Chapter 69: "Inspecting the Goods" of Lippi

The team did not linger in Kyiv; after the post-match press conference, Ancelotti led the entire team back to Milan.

Over the next 18 days, Milan will play five matches, including four Serie A games and a Champions League group stage match at home against Porto.

The schedule is quite tight, and the players will not have a break before the next international break.

On September 21, Milan played their third Serie A match against Lazio.

Italian national team coach Marcello Lippi appeared in the stands at the San Siro. After the camera spotted Lippi, it immediately switched the view to the stadium's big screen.

When the home and away fans saw Lippi on the big screen, they all applauded and cheered. It was obvious that Lippi was there to scout players for the national team, so they naturally wanted to be enthusiastic and make a good impression on their players.

Whether it works or not, let's cheer first.

Lippi raised his hands above his head and applauded to thank the fans in the stadium.

"National team coach Marcello Lippi appeared in the stands at the San Siro, just as he said in an interview during the last international break, he would continue to scout players at matches. In this match, besides AC Milan's Gattuso, Ambrosini, and Zambrotta, several players who haven't yet been selected for the national team or whose status is uncertain are hoping to gain Lippi's favor. AC Milan has the strike duo of Cabrini and Borriello, while Lazio has De Silvestri, Mauri, and Foggia."

The commentator offered his speculation: "Mr. Lippi must have already communicated with both head coaches beforehand. Apart from Pirlo, who strained his leg in training a few days ago, and the veterans who are unlikely to be selected for the national team again, all other Italian players are included in the match roster. Being able to assess the condition of seven or eight players at once, no wonder Mr. Lippi chose to watch this match live."

Lippi did communicate with both head coaches. After returning to the national team, he has a lot of things to do. If he doesn't confirm in advance whether the players he is scouting can play, wouldn't he be making a wasted trip?

Both Ancelotti and Lazio's head coach Delio Rossi readily informed Lippi of their match squad.

The season has just begun, and it's not time to release any smokescreens yet. Besides, Lippi is a sensible person and has no reason to leak information.

Taking advantage of Lippi's visit to San Siro, Ancelotti continued to advance his plans.

He conveyed to Berlusconi through Galliani that Lippi would be coming to San Siro to scout Italian players, hoping to temporarily remove Shevchenko from the starting lineup and give Italians as many playing opportunities as possible. He also subtly mentioned the dissatisfaction of other players who had not been given playing time.

Given Shevchenko's performance in the three official matches this season and the results Milan achieved, Berlusconi finally realized he had acted too hastily and tacitly allowed Ancelotti to arrange his troops according to his own ideas.

Ancelotti breathed a sigh of relief. Sacrificing two league games in exchange for Berlusconi temporarily stepping back from interfering with the lineup arrangements was worthwhile.

Milan used the 4-3-1-2 formation again in this match. Abbiati guarded the goal, Zambrotta, Kaladze, Maldini and Jankulovski formed the front defense, Gattuso returned from injury and controlled the midfield with Ambrosini and Seedorf, Kaká played as the attacking midfielder, and Fino and Borriello partnered as the two strikers.

This is the first time Fino and Borriello have teamed up for an appearance.

Borriello was brought back from the lower leagues by Milan in the summer of 2002. He spent some time in the youth team and was loaned out by Milan several times to gain experience.

In the season when Fino was promoted to the first team, Borriello returned to Milan after his loan spell ended, but he was embroiled in a doping scandal, and Fino did not play alongside Borriello in his few appearances.

Last season, Fino became a regular starter for Milan, while Borriello had already joined Genoa.

This season, Borriello was brought back to Milan because of his outstanding performance at Genoa.

Fino didn't have any particular opinion about Borriello, just like he did about Shevchenko, a player with deep ties to Milan who was a key player in the team's attack. They would cooperate while competing, and compete while cooperating.

Borriello's opinion of Fino was somewhat mixed.

Fino's career has been so successful that it's hard not to feel jealous of Borriello. Some people, just by standing there, are radiant enough to sting the eyes of others.

From Borriello's perspective, Fino was meticulously groomed from a young age, with all the coaches in the youth academy waiting for this future goalkeeper to grow up. After his path to stardom was unexpectedly blocked, Fino smoothly transitioned to the striker position. The two positions are worlds apart, one forward and one back, but Fino succeeded nonetheless. After reaching adulthood, he smoothly entered the first team for training and quickly rose to prominence by taking advantage of Ronaldo's injury and Gilardino's decline, becoming a regular starter for Milan at the age of 19.

And what about Borriello himself?

From the summer of 2002, he was constantly on loan, returning, loaning, returning... until the 2006/07 season when he finally got some playing time at Milan, but he was immediately suspended for three months after testing positive for a banned substance in a urine test. Then, the following season, Milan sent him to Genoa.

While he was anxiously awaiting his suspension and persevering through the tough times in Genoa, Fino rose to prominence...

He has always followed AC Milan's matches closely and naturally witnessed Fino's rise to prominence. There may have been opportunities involved, but more importantly, it was because Fino himself was strong enough.

Even though he initially approached the situation with a critical and comparative attitude, he couldn't help but begin to admire this player who was six years younger than him.

Torn between jealousy and admiration, Borriello was caught in a tug-of-war between two conflicting emotions. In this match, they would once again team up as strikers to put themselves to the test by the national team's head coach, Lippi.

It feels so awkward.

Lippi's arrival had an immediate effect; almost all the Italian players who took the field became excited.

Just 30 seconds into the game, Mauri and Zambrotta clashed in Milan's penalty area, their shoulders collided and they both fell to the ground.

Because it was a legitimate collision, the referee did not issue a card, but only warned them to reduce the range of motion.

Milan then gradually took control of the game and launched several attacks.

In the 8th minute, while Kaká was being double-marked by former Milan players Brocchi and Ledesma, Fino dropped back to midfield to receive the ball.

After receiving a pass from Ambrosini, Fino immediately accelerated, using his speed to outpace Kolarov and Rozenal, who both came to intercept him. The two Lazio defenders appeared slow and clumsy under Fino's full-speed attack, and were left behind in the blink of an eye.

Kolarov and Rozenal's stunned expressions were captured on camera and shown on the big screen, causing the fans watching the game at the San Siro to burst into laughter.

Kolarov and Rozenal didn't have time to think about what the home fans were laughing at. They immediately turned around and chased back. There were only two defenders left in the penalty area, and Borriello was lurking in front of the goal. They had to hurry back to help.

As Fino approached Lazio's penalty area, Lichtsteiner came to meet him, while another center-back, Sivilla, marked Borriello closely.

Just as Fino was about to shoot, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that Zambrotta had already made a run down the right flank. Fino had a flash of inspiration and made a fake shot and a real pass to Zambrotta, which tricked Lazio's goalkeeper Carrizo into making an early save and losing his balance.

Zambrotta, unmarked, received the ball and easily slotted it into the far corner.

Milan are leading 1-0 at home.

Zambrotta cheered like a child.

As a defender, he has scored very few goals; sometimes he might not even score a single goal in 30 appearances in a season.

What a precious goal that was!

After the celebration, he didn't forget the kind person who had helped him, and came up to give Fino a tight hug.

"Hey, Finney, Mr. Lippi must be here to scout you out today. Maybe we can play together on the next international break! If anything happens then, just come to me. I'll have your back!"

Fino smiled and nodded.

Immediately after, Lazio launched an attack from the kickoff. Mauri and Pandev passed the ball into Milan's backfield. Pandev was interfered with by Kaladze when he cut into the penalty area. He barely managed to keep his balance and pass the ball to another striker, Zarate.

Zarate was only 9 meters from the goal when he received a pass from Pandev and immediately took a shot, but Maldini did not give him a chance to score and tackled the ball out of the penalty area.

Kaladze skillfully blocked Pandev's position, and Jankulovski received the ball and launched a counter-attack from the backfield.

Lazio's attack in this match was largely driven by short passes, with Jankulovski, Ambrosini, Seedorf, and Kaká passing the ball back and forth, gradually advancing it into Lazio's half.

When the ball was about 10 meters away from Lazio's penalty area, Jankulovski, who had the ball, did not pass it to Kaká, who was standing outside the penalty area line, nor to Seedorf, who was behind Kaká. Instead, he suddenly launched a high ball, lobbing it into the penalty area.

This move caught Lazio's defense off guard, as they had focused too much of their defensive efforts on Kaká and Seedorf.

Borriello cleverly retreated two steps to the left in the penalty area, drawing Sevilla's attention in the process. Fino burst out from Rozenal's side and, with a diving header, headed the ball into the far corner of the goal.

Milan extended their lead to 2-0.

When both Borrell and Yankulovsky ran over, Fino compared their physiques with his eyes and chose to climb the tree, as Yankulovsky was a few centimeters shorter.

Although he's a little shorter, Yankuzhuang looks about 10 kilograms stronger than Borriello, and the base he's on gives people a sense of security.

As expected, Janku easily supported him, and then Borriello, Kaka, Seedorf and others also rushed up.

After the referee came over to remind them that their celebration had gone on too long and that they should hurry up and wait for the kickoff, Borriello hesitated for a moment, but still said something to Fino.

"I can support you, I'm fine."

Fino: Huh?