Chapter 127 Champions League Final
At 8:45 p.m. on May 27, 2009, the 2008/09 UEFA Champions League final officially kicked off at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.
The two teams facing off are Barcelona, who have already won the La Liga and Copa del Rey titles this season, and AC Milan, who have a strong chance of winning the Serie A title.
Barcelona has been very strong this season. Under Guardiola's leadership, they have mastered the art of passing and possession, making them a real headache for opponents.
To counter Barcelona's possession-based tactics, Ancelotti deployed a 4-4-1-1 formation. He didn't intend to contest possession with Barcelona; since Barcelona's passing and possession were so effective, let them do it. Milan could simply relax by tightening their defense and increasing their defensive strength.
Fino and Kaká positioned themselves one in front of the other in the attacking third, while Ancelotti also assigned them the task of tracking back defensively, requiring them to increase the intensity and density of Milan's defense in the half by actively dropping back when necessary.
In addition to the midfield trio of Ambrosini, Pirlo, and Gattuso, Ancelotti also included Flamini in the starting lineup. He performed well against Manchester United, completely marking Giggs. In this match, he will be responsible for marking Iniesta, Xavi, and even Messi when appropriate.
There were no changes in the defense. Ancelotti fielded Milan's strongest lineup, with Jankulovski and Zambrotta on the left and right flanks, Maldini and Nesta in the center, and Dida guarding Milan's goal.
"Good evening, viewers! Welcome to the 2008/09 UEFA Champions League Final. At the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, AC Milan will face off against Barcelona in the ultimate showdown! As you can see, AC Milan's president Berlusconi, Barcelona's president Laporta, and others are all in the VIP box, waiting for their teams to lift the trophy after the match..."
As the commentator's voice rang out, images from the Milan and Barcelona boxes appeared on the television. In particular, when the camera panned across the Milan box, it slowly lingered on Berlusconi, Galliani, and numerous other legends, creating a rather meaningful effect.
Since Barcelona eliminated Chelsea to reach the Champions League final, AC Milan's executives and legends have frequently appeared in the public eye. Their aim is to pressure UEFA to ensure the fairness of the Champions League final.
The Stamford Bridge tragedy of more than two weeks ago is still fresh in everyone's mind. The referee Henning's blind decision left everyone who watched the game speechless and made everyone in Milan tremble with fear.
Chelsea's Malouda was brought down in the penalty area, but the referee called a foul outside the box; Drogba was tripped by Abidal in the penalty area after he pulled his shirt and stretched out his leg, but the referee ignored it; in the second half, Drogba was tackled by Toure in the penalty area, but the referee again ignored it; near the end of the match, Pique and Eto'o each handled the ball in the penalty area, but the referee turned a blind eye... Chelsea had at least three or four penalties disallowed.
Of course, Barcelona didn't have an easy time either. In the 66th minute, Chelsea's Anelka went down on the edge of the penalty area while facing Abidal. Without any physical contact between the two, the referee showed Abidal a red card, forcing Barcelona to play with 10 men for the remaining half hour.
After a 0-0 draw in the first leg at Barcelona's home ground, the second leg ended in a 1-1 draw, with Barcelona advancing to the Champions League final on away goals.
Both Chelsea and Barcelona suffered from refereeing errors, but overall, Chelsea fared much worse than Barcelona. If Barcelona was stabbed in the muscle, Chelsea was bled dry by having their major artery severed.
Chelsea, having missed out on a Champions League final qualification spot at home, were naturally furious. Wasn't this blatant refereeing bias? Chelsea players immediately surrounded referee Henning, demanding an explanation. Drogba even shouted angrily, "This is a disgrace to football! Barcelona are thieves!"
As the eventual qualifiers, Barcelona naturally wouldn't question the match result at this point. Barcelona vehemently denied allegations of referee bias, emphasizing that they were also victims, that Abidal's red card was unjust, and that they had simply overcome difficulties through their own performance to secure their place in the Champions League final.
Amidst the uproar following the match, UEFA chose to protect referee Henning and refused to allow Chelsea to question the result.
Didier Drogba and Bosingwa were punished by UEFA for protesting to the referee after the match. Drogba was banned for six matches, Bosingwa for four matches, and Chelsea FC was also fined €100,000.
Chelsea's humiliation has left Milan trembling. It appears to be merely a referee's personal decision, with both Chelsea and Barcelona being wrongly judged. However, the severity of the wrongful calls differed greatly between the two teams. Coupled with UEFA's cover-up of the referee, Milan has no choice but to be more cautious.
Sometimes, when you laugh at others' conspiracy theories, it might just be because it doesn't concern you personally. But once you're "in the thick of it," you might think more and think darker than others.
Could this be a setup orchestrated by UEFA? Could UEFA be deliberately ensuring Barcelona's place in the Champions League final? Was the blow to Barcelona just a smokescreen to eliminate Chelsea? Will UEFA go all out and guarantee Barcelona the title?
Milan was outraged. Club executives and legends began making frequent public appearances to criticize the outrageous rulings in the Stamford Bridge tragedy and demand that UEFA guarantee the fairness of the final.
They certainly wouldn't explicitly accuse UEFA of instructing referees to manipulate matches, but their statements were full of warnings:
AC Milan isn't some upstart club like Chelsea with no foundation, where you can bully us. If we encounter biased refereeing in the final, this isn't over! We'll take it to FIFA! Platini, you won't get away with this either!
Several extreme fan groups in the South Stand also sent the same signal, albeit more directly:
If anyone dares to rig the refereeing against Milan, then neither UEFA officials nor referees will be able to leave Italy safely after the final!
...
As the players lined up to enter the stadium, Zambrotta went up to greet his former Barcelona teammates, Puyol and others also came over to greet Maldini, while the other players who were not very familiar with each other quietly sized each other up.
Fino and Messi made eye contact by chance, both paused for a moment, and then nodded to each other.
This small interaction was immediately captured by the following camera and transmitted to the television screen, triggering a series of micro-expression interpretations from various people.
In the past two weeks, along with the Milan vs. Barcelona title race, the Ballon d'Or battle between Fino and Messi has also been hyped up.
This year is a year without major tournaments. Based on the performances of Milan and Barcelona in their domestic leagues and European competitions, as well as the performances of Fino and Messi within their teams, barring any unforeseen circumstances, whoever wins the Champions League title will win the Ballon d'Or at the end of the year.
The media, naturally, were eager to seize this opportunity for hype, hoping to portray Fino and Messi as mortal enemies. However, both Fino and Messi rarely gave interviews, preventing the media's hype from achieving its desired effect.
The media were furious. They thought the two silent players were boring. Why wasn't it Manchester United who made it to the Champions League final? Ronaldo is a walking headline. Speculating about Ronaldo and Messi would definitely be more sensational. Moreover, Ronaldo is about to go to La Liga to join Messi, so they can keep hyping it up for many years.
Under these circumstances, the small interaction between Fino and Messi was quickly analyzed into "pre-match psychological warfare" and "hateful and hostile gazes," and became the recognized beginning of the Fino-Messi rivalry, which has been repeatedly mentioned for many years to come.
Who would have thought that the so-called Fino-Messi rivalry began with just a friendly, slightly awkward nod between Fino and Messi?
With the referee's whistle blowing, the match officially began!
After the start of the match, Milan played steadily as Ancelotti had instructed, without showing a strong desire to attack. Instead, they played to the best of Italian team tradition and perfected their defense.
Especially in midfield control, Milan allowed Barcelona to control the ball, but blocked Barcelona's forward passing paths through tight marking and joint defense, forcing Barcelona to pass the ball back and forth in the midfield and backfield.
Even though Barcelona had nearly 80% possession in the first 10 minutes, it was all ineffective possession; the ball couldn't be passed into the attacking third and couldn't be converted into a shot.
Flamini stayed close to Iniesta, cutting off the connection between Xavi and Iniesta, rendering Iniesta's breakthrough weapon ineffective.
Xavi could only seek cooperation with Busquets, Puyol, and others.
Xavi's through balls to the front were repeatedly thwarted by the strong defense of Gattuso, Ambrosini, and Milan's backline.
Seeing this, Henry and Eto'o chose to drop back from the attacking third to increase Barcelona's support options, but Jankulovski and Zambrotta followed suit, giving Barcelona no chance.
In the 16th minute, after directing his team to patiently pass the ball around for a few minutes, Xavi finally found a gap in Milan's defense and launched a through pass. The ball passed between Gattuso and Pirlo and headed straight for the left side of Milan's penalty area.
Henry sprinted toward the ball's landing point, but his old teammate Zambrotta immediately clung to him, blocking his path. He could only watch helplessly as Nesta received the ball and calmly passed it to Pirlo, who had retreated a few steps.
Pirlo received the ball and immediately launched a long pass, targeting Kaká in Barcelona's half, thus initiating Milan's counter-attack.
Because of their solid defense from the start of the match, Milan's players were mostly concentrated in their own half. At this point, Barcelona only had two Milan players, Kaká and Fino, in their half, and they were some distance away from Barcelona's penalty area.
After Pirlo delivered the pass, he immediately moved forward, with Ambrosini and Jankulovski also running forward in unison.
The others followed the Barcelona player they were marking, preventing Barcelona from launching a counter-attack after successfully winning the ball back.
Flamini, in particular, stayed close to Iniesta at all times, even though he himself was outside of Milan's attack and defense, he still made sure to mark Iniesta closely.
This is also where Ancelotti's brilliance lies. Barcelona's passing and control is very strong, and it is not easy to mark Xavi, the "midfield engine". Moreover, even without Xavi, there are Iniesta, Busquets, and others. They all started at La Masia, have the same genes, and have passing and control ingrained in their bones.
Instead of trying to compete with Barcelona for midfield control, they should choose to neutralize Iniesta and prevent Barcelona from passing the ball smoothly into the attacking third.
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Author's Note: Thank you everyone for your support~ [droopy-eared rabbit head]
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