Chapter 39 Everyone Loves the Little Lion

After the training officially ended that day, Allegri immediately announced the starting eleven for the game and the league with Cagliari.

Leon was selected, and Pirlo was finally selected!

When Leon saw Allegri praising Pirlo's performance as if nothing had happened before, he knew.

He succeeded!

His partnership with Pirlo played the power he expected, or in other words, Pirlo's "reserved fuel" greatly exceeded Allegri's expectations.

Leon is like a young version of Gattuso, and Gattuso, who is in the twilight of his career, is on the left and right, and once again supports Pirlo's super protection with hard defensive sweeps and sufficient organization and support.

No Italian coach can resist the temptation of Pirlo who has a "normal performance level".

Even Allegri, who mainly wants to clean up Pirlo, gave Pirlo the opportunity to start many times in the first half of the league with hope.

But how to say it, the special position of Pirlo naturally raises the level of his team's requirements for the hardness of midfield interception and coverage area.

He can support the organization of a team alone, and his level as a midfield master is unquestionable.

But correspondingly, when he is delayed but cannot provide too much direct confrontation and defensive hardness.

The midfield partners on both sides must pay more physical strength and energy to fill this defensive gap for him.

In the past, Gattuso, Ambrosini or Seedorf helped him do this job.

But now when his superstar partners are gradually getting old, their physical strength and speed advantages are gone, and they only have skills but no sufficient physical strength to do strong sweeps and coverage.

Pirlo's shortcomings are naturally exposed nakedly.

He can assist the main defensive players to make up for the gaps, and he has advantages in position selection and ball intelligence, but his physical fitness is there, and he can't withstand the repeated attacks of the opponent in the middle.

The previous defeats against Real Madrid in the Champions League have well highlighted his shortcomings in this regard.

According to Mourinho's tactical arrangement, Khedira made a savage forward attack that made Milan's center unable to resist.

When Gattuso's defensive action slowed down, Pirlo could not take advantage of Khedira in the direct confrontation except for fouls.

So it makes sense that Allegri made up his mind to abandon Pirlo some time ago.

And now, Allegri, who looked at Pirlo and exclaimed "really good", also makes sense!

The little lion is here, and he is very surprised to be able to play on the left and right sides of the midfield.

Pirlo has another sweeping maniac in front of him. Let's see how well Pirlo, who has made up for his defensive defects, plays.

Can such a midfielder be used? Can it be abandoned?

Allegri said that he no longer needs to find a beast waist.

Pirlo is the real core of Milan!

※※※

At 2 pm on January 6, when AC Milan and Cagliari released the starting eleven, not to mention the fans of the two teams, neutral fans were stunned.

In the ninth round of Serie A, Pirlo, who was almost used as a substitute by Allegri after AC Milan lost 1-2 to Juventus, actually started again today?

The fans who were eating melons took a look at the starting list.

Well, the new Real Madrid teenager is in the starting eleven, no problem.

Then why did Pirlo come in? Is Allegri planning to change to a double defensive midfielder formation?

Italian fans who are keen on discussing game tactics and formation changes have become interested in Allegri's new formation.

And some old Milan fans who were hostile to Li Ang before are also a little confused.

"Maybe he really isn't here to take Andrea's position. Can they form a double defensive midfielder partnership?"

"There's hope. I've seen Leon's games at Real Madrid. He and Alonso form a really good partnership."

"But Andrea doesn't have the same defensive ability as Alonso. Can he rely on Leon to defend?"

"Forget it. The game is about to start. Let's see. There's no point in discussing this now."

Similar discussions emerged before the game among the thousands of Milan fans who travelled to the game.

When it was nearly three in the afternoon, after the players from Milan and Cagliari finished the pre-match ceremony and the players from both sides gradually took their positions, there were bursts of exclamations from the Milan fans.

"Left midfielder! Leon appeared in the left midfielder position! This is completely different from the starting lineup of Milan predicted by the media before the game. Milan did not play a 4-2-3-1 formation with double defensive midfielders. They played a 4-4-2 formation with a diamond midfield position!"

The commentator of Sky Sports Italy was also surprised.

When they introduced the starting lineups of both sides just now, they said directly that Milan would adopt a 4-2-3-1 formation today.

As a result, no one expected that Allegri played a trick in the end, deceiving not only Cagliari's head coach Donaldini, but also all the media and fans!

"This is a very surprising formation change, but Li Ang has never played the left midfielder position before. He played as a defensive midfielder in Real Madrid. Can he adapt to this new position and play well today?"

The commentator of Sky Sports Italy expressed the doubts in the hearts of countless Milan fans at this moment.

And when the game started, almost all the audience stared at Li Ang, who was still running calmly.

It seemed that they wanted to see some tension and unnatural emotions on his face.

Unfortunately, Li Ang opened his career in Milan with a smooth and fast pass.

After several active assists and passes, Li Ang did not make any mistakes and did his job steadily.

His wide range of running and steady passing made the entire left midfield of Milan run smoothly.

This unremarkable individual performance was a small surprise to Milan fans.

"Oh my God! This kid can really play in the midfield! We have strengthened the midfield and defensive midfielder positions at the same time. At least he is a very good substitute. Massimo (Ambrosini) and Mathieu (Flamini) can rest assured to recover from injuries."

Some happy Milan fans made a judgment in advance, which seemed to be very reliable. At least Li Ang did a good job in the left midfield.

However, a bigger surprise hit almost all the "Roseneri" heads afterwards.

Just in the seventh minute of the first half, Cagliari finally got a steal in the backcourt, and their midfielders Lazari and Nainggolan started a quick counterattack with the ball.

Gattuso on the right side of the midfield was not as fast as Nainggolan, and Pirlo had already started to retreat in advance. Almost all Milan fans felt nervous when they saw this scene.

In the previous league and Champions League games, they have seen too many similar scenes.

Gattuso's top defense did not keep up, and Pirlo, who faced the opponent's attack in the middle alone, almost became a "defensive sieve".

But in their nervous attention this time, a sunny and handsome young man who could barely be regarded as "long-haired" quickly chased back from the wing!

The fans of Cagliari began to exclaim, and Nainggolan did not have time to observe the situation behind him. Then he was squeezed out of position by a huge force, and the football under his feet was also violently fought over!

"The speed of chasing back is too fast! Leon--!!! Beautiful chasing back defense! God! Leon resolved Milan's defensive crisis in advance before Nainggolan was about to face Pirlo! No foul! This is a great personal pursuit and interception! Is this the real 'surprise' that Allegri prepared for Cagliari?!"

When the commentator began to applaud Leon's wonderful defense, thousands of Milan's away fans couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief and cheered!

Pirlo gathered his long hair in front of his forehead, first passed the ball back from Leon to Zambrotta who started to advance, and then took the initiative to show his smile to Leon.

And an outstretched palm!

"Well done!"

"I should do it, Andrea."

Leon, who also smiled and high-fived Pirlo, replied happily, and then actively ran back to his left midfield position.

Looking at Leon's energetic back, Pirlo's smile on his face became even stronger.

"No wonder Zlatan said everyone likes the little lion~"

I chatted with the editor for a while, and forgot to set the timer for the afternoon update. Sorry sorry

However, the time for the release is almost set, hehe, wait for my explosive update at that time!

Brothers, follow the reading and vote, I will read the following for the next two weeks!