The Prince of Inter Milan starts with Brother Xiaosa

Chapter 367 Return to the top of the list
Only sixty-six hours after Inter Milan's fierce battle with Fiorentina, they headed to Sardinia.

In the sixth round of Serie A, Inter Milan plays Cagliari away from home, and another Champions League away game awaits them in the middle of next week.

The physical fitness of the Nerazzurri players has been greatly affected by the brutal schedule.

For this reason, Ancelotti had to arrange a rotating lineup.

Coutinho, Lewandowski and Lucas Moura started together for the first time this season.

Modric took two young players, Verratti and Casemiro, to sit in the midfield.

Left back Kolarov, right back Azpilicueta, center back Ranocchia partnered with Marquinhos, and the goalkeeper was Handanovic.

I don’t know if the home team did it intentionally. On the day of the game, there was serious water accumulation in the Sant’Elia Stadium. After the game started, both sides made frequent mistakes.

Due to the poor conditions of the field, the quality of breakthroughs and passing by the players on the field was greatly affected.

Inter Milan players who wanted to perform well naturally found it difficult to perform at a normal level.

Inter Milan took a corner kick, but none of the players who grabbed it were able to hit it, and it was destroyed by Cagliari's goalkeeper!

Then Coutinho's cross after breaking through the defense on the left was destroyed by the home team's defender and left the penalty area.

Inter Milan's corner kick was taken, but Lewandowski headed the ball wide due to interference from the defensive player.

After Leo stole the ball in the frontcourt, he immediately passed a long diagonal pass into the left side of the penalty area. Lucas Moura stopped the ball on his chest and then volleyed into the net wonderfully!

"Oh, I originally wanted them to take a break and be in better condition for the next Champions League game, but the boys failed to live up to the expectations."

The Nerazzurri played continuous cooperation in the frontcourt, and Kolarov hit the goal with a powerful left foot while cutting inside!
The ball hit the opponent's defender and then changed course and went slightly higher than the crossbar.

Inter Milan players were very dissatisfied with the penalty, but they had no choice but to accept it.

In the second half, the two sides changed sides and fought again. Ancelotti had no choice but to replace Leo. Verratti only played half-time before leaving early.

"What a disgusting person in Cagliari, don't you clean up the water in the stadium before the game?"

Two to zero!
Inter Milan quickly expanded its lead!
Two goals behind, does it make sense for Cagliari, who are playing at home, to continue to defend?

Leo scored the ball, Coutinho passed the ball from the right, and Ronaldo's header from the back point was slightly higher than the crossbar.

The home team launches a quick counterattack!
Ivarvo took full advantage of his speed and drove forward!

Verratti, who was ambushing in the penalty area, suddenly shot a cold arrow and lobbed a shot towards the far end of the goal. Agazi jumped up and blocked the ball from the baseline.

However, before the Brazilian could celebrate the goal, the referee Gianluca Rocchi blew the whistle. He ruled that Lucas Moura had already committed a foul when grabbing the point, and the goal was invalid.

Cagliari's trick seems to be succeeding. Can they really use this unflattering method to get points from Inter Milan at home?

The visiting team players on the field began to feel a little impatient, and they cherished their hard-won starting opportunity.

However, the ball still hit the opponent's defender and bounced out of the baseline.

In the 73rd minute of the second half, Inter Milan finally broke the deadlock on the field!

At the end of the first half, the two sides ended with a goalless draw and the score was temporarily tied at 0-0.

Nerazzurri are still talking, Leo sent a beautiful through ball in the frontcourt!

The Nerazzurri, who were leading the score, began to slow down and wait for the game to end.

In the 62nd minute, Cristiano Ronaldo, who was resting, also came on as a substitute for Lucas.

"Leo and Cristiano Ronaldo are both on board. This game should be over soon."

In the 31st minute, Lucas made a pass from the right and was saved by Agazi. Coutinho, who followed up, adjusted his step first and then volleyed with his right foot!

Therefore, the Nerazzurri's die-hard fans are not worried. On the contrary, they are commenting on the performance of today's starting players in a relaxed mood.

A minute later, Ronaldo stormed past the Cagliari full-back from the left and hit the center. Leo followed up with a powerful low shot on the sideline of the penalty area and aimed at the lower right corner of the goal!
The home team goalkeeper Agazi fought hard to save, but it was still just a hair’s breadth away. He could only watch the ball go into the net from the blind corner!

In the 19th minute, the Nerazzurri, playing away from home, finally ushered in their first threatening attack of the game.

Sure enough, two forwards, Ibrami and Marco Sau, came off the bench one after another, and the home team stepped up their attack.

"On purpose, it will limit the performance of our players. We will not be able to cooperate in passing and receiving, and we will not be able to make dribbling breakthroughs."

"Then just make crosses from the wing and long-range shots from outside the penalty area. There will always be a way to score."

Azpilicueta made a breakthrough pass from the right, and Lewandowski jumped high into the penalty area with a header!
Cagliari goalkeeper Agazi flew to save the ball!
Lucas Moura's left-footed follow-up shot from close range unexpectedly missed!

Kolarov, who came in from the left, passed a half-high ball near the baseline to the goal. Cristiano Ronaldo, who was ambushing here, easily headed the ball into the empty goal!

The Cagliari forward was pulled down by Marquinhos on the penalty area line, and the Brazilian received a yellow card.

Modric made a direct pass, Lewandowski turned his back, and Coutinho followed up with a low shot from a small angle in the penalty area that splashed and stopped in front of the opponent's goal line.

Agazi easily held the ball under him without any effort.

Although the game did not go as smoothly as Inter Milan expected, judging from the situation on the field, they still had the advantage.

In the 47th minute, Leo, who had just come on as a substitute, found an opportunity and suddenly pressed forward, causing Desena's passing error!

The first half of the game was coming to an end, and Inter Milan still couldn't find a way to score.

Obviously, after Leo came on the bench, Inter Milan's offense was more organized than before. After Ronaldo came on, Inter Milan's attack became more threatening.

Daniele Conte's free kick hit the goal directly and was firmly picked off by Handanovic.

One to zero!

It doesn't make much sense to seek more goals in such field conditions. It is enough for Ancelotti to win the game and not get injured.

Leo and Ronaldo even deliberately saved their energy to focus on the Champions League game three days later.

However, other teammates didn't think so. Coutinho dribbled the ball through the two people and then his right-footed long shot from outside the arc of the penalty area was blocked by Agazi!
Azpilicueta made a pass from the wing, and Lewandowski sideways and semi-volleyed the shot wide of the near post.

In the 93rd minute, the game was coming to an end, and there were still people on the field trying to attack.

Lewandowski's close-range shot from the center of the penalty area was saved by the Cagliari goalkeeper, giving the home team the last chance to counterattack.

Ibrami knocked back from the left, and Nainggolan's long shot from outside the penalty area hit the knee of Inter Milan defensive player Marquinhos and changed direction!

Handanovic failed to react in time and the ball went into the lower right corner of the goal!
Although there was a lot of luck, Cagliari still got a point back with Nainggolan's goal!
But then the referee blew the whistle for the end of the game. Cagliari tried all their methods at home, but still lost 1-2 to Inter Milan.

After six rounds of the league, in addition to the defending champion Inter Milan, which has won all six games, Roma also has a perfect record of victory and is tied with Inter Milan on 18 points.

The newly appointed Roma head coach Rudi Garcia does have two tricks up his sleeve. After they beat Bologna 5-0 at home this round, they didn't even have an advantage over Inter Milan on goal difference. I thought that the number one competitor for the Serie A championship this season should be Juventus, but I didn't expect that Roma would appear halfway.

Of course, the season has just begun, it all depends on who loses first.

After returning to Milan from Cagliari, Inter Milan just took a short rest and immediately set off for Germany.

On October 10, in the second round of the Champions League group stage, Inter Milan faced Leverkusen away from home.

In the first round of the match, Inter Milan drew with Manchester United away from home, while Leverkusen defeated Shakhtar Donetsk 4-0 at home.

So now the one ranked first in the group is not Inter Milan or Manchester United, but the Bundesliga powerhouse Bayer Leverkusen.

Today they continued to play at home and naturally continued the lineup from the previous game. Both teams played in a four-three-three formation today.

For the home team, on the front line, Keesling is in the middle, with Son Heung-min and Sam on both sides.

The three midfielders are Emre Can, Rolfes and Lasband.

Left back Bonisch, right back Donati, Toprak and Spasic partnered as central defenders and goalkeeper Leno.

Inter Milan has returned to its main lineup.

On the offensive line is the three arrows of Cristiano Ronaldo, Balotelli and Neymar.

Leo, De Rossi and Pirlo formed a midfield three.

Left back David Thornton, right back Srna, Thiago Silva and Bonucci partnered as central defender and goalkeeper Handanovic.

Before the game started, Leo noticed that someone at Leverkusen seemed to be staring at him vaguely.

It turned out to be Son Heung-min, a Korean winger from the Bundesliga team.

Cristiano Ronaldo is the idol of Koreans. Son Heung-min imitates Cristiano Ronaldo in many aspects from his playing style to his celebrations.

And Leo is the object of his admiration. Although he is of yellow race, he can break the monopoly and win consecutive Golden Globe Awards with his unquestionable performance.

Son Heung-min can't wait to compete with his two idols!

The game started, and the Nerazzurri, playing away from home, took the lead!
Leo received a pass from his teammate in front of the center circle, pulled and buckled cleverly to avoid Emre Can's tackle, and then stuffed the ball into the gap on the left without any delay!

Cristiano Ronaldo strode forward to widen the gap between him and the defender, then cut across to the sideline of the penalty area and fired a powerful long-range shot that was saved by Leverkusen goalkeeper Leno!

Balotelli followed up with a follow-up shot that missed the right post.

The more than 20,000 fans in the stands of the Bayer Arena gasped and almost screamed.

Of course, the home team was not without its ability to fight back. Emre Can dribbled the ball forward in the middle, and Son Heung-min, Kiessling and Sam in front of him quickly moved forward!
However, Kiesling was caught in the defense of Inter Milan's defenders, and Sam was also unable to escape under the marking of David Thornton.

Emre Can sent a diagonal kick to the feet of Son Heung-min on the left.

After receiving the ball, Son Heung-min turned around and continued to break through to the sideline. As soon as Srna was about to defend, he was stunned by the scene in front of him.

After Emre Can passed the ball to Son Heung-min, he thought the opponent would pass it back to him immediately, but Son Heung-min turned around and took the ball himself.

This made him very dissatisfied. Emre Can was so angry that he rushed over and knocked his teammate Son Heung-min to the ground!
Son Heung-min never expected that his teammate would suddenly bump into him from behind and fall to the ground in confusion.

The referee was also stunned for a moment, but did not make any penalty.

The ball returned to Inter Milan again.

So Germans with Turkish ancestry are all mentally ill?

Twenty-year-old Emre Can came from Bayern's youth training. He just transferred to Bayer Leverkusen this summer and became the main player in the hands of head coach Hyypia.

So maybe in his eyes, Son Heung-min is not even a teammate, but just a yellow-skinned monkey who can be bullied at will.

Leo ran over and pulled Son Heung-min up, and then said this under his grateful eyes.

"Are you just going to let others bully you? If you want to gain respect from others, sometimes your performance on the court is not enough. You have to be tougher."

Son Heung-min was not ready to play in the Premier League at this time, so his English was average, but he still understood what Leo meant.

After a brief hesitation, the Korean's small eyes showed a hint of determination.

Neymar dribbled the ball from the right into the penalty area. Hilbert violated Neymar in the penalty area and the referee decisively awarded a penalty kick.

Leo's penalty kick was scored instantly, and Inter Milan led 1-0!

Leverkusen's head coach Hyypia called Emre Can to the sidelines and took care of the young man's emotions. Hyypia did not even criticize, but just reminded the other party to control their emotions.

The result further aroused Emre Can's dissatisfaction.

In the seventeenth minute, Son Heung-min dribbled the ball from the left and cut inside the penalty area just as he was about to hit the goal!
Emre Can rushed towards the Korean again. This time he had no intention of knocking Son Heung-min down again, he just wanted to seize the opportunity to shoot.

Son Heung-min subconsciously moved out of the way, but then he thought of what Leo had told him before, gritted his teeth, stomped his feet, opened his arms to protect his body and shot angrily!

The ball went straight into the upper right corner of the goal! World wave!
Son Heung-min's goal helped the home team equalize the score!
But the Leverkusen fans in the audience were not happy, because one second before Son Heung-min shot, his open arm just hit the face of Emre Can who was rushing forward with his head covered.

It was equivalent to Son Heung-min elbowing Emre Can in the face. It was unclear whether it was intentional or not.

Holding back the pain, Emre Can covered his face and stood up to confront Son Heung-min. Son pushed away the troublemaker and ran to the corner flag area to celebrate the goal and gave a heart sign to the camera.

That's right, Leo smiled slightly, even though Son Heung-min equalized the score, the situation on the field may not be favorable to Leverkusen.

In subsequent games, Son Heung-min and Emre Can not only had no cooperation with each other, but also often grabbed a point.

Seeing that the two could not coexist, Leverkusen replaced Son Heung-min in the 32nd minute of the first half, and Kruse from Australia came on as a substitute.

Leo didn't understand this operation either. Son Heung-min's performance was obviously better, so why was Emre Can left on the court instead?
Just because he is German?
Srna made a curve ball from the right, Balotelli's header was saved by Leno, and then Ronaldo hit the lower left corner with a supplementary shot from the edge of the penalty area!
Two to one!

Before the end of the first half, Inter Milan took the lead again!
In the second half, Inter Milan mainly attacked the center. Emre Can was passed through by Leo, and Leverkusen's midfield seemed to be undefended.

In the 56th minute, Pirlo passed into the penalty area and Balotelli scored with an oblique shot.

Three to one!

In the 62nd minute, Leo passed the ball diagonally, and Neymar hit the net with a low shot from the right side of the penalty area!
Four to one!

There was no suspense in the game. In the end, Inter Milan defeated Leverkusen 4-1 away from home, while Manchester United was tied 1-1 by Shakhtar Donetsk away from home.

The Nerazzurri returned to the position they should be at the top of the group.

(End of this chapter)