Chapter 497: Ancelotti's Coping
Before the game, Italian media promoted AC Milan and said that they had a great hope of defeating Mirvoor at San Siro Stadium, and also listed many reasons. In addition, there were Galliani, Kaka, Sidov and others to stand up to express their confidence in winning.
That's just an expression of AC Milan's serious attitude towards the game.
The Champions League semi-final with Mirwall has special significance for AC Milan - maintaining the first place in Serie A and maintaining the position of Serie A boss.
The "phone gate" incident that happened last year has a great impact on AC Milan. Even though the team's lineup has basically not changed, the league's performance has been seriously affected, which has led to only ranking third in the league this season and can only fall behind Inter Milan and Roma.
There is a saying that works well - football politics.
That's exactly what Italian football is like.
Each team will have a political tendency and will be divided into left-wing, right-wing, and the boss of AC Milan. Berlusconi, who has served as Italian Prime Minister for a long time, is the leader of the Centre-Right League power party, and AC Milan is naturally also a center-right team. The Agnelli family, who is in charge of Juventus, has always been in good terms with Berlusconi, and Juventus is naturally considered a right-wing force. Lazio and Rome are the mortal enemies of the capital, and politically the same. Lazio is the most extreme right-wing force, originating in the wealthy area of Rome. Historically, because of his favored popularity and the infamous Mussolini, became the representative of the far-right. Lazio fans often appear in the stands.
On the contrary, Lazio's archenemy, Roma, is the left-wing team.
Other left-wing teams are representative of Naples, where Maradona once played for.
The Morati family, who is in charge of Inter Milan, has always been politically neutral, but in the eyes of most people, Inter Milan is a left-leaning team.
Football seems to have nothing to do with politics, but it has a lot to do with Italian football.
There is a saying in Italian football, "As long as the right wing is in power, Inter Milan will not be able to win the championship."
This seems like a joke.
But looking back on the past decade, Inter Milan has been investing heavily in the transfer market, but has not been able to win a league championship. It has been suppressed by AC Milan and Juventus. There have been many times when they just almost won the championship, but the championship always passes by. It is really just that they are not lucky, lack of coaching skills, and have problems with players' performance?
Ronaldo.
Vieri.
Robert Baggio.
If you listen to the names of the stars in the past Inter Milan, you can probably think about how brilliant the "bad results" Inter Milan is.
Inter Milan is not an exception.
In the past decade, Italian "leftist" teams have not achieved good results, and Serie A has almost been dominated by right-wing teams.
Italian football is not pure, and the darkness in it is unimaginable to the outside world.
The "Telephone Gate" incident can expand and sweep the entire Italian football world. As long as the 20 Serie A teams are politically affected by the word "right", they will almost certainly be affected.
This is no longer a simple football incident, but an expansion into the game in Italian politics.
Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi is naturally the failure side.
Although Berlusconi has been serving as Italian Prime Minister, anyone knows that his position is no longer so stable. Not to mention the parades against Berlusconi, what he said is not as effective as before.
In such a political environment, AC Milan, as Berlusconi's team and the representative team of the "center-right" league, was naturally greatly affected.
In this season's league, AC Milan can only fall below Inter Milan and Rome.
For many teams, the third place in Serie A is an amazing result, which means that they can represent Italy and participate in the next UEFA Champions League. It is an unacceptable result for AC Milan, but it is already a certain situation that they are suppressed by Inter Milan and Rome in the league. At least there is no chance this season, so they can only 'play out' to maintain the overlord' face.
AC Milan fans also hope that the team can win the Champions League again and will be able to deal with Inter Milan fans with their heads held high - is Inter Milan the league champion? We are the Champions League champion!
Supported by this mentality, AC Milan was very motivated on the court. They ran very actively, fought fiercely, played very hard in the game, and showed excellent cooperation and skills.
Millwall was a little uncomfortable.
Many players feel that the game seems to be not the Champions League semi-final, but the Champions League final. The trophy belongs in one game. They are ready for a difficult game, but the opponent's fighting level is still somewhat unexpected.
Everyone can feel that the game is much harder than in the first round!
However, Millwall has a score advantage, so he naturally has a psychological advantage. His performance in the game is still very stable. His cooperation during offense is very stable. He plays very steadily. He passes and receives a sudden attack. He rarely loses the ball by a tough defense. His defensive formation is also very stable. If a player loses his position or is shaken by the opponent, his teammates will immediately make up for it.
Such a calm playing style is the strategy of preparing for the battle.
With two goals advantages, Mirwall should focus on stability, defend and attack, and not give the opponent too many opportunities to respond to changes. What should be anxious about is AC Milan. If the opponent makes a mistake, the team can seize the opportunity and catch the opponent off guard.
When AC Milan's toughness and Mirwall's calmness collide, the game becomes extremely exciting.
Every player on the field is running desperately, and every player is working hard.
AC Milan has good luck.
At the 21st minute of the game, Kaka received a pass from Seedorf and shot directly outside the penalty area. The football was punched out by Graham. Then Ambrosini followed up and shot an empty goal with a kick, helping AC Milan score the first goal in the game.
“goooal!!!”
After Ambrosini scored a complete goal, the Italian commentator shouted wildly, "Ambrosini scored! The score in the two rounds became 2-3! AC Milan recovered one goal! There is only one point difference between the two teams!"
"Acc Milan only needs to score another goal to eliminate Mirwall and make it close to the final of the Champions League!"
San Siro Stadium broke out!
Every Milan fan was shouting excitedly, and the voices of tens of thousands of people gathered together, and the entire stadium seemed to be shaking. Milan fans were extremely excited. They hoped that the team could eliminate Millwall, but they only had disadvantages in the score. The game in the last round also proved that Millwall was not an easy opponent to deal with, but they did not expect that AC Milan performed so well, and could complete the first goal in just over twenty minutes.
There is still plenty of time next, enough for them to complete the second and third goals!
Maybe today is not only to eliminate Mirwall, but also to win a big victory in the Champions League semi-finals!
Milan fans were immediately excited.
AC Milan's head coach Ancelotti has always been sitting in his seat seriously and watching the game between the two teams. When he saw Ambrosini score, the old coach couldn't help but smile. He was not only happy about the quick goal, but also the burden on his shoulders became much lighter.
The difference between the two balls is too heavy!
If the gap becomes one ball, the pressure will become much smaller.
Ancelotti stood up and clapped and celebrated with the players on the bench. His expression also revealed his satisfaction with the game. At the same time, he was proud of the adjustments to Millwall.
In the last round, AC Milan was not prepared enough.
AC Milan players need to review this point because they must be a little careless and their performance is much worse than usual. Ancelotti himself needs to review it. He is not prepared for the game, such as his emphasis on Braniff, his emphasis on Vardy, his emphasis on Morris, and so on.
This is also the media.
AC Milan and Mirwall have no record of fighting in a century, and both sides are completely unfamiliar. If you want to say that Mirwall must have a certain understanding of AC Milan, because AC Milan has always been on the world's highest stage, tactics, personnel, etc., and has long been thoroughly analyzed.
Millwall is different.
Mirwall is a team that has only risen in the past two years. If AC Milan wants to know Mirwall, they can only use game videos, temporary investigations of scouts, and media reports on news.
So AC Milan suffered a loss.
However, after the first round, AC Milan also had a thorough understanding of Mirwall, including the opponent's tactics, the opponent's player level, and the coaching staff led by Ancelotti also found the best way to deal with it - toughness.
Millwall is a Premier League team, and his style is a bit tough, but they are still afraid that their opponents will be tough.
For example, Rome and Valencia.
In the Champions League group stage, Roma and Mirvoor suffered a big loss with their solid defense and toughness; Valencia's strength is no worse than Roma, and he defeated Roma in both rounds, but their two-round matches with Mirvoor was simply a tragedy. They lost "easy" every time, and they didn't even have much resistance.
That's because Valencia's style is soft.
This also leads to Mirwall being able to leverage their midfield cooperation and their players' strengths, so Valencia is naturally no match at all.
AC Milan also has to play tough.
As long as you play with Mirvoor, the opponent cannot play freely. AC Milan is not greatly affected, but the style of playing will become simpler. However, AC Milan has never lacked technical players. Milan is a midfielder Pirlo and Kaka, which can completely drive the offensive rhythm and make the goal play technical and efficient.
Ambrosini's goal is the gains after adjustment.
The tough battles of the whole game prevented Mirwall from playing, while also creating more opportunities for AC Milan. The cooperation between Seedorf and Kaka is a temporary performance and an inevitable result of tactics. Otherwise, there will be other cooperation that will threaten Mirwall's goal.
Ambrosini's timely follow-up is also the direct reason for the goal.
Chapter completed!