Musthis, and the team doctor, who could not return to his standby position, rushed in again. The head coach of the visiting team didn't know what to say at this time, he locked his eyes on the face of the perpetrator who was innocently accepting the referee's admonition, as if he wanted to rush up and ask: You kid came up to kick people! Fortunately, the physique of the African brothers is indeed very resistant. , after a brief handling, Casey recovered alive and could continue to participate in the battle, avoiding the occurrence of consecutive battle damage.
However, Moussis's two consecutive "hurtful" actions further boosted the fighting spirit of the Torino players, so that their momentum quickly climbed to a peak, gradually suppressed the opponent, and the balance of victory began to slowly tilt in favor of their side.