Chapter 76: Running Accounts

After a four-goal win over Arsenal at home, AC Milan's players were also in high spirits.

Back in Italy, they beat Cesena 3-1 away and then beat Palermo with a clean 4-0.

And then there's a devil's schedule.

First they host Serie A rivals Juventus, and then come away to Arsenal in the second leg of the Champions League.

This shows the benefits of a big win in the first leg.

Otherwise, there will only be three days between these two important matches, and it will be difficult to make a trade-off.

Historically, many teams have lost themselves in this kind of swing, leaving them empty-handed.

And now, Milan's choice is simple.

Go all out, take Juventus, and then easily go to London to meet Arsenal.

The final result was exactly what Milan wanted.

They beat Juventus 1-0 at home to win a crucial title race.

The game was a scorching affair and Conte clearly learned the lessons of his last defeat to Milan and played more cautiously and did not give Milan's attacking group any chance.

But Milan are clearly in a lot of championship luck this year.

After playing more than 80 minutes, Juventus defender Leonardo Bonucci handed a penalty in the box without any confrontation.

Ibu achieved it overnight, and he fixed the country with one foot.

After this game, AC Milan has 21 wins and 4 draws and has 67 points, throwing out a huge gap of 15 points for Juventus, who are in second place.

There are still 13 rounds of the league, and although Juventus can theoretically catch up with such a big points gap, in fact, no one will have such illusions.

Everyone felt that AC Milan would keep the momentum going and go unbeaten to win the title.

Three days later, the whole Milan team went to London to play Arsenal away in a relaxed mindset.

However, it may be because it was too relaxed, or it could be because the English food was so hard for the players to swallow, in short, Milan did not play very well in this game, losing 0-1.

But it doesn't matter, they made it to the quarter-finals of the Champions League anyway!

It's the result that counts.

The results of the other round of 16 matches are as follows:

Lyon 1:1 Atletico Greeks, both legs were won 1-0 against each other, and Atletico Greeks advanced through penalty shootouts.

Bayer Leverkusen 2 : 10 Barcelona!

Barcelona double-kills and slaughters the pharmaceutical factory, showing the terrifying prowess of their Cosmos team.

Zenit St. Petersburg 3 : 4 Benfica.

CSKA Moscow 2 : 5 Real Madrid.

Napoli 4 : 4 Chelsea, they also played each other 3:1, and in the end Chelsea won through extra time.

Basel 1 : 7 Bayern Munich!

This is another massacre.

Basel, the Swiss powerhouse, was defenseless in front of the Southern King.

The last match was Marseille 2 : 2 Inter Milan, who advanced by scoring more away goals.

In other words, this season's Champions League reaches the quarterfinals, and AC Milan will become the only team left in Italy.

Naturally, the Italian media also fully supported Milan's performance in the Champions League, believing that they could go further and better show the style of Italian football.

However, after only one day, the wind in the media seems to have become much more cautious.

Because the draw for the quarterfinals is out.

AC Milan's opponent is Real Madrid.

The team, led by Jose Mourinho, has superstars such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, and Brazilian star Kaka, who was poached from Milan two years ago......

This Real Madrid team even beat the Cosmos team Barcelona in this year's Spanish First Division, and is now 10 points ahead of them to lead the La Liga standings, and the title is also within reach.

In the face of such an opponent, it is understandable that the Italian media felt that young Milan did not have many opportunities.

But the real game against Real Madrid was 20 days later.

Until then, AC Milan will have to return to Serie A to make a big comeback.

They have won back-to-back victories over Lecce and Parma to cement their advantage in the standings.

At the same time, the whole team is also helping Ibrahimovic brush the data.

When the players on the pitch have the ball, if Ibrahimovic is in a good position, they will try to pass the ball to his feet or head so that he can complete the shot and score.

And Ibrahimovic naturally lives up to expectations, often sending the ball into the opponent's goal.

At Lecce, Ibrahimovic received Abate's cross and scored with a header;

Against Parma, Ibrahimovic showed off his footwork, beating three people in a row before slotting home with ease.

After 27 rounds, he has already scored 25 goals, leaving Milito, Di Natale, Cavani and others behind him.

Ibrahimovic's stats aren't just about goals.

His role as a fulcrum up front has given him plenty of opportunities to play good passes to his team-mates.

As a result, he even moved into a double figure in the assists charts, only behind Palermo's Mikoli and Juventus' Andrea Pirlo in third place.

If this trend continues, Ibrahimovic will win the Golden Boot and the best player of the season, and it should be no problem.

However, AC Milan faced a strong challenge from Napoli in the second leg of the Coppa Italia semi-final on 20 March.

They actually played 1:1 again!

In extra time, both sides also failed to achieve anything, so they had to go to a penalty shootout.

As a result, Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva, Salah, Seedorf and Mane on the AC Milan side had no missed shots, while Ederson saved Cavani's penalty, and finally Milan won and entered the Coppa Italia final!

And the opponent of AC Milan in the final is Juventus again!

They also drew 3-3 with their rivals Inter Milan and also won on penalties.

The final will be played at the Olympic Stadium in Rome on May 20.

On March 24, AC Milan beat Roma 2-1 at home.

It wasn't easy to win this game.

Roma striker Osvaldo dribbled into the box in the 21st minute and was tripped by Thiago Silva and sentenced to death by the referee.

Roma captain Totti converted the penalty to give the away team a 1-0 lead.

Milan only woke up in the second half and began to fight back.

It wasn't until the 76th minute that a powerful volley from Ibrahimovic broke through the Roma gate and equalized the score.

In stoppage time, Desiglio fired a long-range shot that was already wide of the goal, but it was blocked by the defending Roma midfielder De Rossi, and the ball was knocked into the net.

Milan were lucky to win 2-1 and take all three points.

The reason why in this game, the Milan players seemed a little absent-minded, and even the coaching staff was a little distracted.

One of the most important reasons is:

In four days' time, AC Milan will face their formidable opponents in the quarter-finals of the Champions League at the San Siro:

Real madrid!!