Chapter 1 Zhou Yi Arrives in Milan

He smiled gently and said, 'The martial world is full of dangers.'

This time when Zhou Yi arrived in Milan, no one invited him to dinner, because Guo Nu had left Inter Milan and was now in the small town of Cesena.

AC Milan really wanted to avenge themselves against Borussia Dortmund.

And they made very detailed arrangements for Borussia Dortmund.

Allegri made full use of the characteristics of Italian coaches.

From the start of the match, Zhou Yi felt as if he was stuck in a quagmire.

He had played against AC Milan many times in virtual matches, but he was still surprised by this situation.

AC Milan's defense against him was not just described as being close at all times, but should be described as an "encapsulation". Their defense was like a shell, wrapping him up and cutting off his connection with his teammates.

Van Bommel and Boateng, two aggressive midfielders, kept impacting Zhou Yi, making it difficult for him to concentrate on controlling the ball and organizing the attack.

And no matter how Zhou Yi ran, there would always be at least one ferocious AC Milan player beside him.

They covered Zhou Yi.

AC Milan did a great job in defense, and their efficiency in attack was also very high.

In the fifteenth minute, Boateng scored with a powerful shot from outside the penalty area, piercing Weidenfeller's goal.

"GoooooooooooooooooooooooooL!!! Boateng!!!" The Italian commentator was very excited and raised his arms and shouted. "He opened the scoring for AC Milan! In just fifteen minutes, AC Milan took the lead!"

"Unlike the match last season, the two teams failed to score in the first forty-five minutes at this stadium, but this time, AC Milan took the lead after just fifteen minutes..." Marcel Reif was also surprised that Borussia Dortmund conceded a goal so early.

Borussia Dortmund's defense is not weak. In the Bundesliga, they are one of the teams with the fewest goals conceded. This is thanks to the outstanding performance of the defense line composed of Hummels, Subotic, Schmelzer, and Piszczek.

But in this game, this line was pierced by Boateng's seemingly blind long shot...

Was Borussia Dortmund unlucky?

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Borussia Dortmund was indeed unlucky. After conceding a goal, their defense was pierced again in the thirty-eighth minute.

This time, the goal was scored by Robinho. At that time, Ibrahimovic had the ball, and Borussia Dortmund's defensive focus shifted to the Swedish superstar, but Ibrahimovic passed the ball to Robinho in a very imaginative way.

Facing Weidenfeller, Robinho put the ball into Borussia Dortmund's goal, and AC Milan led 2:0!

"AC Milan!! They've gone crazy!!"

"My God, leading Borussia Dortmund by two goals in the first half! AC Milan is really going to take revenge and eliminate Borussia Dortmund!"

The commentators shouted.

Not long after Robinho scored, the first half ended, with AC Milan leading by two goals.

This result was really unexpected by many people before the game.

Because according to Borussia Dortmund's performance in the group stage, everyone thought that even if AC Milan was in good form this season, this game should be an evenly matched game.

Why was the first half one-sided in terms of both score and scene?

Commentators and pundits analyzed the first half of the game during the half-time break.

Many people believe that Zhou Yi's restriction was the root cause of Borussia Dortmund's comprehensive passivity in the first half.

Van Bommel's defense against Zhou Yi was very successful. Zhou Yi spent all his energy in the first half trying to get rid of him, but the effect was not very good.

In addition, even if AC Milan's defense against Zhou Yi was very successful, it should at most be a 0:0 first half. However, in this game, Allegri also made very effective adjustments to AC Milan's attack. He actually let the recently hot Ibrahimovic play as a support in this game, attracting Borussia Dortmund's defensive attention, but not directly shooting, but passing the ball out.

At the same time, he let Robinho, whose state was fluctuating, be the main attacker.

And Robinho did not disappoint Allegri's trust in him. The unreliable him in other games was in excellent condition in this game. This was also unexpected by many people.

You should know that Robinho has had a "dark history" of facing an empty goal and failing to score a shot.

Sometimes, you really have to say that luck is very mysterious, but it is always showing its influence.

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During the half-time break, Klopp made a substitution, replacing Jingduoan and forming a double defensive midfielder with Sven Bender, pushing Zhou Yi forward and letting Zhou Yi return to the position of attacking midfielder, hoping to create more opportunities that could directly threaten AC Milan's goal.

However, this substitution also put Zhou Yi in a deeper quagmire.

After all, the further forward he went, the tighter the opponent's defense would be, and the smaller the space Zhou Yi could move in.

And to make matters worse, before Zhou Yi's adjustment to move forward could take effect, Robinho scored again!

Just four minutes after the start of the second half, in the forty-ninth minute of the whole game, Ibrahimovic assisted Robinho to score again.

3:0!

Borussia Dortmund was three goals behind away from home, and this score almost declared that Borussia Dortmund was eliminated in advance.

And in the round of 16 a season ago, the same opponent and the same venue, everyone felt that Borussia Dortmund had squeezed half of their body into the Champions League quarter-finals...

It's really a turn of the wheel...

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The second half of the game had just begun, and Borussia Dortmund was in a huge dilemma.

What lay before them was a difficult choice - should they continue to attack and try to score an away goal, or should they shrink their defense and ensure that they would not concede any more goals?

If they shrink their defense and don't concede any more goals, but the score of 0:3 almost kills the suspense of the second leg.

If they attack, maybe they can score a goal, but looking at AC Milan's state in this game, they may also concede more goals. At that time, even if there is an away goal, but if the opponent also scores a goal, the score of 1:4 is not much different from the score of 0:3.

Attack or defend?

This is a problem that many teams will face, and not all teams can make the right decision. And there is no standard answer to this multiple-choice question. When you make a choice, you will not know whether you have chosen correctly. Similarly, there is no precedent for this multiple-choice question. Just because others choose to attack does not mean that you choose to attack is correct, and just because others choose to defend correctly does not mean that you choose to let go is definitely correct.

This is the unknown and unpredictable nature of football.

There is no precedent to follow, and the experience of other games seems to be useless at this time.

So, can you roll the dice and pray for God's blessing?

Of course, it is not just that.

The experience of other games is not available, so what about the experience of this game? It is the experience of this game between Borussia Dortmund and AC Milan, with these people participating, is such game experience worth referring to?

Of course, no one can have so much experience in a single game.

But Zhou Yi can.

Although he has not encountered a game exactly like today's game in so many simulated games in the past few nights, there are always some things that are similar and connected, and there are always some things that can inspire him.

In the case where AC Milan led by three goals just four minutes after the start of the second half, what would they do?

Would they be satisfied with this because they were eager for revenge?

Zhou Yi believed that they had a more than 65% chance of not stopping there.

This is still a conservative estimate.

Even if it is not for revenge, but from a very practical point of view - if AC Milan can make the second leg of the game lose suspense in the first leg, why don't they do it? Now they have scored three goals, and everyone is in the hottest state. Why not take the opportunity to score a few more goals? When in good shape, don't you want to attack? Do you want to come up and attack when you are in bad shape?

This is not in line with common sense, nor is it in line with AC Milan's best interests.

In addition, now in the league, although AC Milan is first, they are only ranked behind Juventus by relying on the advantage of five clean goals.

Juventus, who has recovered from the telephone scandal, has shown a strong recovery momentum, and they have threatened AC Milan in the league.

For a wealthy club like AC Milan, the Champions League may not be a must-win, but the league title must be defended. If a season comes down, there is no Champions League title, it can still be forgiven, but if even the league title is lost, and in the end both hands are empty, it is impossible to satisfy the picky fans and the media with only an Italian Cup title, and it will not satisfy Berlusconi.

As a head coach from a non-wealthy club, Allegri has always been criticized for not being prestigious enough and for not having the temperament of a famous coach. Coaching in a wealthy team like AC Milan with a complicated dressing room environment requires more pressure.

If Juventus is reversed in the end and the league title is lost, the pressure will probably be even greater, right?

Therefore, in order to free up his hands to show Juventus in the league, Allegri must be willing to kill Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League in advance.

Above, Zhou Yi analyzed everything from the player level and the coach level, and determined that AC Milan would not stop there. They would definitely continue to pursue goals until the end of the game.

After analyzing the key points of this multiple-choice question, for a student party who has experienced hundreds of "exams", isn't it obvious how to choose the answer?

When there are three long and one short, choose the shortest, when there are three short and one long, choose the longest...

Ah no, not this one.

In this answer, there are only:

A. Go all out to attack and score an away goal;

B. Shrink the defense and strive not to concede a goal.

On this multiple-choice question with these two options, Zhou Yi filled in his answer:

C. On the basis of shrinking the defense and not conceding a goal, look for opportunities to counterattack and score at least one away goal.

When there are two short and one long, choose the longest...