Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Last Piece of the Championship Puzzle

When you're new to a new team, what are the best ways to integrate into it as quickly as possible?

Low-key friendly, cheerful and sunny, sociable and good-spoken?

These traits can really help you gain the favor of most of your new colleagues in private.

But in the professional field, only when you show really good skills, prove that you can do your job well, and even help other colleagues to reduce their work burden.

You can really gain the respect and recognition of your new colleagues in the fastest way.

Li Ang is the newcomer who has gained respect and recognition at the moment.

He was able to talk to Ibrahimovic within a day or two of his arrival in Milan and was able to gain initial recognition from his team-mates through his solid defensive ability in training.

But until just now, he actually "joined" AC Milan.

Because the approval of the coach is the business of the coach, within the team, there is another set of applicable rules for recognition among the players.

Eevee liked the way Leon communicated with him, and he liked to hear Leon praise him.

Therefore, he does not mind saying more good things about Leon to his teammates.

But there is only one way to get more Milan first-team players to recognize and respect Leon from the bottom of their hearts.

It was Li Ang who showed that he was worthy of this starting position.

In training, Li Ang did it yesterday, and in the competition, Li Ang just now also successfully did it!

Therefore, the current Milan players don't mind showing friendliness or even "intimacy" to Leon.

Li Ang himself is also more down-to-earth.

With that first step, he will need to further solidify his starting position.

In Real Madrid, there is Las Diarra, who is slightly stronger than him at the moment, there is a dead man who has to fight for playing time, and there is a face brother Khedira who is actively changing his defensive attitude.

But at AC Milan, after Ambrosini is out for the season, he will only have to compete with the aging Seedorf or Gattuso.

There are times when Andrea Pirlo can't play on the back, and he is basically the first choice in the midfield position.

With such favorable conditions, he is sorry for himself if he doesn't hold the main position in his hands.

"Shall we strengthen our defense next, Captain?"

Waiting for Cagliari to restart, Leon watched Uncle Yu's tactical adjustment gestures on the sidelines and confirmed it with Gattuso.

Touching his beard, Gattuso also nodded slightly to Li Ang with a slightly serious expression.

"You're going to have to work a little harder, I'll try to protect Andrea on the right side of the front, but sometimes I don't have enough interceptions, so when the opponent breaks through Andrea, the edge of the arc of the box has to be covered by your chase..."

Gattuso reminded Leon again, and Leon bowed his head to signal that he was clear, and then he smiled at Gattuso.

"I'll do my best to stop them, don't worry, Captain."

Gattuso also grinned when he heard this, patted Leon on the shoulder hard, and motioned for him to hurry back and settle down and wait for the kickoff.

When the game restarted, in the face of Cagliari's obviously intensified forward press, the whole Milan team quickly switched to the rhythm of shrinking the defense.

This is also a characteristic of Milan's tactical variations these days.

Before Pirlo played uncomfortably, Xiao Luo became less and less efficient, and Ah Yi handed over the attacking rhythm to Ibrahimovic to control.

Da Ibrahimovic is both a father and a mother, and he has to catch goals and assists, and he is a little tired, but Ibrahimovic relies on his own system to support Milan's attacking line.

Several of the attacking players around him also played well.

If you have to talk about routines, Allegri's attacking routine is to give the ball to Ibrahimovic, Ibrahimovic fights, and Milan's attack is smooth.

Regardless of whether it is XJBT or not, Milan's goal efficiency is the highest in Serie A, although it is less than two goals per game, but it is completely enough in Serie A.

On the defensive end, Allegri reused Ambrosini, Gattuso, and Seedorf to create a strong midfield defense.

With a goal in front, Milan took the lead, and apart from unnecessary counter-attacks, Milan basically chose to stick to the midfield.

If you lose the ball, there are three midfielders who will fight back, in short, it is to set up a wall of interception in front of the central defender, and never let the opponent face their own central defender line easily.

With this set of gameplay, Milan's defense is naturally getting better and better, the victory is becoming more and more stable, and Allegri naturally does not want to use Ronaldo and Pirlo more and more.

They can't run, they can't do the work of covering and sweeping, and they can't play the simple and direct tactics he wants, so they can only clean up the team.

But now with Rio, a "running man" who can practice with Gattuso on the left side of the midfield to build a defensive line.

If the defense is stable, then Allegri will naturally be willing to reactivate Pirlo.

After all, I won't use it anymore, and I know that having more of this organization daddy in the team can fully relieve the pressure of another daddy on the front line.

And when the "give the ball to Ibrahimovic" trick doesn't work, at least there is another offensive routine to choose from.

Pirlo's long pass is a powerful weapon for attacking variations, and if you don't use it, you will waste it.

Allegri would be in a great mood to ease the tension with Andrea Pirlo in time and continue to play his defensive "go straight" tactics.

Sitting in the coach's seat, he looks like he doesn't care about the criticism of his "XJBT" tactics by outside public opinion.

Occasionally, when Leon or Gattuso gave a wonderful interception and defense, he would happily applaud and shout two words to motivate his players.

Of course, Uncle Yu hopes that this game will be played "smoothly" to the end, and there is nothing wrong with winning 1-0.

However, the Milan players on the pitch continued to look for possible attacking opportunities in defence.

At least in midfield, neither Leon nor Andrea Pirlo gave up such opportunities.

In the 29th minute of the first half, Milan, who had struggled to defend Cagliari's attack, once again completed the break in their own half.

This time it was left-back Antonini who cut off the ball at the feet of Cagliari striker None.

He was about to pass the ball back to centre-back Thiago Silva, as he had done before, but Leon trotted over and raised his hand for the ball.

Antonini saw that Cagliari striker Matri, who was coming behind Leon, was still some distance away, so he passed the ball directly to Leon.

"You can pass it on to me!"

Thiago Silva quickly adjusted his position, signaling that Leon could still pass back to him and stabilize the ball first.

But Li Ang didn't seem to hear it this time, and the moment he touched the ball, he decisively led the ball and turned forward!

Matri didn't expect Leon, who had been calm and had barely dragged the ball before, to make such a sudden move.

He was cleaned up by Leon, and Leon, who had successfully passed the ball, did not pass the ball forward immediately, but cut inside and walked through the middle of the midfield to continue to move forward!

Cagliari's midfield defence was quickly mobilized, with Nainggolan and Kosu immediately flanking on Leon, and Cagliari's wingers quickly began to retract.

It was only then that Leon opted for a pass.

But it was still not forward or split, but passed the ball directly back to Pirlo, who followed forward to the top of his own center circle!

Raising his arm slightly, Pirlo, who had already finished his observation in advance, used a stretched and elegant posture to drive the football directly to the right front.

Non-stop long passes!

Ibrahimovic started and he ran off the ball in the middle with a hunger for the goal in his eyes.

In front of him on the right, Pato, who was riding in the dust, had easily unloaded Pirlo's long pass, and in the next second, he continued to cut inside to the hinterland area of Cagliari!

"Leon sent it back?! Oh! Pirlo's long pass! Pato's startup is too fast! The Cagliari full-backs were completely left behind by him! Pato enters the penalty area... The return of the inverted triangle! Zlatan ——!!! ”

Concerned about the Sky Sports commentator's shift from incomprehension to excitement to passion, AC Milan have completed the first 99% of the preparations for this long-pass counter-attack.

And the last remaining 1% will be put on trial by Zlatan Ibrahimovic!

Ibrahimovic watched Pato's last-minute pass, took a deep breath, and at the same time calmly adjusted his step, and finally, swung his legs and burst!

Ibrahimovic's bombardment on the edge of the penalty area seemed to be the final blow to Cagliari's head.

Goalkeeper Agazi was not slow to react, he also made all the saves he could, but it was too slow, too slow!

While his body was still stretching in the air, the soccer ball roared like a cannonball and crashed into the net behind the goal line!

“GOAL——!!!!!! Zlatan! Milan's second goal! They had already taken a two-goal lead in just thirty minutes of half-time! And their opponents, Napoli, are already behind Inter Milan at the moment! The halfway winner beckoned Milan just a short distance ahead, will they be able to claim the title?!! ”

Zlatan Ibrahimovic turned arrogantly and opened his arms to begin his exclusive celebration.

And Li Ang, who saw the football entering the net near the midfield circle, also subconsciously embraced Pirlo on his side!

The jubilant Milan fans, as well as the countless Milan fans who watched the game in front of the TV, accepted Li Ang completely and convincingly at this moment!

As Allegri said with a smile in an interview with the media the other day.

They believe that they have found the last and most suitable piece of the puzzle for Milan to win the championship!