The Prince of Inter Milan starts with Brother Xiaosa

Chapter 103 Advance to the quarterfinals!

On March 2009, 3, the Nerazzurri played in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals at Meazza.

After last weekend's league game with Genoa, Inter Milan lost two central defenders, Materazzi and Burdisso.

Chivu is still recovering from injury. Today Cordoba will partner with Samuel, who has just returned from injury, as a central defender.

Vieira has returned to the starting lineup in good form recently, and the other two midfielders are Zanetti and Cambiaso.

Leo is single as the attacking midfielder, and Ibrahimovic and Balotelli are still on the front line.

Compared with the first round at Villarreal, Pellegrini replaced two players, with Nicot and Capdevila starting.

Llorente is on standby.

In the first round, Inter Milan defeated Villarreal 2-1 in the away game. When they returned to home in the second round, everyone believed that Mourinho could easily lead the team to the quarterfinals.

After the game started, Inter Milan, playing at home, did quickly dominate the situation on the field.

In the fourth minute, Leo sent a direct pass from the frontcourt, and Balotelli's shot from the right side of the penalty area was blocked by the opponent's defender Capdevila.

Then the home team took a corner kick, and Samuel beat Godin from behind and headed the ball into the far corner of the goal!

One to zero!
  Inter Milan got off to a dream start!
  The total score of the two rounds was also rewritten to three to one!

The Yellow Submarine, which was already lagging behind, had no choice but to attack after conceding the ball.

In the ninth minute, Balotelli was violated by a visiting team defensive player.

Then Bashen took a super long-distance free kick on the left side, which was directly picked up by the opponent's goalkeeper Diego Lopez.

Maicon made a low pass from the right, Ibrahimovic turned his back, and Balotelli's volley from the edge of the penalty area was not powerful!

Villarreal goalkeeper Diego Lopez flew over and confiscated the ball.

Faced with extremely adverse circumstances, Pellegrini's team did not give up.

It wasn't until the 20th minute that they scored their first goal of the game.

After the cooperation between Cazorla and Senna, Nihat's shot from outside the penalty area was confiscated by Cesar.

A few minutes later, Cordoba made a clearance error and Rossi intercepted the ball in the penalty area, but his subsequent shot was blocked by Samuel.

In the 29th minute, visiting team player Angel was accidentally injured, and Villarreal was forced to make substitutions.

Wenta comes on as a substitute.

Cazorla transferred the ball from the left side of the penalty area to the right side, and Nicot followed up with a volley that flew into the stands.

Anyway, Inter Milan now has a two-goal lead, they are not anxious at all, and they attack very patiently.

As for Huang Qian, it was useless for them to be anxious.

A few minutes later it was another low pass from Cazorla from the left.

Samuel fell in front of Rossi and blocked the ball. Senna signaled that there was suspicion of handball.

But the referee Stark shook his head and signaled that there was no foul and the game was not interrupted.

Leo made a long diagonal pass, but Thornton didn't pick up the speed and chased past the baseline but couldn't catch up.

"This guy, I don't know what he did last night."

Every time Leo passes the ball, he will calculate the advance in his mind. Thornton didn't catch it, either because he was not focused, or because he was not running as fast as usual.

Either way, David was not at his best.

In this case, let him stay in the backcourt and defend, and the offense should be launched from other directions.

Leo took the ball and broke through diagonally. Just as he was about to pass the ball, Senna made a vicious foul and was given a yellow card by the referee.

Balotelli took a free kick from the right and passed it diagonally to the back of the penalty area. Ibrahimovic bounced the ball in front of the goal and hit the crossbar and popped out of the bottom line!
  "oops!"

The die-hard Inter fans in the stands held their heads in disbelief and exclaimed, the ball almost went in!
  Villarreal seized the opportunity to counterattack quickly. Ibagaza passed directly into the penalty area. Rossi did not choose to pass the ball to Nihart, who was in a better position.

The Italian striker himself came in front of the small penalty area and pushed the shot, but Cesar fell to the ground and blocked it!

The first half entered stoppage time, and Leo got the ball in the frontcourt.

The Meazza stadium echoed with the cheers of Nerazzurri.

After the opening goal, there was a fierce battle on the field, but in the end no goal was scored, which made it a bit boring for the audience to watch.

Pulling the ball and turning around to get rid of Egulen's defense, Leo gave the ball to Balotelli with a slight push.

After the pass was passed, Leo moved forward and broke into the middle of the penalty area.

After receiving the ball, Bashen saw the movement of his boss and passed the accurate through ball skillfully.

Leo found a good opportunity from the gap between Godin and Fuentes, and shot a low shot with his left foot straight into the far corner of the goal!
  Two to zero!
  Inter Milan leads by two goals at home!

The total score in the two rounds was changed to four to one, and the home team entered the halftime break with a three-goal advantage.

"Don't be complacent on the pitch, the game is not over yet, anything can happen.

Keep it up in the second half and don't give your opponent a chance! "

Mourinho was satisfied with the team's performance today, but he did not express it.

Instead, he repeatedly asked the players in the locker room not to "pop the champagne at halftime."

After changing sides, Villarreal, which was lagging behind, made another substitution.

Llorente came on as a substitute for Nihatkahvich.

However, after the start of the second half, the Nerazzurri still had the advantage and continued to attack.

Ibrahimovic's powerful shot from 30 meters away was saved by Diego Lopez.

Immediately after Leo's direct pass, Balotelli's right-footed shot in the penalty area was blocked by Diego Lopez! If it weren’t for the outstanding performance of the goalkeeper by the visiting team, Inter Milan would have scored at least two more goals.

In the 52nd minute, Huang Qian's tenacious counterattack finally bore fruit.

Giuseppe Rossi dribbled the ball through the middle and then split the ball. Capdevila knocked back from the left, and Ibagaza scored with a curved ball from the edge of the penalty area!

Two to one!

Villarreal pulls one back!
  However, they are still two points behind in the total score, and they need to score more than two goals to advance.

Mourinho stood up and stood on the sidelines. The Nerazzurri players on the field naturally knew what this meant.

Vieira stole the ball in the backcourt, and Leo was not in a hurry to advance after receiving the ball, consciously controlling the rhythm of the game.

The madman nodded. An excellent midfielder needs to have a corresponding level of overall perspective.

Inter Milan was not in a hurry, but the other side was in a hurry. Senna and Egulen pounced on them one after another.

Leo moved around calmly and steadily, passing between the two defenders with steady control of the ball.

Then he sent a kick directly into the penalty area. Balotelli had already understood and responded!
  Bashen's powerful shot from the right side of the penalty area missed the near post.

Ibagaza, who had scored a goal before, broke through from the right and passed the ball, and Llorente volleyed!
  Cesar was very focused and flew up to hold the ball out with one palm!
  Then the visiting team's corner kick went too deep and was easily picked off by the Inter goalkeeper.

In the 69th minute, Ibrahimovic, who had a relatively average performance today, took the ball all the way to the edge of the penalty area after receiving Leo's pass.

The Swede passed Godin and hit a powerful long-range shot from the edge of the penalty area!

Diego Lopez fought hard to save, but unfortunately Ibrahimovic's goal kick was very fast and at an extremely tricky angle, and there was really nothing he could do.

"Shh!"

The ball went in, and Inter Milan led 3-1, basically sealing the victory!

Ibrahimovic raised his arms in the corner flag area, showing his domineering attitude!

Two minutes later, Figo came on as a substitute and replaced Balotelli.

After failing to score a goal in this game, Doba was in a low mood and even greeted Figo listlessly.

Rossi got out of the way of Zanetti, and his long shot from outside the penalty area was sideways blocked by Cesar and blocked the right post.

There was not much time left, and the Villarreal players on the field became increasingly impatient.

Cazorla's pass was blocked by an Inter Milan defender. He protested the opponent's handball, but the referee shook his head and did not give them a free kick.

Maicon broke through from the right and was brought down by Capdevila in front of the penalty area.

The experienced Brazilian lay on the ground and refused to get up, wanting to waste more time. The visiting team players gave up.

The scene got out of control for a while. Ibrahimovic, Zanetti, and Vieira stepped forward to block the Villarreal players who wanted to pull Maicon up.

Leo watched with great interest. Is this also a kind of game within the arena?

Referee Stark quickly came over to maintain order, and the small conflict ended with Capdevila receiving a yellow card.

At this time, it was already the 89th minute of the game, and it was only three to five minutes before the end of the game.

As Cazorla's long shot was saved by Cesar, the referee blew the whistle to end the game.

Inter Milan, led by Mourinho, eliminated its opponents and successfully advanced to the quarter-finals with an absolute advantage of 5 to 2 in the two rounds!

This is also the first time the Nerazzurri has made a breakthrough after failing in the top 16 for two consecutive years at the hands of Mancini!

After the game, the madman led Leo to the press center of the Meazza Stadium to attend the post-match press conference.

“We performed well today and it’s not surprising that we can advance to the quarterfinals.

As for whether we can go further, all I can say now is that we will go all out.

What the outcome will be, who knows. "

Mourinho seemed to be in a good mood, smiled and continued:
  “In the 05-06 season, Inter Milan was eliminated by Yellow Submarine in the quarter-finals and missed the semi-finals.

Today, Inter Milan defeated Villarreal and successfully advanced to the next round, which can be regarded as a cycle of perseverance.

Compared with the previous results when Mancini led the team? No, I don't think my team needs to be compared to anyone.

This is my team and I came to Milan to make history.

Leo? He is getting better now. I know some of you want to say that Inter Milan cannot do without Leo.

Although I hate to admit it, it's a fact. Leo is the engine of our team's frontcourt.

Without him, the entire team's offense would be at a stalemate. Leo is an indispensable and important member of Inter Milan! "

Mourinho's praise made Leo smile from ear to ear.

“Of course it’s nice to win and qualify.

However, my performance is inseparable from the trust of the head coach and the support of my teammates.

And I think this is not enough. This is just the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

I want to continue moving forward with my teammates under the leadership of the head coach and achieve better results! "

The results of the other two Serie A teams in the Champions League were not satisfactory.

Juventus was eliminated by Chelsea, and Roma also lost in two rounds with Arsenal.

As a result, Inter Milan is the only Serie A star left among the quarterfinals of this season's Champions League.

As for the Nerazzurri's opponent in the quarter-finals, it was none other than the arsenal that had just eliminated Roma.

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  (End of this chapter)