Inter Milan drew with Villarreal 1: 1 in the away game, with a total score of 4: 1 to advance to the semi-finals of this season's Champions League.
After a 0: 0 in the away game in the first leg, AC Milan also defeated Lyon in the second leg at the San Siro Stadium, with a total score of 3: 1 to advance to the semi-finals of the Champions League.
Juventus was the only team that was eliminated with a 0: 0 score against Arsenal at home, with a total score of 0: 2. The team's midfield general, Nedved, was also sent off with a red card.
This also led to criticism of Juventus by the Italian media after the game.
Turin Sport believed that there were three main reasons for Juventus' loss. The first was the lineup, with four substitutes, which reduced the strength of the team a lot. When Capello was facing a two-front battle, the depth of the bench was obviously not enough. Juventus' main lineup was very strong, but there was a clear gap between the substitutes, so when the two-front battle was at its toughest, there was a shortage of players. The second was the state of the team. Juventus was in a very bad state, especially the two strikers and Nedved. Trezeguet looked listless, Ibrahimovic was in a bad mood from time to time, and Nedved looked very irritable. He was offside, fouled, and finally received a red card, which reflected his mentality. Nedved was a very active and hardworking player, but sometimes he would lose control of his emotions when he was eager to win, so yesterday's three main attacking players had big problems in their mentality and state, which was the key to Juventus's failure to break the goal in the end. The third was the formation. Juventus had been playing in a parallel 4-4-2, but Nedved often played in the attacking midfielder position, so it became a 4-3-1-2, leaving the left side empty. Arsenal cleverly took advantage of this. They often attacked from the left side, and suddenly transferred the ball to the right side. At this time, Nedved was often not in his position, giving Hleb and Ebu a lot of space to move.
Corriere dello Sport criticized Juventus' tactics for being backward and always holding the 4-4-2 formation, but now many strong European teams had adopted the 4-5-1 to change into a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-2-1 to gain advantages in both offense and defense. The main feature of this formation was that the superior forces were concentrated in the midfield, instead of early deployment in the front field, which could effectively control the 4-4-2 formation.
*****
Li Ang scoffed at Corriere dello Sport's statement.
Tactics were always dead, but people were alive.
Li Ang believed that Juventus's problem was in the midfield, which was why Juventus was often at a disadvantage against some technical teams. Apart from Arsenal, they had a draw and a loss in the two matches against AC Milan. Against Li Ang's Inter Milan, they had lost both matches and eliminated Werder Bremen, who were weaker overall than them. Juventus was also struggling.
There was nothing wrong with Juventus' midfielders individually, but they all had one thing in common: they were too conventional and too balanced. Balance was not a disadvantage, but the combination of several balanced or offensive and defensive midfielders put together would give people the feeling that it lacked characteristics and was too mechanical. Chelsea was now facing the same problem.
Why did Juventus repeatedly lose in the confrontation against technical teams? An important reason was that Juventus' midfield lacked a talented player like Inter Milan's Mata, Silva, Agüero, and Ronaldo, as well as AC Milan's Kaka, who could open a gap in the opponent's formation in a one-on-one confrontation, thereby disrupting the opponent's formation and creating opportunities. Juventus' personnel configuration limited them to playing as a whole, but the narrow space in Highbury also limited their style of play. In the face of the opponent's complete defensive formation, as well as the style of play that compressed the space in the midfield, Juventus had to use long passes against the two tall strikers time and time again in order to prevent the opponent from counterattacking on the spot, which increased the chances of mistakes. And in a match between strong teams, not being able to control the ball was tantamount to losing a move first.
On the other hand, among Juventus' four midfielders, Camoranesi, Emerson, and Vieira were balanced overall players, while Nedved was considered an exception. It was when Nedved was in his best form in 2003 that Juventus reached the final of the UEFA Champions League. But now Nedved's strength had declined significantly, and he was grumpy. In the end, he left the field red.
From Li Ang's point of view, Juventus' midfield was indeed missing a genius like Zidane. He could dribble the ball and plug in, or he could tear apart the opponent's defense with a pass. Juventus' midfield was both offensive and defensive, but it lacked characteristics.
*****
Li Ang made the above analysis during a chat in Inter Milan's team.
Somehow, this remark was picked up by the media.
In the report of La Repubblica, this remark became Li Ang proudly showing off that Inter Milan's players were talented and that Juventus' players were mediocre.
This immediately caused an uproar in the Italian football world.
Juventus' players also jumped out angrily to accuse Li Ang of being mean and adding insult to injury.
Among them, Juventus' Swedish genius, Ibrahimović, was furious and said that sooner or later, he would make Li Ang suffer.
This incident was quite big, and in the end, it was Milan Gazzetta dello Sport that published Li Ang's original words in their original edition. Juventus' players were still very upset. After all, those words were not good.
However, more Italian media and fans listened to it and thought carefully. They felt that Li Ang's words were still very reasonable. His words were crude but reasonable.
*****
Li Ang did not care about this at all. According to what he thought, his players were indeed better than most of the Juventus players. This Inter Milan team was built according to his blueprint, and the players were carefully selected by him.
Li Ang now put all his energy into the upcoming 33rd round of the league tournament. As long as Inter Milan won and Juventus could not take away a victory from the Stadio Franchi, Inter Milan would win the 20052006 Serie A championship ahead of time!
April 9, 2006. It was a very sunny afternoon.
More than an hour before the start of the game, the entire Giuseppe Meazza Stadium was already full.
Inter Milan had been waiting for the Serie A championship for 16 years. Although if Juventus won this game, Inter Milan's championship would have to wait for another round of the league tournament, Inter Milan's fans could not wait any longer. They came to the stadium in this game, hoping to witness a miracle: Juventus was blocked, did not win, and Inter Milan won!
They had been waiting for 16 years, and they could not wait any longer. They were not willing to wait for a minute, a second …
PS: Chief [Passerby 957] + 10/10.
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