Chapter 224 Tell the San Siro North Stand who is the legend here!
Liu Yue: "According to the previous playing style, when Xiaoliang approaches the opponent's offensive third zone with the ball, if the opponent's defense is dense, he will choose to split the ball. If the opponent's defense is not in place, he will often pass the ball to the offensive players in the three lanes. The direct long-range shot like today is indeed very rare."
Lou Yichen: “I don’t know if the kick just now was intentional in today’s tactical arrangement, or if it was because the defensive midfielder didn’t try to steal the ball from him and there was more space, so I improvised a long shot.
But we saw that the young Inzaghi standing on the sidelines loudly reminded his disciples, apparently expressing his strong dissatisfaction with the near-miss.”
Inter Milan took a goal kick, Handanovic passed the ball to Skriniar, the Slovak central defender dribbled the ball forward, and after a few passes with Brozovic and De Vrij, Brozovic passed the ball to Calhanoglu.
Although Calhanoglu has average physical fitness and is relatively poor in speed and confrontation, his passing level and overall view are among the best in the entire Serie A.
Seeing the ball moving towards him, Weletu, who was responsible for the right half of the defense, blocked him, and Chen Xiaoliang in front also retreated to prepare for double-teaming him.
Seeing this, Calhanoglu immediately pushed the outside of his right foot to the right, and the ball was passed to the feet of Barrera who was making a forward run!
Barrera bypassed Chen Xiaoliang's side and prepared to attack Matic.
Calhanoglu's pass was just right, and Barrera did not slow down at all while receiving the ball.
The 33-year-old Matic has no way of competing with the young man in front of him in terms of speed. He can only use his experience to block Barrera's path and thus slow him down.
Barella saw that there was no breakthrough route. If he passed the opponent to the right side, he would only move away from the front of the goal, which was not a good option. Therefore, he chose to cut inside and try to force a breakthrough on Matic.
Matic tried to block the attack, but the two men collided and Barrera's foot hit Matic's leg. He immediately fell to the ground and rolled twice.
The referee Osato immediately blew the whistle and gave Inter Milan a free kick in the frontcourt about 28 meters away from the goal.
Matic complained to Osato: "He just put his foot against my leg on purpose to trick me into committing a foul."
Osato smiled and politely waved Matic away.
The meaning is very clear, I have heard the opinions, but the penalty will not be changed.
Both teams gathered in Rome's half.
Chen Xiaoliang and Pellegrini formed a human wall, Cesco stayed in front, Zaniolo guarded the top of the penalty area, and the others defended Inter Milan's players in the penalty area.
Dimarco, who played as a left center back in this game, stood in front of Pi Qiu.
“Beep!”
As the referee blew the whistle, he took two steps and kicked hard with his left foot!
The ball went around the human wall and bounced on the ground!
Patricio was well prepared and moved to the left side of the goal very steadily in advance, then slid on his knees and held the ball firmly in his chest.
Patricio immediately stood up and threw the ball.
Chen Xiaoliang and Pellegrini, who were forming a human wall, had already run forward!
The hand-thrown ball was thrown to Zaniolo's feet, the latter passed it forward and Pellegrini caught it!
At this time, the only person defending Cesco in the front was De Vrij, who had not made the forward run just now. Dumfries had already rushed to Pellegrini's side, and Barella was still rushing back.
Pellegrini's speed was no advantage compared to Dumfries, not to mention he was carrying the ball.
Seeing that he was about to be entangled, he pushed the ball forward with the arch of his foot. Cesco leaned against De Vrij with his back and passed the ball back directly!
Chen Xiaoliang followed up with another long-range shot!
The ball was still hit towards the right side of the goal, but this time it was the lower corner!
Handanovic had no idea what kind of tacit understanding there was between Cesco and Chen Xiaoliang. He was amazed at how the speed of the ball was much faster than before, and he quickly fell sideways to the left!
The four fingers of his left hand touched the ball and blocked it out of the goal line before it rolled into the goal line.
Lou Yichen: "Let's see! Chen Xiaoliang's desire to attack was very strong today! In just 4 minutes, he had two very threatening long-range shots! And both shots came from counterattacks after Inter Milan's attack!"
Liu Yue: "In the previous defense, the Inter Milan midfielders had their own tasks, and they kept an eye on Pellegrini and Zaniolo, but Brozovic was the only one who missed, which led to Chen Xiaoliang's long shot that almost scored without any defense.
If Inter Milan does not make adjustments, they will lose the ball sooner or later. "
Pellegrini stood in the corner area, and Roma's two central defenders both pressed forward.
Young Inzaghi frowned as he watched the progress on the field.
Today, Roma clearly showed its determination to fight to the death with Inter Milan!
Just a few minutes into the game, all the central defenders were called up for corner attack. This meant that every attacking opportunity must be seized even at the cost of sacrificing defense!
He hesitated for a moment, but did not say anything to ask Lautaro, Dzeko and Calhanoglu who were still in front to go back.
As the defending champion with the most goals and the fewest goals conceded in Serie A this season, although he has no hope of winning the championship, he believes that his players can maintain the initiative in this offensive battle.
The players in the penalty area paced back and forth repeatedly, and made some small movements with their hands.
Pellegrini takes two steps to help!
He kicked the ball out!
It was a low ball! It flew out of the penalty area!
The players from both teams who were fighting each other in the penalty area immediately turned their heads and looked in the direction of the ball.
Brozovic, who was staring at Matic in the penalty area, felt something was wrong and wanted to rush out of the penalty area to block it, but it was too late!
Chen Xiaoliang received the ball with his right foot 35 meters outside the penalty area. The ball bounced lightly on the instep of his foot. He once again swung his right leg backwards as far as possible, and then hit the lower middle part of the ball with the outside of his instep with all his strength!
The ball flew to the left instantly, then drew an arc in the air, first to the left and then to the right, flying towards the goal!
Although the angle of this ball is not as tricky as the first two, it is a volley shot with considerable power.
Handanovic didn't dare to receive the ball directly, so he clenched his fists, jumped slightly and kicked the ball out of the penalty area.
Barella and Brozovic both rushed out, and the Roma players who were pressing forward to attack immediately retreated to their own half.
The ball fell near Calhanoglu. After receiving the ball, the Turk did not wait for Chen Xiaoliang to come over, but made a long pass directly behind Lautaro.
The Argentine striker started moving immediately. Celik, who was marking him, knew that he was no match for him in terms of speed, so he had to keep retreating and try to compress Lautaro's space.
Lautaro led the ball all the way to a position 10 meters in front of the penalty area on the left side. Seeing that defensive players such as Chen Xiaoliang and Veretout were approaching from behind, he was unwilling to waste time with Celik. He simply cut inside with his right foot and passed the ball back to Calhanoglu who was following him.
As soon as the Turkish midfielder received the ball, Lautaro stretched out his left hand and entered the penalty area at high speed without the ball.
On the other side, Dzeko had already run into the penalty area under Malaysia's defense and raised the offside line for him.
Calhanoglu immediately picked up the ball, and Lautaro suddenly started to catch Celik off guard. After creating space, Calhanoglu's overhead pass was delivered.
Patricio had no time to attack and could only move to the near post!
Lou Yichen: "Lautaro, face the goal!"
About 0.5 seconds later, both commentators cried out "Oops!"
Lou Yichen: "Lautaro, Lautaro, he made a very tacit cooperation with Calhanoglu to advance and counter-offside, and faced Patricio's one-on-one shot on the left side of the goal but kicked it into the stands!"
Liu Yue: "This goal itself was a very good opportunity. When he stopped the ball just now, Malaysia rushed towards him and tried to block it with a sliding tackle. So even if he didn't shoot, passing it to Dzeko would have created a chance to score into an empty goal."
"In the end he chose to shoot himself, but it was a really shocking kick."
Lou Yichen: "That's right! Just like Liu Yue said, it's really inappropriate for a 75 million euro ace striker to shoot like this when faced with such an opportunity."
Barrage:
[Inter Milan has one tall and one fast player. Lukaku is happy and Lautaro is happy.]
[Lukaku went to Chelsea, leaving happiness to Lautaro]
[If Argentina uses him, can they still win the World Cup? ]
[This is clearly Lukaku's clone - Lutaro]
[Xiao Wang got a good deal. There will be another joke on Douyin tomorrow]
…
"The camera turned to Argentina coach Scaloni in the stands!"
Lou Yichen: "I wonder what he feels when he sees Lautaro's performance, as he is about to lead the team to the World Cup."
"Lautaro's overall performance this season is still good. He has scored 19 goals so far and ranks third in the Serie A scorer list."
"But Dzeko, who transferred from Roma in the summer window, only scored 12 goals. Although this data cannot be said to be bad, after all, as a 36-year-old veteran, it is indeed very rare to contribute such a number of goals in a season."
"Giroud, who is about the same age as him, has only scored 10 goals so far this season for AC Milan."
"But compared to the 24 goals scored by Lukaku last season, Inter Milan's forward line's ability to score goals in the league has been affected to a certain extent."
Liu Yue: "What Lou said is right. Although the total number of goals in the league seems to be not much different overall, the reduction in goals scored by the strikers means that the midfielders and backcourt players are more involved in the offense. When they take on too many offensive tasks, it will have a certain impact on the team's overall defense. This is also the reason why Inter Milan has repeatedly overturned in games against mid- and lower-level teams this year."
On the field, the ball boy threw the ball to Patricio, and the old goalkeeper kept encouraging Celik who was guarding Lautaro all the way back.
When your opponent's speed and explosive power are obviously faster than yours, especially when he is in a weak position, it is easy to be left behind if you are not careful.
At the beginning, both teams played their own three tricks. Inter Milan's three shots were more threatening than the other, while Roma's three long-range shots all came from Chen Xiaoliang.
After three rounds of play that lasted about six minutes, both sides strengthened their defense of key personnel.
Barella and Brozovic focused on marking Chen Xiaoliang according to their respective defensive areas, reducing the space and number of times he got the ball as much as possible, not to mention giving him the opportunity to take a long shot.
On the Roma side, they were extra cautious about Lautaro's sudden runs from behind, especially Matic, who often stood in the penalty area to help the central defender defend against the opponent's two forwards.
In the 13th minute, Zaniolo cut in from the right and shot, the ball hit Dimarco and deflected, and the ball fell right at Cesco's feet. The latter's hasty shot was too slow and was saved by Handanovic.
In the 17th minute, Calhanoglu received a pass from Perisic on the left, adjusted a few steps 35 meters away from the goal and took a long shot, which was saved by Patricio. Mancini kicked the rebound ball out of the baseline before Dzeko stretched his foot.
In the 19th minute, Inter Milan's corner kick was cleared by Matic. Brozovic, who was lagging behind, controlled the ball and wanted to pass it to the side, but was intercepted by Chen Xiaoliang, who immediately passed the ball over the top to Cesco.
De Vrij was entangled with Cesco who was trying to sprint forward, while waiting for Skriniar and Dimarco to come to assist.
Seeing that he was being double-teamed and unable to see the situation behind him, Cesco had to force a shot on the penalty area line.
The ball was hit very suddenly, but unfortunately it was too straight and was knocked to the ground by Handanovic who then fell to the ground to catch it.
Both sides played very fiercely, and safe back passes and passes were rare. They tried to pass the ball to the opponent's offensive third zone as soon as they got the chance.
At the same time, the competition in the midfield was very intense.
In the 21st minute, Inter Milan repeated the same trick. Perisic dribbled on the left to attract the defense's attention, then created a gap and passed the ball to Calhanoglu in the middle.
Facing the open space in front of him, Calhanoglu wanted to try another long shot, but just as he took two steps with the ball and prepared to adjust and shoot, Chen Xiaoliang rushed over from behind and stepped on the ball he had dribbled out, and then his body hit him.
Calhanoglu, who was not good at confrontation, was not even prepared and was immediately knocked to the ground by the collision.
Just as Chen Xiaoliang pulled the ball and was about to turn around to pass it, "Beep!" The referee Osato's whistle sounded!
Chen Xiaoliang looked at Osatu in surprise and saw him pointing at him, indicating that he had committed a foul.
Chen Xiaoliang walked towards the referee and repeated the action to him, but Osatu insisted on his own opinion and Chen Xiaoliang no longer insisted.
At this time, Barrera ran over and kept complaining to Osato, saying that the foul was so obvious that he should at least be given a yellow card.
Osatu simply pointed his finger at him and drove him away, meaning that he should go back to where he came from and not interfere just because he saw the fun.
Seeing that the referee was unmoved, Barrera knew he was bored and walked away angrily.
Then 3 minutes later, Matic made a long pass to the right from the backcourt. When Zaniolo was leaning on Dimarco to take the high ball, Osato called a foul for Dimarco's less obvious pulling action.
Even when Dimarco went up to Osatu to complain, Osatu made a move to take cards out of his pocket, which scared Dimarco so much that he had to wave his hands and run away.
Liu Yue: "This referee is very experienced. He is worthy of being recommended to FIFA by the Italian Football Association and appointed as the referee for the opening match."
"The refereeing today was very strict, but they never gave out cards easily. This was probably because they learned from the Italian Cup semi-final match between Roma and Fiorentina, where yellow cards flew everywhere and they almost lost control of the game."
Lou Yichen: "Like Liu Yue said, two consecutive fouls gave the players a very clear signal that as long as you make the slightest foul move, he will definitely call it, so the players will naturally think that once the move reaches a certain level, they may face a card."
The position of this free kick is not bad, located on the right side, about 10 meters away from the right side of the penalty area.
Pellegrini ran over and placed the ball, and Mancini and Ibanez also ran into Inter Milan's penalty area.
Chen Xiaoliang turned around and gestured to Pellegrini, who nodded.
No one else knew what the two of them were talking about, but it was definitely related to the free kick.
What was different on Inter Milan's side was that Barella, who was originally defending Roma's left side in the penalty area, and Calhanoglu, who was originally lurking in the midfield ready to counterattack at any time, both stood near Chen Xiaoliang.
Barrera, in particular, acted as if he would rush up and prepare for close combat as soon as the ball was passed to Chen Xiaoliang.
Pellegrini raised his hand, indicating that he was ready to kick off. Chen Xiaoliang advanced into the penalty area and Barrera quickly retreated.
Pellegrini started to run up, and Chen Xiaoliang ran back suddenly. This time, not only Barella and Calhanoglu were motivated by him and immediately surrounded him, but Brozovic, who was blocking the long shot in the penalty area, also subconsciously came over.
Pellegrini kicks off! The ball flies directly into the penalty area!
Damn! Fake move?!
Seeing that the flying ball had nothing to do with Chen Xiaoliang, Barrera and others realized that they had been fooled.
The ball went straight to the left side of the penalty area.
Cesco was already waiting there.
Although the landing point was not very good, relying on his height of 195cm and excellent jumping ability, Cesco still overpowered Skriniar and pushed the ball hard towards the middle!
Mancini jumped in the middle! De Vrij quickly jumped with him! He also blocked Mancini's head with his head!
They both came out on top!
While they were still in the air, Matic on the right jumped up again!
Although he has a good height, he is old after all, and his jump was too high, and even Dimarco who was defending him didn't touch the ball!
The ball flew from the left side of the penalty area to the right goal post!
Handanovic was confused by this series of interferences and couldn't attack or save the ball. He could only follow the trajectory of the ball and keep moving back and forth on the goal line as hard as he could.
Just as the ball flew over the heads of a group of people in the middle and landed on the far post, Veretout's figure appeared!
Standing at 177cm tall, he looks exceptionally small among the tall players in the penalty area.
He kept wandering around Zaniolo and between the right goal post and never received any special attention from Inter Milan.
Who would have thought that in such a long-distance set-piece attack, among a group of people around 190cm tall, a "short" player like him would be able to touch the ball.
Weletu stretched out his right foot, jumped forward, and used the arch of his foot to push the ball into the goal which was within reach while sliding!
Although Handanovic tried very hard to follow the ball, the continuous headers from Mancini and Matic interfered with his judgment and forced him to pause!
Wellertuche was completely left alone. Facing the empty goal, his shot went straight into the goal without any obstruction!
Lou Yichen: "In the 25th minute, Roma, who played away, used a set-piece to cause chaos in Inter Milan's penalty area! In the end, French midfielder Veretout pushed the ball into the goal from the back post!"
Liu Yue: "Inter Milan's players are complaining to the referee that they are offside."
Lou Yichen: "There is no offside in this ball. Let's watch it in slow motion! It is obvious that Veretout has been lurking on the far post side. Oh, it is obvious. Let's see! Croatian international Perisic was standing next to Veretout, but after Chen Xiaoliang suddenly retreated, his attention was distracted."
"Then the ball was passed to the left side of the penalty area. After Cesco passed the ball, Perisic turned his head and looked towards the middle, completely ignoring Veretout!"
"The screen froze at the moment Cesco headed the ball. There was absolutely no offside!"
On the field, the referee Osato briefly listened to the opinions of the video referee team in the headphones, and clearly pointed his finger to the center circle!
Roma players immediately rushed towards Veretout to celebrate!
Mourinho also clapped happily on the sidelines!
Everyone knows what Inter Milan means to this championship coach, but after all, those are all in the past!
However, just as Mourinho often referred to the Blues with Terry, Drogba and Lampard as "my team" after leaving Chelsea for the first time, in the first two years after he took over Real Madrid, when asked by reporters about his views on Inter Milan's recent situation, he always had special blessings for his old subordinates, as if that Inter Milan was still his team!
He is always competitive and even though it has been almost 12 years, and even though many Inter fans now boo and jeer him when they meet him in the game, he still wants to prove something to them.
Who is the greatest coach in Inter Milan's history? !
Who is the meritorious coach who made the Nerazzurri win Italy's first treble? !
It's me! Mourinho!
But at this moment, he was not ready to make the three-finger gesture representing the Treble to the Inter Milan fans on the north stand "Curva Nord".
Because the game was only 25 minutes in, everything was not over yet.
But everything was going perfectly as he planned.
