Immediately after the day's training, Allegri announced his starting eleven for the Cagliari League.

Leon was selected, and Pirlo, and finally he was selected!

Leon knew when he saw Allegri praise Pirlo for playing as if nothing had happened before.

I made it myself!

His partnership with Pirlo played as much as he expected, or rather, Pirlo's "oil reserves" far exceeded Allegri's expectations.

Leon is like a young version of Gattuso, who is in the twilight of his career, one left and one right, with a hard defensive sweep and adequate playmaking to prop up Pirlo's super protection again.

No Italian coach can resist the temptation to have a "normal level of performance" Andrea Pirlo.

Even Allegri, who was the main force to clean Pirlo, gave Pirlo a chance to start many times in the first half of the league with hope.

But in any case, the peculiarity of Pirlo's position naturally increases his team's requirements for the hardness of midfield interception and the level of coverage.

He can support a team of organizations by himself, and the level of his midfield master is undoubted.

But correspondingly, when he dragged behind but didn't provide much frontal confrontation and defensive toughness.

It will have to be up to the midfield partners on either side to put in more energy and energy to fill the hole.

In the past, it was Gattuso and Ambrosini or Seedorf who helped him with this work.

But now, when his superstar partners are getting older, the physical and speed advantages are gone, and the empty skills just don't have the stamina to do powerful sweeps and coverage.

Pirlo's shortcomings were naturally exposed.

He can assist the main defenders to do the work of filling the gaps, and he also has advantages in position selection and ball quotient, but the physical fitness is there, and he can't withstand the repeated impact of the opponent in the middle.

His previous two defeats in the Champions League against Real Madrid have highlighted his shortcomings in this regard.

The face brother Khedira arranged according to Mourinho's tactics, and a brutal forward intervention was so that Milan couldn't resist in the middle.

When Gattuso was slow to defend, Pirlo was really difficult to take advantage of the head-to-head confrontation with Khedira, except for fouls.

So there is some truth to Allegri's painful decision to abandon Pirlo some time ago.

And now, Allegri, who looks at Pirlo and exclaims "really fragrant", also makes sense!

The little lion came, and he was pleasantly surprised to be able to play on the left and right sides of the midfield.

Pirlo has a sweeper in front of him, so let's see how well Pirlo has played after being filled with defensive flaws.

Can you do without such a midfielder? Can it be deprecated?

Allegri said he didn't need to look for any more beast waists.

Andrea Pirlo is the heart of Milan!

※※※

At two o'clock in the afternoon on January 6, when AC Milan and Cagliari both released their starting elevens, not to mention the fans of both teams, neutral fans were stunned.

In the ninth round of Serie A, after AC Milan lost 1-2 to Juventus, Pirlo, who was almost used as a rotation substitute by Allegri, actually started again today?

Melon-eating fans take a look at the starting list.

Well, the new Real Madrid youngster is in the starting eleven, no problem.

So why did Pirlo come in too, is Allegri going to switch to a two-man midfield formation?

Italian fans who are keen to discuss the tactics and formation changes of the game are interested in Allegri's new formation.

And some old Milan fans who were still hostile to Li Ang before were also a little confused.

"Maybe he's really not here to grab Andrea's position, can they be a two-back partner?"

"Hopefully, I've watched Leon play at Real Madrid and he's a really good partner with Alonso."

"But Andrea doesn't have the defensive ability of Alonso, and Leon is the only one to drag the defense?"

"Forget it, the game is about to start later, let's talk about it after watching it, there's not much point in discussing these now."

Among the thousands of Milan fans who travelled from the trip, similar discussions began to emerge before the start of the game.

And when it was close to 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the players of Milan and Cagliari had completed the pre-match ceremony, and the players of both sides gradually settled into positions, and the fans of Milan burst into exclamations.

"Left midfielder! Leon appeared in the left midfield position! This is completely different from the starting formation of Milan predicted by the media before the game, Milan did not play the four-two-three-one formation with two backs, they played the four-four-two in the diamond-shaped position in the midfield! ”

The commentator for Sky Sports Italia was also taken aback.

Just now, when they introduced the starting formation on both sides, they bluntly said that Milan will adopt a 4231 formation today.

As a result, no one expected that Allegri ended up playing a trick, deceiving Cagliari's head coach Donaldni, but also all the media and fans!

'It's a very surprising change of formation, but Leon has never played in a left-sided midfield position before, he has been playing at the back of the line at Real Madrid, so can he adapt to this new position and play well today?'

The commentator of Sky Sports Italia voiced the question on the minds of countless Milan fans at the moment.

And when the game started, almost all the spectators also stared at Li Ang, who still started running with a calm face.

It seemed to be trying to see some nervousness and unnatural emotion on his face.

Unfortunately, Leon unleashed his career in Milan with a smooth and quick catch-and-dribble transfer.

After several positive strategies to share the ball, Li Ang did not make mistakes and did his job steadily.

His wide runs and steady passing kept the left midfield running smoothly throughout Milan.

This kind of unremarkable individual performance is already a small surprise in the eyes of Milan fans.

"Oh my God! This kid can really play in midfield! We have strengthened both the midfield and the midfielders, at least he is a good substitute, and Massimo (Ambrosini) and Mathieu (Flamini) can recuperate. ”

There are happy Milan fans who have made a judgment in advance, which sounds very reliable, at least Leon will do a good job on the left side of the midfield.

However, an even bigger surprise then hit almost all "Rossoneri" in the head.

In the seventh minute of the first half, Cagliari managed to make a break at the back and their midfielders Lazzari and Nainggolan began to push forward with the ball quickly.

Gattuso on the right side of midfield was not as fast as Nainggran, and Andrea Pirlo had already started to retreat early, and almost all Milan fans were nervous when they saw this scene.

They have seen too many similar scenes in previous league and Champions League matches.

Gattuso's top defense did not keep up, and Pirlo, who faced the opponent's impact in the middle alone, almost became a "defensive colander".

But in their nervous attention this time, a sunny and handsome young man who could barely be regarded as "long hair fluttering" quickly chased back from the flank!

The Cagliari fans began to exclaim, Nainggolan did not have time to observe the situation on his flank, and then he was squeezed out of position by a huge force, and the football at his feet was brutally contested!

"It's too fast! Ang Lee——!!! Nice catch-back defense! Oh, God! Leon defused Milan's defensive crisis before Nainggran was about to face Pirlo! No fouls! It was a great individual tackle! Could this be the 'surprise' that Allegri really has in store for Cagliari?! ”

When the commentator began to applaud Leon's wonderful defense this time, thousands of away fans in Milan couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief and cheer!

Pirlo stroked the long hair on his forehead, first stuffed the football passed back by Leon to Zambrotta, who started to cut forward, and then took the initiative to smile at Leon.

And an outstretched palm!

"Well done!"

"I'm supposed to do it, Andrea."

Leon, who also laughed and high-fived Pirlo, replied happily, and then actively ran back to his position on the left side of the midfield.

Looking at Leon's energetic back, the smile on Pirlo's face became even stronger.

"No wonder Zlatan says everyone likes lion cubs... Good guy~"