Chapter 215: Battle of Milan (3)

Although he accepted the kindness of his national team teammates, Romagnoli still wanted to give the opponent a good look in the game. In the 51st minute, Baca won a set-piece opportunity for the visitors on the left side of the penalty area, Suso sent the ball back to the wall, Calabria won the ball and passed directly diagonally into the box, Romagnoli volleyed from 10 yards from the goal, but still couldn't get the angle, and was effortlessly held in the arms of Joe Harthou.

The home side then began to try to keep possession in central midfield in an attempt to force AC Milan to spend more energy on the scramble, and if all went well, they would have given up the game by around 70 minutes of physical and mental fatigue, and Torino could win the game without a bloody game and build up an advantage for the cup tie three days later. However, they still underestimated the willpower and fighting spirit of the Rossoneri, and made big mistakes in the next five minutes, almost ruining the previous good game.

In the 55th minute, Vives made a mistake on his pass and was intercepted by Locatelli in the middle of the game, and then he dribbled towards the home goal, attracting a supplementary defence and distributing the ball to the right. Milan captain Abate, who was inserted at high speed, received the ball and made a slight adjustment to kick a cross, but the two points of the central outflank failed to touch, and the ball was leaked to the back post. Left winger Bonaventura couldn't stop the ball from the corner of the six-yard box and fired a left-footed volley that couldn't hit the target, the ball bounced to Bertolaci in the middle, and his close-range left-footed effort was saved by Joe Hart, causing chaos in front of the Torino goal. Before the visiting defenders could react a second time, the home goalkeeper knocked the ball out with a single fist when he fell to the ground, and Bonaventura, who rushed over to make up the shot, had a powerful shot that was saved by the England goalkeeper. Just when the commentators from various countries shouted that the best save of the year had appeared, referee Tagliavento blew the whistle under the reminder of the referee on the bottom line, and at the same time raised his hand to signal that the goal was valid.

It was hard for the Torino goalkeeper and his team-mates to accept what they thought had made a series of defying saves, but the slow motion on television showed Joe Hart cross the goal line before he hit the ball, and the sharpness of the referee's eyes on the baseline was comparable to that of the linesman who correctly judged that Belotti was offside when he scored the first goal of the first half. At 3-1, the gap between the two sides was reduced to two goals, and with almost 40 minutes remaining, the home side's already definite victory seemed to be showing some signs of instability.

AC Milan, who regained a game, also climbed to a peak in momentum, once again comprehensively suppressed the home team, and wanted to form a siege after the ball was successfully broken. However, the Torino players did not want to be pressed to the ground by their opponents, and just a minute after conceding the goal, Bareka sent a long ball after a successful counter-attack at the back, and Belotti received the ball and broke away from the defender to cut inside from the left. After attracting the defence, he distributed the ball to Farke on the right, who brought into the box and fired a low left-footed shot from a tight angle, which was saved by Donnarumma on the ground. Benassi in the middle of the pitch then fired into the empty net, but the linesman quickly raised the flag to signal that he was offside, and the goal was disallowed, leaving the home side just five centimetres away from crushing the opponent's coffin board.

When the visitors pulled a goal back just ten minutes into the second half, Li felt that the rest of the game could be extremely difficult, and the opposition were in a completely different state than they were before the break. If they don't get anything after investing so much in attack, they won't be able to hold out for long, maybe after ten minutes or less, they will give up their dying throes, but Bertolacci's goal is like giving a big sandwich to a man who is about to starve to death, giving him the strength to stay alive again. In order to stabilize the defense and withstand the visitors' next onslaught, the Torino boss immediately summoned the assistant coach to his side and asked him to see how the right-back Silvestri was doing as he warmed up, and the team was likely to make early substitutions.

However, Benasi's invalid goal made Li Mudi misjudge, thinking that Torino's attack can also bring a huge threat to AC Milan, if Montella still chooses to attack desperately, maybe the home team's next counterattack will completely end the game. However, the situation on the court changed after two minutes, and he felt a little regretful that he could not stick to his first judgment.

In the 60th minute, Abate's cross was blocked by Bareka with his legs, Suso's corner kick from the right was headed back by Ranocchia and sent in again, Paletta beat the home defender eight meters in front of the goal to hit the goal with a powerful header, and Joe Hart was brave enough to block the bottom line. From the second corner in a row, AC Milan took a quick corner on the other flank, and Bonaventura's cross to the back post was comfortably picked off by the England international, who judged it to be on the spot. However, Paletta, who was not actually a threat near the far post, fell to the ground in the process of tangling with Rossettini, and the slow motion showed that the Torino centre-back did have a slight pull on his hand, and the referee was very firm in awarding the second penalty of the game.

The home team were unhappy with the decision, with Paletta having no chance of getting a shot on goal and his fall was a clear display of exaggerated acting, but it still couldn't stop the Rossoneri from having a golden chance to close the gap further. Baka's penalty deceived the home goalkeeper and was of high quality, into the right side of the net. 3 to 2, there is still half an hour left in the game, and it is really hard to say how it will end.

For this conceded goal, Li Mudi is naturally aggrieved, this Rossettini usually looks quite reliable! How could such a low-level mistake occur? The biography was clearly under Joe Hart's control, and there was no need for such extra action, although I don't know when the Englishman would make a low-level mistake, but if he couldn't trust his teammates, how could he play the ball? Although the Celestial Empire people on the sidelines wanted to curse very much at this time, the situation in the field had to make him endure for the time being, because it was likely that it was his players who were going to collapse this time.

After Torino's re-kick-off effort came to an end, the referee was contacted by the fourth official via a call and the home team was about to make a substitution. Silvestri came on for Falke, Zampacosta was pushed up to the right of midfield, and Jesse on the left was slightly retracted, giving the team a more akin to a 4-5-1 formation. The home team, who took advantage of the number of players at the back to gradually stabilize their position, finally recovered a little from conceding two goals in five minutes, although the mentality was not as relaxed as it was at 3-0, but at least the previous fear of winning and losing has slowly disappeared, and the form has begun to improve.

AC Milan, who were inferior in midfield, finally could no longer play as smooth as before, but the Torino side, which had adapted to the opponent's tactical play, gradually gained a slight advantage in possession, and the gap in the attacking level of the two sides was also revealed at this time. Although Baca has just scored a penalty, his form in the last two months has been so bad that if it weren't for Montella's lack of a better centre-forward, he would have been thrown off the bench, which is the main reason why AC Milan have been obsessed with Belotti. And today's starting left winger Bonaventura is a central midfielder, and he has no problem dribbling and passing, but speed is not a strong point, and it is difficult to beat defenders one-on-one. Although Suso, who was left on the right side, was in good shape, but under the focus of the home team, he only handed over the embarrassing data of only one shot on target from six shots today, and now he is trapped by his own physical fitness and the opponent's bag, and can no longer make any contributions.

In the 66th minute, Torino forced a corner in front of the goal, and they played a tactical combination, Jesse sent the ball outside the line of the penalty area, where the assist Rosettini showed the results of his previous week's shooting training, his low shot went through the feet of everyone in the box, and when Donnarumma saw it, it was already difficult to react effectively, but unfortunately the ball still slid off the far post and could not complete the "compensatory work".

Milan's attack was unable to reach the home side's box, with Ranocchia, making his first appearance for Torino, becoming an insurmountable tower for their wide crosses, forcing the visitors to try their luck with a long-range shot, but Calabria and Bonaventura failed to hit the target. By the 75th minute, there had been another reversal of momentum, with the visitors impatient for not being able to score the equaliser, knowing that not being able to score a third goal had given the opponent a respite, and that the home team's defensive holes were being filled in after the line-up changes, and that it would become more and more difficult to break down.

On the other hand, on the Torino side, in the case of basically locking up the opponent's offensive, their counterattacks and even positional attacks have begun to find the state they were in when they were killing all sides in the first half, and the pressure on the score to be equalized before is much less. In the 76th minute, Zampacosta sent a precise cross from the right, Belotti met the ball before Paletta blocked it, and the ball flew out of the bottom line by grazing the right post, and the home team missed another good opportunity to kill the game.

Naturally, Montella was unwilling to accept the fate of a one-goal defeat, and he replaced Bertolaci and Bonaventura with Slovak midfielder Kucska and Niang, who were already on the verge of leaving, in order to seize the last ten minutes to make a desperate fight. But there is still no change on the field, the red bulls also show the tenacity quality that only a strong team has, and it is really rare to be able to grit their teeth and fight for every ball during this time period, but Li Mudi's previous plan to stay for the cup has also completely declared bankruptcy.

In the 79th minute, home defender Ives received his fifth yellow card for a tackle on Niang, while AC Milan took advantage of the set-piece opportunity to finish low wide of the near post from Calabria. Two minutes later, both sides made simultaneous substitutions, with Fabas coming on for the Torino captain, who was no longer running, while Montella replaced teenager Calabria with left-back Leonel Vangioni, who joined on a free transfer from River Plate last summer. It is worth mentioning that today is the first time that the 30-year-old Argentine has made an official appearance for AC Milan since six months in Italy, and many media have speculated that it will also be his farewell game.

In the 84th minute, Zampacosta burst into the front field with the ball and transferred the ball to the left side of his side, and Hesse burst into the left side of the penalty area about 12 meters away from the goal and chose to volley a strong volley into the near corner, which was blocked by Donnarumma, and the Spaniard was immediately replaced by Li Mudi with Brazilian wingback Avilar. At this point, only Belotti is left in the front of the Torino team.

However, he alone can obviously bring a huge threat to the away team's defense who want to equalize, in the eighty-ninth minute, AC Milan made a mistake in the siege of the front, and after Baseli broke the ball in the backfield, it was a long pass, and the red babe was ready to wipe Romagnoli directly into the opponent's penalty area after receiving the ball with his back, but was put to the ground by the latter from behind, and the referee Tagliavento ignored the defense of Milan captain Abate and the party Little Rome, and took out a yellow card very decisively, The visiting centre-backs were sent off with two yellows and one red. With an important defensive pillar missing and no substitutions on hand, Montella had to bring Kuczkara, who had just come on and was 186 cm tall, back to the back line and formed a temporary centre-back partnership with Paletta, but it was a big loss for the attacking front.

At this time, the fourth official who held up a five-minute stoppage time information display sign on the sidelines became the object of the Turin fans' wild boos, such an outrageous super long stoppage time is also a reminder to Li Muddy that although his team can bring the highest ratings to the Serie A, compared to Juventus and Milan and other old giants can only get this kind of unfair treatment, his plan to rebuild the glory is much more difficult than imagined!

However, at least in this game, the Rossoneri could not take advantage of this to take care of the resurrection, and when Tagliavento blew the whistle at the end of the match at 95:38 in the face of boos, the score was still 3-2 on the big screen above the stadium. In the two league meetings between the two sides in the 2016-17 season, each won one at home stadium, and the scores were the same, which to a certain extent proved that the strength of the two teams is indeed on the same level this year, and also indirectly refuted the false comments of many reporters Hei Li Moody when he met a strong team.