At the end of the first half, Inter Milan was leading Juventus by a score of 2-0 at home.
"Looking at the first half of the game, this is Juventus' failure." Ferrari, the commentator, said, "The Bianconeri with their main force played so passively against Inter Milan with more than half of their substitutes!"
"Inter Milan is now more than one pole position ahead of the other teams in Serie A. The strength of the players is in the lead, the age structure of the team is reasonable, and most importantly, the coaching ability of the manager. Li Ang is worthy of the title of the number one coach in Serie A!" Rossi said. His evaluation of Li Ang was very high.
However, his evaluation was very fair, which could be seen from the first half of the game. Ranieri's on-the-spot adjustments caused a little trouble for Inter Milan, but Li Ang then easily changed the positions of Montari and Marchisio, which solved all of this. Inter Milan was once again in control of the game.
"We also have to mention Marchisio, the young man that Li Ang poached from the Juventus youth team. His performance in this game was simply amazing. This was the first time Marchisio scored twice in a game, and the opponent was Juventus. Juventus did not pay attention to youth training and Marchisio in the past, and now they are being punished. This is really a bit like fate." Ferrari nodded and said. Italians had always been very superstitious, and the so-called fatalism was very popular.
During the halftime interval, Li Ang praised the performance of the team. With half of the substitutes, they easily led Juventus by two goals in the first half of the game. He had no reason to be dissatisfied.
Not long after the start of the second half of the game, Juventus suffered a blow.
Their captain, Del Piero, pulled a muscle when he stopped the ball without any contact and could not continue the game.
Ranieri was forced to make a substitution. Lkunta came on as a substitute and replaced Del Piero.
Li Ang saw Ranieri's substitution and pursed his lips. He really did not understand Ranieri's substitution. Lkunta and Trezeguet, the two center forwards, were on the field. Why did Juventus play a two-center formation?
The midfield was cut, and there was no one to send the cannonballs. What were the two center forwards doing in front? Looking at the scenery?!
*****
Captain Del Piero's departure due to injury was a big blow to Juventus, and Ranieri's subsequent adjustment was also criticized as a big failure after the game.
Then, Juventus suffered another blow. During a defense, Nedved fouled Diego Milito and was shown a second yellow card by the referee. Two yellow cards turned red, and the Czech veteran was sent off with a red card.
Ranieri was forced to make another substitution. He replaced Trezeguet with Salihamidzic, and the two-forward strategy that had taken less than five minutes came to an end.
After the game restarted, the Juventus team was a little absent-minded, or it could be said that they had lost their souls. With a score of 0: 2, although there was not much hope, there was still motivation to fight. However, now that Del Piero was injured, Nedved was given a red card, and the team was down by two goals, it really made the Juventus players feel a little desperate.
The camera zoomed in on the Juventus technical area, and Ranieri stood on the sidelines with a blank expression.
Ranieri did not know what to do. They were down by two goals, and Nedved was sent off. They were at a disadvantage in terms of the score, the situation, and the number of players. It was really difficult for Juventus to make a comeback.
And most importantly, as long as there was a solution, even if there was not much hope, there was still hope and motivation to fight. But now, in the face of such a situation, he really did not have any solution to the problem!
Ranieri was very clear about the current situation. For Juventus, it was already very difficult to not concede goals in the later part of the game and end the first leg with a score of 0: 2.
Inter Milan was the team that was best at playing with the wind among the European powerhouses. Of course, this did not mean that Inter Milan would not play against the wind. It meant that when there was a chance to 'beat the enemy while they were down,' Inter Milan would never miss the opportunity. They would carry out the principle of 'taking advantage of your weakness' to the end. This was the problem that Ranieri was worried about!
*****
Just as Ranieri was worried, Inter Milan did not give the Juventus team time to stabilize their position. Now the Juventus team suffered a series of heavy blows because of the injury of their captain and the sending off of Nedved. They seemed to be in a daze. It was a good opportunity for Inter Milan to launch a large-scale attack.
Li Ang also immediately made adjustments. He replaced Agüero and replaced him with the 'fresh' Arshavin. This was also a signal to not hold back and continue to attack. Inter Milan's players naturally knew what they should do.
After a storm of attacks, Inter Milan scored again.
This was when Arshavin suddenly and cleverly divided the ball in the process of quickly dribbling the ball forward from the flank. Mata, who followed up, passed the ball to the penalty area. Diego Milito held on to Chiellini. After the Argentine stopped the ball with his chest, he turned halfway and volleyed. The football was blocked by Chiellini's outstretched leg and refracted. Even though Buffon touched the football, he could not completely stop the forward trend of the football. The football eventually rolled into the net.
After the goal, Milito looked very excited. He rushed to the place where the hardcore Inter Milan fans gathered and made a gesture of kissing the jersey. This was obviously a very pleasing gesture to the fans. The stands were filled with cheers.
The other Inter Milan players were also very excited. They surrounded Milito and happily celebrated the goal.
The substitutes' bench was also filled with cheers. Everyone knew that with a score of 3-0, Inter Milan had one foot in the Coppa Italia semi-finals.
Li Ang was naturally very happy, but he did not celebrate too enthusiastically. Imagine that he had just arrived at Inter Milan in the summer of 2005. In the 20052006 season against Juventus, he celebrated wildly after scoring a goal. Now, it was just a celebration of two claps. It was really much gentler because he did not need to do that anymore. For Li Ang, when he thought of Inter Milan, the current Juventus team could not threaten the dominance of Inter Milan in Serie A. Did he need to take another look at a loser who had been trampled into the mud by him?
*****
The Inter Milan fans in the stands of the Meazza Stadium stood up, cheered, and 'sang and danced' to watch the game in the remaining time of the game. The Juventus fans in the away fans' stands were silent. Many Juventus fans even began to leave early when the game was close to 20 minutes away. With a score of 0-3 and a player being sent off, they could not watch it anymore.
In the end, in the first round of the 20072008 Coppa Italia quarter-finals, Inter Milan defeated Juventus 3-0 at home.
After the game, the Italian media was no longer surprised by the score and the process of the game. They said that it was incredible or unimaginable.
Although Inter Milan did not send out all of its main players, and the team that played against Juventus could only be regarded as a half-substitute half-main squad, Inter Milan's strong performance and superior strength to other opponents in the Italian league were there for all to see. They were that strong.
Such a Inter Milan team, even if they only sent out half of their main players, was able to defeat Juventus. This was not surprising in the subconscious mind of the Italian media and fans.
Was this not the normal performance of Inter Milan?!
"That's how strong they are!" — The Republic Daily exclaimed after the match.
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