Chapter 69: Leading
AC Milan is a traditional club in world football, they not only have a long history, but also have won countless glory, in the Champions League, they have stood at the top of European football seven times, and are the second most won team in the history of the Champions League.
However, since the departure of Shevchenko and Kaka's generation of players from the San Siro, and the gradual aging of top stars such as Maldini, Gattuso, and Inzaghi, AC Milan has fallen into a situation of lack of success, and the whole team is seriously aging and the competitiveness is not as good as year by year.
It can be said that today's AC Milan relies on a group of older players to drag their old bodies and lead a group of hairy boys to move forward with difficulty.
AC Milan also knows their own situation, which is why they want to use the blitzkrieg to beat Atletico Madrid by surprise as soon as they come up. They have a lot of experience and a calm mind, but their fitness and momentum are obvious shortcomings, and if they can score first, then they can control the game at a slow pace, and if the game gets into a protracted battle, then serious attrition will be extremely bad for them.
The situation of Atletico Madrid and AC Milan is completely opposite, if the AC Milan players are described as a group of "old demons", then the players of Atletico Madrid are newborn calves, full of energy and momentum, but because of their youth, they are inexperienced.
Atletico Madrid are well aware of this, and before this game, Simeone demanded that the team must use aggressive scrambling and continuous running to put pressure on the opponent, and to fully drive the pace of the game and make the opponent tired. If the tempo of the game is controlled by AC Milan, the older they get, the more they play, the more demonic they play, it is likely to kill the team slowly.
Therefore, Atletico Madrid also needs to grab the start. Even if you can't score, you have to suppress the opponent, don't give the opponent a chance to breathe, take advantage of the team's youth, and drag the opponent to death.
That's what Atletico prepared and that's what they did.
AC Milan's opening fast attack scared their hearts to the pound. However, after a short period of panic, under the leadership of Qin Shou, the home team set the line according to the pre-game plan.
Atletico's attacking routine is very simple, Qin Shou organizes in the center, and then Qin Shou chooses the right time to divide the side, and the wide players directly take the ball and pass the ball into the penalty area, allowing Costa and Falcao to impact AC Milan's defense in the penalty area.
Of course, Qin Shou will also occasionally infiltrate from the middle path depending on the situation.
The routine is simple. The core idea is a quick word. After all, AC Milan's weakness is aging, and in the fast-paced and fierce confrontation, they have little advantage, and Atletico Madrid just wants to tear a hole in the opponent's defense with continuous impact.
Such a simple and direct attack is really effective, AC Milan know what Atletico wants to do, but there is nothing too good to do. Because speed is not their strength, wide players often break through and then cross directly. They can't stop it if they want to.
Fortunately, the Rossoneri's two centre-backs, Bonella and Mex, are experienced, and the two of them are desperately entangled with Atletico Madrid's two strikers. Didn't give them too many chances to hit the top. After all, Bonella and Mexes are both 30 years old, and although they are in good shape, they are no longer at the peak of their confrontation ability, while Costa and Falcao are in their prime. Full of impact, the two ran back and forth in the penalty area and repeatedly jumped up, causing chaos in the AC Milan penalty area.
The tightness at the back also forced the visitors' midfielders to retract to participate in the defence, so that the penalty area was temporarily solidified. However, control of the midfield was ceded to Atletico Madrid.
After Atletico Madrid took control of the midfield, they in turn continued to send shells to the front field to create pressure.
It's like an endless loop, and Atletico have achieved their goal, using constant onslaught to bring the game into a fast pace and exhaust their opponents.
This situation is extremely unfavorable for the visiting team, and the old and spicy AC Milan also quickly responded to it, after blocking Atletico's attack, they did not blindly clear the ball or drive forward to counterattack, but controlled the football, constantly making inverted passes, trying to slow down the tempo.
This is a very empirical approach. However, the drawbacks are also obvious, because Atletico Madrid are constantly compressing their line, they can only pass back and forth in the area outside the penalty area, if the ball suddenly changes hands, it is easy to take advantage of the opportunity and be played by the opponent to play a very dangerous secondary attack.
Coupled with the fact that Atletico Madrid is a team that is active in running and scrambling, AC Milan's approach of passing the foot in a dangerous situation is very much like putting itself on a volcano that is about to erupt.
Sure enough, seventeen minutes into the first half, Atletico, who had completely controlled the midfield, launched another attack from the wing.
Qin Shou broke through the middle and handed the ball to the wing, and Turan used his speed to eat the 34-year-old Dutch midfielder Van Bommel raw, and preemptively passed the ball diagonally into the penalty area before Antonini rushed up to press.
This time Costa had the upper hand in Bonala's confrontation, he pressed the opponent to jump and flick his head to the goal, the ball was good, but the angle was too right, and goalkeeper Abbiati held the ball firmly in his arms.
Abbiati didn't send the ball out quickly, he waited for the Atletico players in the box to disperse, and then kicked the football to the central defender Mex, Costa was about to rush over to press, Mexs quickly handed the ball to Antonini on the wing. The latter was also quick to pass the ball back again.
In the face of Atletico Madrid's ferocious and aggressive pressing, during this time, AC Milan can only use such meaningless backfield inversions to buy a moment of respite.
Only this time, Atletico's pressing came faster and more urgently, almost the entire midfield players rushed forward collectively, everyone ran to their respective defensive objects, Mexes saw Costa rushing again, and hurriedly handed the football to Zambrotta on the other side.
Zambrotta didn't dare to slack off, because Cork had already rushed to the front, and he could only push the ball straight to Seedorf, who ran back from the front to pick it up.
But Seedorf had already been targeted by Qin Shou, and at the moment of Zambrotta's pass, Qin Shou suddenly shot out two meters behind Seedorf and appeared on the path of the football at a faster speed.
Seedorf had felt that there was someone behind him, but he wasn't worried, after all, he was closer to the ball, and he was running over to catch the ball, and it was impossible for the opponent to take a few steps from behind.
Qin Shou's speed was completely beyond his expectations, he ran to catch the ball, Qin Shou also raised his feet almost at the same time to chase from behind, and when he was only halfway through, Qin Shou's body had already passed him, he ran two more steps, Qin Shou had already intercepted the football halfway.
"Qin-he suddenly came out from behind Seedorf, and he took the first step to intercept the football!"
"AC Milan's backfield is like playing with fire, and what Atletico Madrid do best is running and scrambling, isn't it self-inflicted on passing in such a small space?"
"AC Milan is in danger, Qin's sudden steal caught them off guard!"
There were bursts of exclamations in the stands, and every home fan had a look of excitement and anticipation on their faces, and everyone could see how much of a threat Qin Shou's steal would bring to the opponent, and it was very likely that it would be converted into a goal.
At this moment, Qin Shou was on the right side, with Zambrotta in front and Seedorf behind, he did not choose to pass, but buttoned the football and rushed directly into the penalty area.
Zambrotta panicked and could only rush up to intercept.
And Qin Shou saw that the goal was achieved, and the outside of his right foot rubbed to the right, and the football reached the feet of Tulan, who was unmarked.
Turan received the ball and was ready to cross directly, taking advantage of the panic of the opponent being suddenly tackled to pass the ball into the penalty area, Costa and Falcao had a great chance to create a killing chance.
However, while receiving the ball, Turan suddenly saw Qin Shoupin's gesture behind him, and Zambrotta also turned to pounce on him, without hesitation, Turan understood and kicked the football back.
This one-two-one-one combination completely got rid of Zambrotta, and Qin Shou easily received the football on the right side of the penalty area.
Under the expectant gaze of tens of thousands of spectators, Qin Shou directly raised his right foot.
"Shoot-"
One of the commentators couldn't hold their breath and screamed abruptly.
Mex's left Falcao behind and quickly returned to Qin Shou. The moment Qin Shou raised his foot, he threw his body out and fell to the ground and slid to the ground.
It's just that Qin Shou didn't really choose to shoot, his raised right foot fell lightly, and he gently flicked the ball forward, avoiding Mex's sliding tackle, and then picked up the ball at the bottom line close to the bottom line.
Near the penalty spot in the penalty area, Falcao, who was already unguarded, jumped easily, shook his head heavily, and pushed the football diagonally to the ground.
Falcao was clever enough to bounce the ball at such close range, and Abbiati made a wave to block the ball, but to no avail, the ball bounced off the ground, then bounced off before falling into the net.
1:0!
Atletico Madrid scored first.
After the goal, Falcao raced around the pitch excitedly, and his teammates followed him, screaming in oblivion as they ran.
During this period of time, only the Atletico players have been under pressure know best. And this goal, a lead, made their chests that were overwhelmed finally relaxed, at least, the lead in the score made them feel a lot more settled in their hearts, and also made them more confident in winning this game.
PS: Kicking the ball WeChat 121351701. (To be continued.) )