Chapter 89: The People You Care About Don't Care About You
On April 4, Real Madrid hosted AC Milan.
In this game, Real Madrid have clearly been affected by the last two games.
Pepe was suspended and could not play, Angel Di Maria was injured and Sergio Ramos also felt uncomfortable during the pre-match warm-up and withdrew from the starting line-up.
Real Madrid is actually playing with a remnant formation, and there is no spirit to turn the tables around.
In the end, Milan finished the game 2-1 and successfully advanced to the last four of the Champions League.
N'Golo Kante opened the scoring from distance and Cristiano Ronaldo equalised with a header just before half-time.
Inzaghi, who came on as a second-half substitute, scored the winning goal.
In the other quarter-finals, there were also many one-sided scenes.
Barcelona swept AtlΓ©tico Greeks with an aggregate score of 8:2.
Bayern Munich beat Marseille 4-0.
Chelsea, on the other hand, won 3-1 against Benfica, and although the score was not high, it was also a double.
This season's Champions League, from the group stage to the round of 16, has been unpopular, resulting in some relatively weak teams in the quarterfinals.
Strictly speaking, only AC Milan's match against Real Madrid is considered a strong dialogue.
But now it's a different story when it comes to the Final Four.
AC Milan, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, all of them are not good.
If you want to choose one of these teams that Pan Yi doesn't want to meet the most, it is still the Universe Team Barcelona.
It's really too difficult to restrain Habai Bumei completely.
It was when Milan met Barcelona that they couldn't play the beautiful football that everyone wanted to see.
And in the two-legged game in the group stage, Milan did not take too much advantage of Barcelona.
However, the final draw result still made Pan Yi breathe a sigh of relief.
AC Milan vs Chelsea, Barcelona vs Bayern Munich.
It's okay, at least the pressure against Chelsea won't be as strong......
Back to Serie A.
AC Milan drew 2-2 at home to Fiorentina before beating Chievo 5-1 on the road.
In the home game against Bologna, Milan would have had a chance of winning the Serie A title early, but with the crucial Champions League semi-finals just around the corner after this game, they still had most of their substitutes fielded.
In the end, Milan were held to a 1-1 draw.
But even so, after 33 rounds of Serie A, AC Milan still topped the table with a record of 26 wins, 7 draws and 85 points, 14 points higher than second-placed Juventus.
Juventus have also been in good form this season, losing two games to Milan and going unbeaten against other opponents.
With 20 wins, 11 draws and 2 losses, the result of 71 points is actually the first place in most other seasons.
But it's not that the brothers don't work hard, it's really Milan who is too perverted.
With five rounds left in the league and 14 points behind, the suspense of the championship is long gone.
It's just that there is still one team that doesn't want to admit it.
Or rather, they don't want Milan to step on them on the winner's podium.
That's AC Milan's rival in the same city, and Milan's opponent in the next round: Inter Milan.
They withdrew from the title race early this season, and after 33 rounds, they are sixth with 51 points with 15 wins, 6 draws, 12 losses.
Although it is only sixth, it is only three points away from third-placed Lazio.
Yes, there is a gap in Serie A points this season, with Milan in first place being one layer, Juventus in second place being another layer, and only five points between the third and eighth places making up the third tier.
In other words, from Lazio in third place with 54 points, to Napoli, Udinese, Inter Milan, Roma, and Atalanta in eighth place with 49 points, there is still a chance to compete for a place in the top four Champions League.
So whether it is out of the mentality of preventing the city's rivals from winning the championship, or the temptation of their own Champions League seats, Inter Milan will fight AC Milan to the end!
β¦β¦
A sage surnamed Lu in the Dragon Kingdom said: There is a kind of sadness in this world, called the person you care about, but you don't care about you.
That's the case with Inter Milan right now.
Because AC Milan now have all eyes on their Champions League semi-final rivals, Chelsea.
In order to cope with the big game three days later, the Milan coaching staff held a regular tactical meeting with the players.
"They haven't been in great shape this season."
Allegri stoodle from the podium:
'At the moment they are sixth in the Premier League and they are fighting for a Champions League place next season.
"Even last month, they sacked head coach Villas-Boas because of their poor results, and now assistant coach Roberto Di Matteo has taken over on an interim basis."
'So, it's fair to say that Chelsea are in a period of internal and external troubles. We can take this opportunity to knock them out in one fell swoop and advance to the finals! β¦β¦β
Allegri is not as cautious as he was at the start of the season.
Milan's impressive record has given him plenty of confidence to look forward to a brighter future.
And Pan Yi, who was standing on the sidelines, knew that this Chelsea team was actually not easy to mess with.
They lost 3-1 to Napoli in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, and eventually led to the sacking of Villas-Boas, but they burst with amazing energy.
In the second leg, under the command of Chelsea Di Matteo, who had a back-to-back fight, he completed a shocking reversal through 120 minutes of battle, defeated Napoli 4-1, and successfully turned around and entered the quarterfinals of the Champions League.
Di Matteo also established his position with this fight.
Chelsea then beat Benfica in the Champions League quarter-finals to reach the semi-finals.
Had it not been for Pan Yi's appearance to disrupt the normal timeline, Chelsea should have met their enemies Barcelona in the semi-finals, and eliminated the mighty Cosmos team to reach the Champions League final with an aggregate score of 3-2, avenging their revenge in 2009.
In the final, Chelsea relied on Petr Cech to save Robben's penalty and Drogba's header to draw the game into a penalty shootout and eventually win.
It was also the first time in Chelsea's history that Chelsea had won the Champions League.
It's just that now it is Pan Yi's AC Milan that is blocking in front of Chelsea......
Whether history will change because of this, Pan Yi does not know.
But what he does know is that this Chelsea team is definitely not a lamb to be slaughtered after the change of manager!
"Essien." When Pan Yi stood in front of the tactical board, he hit the nail on the head and pointed out the man who needed the most attention at Chelsea.
'Chelsea players are very active and players like Essien are physically strong and aggressive. Frank Lampard is more responsible for passing and organising, but the spaces he is actually given are created by Essien a lot of the time. β
'So against Chelsea we can't give them too much space and that is to limit Essien's play, as we did against Kaka against Real Madrid β even though they are not in the same position.
"As long as Essien is restricted, they have less space. They won't be able to pass the ball like they used to, and our advantage will be established. β
Allegri and Tassotti both nodded.
Allegri asked: "Is that going on to arrange for Kante to defend against Essien?" β
"Nope. Essien is not a technical stream player like Kaka. Pan Yi shook his head, "As long as our midfield is meticulous and keeps a distance, we can take care of each other and watch Essien." We need to send someone to watch someone else to die. β
"Who?"
"Drogba."