Chapter 60: Eliminated From the Champions League, Fighting on Two Fronts

"We win!!! To hell with the Neapolitans! Forza milan!!!"

Boateng's genuine cheers after the game put smiles on the faces of all Milan players.

They were actually physically exhausted by this time, but they were still full of energy and devoted themselves to the celebration.

Li Ang received "enthusiastic care" from teammates one after another.

There is no way, his performance on both offense and defense today was really explosive!

Passing and shooting, especially the forward run after the interception at the end of the game, the through ball was so beautiful and unexpected.

Pato still thinks that it is incredible that Li Ang can pass the ball.

In the Milan formation, perhaps only Pirlo really knows now that Li Ang already has the ability to send such threatening passes.

It is not very stable yet, and the timing requirements are still quite demanding.

But Li Ang's short passing skills have been improved enough for Pirlo to say "good".

In other words, Li Ang has the technical foundation, but he used it too little in the past and was very unskilled, so now he seems to be a bit "smart".

When Li Ang can transform this "nerve knife" through ball technique into his regular skills, then the outside media's evaluation of Li Ang may reach a higher level.

However, according to Pirlo's growth estimate for Li Ang, Li Ang may have to hone his skills for another season or two if he wants to master this through-ball skill in counterattack.

After all, the gap between entry to proficiency in a technology is much greater than laymen imagine.

It can only be polished slowly by spending a lot of time in competitions and training.

To rest on other young players, Pirlo may extend this mastery time to three or four seasons.

But Li Ang?

Thinking of Li Ang, who usually felt uncomfortable without training, Pirlo couldn't help but smile and shook his head.

This kid, one or two seasons is enough!

"After playing Naples, we will play Inter Milan, and then we can wait to win the championship in advance!"

Pato jumped on Li Ang's back and cheered optimistically to his teammates around him.

It was the second time this season that they were facing Inter Milan. In fact, they were separated by two tough opponents, Juventus and Palermo.

But at this moment, the Milan generals are full of confidence.

Not to mention that the winning streak can continue all the way, but at least Uncle Jon said before that he will be "undefeated in the second half."

Milan currently has enough strength and confidence to do it.

Li Ang listened to the excited singing of the fans in his ears, then looked at the extremely excited teammates in front of him, and finally swallowed back the words on his lips, "There is still a Champions League game."

This would mean that the Champions League is also causing trouble for everyone.

In addition, he himself can only watch the game at home and can't do anything else, so it is better not to mention this matter.

That night, Gattuso and Ambrosini, who was still recovering from injury, invited the entire Milan first team to a private restaurant in the city for a dinner to celebrate.

During the dinner, the bosses all drank some drinks, but Li Ang ordered a bunch of freshly squeezed orange juice a little out of place.

However, his "consciousness" made many veterans nod with satisfaction.

Looking at Pato who was already having a good time with Boateng, the big guys could only sigh and shake their heads.

Ambrosini, the old Milan captain, also had a good impression on Li Ang. He was very kind to others and had no airs.

It's just that Maldini had something to do and couldn't come that day, otherwise Li Ang would have asked the Cavaliers for an autograph and asked for advice on how to complete the technical moves of tackling and retaining the ball more gracefully.

Well, he has been coveting this defensive skill for a long time, and now he has just scratched the surface of it with Nesta.

If you really want to talk about the coolness of defense, you have to look at Maldini, the real boss of Milan.

However, during the conversation after the dinner, Li Ang also encountered a difficulty.

A difficult thing that he would have to face sooner or later.

After the old captain Ambrosini asked about Li Ang's life in Milan, he directly asked Li Ang if he would like to completely transfer from Real Madrid to Milan.

To be honest, Li Ang was a little panicked at first.

But when he remembered the phone call Mourinho had made to him some time ago, his mind gradually calmed down again.

In the end, Li Ang gave Ambrosini a smooth answer: "I still have a four-year contract with Real Madrid. If Milan can negotiate with Real Madrid, then I have no problem."

Ambrosini was very satisfied. Maybe he just asked casually, or maybe he was the "mouthpiece" for Milan's senior management.

But to Li Ang, none of this matters.

The important thing is that Real Madrid's current head coach is Mourinho, and Mourinho is his direct boss. This is enough.

Real Madrid will not be willing to negotiate this transfer deal with Milan, because Li Ang believes that Mourinho will not agree.

When leaving the dinner place, Li Ang subconsciously looked back at the dimly lit night view of Milan.

It's actually very good here.

Whether it's the team, fans, or city construction.

all good.

However, it is ultimately inappropriate.

The Milan dynasty that used to satisfy the ambitions of any young player has gone with the wind.

Li Ang turned around and drove away.

Driving to a residential area far away from the city center.

No hesitation.

No looking back.

"Pity"

※※※

On the morning of March 1, the entire Italian sports newspaper page was almost full of Li Ang's handsome face making a "wearing a mask" celebration gesture.

In the match against Naples, Li Ang became the most shining key figure on the field.

He performed extremely well on both offense and defense, and finally helped Milan defeat Naples with a pass and a shot.

Li Ang used the most shocking way to make a big splash in front of all Italian fans!

He is handsome and plays hard. Although he scores few goals, all of them are key goals!

Li Ang, who performed tough, immediately gained a wave of popularity in Italy, which advocates defense.

And Milan did not dare to delay any longer, and directly approached Real Madrid to discuss the buyout of Li Ang's contract.

However, Li Ang does not need to worry about this matter.

If there are changes beyond the "expectation", Mendes will contact him.

He still chose to practice alone during his vacation time as always.

Because after playing Juventus, the entire Milan team will embark on an away trip to London for the Champions League knockout match.

He can rest for two more days, so there is no need to worry about the physical consumption at this time.

Just control it a little and don't affect the performance in the game with Juventus.

This is not that Li Ang underestimated the former overlord of Serie A.

But the current Juventus is about the same strength as Palermo or Genoa, ranking in the upper middle of Serie A.

At most, it is a tough league opponent, but it is not a big threat to Milan.

Allegri is obviously not too afraid of Juventus.

Before the second round of the Champions League quarter-finals with Tottenham, he arranged a starting lineup composed of rotating players to go to the Olympic Stadium in the suburbs of Turin.

This is the temporary home of Juventus before the opening of the new stadium, which can only accommodate 27,000 spectators on weekdays.

For Juventus's huge local fan base, it is still easy to fill this stadium on weekdays.

So Milan fans only got more than 3,000 away tickets this time.

In the slightly smaller stadium, Juventus fans used their loud cheers and home court power to cause some trouble to Milan.

At least the bicycle prince who started today was lost again.

I don’t know whether it was the crazy boos from Juventus fans that made him a little weak, or he really couldn’t do anything with his compatriot Melo.

After controlling the offensive ball but making no progress in the first half, he was decisively replaced by Allegri at halftime.

Ibrahimovic, who temporarily took up the offensive banner, and Cassano, who had been tortured by Robinho for 45 minutes, finally cooperated smoothly.

Milan also changed the situation in which the offensive players fought on their own in the first half.

With Ibrahimovic organizing the offense in the frontcourt, Boateng and Cassano became more and more active, and Li Ang also got several good forward offensive opportunities.

Finally, in the 73rd minute of the second half, Ibrahimovic received a cross pass from Cassano in front of the penalty area and dribbled the ball to shake off Barzagli, getting Milan’s best shooting opportunity of the game!

Buffon was in excellent form today. He had already saved six shots from Milan that hit the goal frame.

This time, he still blocked Ibrahimovic's low shot to the limit!

But facing Cassano's follow-up shot, Buffon was powerless and could only watch Milan take the lead in their home court!

When there were only about 20 minutes left in the game, Milan broke the balance on the field, and the entire Juventus team suffered a serious morale blow.

Originally, they thought they could get a draw at home, and in fact they almost did it.

They defended for a full 73 minutes!

At the last moment, Milan scored a goal, and the red-eyed Juventus players were naturally unwilling.

But Allegri would not give them a chance at this time.

Flamini and Cassano were removed and replaced by Boateng and Van Bommel.

After the decisive two-up and two-down substitutions, Milan played a three-back formation, which could even be seen as a four-back formation.

Li Ang and Van Bommel were in the middle, and the two of them blocked the middle of the midfield together, forcing Juventus to cross from the wing at the last moment, or directly play long passes from the backcourt.

But such an offensive efficiency is really too low, and Nesta and Thiago Silva, who are in good form, did not give Toni too many opportunities to grab points.

After grinding away Juventus' last bit of offensive time, Milan finally got what they wanted and won another league thorn before the Champions League game!

The winning streak continued, and Milan's dominance in Serie A was further consolidated.

After being demoralized by Milan, Naples was tied by Brescia in the last round, and the current gap with Milan has been widened to 16 points!

Inter Milan, which has won two consecutive games recently, and Milan still have a gap of 13 points.

In other words, with the last ten rounds of the league left, even if Inter Milan continues to bite Milan's tail and maintain a perfect record.

Milan only needs to win six more league rounds to win the Serie A championship this season in advance!

After more than six years, Milan is only a stone's throw away from the Serie A championship trophy!

However, before truly launching the league sprint, there is still a hurdle waiting for Milan to overcome.

On March 8, in addition to Li Ang, Milan's first-team main players once again followed Allegri on the Champions League journey.

This time, Milan made more thorough preparations. Whether on the defensive or offensive end, Milan's players also had the psychological expectation of doing their best.

On the evening of March 9, the second round of the Champions League quarter-finals was rekindled.

Milan played against Tottenham for the second time this season at White Hart Lane.

Facing Tottenham, who had a fully contracted formation and clearly wanted to use defense to advance safely, Milan played very actively.

After all, with no way out, Allegri was conservative and could only focus on how to break Tottenham's goal as soon as possible.

So the fans of the two teams at White Hart Lane witnessed a thrilling and exciting offensive and defensive battle.

Milan relied on Ibrahimovic to continuously attack.

Let Pato cut in from the ribs and receive Ibrahimovic's pass to shoot, Cassano tried to make a strong breakthrough on the wing after Ibrahimovic attracted the defensive players, and Boateng frequently inserted long shots.

It can be said that at this stage, all the offensive routines that Allegri can think of and that the Milan players can use were used in the battle tonight.

But Tottenham defended too resolutely, and Michael Dawson played too well, and he kept the goal tightly in the first half.

In the second half, Milan continued to deploy troops and replaced Pato with Inzaghi in the 52nd minute.

But Tottenham also replaced Van der Vaart with Bale, and the intention of using counterattacks to deter Milan's defense was obvious.

Uncle Jon was in trouble at this time, watching Bale constantly ravaging Gattuso with speed on the wing, and finally missed the last adjustment opportunity in hesitation.

Milan, who was too cautious, finally lost the courage to fight with Tottenham.

Or, Milan's current lineup is indeed not suitable for competing with young and strong teams in speed and intensity.

A 0-0 game that started well but ended badly announced the end of Milan's Champions League journey this season.

However, most Milan fans were relieved in their hearts while feeling uncomfortable.

Without the hindrance of the Champions League, Milan can finally focus all their attention on the remaining Serie A and Italian Cup games.

The three-line battle has become a two-line battle, and the task is not only easier, but Milan has also reached the final four of the Italian Cup, and there are at most three cup games left to play.

If handled well, Milan will win the Italian domestic double this season, which is also a great success.

The Milan players, who were also relieved in the discomfort, also quickly adjusted their mentality.

After returning to Italy, they immediately started preparing for the 29th round of the league against Bari.

At this moment, they have no time to pay attention to the status of their city rivals Inter Milan.

Now they just want to play steadily and win one game after another.

Win to the end, and win the Serie A championship they want to regain the most!

The jump of this VIP chapter is too weird. It can be posted suddenly. I have to change the volume name first.