Chapter 971 Su Dong is tired
"Outside the court, our opponents are more imaginative than inside the court."
At the post-match press conference, Guardiola faced a large number of media reporters, openly satirizing and mocking AC Milan's tricks and tactics, and expressed his dissatisfaction with the process and results of the game.
Guardiola said Manchester City should win the game if it made sense.
"Anyone who watched this game would definitely not think that we deserved a draw."
"We had over 70% ball possession and over 20 shots, while the opponent only had five, none of which were on target. They also didn't get any corner kicks. Whether it was pass success rate or other statistics, we were far ahead of our opponents. We had no reason to lose this game."
So why did Manchester City end up with a draw? Guardiola was the first to point the finger at referee Kassai.
"During the game, the referee missed at least two of our penalties, including the one in the first half when Su Dong was tackled by Abbiati. I believe everyone can see that it was an undisputed penalty, but the referee did not make the correct call."
"There was another chance in the second half, again created by Su Dong in the penalty area. Nesta had already torn his jersey behind him, but the referee still refused to call a foul. This should have been a penalty."
These two times were actually quite obvious fouls. There is no need to mention the one in the first half. This time in the second half, Su Dong's jersey was torn. From the slow-motion replay, it was really after Nesta was thrown off by Su Dong that he grabbed his jersey hard from behind, and finally couldn't hold it anymore, so it was torn. Su Dong also lost his balance and fell in the penalty area.
It can be said that both times were penalties, but neither time was awarded.
"Can I understand this as a referee's enforcement strategy? They don't want the two-leg match to lose suspense too early, so they deliberately refuse to award us a penalty kick and leave the suspense to the second leg?"
When Guardiola said this, there was a sneer on his face, and it was obvious that he was saying it deliberately to mock the referee.
Another very important reason is the venue.
This time, Guardiola directly directed his fire at AC Milan, criticizing them for breaking their promise.
"In the morning, representatives of both sides reached a consensus in the presence of the referee and UEFA officials, but AC Milan did not fulfill its responsibilities. This is a very irresponsible behavior because the field is too dry and slippery. It is very dangerous. Our players slipped many times during the game."
Guardiola said that he had met with UEFA's match supervisor after the game, and the supervisor said that his feedback would be included in the match report. At the same time, he also admitted that AC Milan did not implement the agreement reached between the two parties before the game.
"I know this is a life-and-death duel. Both sides want to win and no one wants to lose. But I always think that in addition to winning, football should do more. At least we should consider our own demeanor."
Guardiola made it clear that when they return to the Etihad Stadium, Manchester City will definitely win a victory in an honest way.
"Many clubs have their own magic weapons to deal with Manchester City, but facing these tactics of the opponent, we have only one way to fight back, that is to win and advance smoothly!"
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After the game, Su Dong also took the initiative to walk to the comprehensive interview area and accept interviews from media reporters, which was rare.
This is really rare for the media reporters on the scene, so they all know that Su Dong has to say some things.
Basically it's about the obvious misjudgment that occurred during the game and the reasons for the venue.
What Su Dong said was similar to Guardiola, all of which were criticisms. He also said that the team would definitely be able to defeat their opponents after returning to their home court.
However, when media reporters asked him to comment on AC Milan players, Su Dong mentioned goalkeeper Abbiati.
"Yes, he should have been sent off in the first half, at least with a yellow card and a penalty, but the referee let him off, but that doesn't take away from his outstanding performance in this game."
"We had 21 shots, eight on target, and didn't score a single goal, which shows how well Abbiati performed."
"Without him we would have won a big victory tonight at the San Siro."
Su Dong did not have a very high opinion of other AC Milan players, including Nesta.
It’s not that Nesta performed badly, on the contrary, the central defender combination of Nesta and Thiago Silva was the key to AC Milan’s ability to freeze Manchester City and keep Su Dong scoreless tonight. This in itself is the greatest recognition of this central defender combination.
Of course, there is also help from the referee and the venue.
But Su Dong does not have a very high opinion of Nesta, and the same is true for Thiago Silva.
In fact, his evaluation of Nesta started high and ended low.
Once upon a time, he had a very high opinion of Nesta, who was synonymous with elegance, calmness, comprehensiveness and excellence, and was hailed as the most perfect central defender in the world.
But later, as the number of matches increased, Su Dong's evaluation of him gradually declined.
All elegance and composure are based on overwhelming strength over the opponent.
When Su Dong's strength had improved to a certain level, when he met Nesta again, he found that this guy was also very insidious in defense, with a lot of small moves and many dirty tricks, and there was no elegance and calmness at all.
As for Thiago Silva, he is stable, but he has gone astray.
How to say it?
It's like the combination of Thiago Silva and David Luiz. The latter is very fierce, likes to steal the ball and is prone to mistakes, while Thiago Silva looks very stable, always lagging behind and not making any moves easily, as if he is always cleaning up David Luiz's ass.
If we look at it purely from the game scene, Thiago Silva will definitely be rated higher because he basically made no mistakes. David Luiz made more mistakes and his rating will be very low, with mixed reviews.
But as Guardiola said in defense of David Luiz, it's there and someone has to do it.
Everyone is learning from Thiago Silva, so how can they defend by retreating again and again? Cannavaro was also very aggressive when he was young, but later he became more stable as he got older and more experienced. Is this a good thing? This is actually the performance of a seasoned veteran. Anyway, if you don't do anything, you won't go wrong.
David Luiz is one of those people who makes more mistakes than he does.
It is because of this characteristic of his that Guardiola admires him very much.
The players in Manchester City also know this and are very understanding of David Luiz.
In contrast, Thiago Silva has been too smooth in Italy.
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Manchester City was tied 0-0 by AC Milan away from home, which caused heated debate in the media in both Britain and Italy.
The British media have severely criticized AC Milan's actions and the referee's failure to award two penalties to Manchester City in the game, believing that this was an intentional attempt to harm Manchester City.
The Times believes that judging from the course of the game, Manchester City may not be in the best form, but beating AC Milan will not be a problem.
"The final result was 0-0, which was extremely unfair to Manchester City."
In addition, the Times also expressed disdain for AC Milan's approach, believing that if they have the ability, they should fight it out on the field, but AC Milan used such off-the-board tactics, which is really not worthy of being in the limelight.
"In the first leg, Manchester City didn't gain any advantage but they didn't lose. In the second leg at the Etihad Stadium, AC Milan will truly see the strong side of Manchester City."
Compared with the British media, the Italian media generally believe that AC Milan has found the secret to restrain Manchester City's passing and controlling the ball.
Gazzetta dello Sport believes that Allegri's deployment of troops fully reflects his understanding of the game, and AC Milan's tactics are also to defend tightly. Once they find that they can't get the ball, they will never fight to the death, but will retreat to their own half or even the penalty area as soon as possible, ready to block all passing routes of Manchester City.
The three defensive midfielders system made it difficult for Manchester City's passing and control of the ball to effectively penetrate into AC Milan's penalty area. The combination of Nesta and Thiago Silva performed at an extremely high level, almost perfectly freezing Su Dong.
Italian media also believe that Guardiola's two substitutions are questionable because they did not change the course of the game.
Especially after Hazard came on as a substitute, he did not get a good chance to display his skills amid AC Milan's tight defense.
"From this game, everyone can see the biggest gap between Hazard and Messi."
Even for Sudon, the Italian media generally believed that he was not in his best form.
"He looks a little tired."
"This is not surprising, because since August, he has not had any rest time and has been playing almost every week. Especially from Christmas to now, in more than two months, he has not had even a day off."
"Even an iron man would get tired, not to mention that Su Dong is just a flesh and blood man."
Italian media predicted that the 0-0 draw in the first leg would be a certain benefit for AC Milan, because it did not allow Manchester City to score an away goal. In the knockout stage, this means that AC Milan can let loose in the second leg.
"As long as Allegri's team can grab a goal away from home, Manchester City will be at an absolute disadvantage."
Gazzetta dello Sport believes that this is the first time Manchester City is participating in the Champions League in history, so they lack experience, while AC Milan is obviously more experienced in dealing with this kind of knockout match.
Especially after the 0-0 draw in the first leg, Manchester City suffered a heavy blow, and AC Milan had the opportunity to upset Manchester City away from home and advance to the quarterfinals.
Allegri also said in the post-match press conference that a score of 0-0 does not guarantee victory. AC Milan will encounter greater difficulties away from home, but there is still hope.
"I believe we can continue our excellent performance in the first leg and continue to surprise the fans away from home."
Allegri said that Manchester City's strength is actually exaggerated.
"They are not as powerful as rumored!"
(End of this chapter)
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