Chapter 82: Dominance
Champions League group stage, away to AC Milan!
Fiorentina's dressing room, without Prandelli, the players still looked a little out of place, and they looked preoccupied when Antonelli made tactical arrangements.
"That's it! Now is not the time for distraction! Deegan stepped up, as the captain of the team, he has this responsibility to let his teammates focus on the game again, "The coach will come back, everything will be back on track, what we have to do now is to keep winning, I think the coach must not want to wait for him to come back and see a group of players who have lost their spirits, don't forget our title, the Young Guards, it is because of our youth that we are fearless, no difficulties can overwhelm us, we have to believe that the coach is the same as us!" β
Deegan said, walking up to his team-mates and pulling everyone up: "We've qualified for the group stage, but that's definitely not a reason for us to relax, the game has to go on, the win has to go on, we are Fiorentina, we have never been charity ambassadors, if AC Milan want us to show mercy and help them qualify, they are very wrong!" Guys! Let's not forget that we are now the Serie A giants with 18 consecutive league wins, and no one can beat us, including the aging AC Milan, and let everyone see how we dominate Italian football! Welcome the return of the coach with victory! We can do it! β
Deegan worked hard, but the players' spirits seemed to be a little lacking, which made Deegan feel angry.
"Now, cheer me up, awaken your desire to fight, I will only bring those who are willing to fight for victory, if you continue like this, I don't mind driving you all back to Florence and letting someone else take your place, zuihou, say a word to you, don't let Lao Tzu look down on you!"
After Digan finished speaking, he didn't give his teammates a chance to refute at all, pushed open the door of the dressing room and walked out, leaving only the Fiorentina players looking at each other.
In fact, it's no wonder that they, now the biggest reliance of this Fiorentina team is two people, Prandelli and Degan, they really need Degan to inject them with the courage and determination to fight, and lead them to fight desperately on the court, but at the same time, they also need Prandelli to give them guidance, every time they play, as long as they see Prandelli standing on the sidelines calmly, they will feel at ease, and now that Coach Prandelli is not here, they feel flustered, and it is normal.
But~~~~~~~
Now is not the time for them to make excuses for themselves, Degan has already sounded the horn of battle, and there is no time for them to feel sorry for themselves.
"Rhodes is right, now is the time to fight, don't think about the mess, welcome the coach back with victory! We can do it! β
"That's right! That's right! Go fight and show the Milanese how good we are! β
Before the start of this game, AC Milan manager Carlo Ancelotti had said at a press conference that without Prandelli as a manager, AC Milan would get a golden opportunity to win this game and then qualify.
Now let that unappetizing fat man die!
The great Florentine Young Guard will not be afraid of a challenge at any time!
When Deegan was at the entrance of the players' tunnel, watching his teammates all follow, he also smiled: "What? Figured it out? β
Pacini snorted, "Bastard Rod! We're not going to give you an excuse to look down on people! β
Montolivo followed suit: "Without our help, Rod! You can't do anything! β
"Bastard Rhodes! Later, don't hold us back! "Pacini is awesome.
Deegan only replied with two words: "Fuck off!" β
The San Siro Stadium welcomed his arch-rivals Purple Lily, and for the first time in a recent survey of AC Milan fans, Fiorentina overtook Inter Milan to occupy the first place.
In the four rounds of Champions League matches that have ended, AC Milan has achieved two wins, one draw and one loss, ranking second in the group, and the qualification situation is still not optimistic.
Zuihou will play Fiorentina and Benfica respectively, and only a win for them will ensure qualification to the knockout rounds, otherwise they will have to look at the faces of others.
Carlo Ancelotti didn't dare to count on Fiorentina to stop Shakhtar Donetsk in the group, and all he could rely on was himself.
Carlo Ancelotti has both Kaka and Gourcuff in the starting line-up, hoping that these two talented players can repeat the excellent performance they performed against Shakhtar Donetsk in the previous game and help the team to victory.
Fiorentina, as if specifically to disgust AC Milan, Digan, Abate, Antonini and Donadale β all four players who had previously played for AC Milan were all on the scene.
Before the game, many media believed that this game would be an opportunity for AC Milan, Fiorentina coach Prandelli temporarily left the team for personal reasons, the team will definitely be unstable, and in the previous league, just broke Inter Milan's league winning streak, the team's morale will inevitably usher in a low ebb, AC Milan as long as they seize the opportunity, winning should not be a problem.
The situation on the pitch seemed to be going the way people expected from the start of the game, with AC Milan threatening Fiorentina's goal on two consecutive occasions, and if it weren't for Frei's continued bravery, Fiorentina might have conceded.
But fifteen minutes into the game, AC Milan, who were on the spree, had just slowed down the tempo and were about to breathe a sigh of relief, when Fiorentina suddenly came to their senses.
After Donadère cut off Ambrosini's ball at the back, a long pass was handed to the right, Abate rushed to the ball, took the ball forward, forced overtaking with speed, broke through Favali's defense, and crossed a cross, and the timely follow-up Digan jumped up, beat Nesta, and hit the goal with a header, knocking on the goal guarded by Karachi.
1οΌ0οΌ
The Milan fans in the stands of the San Siro were dumbfounded, just now the team was still pressing Fiorentina to play, although they did not score, but the victory seemed to be beckoning to them, but in the blink of an eye, everything changed, Fiorentina counterattacked, and scored on the first shot of the game!
After the goal, Deegan rushed to the sidelines and lifted his jersey to reveal the words written on his shirt: Cesare! We are with you!
Of course, Degan's stripping celebration inevitably earned him a yellow card.
In front of the television, Prandley was watching the game alone, and his heart trembled when he saw Degan revealing those lines.
He had indeed thought about leaving Fiorentina as a coach before, and the death of his beloved wife was too devastating for him.
But when he saw Digan show that line, when he saw Fiorentina knock on the AC Milan goal with a quick counter-attack, he knew that his passion for football had not been extinguished, and he was still hungry to succeed in the dugout.
On the pitch, the Fiorentina players had finished their celebrations, and Digan was shouting instructions to his teammates: "One goal is not enough, if we want the coach back, we have to score more!" β
The way Deegan celebrated just now was that they discussed haode in the players' tunnel, and every Fiorentina player who came on the pitch today had this line written on their shirts, ready to be revealed when the goal was scored.
Digan was the first, but definitely not the Zuihou one!
Conceding a goal first, AC Milan has been forced to the edge of the cliff, at the same time on the field in Portugal, Shakhtar Donetsk also scored, if this round of the game, Shakhtar team wins, and AC Milan loses, the points of the two teams will be leveled, who can advance, can only wait until the zuihou round to see.
At that time, if AC Milan can't win Benfica, and Fiorentina deliberately loses to Shakhtar Donetsk, AC Milan will really be finished.
AC Milan counterattacked in the next game, but Fiorentina did not play in a hurry, although it did not start a fierce fight throughout the field as in the previous game, but Fiorentina's defense is really good, the three lines have always remained stable, AC Milan wants to break the Fiorentina defense through passing, it is not easy.
AC Milan's three-board axe is finished, in fact, there is nothing complicated, it is nothing more than a complicated but meaningless reversal of the middle of the road, and then distributed to the side, if there is a chance, the ball will be crossed to the penalty area, handed over to a star like Kaka to solve, otherwise, go down to the bottom cross.
In the past, when Ancelotti first arrived at AC Milan, he really scared a lot of people, but after so many years, even if it is well hidden, it has long been analyzed, once the mystery is gone, all that remains is to be stripped naked by others, waiting for the death of the whipped corpse.
Towards the end of the first half, Fiorentina scored again, this time by Paccini, who latched on to Digan's cross and slotted home an easy shot to extend Fiorentina's lead to two.
After the goal, Pacini also rushed to the sidelines, showing the line on his shirt: Cesare! We are with you!
Fiorentina's players were constantly sensationalizing and almost turned the game into a human theater, while AC Milan was completely reduced to a supporting role.
AC Milan in a supporting role?
How can the Milanese soldiers, who have long been accustomed to being the protagonists, stand it.
At the start of the second half, just in the third minute, Milan pulled a goal back from Andrea Pirlo's free-kick that smashed off the crossbar and bounced back into the box, where Kaka stabbed the ball into the far corner before Ujfaruhi could clear it.
Milan pulled a point back, and the Milan fans in the stands were finally a little more angry.
Under the shouts and cheers of the fans, Milan is also getting bigger and fiercer, and it seems that they want to completely abandon the image of the aging dragon bell in this game.
In the 63rd minute, AC Milan equalised, with Kaka scoring the goal and Gourcuff providing the assist.
The Frenchman dribbled in the midfield, broke through Ledesma's defense, and then kicked the ball through, Kaka successfully countered offside, burst into the penalty area with the ball, and calmly shot in the face of Frei, and then scored again.
The score was equalised, and it was the first time that Fiorentina had been tied by two goals since Digan last season.
Seeing that AC Milan was still unrelenting, Kaka didn't even celebrate after scoring the goal, and rushed directly into the goal and ran to the middle line with the football in his arms, obviously preparing to seize the opportunity and score another goal to overtake the score.
It's so beautiful!
After the restart, Fiorentina did not seem to be affected at all, not only that, but did not even intend to retreat from the defense to keep the draw, but invested more troops in the attack, attacking like crazy.
On the contrary, AC Milan was caught off guard, and the Fiorentina group of crazy people played their cards completely out of common sense, so that they didn't know what to do for a while.
I want to step forward to press, but Fiorentina's short pass is very fast, and blind grabbing can only consume physical strength in vain, but if you go back to defense, the momentum you just played may be suppressed by Fiorentina, and the Milan players are also conflicted.
Even more uncomfortable was Carlo Ancelotti, who had already seen hope of victory when he equalised, but this would be a sudden attack by Fiorentina, which was completely unexpected.
What's next?
Attack!?
Milan is clearly going to suffer!
Defend!?
That's right! Defend!
A draw is also perfectly acceptable.
At critical moments, Ancelotti's conservative personality helped again.
It has been said before that the mad dogs of Florence, if they defend passively, are completely self-defeating, and this group of madmen always has a way to find a gap and then put people to death, even if they don't have a chance, they can solve the problem with the flash of inspiration of one of the many geniuses.
This time it was still Degan who flashed, he dribbled horizontally in front of the penalty area, making a gesture to break through, but Nesta, who was defending him, subconsciously stretched his foot and happened to touch Degan's supporting leg, and Degan fell to the ground.
The referee's whistle blows, free kick!
Ancelotti on the sidelines felt that his scalp was numb, and at this time, giving Fiorentina a free kick opportunity in this position was simply going to kill Milan!
The Milan players on the field also protested loudly, but they couldn't get back the kind heart of the referee, and he saw Nesta's foul just now.
There was no problem, and Digan immediately stood up and looked at Milan's goal, his eyes looking disdainful.