Chapter 1 After AC Milan's Goal

After AC Milan scored, the entire city of Florence was cursing, cursing Kaka who scored the goal, and cursing the Fiorentina coach, Sabato, for his conservative tactics.

"We're behind despite having such a good situation! This is just stupid!" A group of people stared at the big screen TV in the bar, discussing.

"What is that idiot Sabato doing?" Someone slammed a heavy beer mug on the table.

"Hey, what are you saying? A momentary mistake by the coach doesn't warrant such a reaction, does it?" This person seemed to be a loyal supporter of Sabato. "You have to remember how much honor he has brought us over the years!"

"Kid! What do you know? How many years have you been watching football?" The man's face immediately turned red. He tilted his head, looking disdainfully at the person who criticized him.

"I'm telling you, don't think I'm afraid of you..."

"What's it gonna be? Want to throw down? Come on! Kid!" He immediately stood up from his seat and started rolling up his sleeves.

"Hey! Hey! I say, we're all Fiorentina fans, aren't we? Why are we fighting amongst ourselves? Alright, calm down, let's keep watching the game, there's still time, we still have a chance! We still have Cruyff and Zhang Jun!" Bystanders immediately came forward to separate the two. Now was the time to watch the game, not to fight.

※※※

While the Milan players were celebrating wildly, Sabato grabbed Zhang Jun: "Alright, I admit I made a mistake, but luckily it's not unforgivable, there's still time to correct it. Get back on the field, tell them, abandon the defensive tactics from before, attack! We attack, only by attacking Milan head-on do we have a chance!"

Zhang Jun nodded with each sentence he said.

"Go, teach the Milanese a lesson, let them know our true terrifying strength!" Sabato slapped Zhang Jun hard on the butt.

Zhang Jun touched his butt and turned back to shout at Sabato: "Don't touch my butt, except for my girlfriend!"

Sabato pretended to kick him: "Stop talking nonsense, get on the field! Kick their asses!"

Zhang Jun ran quickly onto the field, then shouted loudly to his dejected teammates, "The boss said, let's kick their asses!"

Those who heard this raised their heads, their eyes were red.

Sabato returned to his seat and turned to ask Di Livio, "How much time do we have left?"

Di Livio didn't even look at his watch, answering directly, "Twenty-seven minutes. I haven't included stoppage time."

"Hmm, with that, it's probably thirty minutes. We have plenty of time, no problem."

Di Livio glanced at Sabato, "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure," Sabato replied decisively.

※※※

Yang Pan returned to the right wing. He couldn't stay on the left all the time. After all, Ambrosini could only occasionally fill in as a right winger, not play there all the time. This would affect the entire Milan attack.

Kaka still passed the ball to him, their understanding was excellent.

Yang Pan pulled the ball to the side, then accelerated to break through!

Unexpectedly, Xiang Tao rushed in from the side and violently shoveled Yang Pan and the ball out of bounds. Flesh collided with flesh, with a resounding thud.

The referee did not call a foul on Xiang Tao, because although this tackle looked fierce, Xiang Tao had actually tackled the ball, and Yang Pan was only taken out because he couldn't brake in time.

Yang Pan hammered the ground hard, venting his dissatisfaction with the referee. He thought at least a yellow card should be given.

The referee ignored him, and Xiang Tao also ignored him. He didn't even offer a hand to pull Yang Pan up to show friendliness. He got up directly and turned to run.

Yang Pan threw the ball in, and Pirlo got it, but before the ball could settle at Pirlo's feet, Mascherano poked it away from behind! Pirlo sensed Mascherano's movement behind him, and he fell to the ground, intending to get the opponent another yellow card and then be sent off.

He fell to the ground smoothly, his knees buckling, and he knelt on the ground, letting out a loud cry.

Loud boos and exclamations came from the stands. The boos were from Fiorentina fans targeting Pirlo, who they thought was faking a fall, because the scream was too fake. The exclamations came from AC Milan fans, who were shocked by Mascherano's boldness in infringing on Pirlo and hoped the referee would see clearly and send off this rude and barbaric Argentine.

"The referee didn't call a foul, if Pirlo doesn't get up soon, he might get a yellow card for diving," the commentator diligently explained the game to the audience, not daring to slack off.

Cruyff received a pass from his teammate and broke through the center. Gattuso unceremoniously charged and knocked Cruyff to the ground. The referee's whistle finally sounded, he gave Gattuso a yellow card!

"Calm down a bit! This isn't good!" While writing on the back of the yellow card, he also verbally warned the hot-tempered Gattuso.

"Why didn't you call their previous two fouls? Why are you calling me?" Gattuso was not one to be trifled with. He glared at the referee with a fierce look and questioned him in a bad tone.

"Shut up! Otherwise I'll call you for disrespecting the referee!" The referee took out his authority, and Gattuso could only walk away, although he was still unwilling to concede defeat.

"The game is getting more and more heated, more and more intense, both sides are getting fired up, maybe it's because this is a key game, and no one can afford to lose. The referee's yellow card is timely, if he doesn't control the tempers of both sides, this game will turn into a brawl."

※※※

Five more minutes ticked by on the big screen. Fiorentina still couldn't break through AC Milan's goal. The two sides were entangled in the midfield for far more time than they spent attacking near the penalty area. Van Basten was very satisfied with the current situation of the game. AC Milan's midfield defense was well organized, and even Kaka had to fall back to defend, which reduced Zhang Jun's chances of getting close to the goal. As a striker, if he couldn't get close to the goal to shoot, then his role could be ignored.

As long as they continued to entangle like this, victory would surely belong to Milan, after all, they were now leading by one goal.

The commentator had the same view as him: "The situation is now in a stalemate, which is not good for Fiorentina, because they are behind. Sabato is pacing anxiously on the sidelines, and at the moment, he doesn't seem to have a better solution."

Sabato was indeed very anxious. His butt had never stayed still on the seat for more than a minute, always getting up and pacing to the sidelines, waving his hands and shouting a few words, then circling back and forth, and then returning to his seat. In less than a minute, he would get up again and walk to the sidelines... repeating this over and over. Di Livio's eyes were dazzled.

"I say, Antonio, can you sit down quietly for me?"

"Can I calm down? Damn Milanese, shameless Van Basten! They're obviously wasting our time in the midfield!" Saying that, Sabato turned around to the Milan coaching bench and cursed at the seated Dutchman, "Shameless! Despicable!"

The stadium was noisy, Van Basten couldn't hear Sabato's curses, his attention was all on the game at the moment.

A one-goal lead was indeed a bit small, but the current situation made him afraid to easily think about increasing the score. Although Milan was a passionate team, compared to the even more passionate Fiorentina, they were more composed. After all, a team with a foundation had seen big scenes and knew how to cope.

They were more passionate than Juventus, and more stable and mature than Fiorentina and Inter Milan. In fact, to put it bluntly, AC Milan was mediocre.

※※※

Fiorentina lost the ball in the midfield, and AC Milan's Pirlo reacted quickly, immediately poking the ball to Kaka.

Kaka took the ball and broke through Cruyff's entanglement, then headed towards Fiorentina's penalty area. If he continued to break through successfully like this, then he would directly face Fiorentina's last line of defense—goalkeeper Frey. Because Fiorentina lost the ball suddenly, and time was tight, there was not enough time for Fiorentina's defenders to form a defensive formation, and Kaka had already approached the city.

Kehl was trying to get closer to Kaka, intending to intercept his breakthrough head-on. But Kaka got rid of him with a change of direction and acceleration!

Too embarrassing! Kehl had only one thought, it was really embarrassing to be broken through so easily by the opponent in front of his hometown elders.

"Wow! Kaka has broken through! He has broken through Fiorentina's central defender! This is a fatal breakthrough..."

From the moment Kaka broke through Kehl, Mascherano had been closely following Kaka. Now he was having a conflict in his mind: should he tackle or not?

If he didn't tackle, he didn't have much confidence that he could stop this Brazilian with extremely fast breakthrough speed. But if he tackled, it would probably be a foul, and if he was unlucky, he would definitely get a yellow card. And he already had a yellow card on him.

Damn it! Mascherano bit his lip tightly. If he hesitated any longer, he would really let this big fish go! Yellow card... yellow card... it was these yellow cards that made his defense timid. If Kaka successfully broke through, then it would be a one-on-one! With his skills, it would be difficult not to score.

The two of them were always at odds in Serie A, so Mascherano knew Kaka very well.

Never mind! Mascherano roared in his heart, then lunged forward and made a fierce tackle, heading straight for Kaka's legs!

Kaka, who was dribbling the ball, suddenly felt his center of gravity lost, and then he fell forward! He tried to roll his body on the ground to reduce the damage to his body from the impact, but this effect could only make outsiders think that Mascherano's tackle was really ruthless...

"Doo!!" The whistle sounded without suspense.

The referee ran to the scene of the incident.

Kehl, who was closest to him, quickly grabbed the referee, pleading with the referee on behalf of Mascherano, who was still on the ground.

At this time, the team was behind, and if they were sent off another person, then the hope would really be slim!

"Sir! Sir! He really didn't do it on purpose, I hope you don't take out a card, don't take out a card!"

"Still saying it wasn't on purpose, such an obvious tackle from behind, how could it be so accurate if it wasn't on purpose?" The Milan players next to him deliberately contradicted him, emphasizing the word "tackle."

"You!" Kehl, this standard German man, turned around and glared angrily at the Milan player who spoke—Jankulovski.

"What me? You have to be prepared to accept punishment for a foul. You've been playing football for so many years, don't you understand?" Jankulovski seemed to be deliberately provoking Kehl, wanting Fiorentina to be sent off another person.

Kehl's face changed, glaring fiercely at Jankulovski with a ferocious look, his hands already clenched into fists.

Cruyff, who had been watching coldly from the sidelines, suddenly came up and pushed away the angry Kehl, just in time to push him to Bonera, who came up to mediate. Bonera naturally hugged Kehl tightly, preventing him from going forward.

Jankulovski saw that his plan had not succeeded and glared at Cruyff with some resentment. Cruyff turned his face away indifferently.

The referee whistled again to stop the increasingly numerous players from both sides who came up to argue and stir up trouble, and let the scene quiet down, he wanted to focus on judging this foul.

Mascherano was almost kneeling in front of the referee. He knew that this game was the final, it was very important, and he also knew that he was Fiorentina's most important defensive midfielder. If he was not there, the team would suffer a very heavy blow. He didn't want to be sent off at this time. Tackling Kaka just now was indeed a last resort. At that time, he had no choice but to tackle.

Zhang Jun, the captain of Fiorentina, was also pleading with him, explaining to the referee again and again that it was enough to call a foul for this ball, don't take out a card, you have to consider that Mascherano already has a yellow card on him.

The Milan players were constantly gesturing to the referee to take out a card. They were naturally happy to kick Mascherano when he was down for the mistake he had made himself, and sprinkle salt on Fiorentina's wounds.

The fans in the stands were clearly divided into three factions. One faction was naturally the AC Milan fans, who shouted loudly, "Red card! Red card! Send him off!!"

As soon as they finished shouting, they heard the Fiorentina fans curse in unison, "Send your mother off! Why don't you go to die?!"

Then there was endless booing and spitting at each other.

As for the third faction, it was naturally those neutral spectators. They didn't care who was going to be sent off. They paid money to come to see an exciting and intense game, and the progress of the game was very much in line with their wishes, so they were all happy to watch the show.

※※※

The referee waved his hand to signal everyone to leave him within one meter, otherwise he would warn them for "infringing on the referee."

Zhang Jun lingered, retreating while continuing to plead with the referee, although at this time he had roughly understood Mascherano's fate, but he was still a little unwilling, he hoped for a miracle, hoping that the referee would soften his heart for a moment.

The referee beckoned Mascherano to come over, and at the same time, his right hand reached into the pocket in front of his chest.

There was no suspense, no miracle.

Mascherano did not listen and walk towards the referee, but turned around and walked directly to the sidelines. He knew that he was out.

Milan fans and players had already started applauding for the referee.

Sure enough, the referee's hand came out of his pocket, a yellow card, a red card. First, he showed Mascherano a yellow card on his back, then he raised his right hand again, holding the red card!

In the seventy-fourth minute of the game, Fiorentina's main defensive midfielder, number 8 Mascherano, was sent off with a red card for accumulating yellow cards for tackling from behind!

Mascherano pulled out his jersey tucked into his pants, and looked back at the stadium a little reluctantly. Zhang Jun happened to run up, then put his arm around his neck, comforting him: "Don't take it to heart, you did the right thing in that situation, I would have tackled too, and probably even more ruthlessly than you. Leave the rest of the time to us! Go take a shower."

After saying that, he pushed Mascherano and turned around to run back.

Mascherano continued to walk towards the sidelines with his head down. All the Fiorentina fans were standing up and applauding for him, even the Fiorentina fans in front of the TV were applauding for him. They didn't think that the Argentine who was sent off with a red card was a sinner, on the contrary, they thought he was a hero, a hero who saved the team at a crucial moment.

For a hero, naturally, they had to stand up and applaud to see him off.

Finally, he walked out of the stadium and saw coach Sabato standing next to the stadium tunnel. He opened his mouth: "Boss, I..."

Sabato waved his hand, "Go take a shower, you did a great job. Thank you, Javier."

Mascherano's nose tingled, but he finally held back, just biting his lip tightly and walking into the tunnel with his head down.

"There are sixteen minutes left in the game, but Fiorentina has been sent off a person at this crucial moment, their main defensive midfielder, Argentine Javier Mascherano! For a team, how important is an excellent defensive midfielder, I believe Sabato must be very clear, what should he do now?"

Sabato stood on the sidelines, raising his hand and shouting into the field, conveying his latest instructions: Let Cruyff withdraw to the vicinity of the center circle. With one less defensive midfielder, let the team's midfield change from a diamond formation to a parallel formation.

※※※

The game restarted, and Kaka, who had been tackled to the ground, had been forgotten by everyone due to the previous dispute. Fortunately, the Milan team doctor had not forgotten him and helped him to the sidelines for treatment. After a simple treatment, he returned to the field again. After all, Mascherano's tackle was not a harmful action, so he was not greatly injured. Now he was alive and kicking on the field, walking like the wind.

The two sides were unwilling to give in to each other, and once again stalemated on the field.

Both sides fouled, both infringed on each other, and both could occasionally threaten the other's goal, but they just couldn't score. According to the Chinese saying, it was: a lot of thunder, but little rain. Only bloom, but no fruit.

Zhang Jun kicked the ball hard, and he himself was hit by Nesta and his body twisted, losing his balance and falling to the ground. But the ball still flew accurately towards the goal. Abbiati dared not slack off and flew to push the ball over the crossbar.

"Shit!" Zhang Jun waved his fist hard, then got up from the ground himself. He didn't expect Nesta to be friendly and pull him up. Because Fiorentina was sent off one person, the two teams had now upgraded from opponents to mortal enemies. Unless the game was over, a victory must be determined, to the death.

Sabato on the sidelines was even more anxious than Zhang Jun. He jumped up directly from the ground, and then cursed loudly, "Damn Nesta! That's a foul! A foul! Referee, are you blind?"

The fourth official appeared in front of him very cooperatively: "Sir, please pay attention to your own words and deeds, and do not interfere with the referee's normal enforcement of the law."

Sabato was not stupid and immediately shut up. He just hummed in his throat: "What are you pretending to be, a misjudgment is a misjudgment... fuck!"

※※※

Time was passing by minute by minute, Fiorentina's opportunities were getting less and less, but they were still one goal behind AC Milan.

"Fiorentina doesn't have a better way to attack, and as the game time goes by, the players' physical exhaustion will become more obvious with one less person than Milan."

When the game time on the big screen jumped to eighty minutes, everyone knew that there was very little time left. Milan fans were constantly singing "Milan, Milan" in the stands. The Fiorentina fans who refused to give up were constantly using boos and curses to interfere with them.

The two sides' fans were constantly competing, and the players on the field were also constantly competing.

Sabato stood on the sidelines, with his arms crossed, clenching his teeth, and watching the field.

Even Van Basten had lost the confidence he had before, standing on the sidelines, nervously directing the players.

Yang Pan did not choose to cross, he first used a feint pass to trick Xiang Tao into losing his balance, and then suddenly accelerated and broke into the penalty area. After assisting others for almost the entire game, he also wanted to score a goal himself!

Frey quickly moved to the near post of the goal, then lowered his center of gravity and waited in full battle. He knew how terrifying Yang Pan's shot was, so he was mentally prepared to go head-to-head.

Yang Pan did not look up, because he did not have the time. He swung his foot to shoot!

Xiang Tao followed up from behind, very decisively tackling from the side and rear, and shoveled the ball out of the baseline in front of Yang Pan!

Corner kick!

Yang Pan kicked empty, falling to the ground. His first reaction was to raise his hand to the referee, indicating that Fiorentina had fouled and should give them a penalty kick! Seeing that the referee ignored him, he immediately slammed his raised hand on the ground, venting the dissatisfaction in his heart. He was naturally cursing uncleanly in his mouth.

Xiang Tao went up at this time, verbally countering Yang Pan: "Stop pretending! The people who come out of AC Milan are all a bunch of pretentious grandsons! Fuckingshit!!" He spat on the ground next to Yang Pan.

Yang Pan was angered by Xiang Tao's words and attitude. He suddenly jumped up from the ground, then grabbed Xiang Tao's chin, stared at him, and asked word by word: "What did you say? Kid, say it again if you have the guts!" His face was ferocious and his tone was fierce. To outsiders, it seemed as if they didn't know each other at all, they weren't from the same national team, they hadn't played football together, they were born mortal enemies.

Seeing that Yang Pan and Xiang Tao had a conflict, the players on both sides naturally surrounded them. Some were really there to mediate, and some were planning to take advantage of the chaos to do some dirty tricks.

Many excited boos and shouts were heard from the stands. The fans had been looking forward to it day and night, every minute and every second, waiting for this kind of passionate scene? They were all stirring up trouble and clamoring loudly.

"Kill them! Fuck their asses! ohyeah!! wooooooooow～～～"

"Comeon,baby!! Kick his balls!"

"fucking Milan pigs!! fucking their whole family!"

"Who the fuck are you calling pigs? Fiorentina's dogshit!! Come on, I'll fuck you a bunch of ball-less bastards alone!"

"Bang! Crash! Bang! Bang bang!" This was the closest fans on both sides fighting. They were punching and kicking each other, completely disregarding that they were all from the same country, and didn't care that doing so was a disgrace to Italy. They were using their practical actions to tell the world: Italian football hooligans were no weaker than those in England and Germany! If the riot police hadn't reacted quickly—German police often have to face the provocation of football hooligans, how could they not react quickly?—the two sides might have immediately escalated to tearing down seats and swinging them at each other, and then lighting fires to burn clothes and team flags.

The two sides in the conflict were all his teammates and friends. Zhang Jun was naturally unwilling to hurt the feelings of both sides because of this. He was the first to rush into the chaotic crowd, first reaching out to push away Kehl, who came up to help, and then hugging Pirlo, who was unwilling to let Yang Pan suffer, persuading him to withdraw.

The referee also blew his whistle and rushed over with the linesman, separating the two.

With a lot of effort, relying on the help of some players from both sides, they finally pulled the two apart, but the way they stared at each other still made others dare not let go of their arms, which were holding them tightly. They were clearly two bulls that had seen red! Their faces were red and their necks were thick, and they kept making heavy gasps from their noses, gnashing their teeth and wanting to break free from their teammates' obstruction and rush up to fight each other.

The referee turned around and showed Yang Pan a yellow card, but did not make any indication to Xiang Tao. This caused dissatisfaction among many Milan players, but the referee's authority was there, and none of them dared to provoke the referee at this sensitive time, otherwise the numerical advantage might be lost. They could only vent the resentment and dissatisfaction in their hearts on the Fiorentina players, and find the right opportunity to make a retaliatory tackle, which would not injure you, but could make you fall badly and suffer a lot.

As Fiorentina's most popular player and main striker, Zhang Jun naturally became the target of public criticism. He didn't even know how many times he had been fouled in those short three minutes. In short, he let two AC Milan players successfully get yellow cards.

Sabato was not idle during the conflict between the two sides, constantly kicking water bottles on the sidelines, one kick at a time, kicking up water. Now watching his players being constantly fouled, he kept protesting to the referee: "Red card! This is a red card! This is also a red card! They should all be sent off directly! This is a football game, not a rugby game!! Damn it!"

Cruyff enjoyed the same treatment as Zhang Jun. He had just run two steps with the ball when Pirlo suddenly bumped him from the side. Pirlo, who had bumped into someone, did not mean to apologize at all, but deliberately walked in front of Cruyff, and then leaned down and looked contemptuously at Cruyff, who was lying on the ground, with his feet in the air.

The referee rushed over with a whistle in his mouth, and then deftly gave Pirlo a yellow card.

Cruyff, lying on the ground, did not speak, but just closed his lips tightly, his eyes fixed on Pirlo's back.

Faced with such a chaotic scene, the commentator ridiculed himself weakly: "Maybe this is the most fiery final in the history of the Champions League..."

Bosque, the former Real Madrid coach who served as a commentary guest next to him, also said helplessly: "Maybe a true hero is needed to save this game..."

※※※

In the eighty-third minute, Milan fans could no longer restrain the excitement in their hearts and began to set off the fireworks they had prepared long ago. At this time, Fiorentina fans chose to remain silent. No matter how much they supported their team, people also needed to recognize the current situation. According to the current situation, the two sides had similar ball possession, and Fiorentina's chance of scoring was really not something to give too much hope.

Fans far away in Florence were watching the stalemate on TV, holding their heads in their hands, biting their lips tightly, and remaining silent.

This game was very intense, so the players on both sides were quickly losing their stamina. At this time, many people could no longer run. Zhang Jun was the same, but he was still running non-stop, and then clapping his hands and loudly encouraging his teammates not to be discouraged.

Sweat soaked his clothes, wet his hair, and his face was covered with grass clippings, looking very embarrassed, but this did not affect his fighting spirit.

"Run! Run! The game is not over yet! We still have a chance, don't give up!"

Having one less defensive midfielder made Fiorentina very struggling in the midfield defense. Kaka's breakthrough was too sharp, so even Cruyff had to take on the defense in the central midfield, and his chances of going up to assist were reduced.

Kaka broke through again, and Cruyff used both his hands and feet to shovel the ball down. He was not good at defending, and this period of time was also difficult for him. The referee whistled, indicating that Cruyff had fouled. Cruyff did not go up to argue with the referee, he knew that arguing with the referee now was wasting his time.

AC Milan's attack was not as sharp as it was at the beginning, because the one-goal lead and the few minutes left made them feel that it was better to put all their energy into defense rather than attack.

This attack ended hastily.