Chapter 238: The man on the street is as beautiful as jade, and he is unparalleled in the world!
As Mourinho said, AC Milan attacked in the second half of extra time.
However, in Pioli's heart, the reason why he did not want to drag the game into a penalty shootout was purely because he felt that his team was stronger and the victory or defeat should be settled in the competition stage.
If it weren't for his negligence and carelessness in the second half of regular time, he always thought that this game would be a foregone conclusion.
Once the match enters a penalty shootout, the difference in the teams' strength on paper will be completely wiped out, and the only thing left is the players' on-the-spot penalty performance and whether the goalkeeper can have a flash of inspiration to decide life and death.
However, to be on the safe side, Pioli replaced Kalulu with Romagnoli, who was more experienced but did not start due to a minor injury.
At this point, Milan's six substitutions have all been used up.
In the 106th minute, Rebic played a triangle combination with Bennacer and Krunic on the left side of Roma. The three of them took turns to switch positions and pull the defense, making Spinazzola, who had just come on the field, exhausted and could only retreat.
But Krunic still got through Rebic's involvement and used a clever offside to receive Bennacer's through pass and came near the baseline.
Suddenly, Milan players in the penalty area sprinted towards the goal together. Krunic pushed the ball hard in front of the goal with his right foot. Ibrahimovic, Theo, and Bakayoko who came in from behind fell to the ground and made shooting gestures in front of the goal!
Ibrahimovic at the front point was a beat slow in stretching his legs, and Bakayoko poked the ball in the middle before Patricio!
The ball suddenly flew up, and just as it was about to fly into the goal, it was blocked by Ibanez's raised foot!
Then Mancini, who was defending Ibrahimovic on the side, kicked the ball out of the penalty area.
The Milan players who were lying on the ground and standing aside all raised their hands, but the referee Paolo Valeri waved his hands, indicating that the ball did not cross the goal line as a whole and the game was still going on.
Bakayoko fell to the ground with his head in his hands, while Patricio pushed Ibanez hard.
On the Roma bench, several players nervously covered their chests and gasped for breath to show that they had once again witnessed the team's escape from death.
Mourinho watched two central defenders who he had once discarded save the day on the goal line, and kept repeating in his mind, "Persevere, persevere!"
Roma's counterattack continued in front. Abraham received a through ball from Mkhitaryan and dribbled into the penalty area under the close defense of Tomori. He forced a shot from a small angle on the right. Faced with the extremely fast ball, Maignan had to save it from going out of bounds.
Roma wins a corner.
Mkhitaryan took a corner kick from the right side, but the height was too low and was blocked by Florenzi at the front point. Abraham, who received the rebound ball on the ribs, had no shooting angle for a rare occasion and chose to knock the ball back to the front of the penalty area. Chen Xiaoliang's powerful right foot shot from 25 meters in front of the goal was blocked by Bakayoko's body again and went out of the bottom line.
Roma continues to get corner kicks.
At this time, the time has come to the 110th minute.
Faced with more and more Roma players pressing forward to participate in set-piece attacks, Ibrahimovic let Rebic stay in front and ran back to his own penalty area to participate in the defense.
Mkhitaryan kicked the ball again, and this time he paid special attention to the height of the ball.
The ball flying to the back point caused a commotion in the penalty area. Romagnoli and Mancini were entangled. They jumped up one after another and fell down one after another because of pulling each other. In the end, the ball flew directly out of the baseline without anyone touching it.
Referee Paul Valery also did not make any comment, and his position allowed him to clearly see the entire process of the two people pulling each other.
Then, Maignan reached out to the caddy for the ball, but the caddy took a while to throw the ball over.
At this time, Roma's defenders were already rushing back at full speed.
Maignan kicked the ball with a long kick, Rebic chased after the ball and rushed to the right. When he reached the side of the penalty area, he made a low pass to the middle. Mancini, who was returning to defense, fell to the ground and tackled the ball out of the baseline. However, this tackle caused his left calf to cramp, and the referee had to stop the game and let the team doctor come in to deal with it.
Roma, which has no substitutions left, cannot make substitutions, nor can it allow Mancini to leave the field for treatment, as this would briefly leave the team with one less player on the field.
Despite the referee's urging, the team doctor still grabbed Mancini's ankle and stretched him, and repeatedly sprayed cooling spray on his calf to offset the pain caused by excessive muscle contraction after spasm.
Chen Xiaoliang stepped forward to help stretch and encourage Mancini.
He knew that playing such a long final at the end of the season was a tough challenge in terms of willpower.
Even with the assistance of the system and the bonus of stamina recovery cards, my limbs and muscles could no longer withstand such overloaded, high-intensity running and confrontation when my stamina was guaranteed, not to mention my teammates whose stamina and muscles were facing collapse.
But everyone, including him, could see the dedication of all the Roma players on the field to the game and their desire for the championship.
In the 112th minute, Mancini dragged his injured leg and used his body to block Bennacer's low shot at the near post again.
Facing the bouncing ball, although Mancini still wanted to struggle to jump up, his legs could not cope with the pressure of the explosive jump in a short period of time, and he felt like he was filled with lead and could not move.
Ibrahimovic, who is about to turn 41, has played for 52 minutes since he came on in the 60th minute of the second half. Considering his current physical fitness, this playing time has far exceeded his average playing time per game this season.
At this time, he was standing next to the ball and he ran over with all his strength, ready to head the ball for a second shot.
At the critical moment, Chen Xiaoliang flashed over from the side!
But he had already judged that the distance between him and the landing point of the ball was not enough for him to clear the ball with his head.
In war, one must take risky steps and in extraordinary times one must resort to extraordinary measures.
At that moment, he jumped forward with all his strength, and with a high-kick, he kicked the ball out of the penalty area behind him!
Milan players raised their hands to the referee again!
But Paul Valery still made the same gesture and waved his hands to indicate that there was no problem!
He Wei: "I saw some spectators saying that the kick was too high, but this kind of clearance action in the penalty area at a critical moment, although it is dangerous, the referee can completely not whistle if the actual action does not cause any physical contact."
"Because raising the foot too high is not a foul in football games, but because it is a dangerous action and has a certain degree of harm, it will be noticed by the referee during the game."
"If and only if there is a risk of injury between players due to the excessive height of the foot, the referee will stop the game and make the penalty call in accordance with the actual situation."
"Even if Xiaoliang touched Ibrahimovic in that ball just now, unless the referee determined that it was a malicious kick, the most serious penalty would be an indirect free kick in the penalty area!"
[Superstar Mission: Win 5 aerial duels with Zlatan Ibrahimovic]
[Task progress: 5/5]
Chen Xiaoliang quickly got up and ignored the task prompt. Seeing that the ball was taken by Cristante and was trying hard to get it out of the penalty area under the defense of Krunic, he immediately rushed out and reached out to Cristante for the ball!
At the same time, Spinazzola on the left also rushed up from the wing!
With his teammates running on both sides, Bennacer could only gamble and block one side. This allowed Cristante to pull the ball and pass it directly to Chen Xiaoliang who was running in the middle.
Chen Xiaoliang looked up and saw four Milan players in white jerseys in front of him, and Cesco was his only teammate.
It was already the 113th minute, he no longer waited and decided to end the team in the way that Milan fans were most familiar with!
[Used Peak Kaka Long-Distance Attack Attribute Card (One Minute)]
[Effects: Dribbling 19, Technique 19, Agility 18]
[Additional skills: Good at dribbling from the middle]
Although it seemed that there was no change, Chen Xiaoliang could clearly feel that every time he teed out the ball during high-speed running, it would land exactly at the point after 2-4 steps, not a bit more or less!
Bakayoko behind him took advantage of the fact that he had just started and had not yet reached full speed, chased him from the diagonal back, and directly reached out to pull him in an attempt to commit a tactical foul.
But Chen Xiaoliang seemed to have sensed Bakayoko's movements. He dodged to the left while running, just avoiding his outstretched grab.
"oh!!!"
Many Roma fans stood up!
Watching Chen Xiaoliang running faster and faster with the ball in the middle, their hopes and expectations became stronger and stronger!
He Wei: "Xiao Liang is still advancing!"
"At this point in the race, he's probably the only one who can run like this!"
"Spinazzola on the left is asking for the ball."
"Xiao Liang didn't give it, he's still sprinting!"
“Theo chased after me and tackled me!”
"pretty!"
"He stepped forward with his right leg, and then jumped with his whole body, and flew directly over Theo!"
"oh!!!!!!"
Almost all the Roma fans in the stands stood up! Even the players on the Roma bench couldn't help but stand up and walked to the edge of the coach's command area!
Mourinho's mouth was slightly open, his hands were raised involuntarily in front of his chest, and his body was trembling slightly!
In front, Cesco was running forward desperately with his last bit of strength, while pulling back the offside line with Tomori who was marking him.
Romagnoli, who was afraid that Chen Xiaoliang would make a violent long shot outside the penalty area, took advantage of his abundant physical strength and took the initiative to step forward and try to use physical confrontation to slow down Chen Xiaoliang's speed.
But at this moment, a scene happened that made Mourinho suffocate and even burst into tears!
Facing Romagnoli who was approaching sideways in front of him, Chen Xiaoliang suddenly kicked the ball to the right with his right foot and made an instant diagonal change of direction almost without slowing down.
And Cesco, who had already rushed into the penalty area, moved to the left side of the penalty area almost at the same moment!
A huge gap suddenly appeared in front of Chen Xiaoliang!
Even Forti was stunned. What kind of tacit understanding could allow two people to perform such a wonderful counter-running cooperation at the same time at high speed! ! !
Tomori also discovered this. He knew that this step was enough to get rid of Romagnoli, and it was impossible to rely on his teammates to defend. If Chen Xiaoliang could lead him a few more steps, he would be able to rush into the penalty area and face Maignan on the right side for a single shot!
Just as they were about to create space for a shot, Roma's fans looked like they were about to jump off the stands!
"List!!!!!"
"ah!!!!!"
“Shoot!!!!”
The primitive inner impulse made them shout out the words that came out of their mouths most instinctively at the moment.
Risking a through ball, Tomori left Cesco behind and rushed towards Chen Xiaoliang without hesitation.
His teammate and captain Calabria understood what he meant and took on the task of closely marking Cesco.
But just as Chen Xiaoliang was still sprinting diagonally to the right front, Cesco was still running to the left!
Are these two people going to cooperate? Attract Maignan to guard the near post and then pass the ball to the back post for Cesco to head into the empty goal? !
Calabria did not dare to be careless and pressed forward step by step. Fortunately, although he was exhausted, Cesco was also at the end of his strength.
Just as Tomori, who was blocking horizontally, was getting closer and closer to Chen Xiaoliang who was sprinting into the penalty area, Chen Xiaoliang tilted his body and gently pushed the ball to the middle with his right foot before falling to the ground!
Tomori and Romagnoli, who were chasing at full speed, had no time to react to such a sudden action!
Except for their necks and eyeballs.
In the middle, a 29-year-old Italian man with a height of 186 cm and wearing No. 37 received the ball!
He stopped the ball lightly with his left foot, took two steps forward, almost at the penalty spot, and shot with his right foot towards the lower left corner of the goal!
A second ago, Maignan, who was standing at the near post ready to face Chen Xiaoliang's shot, rushed to the other post like mad , but before he made a save, the ball had already rolled into the goal under his watchful eyes!
He Wei: “The ball goes in!!!”
"114th minute!"
"Xiao Liang dribbled the ball nearly 70 meters from the backcourt! He made a wonderful pass to Spinazzola in Milan's penalty area!"
"The latter pushed the ball into the bottom left corner and scored what might have been the winning goal!"
"We saw it! Spinazzola and Chen Xiaoliang hugged each other excitedly, and he covered his face with his hands and cried with joy!"
"The last time we saw him cry was during the quarter-final of the European Championship between Italy and Belgium last summer!"
"He was injured without any confrontation. After he fell to the ground, he covered his face and cried bitterly. He was heartbroken!"
"This Achilles tendon rupture has kept him out for 278 days, which is very likely to be fatal for a 29-year-old player."
"You know, before he got injured, he was recognized as the most amazing player in the Italian team that won the European Cup. His sprint speed also became the fastest speed in that tournament!"
"But today, 310 days later, the left-back announced to the whole of Italy that he was back with a goal!"
"His character is just like this goal. He ran all over the field silently and never gave up any effort until the last chance came!"
"Today, even though he came on as a substitute, his performance was worthy of being called the great Italian left-back!"
On the sidelines, the players on the Roma bench who could not contain their excitement all rushed in and hugged Chen Xiaoliang and Spinazzola tightly, many of them already had tears in their eyes.
Mourinho also couldn't help crying.
But he knew that the game was not over yet, so he had to harden his heart to interrupt the players' passionate celebration, constantly telling them with gestures and shouts to calm down, that the game was not over yet, and the opponent would definitely fight to the death!
Although the Milan legends in the stands realized that today might be the birth of another famous scene that would be repeatedly criticized in the future, when the broadcast camera swept towards them, many of them still gave selfless applause for this wonderful goal.
Especially when the camera turned to Kaka who was standing and applauding in the box, many messages suddenly burst out in the comment section of the live broadcast room.
[If Xiaoliang had pointed his hands to the sky in his celebration, it would have been exactly like Kaka’s.]
[He used his speed to get rid of Bakayoko, flew past Theo's tackle, shook off Romagnoli's defense, sprinted 70 meters, and then delivered a fatal assist in a double-team. It's not an exaggeration to call him the Italian football king tonight]
[Be more confident. Kaka won the Ballon d'Or that year. This is the best performance he has ever achieved on a personal level.]
[13 goals and 23 assists this season, half of which he played as a defensive midfielder. Are you sure Roma can keep him this summer?]
[The man on the street is as beautiful as jade, and the young master is unparalleled in the world! 】
[As a Milan fan, I was moved to tears]
…
After kneeling on the ground in frustration for a while, Maignan picked up the ball and kicked it towards the center circle.
[The effect of Peak Kaka's Long-Distance Attack Attribute Card (one minute) has ended]
Ibrahimovic kicked off from the center circle, and Mourinho and Pioli waved their hands to the same side at the same time - the side of the Roma penalty area.
The meaning is very clear. One requires all team members to retreat, while the other requires all team members to press forward and fight to the death.
Milan's attack still made Roma's goalkeeper nervous, and even Chen Xiaoliang at this moment, after the ultra-long distance full-speed sprint just now, no longer had the extra energy to take advantage of Milan's defensive gap to launch a high-speed counterattack.
In the 118th minute, Florenzi made a diagonal pass from the left, Theo's header from 7 meters in front of the goal was blocked by Patricio. Theo received the blocked ball and shot with his right foot again, but Patricio, who was lying on the ground, miraculously blocked the ball with his left hand and it went out of the baseline.
He Wei: "I believe that many people, like me, have watched many games of Roma this season because of Xiao Liang, and tonight's game is definitely the most thorough display of the team's mental outlook throughout the entire season!"
"Even Patricio, the Portuguese goalkeeper who is usually taciturn, gave his all for the team! If it weren't for him and the two central defenders Ibanez and Mancini's key blocks today, the game might have ended in a big scoreline!"
In the 119th minute, the fourth official raised the card and 2 minutes of extra time were added!
Roma's substitute players, coaches, team doctors, and even property managers all stood in a row, just like when taking a penalty kick. Everyone hugged the shoulders of the person next to them, their eyes constantly switching between the game and the timer, praying silently in their hearts, their palms and backs already soaked with sweat.
In the 121st minute, Milan took a corner kick!
Maignan also came up! In such a large stadium, 22 players all appeared in the same small penalty area at the same time!
Calabria lobs the ball to the outside of the penalty spot!
Romagnoli headed the ball to the first point, but the ball was not accurate, and Matic headed the ball out of the penalty area at the second point!
Krunic on the outside caught up with the ball and sent it into the penalty area again!
Patricio punched the ball out with both fists, and Cristante kicked the ball to the front court!
Rebic chased back frantically, running more than fifty meters before catching up with the ball, then turned back and kicked the ball into the penalty area again!
Ibrahimovic received the ball, stopped it with his chest, and shot!
“Beep!”
The linesman raised the flag early, it's offside!
The Swede looked up to the sky and sighed.
At this time, the clock has reached 122 minutes! Everyone knows that this game is about to end!
Patricio slowly asked the caddy for the ball, placed it on the goal kick line in a very precise manner, then slowly stepped back five or six steps, took a not very fast run-up, and finally kicked the ball high into the midfield!
“Beep! Beep! Beep—!”
The ball was still in the air and had not yet fallen when Paul Valeri blew two short and one long whistle!
