Mancini's face grimened.

He thought that in this collision, Inter Milan would not suffer. Even if you can't beat your opponent, you can remain undefeated. But reality gave him a blow in the face.

What went wrong?

Mancini thought earnestly.

The first is Juventus' tactics. A tough midfield strangulation was launched to disrupt Inter's attacking rhythm.

In terms of the number of midfielders, Inter Milan is not at a disadvantage because Ricardo and Figo often return to the midfield to participate in the organization.

But the Juventus players made up for the gap in numbers with a tough style.

The second is that the ground is slippery, which makes Inter Milan unable to play as delicate foot coordination as in the past, and players such as Licardo, who is good at breaking through, are also difficult to play 100% strength.

At last...... And mentality.

In the Super Cup a month ago, Inter Milan won the opponent completely, so the Inter Milan players felt that they had an advantage and invisibly relaxed.

And against a giant like Juventus, what happens once you relax?

The answer is self-explanatory.

Mancini tugged at his heart and continued to watch the game.

In the 37th minute, Cambiaso, Ricardo and Adriano played a pass cooperation, Cambiaso made the ball to Adriano, Adriano played the role of a fulcrum and passed to the left front, Ricardo started quickly and received Adriano's diagonal pass on the left side of the penalty area.

However, Abbiati made a timely block, and Ricardo had no time to adjust, so he could only make a sliding tackle and try to kick the ball into the goal before Abbiati. But the ball was blocked by Abbiati's outstretched leg, and Ricardo's knee hit Abbiati's face hard.

Several Juventus players immediately surrounded and questioned Ricardo, and Inter Milan players also rushed to defend Ricardo, and it seemed that the big battle was about to break out. Referee Papares immediately ran to deal with it, gave a verbal warning to Ricardo, and separated the players from both sides.

Abbiati continued to play after a brief period of treatment.

Ricardo glanced apologetically at Abbiati. He didn't mean to hurt his opponent, he really couldn't stop the car just now. But he won't apologize.

Juventus is no ordinary opponent, but a sworn enemy. There is no need for false apologies between mortal enemies, just overthrow the opponents.

In the 39th minute, Materazzi tackled Ibrahimovic and was booked. So far, three of the four Inter Milan defenders have received yellow cards, and the situation is very dangerous.

Juventus had a chance to extend their advantage from set-pieces just before half-time, when Nedved headed in a corner from the left and Patrick Vieira headed in a powerful header in front of goal, but Cesar fell to the ground and save.

At half-time, Roberto Mancini questioned his players in the dressing room: "We have beaten our opponents in the previous three meetings. But why are we still behind today? It's a game where you have to give everything and if any of you don't want to play, you can tell me and I'll replace him right now. ”

No one answered. In fact, the players worked very hard and worked hard today, but the way they fought was not right, and they used all their energy to compete with their opponents, competing muscles, competing small movements, and competing who was more ferocious with their feet......

Mancini made some arrangements, but he wasn't sure if his arrangements would work.

Adriano was clearly lost in today's game, but Mancini was still hesitating, after all, the substitutes Martins and Cruz were not as good as Adriano. In this hard-fought battle, even the slightest difference can be fatal. In the end, he didn't make any personnel changes.

As soon as the second half began, Juventus made two personnel changes. Ibrahimovic, who was tackled by Materazzi, came off the field and was replaced by Piero. Robert. Kovac replaces veteran Thuram, who has strained his thigh.

In the 48th minute, Figo took a corner kick and Ricardo headed just wide of the far post in front of goal. Almost, almost to hit back with a set-piece.

Two minutes later, Favali and Ricardo played a one-two in a row on the left side, Favalli went down and crossed, Adriano nodded the ball forward, but the top was more off, and the ball hit Cannavaro and bounced off the bottom line.

Four minutes later, Inter had a golden opportunity when Ricardo cut inside on the left and sent a through ball. Adriano used his strong body to squeeze past Cannavaro for a one-on-one chance, but his left-footed shot turned out to be an anti-aircraft gun.

Mancini finally got up with Adriano's poor form and replaced him with Cruz.

Trezeguet then suffered a groin strain, with Salayeta coming off the bench and Juventus running out of three substitutions. Mancini also made a change, replacing Figo with youngster Rico.

The trio of Ricardo, Cruz and Rico had never been used in training and competition, and he didn't know what the results would be, so he was left to his fate.

In the 68th minute, Cannavaro fouled Cruz in a tussle, and Inter Milan won a free kick. Ricardo stands in front of the ball.

Inter Milan's current free kick pick is Mihajlovic - Figo - Ricardo - Adriano, now the first two are not on the field, Adriano is also off, and Ricardo is in charge.

The ball is about 28 meters from the goal. At such a distance, it would have been better for Adriano to play if he had been there, and his free-kicks were powerful. Ricardo prefers free kicks within 25 metres.

But now Ricardo can only go on his own. He set the ball up, aimed the valve core at himself, took a few deep breaths, and waited for his opponent to line up the wall.

Juventus also knows something about Ricardo's free kick skills and does not dare to slack off.

After the referee's whistle signaled that he was ready to take a free throw, Ricardo stared at Abbiati and began to retreat.

Every free-kick master has his own signature moves, such as Cristiano Ronaldo, who likes to stride backwards, and every step is as precise as if he has been measured; For example, Robert. Carlos likes to step back long distances and then run in small steps; There are also players who prefer shorter run-ups.

Ricardo also prefers short distance runs, he has good explosiveness and does not need to run too long. There was no signature movement in his run, and he was used to clenching his fists and letting go of his hands before a free-kick was taken, and so on, to ease his nerves.

He started running. It was a crucial goal and it was one of the few chances for Inter...... These are all Licardo knew. But now he didn't think about anything. He only focused on how to beat the wall and the opposing goalkeeper and kick the ball into his destination.

His foot thrashed on the ball. The ball soars into the air and is noticeably higher than the goal, but at a distance of 3 meters from the goal, it suddenly falls sharply.

The ball is there. The leg that Ricardo kicked out hadn't been retracted, but he was already convinced.