Chapter 101: Prince Piero of Zebras

Five minutes after Baggio's goal, Juventus scored.

It was Zidane who was scolded by Lippi just now who planned the attack, and the player who scored the goal was Inzaghi, the king of leaks.

If you don't explode in silence, you perish in silence.

Zidane naturally couldn't confront Lippi, so he was silent, and in the silence, he chose to erupt.

It was still the same smooth ball control just now, but it increased the frequency of attack, Vieira admired his predecessors to throw the ground, in his impression, only Platini could be so elegant, like a swan dancing on the ice.

Whether it is Ling Feng, Maradona or Baggio, they will not hover with the ball in a diameter of less than five meters in place, although their ball control is also super strong, but in terms of this kind of offensive organization now, the three of them are worse than Zidane.

Zidane's biggest style is his elegance, unhurried ball control, but he just can't let the opponent touch the north, especially he is used to turning the ball back, and then the whole body blocks in front of the opponent, so that the defender can't break the ball - this way of ball control is naturally not Ling Feng's liking, Ling Feng requires speed and passion.

But there is no doubt that Vieira, the steel defense of Fiorentina, was frequently leaked under Zidane's interference, allowing Ziera to pass the ball to the feet of Piero in front again and again.

Zidane is very skillful, although he still runs the risk of being scolded by Lippi to continue the attacking organization just now, but most of the ball is distributed to Piero, allowing the Juventus lover to take the ball and play, even if the attack fails, it doesn't matter what happens to Zidane.

And Lippi also regretted his lack of calm just now, and did not blame Qi Bald again - otherwise, a player who did not play according to the manager's wishes would definitely be replaced directly - especially the super old-fashioned head coach in Italy.

But the goal just now has nothing to do with Piero.

Inzaghi's reaction speed is the fastest in the world, Zidane is not only passing, in the first half of the thirty minutes, Zidane, who has been just in possession and passing, suddenly got up in front of the penalty area and shot coldly, Toldo hurriedly reacted to block the ball, but Cannavaro's reaction speed was half a beat slower than Inzaghi next to him, and the latter fell to the ground and shoveled the ball into the door.

The gap in the score was narrowed to one goal, although Baggio and Inzaghi's goals were not spectacular, but you must know that a wonderful goal cannot be counted as two points, and no matter how ugly the shot is, as long as it can hit the ball into the opponent's goal, it will be considered a success.

The gap was only one goal, and with Zidane in control, Fiorentina didn't get much of a bargain in midfield.

In this case, Fiorentina also started to possess the ball in midfield when they organized a dense defense against the opponent's attack.

Rui • Although Costa can't reach Zidane's current top-level master-like state, he still has Effenberg next to him, who is also good at organizing, and Ling Feng's interspersed runs in front make Juventus's backline a headache.

In midfield, Juventus are on average a head shorter than Fiorentina – as they have two shorts in the middle – the 1.75m French man Didier Deschamps and the 1.69m Dutch boar Davies.

Davies has just moved from Inter Milan this year to take the position of the departing Yugoslav Jugovic - although the Boar's ball control and offensive playmaking ability are far inferior to the Yugoslavs, but his ferocious fighting and aggressive movement have also caused a lot of problems for Fiorentina's backline.

Especially under Zidane's strategy, Xiaoka had to reduce the number of times he broke through and fought against the wild boar - two guys with 1.69 meters and two barbarians on the football field, the sparks that came out of the collision were really not a little bigger.

The scene became hot at this time, Zidane and Rui •Costa's duel, Carlos and Davies' duel, as well as Ling Feng, Baggio, Batistuta, Deschamps, etc., etc., each player's performance was quite outstanding, and the cheers in the stands came and went - a considerable part of them were neutral fans, because the performance of the players of the two teams was indeed at a very high level.

But at this time, it is worth mentioning the zebra prince Piero.

Before the game, the European media named the game "a matchup of fate", because Piero will meet Baggio's counterattack, and in the last crucial game of the World Cup, these two fateful enemies will really start to fight it out!

Although everyone knows that the arrogant Baggio is not liked by the old Maldini, maybe even if Baggio wins this game, it will be difficult to recover his core position in the World Cup, but anyone can think like this, only Piero can't think like this!

Since it is fate, Piero must accept the challenge!

But as the first half drew to a close, Piero was able to get at least five or more dangerous passes from Zidane, but none of them sent the ball into the opposition's wicket – Baggio had only one chance that wasn't a chance, but the Prince of Melancholy took it.

Fiorentina's attacking points are very scattered, and the players in the front court can be used as offensive points, but Juventus's offensive line is very simple - Zidane controls the ball in the midfield, passes the ball to the opponent in the front position at the right time, or Davies in the insertion, or Pexoto in the middle, or directly to Piero in the front.

But whether it's Pexoto or Davis, when they get the ball and look for an attacking point again, they pass the ball to Piero.

It can be said that in the tactics formulated by Lippi, Piero is the core, the absolute core!

The 24-year-old Piero does have the capital he can be proud of, and he is invincible on the left side of the penalty area, in the area known as the "Piero Zone" – but only for the weaker teams.

In the strong dialogue, top defenders such as Thuram and Cannavaro will not give him a chance to enter that area to adjust his condition and shoot, and the Bianconeri Prince has been rejected again and again outside his familiar area, and his psychological pressure is increasing.

Some people are the kind of people who score goals honestly, and some people are the kind who turn the tide when it matters most.

For example, Brazil's striker Elber, he published his autobiography when he retired, called "Mortal Elber", in general, Elber's strength is not bad, but he lacks the ability to reverse the situation at a critical moment, in the 3R era of Ronaldo, Rivaldo, and Ronaldinho, the Brazilian team has no place for him.

It's enough to treat Piero as a first-class striker, he can seize opportunities, he can attack the city ordinarily, but if he is a top striker, a superstar who can step up and save the big picture at critical moments, to put it mildly, Lippi is inevitably too doting on him.

Injured Zhongyong, Piero is also such a category, until the pressure is getting bigger and bigger, and the challenges are more and more, but he can't turn the tide, and even when he is injured and can't participate in the game, he is not in the crowd.

Perhaps it is an exaggeration to say that Piero is not as talented as Nakayong, and in the end he is not unremarkable, but one thing is certain, Piero is not a savior.

Lippi sat on the side and hesitated, if it was an ordinary person, he would have been replaced by him long ago in the case of wasting so many opportunities, but that person is Piero, his favorite apprentice, not only him, Berlusconi, the old Maldini, etc. have high expectations for Piero, hoping that he can surpass the rebellious Baggio and become the new standard-bearer of Italy.

One goal can make up for 10 mistakes, so let's say so, so Lippi sat comfortably on the stool, hoping to rearrange his tactics at half-time, just down by one goal, not that he couldn't get it back.

The drama took place in the last five minutes of the first half, when the two teams suddenly went crazy and launched a fierce onslaught towards each other's doors.

First, Piero's shot bounced off Thuram's leg, and Fiorentina then counter-attacked with Ling Feng's clever pass to Baggio, whose volley went wide;

Then in the next round of attack, Zidane went straight to Davies on the flank, and the Dutch wild boar ran full force towards the bottom line and crossed with Carlos out of position, but Inzaghi's header was thrillingly saved by Toldo.

Then there was Fiorentina's attack – this time, it was quite dramatic.

Batistuta, who didn't have many chances throughout the first half, finally got a comfortable kick in front of the penalty area under Effenberg's clever pass, and the opposition goalkeeper Lampra was slightly up front.

Barty raised his foot to make a powerful volley, the ball hit high, and there was a process of falling in the air - I have to say that Barty is quite cerebral when shooting, such a shot is extremely difficult for the goalkeeper, because he combines the speed and the goalkeeper's most feared high-altitude drop.

Lampra had nothing to do with the ball, not even jumping up to make a save, and turned his back and ran towards the goal.

But at this time, the unexpected appeared.

The ball didn't hit the back of the net, but smashed firmly into the middle of the crossbar and bounced back - straight into the arms of Lampra, who was running back!

Although the 34-year-old goalkeeper does not have much experience in major tournaments, out of the instinct of the goalkeeper, he firmly held the ball that bounced back and fell to the ground - it was embarrassing to press the ball on the goal line!

The audience laughed! Even Barty couldn't stop shaking his head - the other party's luck was too good.

The first half ended with the score 2-1 and Fiorentina maintained a one-goal lead into the second half.

Three goals in 45 minutes allowed fans to enjoy the best performances of some of the top players in their respective fields, and there was a dramatic scene in the middle, which was already worth the ticket price for Amsterdam's fans who don't care who wins and who loses.

In the first half, Fiorentina had 14 shots on goal, scored two goals, five goals were within the frame of the goal, and three corner kicks; Juventus had 12 shots on goal, scoring one, four of which were within the woodwork and 53 per cent of the time they had possession.

It can be said that this is a close game, and compared to the meeting between the two teams in the league, there is no doubt that Juventus played much better in this game.

Mainly because of Zidane's awakening.

Juventus's style of play is different from before, experienced people can see that Zidane's scheduling has greatly enhanced the control of the Bianconeri midfield, but Juventus's consistent style is defensive counterattack, and the control of the midfield will inevitably make the offensive time greatly prolonged, which is a fatal wound for the fast attack in the defensive counterattack.

Lippi should have rearranged his tactics when he rearranged his tactics at halftime, but could Juventus' defensive counterattack tear apart Fiorentina's defense?

Inzaghi's feet are too rough, Piero is in a slump when he encounters the big game, relying on these two strikers to make a quick counterattack, it is better to replace Piero and replace the French teenager Trezeguet to concentrate on heading.

Lippi also knew about this, so at halftime, Lippi, who had turned into a firefox, pointed at Piero's nose and scolded.

The general idea is nothing more than to express his helplessness of hating iron and steel and Piero's failure to live up to his expectations, but has Silver Fox ever thought that now is the time to curse?

Scolding Zidane in the first half made the team score a goal, maybe Lippi thinks he is right, but Piero and Zidane are different, the two are not the same type of players.

How to say, as just said, Piero lacks a kind of arrogance and self-confidence that a top player should have, and this emotion can make these top players have a spirit of not admitting defeat and the courage to move forward in the face of adversity.

For example, Baggio, who has been rejected from the national team again and again, has been dragging his injured leg and fighting hard, such as Ling Feng being able to stand up again and again when the team is behind.

But Piero, who has been taken care of by the coaches since his debut, even Baggio, who almost became the second Maradona - if Italy wins the championship in 94, then Baggio will undoubtedly become the second Maradona, because it was Baggio who alone brought Italy to the final - that is, Baggio, who was also squeezed out of Juventus's position.

When it comes to psychology, Piero is too far behind the others.

Now Lippi scolded him, although he knew that his performance was not good, but Piero's mentality could not be adjusted for a while, not long after the start of the second half, the cranky Piero dribbled the ball without anyone to supervise, but fell on the turf himself, covering his knee in pain......