The halftime interval felt like a year for the Inter Milan players because they had to bear the pressure of the manager's reprimand and the fans' expectations. But who asked them to be a powerhouse? On the contrary, the Nottingham Forest players felt that time passed very quickly. The relaxed and happy smiles had not yet faded from their faces when the second half of the game had already begun.
Twain leaned back in his seat and crossed his legs. As long as his team continued to defend like this, Inter Milan was bound to press forward and want to equalize the score as soon as possible. That was the only way to leave enough time for them to eventually overtake. In that case, there would be a lot of gaps in Inter Milan's backfield. At that time, Albertini would make another long pass, and Anelka would have another flash of inspiration … and the game would be over!
Everything was under control. Twain had this thought in his mind, and it was very strong.
"The second half of the game has just begun. Everything is no different from the first half. Inter Milan launched a tidal wave of attacks on the Forest team's penalty area, and Nottingham Forest strengthened their determination to defend with the lead. Although the scene is not good to watch, this is the Champions League quarterfinals. Victory always comes first! "
The commentator was right. Whether it was the battered Forest team or Inter Milan, who were eager to equalize the score and thus held high the flag of offensive football, it was clear in their hearts that defense and offense were just means. The goal in this kind of game was definitely not to please the audience or the neutral fans, but to win.
Five minutes later, Inter Milan's offensive began to fall, and the Forest team regained some opportunities.
At this time, Albertini was the first to feel the difference. Because when he took the ball, the defensive pressure he had to face increased significantly.
Cambiasso desperately pestered him like he was on drugs, using both his hands and feet to make him feel uncomfortable. Suddenly, the opponent's style changed. Albertini knew that Mancini must have made adjustments during the halftime interval. Just as Mancini understood him, he also understood Mancini.
Strengthening his defense against him was indeed a good way to contain the Forest team's offense because he was the team's brain, the tower of command.
With Cambiasso pressing too hard, Albertini had no choice but to pass the football to Ribéry on the flank. Ribéry faced Zanetti's aggressive defense and had no confidence in breaking through, so he had to pass the ball back to Leighton Baines. This time, it was Figo's turn to pounce on the defense.
Even though Inter Milan was still pressing on Nottingham Forest, it was actually very different from the first half.
Seeing that Baines was forced to the corner and could not play the ball for a long time, Albertini ran over to help, but Cambiasso followed.
Then he looked at George Wood, who was standing on the side and doing nothing to help. Albertini really hoped that Wood could become an all-rounder who could attack and defend. That way, when he was being closely marked, there would still be someone who could stand up and organize the attack. Just like now, if they wanted to change the fixed situation of one player defending and one player attacking, they could only substitute a defensive midfielder and send Arteta. But who should they substitute? It wouldn't be good to replace anyone. If I were to replace myself, Arteta would still be marked to death very quickly when he comes up. The Inter Milan players would just change a player to mark. Replace George Wood? What about defense?
Albertini, a hardcore fan of the CM series, had unknowingly begun to think from the coach's point of view.
Despite knowing that Wood did not contribute much to the offense, Albertini decisively passed the ball to Wood after receiving Baines' pass. There's no time for you to practice how to participate in the offense on the training ground, George!
Albertini could clearly feel the changes that were happening in his body since he had been sidelined for more than two months due to the thigh muscle strain. He was already old, truly old. No matter how unwilling he was in his heart, this body wouldn't be able to last much longer.
If I retire, who can control the tempo in Nottingham Forest's midfield?
AC Milan's loyal players unknowingly began to think about Nottingham Forest's future.
George Wood received the football and looked at Albertini. Cambiasso followed him like a shadow …
He turned his head to look around and could not seem to find a suitable pass point. There were Inter Milan players spying on every teammate nearby, waiting for him to pass the football over. Then they would swarm up to intercept the ball and counterattack on the spot!
Inter Milan had moved their defense from their own half of the field to Nottingham Forest's half of the field.
The football stopped at Wood's feet for half a minute, and he did not find a suitable pass target. The Inter Milan players finally rushed over. Stanković wanted to intercept Wood's ball, but Wood could only lean against the other player and then pass the ball back to Albertini.
The football turned in a circle and returned to the starting point. Nottingham Forest's offense was still spinning in the same place.
This time, Albertini's pass finally made a mistake under Cambiasso's close pressing. He wanted to transfer the long ball to Ashley Young on the other side, but it was intercepted by Stanković midway. After the ball was intercepted on the spot, Inter Milan immediately switched from defense to offense.
Stanković looked up and saw Martins running diagonally and straight into the penalty area. This was an opportunity!
"Inter Milan intercept the ball and counterattack … Straight pass to Martins! Beautiful pass! "
The ball was really beautiful. Stanković pushed a straight pass, and the football passed between the ribs of Pepe and Chimbonda, just appearing in the path of Martins' diagonal run. The fast Nigerian horse did not need to stop the ball and went straight forward. Then he accelerated to bypass Piqué, who was following him. The kid was really fast! He only gave him a little space and he seized the opportunity!
But!
When Martins forced his way past Piqué with his speed, he found that the shooting angle was very small. In the end, Martins, who chose to force the shot, shot the football directly into Edwin van der Sar's arms.
Inter Milan's last threatening attack in the second half ended in this way. Mancini was not very satisfied with Martins' selfishness in the final moments, but at least he had seen the hope of equalizing the score. Tony Twain, on the other hand, had put down his crossed legs and straightened up on the comfortable seats in the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium.
He sniffed a hint of the smell before the storm.
(To be continued, if you want to know what happened next, please log on to WWW. CMFU. COM. More chapters. Support the author. Support original reading!)
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
