Chapter 54 Who says the old king is dead?
At this point, Fino had no time to adjust his center of gravity. He had already spotted Rivas out of the corner of his eye and immediately passed the ball out.
At this point, Inter Milan only had goalkeeper Cesar and full-back Chivu left in their penalty area, followed by Inzaghi. This defensive strength was advantageous for Inzaghi. If Rivas were to drop back, the defensive strength in the penalty area would be even greater.
After passing the ball, Fino let himself fall towards Materazzi. Since he was destined to fall, he might as well let Materazzi, the culprit, take the fall with him.
As the ball flew toward the goal, Inzaghi emerged from behind Chivu, leaped high to meet the ball, and headed it into the bottom right corner of the goal with his forehead.
The whistle blew to confirm the goal, and Milan took a 1-0 lead.
Cheers erupted at the San Siro as fans applauded and cheered for Inzaghi's brilliant header.
At this moment, Fino was still on top of Materazzi. He had just straightened up, but before he could get up, Inzaghi pounced on Materazzi again.
Inzaghi pressed his ear against Fino's heart, closed his eyes, and listened to Fino's rapid heartbeat after exercise, while silently apologizing in his heart.
I'm sorry, baby.
Only on the field did he dare to get so close to Fino.
Before he could feel the soreness for long, Kaká was on top of him, followed by Gattuso, and then Ambrosini...
Milan piled up a human pyramid in front of Inter Milan's goal, with Materazzi at the base...
By the time the referee came to interrupt Milan's celebration, Materazzi was already barely breathing.
The Milan players got up one by one, and before Materazzi could even recover, a yellow card was extended in front of him.
Materazzi: ? ? ?
He stretched out his little hand to the referee, on what grounds? He was almost crushed to death, and he still got a yellow card!
"You just pulled Cabrini's jersey, which caused Cabrini to fall down. That's a blocking foul."
Before Materazzi could even offer any explanation, the referee turned and left, ready to restart the game.
Materazzi angrily covered his mouth and cursed.
In the second half, Ancelotti first substituted Jankulovski for Favalli, who had been injured by Rivas in the last few minutes of the first half, and then replaced Inzaghi with Pato in the 60th minute.
In the 63rd minute, Pato's cross was blocked out of bounds by Chivu, giving Milan a corner kick.
Milan's corner kicks are almost always taken by Pirlo, and this time was no exception, with Pirlo taking the corner kick from the left.
Ambrosini won the header at the near post and headed the ball towards the far post, where Kaká won the aerial duel with Rivas and headed the ball toward the goal.
Inter Milan goalkeeper Cesar remained highly focused and correctly judged the direction of the ball, making a save.
Before he could even catch his breath, the ball flew back again.
The instant Cesar made his save, Fino appeared in the path the ball would inevitably take, and this time he finally had a chance to get a follow-up shot.
The ball sailed over Cesar's head and into the top left corner of the goal.
Milan lead 2-0.
"Goal! Cabrini scores on the rebound, AC Milan leads by two goals in the derby, a completely unexpected score!" the commentator exclaimed incredulously.
Trailing by two goals, Inter Milan fans in the North Stand looked somewhat bewildered.
Inter Milan have won all four of their last four league matches, racking up 12 points, one more than AC Milan, who have won three and lost one.
Yes, they are missing some key players, but Milan is not at full strength either!
The cheers from the Milan fans were deafening! Even if they're temporarily in the lead, they're still just a team fighting for fourth place. What's there to be happy about?
With more than 20 minutes left in the game, Ancelotti made a decisive move, directing the team to switch from offense to defense and do everything possible to secure the 3 points.
Inter Milan's head coach Mancini couldn't sit still any longer. This match was significant not only for the three points, but also for which team could outmaneuver their city rivals.
This season, although Inter Milan is at the top of the table, they haven't had the upper hand against the other two teams from the "Northern Big Three." In their two matches against Juventus, Inter drew one and lost one, and the first half of the Milan derby also ended in a draw.
With Inter Milan poised for a three-peat in Serie A, there has been a prevailing opinion that their success is due to Juventus' relegation and AC Milan's decline, rather than Inter's own progress, and that Inter lacks the qualities of a top club.
These remarks infuriated everyone at Inter Milan, especially owner Moratti, who cursed the media outlets that were stirring up trouble every day.
This match is Inter Milan's last game against their two northern rivals this season, and Inter Milan is determined to prove themselves.
Before they could even prove themselves, Milan delivered a crushing blow.
Not only did the beating leave the fans dizzy, but Mancini also seemed to feel Moratti's menacing gaze, as if he were sitting on pins and needles!
In the Champions League Round of 16 in March, Inter Milan suffered a home defeat to Liverpool, thus being eliminated from the competition. Inter Milan, fresh from their centenary celebrations, suffered a humiliating defeat at home.
After the loss, Mancini, who was gradually losing control of the locker room, broke down and impulsively announced at the post-match press conference that he would leave Inter Milan after the season.
Moratti was completely stunned and muttered to himself in front of the reporters: Roberto, what did I do to wrong you?
Although only one day later, Inter Milan's official website announced that Mancini had changed his mind, this move was widely interpreted by the outside world as a strategy for Inter Milan to stabilize morale. Some media outlets have discovered that Moratti has already begun contacting Mourinho.
Mancini was suffering inside; he didn't really want to leave, and he actually wanted to stay... He was just being a little temperamental; a little coaxing would have been enough!
But it seems Moratti really intends to get rid of him after the season!
We have to win this game to keep my job!
We must counterattack! We must counterattack immediately!
Mancini substituted Balotelli for Maniche and brought on another striker, with Inter Milan switching to a 4-3-3 formation.
After changing their formation, Inter Milan's attack did become more incisive, creating a very good scoring opportunity in the 78th minute.
At that moment, Vieira was blocked by Gattuso and Kaladze in midfield. Seeing that he could not break through the middle, he dribbled the ball to the left and then chipped it diagonally near the sideline. A beautiful over-the-top ball swept across the halfway line and landed just 8 meters from Milan's penalty area.
Nesta was defending Balotelli, Bonera's attention was on Cruz, Jankulovski was losing the battle with Crespo, and Crespo got the ball.
As a South American, Crespo possesses exquisite and imaginative footwork, and his skillful and elegant playing style is pleasing to the eye and very popular with fans.
But with time on his hands and the task heavy, he didn't show off his fancy skills after receiving the ball, but instead focused on attacking efficiently to save time. Crespo got past Jankulovski with just a simple turn, timing it perfectly.
After entering the penalty area, Crespo found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper and unleashed a volley from 10 meters out, sending the ball flying towards the lower left corner of the goal.
Karachi reacted too slowly and lunged in the wrong direction, falling towards the lower right of the goal.
But precisely because of this, his raised leg luckily blocked the ball, which Nesta controlled and passed to midfield.
Crespo shook his head, realizing how incredibly unlucky he was.
For the remainder of the game, Inter Milan's attacks were fruitless, and the Nerazzurri in the North Stand who were cheering for their players gradually fell silent.
Inter Milan managed to pull one back just before the end of the match.
It was a corner kick opportunity. After Chivu took the corner, Balotelli contested for the ball at the near post but failed to head it properly, and the ball rolled down and was collected by Maicon.
The penalty area was packed with players, leaving Maicon with no space to shoot. He passed the ball back to the outside of the penalty area, where Cruz was already waiting.
Cruz met the ball with a powerful shot, and the ball went into the goal just inside the right post.
Inter Milan pulled one back to 2-1.
Time was ticking away as the match neared its end, and Inter Milan had no more time to score. The 268th Milan derby in history ended in victory for AC Milan.
The result of this competition exceeded the expectations of the vast majority of people.
Before the Milan derby, Gazzetta dello Sport conducted an online poll to predict the outcome of the derby between the city rivals, AC Milan and Inter Milan.
Before the start of the match, only 23% of fans believed AC Milan would win, while 62% of the votes favored Inter Milan. The remaining 15% of fans opted for a draw or to remain on the sidelines.
Judging from the profile pictures and usernames in the comments section, almost all those who voted for AC Milan were Milan fans, while those who voted for Inter Milan included not only Inter Milan fans but also a large number of casual fans.
Home team fans' opinions tend to be somewhat subjective, while casual fans' opinions are more objective.
Inter Milan is the top team in the league. Even though they suffered a wave of injuries at the end of February and a scandal involving discord between the coach and players broke out in the locker room, objectively speaking, their winning percentage is still much higher than that of AC Milan, who have just climbed out of a slump.
Even before the start of the season, some football commentators had already begun speculating that AC Milan might not secure fourth place and could be relegated to the UEFA Cup next season.
Who would have thought that AC Milan, who had been in a slump in March, would actually upset Inter Milan, who had dominated Serie A for the past few seasons, in the derby?
It makes one marvel at Milan's deep-rooted strength; just when you think the old king is dead, he can still launch a fierce counterattack against the new king.
After this round of league matches, Inter Milan still sits atop the table with 79 points, but Roma's 3-0 victory over Sampdoria has narrowed the gap with the league leaders. Roma now has 76 points, just 3 points behind Inter, making the outcome of the league title still uncertain.
Juventus lost this round of the league and are currently in third place with 70 points. AC Milan and Fiorentina both got 3 points, which did not change the points gap between them. AC Milan has 66 points and Fiorentina has 63 points, still ranking fourth and fifth respectively.
With a loss and 58 points, Sampdoria has completely lost any chance of finishing in the top four with only two rounds left in the league.
After Milan's victory in the derby, the San Siro went completely wild.
The disappointed Inter Milan fans had all left the stadium, while AC Milan fans waved their team flags, held up TIFOs, and sang loudly in celebration.
Red cold fireworks ignited in the south stand, and wisps of red smoke spread to both stands and into the stadium.
This scene reminded Fino of the fireworks derby three years ago.
Three years ago, he was an observer; three years later, he is now an integral part of it.
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