At half-time, Jose Mourinho apparently made detailed arrangements and arrangements for the team's defensive tasks.

AC Milan have a sharp attack, with Andrea Pirlo at the back and Rui up front? Costa and Seedorf, this is also the core of Ancelotti's two-forward style of play that can dominate Serie A, plus these players are in good form this season, Mourinho just doesn't want to give Rui a back three? Costa and Seedorf leave too much space.

Mourinho's attitude was clear, defending on the counter-attack, controlling all the space first, not giving AC Milan too many chances, Kaka testering Pirlo, Drogba targeting Nesta and Maldini, and Palacio sticking to the opposition's defence.

In central midfield, the three lines should be tightened and not given room for AC Milan to attack.

AC Milan's right side Cafu has a strong ability to assist, so Mourinho asked De Rossi to consciously protect this side, while Essien and Beckham restricted Rui in the middle? Costa.

The Red Rebels' way of capturing space relied on running off the ball, especially when the midfielders and backfielders became more and more proficient, and the Red Rebels' defensive strength has also improved by leaps and bounds.

When many teams with strong attacking power face the Red Rebels, the biggest experience is that they can't start!

This is also the experience of AC Milan after the second half of this game.

Rui who is being watched over? Costa and Seedorf barely provided decent support up front, and Pirlo at the back was forced to attack with mid- and long-range passes, but such passes were bound to make more mistakes than short-range passes under the Red Rebels' tight defence, which further exacerbated AC Milan's inefficiency.

On the other hand, the Red Rebels, Kaka frequently harassed Pirlo, and one of them had a chance to break the ball successfully and pass to Palacio, but the referee blew it offside, otherwise, Palacio was likely to score with a long drive.

Carlo Ancelotti paced back and forth on the sidelines, he was prepared for the difficulties the team encountered on the field, but he still did not expect that the Red Rebels had improved so much after more than half a season.

Regardless of the cooperation of the three players in the front field, it is said that the defense of the central and back field is at least a big improvement compared to the defensive ability of the Red Rebels in the European Super Cup at the beginning of the season, especially in the occupation of space, this Red Rebels have done an impeccable job.

But Ancelotti is not without a way to deal with it.

Defending is to occupy and stifle space, while offense is to use and open up space.

At the moment, the Red Rebels' midfield has too much space, and AC Milan need a player who can create space, and it just so happens that this player is sitting on the bench, and that is Rivaldo, who has outstanding individual ability.

But if Rivaldo is to play, then it is necessary to replace an attacking player, Inzaghi is undoubtedly the striker who is the best at using fine space to score goals under high pressure, Shevchenko has not performed much in this game, but Sheva's recent form is too good to be ridiculously good, and he is about to become a demon, can he be replaced?

…………………… Mourinho is also considering, he knows very well that Ancelotti will definitely adjust the current situation, the second half has been 15 minutes, AC Milan seems to be attacking on the surface, the Red Rebels can only rely on a few sharp counterattacks to create a threat, but everyone can see that AC Milan is lacking in goals.

In the 63rd minute, Carlo Ancelotti finally made an adjustment, he brought Rivaldo on the pitch and replaced Rui, who was not performing well in this game? Costa, who was visibly depressed when he came off the pitch, was comforted by Carlo Ancelotti.

Rivaldo's arrival immediately changed AC Milan's attack, with Carlo Ancelotti getting the ball to Rivaldo's feet more.

He hasn't used Rivaldo much this season because the player is used to playing alone, but at the moment AC Milan need him to go it alone, using his superior individual skills to open up space for AC Milan's attack.

Sure enough, after Rivaldo came on the field, he frequently created threats in the frontcourt, and Mourinho also responded immediately, he planned to replace Kaka, let Yaya? Toure played, so he let Yaya? Toure went to warm up.

But who knows, Yaya? Toure hasn't played yet, but AC Milan has scored first!

In the 68th minute, Rivaldo got rid of De Rossi after winning the ball on the right side, stepped forward to the edge of the penalty area, and suddenly raised his foot to hit the goal, and the ball hit the goal like a cannonball.

Cech had been concentrating all the time, but the shot came so suddenly that he reacted and could only leap but couldn't get his hands on the ball.

When Cech hit the ground and tried to pounce on the ball, he noticed that the figure in front of him flashed, and the ball had flown into the net in front of him.

It's Big Inzaghi!

He appeared like a ghost in the position where Cech got out of his hands and then smashed the ball into the empty net, 1:0!

The entire San Siro stadium was completely boiling, and all the fans were chanting in unison the sound of Super Filippo, and the big Inzaghi has saved AC Milan many times this season at key moments, and now he has scored an important goal for AC Milan.

…………………… Seeing Inzaghi score, Mourinho shook his hand in anger and kicked his foot out, but he didn't get anything, but his anger can be imagined.

He wasn't angry with his players, in fact it was hard to say who made the mistake in this goal, even the out-of-touch Cech could only be said to be a little responsible, after all, Rivaldo's shot came so suddenly, and the speed was so fast, Cech was able to react very well.

Of course, Curtis also has a certain responsibility, he did not follow Inzaghi, but who would have thought that the moment he hit the goal at Rivaldo, he would start to run and wait for Cech to get out?

"This bastard is the fox in the restricted area!" Mourinho scolded Cassel as he walked by.

The latter also had a wry smile on his face, and conceding the ball in such a situation can be said to be unexpected, but it is not unacceptable.

Before the game, Mourinho had privately discussed with the coaching staff the worst-case scenario, which was how the Red Rebels would avoid conceding more goals if they repeated the kind of debacle they had at the start of the season.

Now it's only conceded 1 goal, which is already very good!

Of course, no one will say these words, because in the Red Rebels, victory is an eternal pursuit, no matter what the circumstances!

Yaya? Toure was out of the heat, but he knew that the team had conceded a goal, and he was a little trembling, and walked over, "Sir, are you still on it?" ”

Mourinho nodded, "Of course, after you get on the pitch, pay more attention to that Brazilian, don't make him too proud!" ”

Yaya? Toure nodded in agreement.

…………………… Yaya? Toure's introduction put the Red Rebels' defence tight again, AC Milan tried several times to no avail, and Rivaldo also died under the watchful eye of the Red Rebels.

When curbing AC Milan's attack, the Red Rebels' counterattack played very concisely, and after Kaka went off the field, he relied more on Drogba in front to grab the first point and create opportunities for Palacio in the back, which also created some small troubles for AC Milan, but overall, AC Milan's defense was still very good.

However, Carlo Ancelotti was clearly not satisfied with a 1-0 win at home and was more eager to win against the Red Rebels so that he could have more chips on the road, so he replaced Andrea Pirlo with Danish striker Tomasson.

The midfielder, who is known as Italy's best footwork and passing, had a mediocre performance in the game, failing to get his hands on a couple of dangerous passes from the striker before being limited by the Red Rebels' defensive tactics.

Ancelotti's purpose for replacing Tomasson is clear, and that is to score!

AC Milan launched wave after wave of attacks towards the Red Rebels' defense, Shevchenko, Inzaghi, Rivaldo, and Tomasson took turns to attack the Red Rebels' defense, but Mourinho's team gritted its teeth and held on to the last minute of the game, repeatedly defusing AC Milan's attack, and maintaining the score of 1:0 until the end.

…………………… After the game, at the press conference, Mourinho was interviewed by the Italian media, about the conservative defense of the Red Rebels, he sneered and listed the data of the Red Rebels in the first half hour, of course, he also admitted that AC Milan is strong, but he does not think that his team will be eliminated.

'1-0 is the least safe score in the world, AC Milan undoubtedly want to score more goals at home, but my players did well to stop AC Milan's intentions to score, we got a predictable result, I'm happy with the performance of the players, when we come back to Manchester, we will return to AC Milan with a better game!'

'In the opening game and in the second half, we had a good strategy against AC Milan, but they had a good group of stars, Rivaldo shot from distance, Inzaghi scored from the stoppage, it was as simple as that, we didn't have a single player to take responsibility for the goal because they were good enough!"

At the press conference, Mourinho looked very gentlemanly, neither the bombardment after the previous defeat, nor any resentment, as if the loss of this game had already been calculated by him.

As an insider, Xiao Yu is also aware of this.

Mourinho was already not optimistic about the trip to the San Siro when he was strategizing before the game, because it is almost very difficult to win at home to AC Milan, especially in the two-legged knockout round, so Mourinho's best prediction is a draw, and if he can't draw, then concede as few goals as possible.

He originally thought that he might concede two, because AC Milan are really attacking and are one of the most attacking teams in Europe, and there is also a backline led by Nesta, and it is undoubtedly unrealistic for Mourinho to hope for a victory at the San Siro against such a strong opponent.

It is precisely because Xiao Yu knows that 1:0 is already a good score, so even if the team loses, he is still in a good mood, and after watching the game with Berlusconi, he was invited to Milan City to have dinner together.

At this meeting, Xiao Yu invited Berlusconi to Manchester to watch the second leg of the game, he said that he was very confident in the team, the team will be able to reverse at home, and Berlusconi also agreed to Xiao Yu's invitation.

Then the two sides negotiated some cooperation between the two clubs, including the filming of "One Goal Fame", a series of charity activities that the two clubs had previously cooperated, etc., as well as some longer-term plans, Xiao Yu and Berlusconi reached a tacit understanding of cooperation.

To say that in European football today, the best club chairman is undoubtedly Xiao Yu, he is very famous and has a very open network, although the Red Rebels are promoted to the Premier League this season, but they have a good relationship with AC Milan and Real Madrid, and they have close contacts with Benfica, Genke and Ajax.

As the Red rebels grew more and more successful, they received more and more recognition.

In Xiao Yu's eyes, if you want to become a giant, you must inevitably be recognized by your peers, Chelsea undoubtedly can't do this, Manchester City too, but the Red Rebels can, because Xiao Yu has been noticing this since a long time ago!

Of course, if you want to win the recognition of others, strength is also very important.

For the second leg of the match with AC Milan, the Red Rebels were very concerned, but the dense schedule made Mourinho have to make a trade-off, and in the end Mourinho still chose the League Cup, which led to the Red Rebels' momentum in the league was blocked.

Luckily, Jose Mourinho's side were in excellent form from the start when they hosted AC Milan!

(To be continued)