Chapter Ninety-Nine
Bayern lost the game and the Champions League was eliminated!
This is obviously something that everyone did not expect before the game, because before the start of the game, Bayern had a neat lineup and AC Milan was full of wounded soldiers. Even if it is a home game, it is not easy to beat the mighty Bayern, let alone 4:1. The big score, but all this happened.
Returning to the league, AC Milan continued their good form in the 28th round of Serie A against Empoli. They defeated their opponents 3-0 at home and won six consecutive league victories, taking the lead against Inter Milan. The advantage increased to five points.
Degan still played the role of a frontcourt free man in this game, and his partner was Inzaghi, who had just scored twice in the Champions League.
In the first half, AC Milan obviously had some physical problems due to the recent intensive competitions. The scene was very dull, and the two teams scored a goalless draw. ?? Stadium Maniac 99
In the second half, the situation on the field changed suddenly. First, Degan passed the ball from the left side of the penalty area, allowing Inzaghi to face the empty goal directly, breaking the deadlock. Then Gilardino, who came off the bench, expanded the score and scored with his header. , The assist also came from Degan, and then, Degan won another free kick in front of the penalty area, volleyed vigorously, and went directly into the net. In the end, AC Milan defeated Empoli at home.
In the twenty-ninth round of Serie A that followed, Degan followed AC Milan to Bergamo to challenge his old club. Although there are still nine rounds left in the league, Atalanta's relegation is basically a foregone conclusion. Before the start of the season , and during the winter break, a large number of main players were sold, causing Atlanta's overall strength to decline extremely.
Facing his old club, Degan seemed to be relentless. In the first and second half, he completed a hat-trick with overhead kicks and basically sent his old club to the second division.
What moved Degan was that throughout the game, every time he got the ball, there would be overwhelming cheers from the Atlanta fans in the stands. Degan also reciprocated. After scoring three goals, he chose not to celebrate .
Degan is accepting the cheers of the Atlanta fans, while Riodo, as the club's "chairman", is accepting the insults of the fans. As the defending champion of Serie A, Atlanta's current situation can be said to be difficult. It was caused by Riodo alone.
He is now also regretting that for the sake of immediate benefits, Atlanta has become the virtue it is now, but regret "medicine" does not exist in this world.
After defeating Atlanta, AC Milan had to face the challenge of Udinese. In the end, AC Milan won the opponent 4:0 in the away game, and at the same time gave Udinese a 9-match winless game.
In the first half, Pirlo hit the crossbar with a free kick, and Degan caught the opponent's goalkeeper DeSantis' mistake to break the deadlock. In the second half, Gilardino and Degan each made another victory, and Kaka was icing on the cake with Digan's assist.
On the second day after the victory over Udinese, the official website of AC Milan announced the news of Ancelotti's contract renewal. Ancelotti renewed his contract for one year until June 30, 2008.
Ancelotti seemed very calm about the success of the contract renewal: "I renewed my contract until 2008, and I finally chose to stay in Milan. Real Madrid was really tempting in the past, but it is over now."
Previously, Ancelotti's contract expired on June 30, 2007. Because of his poor record, rumors about Ancelotti's possible transfer to coach Real Madrid this summer have intensified. At the same time, the Italian media is also speculating on who may succeed Carlo Ancelotti to coach Milan. As early as when Donadoni dismissed get out of class in Livorno, there were rumors that Donadoni might return to Milan to coach. Since then, Rijkaard, Van Basten and other Milan veterans have been included in Ancelotti's successor list of participants.
However, Ancelotti is not worried about not having a next home. Spain's "Aspen" believes that Juventus coach Capello will return to Madrid, while "Marca" believes that Ancelotti will enter Madrid, while Italy The media believes that Ancelotti is more likely.
The AC Milan club obviously did not want this rumor to become a fact. Finally, after AC Milan's successive victories, under Berlusconi's instruction, Galliani started a defensive counterattack, and the speed was extremely fast. Next, AC Milan will face Lyon in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League. The Milan club does not want to see the morale of the army before the fierce battle.
On the day of the contract renewal, Ancelotti conducted the last round of negotiations in Galliani's office early in the morning, and then signed the new contract. The new contract has not changed much in terms of wages, but Ancelotti has made some additional requirements.
Ancelotti asked Galliani to write the coach's right to maintain the current lineup, and the right to choose players freely in the transfer market this summer, into the contract. AC Milan also hopes that Carlo Ancelotti will renew his contract for one more year, but the contract until 2009 will be discussed later.
In fact, Ancelotti has already made the decision to stay in Milan. The temptation of Real Madrid cannot prevent Ancelotti from being tempted, but it is better to discuss career changes with his family.
Carlo Ancelotti and his wife "Lucia" had some discussions about living in Madrid. They felt that it might not be necessary for their two sons, Cardia and David, to withdraw from the AC Milan youth team and go to Madrid. Able to adapt, out of family considerations, Ancelotti decided to stay.
Galliani successfully resolved the issue of Ancelotti's contract renewal. Ancelotti can now lead the team to prepare for the two key games with Fiorentina and Lyon with peace of mind.
AC Milan renewed Ancelotti's contract. Obviously, Degan's chances of staying are not great. Although the two have stated on different occasions that there is no conflict between them, just look at Milan's tactics now. Gan has never been in Ancelotti's tactical system. A large part of the reason why he can play continuously is due to Shevchenko's injury and Berlusconi's request. ?? Stadium Maniac 99
People had always thought that Degan had greater hope of finally winning this palace fight, but now the mystery has been revealed. The winner is Ancelotti. When Berlusconi and Galliani made this decision, basically It is also doomed that Degan will leave next season.
Of course, Galliani doesn't want this to happen: "Rod is an important player for Milan. He has performed very well this season. Although he has been injured for a long time, look at his goals for Milan now. Quantity, in three competitions, he has scored thirty-five goals, such a terrifying shooter, we can't give up!"
Although Galliani is firm, everyone knows that Degan cannot stay. Although he still has a contract with Milan, if he wants to leave, I believe there will be many teams willing to support him. Take a termination fee of 35 million euros.
Next, AC Milan will face Lyon, the next opponent in the Champions League. Degan continues to start, but he seems to be affected by Ancelotti's contract renewal. He did not perform well in this game As expected, he was replaced by Inzaghi in the 65th minute of the second half.
In the end, AC Milan drew 0:0 with Lyon in the away game. They have not won the last four visits to France, and Lyon increased their unbeaten home record in European wars to 15 games.
In fact, Degan also had a chance to score in this game, but in the first half, he missed three good scoring opportunities in a row. In the second half, Lyon took the initiative by virtue of their home court advantage, but failed to knock on the visiting team's goal.
Back in the league, in the 31st round of Serie A that started at the San Siro Stadium, AC Milan reversed Fiorentina 3:1 at home.
This campaign is a battle of revenge for both sides. Fiorentina lost 0:6 and 2:5 in their last two away games against AC Milan. But AC Milan lost 1:3 away to Fiorentina this season.
Maldini returned to the bench after recovering from injury. He has only participated in 11 Serie A games this season. suspension.
In the thirteenth minute of the first half, Kaladze fouled. Pascual took a free kick from the right side and passed it diagonally with his left foot. Captain Ujfalusi overwhelmed Serginho with a header and scored in front of the goal. Toni stopped the ball with his chest in the penalty area. , Before Fiori made a save, he swept his left foot half-volley into the lower right corner, and AC Milan fell behind 0:1!
But Fiorentina's lead did not last too long. In the 20th minute, Costacurta made a cross from the right. Fiorentina made consecutive clearances not far away. Pirlo got the ball straight from the front of the penalty area on the left. position, but Degan on the left side of the penalty area was not offside. He kicked back with his left foot and dodged Jorgensen. At 7 meters in front of the goal, he shot from a low angle with his right foot. The ball went directly into the near corner from the armpit of goalkeeper Robant. AC Milan pulled 1:1!
In the 47th minute of the second half of the game, the old and vigorous Costacurta once again kicked the ball from the right. Degan quickly followed up with a header. The ball rebounded and went into the lower left corner. AC Milan overtook 2:1!
In the fifty-ninth minute, AC Milan took a tactical corner kick from the left. Pirlo got the ball and passed it low. Gattuso suddenly volleyed with his right foot from the front of the penalty area on the left. In the net, 3:1!
With a victory, AC Milan ushered in the Champions League opponent Lyon, and finally defeated the opponent 3:1, but the course of the game is far from as simple as the score seems. According to the official statistics of UEFA, Lyon's The number of shots reached 16 times, even one more than AC Milan, and there were many threatening shots.
Fiori has been very stable since he took the position of the main goalkeeper, and his performance in this game is not bad, saving Juninho's very dangerous free kick in the first half, and Frey He was not responsible for the goal conceded by De's small angle hanging goal, but the media only gave him 6 points after the game. The reason for this was mainly because of his terrible mistake in the first half.
Not long after the opening, Fiori received a cross pass from Nesta. Facing Wiltord, the ball bounced off the shin guard with his big foot. He also bumped to the empty goal, turned around and took the ball again, was forced by Karazze, turned around and hit higher.
Sometimes a single detail can affect the next tens of minutes of the scene. This opportunity boosted Lyon's morale. The first one to experience psychological fluctuations was Karadze. One minute later, he wanted to protect the ball to Fiore. , Unexpectedly, Fiore stood in the door and did not come out. When Fiore attacked again, Fred knocked the ball to Malouda first, and the latter's hanging goal was slightly higher than the crossbar.
Lyon's chances in this game were not limited to that. In the 41st minute, Fred hit the outside of the goal post with a header, but Fiore did not respond.
AC Milan once again exposed the problem of inattention in the defense that they hadn't experienced before. The goal scored by Lyon turned out to be three people from the visiting team competing for the top in front of the goal, but none of AC Milan jumped. There was an interference, the ball was Fred's head on his teammate Chris, but then Diarra took off and scored the header surrounded by three AC Milan players.
Many times the high balls dropped into the penalty area, the opponents can grab points, not only Fred, Diarra, including Govou, Kakapa, Chris, all have opportunities to grab points in the penalty area, and Compared with the stability some time ago, AC Milan's defense is obviously a little abnormal today.
Finally, in this game, Degan once became a key player. In the first half, he had a beautiful left rib to pass the two to form a breakthrough. Unfortunately, his shot was blocked by Abidal, but then, he was in the second half. He scored three goals in a row within 20 minutes and completed a hat-trick. On the Champions League scorer list, he also surpassed Eto'o and ranked first.
However, Degan received a yellow card when defending in the 85th minute of the game. The accumulated yellow cards were suspended and he will miss the first match of the semi-finals. ?? Stadium Maniac 99
Although Milan did not win well, but fortunately, they won. The Champions League successfully advanced to the semi-finals. The team had a day off after the game to recuperate.
Against Lyon Stam was injured in the 23rd minute and he was replaced by Costacurta, as Simic was not on the bench, he sat in the stands at the San Siro. Ancelotti would rather use the 40-year-old Costacurta than the captain of the Croatian national team, which obviously made Simic feel a little sad.
After the game, Simic said in an interview: "I will leave AC Milan in a few months, Ancelotti really let me down."
In fact, Simic almost moved last summer because he couldn't buy a new central defender. After the last round of the season against Udinese, Ancelotti negotiated with him for a while, and then the two sides renewed the contract until 2008. , but after Kaladze's contract extension and switching to central defender, Simic's space is getting smaller and smaller.
Originally, Cafu's sudden decline in state was Simic's opportunity, and Simic also got some opportunities to play. However, after Karadze became a central defender, Stam was placed on the right, and Simic's space narrowed again.
Although Stam played well at the right back position, he suffered frequent injuries. This season, a total of seven times he was injured halfway. Simic saw the opportunity coming. As a result, 40-year-old Costacurta was suddenly reused. Already injured, Ancelotti is still experimenting with Maldini's plan to move to the right. In addition, the club publicly stated that it would buy a new right back, and Simic was completely desperate. This is somewhat similar to Brocchi's situation last season.
However, Simic himself also has some problems. He can perform steadily in many games, but suddenly there is a "short circuit" in a moment, such as the 0:3 loss to Palermo. He is very cautious in his use.
However, the departure of Simic will also make AC Milan lose a useful substitute. Perhaps Costacurta, who will be 41 years old next year, will still get a lot of playing opportunities next season.
AC Milan successfully advanced to the UEFA Champions League, but the Italian media's desire to reproduce the grand occasion in 2003 was ruthlessly shattered.
Juventus and Inter Milan fell one after another, and AC Milan, the least favored, became the only Serie A team in the UEFA Champions League.
The league is about to enter its final stage. No matter how ambitious Ancelotti is for the league, he can only restrain himself at this moment and turn his attention to the European arena.
In the 32nd round of Serie A matches that started at the Lecce del Mare Stadium, Carlo Ancelotti put Degan and other main players on the bench. As a result, AC Milan lost 0:1 to the bottom one in the league. Lecce suffered its first league defeat since January 15, and the point gap with Juventus has been expanded to 9 points.
In the 33rd round of Serie A that followed, AC Milan beat Chievo 4:1 at home. In the first half, Pelissier took the lead to break the Milan goal, but Nesta's rare goal tied the score. This is his fourth goal in four seasons since he joined Milan. The last league goal dates back to In the second half of the 2002/03 season, Kaka scored his first hat-trick in Milan, and all the assists for him were his younger brother Degan.
Afterwards, in the first game of the 34th round of Serie A at the San Siro Stadium, AC Milan "at home" beat Inter Milan 1-0. After both sides missed several opportunities, Degan stepped forward again. In stoppage time, after receiving a pass from Kaka outside the penalty area, he took a long shot and scored the only goal of the game.
The first time he participated in the Milan Derby, he scored the winning goal. After the game, Degan also received a lot of praise, but this is his first time, and it is likely to be the last time.
Ancelotti's contract extension basically cut off Degan's way to stay in Milan. Although he can live in peace with Ancelotti now, it may not be the case next season.
Degan doesn't want to bother with those things now. He just wants to do his own thing and try to play every game well, but it doesn't include the first round of the Champions League semi-final against Barcelona. He can only sit in the San Siro for this game. In the stands, act as a spectator.