Chapter 171 Curse?
Football enters the net.
The man pushed away the defender pressing on him, got up and started running.
At this time, people saw clearly that Zhang Yang scored the score on the supplementary shot, and Barcelona captain Puyol fell with him.
"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!!! The goal is scored!! AC Milan quickly equalized the score! One-to-one! Now the total score is five-to-three! AC Milan is still leading two goals! And more importantly, they now have an away goal! After Barcelona scored, they scored so quickly, which is probably something that many people did not expect! After AC Milan concedes the ball, they quickly showed Barcelona their strong offensive firepower! This is a goal that could change the direction of this game!"
The entire Camp Nou Stadium was dead silent. For Barcelona fans, it was too heavy to equalize the score by AC Milan so quickly. For Barcelona, which just took the lead, it was not only as simple as equalizer, but it was two goals behind the total score. With a one-to-zero lead, they only needed to score another goal to eliminate AC Milan. Now, Zhang Yang quickly equalized the score for AC Milan, which means that Barcelona will eliminate AC Milan. Even if AC Milan no longer scores in the subsequent game, they still have to score at least two goals.
After half an hour of playing the game, everything seemed to be back to what happened after the last game.
As we all know, Barcelona has strong offensive ability. Barcelona, which has good offensive players such as Etoho, Messi, Iniesta, Henry, Ronaldinho, scores goals never a problem. For this team, it is not uncommon to score two opponents, or even three or more goals in a game, but this only means that they have such scoring ability. However, once things develop, "must score two or more goals on the opponent or more, and you cannot let the opponent score one more goal" are completely different things.
What's more, to be honest, the Barcelona players themselves know that it is too difficult to prevent AC Milan from scoring goals when they are on their side from attacking.
Puyol turned over and sat on the ground. Looking at Zhang Yang, who was celebrating the goal wildly, the Barcelona captain was filled with bitterness. Just now, when Inzagi was shooting, Puyol was shocked, but he knew that he could do nothing and could only rely on the performance of goalkeeper Valdes.
At this moment, Zhang Yang rushed to the goal like a leopard. Puyol didn't bother to sigh, and he quickly followed. At this time, Valdes had just saved Inzag's shot.
However, older people have a certain reaction and movement, and their actions are definitely not as good as those of young people. The explosive power of the ball is amazing. During Puyor's pulling and pulling, they rushed to the ball landing point first, and at a position that is not easy to shoot, they used an unconventional action to complete the supplementary shot. Puyor sighed in vain.
Zhang Yang ran excitedly to celebrate. This time, he did not use the actions of Barcelona fans to retaliate against the booing of Camp Nou. Of course, his celebration actions may seem even more unhappy to Barcelona fans.
The young man rushed to the corner flag point, and then he stood there with the corner flag, looking around the entire Camp Nou.
Like a conqueroer!
When Inzagi's shot was magically saved by Valdes, the regret and dissatisfaction in his heart were imagined. However, when his regret expression was still on his face, he saw Zhang Yang rushing to the landing point and hitting the ball in, the regret immediately turned into ecstasy. He jumped on the spot twice and slapped his fists to celebrate.
Champions League games usually score goals in the evening, which is also the most lively moment for fans to gather in the bar.
In the taverns of all sizes in Milan, people enjoy fine wine while watching the game. As it is related to whether AC Milan can go further in the Champions League, fans are very nervous, especially after seeing Dida scored an own goal, the bar suddenly felt depressed and cursed.
Even the most optimistic and hardest AC Milan fans did not expect that they could equalize the score so quickly.
When he saw Zhang Yang scored in Barcelona, he equalized the score for AC Milan in less than two minutes, and everyone jumped up in the entire bar, all of the big and small bars.
“GOOOOOOOAAAL!”
"Oh oh oh oh oh! Come in!"
"Cheers! For the sake of publicity!"
"Oh oh oh, cheers! For AC Milan!"
He just conceded the ball and scored immediately to tie the score. This result made Ancelotti very happy. There was nothing better than this. Moreover, from the game, the players had a good grasp of the transition of defense and offense on the court, and Ancelotti did not expect the team to equalize the score immediately.
Now, the score of this game is one-to-one. The total score AC Milan leads Barcelona five-to-three. Milan still has two goals in his hands. As long as nothing unexpected happens, AC Milan will have great confidence in eliminating Barcelona away and advancing to the semi-finals.
Of course, entering the semi-finals is obviously not the goal of Ancelotti and AC Milan. They are aiming to enter the finals, and in the finals, Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium once again topped Europe and defended the Champions League championship trophy!
The Champions League defends its title!
Even if he only thought of this scene, even Ancelotti, who led AC Milan to win the big ear cup twice in 2003 and 2007, was still a little excited. If he could defend his title, it would be the most glorious mark in his resume.
You know, since the 1991/1992 Champions League reform, no team has been able to defend their titles. This curse has been shrouded in European football and no one has been able to break it yet.
In the history of the UEFA Champions League, Real Madrid once created a miracle of five consecutive championships, and Ajax and Bayern Munich also had the experience of taking turns to make three consecutive draws. However, since the 1991/1992 Champions League was reorganized into the UEFA Champions League, defending the title has almost become an unsuccessful task.
After the reform of the Champions League, three teams once reached the finals again in the following season after winning the Champions League championship last season, but they all missed the championship.
In the final of the first Champions League, AC Milan lost to Marseille and finished second. However, in 1994, Massaro's two goals helped the Ross and Blacks win the championship with a 4-0 victory over Barcelona in Athens. A year later, they were shortlisted for the final again. Unfortunately, Cruyvit's winning goal helped Ajax successfully reach the top in Vienna.
In 1996, Juventus relied on Ravanelli's goal in the final against Ajax and finally tied with his opponent in regular time. In the penalty shootout, the Zebras finally clashed as they wished. A year later, in the final staged in Munich, Dortmund defeated Juventus 3-1 to win the championship.
This not only reminds people of the previous European Cup of Winners, but has never had two consecutive championships in this 38-year history, but also will not appear in the future with the cancellation of the Cup. The Champions League will not be as short-lived as the Cup of Winners, but it is not known which team can break this curse and establish a dynasty again.
So, it's no wonder that Ancelotti is so persistent about leading the team to defend the Champions League championship.
Of course, it is too early to think about this now. AC Milan has to overcome Barcelona's obstacle first. Of course, the current score and situation give Ancelotti more room and capital to imagine.
It seems that the team eliminated Barcelona and entered the semi-finals. There is no big problem. Thinking of this, Ancelotti felt proud. He stood on the sidelines with his hands and chests, looking proud.
Not only was he very proud, but even the Italian commentator felt that AC Milan performed well and had an advantage in the score. It was not a big problem to eliminate Barcelona away and advance to the semi-finals. If you enter the semi-finals, there would be only three games left to defend the title. It seems that defending the Champions League is not a dream.
"Before the quarter-finals with Barcelona, many people thought AC Milan's Champions League trip ended here. Many people are saying that the curse that the defending champion cannot defend the title, but now it seems that AC Milan's road to defending the title can continue. After they broke the curse that the defending champion has never defended the title after the reform of the Champions League, it is not a dream." Rossi said.
"That's right, in fact, AC Milan has broken a curse in recent years," Flores said.
The curse that AC Milan has broken in Flores refers to the embarrassing record of the defending UEFA Champions League champion missing the quarterfinals for three consecutive years.
After reaching the top, Porto, the Champions League champion in the 2003-2004 season, lost most of the main players in the championship, including Mourinho and Deco. They reluctantly qualified from the group stage in the following season to avoid becoming the first defending champion to fall in the group stage. However, they met Inter Milan against the top 16. As a result, Porto, who was not strong, easily scored 2-4 in two rounds by his opponent. With their strength at the time, it was normal to stop in the top 16.
Liverpool, the champion of the 2004-2005 season, had a more difficult time in the defending season. Since they only won fifth place in the Premier League, they were qualified to participate in the Champions League with UEFA's legal outsider, but they had to start from the first round of the qualifying round. This also made Liverpool, who fought on multiple lines, clearly felt tight when entering the sprint stage of the season. In the 1/8 final, their opponent was Benfica. The latter's delicate skills and sharp counterattack shattered Liverpool's dream of defending the title. The Reds were defeated by Benfica in two rounds, and the defending champion of the Champions League failed to enter the quarterfinals for the second consecutive year.
Barcelona won the league championship and Champions League championship with whirlwind-like beautiful football, but just when everyone exclaimed that "Dream II Team" was born, Ronaldo, the top star, was infected with World Cup syndrome and his condition was far inferior to the previous year. Messi's injury also caused Barcelona to suffer losses in offensive vitality. In the 1/8 final, they "unfortunately" met Liverpool. The Reds reversed Barcelona 2-1 with Bellamy's outstanding performance away. Although they lost a small home game in the second leg, relying on many away goals was enough to block the third consecutive defending champion outside the quarterfinals.
In the draw in the quarterfinals, AC Milan drew Arsenal. The media generally believed that Milan met the strongest opponent Arsenal in the draw in the quarterfinals. This also seemed to indicate that AC Milan was eliminated by Arsenal and the defending champion would miss the quarterfinals for four consecutive years.
Some Italian media also whine. Sometimes, this strange curse is really unexplainable.
However, after AC Milan eliminated Arsenal neatly, the Italian media was in jubilation, and many people who were still "superstitious" began to look forward to more from AC Milan. Since the curse of defending champion missing the quarterfinals for three consecutive years has been broken, it seems that the curse of defending champion not defending the title after the reform of the Champions League seems to be impossible to break.
When he was full of confidence in AC Milan, the two commentators also focused on praising Zhang Yang's performance.
"The reason why AC Milan was able to eliminate Arsenal cleanly in the quarterfinals is now taking the lead in the quarterfinals with Barcelona, which is inseparable from their super goal-scoring shooter. Because of Zhang Yang's existence, Ancelotti can gain more room for maneuver in both tactics and strategy. Now, the "Kaka dependence" that AC Milan has always been difficult to solve is no longer a big problem. Zhang Yang's help to the team in offense is no longer much better than Kaka last season," said Rossi.
Flores' praise for Zhang Yang is even more explicit and spared no effort. In some people's opinion, it's a bit exaggerated. "That's right. In my opinion, Zhang Yang alone is enough to restrain Barcelona's entire defense line. His extraordinary shooting skills, his speed, and his keen judgment of the football landing point have all caused a headache for Barcelona's defenders. They really don't have many ways to face such a shooter. I think, even if Zhang Yang is on the court, even if he doesn't score, it's enough to make Barcelona a headache... Of course, he always tries his best to find goals, and it's difficult to make Zhang Yang not score. At least, Barcelona's people have not been able to do this in these two rounds of games. This is also the reason why their current situation is critical."
When Zhang Yang scored a goal, Rijkaard jumped up from the seat, as if a nail was poking him. Of course, Rijkaard did not cheer for the ball, but was extremely angry. He lost the ball so quickly, which made him completely unexpected - yes, he didn't expect AC Milan to attack so resolutely after conceding the ball and scored a goal!
Just after Barcelona scored, Rijcard asked his players to strengthen the pressing, strive to continue to score, so after the kickoff, AC Milan had to pass back continuously in the face of Barcelona's pressing, and their goalkeeper Dida almost made a big mistake again in the face of Messi's pressing.
At this time, Rijkaard was still very happy. The team implemented his tactics well, which allowed him to continue scoring and eventually eliminate AC Milan.
Who would have thought that AC Milan equalized the score in just one minute.
AC Milan's goal was a very big blow to Barcelona, and for Barcelona coach Rijcard, it was tantamount to a blow. The team's psychological advantage established by leading by 1-0 was gone. Now, it is facing an extremely dangerous situation.
Even the ESPN commentator was worried about Barcelona's fate: "Barcelona just led the lead and immediately lost the ball. Now the score is one-to-one. At this time, even the most optimistic Barcelona fans will start to be anxious. After playing for half an hour, the gap between the two goals is still behind. Moreover, AC Milan showed off their offensive firepower. However, in the face of the current situation, Barcelona must attack, and they have no choice! They must attack with all their strength."
That's right, Barcelona must attack with all their strength in this game, in this situation.
In fact, this is also what Ancelotti is happy to see. Barcelona's offense is very strong, but when they are pressing the entire line, there will definitely be loopholes in the defense line. At this time, it is time for AC Milan to counterattack and seize the opportunity.
Today, the two shooters sent by Ancelotti, Zhang Yang and Inzaji, are both masters of chance, especially Inzaji, who are the best among them. This is also the reason why Ancelotti chose to let Inzaji start. The sudden shot of Inzaji's sudden insertion of the shovel just now is an example. Unfortunately, it should have scored, but Valdes' performance was really magical and he saved it. However, this also made Zhang Yang continue to increase his goals in the Champions League.
"This is Zhang Yang's thirteenth goal in the Champions League this season! He is only one goal away from the record of 14 goals in a single season in the Champions League that he and Altafini have jointly maintained."
"If AC Milan can really eliminate Barcelona, enter the semi-finals, and even successfully defend the title, according to Zhang Yang's current state, his goal count will continue to increase, once again tying the goal record he has maintained, and even creating a new single-season goal record in the history of the Champions League! We will wait and see."
Zhang Yang's goal made Barcelona's defense very depressed.
Especially Puyol, the Barcelona captain was extremely depressed. He was worried that Inzagi's shot might concede the goal, but he actually relaxed his defense against Zhang Yang, allowing Zhang Yang to get the first to get the chance to shoot, which led to the team's concealment.
Faced with such an avoidable goal conceding was a big blow to the team's morale, especially when the team had just scored and was about to boost morale.
While AC Milan fans were celebrating their goals wildly, Messi was innocently shot.
Because, in the visiting stands of the Camp Nou team, AC Milan fans shouted at Messi: "Our Zhang scored thirteen goals! What about you? Messi!!"
Now, there is still no conclusion on whether Zhang Yang or Messi is better. Italy naturally says that Zhang Yang is better than Messi. In fact, it is not only Italy, but also mainstream media in the five major leagues, including England and France, also uphold this view. After all, based on their personal performance in the past two seasons, Zhang Yang is indeed better than Messi.
The Spanish media, especially the Catalan media and domestic media in Argentina, naturally waved the flag and shouted for Messi. They said that Messi is the future king of football, so what is Zhang Yang?
Therefore, after Zhang Yang scored a goal, Milan fans began to sing and dance. While optimistic and happy for the team's promotion prospects, they did not forget to mock Messi for a moment.
Of course, in such a noisy environment, Messi certainly could not hear this. But he was really depressed by the conceding of the ball. This conceding means that Barcelona's efforts for more than half an hour in today's game were gone. If Barcelona wants to advance, they still have to score two more goals, and at the same time, they cannot allow AC Milan to score a goal.
In addition, it is impossible for Messi to have no idea about seeing Zhang Yang score a goal, but it is still such a critical goal.
Including the hat tricks played by both sides at San Siro Stadium in the first round, and the goal just scored in this game, the two rounds have not yet ended, and Zhang Yang has already scored four goals!
You said Zhang Yang was excellent, but he said Messi was excellent. Who is better? This direct showdown and PK is the most convincing.
Faced with Zhang Yang's strong state, Messi knew that he had to score a goal.
If you don’t score a goal, even if the Catalan media and Argentine media want to speak for him, they will be powerless!
Thinking of this, Messi also felt fighting spirit in his heart. The team encountered difficulties. As someone who was highly anticipated by fans and the media, he must stand up to save his master.
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Chapter completed!