Chapter 2028: Chapter 529: The Little Prince’s Greetings
Borini planted himself with his back to goal, ready to receive the ball, but Godin leapt up directly from behind him and headed the ball away over Borini’s head!
"Damn, that was really something."
"Yeah, Milan’s center-backs are absolute monsters in the air, only Zambrotta’s aerial ability is a bit weaker. But that’s just by comparison—Zambrotta’s reading of the game and positioning are still excellent."
"Huang Kaiwen’s got the ball now, hehe, Hazard saw that and immediately sprinted back to the right flank. Ever since Huang Kaiwen came on, Hazard’s been playing on the right. Huang Kaiwen plays it back, Ambrosini returns it to Huang Kaiwen, beautiful!!! Huang Kaiwen doesn’t take a touch, outside-of-the-boot long pass, and he finds Ibrahimovic on the left in the final third directly."
"Ibrahimovic gets the ball and enters the box, Ibrahimovic shoots—ah, he’s blasted it over."
"Ibrahimovic seems to be signaling to the referee that Burdizzo handled the ball in front of goal, let’s see how the referee’s going to call this."
"The referee waves it away, says it’s not a penalty, Ibrahimovic’s getting a bit heated—red card!!!"
They had just pushed up to the final third.
Huang Kaiwen looked up and saw the referee brandishing the red card.
In a situation like this, all Huang Kaiwen could do was grab hold of Ibrahimovic, or else he’d be banned for even more games.
On the touchline, Guardiola simply lost it and yanked off his tie, hurling it to the ground.
He’d rather be facing Inter Milan than have Milan play Rome with nine men.
Rome are a team that will really go all out, and with Milan two men down, there’s no way they’re ever going to pass up a chance like this.
As for any "good relations" or "clean tackles", that’s just wishful thinking.
Even if Totti were on the pitch, once the blood rushes to his head he might still foul Huang Kaiwen.
Worst case, he apologizes in private after the match.
This bunch of hot-blooded youngsters will do anything to win.
Guardiola even had the thought of just subbing Huang Kaiwen off directly.
Cesare Maldini saw what Guardiola had in mind and walked over to the touchline to advise him: "There’ve been some things floating around in the papers, that if the opponent gets a bit rough you immediately sub Kevin off. It’s only a few media outlets, but for the dressing room or for Kevin, it’s not good news."
Guardiola’s expression grew even darker.
As a former pro, he knew very well how damaging this kind of talk could be.
It was only because Milan’s situation was good.
Change it to another club and the dressing room would probably be on the verge of splitting.
Huang Kaiwen’s afraid of getting injured—are the other players not afraid of getting injured?
That’s basically treating the others like they don’t matter.
Guardiola still cared somewhat about saving face, so he could only nod.
"Ivan, up and warm up!"
Given the situation, there was no way he could keep Pirlo on the pitch.
He had to shore up the defense.
Rome also had a player getting loose on the touchline to warm up—"New Messi" Bojan Krkic from earlier.
[Busquets] bar.
"Fuck, today’s ref really is a bit of an idiot."
"I feel the same, this card for Ibra is a bit harsh. He didn’t lay a hand on anyone, just said a few words to the ref."
"People say Rizzoli dishes out a lot of cards, but it’s this Damato who really loves flashing them. Kroos’s card wasn’t a big problem, but to ’keep the game balanced’ he shouldn’t be booking Ibra here."
"Did Ibra swear at him or something? Otherwise the ref wouldn’t be this ruthless."
"This is starting to look dangerous, Rome’s attack is crazy today. With Totti out, Rome actually looks even stronger."
"Bullshit, are you blind? If Totti was on, they’d have scored ages ago. What the hell are Osvaldo and Borini, a pair of useless scrubs?"
"Milan aren’t in that much danger, I’ve already got the script in my head: Huang Kaiwen popping up everywhere in attack and defense, Rome forced to push higher and higher, then Huang Kaiwen pings a pinpoint long pass and creates another goal."
"Hey, not gonna lie, that script actually sounds pretty believable."
"After so many years I’m used to it—the more dangerous it gets, the easier it is for Huang Kaiwen to show off!"
Neither side let their players warm up fully before hurriedly making their substitutions.
But the two coaches’ mindsets were completely different.
The Roma team were worried there wouldn’t be enough time left to level the score.
Bojan, a Barca product, is one of the more technically gifted players in the Roma team.
Gasperini clearly gave him a lot of freedom, allowing Bojan to switch flanks as he pleased.
His introduction gradually helped Rome open up the wings.
Bojan received a long pass from De Rossi on the left and immediately lofted it into the box.
Thiago Silva got there first and headed the ball clear of the area; after Ambrosini and Pjanic clashed boots, the ball dropped toward the right side.
Bojan sprinted for the ball at once, trying to get it under control and create danger again.
Ramos didn’t even think, he just hurled his whole body in, sliding in with a tackle on the ground and getting to the ball first to hack it away.
Bojan was forced to leap over Ramos’s body.
But the danger still wasn’t over; the onrushing Gago successfully collected the ball.
Milan’s half was packed with bodies, so Gago didn’t dare carry it forward himself.
Somehow De Rossi had drifted out to the left and was bursting past Gago’s side into the box.
It was a very sudden run, but Gago still slipped him the through ball quickly.
Milan’s back line had their attention on Gago and the middle, and De Rossi’s forward run easily sprung the offside trap.
Thiago Silva thought they were about to concede, but when he turned his head he just happened to see Huang Kaiwen storming into the box, tight on De Rossi’s right side.
The two of them sprinted flat out toward the six-yard box, neither giving an inch.
This wasn’t just a contest of speed, it was also a psychological duel.
For the defending side, you usually only get one chance to stick a foot in and block the shot; the attacker has the initiative.
But as they get closer and closer to goal, it becomes less favorable for the attacker too, because with the angle shrinking it gets very hard to score.
