On the evening of May 17th, Rome Olympic Stadium.
In previous years, most of the Coppa Italia finals were scheduled between May 21st and 25th, but this year because AC Milan entered the Champions League finals that started on May 26th, some adjustments were made to the schedule.
As for this game, both AC Milan and Juventus still attach great importance to it.
After all, since the beginning of the 2003-04 season, these two teams have not been able to squeeze into the Italian Cup finals - in these years, Inter Milan and Roma often met in the finals, and then each other won or lost.
Therefore, Juventus, who have returned to Serie A, need such a champion to announce their return in a high-profile manner, and AC Milan, who defend Serie A with an undefeated record, want to win the Italian Cup to show their dominance over Italian football.
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This game is also a head-to-head showdown between the champion and the runner-up in the just-concluded Serie A. Its gold content is self-evident, so it has also attracted great attention from the entire Italian football world.
Various guests, celebrities, and celebrities were invited to watch the final.
Not only retired stars and high-level officials from both sides, but also the president of the Italian Olympic Committee, the Italian Football Federation, and even many officials from UEFA were also invited to attend.
Many heavyweight guests also made the entire final more grand.
……
Milan still faces the battle tonight with its best 433 formation, which is also the main lineup used most often this season.
The time interval between this game and the Champions League final is relatively long, and the main players can get sufficient rest, so there is less need to consider rotation issues.
And letting the main players play in such a final will definitely help them adapt to the atmosphere of the final in advance and find their best state.
Juventus is different from the lineup in the league.
When Pan Yi saw the Juventus lineup and player positions, his first reaction was surprise.
Compared with their main lineup in the league, this means nearly half of their lineup has been replaced.
Of course, Pan Yi knows that Conte often rotated to ensure the league during the Italian Cup. For example, the goalkeeper always used second goalkeeper Lari instead of the main player Buffon.
But now that we have reached the final, and with all parties paying so much attention, will Conte still insist on using this lineup to play against Milan?
He really deserves to be a fool...
"Maybe Conte wants to surprise us."
Naturally, Milan's coaching staff felt a little puzzled. Tassotti guessed: "Substituting some players we are not familiar with and not using his usual three defenders will make us at a loss."
"It is possible." Allegri also said, "They met us twice with their main lineup in the league, but lost both times. But his 442 set was invincible in the Italian Cup.
, all the way to the final. Maybe Conte just wants to try his luck with this lineup."
Pan Yi also agreed with their statement.
Perhaps as the two coaches said, Conte just wanted to make a miracle by changing his formation and change his fate in the final.
Since the main lineup always loses, it is understandable to make some changes.
However, is it really useful for Conte to send players like Estigarribia, Cáceres, and Borriello who have only played a few games in the league to fight against the surging Milan?
……
As soon as the game started, Milan took the initiative.
This is the tactic formulated by the coaching staff before the game, which is to attack at the beginning.
Since Juventus uses a formation that is not very commonly used and also uses some players that are not commonly used, the tacit understanding between them will definitely be worse.
A fierce attack at the beginning may cause Juventus players to be confused and expose their flaws.
However, Juventus seemed to be prepared for Milan's opening three attacks today, and their defense was also very solid.
After intercepting Milan's diagonal pass from the kick-off, Juventus immediately launched a quick counterattack.
Bonucci handed the ball to Pirlo, and Sleepy directly made a long pass to the right.
And as Del Piero over there stopped the ball lightly, Milan defender Van Dijk had already pressed forward.
There was some physical contact between the two, and Piero fell to the ground.
The referee's whistle also sounded, and a free kick was taken in the frontcourt.
This is a free kick on the right side of the penalty area, about thirty meters away from the goal.
Del Piero and Pirlo both stood in front of the ball, then Pirlo feinted, and Del Piero hit a banana ball, but the focused Milan goalkeeper Ederson struggled to save it from the bottom line.
Juventus gets another corner kick.
When Pirlo took the corner kick, the Juventus players initially concentrated near the penalty spot and dispersed when the ball flew out.
Pirlo's penalty shot went to the forward point, Marchisio who was standing there rubbed his scalp, and then Bonucci, who had already ambushed in the middle, leaped high and headed the ball towards the goal.
Unfortunately, the ball was too high and flew directly over the crossbar, giving AC Milan a goal kick.
When he saw this, Pan Yi understood Conte's intention.
"Young fool Kong Er actually lowered his attitude so low? Do you just want to win by setting the ball?"
This actually surprised Pan Yi.
It is obvious that whether it is a free kick or a corner kick in this attack, Juventus has carefully designed it.
They just want to take advantage of the abilities of Pirlo and Del Piero, the two masters of set pieces in the team, to try to break Milan's goal.
In order to achieve such a tactical goal, Juventus uses more engineer-type players to protect them and create set-piece opportunities in the frontcourt as much as possible.
This is basically a measure often used by some weak teams in the middle and later stages of Serie A when they encounter Milan.
It is difficult for them to adapt to Milan's era-changing tactics, and it is not easy for them to score goals in sports matches under Milan's full-court pressure, so they will cherish the opportunity of set kicks and make a fuss about it.
After Conte was double beaten by Milan in the league, he was able to position himself as a "weak team" in this Coppa Italia final to fight against Milan's youthful storm.
And the way to crack the opponent's strategy... is also very simple.
Wouldn’t it be enough to give them as few set-piece opportunities as possible?
After a while, Allegri stood up and went to the sidelines to whisper to captain Gattuso for a while.
After a brief chat with Pan Yi, he knew that he needed to make some demands on the players on the field.
So the content of the whisper is very simple, it is to ask everyone to pay attention to defensive actions and not to create too many set-piece opportunities for Juventus in their own backcourt!