Chapter 790: Swift Counterattack
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
At the start of the second half, Nottingham Forest did shrink their defense. Inter Milan, on the other hand, took advantage of their kickoff to launch a fierce attack on the Forest team’s heartland.
Ibrahimović had a shot from inside the penalty area which struck the goalpost and bounced, that startled all the Forest players to break into a cold sweat.
Following which, there was a moment of chaos in front of the goal, with Rossi falling to the ground amid the chaos and the football being taken by the goalkeeper, Akinfeev. The Inter Milan players immediately raised their hands to signal a foul on the Nottingham Forest players, which should result in a penalty kick. The Nottingham Forest players also raised their hands to show their innocence.
The referee made his own judgment and he gestured for Rossi to get up.
Deafening boos broke out at the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium for his gesture.
The Inter Milan players did not protest much because it was indeed not a foul… They did that before in hope to give the referee a wrong message amid the chaos and put pressure on him to award a penalty kick in their favor. They did not expect the referee to be able to distinguish right and wrong with acuity. In that case, there was no need to continue the entanglement.
After five or six minutes of chaos in the opening, the situation was back in balance.
Inter Milan attacked, but they were afraid to put in all their strength and thus not be able to put the most amount of pressure on the Forest team’s defensive line. Nottingham Forest was naturally be able to hold on.
Nottingham Forest had shrunk their defense and was not strong on the offense, giving Inter Milan a chance to attack.
One team wanted to attack, and the other side must defend. So, the game was back in balance.
※※※
Quaresma was more active than in the first half. At the halftime interval, he saw hope in Mourinho’s words, and it was an opportunity to seize. He had a year and a half left on his contract with Inter Milan. If he still did not have a convincing performance, then his departure from Meazza at that time would only be the inevitable result.
He raised his hand frequently on the field to ask for the ball.
Montolivo pa.s.sed the ball to him and Leighton Baines immediately leaned closer. Quaresma was not afraid of one-on-one confrontation, even two over one—behind Baines was Wood, the defensive midfielder they revered.
He intended to get rid of Baines first, and then face Wood in a one-on-one duel. He wanted to play with the hotly antic.i.p.ated defensive midfielder in the football world to prove his ability to stay in Meazza.
Unfortunately, Quaresma did not eventually encounter BOSS George Wood this time. He hit a wall with Baines. He was too eager to break through but forced himself to a dead end instead. Not only did he miss the opportunity for the tactic, he could not dribble the football out. It was finally jabbed out by Baines.
Anyway, Quaresma used his consummate skill to win an out-of-bounds ball for Inter Milan…
For a while after, Quaresma was obsessed with a duel against Baines in the flank, much to Mourinho’s displeasure. In the end, he could no longer tolerate it and stood on the sidelines to shout Quaresma’s name, reminding him not to always wander around the side.
Quaresma also found out about this problem—if he was always on the side, he would not be able to run into George Wood, because Wood was also in charge of the defense in the middle and could not run to the side to stay.
While the Portuguese winger preferred and was more accustomed to the side, he had decided to move to the middle the game in order to prove to the manager that he was a good player who was battle ready and could win the game.
The first time he came face-to-face with Wood, he used a beautiful step over move to bypa.s.s a defensive line and send the ball out—it was a clever move, even though Quaresma did not realize it at the time.
The Portuguese was encouraged by his first successful attempt to trick Wood into losing his center of gravity and decided to directly challenge with a breakthrough next.
The second time, he changed into a feint, dribbling the ball at a high speed from the side and cutting inside. Then he changed direction with his ankle and subtle control of speed to get rid of the defenders. He managed to get rid of Baines, but not Wood.
When Wood’s powerful body leaned close, Quaresma suddenly felt that the football under his feet had become unmanageable.
A powerful force pressed against him, preventing him from controlling the ball under his feet. The football bounced on the ground and he extended his leg to hook the ball while he leaned his body against Wood. Did he want to fight Wood with his body? He failed.
Wood struck Quaresma who was dribbling the ball and caused him to tumble but it was not even a foul. It was just a reasonable collision.
Quaresma was so angry at the referee’s decision that he knelt on the ground and waved his fists. But no one paid attention to him.
However, the Portuguese winger was in fine form for the game. The third time he took advantage of a sudden change of direction to coordinate with his teammate’s running position to bypa.s.s Wood.
Wood lost his balance from the swaying and Quaresma easily broke through before pa.s.sing the ball to Ibrahimović. The Swedish striker swung his leg again for the shot. Akinfeev firmly caught it this time.
The goalkeeper, Akinfeev was clearly unhappy that Wood let the opponent broke through. He held onto the football and did not rush to send it out. He shouted instead, “George, what’s wrong with you?”
Wood waved his hands and looked at Quaresma, saying nothing.
This nimble kid was more difficult to deal with than he thought…
Quaresma lost in the next two one-on-one face-offs that followed.
Mourinho watched for a while on the sidelines and decided not to be silent.
He wanted the team’s offensive focus to s.h.i.+ft to Quaresma, but it was not so as to create the condition for this kid to face off against George Wood and play out individual heroism. If he continued to singlehandedly challenge, the team’s offensive would sooner or later be destroyed by him.
Taking advantage of a dead ball, he called over Quaresma who was near the sidelines. He said, “Ricardo, I instructed you to take charge of the offensive, it’s not so that you can face off the opponent individually. Have you not played professional football before?”
Quaresma also felt that he was being excessive for that period. He bowed his head and said, “I know, coach…”
“When you have a face-off with George Wood, you have already fallen for Tony Twain’s ploy! Wood’s one-on-one defense is very good. If you continue to play like this, I can only consider bringing you off, no matter how good your form is!” Mourinho said seriously with a straight face. He and Quaresma were both Portuguese, so there was no language barrier. He could be certain that Quaresma would not have a situation where he did not understand what he said and continued in his own way.
“If you get it, get back on the field!”
Mourinho shoved Quaresma back.
Following which, some interesting developments happened in the game. Quaresma remained as Inter Milan’s playmaker, but he was no longer obsessed with challenging Wood or Baines. He would only choose to break through if the timing was right. More often than not, he would lure Wood over and then pa.s.s the football out.
This time, Inter Milan’s offensive became alive.
Quaresma was no longer the end point of the offensive, but more like a relay station—the ball was pa.s.sed to his feet and he could make his own breakthrough or pa.s.s to his other teammates based on his own observation of the situation. Such an offensive approach was obviously better than letting Quaresma try his best to break through Wood.
Nottingham Forest also found it more difficult to defend. Before, they only needed to defend against Quaresma. Now they needed to defend all the Inter Milan players and not miss any positions. Otherwise it was possible to…
※※※
“Quaresma gets the ball again, and he’ll choose whether to break through or pa.s.s…”
As soon as the voice trailed off, Quaresma chose to force a breakthrough. Baines planned to come up to shovel the football out, but he was easily bypa.s.sed. This time he did not choose to go to the middle and clash with George Wood, but he picked a better soft touch.
Breaking through Baines, he could pa.s.s, and he could also go straight into the penalty area. Once he entered the penalty area, the Nottingham Forest goal would be in danger.
George Wood certainly would not let that happen. He rushed over to stop Quaresma from breaking through, but also to guard against his outer instep shot.
When he saw Wood coming, Quaresma picked up his right foot. This time he did not want to shoot straight at the goal—he sent the ball to the front of the penalty area.
Cambia.s.so received the ball and Tiago rushed up to cover the position. Wood also turned around to dash back. Quaresma did not pose a threat without the ball, and Baines returned to be in charge of defending against him.
Tiago blocked Cambia.s.so’s direct shot angle, but Cambia.s.so did not want to shoot for the goal. After he did a feint to look like he was going to charge into the penalty area, he pa.s.sed the ball to the flank where Nottingham Forest’s defense was the weakest.
Maicon suddenly slotted in from the side like a bullet train and received Cambia.s.so’s pa.s.s.
None of the Nottingham Forest players noticed his plug-in, including George Wood. Their defensive attention was all attracted by Quaresma, Cambia.s.so and Ibrahimović.
Maicon kicked the incoming ball straight on and volleyed hard!
The football whistled through the heavily guarded penalty area like a cannonball and flew toward the far corner of the goal!
“Maicon’s long shot—”
The commentator lengthened the end of his voice, which was accompanied by cheers from the Inter Milan fans.
Everyone was convinced that the ball was in!
But there was one man who did not believe it.
Akinfeev took a step to the right and then jumped. He stretched his body in the air, extended his arms and flew toward the football.
The football was cut off in the air by a pair of big hands like a scud encountered a MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile.
The commentator’s tail end of his voice and the cheers of the Inter Milan fans came to an abrupt end.
Maicon gave a long sigh out of frustration after he saw what happened.
Just as he looked up at the sky, Akinfeev, who had fallen to the ground, had already climbed up and threw the football out with his hands without hesitation—it was a chance for Nottingham Forest to fight back!
The football was thrown at Bentley’s feet and he did not turn to take the ball forward. Because he knew that he did not have a speed advantage in the counterattack. If he were to break forward and could not find a point to pa.s.s, the ball could only be intercepted by the other side. Even if he managed to protect the ball, he would also lose a quick counterattack opportunity.
The best way was not to dribble the ball himself, but to pa.s.s the ball.
Who should he pa.s.s the ball to?
Most of his teammates were still defending in the backfield. There was no one who could show up in the front. He looked up to take a glimpse and saw his captain.
Wood had originally wanted to defend against Cambia.s.so, but Cambia.s.so pa.s.sed the ball to Maicon, leaving him empty. However, it was a help to him—when Akinfeev caught the ball, only George Wood was heading in the direction of the offensive and cutting out to sprint. . .
He looked back at Akinfeev and made the choice to continue running forward immediately.
As he had antic.i.p.ated, Akinfeev thought the same as him—this was a great opportunity for Nottingham Forest to fight back quickly!
Bentley pa.s.sed the ball to the only Nottingham Forest player who was running forward in his line of sight.
By the time George Wood received the ball in the middle, he had left behind a number of Inter Milan and Nottingham Forest players. Now he had adjusted his forward direction well, which directly faced Inter Milan’s goal!
Cambia.s.so rushed up diagonally from the back. He wanted to intercept the ball while Wood had not yet accelerated. The worst that could happen would be a tactical foul.
Wood poked the ball forward. Instead of shoveling the football, he shoveled Wood’s feet.
The man who was shoveled at his feet did not seem to be George Wood. He only stumbled once and continued to maintain his balance to accelerate!
“George Wood dribbles the ball and avoids Cambia.s.so’s tackle from behind! He’s sprinting forward! This is Nottingham Forest’s counterattack at its best!”
The Nottingham Forest fans’ cheers grew louder.
“Stop him! He’s only one person!” Cambia.s.so, who had failed in the tackle, shouted as he laid on the ground. He certainly knew what it meant to let Wood get away with it. But maybe the situation was not that bad, because Nottingham Forest just wanted to fight back quickly, so there were not too many people there to support at the moment. George Wood could not do much if he broke through to the forefront alone.
In the blink of an eye, Wood had already dribbled the ball through the center line.
Burdisso stormed up aggressively and just as he hit Wood, Wood sent the ball out. But Burdisso did not care about the small matter. His target was Wood, not the football.
Wood was knocked out of his original track by Burdisso’s full impact collision and deflected to the right. Did Burdisso succeed?
No!
Wood had also directed the ball to the right side when he sent it out…. Burdisso’s collision helped Wood instead and brought him closer to the football. And what about Burdisso? He used his full strength and center of gravity for the collision just now. After he collided with George Wood with a reckless mentality, he also fell to the ground, but George Wood did not fall to the ground with him.
Chivu, the left back in the game, completely could not keep up in speed with Wood running at full speed. Although the football was kicked toward his side, he could only watch Wood’s back soar through his zone, fast as lightning and turned into the penalty area.
Inter Milan’s last line of defense was made up of two men: Samuel and the goalkeeper, César.
Samuel was smarter than Burdisso. H was not stupid enough to hit him straight on. He just blocked the inner line and forced Wood to the side. He would succeed as long as he forced him to the side.
Wood waded into the penalty area and Samuel came up. He did not make a move and just ran with Wood. He was not afraid that he did not have an advantage in speed, because Wood had slowed down a while ago. He could not rush inside the penalty area.
Wood made to look like he was going to shoot, so Samuel leaned his body closer, but did not throw his entire weight into it. If Wood did not shoot again, he would not have a chance.
George Wood decided to force a shot. How about Samuel and César? He would just blow them apart!
This time Wood swung his leg again, and Samuel continued to lean his body closer to interfere. Wood shot directly at the goal!
The football whistled and flew past Samuel to charge into the near corner of the goal.
Even César had already sealed the angle, the football still found a crack and hit on the nearest goalpost…
A crackling sound and the football seemed to hit the hearts of all Inter Milan fans, collectively caused their hearts to stop.
The scene they were most afraid to see did not happen in the next second. The football hit the goalpost but did not bounce into the goal. Instead, it rebounded out!
“Ss—-” The gasps from the Inter Milan fans could be clearly heard at the raucous Meazza Stadium.
César laid on the ground, Samuel was on the ground, and George Wood was also on the ground. Was this the end of the attack?
No way!
“Matías Fernández!”
The Chilean appeared in the penalty area. Only Burdisso was around him. But now he did not care too much. He only had eyes for the rebounded football.
The boss seemed to be growling in his ear at this time, “See that football? It’s bouncing in front of you, laughing at you that you can’t shoot it in, can’t shoot it in, can’t shoot it in! Even if it’s an empty goal, you can’t—shoot—it—in——!! You’re a coward who only knows to hold your head and cry when your first shot is blocked!”
Burdisso tried to get the ball out first to lift the siege, only to find himself unable to move after Fernández leaned in—his position was completely blocked by the Chilean.
The next thing was simple.
Fernández picked up his right foot and faced Júlio César, who had gotten up from the ground. He knocked the football hard toward the goal!
“GOOOOOOOAL——!!”
The Chilean finally completed his self-redemption…