Chapter Eighty-Six: We'll Keep Fighting
In the 23rd round of the league, Milan went to challenge Lazio away, this game may not change AC Milan's dilemma in the league, but a victory can get Ancelotti out of a crisis of confidence.
Ancelotti is now under increasing pressure after both teams were eliminated in the Coppa Italia in midweek, with Digan returning to the starting line-up after missing two games in a row, with Dida in goal, Stam, Nesta, Kaladze, SergiΓ±o at the back, Gattuso, Pirlo, Seedorf, Kaka, and Gilardino in attack.
Before the start of this game, Galliani also approached Digan and talked to Digan for a long time about the problems that Milan have now, no one knows what they said, in short, in the game against Lazio, Digan returned to the starting lineup.
Lazio are unbeaten at home in their previous league games and are unbeaten in seven consecutive games, but they have not won at home to AC Milan in the league since 1998. Bonanny, a new signings in the winter transfer window, played at right midfield, replacing the injured Behrami, central defender Ivilla is suspended, and veteran goalkeeper Peruzzi is back from injury.
After the opening kick-off, AC Milan took the lead when Stam's cross from the right was met by Kaka, who chested the ball in front of goal and hit the goalkeeper, but was blocked by Stendado. Then, Diganla crossed from the left and Gilardino turned and fired high with his right foot.
It wasn't until the twelfth minute that Lazio had their first decent attack, when Digan's team-mate Jimenez from Atalanta last season took a free-kick from the left, Zauri crossed in the box, Mauri grabbed the position and was ready to shoot, but he couldn't complete the action before being tackled out by Nesta.
In the following games, AC Milan completely dominated the possession on the field, especially Digan's control ability in the front court, he constantly attacked Lazio's backline, and for a while Lazio was in front of the goal.
In the sixteenth minute, Digan took the ball near the midfield, and then ran all the way to Lazio's penalty area, and made a shot, Stendaldo pounced, but Digan just buttoned, shook off the angle, and then kicked the ball, Gilardino quickly inserted from the side, and a shot was blocked by Peruzzi, Pirlo took a corner kick, and Lazio's old Stam's header in front of the goal was confiscated by Peruzzi.
In the 19th minute, Zauri brought down Kaka in front of the penalty area, and Milan were awarded a free-kick from 23 yards from goal in the middle.
"I'm going to take the penalty?" Degan had a bit of a look at Andrea Pirlo, who had been AC Milan's number one penalty shooter until then.
Pirlo nodded and said, "I didn't feel very good today, didn't you always work as a free thrower in Atlanta before?" You kick this ball! β
Since Pirlo has already said, of course Dugan will not refuse, standing in front of the ball, waiting for the referee's whistle to sound, after a run-up, a strong volley, the football crossed the human wall, and it was about to fly over the crossbar, but suddenly a fall, Peruzzi couldn't react, just made a head-turning action, and could only watch the football fall into the goal!
Elevator Ball!
It has been a long time since Deegan took a free kick since leaving Atalanta, but he has not stopped practicing when he usually trains with Fiori, and now that the knife is out of the sheath for the first time in Milan, Lazio has become the biggest sufferer.
After the goal, Degan took the initiative to run in front of Pirlo, the ball was conceded by Pirlo, and he naturally wanted to express his gratitude.
Pirlo also patted Deegan on the back vigorously: "Good! Go on! Today we are going to win! β
Win!
Of course!
In the following game, Lazio, who conceded the goal, was not conservative, and Milan's side was a dull game that should have been before, the bigger the smoother, Digan kept changing positions, completely controlling the rhythm of the game, and the two teams fought fiercely in the midfield.
Five minutes after Milan's goal, Lazio played a quick counter-attack, with Odor linking up with Mauri, whose shot from 15 yards was denied by Dida.
Afterwards, Odor cut in from the right and fired a left-footed shot into the side-netting from 22 yards.
After that, Serginho crossed, Digan shot with his left foot from 12 meters in front of the goal was blocked by Odoro, Milan took a corner, and Serginho sent the ball away with his left foot.
In the first half of the game, the two sides played inseparable, although AC Milan controlled the initiative of the game, but Lazio fought extremely tenacious, especially their midfield, Liverani and Gianni Keda formed a beast waist defense, even Digan and Kaka have also been deflated.
Fortunately, the Lazio strikers did not shoot well, and they had one more chance before the end of the first half, but Mauri's shot was broken off the line by Nesta.
In the second half, the change of sides was renewed, and Lazio made the first change, with Beleri replacing Bonani. In the 47th minute, Liverani crossed, Rocchi shot hard, and was destroyed by Nesta.
In the 49th minute, Di Canio passed straight to Rocchi in the penalty area, Stam cleared in time, Liverani won the ball and passed to Mudingayi, and the Belgian youngster's left-footed shot was confiscated by Dida.
In the 60th minute, AC Milan had a chance to extend the score, but Gilardino missed it again, he turned his back to receive a pass from Degan, turned away from Stendado's marking, and fired a volley wide of the far post.
Milan failed to attack, and Lazio soon had a good chance, and in the 64th minute, Liverani took a free-kick, Rocchi took control of the ball in front of goal, and turned and fired a right-footed shot just wide of the right post.
In the 66th minute, Deegan had another great chance to score, Stam crossed from the right, Degan jumped high between the two defenders and headed the ball back into the field after being hit by Peruzzi's crossbar, but it didn't cross the goal line.
In this game, Stam was also very active, and soon he instigated the attack again, Kaka received the ball and passed to Degan, who entered the penalty area and hit the near corner from a small angle, Peruzzi made another wonderful save to save the ball off the line.
In the end, AC Milan won the game with a free kick from Degan, and also surpassed Inter Milan in the standings and ranked second, still nine points away from Juventus.
Degan, who was voted the best player after the game, said openly in an interview: "It's not time to give up, we did have some difficulties, but this is only temporary, we still have a chance, I hope to get more wins!" β
Although he only scored one goal, Digan was praised by many media after the game, and he did not appear in the familiar central striker position during the game, but played the role of a second striker behind Gilardino, and he made a total of 47 passes in this game, including 13 dangerous balls, ranking first in the team, and he was very solid with the ball in Lazio's 30-meter area, and there were almost no mistakes.
Even Carlo Ancelotti had to admit: "This game with Degan really made a difference in the team!" β
A week later, in the 24th round of Serie A, AC Milan beat Treviso 5-0 at home to second-to-last Treviso, with Digan scoring twice and hitting the woodwork once. He continues to top the scorers' charts with 25 league goals this season, with Kaka, Gilardino and substitute Inzaghi also scoring a goal each.
In this game, AC Milan also faced a situation of personnel disorganization, captain Maldini has not yet recovered from injury, Kaladze is suspended, Ancelotti was forced to adjust the defense again, Stam returned to the middle to partner Nesta, and Simic played on the right.
In the 14th minute, Deegan made a clever chest ball at the edge of the penalty area, and Kaka hit the bottom right corner with a precise right-footed volley on the line of the penalty area, 1:0.
In the 24th minute, Digan, who had just set up Kaka, almost extended Milan's lead when his diagonal shot from the edge of the box was blocked by Sereni, Kaka headed in a corner and Digan's header was close to the post.
AC Milan led 1-0 in the first half, and the two sides entered the halftime break!
In the second half, both teams made changes, with Costa Kuta coming on for the injured Nesta, and Treviso replacing lone centre-forward Fawa with midfielder Gigu.
In the 53rd minute, AC Milan finally ushered in their second goal, Kaka stopped the ball on his chest and passed straight to Degan, who faced the attacking Sereni, gently slammed the ball and pushed it into the near corner to score, 2:0.
After the goal, Deegan still looked very calm, calm as if he was out of the way, and it was only when Kaka came over to hug him that Degan's face showed a slight smile.
In the 62nd minute, Kaka passed the ball to Digan in the middle, Digan took the ball and turned and kicked a straight ball, Gilardino got rid of the defender and scored his 13th league goal of the season, 3:0.
A minute later, AC Milan made a comeback, Deegan took the ball on the left side, suddenly cut inside, his speed made Treviso's defenders, unable to keep up at all, after Digan shook off the angle, he directly pulled the bow and arrow, and shot hard, although the angle was too positive, but Liliang was very big, Treviso's goalkeeper couldn't react, and the ball was close to the crossbar into the net, 4:0.
With the big score taking the lead, Carlo Ancelotti was finally relieved and replaced Gilardino with Inzaghi.
In the rest of the game, although Sereni made a brilliant save from Digan from outside the box, it was still unable to stop AC Milan from continuing to extend the score.
In the seventy-third minute, Inzaghi made the ball, Digan attracted the attention of the opponent after taking the ball, followed by the outside of his foot to pick up the ball, the ball returned to Inzaghi's feet, and with a push, the football rolled directly into the empty goal, 5:0.
AC Milan won 5-0 in the end.
The news came at the same time on the other two pitches, Juventus and Inter Milan lost at the same time, and AC Milan consolidated their second place in the table while closing the gap to Juventus by a few points to six.
'I said, it's not over yet, it's not a big six point difference, we made some mistakes before, but now we're not going to repeat it, we're going to fight until the end of the league.'
Digan's fighting rhetoric annoyed Ibrahimovic, who was sent off for revenge against his opponent, and the two men who fought each other last season have been much quieter this season.
Juventus have dominated the league, making the Swedish golf feel that Deegan is no longer an opponent of his level.
The devil knows, where did he get his bullshit confidence!
"That Brazilian kid is useless even if he shouts fiercely, the league championship is already in Juventus's bag, if he wants to do useless work, just let him be, and I don't think the current AC Milan needs him to worry about it at all, everyone in Milan City knows what kind of character he is!"
Surprisingly, Ibrahimovic was the first to fire, but he didn't wait for Degan's response, and the Swedish high-tech felt like a punch on the cotton, and the reporters who were ready to add fuel to the fire were even more happy.
Degan is too lazy to talk to Ibrahimovic right now, the Swedes like to blow bubbles, whatever he wants, he doesn't want to talk about it.
After a 5-0 thrashing in midweek, AC Milan are on the heels of their next opponents, Regina.
Reggina is a very favorite opponent of Degan, in the first half, Degan scored thirteen goals in the fight with Regina, almost knocked the Reggina players out of the psychological barrier, this encounter, the game has not yet started, and some people have concluded that AC Milan will win.
In this game, Shevchenko continued to be sidelined due to injury, while Maldini, Jankulovski and Cafu also did not travel with the team due to injury. Degan and Gilardino partnered up front, while Inzaghi was on the bench. Rui Costa replaced Seedorf, with Costacuta and Stam in central defence.
After the opening, Regina, who was eager for revenge, took the initiative and won consecutive corners, but Regina's forward shooting skills were greatly substandard, and he failed to seize the opportunity with two consecutive headers.
In the fifth minute of the game, the situation on the field changed abruptly, Virgiani took a corner kick, Paredes headed the goal, Dida grabbed the ball in front of Giutos, but it was not very far, Stam and Simic made mistakes at the same time, failed to clear the ball in time, Paredes accidentally grabbed the ball, a hanging shot, the ball flew over Dida into the near corner, AC Milan actually fell behind 0:1 at home!
However, the next game proved that the goal was an accident, and AC Milan immediately equalised. In the fourteenth minute, AC Milan broke the ball at the back and counterattacked, Rui Costa hoisted the ball to the right side of the midfield, Kaka cleverly turned around near the sideline to get rid of the three defenders, dribbled the ball 30 meters into the middle and distributed it to the left side in time, Digan arrived in time, and his low left-footed shot was blocked by goalkeeper Pelizzoli to the ground, but Digan intercepted the ball again and scored with a right-footed volley into the empty goal, 1:1!
After the equaliser, AC Milan launched a series of onslaughts, and a minute later, Kaka's low cross from the left was blocked, and Rui Costa volleyed over the crossbar from 15 yards.
In the 35th minute, Milan got a chance to counterattack, Serginho sent a very accurate diagonal pass on the left side, Milan's two strikers responded at the front point at the same time, the ball crossed Gilardino's head, Digan flew to the top at the back point to score, AC Milan achieved a 2:1 overtake!
In the second half, it was easy to play again, and just three minutes into the game, Stam's cross from the right was met by Gilardino in front of Mesto and the ball was hit by Pelizzoli with a one-handed hit on the underside of the crossbar and bounced back into the field.
In the 51st minute, Stamm made a long pass on the right side of the backfield, Degan's heel knocked to Kaka, Kaka's right rib burst into the penalty area and knocked back, Degan fell to the ground 11 meters in front of the goal and scored with a low right-footed shot into the near corner, 3:1!
After taking a two-goal lead, AC Milan started to play with the ball.
In the third minute of stoppage time, Serginho made a low cross from the left, the ball passed between the goalkeeper and the defender, and Digan pushed the ball into the empty goal with his left foot, 4:1.
With seven goals in three games, Degan once again proved his ability to everyone, and now Gilardino, Inzaghi and even Shevchenko will be eclipsed in front of him.
Twenty-nine league goals have been scored, which is far worse than the same period last season, but let's not forget that Deegan has endured a three-month injury this season, and he has not been able to play a single game from the ninth to the twentieth round of the league.
'I'm feeling really good right now, I hope to play more, the left leg injury is fully recovered, like last season, I'm in the best shape I can be, I don't care about the standings, now I just want to play, I can score, we'll fight, although in the eyes of many people, AC Milan don't have much hope, but if we don't fight, it's a complete failure! The Swede seems to be very confident, but I don't think he has anything to be proud of, a main striker who started every game, played 25 games, but only scored 11 goals, it is clear that this is not a strong person, should hand in the answer! If he wants to compete with me, it's better to go and shoot first! β
Degan's bad words almost made Ibrahimovic blow himself up: "He has nothing to be proud of, he was eliminated in the Italian Cup, and the league was six points ahead of us, but he was unwilling to admit defeat, and he only has this hard-mouthed ability!" If I want to compete, I want to compete with him? We're not players at the same level at all! β
"The Swede finally told the truth, we really weren't a player on the throne, I'm sorry, I overestimated him before!"
Grandma's!
Ibrahimovic was about to speak, but he was directly gagized by Capello, at this time, shut up!
The Swedes stopped, the battle for Degan continued, and AC Milan won again in the twenty-sixth round of Serie A that began at the San Siro Stadium, with a narrow 2-0 win at home to Cagliari.
AC Milan have scored nine goals in the previous two games, while Cagliari have not tasted a win away this season, losing 11 of their 13 games and conceding 31 goals in total.
Pirlo was sidelined for this game due to the flu, Vogel played in the back, Cafu, Maldini and Ambrosini were still injured, and Kaladze, who had just attended his brother's funeral, appeared in the starting lineup.
Cagliari had a chance to counter-attack early in the game, but Gattuso made a timely tackle to keep out Suaso. In the fifteenth minute, AC Milan played a free kick tactical combination, and Stam was 25 meters in front of the goal, and hit the wall with his right foot. In the 21st minute, Serginho crossed diagonally from the left, and Digan rushed to the top of the front post, but was lifted off the crossbar by the opposing goalkeeper.
In the 22nd minute, Stam crossed from the right, Vogel went straight into the penalty area, Digan turned to protect the ball and cleverly passed through the crotch, goalkeeper Chimenti knocked down to block, Digan fell to the ground under the defense of Bega and Ferry, penalty!
Seeing that the referee awarded a penalty, Digan got up directly and walked to the side, the penalty, he never went to kick, this responsibility fell to Kaka, he pushed his right foot into the middle to score, AC Milan took a 1-0 lead.
After taking the lead, AC Milan played more calmly, and in the 27th minute, Kaka broke through with the ball, was destroyed by Conticchio, Milan took a corner from the right, and Kaladze headed high.
In the 31st minute, Kaka won a free kick, and Degan stood in front of the ball this time, and curled the ball with his left foot straight into the corner of the goal.
In the 34th minute, Kaka cut inside on the left and volleyed a right-footed shot into the far corner, but Chimenti flew to the left and lifted it with one hand. Then, Vogel fired a right-footed volley from outside the box that grazed the defender and went wide of the left post.
In the 37th minute, Stam instigated an attack on the right side, Kaka cut horizontally with the outside of his right foot to pick up a pass, Digan unloaded the ball with his right foot, and pushed the ball with his right foot 9 meters in front of the goal, and was blocked by Chimenti who reacted quickly, missing the golden opportunity to continue to expand the score.
At half-time, Stam was replaced by Simic due to injury. Cagliari, unwilling to lose, launched a frantic counterattack, and in the 48th minute, Suazo broke through Nesta on the left and his shot was blocked by Kaladze.
In the 51st minute, Suazo was 10 meters in front of the goal, receiving a long pass from Conte, and Simic made a timely kick to destroy the ball out of the bottom line.
In the 59th minute, Cagliari combined a free-kick and Conte flicked it wide to Suazo on the left, who fired a powerful right-footed volley wide of the near post.
In the 64th minute, Conte's free kick from the right was directly volleyed over the crossbar by Gattuso's header, Cagliari's corner kick caused chaos in front of the Milan goal, and in the end, in a hurry, Conte's left-footed shot went wide.
In the end, AC Milan won 2-0 at home and continued to consolidate their second position in the standings.
In the other game that ended at the same time, Juventus won 1-0 at home to Digan's former club Atalanta thanks to a goal from Piero. With 12 league games remaining, Juventus are still six points ahead of AC Milan.
Although Digan has always said that they will continue to fight, in fact he is also very clear that the opportunity is really not very good now, Juventus's consistent performance is enough to drive any opponent crazy, and Milan's current focus is clearly shifting towards the Champions Cup.
Three days later, in the round of 16 of the Champions Cup, AC Milan will face Bayern Munich, the Bundesliga hegemon led by coach Magath.
Magath's Munich squad is full of famous players, Kahn, Lucio, Lizarazu, Sagnol, Ismail, Ballack, Schweinsteiger, Mackay, Demichelis, Deisler, all of whom can be called superstars in today's football.
It was a real duel for the Bundesliga giants, and Magath said before the game that they were going to prove to Shijie how strong they really are.
Bayern Munich must send a signal through this match, for the sake of German football's place in the shijie football world, and for their own lofty goals, the final in Paris on May 17!
"We're going to go all out and march into Paris!" Magath was full of fighting spirit before the race.
He told the captain of the German national team, Balaclair, that in Klinsmann's eyes, he will lead Bayern Munich to a battle with many of the stars of AC Milan tonight. Ballack, who has scored just three goals in 28 Champions League appearances for Bayern so far, will be watched to see if Ballack will be a scoring bomber in the Bundesliga as he has recently been.
In order to better defend against Ballack, AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti will use the poisonous Gattuso against him. Bayern manager Rummenigge laughed: "He is almost no threat to Ballack in the box. β
But Bayern themselves need to be clear in their hearts that Milan are their sworn enemies. Bayern have only won once against AC Milan in six European competitions, and in 2002 they lost 2-1 to AC Milan twice, and Zuihou Bayern were eliminated at the bottom of the group.
In particular, it is worth mentioning that Bayern also has a certain degree of phobia, that is, AC Milan and Italy international, goalscorer Inzaghi, the 2002 Bayern Champions League journey ended in the group stage, mainly because of Inzaghi's wonderful performance.
He scored three of the four goals alone, and the game was almost covered by Inzaghi alone.
Although the current striker in the AC Milan squad is Degan, it is clear that Magath is more concerned about the old and demonic Inzaghi: "Degan is a very good player, but I care more about Inzaghi's performance!" β
However, Degan's teammate Van Bitten in the Belgian national team did not dare to relax on Degan: "I cooperate well with Degan in the national team, I understand his characteristics, he is the type who will never give up as long as he seizes the opportunity, we must not relax during the game, and we can't give Degan any space to attack!" β
There are still three days to go before the game, the whole Bayern team is already nervous, the same AC Milan does not dare to relax, this game, Milan itself is also under great pressure, the shadow of last year's final defeat to Liverpool is still hanging over this star-studded team, and in Serie A, it is also very unsatisfactory, still 6 points behind Juventus. The Champions League has become a hope for Zuihou that they can fight for this year.
There is also good news for Bayern Munich at Allianz. Allianz's home stadium is a strong fortress for Bayern. Indeed, Bayern have won 15 consecutive games at the Allianz Arena.
However, as for Bayern's home advantage, Degan was unimpressed: "I don't think it will be difficult in their home games, we are now gradually getting into the regular situation, the whole team is in very good shape, I believe I can score at the Allianz Arena and make the knockout rounds of these two legs out of suspense in the first leg!" β
Dugan knows very well that although Bayern is the king in Germany at the moment, they do not have any dominance in Europe, and the current Bayern is far from the formidable strength of the future.
Degan's self-confidence is not unfounded, but it is clear that his remarks have angered Bayern's general: "He will pay for every word he says!" β
Bayern captain Kahn said: "If he thinks he can take the Allianz Arena, go ahead! I'll let him know what real horror is! β
The atmosphere between the two teams was already intense before the game even began, and Carlo Ancelotti was naturally happy to see the change, hoping that his players would be able to keep that nerves up before the game.
But soon, AC Milan took the first blow, their main goalkeeper Dida was injured, and he also injured his shoulder, and the result given by the Milan laboratory was a season reimbursement!
Before the big war started, a big player was injured first, and now it's Ancelotti's turn to have a headache, and now there are only three goalkeepers in the team, Dida is injured, and only two people are left, Carraci and Fiori, Fiori needless to say, the team's No. 3 goalkeeper, Ancelotti didn't think about him at all, so he was left with the only choice Karachi!
Carracci has only played in the Coppa Italia since he played for AC Milan, but his performances were unsatisfactory, especially in the previous 3-0 defeat at Palermo, where he was at the bottom of the team in the post-match ratings.
But now Ancelotti can only pull out the big one, although Carraci is not trustworthy, but in Ancelotti's opinion, it is always more reliable than Fiori.
Dida just fell, Stam's injury worsened, before the game against Cagliari, Stam went down due to injury, the team doctor's diagnosis at that time, Stam only needs to rest for a few days, but it is clear that even the giants Milan, can not avoid being delayed by quacks, the day before the army to Germany, Stam in training, completely without physical contact with anyone, suddenly fell to the ground, after diagnosis, Stam needs to rest for a month.
Coupled with the previously injured Shevchenko, Maldini, Ambrosini, Jankulovski, Cafu, and now that Milan's backline can put together a lineup, Ancelotti can snicker until the fat trembles.
Ancelotti is simply a broom star, wherever he goes, where he is injured, after coming to Milan, he has performed very well at the beginning of each season, but as soon as the winter break passes, it will be messed up, it is not an exaggeration to say that the camp is full of wounds, and now it is time to test how Ancelotti uses the cards in his hand.
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The latest chapter of the high-speed starting stadium maniac, this chapter is the eighty-sixth chapter, we will fight down, the address is, if you think this chapter is not bad, please don't forget to recommend it to your friends in the QQ group and Weibo!