Chapter 2: The Twin Stars Shine
Juventus' line-up also changed a lot in the second half, with three defenders in their starting line-up, Lerotalje, Chiellini and Grigera, replaced by two, and Billindley and Zebina came in for Lerotalje and Grigra respectively, leaving only Chiellini at left centre-back.
In the midfield, Camoranesi and Giovinco, who were originally separated on both sides, were replaced at the same time, Salihamidzic appeared on the right wing, Marchioni appeared on the left wing, and the veteran Zanetti was still in the midfield position, Molinaro replaced Nedved with him in the middle, and in the midfield position was the newly introduced Juventus standard king Portuguese Thiago this season, who cost Juventus 13 million euros.
The forward line has also been replaced by Piero and Trezeguet, with the former being a new addition to the Italian national team, and Palladino, who also scored eight goals off the bench in Serie B last season.
Juve's current squad is shabby compared to Arsenal's, but after leading in the first half, Corradini felt that his main squad had withstood the test, and the next thing to look at was the players on the bench, so he did not hesitate to replace most of the main line-up.
But what he didn't know was that it was because of his act of holding on to the university that he subsequently fell into a situation from which he could never recover.
Just two minutes into the second half, Arsenal broke the ball in the middle, and Diaby, who is more familiar with the Premier League, used his body to steal Marchioni's ball, and then he ran wildly with the ball on the side, and after a one-two with Descartes, he went straight to the bottom. Then the high ball came to the goal, and although the 1.93m tall Bentner was not good at heading, his height was there, and Juventus centre-back Zebina was 9 centimetres shorter than him, and even if he jumped with all his might, he could not stop Bendtner's header.
Even Buffon could only lament the powerlessness of such a close shot, and Arsenal pulled one back at the start of the second half.
After the goal, Bendtner seemed to be unable to get enough of it, quickly rushed into the net, picked up the ball and ran back to the center circle, and then quickly swung the ball to the tee.
Seeing his move, the Arsenal players were all shocked. A surging battle intent surged up in an instant.
Ten minutes later. Arsenal had another good chance when Juve's midfield misplaced a pass and Lerotalie's pass to Thiago was intercepted by a shrewd Descartes, who did not stop the ball and went straight through. The ball went through the gap between Zebina and Giorgio Chiellini. Bendtner had another one-on-one chance. It's a pity that Buffon was very focused this time, and when Bendtner got the ball, he pounced, and waited until Bendtner adjusted his pace and was ready to shoot. Buffon had already swooped down on him first, and Bendtner's shot was kicked on Buffon and flew high off the line.
Bendtner clutched his head in frustration as he missed his chance, but then something unexpected happened: Buffon rolled twice in pain on the pitch and then collapsed on the turf clutching his ribs.
Juve's team doctor immediately entered the field, and after a preliminary diagnosis, Buffon may have been kicked in the abdomen by Bendtner during the save, causing rib problems.
Gianluigi Buffon was Juventus' anchor, and Corradini didn't dare to risk him, so he immediately replaced Buffon with substitute goalkeeper Berardi, and then signaled his players to recycle the defence and assist Berardi in his defense.
Judging by his body language, he seems to be very angry at the mistakes made by the backline.
In fact, compared with the back line in the first half, these three players in the second half are the main players of Juventus in Serie A this season, and Corradini's idea is to fight in the first half to attack and examine the performance of the frontcourt players, and to defend in the second half and examine the performance of the defensive players.
But what he didn't expect was that the main defensive line in his mind made frequent mistakes after the start of the second half, giving Arsenal several chances in ten minutes, if it weren't for Bendtner's poor shooting, the two teams would now be back on the same running line.
Juve's retreat gave Arsenal more chances, and Arsene Wenger also spotted the problem between Juve's three central defenders, so he waved his hand and Cesc Fabregas went straight to the midfield position, transforming into a shadow striker lurking behind Bengtner and Descartes.
It was a turning point in the game, as Cesc Fabregas immediately used his attacking talent in the midfield position, and in the 60th minute, just three minutes after Gianluigi Buffon was gone, Cesc Fabregas blasted the door open for Juventus with a long-range shot.
It is worth noting that the passer of this shot was none other than Descartes, who came on in the second half, and Descartes had the opportunity to break through in the ribs of the penalty area to create a shooting opportunity, but he found that Fabregas was in a better position, so he selflessly passed the ball over, Fabregas hit the goal with his right foot, and Juventus's goalkeeper Berardi was obviously not ready, watching the ball go straight to the bottom of the net.
Cesc Fabregas also looked very excited after the goal, after all, it was his first game as the team's first captain, and the equaliser in such a game was a huge boost to his confidence, he pointed to Descartes to show him that the pass was wonderful, and then looked up to the sky and muttered something to himself.
Watching his action, the other teammates who were about to pounce on him to celebrate also stopped, because Fabregas had no intention of communicating with them at this time, and they couldn't rush up to surround him.
After losing this goal, Corradini also realized that with Juve's current lineup, he may not be able to compete with Arsenal on the field, so he had to make adjustments again, Salihamidzic and Marchioni simply reverted to the position of fullback, three central defenders concentrated in the penalty area, Juventus became 532 in the blink of an eye, and only Molinaro, Zanetti and Thiago were left in the midfield, and even Iaquinta shrank back into the midfield, leaving Palladino alone in the front field to roam in Arsenal's half.
Seeing the Italians return to their conservative counter-attacking tactics, Arsenal fans finally stopped saying "friendly". They directly booed and expressed their dissatisfaction with the turtle-like behavior of the Italian team, these shrill boos did not affect Corradini, but did make Juventus sports manager Alessio, who was watching the game on the sidelines. Sacco frowned.
As the enduring hegemon of Italian football, Juventus is not unable to defend, they originally started by defense, but such a bloodless defense is extremely unwilling to be seen by Juve's top management.
Although Arsenal have scored two goals, the situation has not collapsed to the point where they must not be able to retreat, and Juventus still have a group of strong players in front of the midfield. It is entirely possible to deploy the defensive line near the midfield. There was a battle with Arsenal for an inch, but Corradini directly pulled the defense back to the edge of the penalty area and gave up a large empty space in the midfield, which made Sarco doubt Corradini's coaching quality.
Really. Even if the formation changes to 532. The quality of Juventus' defence has not been enhanced by the increase in personnel. Salihamidzic is not a defensive player in the first place, and he is quite old, and the speed that he once prided himself on is now an empty shell. Arsenal put the direction of the main attack on him and soon broke through the Juventus defence.
In the 77th minute, Xiaofa appeared on the right side of Juve, facing Zanetti, Salihamidzic and Lerotalje, he and Klicy, Hleb staged a good play, the three made a series of dazzling inverted feet on their left side, and then Xiaofa found a gap in the crowd, at this time, a red and white figure appeared in his field of vision.
It was Descartes who ran from the right side to pick him up.
Xiaofa passed the ball out without hesitation, and after receiving the ball, Descartes took advantage of the situation, from the gap between Lerotalje and Zebina into the bottom line of the penalty area, facing Zebina and Chiellini who hurriedly came up to fill the position, he skillfully used his left foot to pick up the pass to the back point, and ran thousands of miles to the header of Dibia, who appeared at the back point, and the ball obediently flew into the door of Juve.
A goal that overtook the score instantly brought the atmosphere at the Emirates Stadium to a climax, with fans frantically chanting the names of Descartes and Diaby, and although only more than 20,000 fans were in attendance for the warm-up match, they made no less noise than when the 60,000 fans were seated, and the heat wave almost toppled the roof of the Emirates Stadium.
Diaby was not the same as Cesc Fabregas, he was a very active black player, and after the goal, he couldn't help himself, ran straight to Descartes and jumped high on top of him, kissing Descartes by the hair with his stinky mouth, he was still laughing lewdly: "Thank you Descartes, haha, I invite you to Jass tonight, I promise you will be satisfied." ”
Descartes smiled knowingly, and pulled him off of him, suspecting that his hair would smell like a stinking henceforth if he wasn't kept away from him.
When the two and their teammates around them celebrated, no one noticed that Fabregas, who was not far away, looked at them with envy, but Fabregas's eyes were not on them, his envy seemed to pass through these excited teammates and bet on another place far away.
Of course, readers who read the book now will know that Fabregas must have set his sights on the distant Camp Nou, which he has always regarded as his eternal home.
Arsenal did not stop after the overtake, and they continued to besiege Juve's door. Without Gianluigi Buffon behind them, several of Juventus' defenders seem to lack a lot of confidence, and they appear to be very stiff and cautious in their movements most of the time, which gives Arsenal too many chances.
In the 85th minute of the game, Descartes finally ushered in his first goal of the season, he received a direct plug from Xiaofa in the penalty area, facing Chiellini who was very close behind him, Descartes took a steady step, and half turned and volleyed before the other Juventus defenders came up to help defend, he first pretended to turn left, deceived Chiellini's center of gravity, and then suddenly turned right and shot with his left foot, because he did not have many opportunities to use his left foot, Chiellini has always been wary of his right foot, so this ball he easily deceived the Juventus defenders, Add another point to Arsenal.
In the process of this goal, Wenger's long-term physical training of Descartes finally showed results, facing Chiellini, who is 13 centimeters taller than himself and weighs more than 10 kilograms heavier than himself, Descartes is not too much inferior in strength, he can carry Chiellini and get a chance to turn, which comes from the unremitting strength training he has been practicing since coming to the Premier League.
Descartes certainly celebrated after the goal, but this time he was clever enough to kick Diaby away before he could jump over, and then pretended to run towards Arsene Wenger on the sidelines, trying to shake off his frantic team-mates behind him.
It's just that Descartes's popularity in the team is very good, this group of teammates obviously won't let him go so easily, they actually chased from the front to the Arsenal bench, it seems that they have to press Descartes to the ground to stop, in this "critical" moment, Descartes held the mood of the dead friend and the poor road, and plunged into the arms of the professor, and the unprepared Wenger just stabilized his body, and was drowned by the Arsenal players who pounced on him.
When the excited Arsenal players got up from the ground one by one, they found that Descartes, the target of their attack, had actually hidden on the bench with a thief's smile on his face, leaving only a red-faced professor on the lawn.
"You bastards!" The professor let out an angry roar: "Tomorrow the holiday will be canceled, and everyone will give me 4 hours of extra practice!" ”
The Arsenal players finally realized what it means to be happy and sad, and one by one they bowed their heads in despair, looking at Descartes with a look of unkindness in their eyes.
This little episode drew a good-natured laugh from the crowd and the fans in front of the television, and in the midst of this laughter, only the Juventus players were confused, and they did not understand why they suddenly collapsed in the second half, when they had the advantage in the first half.
Could it be that after the blow of the "phonegate" incident, has the gap between Juventus and the world's best teams really widened to such a point?
In the end, the game also ended with a score of 4:2, although the first half performance was not satisfactory, but Arsenal's subsequent counter-attack wave made fans unforgettable, especially the performance of the two young players in the front, Descartes and Cesc Fabregas, which was simply perfect.
After this game, the media also officially titled the two players: "The twin stars shine, and the Gunners overturn the Serie A hegemon; Youth is invincible, and the Premier League is blowing a young storm"! (To be continued......)