Chapter 103 "I scored the goal, I'm going to climb the tree..."
Cassetti is 31 years old this year, which is in his prime as a defender and is far from the age of retirement.
But when these words came from the mouth of the young man who had just turned 20, the effect was completely different; they were incredibly sarcastic. Casetti flew into a rage, raising his left hand to strike Fino.
The referee, who was already heading to the center circle to wait for the kickoff, noticed the situation and immediately ran over.
Before Cassetti could even make a move, De Rossi, who was wearing the captain's armband for the match, grabbed his hand.
"Marco, wake up! Do you want to leave the field?"
Cassetti felt as if he had been doused with a bucket of cold water, and the January weather felt even colder.
He slowly loosened his grip on Fino's jersey, almost falling for the young man's trick.
Fino let go of his hand with some regret.
De Rossi then turned his gaze to Fino, scolding, "When did you become so naughty? I'll definitely have to ask Andrea about it later!"
Fino smiled and shrugged, saying nothing.
The match has only been going on for a little over 20 minutes. He has plenty of time to get Cassetti off the field. It won't make a difference if he takes a little longer.
De Rossi, however, seemed to be able to read minds and immediately saw through Fino's thoughts. He emphasized again, "Fino, let's leave it at that. Let's all be more peaceful in the upcoming matches. The second half of the season has just begun, and getting injured would be a huge loss."
“Danielle, I wasn’t the one who started this mess, I wasn’t the one who played dirty, and I wasn’t the one who got the cards.” Fino crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at De Rossi.
De Rossi immediately turned to Cassetti: "Have you calmed down? Be careful with your defensive approach, don't make any big moves. Don't deliberately target Fino in the next match, this kind of confrontation won't benefit anyone."
Cassetti nodded resentfully, took a deep breath, and adjusted his mindset.
De Rossi then turned to look at Fino.
When they were in the national team, De Rossi was very friendly to Fino. Now that De Rossi had intervened, Fino couldn't continue the conflict, so he nodded, indicating that his conflict with Cassetti was over.
De Rossi breathed a sigh of relief. Cassetti was a bit impulsive, but he kept his word, and he trusted Fino's character.
At this moment, the referee finally ran over, followed by Milan players such as Gattuso, Pirlo, Maldini, and Nesta.
As former derby rivals and national team teammates, De Rossi knows Nesta very well. Nesta doesn't care whether the referee is there or not; he won't hesitate to take action when necessary.
So he first grabbed Nesta's hand before turning to the referee and Maldini to explain: "They have no problem, everything is resolved, and things will be friendly from now on."
Maldini hooked his arm around Fino's shoulder and turned to look at him.
Fino nodded, tacitly agreeing with De Rossi's statement.
The referee ultimately decided to let Fino and Cassetti off the hook, giving them only a brief warning before signaling Roma not to waste time and to restart the game immediately.
In the 31st minute of the first half, Roma equalized the score.
Roma launched an attack from the left flank. Riise dribbled past his opponent and crossed the ball from the left. The ball bounced in the middle, but Baptista didn't receive the pass. Instead, Vucinic at the far post got the ball.
Vucinic cut past Jankulovski and fired a right-footed shot inside the penalty area, the ball finding the bottom right corner of the goal.
The score is now 1-1, and both sides are back on equal footing.
For the remainder of the first half, both sides continued to attack aggressively, but neither managed to change the score. During this time, Fino and Cassetti clashed several more times, but both remained restrained; Cassetti's defensive actions were much cleaner, and Fino refrained from further provocation.
This finally put De Rossi's mind at ease, as he was occasionally distracted by their presence.
At the start of the second half, Milan launched a quick attack.
Kaká and Seedorf played a one-two and broke into Roma's half. When they were about 10 meters from the penalty area, Kaká passed the ball to Fino, who had come out of the penalty area to receive it.
Fino held off Mexes, received the ball with his back to goal, and then effortlessly turned to leave Mexes behind before dribbling towards the penalty area.
As Juan and Cassetti came up to intercept, Fino had already caught a glimpse of Beckham making a run down the right flank out of the corner of his eye.
Fino dribbled a few steps to the left, drawing Juan and Cassetti to the left as well, creating a better shooting path for Beckham, before making a cross pass to him.
Beckham didn't hesitate and immediately shot after receiving the ball. The ball was cleared out of bounds by the quick-thinking Riise, giving Milan a corner kick opportunity.
Beckham was a little disappointed. It was a great scoring opportunity, and he should have scored his first goal for Milan. If only the angle of his shot had been a little more precise.
But he still came over and patted Fino on the shoulder, praising Fino for passing the ball well, demonstrating his high emotional intelligence.
Milan's corner kicks and free kicks are usually taken by Pirlo, but in this match, Pirlo seemed uninterested, or perhaps he wanted to give Roma something new, as he handed over several corner kick and free kick opportunities to Beckham.
Of course, Pirlo wasn't just slacking off; Beckham's footwork was exceptional.
Beckham took the corner kick from the left, and the ball accurately found the far post. Seedorf, who was unmarked, volleyed the ball from the edge of the six-yard box, but unfortunately, the ball went a little too high and grazed the crossbar.
Both Seedorf and Fino gave Beckham a thumbs up.
Seedorf was unlucky with this goal; Beckham's corner kick was flawless.
Beckham smiled with satisfaction. He knew he shouldn't take on a task beyond his capabilities; since he dared to take the corner kicks from Pirlo, he was at least 80% confident.
He had a great time in this match. After being away from European football for a year and a half, he was finally playing in a high-level league again, and he enjoyed the feeling of competing against top players.
In the 59th minute, Milan had another attacking opportunity.
Pirlo passed the ball diagonally from midfield to Seedorf, who had broken into Roma's half from the left. Seedorf dribbled forward and, before De Rossi could block him, passed the ball directly to Fino in front of him.
Fino sprinted down the left flank towards the Roma penalty area, using a simple but efficient sudden stop and acceleration maneuver to dribble past Cassetti and Mexes, then feinted a shot and passed the ball to Kaká, who was coming up from the center.
At this moment, Roma's goalkeeper Doni had already fallen for Fino's trap and lunged towards Fino. Kaká, facing an empty goal, unleashed a volley that sent the ball flying over the fallen Doni and into the center of the net.
Milan have taken the lead again.
Kaka charged toward Fino at high speed. To prevent Fino from avoiding him like he did against Udinese, Kaka shouted defiantly as he ran, "I scored the goal, I'm going to climb a tree!"
Fino was a little embarrassed; Kaka was being far too childish!
However, he still managed to get into a stable stance beforehand, waiting for Kaka's attack.
When Kaka, like a cannonball, rushed up and wrapped his arms around Fino's waist, Fino took several steps back, but still managed to keep Kaka steady.
Kaka waved excitedly to the fans in the stands, but unfortunately, this was an away game and the weather was bad, so there were very few Milan fans in the stadium; almost the entire stadium was filled with local Roma fans.
A huge chorus of boos erupted from all four stands.
That's outrageous! He scored a goal and then deliberately waved at us in a provocative manner. Boo him, we have to boo him hard!
Roma fans are furious.
Kaka slunk off Fino, careless and forgetting that this wasn't Milan's home ground.
Roma didn't let Milan lead for long, and with the cheers of the fans, Roma soon had another chance to equalize.
In the 72nd minute, Roma launched an attack from the right flank. Perrotta and Baptista combined to get past Gattuso's blockade and crossed the ball to Brighi, who was standing on the edge of the penalty area. Brighi entered the penalty area and shot from a tight angle, but the ball was cleared by Maldini and flew to the left side of the penalty area.
Vucinic leaped and headed the ball before Nesta could control it, sending it bouncing off the ground and into the far corner of the goal.
Abbiati was powerless to stop this shot.
Roma have equalized the score at 2-2.
After the draw, neither Roma nor Milan showed any sign of slowing down, and both sides tacitly chose to continue to intensify their attacks.
With less than 20 minutes left in the game, whoever scores another goal now might secure 3 points and get off to a good start for the second half of the league.
In the ensuing match, the two teams switched between offense and defense extremely quickly, attacking the goal every one or two minutes.
Both goalkeepers suddenly became the busiest people on the field, and the defenses cautiously stopped pushing forward to coordinate attacks, in order to prevent the opponent from exploiting the space behind their defense. The game was already in its final stages; even if they couldn't get three points, one would be better than nothing. They absolutely couldn't afford to give the opponent a huge gift due to their carelessness.
After a fierce battle lasting more than ten minutes, the two sides finally tied the score at 2-2.
Ancelotti can accept this result. Since the blizzard in the north, Milan's final training plan has been completely disrupted. Under such circumstances, it is already a very good result to be able to draw against Roma, who had the advantage of playing at home.
After the match, Milan didn't linger in Rome, chartering a plane directly back to Milan. The journey from Dubai to Rome had been arduous, and the players' mindset had shifted from relaxed to anxious; now they could finally go home.
Ancelotti gave the team a day off, allowing the players, weary from their journey, to rest and recover before preparing for the next league match.
The match between Roma and Milan generated a lot of discussion afterward, with media and fans focusing on Beckham's performance.
Although Beckham neither scored nor assisted in this match, his excellent physical fitness, accurate passing, and positive attitude still won the recognition of the vast majority of media and fans.
His set pieces showcased his superb skills to the fullest.
Beckham silenced those who said he only had commercial value with his performance. So what if he left Europe for a year and a half? When I returned, I was still able to establish myself in the top league.
When news broke that AC Milan had loaned Beckham, many people jumped out to make sarcastic remarks, including some prominent figures from various clubs. They believed that Beckham no longer had the ability to compete in top leagues, and that the loan deal was merely a publicity stunt by Galliani to boost Milan's revenue.
Now, this deal is enough to make all clubs envious. There is no loan fee, no need to pay wages, and they get a player who can contribute immediately for free. It not only effectively supplements the team's midfield strength, but also boosts the commercial value of AC Milan.
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Author's Note: Thank you everyone for your support~ [Let me see...]
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