Chapter 24 AC Milan vs Juventus
According to the report in Corriere dello Sport, Fino was followed by reporters from the moment he landed in Rome, and they followed him and Nesta until they left the city.
During that time, everything they visited—what tourist attractions they went to, what they ate, and how long they stayed at Nesta's house without going out—was thoroughly investigated.
The wording was extremely ambiguous, and the photos selected were all candid shots of people with their arms around each other and smiling at each other, which made people think of all sorts of things.
Fino was shocked. He really hadn't noticed the reporter's presence at all, and what kind of nonsense was this?
He opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say. He glanced at Nesta, hoping to get some ideas from him.
Serginho burst into laughter: "What's going on, Fino? You still want to see your 'lover' at a time like this?"
Fino blushed and shouted angrily, "I didn't! I didn't! Don't talk nonsense!"
The laughter in the locker room grew louder; they finally saw their mature-beyond-their-years teammate jumping up and down in frustration.
It's so much fun! It's so much fun!
Maldini, having finally had his fill of the drama, stepped in to smooth things over.
"Alright, alright, stop bullying the kid." He patted Fino on the shoulder and said to her, "Don't take it to heart, everyone's just joking with you. Tabloids will exaggerate anything for sales, just pretend you didn't see it."
Nesta also comforted Fino, saying, "Fino, there will be plenty of gossip like this in the future. You'll get used to it soon."
Serginho exclaimed again, "Wow, Fini, is that a nickname between you two?"
Serginho's words drew another burst of laughter from the locker room.
Fino, unable to bear it any longer, grabbed his training uniform and whipped his shameless teammates, the locker room filled with unbearable howls.
Fino felt defeated by them. He was only glad that Pirlo had national team duties and wasn't in the locker room. Otherwise, given Pirlo's ability to win even the Prank Tournament, who knows what kind of trouble he would have caused.
Inzaghi quietly changed into his training clothes, completely ignoring his teammates' antics. He simply looked Fino and Nesta up and down, then picked up the "La Gazzetta dello Sport" newspaper that had been thrown on the ground at some point, staring intently at the suggestive photos, examining them one by one.
Nesta's hand, which is hooked around Fino's shoulder or waist in the photo, is particularly irritating and makes him feel very uncomfortable.
At this time, the Italian national team had just finished playing a European Championship qualifier against Scotland and had returned to the Coverciano training base.
Pirlo, Ambrosini, and Gattuso were eating at a table when they all saw the report in the Corriere dello Sport. Ambrosini burst out laughing, while Pirlo raised an eyebrow, seemingly lost in thought.
Gattuso shuddered at the sight, thinking that Pirlo was about to play another prank, and he silently prayed for Nesta and Fino.
...
Following the international break, Serie A resumed its 13th round of matches.
AC Milan will travel to Sardinia to face Cagliari. This will be Ronaldo's first appearance since his muscle injury in July, and he will partner with Gilardino in a strike partnership.
In the first half, Cagliari's striker Acquafresca scored the first goal, giving Cagliari a temporary lead.
In the second half, Gilardino equalized for Milan, but Pirlo scored a brilliant free kick to put Milan ahead just before the end of the match, securing a 3-point victory for Milan away from home.
Then, in the fifth group stage match of the Champions League, Milan traveled to Portugal and drew 1-1 with Benfica, accumulating 10 points to continue leading the group and qualifying for the knockout stage with one game to spare.
However, Ronaldo, who had just recovered from injury in the previous league match, was injured again during the warm-up for this game, which was a great pity.
Then Milan faced their toughest match before the Club World Cup: the 14th round of the league, where they hosted Juventus.
When it came to choosing the starting striker, Ancelotti deliberated between Fino and Inzaghi for a long time, but in the end, he chose Inzaghi.
As a result of the "Calciopoli" scandal, Juventus was relegated to Serie B last season and was only promoted back this season. Therefore, Fino, who only joined the first team last season, has never played for Juventus.
Just to be on the safe side, Ancelotti also reminded Fino to be ready to play at any time.
After the match started, both sides played cautiously, focusing more on defense.
In attack, Juventus clearly dominated Milan. In the first 20 minutes of the match, Juventus' main striker Trezeguet took several shots and created numerous dangerous situations in front of Milan's goal.
Milan, on the other hand, struggled to penetrate Juventus' penalty area. It wasn't until the 20th minute that Kaká finally broke into the left side of the penalty area, but he had no chance to shoot under the double pressure of Chiellini and Molinaro.
In the 25th minute, Seedorf received the ball but had no space to pass it, so he had to dribble past the goalkeeper and shoot from 17 meters out, but the shot went wide of the post.
In the next ten minutes or so, it was still Juventus's show. Zanetti and Iaquinta's shots were saved by Dida, and Nedved's volley went wide of the post.
It wasn't until the 37th minute that Milan finally managed a decent shot, a long-range effort from Pirlo in midfield that bounced off the grass before being caught by Buffon.
This was Buffon's first save of the match.
Ancelotti was having a tough time; the midfielders couldn't get the ball into the penalty area, and Inzaghi was practically invisible. Milan seemed to be playing with 10 men against 11. Fortunately, Milan's defense was solid, and Juventus failed to score.
He considered replacing Inzaghi with Fino, using Fino's speed to make breakthroughs and drop back in the midfield and relieve the pressure on the midfield, but it was too early to make a substitution at this point, so he decided to observe and see.
The score remained 0-0 until the end of the first half.
After the start of the second half, Juventus once again took the lead in attack.
Salihamidzic broke through Serginho on the right wing, then cut inside and fired a shot, which Dida saved with one hand. However, Dida injured his right elbow when he landed and did not get up in time. Nedved intercepted the ball that Dida had saved and shot on the rebound.
At the last second, Oddo slid the ball out of bounds.
Ancelotti broke out in a cold sweat and quickly called the team doctor onto the field to check on Dida's injury. Fortunately, Dida's injury was not serious, and after a brief treatment by the team doctor, he was still guarding Milan's goal.
In the 50th minute, Seedorf dribbled through the middle and then passed the ball diagonally to Oddo, who was making a run down the right wing. Oddo didn't hold onto the ball and passed it to Kaká before Molinaro could block him. Kaká then volleyed the ball from 7 meters out.
The entire stadium erupted in excitement. Kaka's shooting form was graceful and highly entertaining. If he could score, it would be a hot topic of conversation for at least a week.
Fino and others also stood up from the bench, waiting to witness the birth of this wonderful goal.
However, Buffon once again defended Juventus' goal, blocking the ball with his left leg in a very imaginative gesture. But before he could even catch his breath, the ball was shot towards the goal again at an even faster speed.
At this point, Buffon had lost his balance and was powerless to stop the shot, only able to watch helplessly as the ball went into the net.
It was Inzaghi, who had been invisible throughout the game, who received the ball from Buffon on the right and scored on the rebound.
The San Siro erupted in cheers as fans chanted Inzaghi's name, but Ancelotti frowned, as Inzaghi appeared to be offside before Kaká's shot.
As expected, after communicating with the linesman, the referee declared the goal invalid, causing a wave of sighs from Milan fans.
In the following 20 minutes, as the score remained unchanged, the players from both sides became increasingly aggressive. However, the referee was lenient in his whistle and very cautious in issuing cards. It wasn't until Kaká was violently tackled by Legrottaglie that Legrottaglie was given a yellow card and a free kick.
Milan had free kick possession in Pirlo's hands. He took the free kick from 28 meters out on the right side of the goal. The ball flew over the wall and headed towards the goal with great force and momentum.
As a teammate on the national team, Buffon was very familiar with the quality and power of Pirlo's free kicks. Instead of trying to catch it head-on, he used both hands to tip the ball away.
In the 72nd minute, Ancelotti used two substitutions at once, replacing Inzaghi with Fino and Serginho with Maldini.
[I don't understand this substitution move. Can anyone explain it?]
[Substituting Inzaghi is understandable, he's been somewhat invisible. But substituting Serginho is puzzling; was it to conserve the veteran's energy?]
Is Serginho injured?
[Probably not. Maybe they sent the cavalry up to boost morale.]
...
These two substitutions were somewhat contradictory, surprising not only the fans but also the commentators.
"Ancelotti's substitutions were somewhat puzzling. He replaced the increasingly fatigued Inzaghi with the young Cabrini, seemingly to strengthen the attack. At this point, it would have been more appropriate for Serginho to stay on the field, as Serginho's speed and crossing ability could have provided more support for Cabrini. However, Ancelotti substituted the faster Serginho with the more defensively solid Maldini, making the two substitutions somewhat contradictory."
Ancelotti's substitution was out of necessity, and he had no choice but to accept it.
In the Champions League match three days ago, Dida, Kaladze, Nesta, Gattuso, Pirlo, Kaka and others who started the game all played the full 90 minutes. Three days later, they will play the final round of the Champions League group stage at home against Celtic, followed by a trip to Japan for the Club World Cup. The schedule is just too packed.
The dense schedule greatly increases the risk of player injuries. Milan's starting lineup is aging and there is a huge gap in strength between it and the substitutes. At this critical time, Ancelotti would rather have a draw at home than have any of his key players injured, so he brought on Maldini to solidify the defense.
Inzaghi had no room to operate in this match. After Fino came on, he was able to play a greater role in both defense and counter-attack.
Ancelotti had made up his mind to defend a draw for the remainder of the game, further tightening the defense to ensure no goals were conceded. He only intended to have Fino and Kaká draw Juventus' defenders away from pushing forward; whether they could score was up to luck.
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