Since the last communication with Moratti, Facchetti had been paying attention to Sporting de Gijón and Li Ang.
Objectively speaking, the Inter Milan chairman had an attitude of affirmation and appreciation for Li Ang. The fact that Sporting de Gijón could lead La Liga was the most telling. It was not easy to snatch the first place in the league from Barcelona, who had led for almost half the season. The competition for the league title was a tug of war. It was a long-term battle, which showed the stability of the team.
Considering the fact that Sporting de Gijón was a newly promoted team, it was a team that Li Ang had built with his own hands. This showed Li Ang's ability to build a team. His vision for players and his ability to nurture them were also outstanding.
Under such circumstances, Facchetti's remaining consideration was Li Ang's ability to lead the team to play in the cup competition, especially the cup final.
The league was a long-term competition and a test of stability.
The cup competition was more accidental and more cruel. It was a great test of the manager's ability to command and withstand pressure.
"What if Li Ang leads Sporting de Gijón to the UEFA Europa League title?" Moratti asked Facchetti.
"I will fully support him," Facchetti said firmly. Facchetti said resolutely, "As long as he can bring victory and championship to Inter Milan!"
Moratti had been waiting for Facchetti to say this. The Inter Milan boss was looking forward to the second half of the game. He felt that his Inter Milan was a little lifeless after not winning the championship for many years. They needed some fresh air. What could be more direct than a young championship manager?!
*****
In the visitors' locker room at the Estadio Alvalade.
"In the second half of the match, we have to be patient. Therefore, the strategy for the second half of the match is to defend and counterattack steadily," Li Ang said in the end.
When Li Ang said this, no one was surprised. During the tactical analysis before the match, Li Ang had focused on analyzing the mentality of the opponents. Sporting Lisbon was the host and a powerhouse of the Portuguese Super League. The Portuguese did not want to be the loser in the finals in Lisbon for two consecutive years. Therefore, Sporting Lisbon was even more eager to end the battle in the 90 minutes of the match. In the first half of the match, Sporting de Gijón had equalized the score, and the opponent had also missed a penalty kick. This would make Sporting Lisbon even more impatient. Therefore, in the second half of the match, Sporting Lisbon was very likely to continue to press on with the offense. What Sporting de Gijón wanted to do was to take advantage of Sporting Lisbon's eagerness to equalize the score to find an opportunity to launch a sneak attack and strive to surpass the score.
This was Sporting de Gijón's wishful thinking, but no one knew if it would come to fruition.
"When you counterattack, you have to be fast …" At this point, Li Ang glanced at Ribéry. Ribéry had amazing speed, which was a very important weapon in a counterattack.
"Franck, you have to be ready to accelerate the counterattack at any time," Li Ang said, then glanced at Mata. "Mata, you too!"
The counterattack that Li Ang had formulated for Sporting de Gijón was not to focus on one point, but to be active on both sides. This could harass Sporting Lisbon's defensive attention to the greatest extent.
"Antonio." Li Ang called Di Natale's name again. "You have to work harder in the second half of the match. You have to actively retreat and receive the ball in the midfield. Try to pass the ball in front of you as much as possible to give space for Ribéry and Mata to run. But if the counterattack is blocked, immediately stabilize and control the ball under your feet. Don't waste the opportunity to attack. "
Hearing Li Ang's words, Di Natale nodded. This was the manager's trust in him to provide ammunition to both Ribéry and Mata.
"Diego, your task is to harass their penalty area. When your teammates pass the ball into the penalty area, it's up to you to be able to control the ball in the penalty area, whether it's a shot or a pass!" Li Ang said to Diego Milito.
The Argentine striker nodded and understood his role. He had to act as a fulcrum in the penalty area and the front field to ensure that the team's counterattack could control the ball. In any case, he had to do his best to stir up trouble in Sporting Lisbon's penalty area and create opportunities for his other teammates.
*****
The second half of the match began.
Sporting de Gijón adopted a stable defensive posture, hoping that Sporting Lisbon would attack.
This situation of giving up the initiative made Sporting Lisbon's manager, Peseiro, overjoyed.
As Sporting de Gijón had hoped, Sporting Lisbon attacked aggressively.
Peseiro saw that his team began to gain the advantage on the field and Sporting de Gijón's formation was compressed, which made him very happy. Unfortunately, his happiness did not last long because he found that Li Ang had made very careful arrangements for how to defend. Sporting Lisbon seemed to have the advantage of possession, but it was difficult to truly threaten Sporting de Gijón's goal.
Li Ang sat in the technical area. He suddenly felt that Sporting Lisbon's manager, Peseiro, was overconfident. He did not know if the manager thought that Sporting de Gijón's counterattack was not much of a threat. He did not choose the appropriate tactic of retreating and counterattacking. Seeing that Sporting de Gijón had voluntarily given up the initiative, Peseiro stood on the sidelines many times and ordered the side defenders to press forward again to create more pressure on the opponent.
However, the actual result was that Sporting Lisbon's breakthrough on the flanks did not work in front of Sporting de Gijón's defenders. After Liedson's goal in the first half of the match, Sporting de Gijón's defensive line did not make any more mistakes.
Under these circumstances, Li Ang keenly captured a huge gap in Sporting Lisbon's defense. For a long time, only the goalkeeper, Ricardo, the center back, and the captain, Beto, were between the center circle and the end line.
Li Ang immediately realized that this was Sporting de Gijón's opportunity. His team might be able to easily drive straight in from the two wings.
Li Ang immediately made adjustments. He gave instructions to the team and asked the full backs to press forward and attack.
However, to prevent the gap from being too big after the full backs pressed forward at the same time, Li Ang did not allow two full backs to go up at the same time. When Grosso went up to assist, Ivanovic had to stay behind. This way, Albertini would guard the middle and Juan Carlos would fill the position after Grosso went up. Ivanovic went up to assist and Grosso retreated. At the same time, Carlos temporarily went to fill in Ivanovic's position.
The most direct result of this was that no matter which side they went to, the number of people in the rear defensive line would not decrease and there would be no obvious gap.
*****
Sporting Lisbon's manager, Peseiro, did not realize the careful arrangement of Sporting de Gijón's full backs pressing forward. When he saw Sporting de Gijón's full backs also pressing forward, he was overjoyed and thought that the gap after Sporting de Gijón pressed forward could be exploited. Therefore, instead of asking the team to be more vigilant, Peseiro asked the team to continue to strengthen their offense.
In the 69th minute of the match, Sporting de Gijón made a quick counterattack on the right flank.
Albertini's long pass found Di Natale, who dribbled the ball forward.
Rogerio pressed forward. As he leaned against Di Natale, he stretched out his leg to poke Di Natale, forcing the Italian to turn around.
Di Natale turned around as he wished, but he passed the football directly to Ivanovic, who had plugged in.
Ivanovic dribbled the ball straight into the middle of the field.
Sporting Lisbon's captain, Beto, could only rush up to defend against Ivanovic.
Ivanovic made a sudden stop and then knocked the football into the middle again. Milito came out to receive him. He leaned against Sporting Lisbon's full back, Roosevelt Ncahirei, and suddenly used his heel to kick the space behind Roosevelt Ncahirei.
*****
"Mata!!!"
Mata ran up with all his might. He appeared right behind Roosevelt Ncahirei.
He was not offside!
As Ivanovic plugged in and suppressed Beto's side, Beto was dragged very far back. Therefore, although Mata got the ball in the middle of the penalty area, he was not offside. He was at the far end and Beto was behind.
Mata dribbled the ball directly into the vicinity of the end line and then lifted his left foot.
"Be careful of his cross …" Sporting Lisbon's goalkeeper, Ricardo, had not finished shouting when he saw Mata pass the football back in the opposite direction.
Milito had succeeded in blocking Roosevelt Ncahirei behind him. For a striker like him, blocking the position and facing the goal, what he had to do was very simple: he faced the rolling football and directly stretched out his leg!
Ricardo fell to the ground to save.
Before his center of gravity fell, the football had already bounced up from under his body and rolled into the net behind him.
*****
“Goooool！”
Milito, who had scored the goal, ran wildly. Behind him were the other Sporting de Gijón players.
On the sidelines, Li Ang rushed out of the technical area. He pointed to the night sky with both hands and muttered.
Around him were the excited coaching staff and the players on the substitutes' bench.
"Two to one! Gijón has overtaken the score! "
"For Sporting Lisbon, this is an incomparably cruel fact. They are now behind in the score."
Sporting de Gijón's manager, Peseiro, had a stiff expression. He had been looking forward to Sporting Lisbon's goal. At such a time, the team had lost the ball because of an attack by the opponent. It was a huge blow to Peseiro and the Sporting Lisbon people.
In the VIP box, Sporting Lisbon's chairman, Diaz, had an ugly expression. He felt that among the gazes of the other 30 or so Portuguese club chairmen, there were certainly some who were gloating and mocking.
In the VIP box, Figo's face was dejected. "It's like this again," he muttered. This season, Real Madrid and Sporting de Gijón had met twice, and both times Real Madrid had been defeated by Sporting de Gijón. Real Madrid had tried everything in the game, but in the end, they still lost to Sporting de Gijón.
It was a bit of an exaggeration to say that seeing Sporting Lisbon fall behind in the score, Figo might be traumatized the next time he faced Sporting de Gijón or Li Ang's team.
*****
The game restarted. Sporting Lisbon was now behind in the score. Under such circumstances, they had no choice but to attack. They had no other choice.
However, ten minutes later, the Lisbon people suffered an even fiercer blow.
This was Sporting Lisbon's large-scale pressure. However, their pass was intercepted by Carlos after he slid to the ground. Immediately after, Sporting de Gijón counterattacked. After a few passes, Ribéry and Grosso cooperated on the left flank. Ribéry dribbled the ball along the sideline, and Sporting Lisbon's defensive focus leaned toward him.
When Ribéry saw this, he looked like he was going to continue to break through, but he passed the ball to Albertini.
Albertini passed the ball to Di Natale.
At the same time, Ribéry and Mata suddenly withdrew from the flanks to the flanks at the same time, causing Sporting Lisbon's defenders to adjust accordingly.
At this moment of opportunity, Di Natale saw a gap in the middle. He did not hesitate to stuff the ball straight into the middle!
Sporting Lisbon's full back, Miguel Garcia, had been transferred away with Mata. In the middle, Beto pounced on Di Natale, so the middle was empty for the time being.
Carlos, who rarely assisted in the opponent's penalty area, took advantage of the gap and received the ball.
"Carlos is completely undefended!" The Spanish commentator exclaimed.
"He's missed!" The Portuguese commentator shouted. Then, when he saw who received the ball, he shouted, "Fortunately, it's Carlos!"
*****
Rochemback pounced on Carlos immediately, trying to intercept the ball at his feet.
Carlos was calm. He knew that his footwork was average. When Rochemback rushed over fiercely, Carlos poked the ball to Ribéry, who plugged in from the sideline.
Ribéry did not pass the ball. Instead, he slipped into the penalty area along the end line!
"Breakthrough! Beautiful coordination! "
After seeing Ribéry break in, there was suddenly chaos in front of Sporting Lisbon's goal.
With Beto pulling him from behind, Diego Milito still struggled to squeeze forward, ready to snatch the ball.
The other Sporting Lisbon defenders also swarmed toward Ribéry, intending to stop him before he could pass the ball or shoot. They wanted to use their bodies to block the ball out of the end line.
Ribéry saw their intentions. He was not stupid enough to give them that chance. Taking advantage of the fact that the encirclement had not yet closed, he swept the ball with his left foot toward the middle!
Diego Milito rushed in front of Beto and made a shovel shot. However, he did not snatch the ball. The goalkeeper, Ricardo, who had been disturbed by him, fell to the ground and did not touch the ball. None of the other Sporting Lisbon defenders touched the ball.
The ball slipped past them, and then people saw Carlos rush up to receive the ball with a push shot!
The ball flew into Sporting Lisbon's empty goal without any suspense. Sporting Lisbon's goalkeeper, Ricardo, who had been shaken by Milito's shot, had made a save and was still lying on the ground, unable to get up.
PS: Back home during the Dragon Boat Festival. Unfamiliar computer, unfamiliar keyboard, slower typing …
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