Chapter 227: Goal Frenzy!
Players from both sides returned to the court one after another.
I don’t know how Inzaghi arranged and mobilized the players in the midfield, but at least the Inter Milan players all had excited and confident expressions on their faces when they walked out of the locker room.
It seemed as if they were not affected at all by the score being equalized in the last minute of the first half.
Lou Yichen: "The entire first half was very exciting. Both teams played at a very high level, but each had its own advantages."
"Inter were better in open play, especially in counterattacks, which frequently caused Roma's defense to lose sight of one thing while focusing on another. If Lautaro hadn't missed the chance to score a goal, Inter could have scored at least one more goal in the first half."
"Roma scored both goals from set pieces. The second goal was a direct free kick, which caught everyone by surprise and left new suspense for the second half of the game."
"Both sides have already changed sides! Neither has made any personnel adjustments!"
"Okay! The referee blows the whistle and the second half begins!"
On the field, Cesco kicked the ball back, Chen Xiaoliang caught it, and the clock for the second half started ticking.
Chen Xiaoliang moved the ball to the left for a distance and then passed it to Pellegrini.
Inter Milan's formation was very solid, leaving no room for Roma to start, so they could only patiently look for opportunities.
The players in the midfield and frontcourt all crossed the half court and rushed forward, and the backcourt was just as Mourinho had arranged. Celik advanced to the midline and did not move forward any further, while Matic did not even cross the center circle, but just helped to receive the return pass and then reorganize the attack.
After passing the ball more than a dozen times, seeing that Inter Milan's encirclement was getting tighter and tighter, Veretout passed the ball back to Matic, who then passed it back to Ibanez.
Inter immediately started high pressing, Lautaro ran towards Ibanez, while Perisic and Dumfries on the wings were about to enter the attacking third zone.
As there was a Dzeko waiting for an opportunity outside the penalty area, Ibanez did not dare to pass the ball to Mancini who was closer, and could only choose to kick the ball forward.
Cesco immediately retreated to the left side outside the penalty area, ready to receive the high ball.
That position was too outside and out of De Vrij's defensive range, and Skriniar did not switch defense immediately, so only Barella was defending Cesco behind him.
A 195cm tall center forward faced a 172cm tall defensive midfielder. Cesco jumped up calmly, tapped the ball on his forehead, and prepared to easily unload the ball in front of him.
However, he underestimated Barrera who had no chance to face him directly.
As the only Serie A midfielder in the top 30 of the 2021 Ballon d'Or, to some extent, Barella is currently the top midfielder in Serie A.
Although he is shorter in height, he is a fierce defender and will not let Cesco easily grab the ball over his head.
Just as Cesco was about to stretch out his foot to catch the falling ball, a huge force came from behind and suddenly pulled him back!
Cesco's balance was disrupted instantly, but he couldn't fall backwards to commit a foul. Barrera pulled his waist with his hands and carried him from behind to prevent him from falling backwards.
In a hurry, seeing that he could not stop the ball properly, Cesco made what might be the most beautiful pass he had ever made in a formal professional game.
He raised his right leg, swung his foot from left to right, hit the ball with the outside of his right foot, and passed the ball to Malaysia who had already made a run behind him!
Malaysia, who was already hesitating whether to return to defense, suddenly saw the ball being passed to him in this unexpected way, and quickly ran up to catch the ball!
Lou Yichen: "Hey! Let's look! Cesco used a scorpion-like move to pass the ball behind Malaysia on the left!"
"Malaysia is in the penalty area!"
"Skriniar, come up and block it!"
"Good shot! Malaysia got through!"
"Come to the bottom line!"
“Inverted triangle!!!”
"oops!!!"
"What a pity! Malaysia made a series of beautiful moves. First, he received the ball and sprinted into the penalty area, then faced Skriniar and changed direction to knock him to the ground!"
"The angle was too small and he didn't choose to shoot directly. Instead, he came to the bottom line and made a triangle pass to Zaniolo who was following him. However, De Vrij flew over to block the ball and kicked it out of bounds."
Liu Yue: "Roma had a very good chance at the beginning of the second half. And this time, unlike the first half, there were only three players in the frontcourt: Cesco, Zaniolo and Malacia. But these three used their skillful cooperation to break through Inter Milan's defense."
Lou Yichen: "Cesco's scorpion kick and Malacia's change of direction, no one expected these two players to perform such beautiful moves in this kind of game! The scene seemed to hear the dissatisfied boos from the Inter Milan fans in the stands!"
Liu Yue: "Cesco has said many times that his idol is Ibrahimovic, so I don't know if that kick was a result of a deliberate imitation of his idol during training, or a sudden inspiration during the game."
On the field, corner kick on the left side!
Ibanez and Mancini ran up again, but Matic stayed behind the halfway line.
He was accompanied by two full-backs, Malacia and Celik.
On the Inter Milan side, Lautaro and Calhanoglu retreated slightly, but Dzeko was still at the front.
"Beep!" The referee signals that a free throw can be taken!
Pellegrini takes a run-up!
Pilling!
The ball hit low!
Skriniar jumped up and headed the ball out of the penalty area. Dumfries received the ball first and started running wildly. The players in Inter Milan's midfield and frontcourt immediately rushed towards Roma's half like a tide.
Chen Xiaoliang and Welertu returned to defense at full speed!
Malaysia blocked Dumfries's route while retreating and waiting for Chen Xiaoliang to come and double-team him.
Dumfries saw that it was almost impossible to break through, and if he stopped suddenly after dribbling the ball, he would be caught up by Chen Xiaoliang immediately. He had no choice but to kick the ball towards Dzeko in the middle.
The ball flew over and Dzeko was entangled with Ibanez. Relying on his physique and height, Dzeko headed the ball first, but Matic, who was assisting in defense, snatched the ball away.
Matic passed the ball to Chen Xiaoliang who stopped suddenly. Seeing this, the Inter Milan players who were sprinting had no choice but to retreat to their own half again like a round trip.
Chen Xiaoliang started with the ball, and Dumfries, who was closest to him, rushed towards him.
But no matter how he ran, Dumfries found that he could not catch up with Chen Xiaoliang.
Why ? This guy had just chased me at full speed for more than 30 meters, but how could he run so fast now?
Does he have three lungs?
Dumfries felt his legs were starting to feel weak.
A lot of physical energy was consumed in the 45 minutes of the first half, especially Dumfries, who scored a goal today. He sprinted from the right backcourt to the middle of Roma's penalty area several times to attack directly, and then quickly returned to his position after Roma got the ball and launched a counterattack.
Although players can take advantage of some opportunities on the weak side to move at a slow speed, or simply stand for a while to rest like in set-piece attack and defense, to slightly relieve the physical consumption, the consumption of oxygen content in muscle blood protein caused by intense sprinting is irreversible in a short period of time.
When the oxygen content in hemoglobin drops to a certain level, the muscles can no longer perform high-intensity strenuous exercise. It feels like an ordinary person running 1,000 meters and feeling like his legs are filled with lead in the last 200 meters.
Seeing that Dumfries could not catch up with Chen Xiaoliang, Brozovic began to choose his position, while in the penalty area on the left, middle and right sides, the three frontcourt players pulled as needed, supported as needed, and were ready to receive the ball and complete the attack at any time.
Chen Xiaoliang brought the ball to the front of the penalty area, and Brozovic stepped forward to block him.
Just when the two were about to get close, Chen Xiaoliang pushed his right foot and changed direction to the right!
Brozovic immediately moved sideways to the left, using his body to disrupt Chen Xiaoliang's balance, while subconsciously extending his right hand to push him out.
But in an instant, he retracted his outstretched hand!
The yellow card he received in the first half was like a warning bell hanging over his head, reminding him all the time that as a defensive midfielder he must pay attention to his defensive actions.
In addition, the referee Osato's penalty standards today were unusually strict. If he saw me pulling hard in this place and that "treacherous" guy Chen Xiaoliang fell backwards, I would most likely have to combine the two Gold God of War Cards into one Ruby God of War Card.
Speed was not his strong point to begin with, and after this hesitation, Chen Xiaoliang had already opened up a distance of half a body length.
There is a gap in front of the penalty area, everyone knows what this means.
Barella tried his best to rush here, and with Dimarco coming to assist in defense, De Vrij in the penalty area moved his body to the middle, trying to block the line between Chen Xiaoliang and the goal.
Seeing that De Vrij had left Cesco, Chen Xiaoliang suddenly pushed the ball with his right foot, and the ball immediately rolled to Cesco's feet!
Sesco moved back to block Dimarco who was trying to disrupt his pass. Just as De Vrij rushed towards him again, Sesco saw that Chen Xiaoliang was still running! He didn't stop!
But Chen Xiaoliang, who was without the ball, took advantage of the diversion of attention caused by the pass and completely got rid of Brozovic!
Cesco's return pass was just right, Chen Xiaoliang didn't make any adjustments and shot directly!
Still in the upper right corner of the goal!
Chen Xiaoliang knew that he couldn't run any closer, as any closer would not be a long shot.
The penalty area is 40.32 meters long and 16.5 meters wide. The distance from the goal to the penalty spot is 11 meters. The penalty area arc is an arc drawn on the penalty area line with the penalty spot as the center and a radius of 9.15 meters.
In other words, at this moment Chen Xiaoliang kicked the ball from 20.15 meters away from the goal. Relying on his long-range shooting and explosive attributes, plus the tacit understanding with Cesco, he used the inside of his foot to create an arc!
This was his fourth time attempting a long shot outside the penalty area in this game, but it was the one that was closest to perfection!
Handanovic do his best to dive to the left, his eyes fixed on the flying ball, praying that his left hand, which is as long as it can stretch out, can touch the ball.
But it was too late.
Although it was not a very sharp angle, the ball was flying at a very high speed and still flew into the goal before the goalkeeper's hand reached it!
All the Inter Milan players were stunned! They couldn't believe what was happening before their eyes!
The entire Roma team had the same reaction as them!
The only difference is that they rushed towards Chen Xiaoliang in excitement!
Long shots, headers, follow-up shots in the penalty area, and the only free kick that seemed like a god descending from heaven.
This is how Chen Xiaoliang scored all of his 5 goals in the league and 2 goals in the UEFA Champions League.
And now, he actually dribbled the ball all the way to the penalty area, then used dribbling to create distance, and then completed a wall pass with Cesco, and scored a goal in the open play? !
In the 49th minute, Inter Milan 2 to 3!
Lou Yichen: "What a match this was! Players from both teams seemed to be at their personal best!"
Liu Yue: "Xiaoliang is improving in a visible way and has become a truly all-around midfielder."
Mourinho nodded and clapped proudly, and did not forget to steal a glance at the coaching bench next door.
He saw Inzaghi talking heatedly with his assistant coach Faris.
At the same time, several players began to warm up under his instructions.
Barella and Brozovic were breathing heavily and moving forward, ready to restart the game in the center circle.
When approaching Calhanoglu, Barrera did not forget to complain to him, asking why he did not return to defense earlier to help double-team Chen Xiaoliang.
Calhanoglu shook his hands at Barrera several times and pointed at his eyes, asking him to stop shirking responsibility and to look clearly at the situation and who was responsible for the defense zone.
"Beep!" The game starts again!
This is the 6th kick-off from the center circle in this game!
Falling behind again made Inter Milan run and attack even more frantically.
In the 51st minute, Lautaro and Dzeko switched positions. Lautaro came to the right and received a straight pass from Barrera. He shot at a small angle 3 meters away from the bottom line on the right side of the penalty area, but was saved by Patricio.
Afterwards, just like Roma, the three central defenders in the backcourt served as high points and all came to Roma's penalty area.
Except for Cesco, all the Roma players are back.
Chen Xiaoliang stood at the far post to remind his teammates to get into position.
Dzeko, De Vrij, Skriniar, several high points all have dedicated personnel to guard them.
"Bang!" The microphone on the sidelines picked up the sound of Calhanoglu's corner kick. With the Turkish international's superb footwork, the ball bent towards the penalty area in a clear arc.
At the front point, the two central defenders Drewry and Dimarco rush to the close point!
Then, Dzeko suddenly moved towards the far post, and Matic stuck to him tightly, not forgetting to pull his clothes!
Ibanez and Zaniolo jumped with the two central defenders in front, but all of them missed the target and the ball did not land there!
A Nerazzurri number 10 suddenly rushed towards the penalty spot from beside Dzeko!
The red number 23 beside him quickly caught up!
But the ball was already showing a clear downward trend behind Ibanez!
Lou Yichen: "Lautaro header!"
“Good shot!”
"Inter Milan scored another goal! They equalized the score in just 2 minutes!"
"Oh my God! The game has only been going on for 52 minutes and the two sides are already tied 3-3!"
Liu Yue: "It seemed like the two sides exchanged goals after halftime, and even their scoring styles were exchanged."
"Roma scored two goals from set pieces in the first half, but scored from open play in the second half. Inter Milan, who scored both goals from open play, actually relied on the high points in the penalty area to create a gap for Lautaro, who is only 1.74 meters tall, and headed the ball into the goal comfortably with almost no one defending."
On the sidelines, it was Inzaghi's turn to raise his fists high again and celebrate excitedly.
Bastoni, Correa, Gagliardini and others who were warming up rushed into the field and hugged Lautaro!
Mourinho himself didn't expect that this time, he only had 2 minutes.
This is definitely the greatest humiliation for a man!
