Chapter 14: The Dawn of Despair

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'Arsenal's starting line-up was the same as in the first leg, while Inter Milan put Adriano in the starting line-up and the intention to win was clear. But it's no wonder that Inter Milan must win this game to have a chance to qualify", CCTV host He Weizhi introduced the situation of both sides of the game, and the much-anticipated game soon began

As soon as the referee blew the whistle, Inter Milan immediately reversed the guest and launched an active full-court pressing, and the Arsenal team, which was somewhat ill-prepared, almost made a fatal mistake, but fortunately, Korgne's timely tactical foul interrupted Inter Milan's rapid counterattack, otherwise I am afraid that less than two minutes after the start of this game, the initiative of the game will change hands! However, even if the Arsenal team escaped, the early yellow card for Corgne, who has a difficult defensive task, is also a big concern for them

However, it must be admitted that Corgne's tactical foul was very timely, and the Arsenal team, who recovered their composure, quickly played to the advantage of their skillful passing, so that Inter Milan's pressing could only be wasted, but it was difficult to successfully break the ball and get a counter-attack opportunity. And even if they concede occasionally, the Arsenal players are very decisive in their counter-attacks, which not only minimizes the threat of Inter Milan's counter-attack, but also has the opportunity to play a quick counter-attack to threaten the goal of the Inter Milan team.

Although Corgne's status in the Arsenal team has surpassed Fabregas, who was originally trained by "Professor" Arsene Wenger as the team's future core, due to the high defensive pressure against Inter Milan, Corne must devote most of his energy to defense, so Fabregas has enjoyed the rare treatment of the core of the midfield, and he has not disappointed his mentor

In the 10th minute. Arsenal's No. 27 Eboue sent a through ball on the right side of the midfield, which was actually not well passed, but Cesc Fabregas, who was just near the passing line, unexpectedly flicked it with his own heel, making it a good through stopper, and Arsenal's No. 14 Walcott went into the box to form a single knife in the face of the attacking Inter Milan goalkeeper Cesar. He calmly raised his right foot and picked the ball past Cesar's header and flew into the goal, turning the score into 1:0!

The "professor" Arsene Wenger on the sidelines suddenly cheered, but Mourinho's face was gloomy to the extreme, and now the total score of the two legs has become 2:4, Inter Milan must score three goals in a row to qualify, which is too difficult!

It stands to reason that in this case, with Mourinho's character, he will definitely attack frantically with all his might. But that would make the defence weak, and it's practically no different from gambling. If there is not much time left in the game, this risky approach can be tried, but Arsenal's goal came too early and if they put on a desperate extreme formation now, it is more likely that they will be blown up by their opponents. But if you don't adjust for the time being, what if Arsenal scores another goal in the next game? At that time, even if you want to work hard, you will definitely not be able to return to heaven!

Just when Mourinho was struggling with this. The morale-boosting Arsenal team launched one onslaught after another with the advantage of the home field, which made the Inter Milan fans in the stands of the away team tremble. Fortunately, the old problem of the Arsenal team not being good at seizing opportunities was repeated, and although they attacked for more than ten minutes, they were never able to rewrite the score again.

Still, Mourinho couldn't take it anymore and in the 25th minute he let Balotelli and Samuel Eto'o warm up and was ready to risk changing to 424! But at this time. On the field, the situation changed abruptly, and Adriano, who retreated to respond, suddenly got up and shot directly from a distance after receiving a pass from his teammates in the midfield, and the flying football brought up grass clippings and screamed and flew towards the goal of the Arsenal team!

With Adriano more than 30 metres from goal when he took up, Arsenal goalkeeper No. 21 Fabianski reacted in time, but the power of the long-range shot was too great. He could only choose to knock the ball out with both fists, but as soon as the ball left his hand, Fabianski's face suddenly turned pale!

"Adriano's powerful long-range shot is unstoppable, and that monster of yesteryear is back! Huh? Gao Jun? It's Gao Jun! He intercepted the ball on the line of the penalty area, took a step forward and volleyed it in! Inter Milan equalised! He Wei shouted at once.

But the guest Xu Yang is still more optimistic about the Arsenal team, "Even if Inter Milan pulls the aggregate score to 3:4, they suffer from the number of away goals, and they have to score two more goals to achieve a big comeback, in the home stadium of the Arsenal team, this is too difficult"

He Wei nodded unconsciously after hearing this, but he still praised Gao Jun's expression just now, "Sneijder helped Gao Jun block Yu Hai in a timely manner, this time is very important, because without Yu Hai's entanglement, Corne, who suffers from speed, will not be able to stop Gao Jun without the ball at his feet." And Gao Jun's timing of the advance just now was also very good, it happened that he was not offside, no earlier or later, and the shot was an absolute dead end, and the goalkeeper had no way at all. ”

Compared with the two commentators, Mourinho on the sidelines was more excited, but his exaggerated body language was just to boost the morale of the players on the field, and his heart was actually very calm, which can be seen from his decisive decision to let the two substitute strikers give up the warm-up, although he is known as the "madman", but insiders know that Mourinho is actually a fairly conservative football manager

Although there was still little hope, Gao's goal was a huge morale boost for his team-mates, and Inter Milan's superior strength was gradually revealed, although they did not dominate in terms of possession, but their attack was clearly more dangerous than Arsenal's, and almost every time they could hit the Arsenal team's back 30 meters danger zone. This made Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger on the sidelines restless, especially in the 36th minute after Arsenal defender No.18 Sylvester fouled Sneijder and gave Inter a direct free-kick less than 30 yards from goal

"Oh, it's a very good free-kick with both left and right feet, I don't know if Inter can take it. Adriano, Sneijder and Gao Jun are all in front of the ball, who will finish the shot? Ade started running first, ah, he just made a false move! But the Arsenal players in the wall have jumped! He Wei suddenly became excited when he saw this, because the possibility of a free kick scoring after the human wall was deceived would be greatly increased, "Gao Jun has shot!" This shot is very powerful! The ball is in! may be due to the speed of the ball, the goalkeeper of the Arsenal team did not react, Gao Jun is really meritorious now! Now that the aggregate score between the two sides has become 4:4, Inter Milan is only behind by the disadvantage of away goals, as long as they score one more goal, it can be a miracle! ”

And the guest Xu Yang also said with anticipation, "Yes, and after Gao Jun scored this goal, Inter Milan's away goals are only one less than the Arsenal team, if they can score one more goal, the Arsenal team must score two more goals if they want to advance directly!" Now it depends on whether Inter Milan can continue to work hard, in my memory, after the Champions League restructuring, there has never been a case of losing at home in the knockout stage, but the away game can still be turned around, can Inter Milan make a new history today? ”

After seeing this conceded goal, Arsenal's elegant manager Arsene Wenger burst into foul language on the spot, while Inter Milan manager Jose Mourinho rushed into the field excitedly to celebrate with his teammates, this time he was really excited, because now hope is in front of him!

Encouraged by Gao's goal, Inter Milan's attack was even stronger, but Inter are not the kind of team that Barcelona have the ability to control the attack, and their approach of pressing forward to strengthen the attack will inevitably weaken their backline. Mourinho is certainly a defensive master, but what he is good at is only the passive defense of the defensive line, and the active defense of actively controlling the ball to reduce the opponent's offensive opportunities is what he is not good at.

Mourinho himself knows this, so he is actually a little nervous in his heart, but as the game continues, his nerves gradually slow down, because he keenly noticed that Gao Jun's two "followers" are now a little unable to keep up with Gao Jun's pace

"It's finally starting to work," Mourinho whispered to himself with a triumphant smile on his face.

Long before this game, Mourinho had thought of a potential advantage for Inter Milan, which was that they had already won the league title early and could give their main players a full rest, while Arsenal would also be tormented by a dense multi-front campaign, and by the second leg, it would be natural for the players on both sides to open up a little gap. Therefore, Mourinho asked his players to run and press aggressively to speed up the pace of the game after the opening kick-off, so as to increase the physical consumption of both sides, and by the end of the first half, this effect was quite obvious. Although the Arsenal team is also a quasi-giant, you can reduce consumption through appropriate personnel rotation, and it is not so fast that someone can't run, but the decline in physical fitness also has an impact on speed and agility, and now even Corne and Yu Hai, who have always had very good physical fitness, have been pulled apart by Gao Jun, and as long as Gao Jun has enough freedom, Mourinho firmly believes that Inter Milan can still score! (To be continued......)