On July 15th, the entire AC Milan team arrived in the Dragon Kingdom and began a three-week trip to the Dragon Kingdom.
Before playing Inter Milan for the Italian Super Cup on August 6, AC Milan has already confirmed three preseason games, namely Changzhou Hengtai, Maritime East Asia, and Jingcheng Guoan.
Of these three teams, two are strong teams in the Chinese Super League, and one is from the Chinese Premier League.
Of course, for Milan, it doesn’t make much difference whether it’s in the Super League or not.
This choice of opponent is mainly because you can follow the route from south to north, pass through the three big cities of the Dragon Kingdom, and then arrive at the Bird's Nest for the Super Cup decisive battle.
By the way, you can also earn some appearance fees.
Since Allegri had already confirmed that Pan Yi would be in charge of the first game, the tactical training in the past two weeks was mainly led by Pan Yi.
Pan Yi practiced two sets of tactics.
One set is for dealing with intensive defense.
When the opponent's midfield and backfield were filled with defensive players, Pan Yi asked the center back to pass the ball to the wide-open winger, further inducing the opponent's backfield defense to move laterally to the wing on the ball side.
Then, through the back pass and the "wing-to-wing" long pass, the opponent's side area without the ball is hit in a wide range, and the opponent's midfield defense line moves laterally to complete the breakthrough or pass to grab the point.
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Because Changzhou Hengtai can only be regarded as the younger brother in front of Milan, he will definitely be forced to defend in his own half in a real fight, so it is necessary to practice such tactics.
At the same time, this tactic can also be applied to situations when facing weak teams in the league.
The other set is conventional pressing tactics, which are the tactics he used in team competitions.
No matter which tactics they used, the players practiced smoothly under Pan Yi's careful guidance. Even players with a high vision like Ibrahimovic often gave Pan Yi a thumbs up.
The four trial players also performed well in training, which strengthened Allegri's determination to sign them - even if they can't replace the original main players in the end, it will definitely not be a loss if they sign.
Rent it out for leveling.
Therefore, Galliani also acted quickly and secured the contracts of the four trial players.
When players have a strong desire to join, the transfer process is actually very easy.
Coupled with the blessing of Milan's big club and Galliani's superb negotiation skills, Milan spent less than 1.5 million euros to acquire these four future top stars.
Salah Mane Van Dijk Kante = 1.5 million euros!
If Galliani knew that the combined worth of these players at their peak in the future might reach more than 300 million to 400 million, would he give Pan Yi a few thumbs up?
……
On July 17, AC Milan arrived at Tianhe Stadium to prepare for its first preseason game.
Tianhe Stadium is the home court of Changzhou Hengtai, and now the stadium is already a sea of red.
But if you take a closer look, you will find that most of the fans are indeed wearing the red home jersey of Changzhou Hengtai, while a considerable number of other fans are wearing Milan's red and black arrow-striped jerseys.
AC Milan's support rate in the Dragon Kingdom has always been at the forefront, even if it has been in decline for more than ten years, let alone they have just won the Serie A championship.
Their opponent today, Changzhou Hengtai, although only a newly promoted team from the Chinese Super League this year, remained undefeated in the first half of the season and topped the Chinese Super League standings.
In fact, starting from this year, Changzhou Hengtai will win seven consecutive Chinese Super League championships and create an era of their own in the Chinese Super League—until a thunderstorm, which will be discussed later.
Because of this, this friendly match also attracted the attention of CCTV5, which broadcast the game live.
The commentators for this game are Duan Xuan and He Wei.
Duan Xuan: "The game is about to start. We saw players from both sides entering the stadium and lining up to greet the fans."
He Wei: "The fans are very enthusiastic. It's really loud with gongs and drums and firecrackers blasting. The red flag is waving and there are huge crowds of people."
Duan Xuan: "Haha... Let's take a look at the lineups of both sides. The Changzhou Hengtai team basically sent out all its main players today. It seems they want to perform well in front of the hometown folks..."
At this time, the lineup list was also printed on the TV screen.
Lee Jang-soo, the Korean head coach of the Changzhou Hengtai team, still arranged his customary 352 formation.
Forwards: Gao Lin, Muric.
Midfielder: Zhao Yuanxi, Zheng Zhi, Yang Hao, Kongka, Wu Pingfeng.
Defenders: Sun Xiang, Feng Xiaoting, Bao Long.
Goalkeeper: Yang Jun.
As for AC Milan, it’s Pan Yi’s 433.
Forwards: Mane, Ibrahimovic, Salah.
Midfielder: Kante, Ambrosini, Gattuso.
Defenders: De Sciglio, Nesta, Van Dijk, Abate.
Goalkeeper: Abbiati.
Basically, it is the lineup that best embodies Pan Yi’s tactical philosophy in current training.
In other words, it is the strongest lineup in Pan Yi's ideal.
Although the opponent is not strong, this is his first official coaching game after all, and he must make sure to win.
He even felt a little nervous.
How can a man not be nervous for his first time?
And this game also has special significance.
As a fan in his previous life, he often watched Changzhou Hengtai's games. After all, they often defeated Japan and South Korea in the AFC Champions League and won the championship. It was regarded as the flag of Dragon Kingdom football for a long time.
Like Muric, Kongka, Gao Lin, Zheng Zhi, Feng Xiaoting in their formation now...
It can be said that Pan Yi is very familiar with them. They are all stars that many Dragon Kingdom fans like.
In his previous life, Pan Yi might have had difficulty even asking them for an autograph or taking a photo.
But now, he has to lead the world-class giant AC Milan to defeat the stars he once looked up to.
This feeling is indeed a bit weird, but more...
Excited!
Pan Yi sat on the bench, staring at the players on both sides of the court, his fists clenching involuntarily.
Allegri and Tassotti, who were sitting on the left and right of him, both patted Pan Yi on the shoulder.
Although they don't know what Pan Yi is thinking specifically, they also know the significance of this game to Pan Yi and it makes him relax.
At this time, Duan Xuan had already read out the lineups for both sides.
Duan Xuan: "There are many new faces in Milan's lineup today."
He Wei: "Yes. Considering that they still have some players participating in the America's Cup, and this is just a pre-season warm-up match, they may want to send some young players for inspection first."
Duan Xuan: "That should be the case. The broadcast camera is now focused on AC Milan's bench."
"There are also many stars here. We saw Boateng, Cassano, Seedorf, Inzaghi..."
"We now see a familiar embarrassed face, this is their head coach Allegri."
"Beside him...eh? Why does he look like a member of our Dragon Kingdom?"