Chapter 176: Chapter 176
176: 0125 No Need for Teammates (Subscription Requested)_2 176: 0125 No Need for Teammates (Subscription Requested)_2 Huang Kaiwen rushed to the penalty area and said, “Andre had already made the kick, so there’s no need to be at the corner flag at all!”
“I flicked it with my foot, just a touch!” Pirlo said anxiously.
Messina felt a sudden jolt in his heart.
He remembered that seemed to be the case.
But to maintain the authority of the head referee, he still declared the goal invalid.
Huang Kaiwen wrapped an arm around Pirlo and advised, “Forget it, Andre, anyone with an IQ below 70 couldn’t see that.”
Messina’s tongue was rubbing against his teeth.
Thinking of Gagliani, he could only pretend he hadn’t heard.
“The referee has disallowed a good goal for AC Milan,”
“Yes, Pirlo had already taken the corner kick, but neither the players nor the referees noticed,”
“Pirlo went back to the corner flag…
and took it, Pirlo’s taking a shot from the corner, and it’s rather off target, going directly out for a goal kick.”
“This disallowed goal has affected the morale of the AC Milan players.”
Inter Milan played the ball from their half up the field.
Stanković laid it off to the advancing Veron.
Veron, carrying the ball past midfield, was pressed and quickly passed it to Figo.
Seeing Figo approaching,
Huang Kaiwen, back on the left, did not rush to tackle.
Figo had slowed down with age.
All he needed to do was not make any mistakes, delay time and wait for teammates to help on defense.
The experienced Figo did not give Huang Kaiwen a chance.
He accelerated with the ball.
Waiting until Huang Kaiwen extended his left foot,
Figo tapped the ball and squeezed past him along the sideline.
Man and ball separated as he charged forward.
Serginho’s approach was timely; Figo cut back the ball sharply for a stop and pass.
Veron, rushing to receive the ball, was knocked over by Nesta.
The referee awarded a free kick.
“Come and form the wall,”
Nesta called out, waving his hand.
Huang Kaiwen reluctantly took his place in the wall.
Figo and Adriano stood behind the ball.
but a shot from Adriano hitting him, even if it wouldn’t injure him, would not be pleasant.
Huang Kaiwen placed his hands between his legs to protect the most important area.
Adriano took a run-up and struck the ball hard.
Huang Kaiwen closed his eyes, jumped up quickly, and turned sideways, not daring to look.
Being in the wall against a powerful free-kick taker felt no different from being punished.
By the time he opened his eyes,
the ball had already been deflected by Stam into the penalty area.
Martins got ahead from the left and sent a right-footed shot into the far corner.
Stam turned to Nesta and asked, “What kind of defense was that?”
“Why didn’t you go in and block?” Nesta, not one to hold his tongue, retorted.
“Bastard, I hadn’t even landed yet!”
“Stop arguing,” Huang Kaiwen ran over to stand between the two teammates.
“Be careful, don’t make another mistake!” Nesta spat out.
Huang Kaiwen quickly pushed Stam away.
Although Stam had played as a fullback during his time at Lazio,
age had made his weaknesses more apparent.
While Milan’s defense was strong,
it was only really effective when at full strength, missing Maldini and Cafu, their defensive capabilities were greatly diminished.
After Inter Milan players celebrated,
Milan restarted the game as the opposition fell back into formation.
Mancini was a coach known for his tactical variations.
When managing Lazio, he was always experimenting.
Technical defenders with tall fullbacks, cutting inside from the wings to play versatile midfield roles and so on, but the constant was defensive counter-attacks; once ahead, immediately controlling the pace – a style ingrained in most Italian coaches’ DNA.
After several fruitless attacks,
AC Milan began to slow down their offense.
It wasn’t until the 41st minute that another attack was organized.
Pirlo played a long ball to the wing; Huang Kaiwen on the left received the ball and accelerated, bursting past Figo.
Cambiasso immediately charged up.
Huang Kaiwen tapped the ball rapidly with two pedal moves, then flicked it with the outer side of his right foot.
As Cambiasso shifted to the left, Huang Kaiwen hooked the ball back with his right toe.
Whipping the bull’s tail!
In that instant, Cambiasso wasn’t positioned in front.
Huang Kaiwen took off again,
Seeing trouble, Sannetti hurried in front of Huang Kaiwen and lowered his stance, spreading his legs, refusing to reach out his foot.
Huang Kaiwen sent the ball forward with his left foot,
but Sannetti suddenly closed his legs together.
Luckily, Huang Kaiwen was quick enough on his feet to hook the ball back again.
He had tried to nutmeg his opponent but Sannetti read him well.
Not succeeding the first time, Huang Kaiwen didn’t dwell on the ball.
He immediately cut in towards the middle, then played a pass to Kaka, before dashing into the penalty area.
Kaka, after trapping the ball, immediately played a through pass.
The ball squeezed past the right side of Samuel into the penalty area.
Toni got there first, but his shot was parried by a diving Cesar.
Huang Kaiwen followed up with a volley.
Cesar, still not up, could only turn his head to watch the ball fly into the right side of the goal.
“Just before the end of the first half, Kevin evened the score, ensuring Milan didn’t go into halftime trailing.”
“That’s great, the best Kevin is back.”
“They can question Kevin based on one off performance, but sideline chatter will never erase Kevin’s greatness.”
“He is Milan’s most reliable player!!!”
Crudeli shouted passionately, as if his throat wasn’t his own.
Kaka rushed into the penalty area and high-fived Huang Kaiwen, saying, “Great shot, I knew you could do it.”
“Right, right, I knew it too!”
Toni quickly nodded in agreement.
Shevchenko didn’t care for words, simply giving a thumbs up.
“It’s mainly because Luca took the shot that I had the chance for the follow-up,”
Huang Kaiwen said, laughing.
Toni chuckled stupidly,
feeling like he had finally integrated into the core circle of the Milan team.