Chapter 1835 - 490: King Tiger Overlord
"Wow, AC Milan started with a very threatening offense right off the bat."
"Indeed, today Huang Kaiwen has put significant pressure on Juventus near the penalty area. Juventus’s three-defender formation may not hold up."
Rakitic saw Huang Kaiwen remain motionless.
He wanted to come over and ask, but Huang Kaiwen waved him off and shouted, "You go, Ivan."
Rakitic walked towards the corner flag.
Huang Kaiwen didn’t take the corner kick, which relieved quite a few Juventus players.
Especially Courtois standing in front of the goal.
Huang Kaiwen had too many direct corner kicks, and he wasn’t confident he could defend against such shots.
Though it’s not easy to score directly from a corner, because the goal area is packed with players, visibility is poor. If it’s a high-quality shot from the corner, defending becomes very difficult.
Chiellini and Motta simply stood to Huang Kaiwen’s left and right.
Ramos had Barzagli by his side.
Beside Ibrahimovic was the 1.9-meter Bonucci.
Even though Ibrahimovic didn’t favor header goals, his height is an undeniable factor.
Having Bonucci, who is similarly tall, defend him is quite fitting.
As the referee’s whistle sounded, Huang Kaiwen felt someone tugging on his jersey.
It was Motta!
But Chiellini wasn’t aware.
Huang Kaiwen pretended to jump, and Chiellini, who was watching Huang Kaiwen closely, quickly leapt.
As soon as he jumped, Chiellini felt a sense of awkwardness.
Damn, he missed the header!
Ramos and Barzagli at the near post jumped almost simultaneously. Experienced Barzagli knew he couldn’t out-jump Ramos, so he opted for a physical confrontation, spreading his arms.
Intent on scoring, Ramos was disrupted, only getting a piece of the ball from below. Barzagli then headed the ball out of the penalty area.
"Wow, that was really impressive."
"Barzagli, a World Cup-winning defender, remains stable. Young Bonucci and the forward-turned-defender Chiellini often make mistakes, but Barzagli is exceptionally calm and steady. Whether playing high up or holding back, he’s Juventus’s most reliable defensive link."
"Yes, this time Juventus counter-attacked swiftly. Van Bommel... instantly took Krasić down. Just four minutes into the match, the referee had no intention of issuing a card, merely warning the former Bayern captain. That’s experience for you, disrupting Juventus’s counter-attack opportunity."
Guardiola applauded and shouted from the sidelines, "Watch out behind! Don’t focus on attacking and forget about defense. If the offensive doesn’t work out, retreat quickly."
His tactics leaned more towards offense.
A strong attack inevitably leaves gaps behind.
So Guardiola hoped his players would compensate for this issue with more running.
Huang Kaiwen clapped and shouted, "Exactly, don’t give them too many chances."
Van Bommel returned to his position and, covering his mouth, said to Bender, "One of us has to stay back. I’ll let you press forward when needed, otherwise it’s all on me."
He observed today that Juventus’s midfield creativity was lacking.
In such a situation, Juventus was unlikely to deliver many direct passes, so Van Bommel felt it was better to disrupt their offense up high before they neared the penalty area.
Lars Bender nodded.
He had great trust in his older teammate.
Bayern’s captain for German players equated to a position as exalted as National Team captain.
Juventus restarted from the backfield.
Just as Van Bommel had thought, Juventus’s midfield lacked creativity.
Merlot advanced the ball forward only to face Rakitic’s challenge.
As a Brazilian player, he was better at defense than offense.
Merlot attempted to pass the ball past Rakitic.
But Rakitic, growing rapidly at Milan, had some elements of Gattuso’s close marking.
Aside from that, he also possessed anticipation as an offensive player. Merlot’s poor feints were futile against Rakitic.
Motta had to step in to help.
Yet Huang Kaiwen directly charged towards Motta.
Just then, Barzagli suddenly surged up to join, and Merlot passed the ball back to Barzagli.
Barzagli made a long pass to the front field.
Huang Kaiwen glanced at Barzagli.
At this point, Juventus’s best performer was him.
Naturally, there should be Buffon too, but Buffon was already wearing a Milan jersey.
Jorge Martinez received the ball in the front field.
Jankulovski rushed forward immediately.
Nesta, noticing the situation, sensed trouble and quietly moved toward the left.
Long-absent Jankulovski indeed failed to stop the opponent, as Martinez forced his way past from the flank.
Seeing this, Nesta lunged for a slide tackle towards the sideline.
As the ball went out of play, Nesta held his lower leg.
"Milan’s medical team entered quickly; we don’t know how Nesta is doing."
"AC Milan has a lot of injuries. If they need to make a substitution, it should be Bender... Guardiola really called on Sven Bender, and when this pair of brothers is on the field together, the opponent might struggle to tell them apart."
[Courtois] maybe.
"I have an idea: let Big Bender and Little Bender wear the same jersey and enter together. Then we can have one extra player."
"Hahaha, are you trying to make me laugh? How will they set up? If the camera catches both, it would be obvious immediately."
"Don’t say that. Maybe his idea isn’t that far-fetched; but they can’t start like that."
"Suddenly rushing in during a match?"