783 Swift Counterattack (1/2)
At the start of the second half, Nottingham Forest tightened their defense. Inter Milan, on the other hand, took advantage of the fact that they were kicking off to launch a fierce attack on the Forest team.
Ibrahimović had a shot from inside the penalty area which struck the goalpost and bounced away. The Forest players were so startled that they broke into a cold sweat.
Following this, there was a moment of chaos in front of goal, with Rossi falling to the ground and the ball being taken by the goalkeeper, Akinfeev. The Inter Milan players immediately raised their hands to signal a foul by the Nottingham Forest players, which should result in a penalty kick. The Nottingham Forest players also raised their hands to show their innocence.
The referee made his own judgment and he gestured for Rossi to get up. Deafening boos broke out at the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium.
The Inter Milan players did not protest too much because it was indeed not a foul. They had hoped to give the referee the wrong impression amid the chaos and put pressure on him to award a penalty kick in their favor. They did not expect the referee to be able to distinguish right and wrong with acuity. He had ruled against them, so there was no need to continue the situation.
After five or six minutes of chaos at the beginning of the second half, the situation was settled down.
Inter Milan attacked, but they were afraid to put give it their all in case they were unable to put the necessary amount of pressure on Forest defensive line. Nottingham Forest should be able to hold on.
Nottingham Forest had tightened their defense and so were not as strong now going forward, which gave Inter Milan the chance to attack.
One team wanted to attack, and the other side must defend. So, the game was back in balance.
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Quaresma was more active than he had been in the first half. During the halftime interval, he saw hope in Mourinho's words and wanted to seize the opportunity. He had a year and a half left on his contract with Inter Milan. If he still did not turn in a convincing performance, then his departure from the Meazza stadium would be the inevitable result. He raised his hand frequently on the field to ask for the ball.
Montolivo passed the ball to him and Leighton Baines immediately leaned closer. Quaresma was not afraid of one-on-one confrontation, or even two over one. Behind Baines was Wood, the defensive midfielder they revered.
Quaresma intended to get rid of Baines first and then face Wood in a one-on-one duel. He wanted to tussle with the most hotly anticipated defensive midfielder in the football world to prove his ability to stay with Inter.
Unfortunately, Quaresma did not eventually encounter George Wood this time. He hit a wall with Baines. He was too eager to break through but forced himself to a dead end instead. Not only did he miss the opportunity to show his tactical ability, but he also could not dribble the football past the defender. It was finally jabbed out by Baines.
At least Quaresma had used his consummate skill to win a throw in for Inter Milan.
For a while after, Quaresma was obsessed with a duel against Baines down the wing, much to Mourinho's displeasure. In the end, he could no longer tolerate it and stood on the sidelines shouting Quaresma's name, reminding him not to always remain on the side of the pitch.
Quaresma also discovered the problem. If he remained on the wing, he would not be able to run into George Wood, because Wood was also in charge of central defense and could not head over to the side of the pitch.
While the Portuguese winger was more accustomed to the wing and preferred to play there, he had decided to move to the center of the pitch in order to prove to the manager that he was a good player who was battle-ready and could win the game.
The first time he came face-to-face with Wood, Quaresma used a beautiful step over move to bypass the defensive line and send the ball out. It was a clever move, even though Quaresma did not realize it at the time.
The Portuguese player was encouraged by his first successful attempt at tricking Wood into losing his center of gravity and decided to directly challenge him by breaking through the defensive line next time.
The second time, he feinted, dribbling the ball at a high speed from the edge of the pitch and cutting inside. Then, he changed direction by using his ankle and subtly controlling his speed to get past the defenders. He managed to get rid of Baines, but not Wood.
When Wood's powerful body leaned close, Quaresma suddenly felt that the football under his feet had become unmanageable.
A powerful force pressed against him, preventing him from controlling the ball. The ball bounced on the ground and Quaresma extended his leg to hook the ball while he leaned his body against Wood. Did he want to fight Wood with his body? He failed.
Wood struck Quaresma, causing him to tumble to the ground, but it was not even a foul. It was just a reasonable collision.
Quaresma was so angry at the referee's decision that he knelt on the ground and waved his fists, but no one paid attention to him.
However, the Portuguese winger was in fine form for the game. The third time he took advantage of a sudden change of direction to co-ordinate with his teammate's running position to bypass Wood.
Wood lost his balance, and Quaresma easily broke through before passing the ball to Ibrahimović. The Swedish striker swung his leg again for the shot. Akinfeev firmly caught it this time.
The goalkeeper was clearly unhappy that Wood had let their opponents break through. He held onto the football and was in no rush to send it out. Instead, he shouted, ”George, what's wrong with you?”
Wood waved his hands and looked at Quaresma, saying nothing. This nimble kid was more difficult to deal with than he thought...
Quaresma lost in the next two one-on-one face-offs that followed.
Mourinho watched for a while on the sidelines and decided not to be silent.
He had wanted the team's offensive focus to shift to Quaresma, but he had not intended that this kid should face off against George Wood and play with individual heroism. If he continued to singlehandedly challenge, the team's attack would sooner or later be destroyed.
Taking advantage of a dead ball, Mourinho called over Quaresma who was near the sidelines. He said, ”Ricardo, I instructed you to take charge of the offensive, not face off the opponent individually. Have you not played professional football before?”
Quaresma also felt that he was had been excessive in the last few minutes. He bowed his head and said, ”I know, coach…”
”When you have a face-off with George Wood, you have already fallen for Tony Twain's ploy! Wood's one-on-one defense is very good. If you continue to play like this, I will have to consider bringing you off, no matter how good your form is!” Mourinho said seriously, keeping his face straight. He and Quaresma were both Portuguese, so there was no language barrier. He could be certain that Quaresma would understand what he said and did not expect him to continue playing in his own way.
”If you get it, get back on the field!” Mourinho shoved Quaresma back.
Following this, some interesting developments happened in the game. Quaresma remained as Inter Milan's playmaker, but he was no longer obsessed with challenging Wood or Baines. He would only choose to break through if the timing was right. More often than not, he would lure Wood over and then pass the ball out.
Now, Inter Milan's attack came to life.
Quaresma was no longer the endpoint of the offensive, but more like a relay station—the ball was passed to his feet and he could make his own break or pass to his teammates based on his own observation of the situation. Such an offensive approach was obviously better than letting Quaresma try his best to get past Wood.
Nottingham Forest also found it more difficult to defend. Before, they only needed to defend against Quaresma. Now they needed to defend against all the Inter Milan players. Otherwise they could be facing defeat.
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”Quaresma gets the ball again! He'll choose whether to try and break through or pass...”
As soon as the voice trailed off, Quaresma chose to try and force his way through the defense. Baines planned to challenge him and force the ball out of play, but he was easily bypassed. This time, he did not choose to go to the middle and clash with George Wood, but he picked a better soft touch.
Breaking past Baines, Quaresma could pass, and he could also go straight into the penalty area. Once he entered the penalty area, the Nottingham Forest goal would be in danger.
George Wood certainly would not let that happen. He rushed over to stop Quaresma from breaking through, but also to guard against his outer instep shot.
When he saw Wood coming, Quaresma lifted his right foot. This time he did not want to shoot straight at the goal. Instead, he sent the ball to the front of the penalty area.