Chapter 236: Hat trick in seven minutes!
“Penalty!!!”
"Paul Valeri points to the penalty spot! And shows Tonali a yellow card!"
"The Olympic Stadium is boiling!"
"Almost all AC Milan fans were silent, and instead there was a thunderous roar from Roma fans!"
"Just 20 minutes ago, perhaps many fans thought the game was over! Milan's huge advantage and easy scoring made the outcome no longer in doubt!"
"But in the second half, with less than 15 minutes left, Roma had a great chance to get the game back to where it started!"
"Let's see who will take the penalty kick on Roma's side!"
He Wei was commentating excitedly in the broadcast room, and one could faintly hear the sound of him slapping the table.
Looking at his own players who were gathered in the Milan penalty area to discuss who would take the penalty kick, Forti could not help but ask Mourinho: "Jose, you said that during the halftime, Chen asked us to leave the locker room early. What did he say?"
Mourinho patted Forti's elbow hard: "It doesn't matter what you say. What matters is that God is on our side now!"
On the field, in fact, everyone gathered together and didn't talk about who would take the penalty kick.
In the tactical arrangement, the penalty kick taker sequence is very clear, with Pellegrini, Veretout, Cesco, Abraham and Matic being the fixed top five.
Although Chen Xiaoliang, who had already scored two goals in this game, was eligible to request the penalty kick to complete his hat trick, as expected, he explicitly rejected the proposal and insisted on following the tactical arrangement.
Then everyone communicated about how to rush into the penalty area as quickly as possible to launch a second shot based on the position they had occupied in advance in case the ball was blocked.
At the same time, during this process, Veretout, Cesco and Chen Xiaoliang stood around the penalty spot, preventing Maignan from coming in and damaging the grass on the penalty spot.
Until referee Paul Valeri blew the whistle to clear out all irrelevant players.
Zaniolo picked up the ball and kissed it again. Regardless of superstition or blessing, the team has reached a critical juncture of life and death. One step forward will lead to a smooth road, but one step back will still be like walking on thin ice.
Pellegrini took the ball from Zaniolo, placed it steadily on the penalty spot, and then slowly stepped back.
One step, two steps, three steps, four steps, take a deep breath, stand still, and look at Maignan.
Maignan kept jumping, moving his legs back and forth, and pointing his hands to the left and then to the right, trying to use all possible confusing means to interfere with Pellegrini's judgment.
And in the stands not far behind the goal, it is where Milan fans gather.
Several flags with the Milan team logo and support slogans were waving back and forth. There was even a bald man who had already taken off his shirt and trousers, revealing only a pair of Doraemon boxer briefs. He stroked his chest hair and danced erotically, which drew laughter and support from the surrounding Milan fans.
Not only the 11 players on the field, but even the 12th player in the stands tried their best!
"Beep!" Paul Valery whistled!
Pellegrini takes the run-up...
One step! Two steps!
“Beep, beep, beep!”
Before he could lift his foot, whistles sounded rapidly and continuously.
Everyone looked at the referee in astonishment, only to see him pointing at Theo, who had clearly stepped both feet into the penalty area.
He Wei: "Paul Valeri warned Theo, but from the perspective of refereeing, his approach is obviously more experienced."
"Because once the ball was kicked out and Theo entered the penalty area early, if the ball was not kicked in, he would still face a heavy penalty. But that would obviously be unacceptable to Milan's players and fans, and would definitely cause a backlash in public opinion after the game."
"It's better to take precautions, but I don't know if this episode will have a psychological impact on Pellegrini!"
“Beep!”
The whistle blows again!
This time, Pellegrini did not kick immediately, but adjusted his breathing.
He also tried his best not to pay attention to Maignan's fancy interference moves, and concentrated on his sprint and running!
The arch of the right foot clearly hit the lower center of the ball!
It's the left side! A low ball that's just off the ground!
This is what Maignan guessed!
In that moment of one tenth of a second, the worlds of both the attacker and defender seemed to freeze!
Maignan only felt that his right palm touched the ball!
When saving a penalty kick, the goalkeeper will choose the hardest hand, because the most regrettable thing is that he guessed right, saved the kick right, and touched the ball, but his hand was not hard enough and was too soft, so the ball changed direction but still flew into the goal!
Pellegrini's legs began to move.
This was the first time he felt that, in a state of full concentration, his body had surpassed his consciousness!
As expected, the ball was touched by Maignan and bounced back!
But Pellegrini has already rushed to Maignan!
Maignan struggled to stand up from the ground, spread his limbs, and pounced towards Pellegrini like a roc with spread wings!
On the sidelines and in the stands, before anyone could even express their amazement at the penalty being saved, their hearts were already in their throats again!
Seeing that there was no space for a follow-up shot, Pellegrini pushed the ball to the middle with his left foot!
There are his teammates!
In an instant, several pairs of feet fell to the ground and tackled the ball, and the first person to touch the ball was still the man that the entire Roma team trusted most!
Maignan wanted to stand up and turn around to rush to the middle, but it was too late. He watched the ball slowly roll into the goal after being shoveled, but he still didn't want to accept the fact that the score was tied, and raised his arms.
There were several other Milan players who made the same move as him. Some complained that Roma players had committed fouls by making sliding shots, while others complained that they had rushed into the penalty area prematurely!
But Paul Valery completely ignored these comments and decisively pointed his finger towards the center circle!
He Wei: "3-3! Roma equalized!!!"
"Only 15 minutes into the second half, in the 60th minute, they had already made up for all of Milan's efforts in the first half!"
"Roma's players are celebrating like a human pyramid. Even though the score has changed, we still need to check the replay to confirm who scored the goal!"
"From this angle, it seems to be Xiaoliang!"
"After scoring the goal, he just stood up and was pulled to the ground by Pellegrini, who was standing beside him, and then almost all the Roma players rushed over!"
"Look at this angle parallel to the goal line!"
"It should be right! It should be right!"
"The scoreboard of the on-site director is also listed, it's Xiaoliang!"
"If this Italian Cup final is a head-to-head contest between two Italian teams competing for the domestic championship, then Chen Xiaoliang tonight is undoubtedly the brightest star in this peak showdown!"
"That's right! His performance is worthy of being called a superstar!"
"In just 20 days, he scored hat tricks against two Milan giants. Today, from the first goal in the 53rd minute to the hat trick in the 60th minute, only seven minutes passed!"
"And don't forget! It was he himself who created this penalty!"
“Who says the world is cold and cruel? Like the Romans today, as long as you have firm faith, make full preparations, and maintain high morale, the world may, just maybe, unveil its cold veil and show you a bright smile!”
In the stands, many Roma fans, especially the female fans, shed tears of excitement!
In seven minutes, from hell to heaven, at this moment they seemed to feel that the team they wholeheartedly supported had been reborn from the ashes like a phoenix, and was already invincible!
After scoring the goal, Mourinho excitedly hugged Forti, along with Matic and Abraham who were warming up!
When midfielder Chen Xiaoliang encouraged everyone to try to score a goal in the first 15 minutes of the second half, no one expected that they would take the entire game back in 15 minutes!
In the stands, Totti, De Rossi, Giannini and other Roma legends completely ignored the other Italian friends around them and stood up to celebrate wildly.
Miracles are no strangers to them!
On April 10, 2018, they also reversed Messi's Barcelona with a score of 3-0 in the Champions League quarter-finals at this stadium!
The captain of that game, also a midfielder, was De Rossi who was celebrating wildly in the stands at this moment!
Riise was in tears as he was on a video call with an old friend, showing him the incredible yet familiar scene happening on the court!
"Did you see that? Xavi! Incredible game!!!"
The Xavi that Riise mentioned was naturally his old teammate Xabi Alonso at Liverpool. On that even more magical night, Alonso used "the fastest reaction in his life" penalty kick to make Milan people experience the terrible feeling of falling from heaven to hell for the first time.
Pioli was stunned.
He never expected that the clown would be himself.
He stood on the sidelines with his mouth slightly open, his empty eyes seemed to be looking at the court, one hand was folded across his chest, and the other hand was constantly stroking his chin.
At this point in the game, it is no longer about tactical arrangements or player abilities.
The morale of his team and his players has hit rock bottom.
The wrong mentality at halftime and the complete lack of experience in winning major tournaments made the team's tactics and discipline in the second half completely like a group of unorganized guerrillas. It was more like an exhibition match than a final.
At this moment, a man in a yellow vest grabbed his shoulders forcefully.
"I want to play."
Pioli was startled, and pulled away from his empty, helpless thoughts, and looked back.
He suddenly felt like he had found a life-saving straw!
Zlatan Ibrahimovic!
Behind Ibrahimovic stands Florenzi!
Pioli immediately walked to the fourth official and requested a substitution.
On the other side, after the celebration, the Roma players, as if a huge burden had been lifted from their shoulders, were already standing in their own half.
They also noticed AC Milan's substitutions.
The 40-year-old Ibrahimovic came on to replace the 36-year-old Giroud.
Florenzi replaced Leo, letting Theo play as left back and move up to play as winger.
Leo walked down the court with a reluctant look on his face, mumbling non-stop. When he reached the sidelines, he chose to ignore the hands that Florenzi stretched out.
Ibrahimovic, who was standing by, grabbed his shoulder with one hand and pulled him back, then pressed his other hand on his face and pushed him hard.
Leo felt pain and turned back to look at Ibrahimovic angrily, but when he saw Ibrahimovic glaring at him, he immediately felt that he was in the wrong.
With a height of 188cm, he suddenly became a chicken in the claws of an eagle in front of Ibrahimovic who was 195cm tall. He walked back to the bench in disappointment, not daring to utter a word.
Chen Xiaoliang naturally saw all of this. Anyone with a discerning eye could see that this was a move to send two veterans, especially Ibrahimovic, who had a very high prestige in the team and had the final say, to stabilize the morale and lead the team to counterattack when the team was in chaos.
Moreover, as he is about to turn 41, playing after 60-70 minutes can better meet the team's needs.
Just as Chen Xiaoliang was thinking about how to respond, the system rang.
【Boom boom boom! 】
Chen Xiaoliang was stunned, and saw a string of words that were both unfamiliar and familiar automatically pop up on the panel.
[Superstar detected: Ibrahimovic]
[Superstar Mission: Win 5 aerial duels with Zlatan Ibrahimovic]
[Task progress: 3/5]
[Mission Reward: Zlatan Ibrahimovic Skill Training Package]
[Note: This task will end at the end of the season]
Oh my god!
Chen Xiaoliang almost forgot about this kind of sub-task!
Only then did I remember that this season I faced two superstar opponents because Tottenham finally gave up the Europa League group stage, there was no chance to complete that task.
In the two rounds of the league against Milan, Ibrahimovic only completed 3/5 of the task because of his limited playing time.
It seems that all the decisive battles have been left to this moment, and a winner must and will be decided!
“Beep!”
In the 62nd minute, both sides stood still and Paul Valeri blew the whistle for the kick-off from the center circle for the eighth time.
Ibrahimovic kicked the ball back to Krunic, then walked towards the front court with a reckless step.
In the 63rd minute, after Milan made more than a dozen passes in the midfield and backcourt, Calabria passed the ball to Tonali who was on the right.
Tonali patiently completed a one-two with Salemakos and came to the right side of the penalty area, passing the ball directly to Ibrahimovic.
Ibrahimovic jumped in the air, raised his elbow, and knocked Roma vice-chairman Mancini to the ground with one elbow. Then after landing, he kicked the falling ball.
However, the referee's whistle sounded first.
The elbow hit Mancini's throat hard, causing him to fall to the ground and be unable to breathe for a few seconds.
Paul Valery sternly warned Ibrahimovic, and the Swede accepted the warning graciously and politely, responding with a "brilliant" smile, then continued to walk back slowly with the pace of killing whoever stands in his way.
In the stands, Nesta and Gattuso showed a hint of smile on their embarrassed faces.
As experienced legendary players, they could see that although the elbow just now hit Mancini, it was like a loud roar, waking up all the Milan players on the field.
It was as if he was saying, “I’m here, put away your timidity and cowardice, and help me take the game back!”
Mourinho naturally saw it, and his understanding of Ibrahimovic was even better than that of Ibrahimovic's current head coach Pioli.
He felt a little regretful. If he had known that Ibrahimovic would come on so early, he should not have replaced Smalling at halftime.
Facing this tall, column-type center forward with slow movement speed, Smalling, who is also slow but has good heading ability, is more suitable than Mancini, who is shorter at only 186 cm and has a softer style.
But Milan has veterans, and he also has veterans.
Matic and Mkhitaryan are ready, and the fourth official sign has been raised!
In the 64th minute, Matic replaced Veretout and Mkhitaryan replaced Zaniolo.
If this duel can be compared to a fencing match, then at this point, Milan's slashing, stabbing and prodding with sabers in the first half and Roma's dazzling and fatal foil strikes in 7 minutes in the second half have both ended.
In the remaining 30 minutes, perhaps it will be the heavy sword stage where whoever stabs the opponent first will win the final victory!