Chapter 594: Crazy April (4)
PS: The book friend group has been established, and friends who want to join can search for "The Era of Fei Leng Cui" or the group number three, seven, zero, five, four, nine, nine, one, nine, verify that the answer is NTR knight, well, that's it.
After the victory over Parma, there are only six rounds left in Serie A to end, and Fiorentina are still a full fifteen points ahead of second-placed Juventus, which means that as long as Capello can lead the team to another four points, Fiorentina can lift the Serie A title for the fourth time in a row!
In the face of this situation, Juventus general manager Moggi was interviewed by reporters, the old fox looked quite helpless, saying that the Bianconeri have indeed done their best this season to prevent Fiorentina from dominating Serie A in a row, and the reason why it did not succeed is not because the players did not work hard enough, but because the current Fiorentina team is too strong from the starter to the bench, and the results are desperately stable, and it is difficult to make up for the gap that already exists once it falls behind.
It was this huge gap in points that led the Juventus board of directors to give Lippi a long-awaited order, which was to allow him to abandon the league and focus on European competition, as long as he retained a place in next season's Champions League at the end of the season.
"Marcelo, all the energy of the team is now going to be put into the Champions Cup, and hopefully this season, we can bring the Big Ears Cup back to Turin." In Juventus' general manager's office, Moggi said to Lippi solemnly.
In the face of the hard task issued by the high-level, the Silver Fox, who was just a head coach, had no ability to object, so he had to silently accept Moji's request, put the league aside for the time being, and concentrate on leading the team to prepare for the Champions Cup.
It is naturally impossible for Fiorentina here to know that Juventus has given up the league field, but even if he does, Capello is not in the mood to pay attention to these things at this time. Fiorentina will face AC Milan in a do-or-die battle this week, and the winner will earn the right to qualify for the Coppa Italia final, a temptation that will be hard to resist for both Fiorentina who are looking for another treble and the Rossoneri, who have been a mess in the league.
So, by the time the night of April 8 fell, the Fiorentina fans had already packed the Stadio Frankie. Although they are most interested in the team's performance in the league and the Champions Cup, and are not very interested in the Coppa Italia, they are also starting to pay more attention to the team's promotion in the Coppa Italia with the hope of winning the treble for the second time. After all, the treble is something that can be met but not sought, and since it is possible to win it again, the fans certainly hope that the players will work hard to seize this opportunity.
Since Fiorentina lost the first leg away from home, Capello fielded a fairly attacking starting line-up for this game: goalkeepers Toldo, Nesta. Ferrara and Stam played in a three-man central defence, with Roberto Carlos and Zambrotta on the wings, Redondo and Davies in the starting midfield position, with Portuguese midfielder Rui Costa at the heart of the playmaker, captain Batistuta up front, and Philippe Inzaghi, the penalty fox, roaming the Argentine god of war in search of an opportunity to strike the fatal blow.
Claudio Ranieri, who is busy with the team's results, also values this game, and the tinker knows that AC Milan's hopes of a good result in the league this season have been completely dashed, and even European qualification may not be guaranteed, so only a success in the Coppa Italia can save his own job.
Goalkeeper Rossi, defenders Maldini, Desailly, Costacuta, Leonardo, midfielders Albertini, Boban, Mayni, Ibrahim Ba, forwards Giorgio Weah and Kluivert - Ranieri did not stay, and directly came up with the strongest lineup he could pose, hoping to achieve a better result away from home, leading the team to eliminate his old club Fiorentina and advance to the final of the Italian Cup.
Once they reach the final and claim the final trophy, AC Milan can qualify for next season's European Cup Winners' Cup as Coppa Italia winners.
After the start of the game, Fiorentina, who were behind on aggregate, took the lead in launching a fierce attack!
Adhering to the fine tradition of the Italian team, Fiorentina's attacking style is quite simple, Redondo and Rui Costa organize together at the back of the midfield, and then distribute the ball to Carlos and Zambrotta on the wings, who take turns to launch the attack, Barty and Inzaghi and others in the middle shoot directly when they have the opportunity, and make the ball to Davies and Costa and others who are inserted behind when they don't have the opportunity, or shoot from a distance or reorganize the attack.
AC Milan, on the other hand, is mainly on the defensive side, after all, they won the first leg of the competition, Ranieri's personality is also conservative, plus it is an away game, so it is not surprising that the Rossoneri adopt a defensive-oriented style of play.
Hoarding heavy troops in the midfield and backfield, and finding Weah and Kluivert in front of him with long passes when they have the opportunity, although this style of play is simple and rough, but it has also achieved good results, at least with the threat of Weah and Kluivert, Fiorentina's three central defenders do not dare to easily press and participate in the attack.
As the minutes passed, in the face of the onslaught of the Fiorentina players, the AC Milan players, under the command of captain Maldini, arranged a defensive line in front of the goal to block the opponent's attack, and they did quite well, never showing any flaws!
However, no matter how strong the defense is, under the fierce attack of Fiorentina, there will be more or less holes. After all, AC Milan's defense is a dense defense based on a shrinking formation, although this approach will make the defense more stable, but the significant sacrifice of attack power also makes the home team's attack easier, especially after the veteran Weah's fitness began to decline, Fiorentina began to launch an unscrupulous onslaught!
In the face of this kind of attack from Fiorentina, AC Milan's defense is finally starting to show signs of loosening.
In the 43rd minute, Carlos' forced break down the left was disrupted by Maldini and Fiorentina won a corner.
Rui Costa stood at the corner kick spot, and Batistuta, who was standing in the penalty area, was naturally the focus of Milan players, but Costa was obviously not the only point where Batty could pass the ball, and Inzaghi, who was flexible and had a good relationship with him, as well as height, as well as Carlos and Davies, who had a long-range shot, were all places where the Portuguese could make a big fuss.
It was because of this that Costa's corner kick did not fly towards the AC Milan penalty area, but passed to Carlos, who took two lateral steps with the ball and went straight to the goal!
Although Rossi blocked Carlos's shot, the force of this shot was too great, and Rossi was indeed old, so the Milan goalkeeper made a low-level mistake such as saving the ball and getting rid of it.
The ball bounced out of Rossi's control and into the box, where Inzaghi found the ball right where it landed and slotted it into the back of the net with a deft push.
1 to 0! Fiorentina lead!