Middle!

The ball flew over both teams’ players’ heads, quickly falling toward the front of the penalty area.

Pedro nimbly rushed out from the crowd towards the ball.

Thiago Silva turned around to chase immediately.

Seeing Pedro taking the ball inside the penalty area, he simply quickened his pace, then lowered his center of gravity, stretched out his right foot for a slide tackle, precisely blocking Pedro’s shot.

The ball bounced off Thiago Silva’s calf and out of bounds.

"Well done!"

Buffon clapped his gloves and shouted.

Thiago Silva got up with a smile, flexing his ankle.

Pedro’s shot wasn’t light, and his calf throbbed with pain.

"You guys fall back to defend near the penalty area, I’ll go near the corner flag."

Huang Kaiwen pointed towards the penalty area.

Barca especially likes to take indirect free kicks, then pass back and forth in front of the opponent’s penalty area looking for an opportunity.

Huang Kaiwen prepared to personally disrupt this opportunity.

At the same time, he didn’t forget to give Rakitic a look, signaling him to watch the other side.

If they suddenly make a wide transfer and Ramos isn’t on the right, he’s afraid Lars Bender can’t hold them.

Whether it’s a tactical corner or a wide pass, or Barca’s passing game, they all have one purpose, which is to get the ball quickly into the weakest defensive area.

If you chase the ball around, you definitely can’t defend it.

How could a person possibly be faster than a ball?

So Huang Kaiwen decided to disrupt Barca’s threat near the penalty area from the source.

Xavi was a bit surprised to see Huang Kaiwen come to the front of the corner flag area.

Because usually, it’s the full-back who comes to defend.

But he wasn’t careless, keeping an eye on Huang Kaiwen’s position as he retreated.

He was considering whether to make a short pass to Alves.

Huang Kaiwen’s positioning was too subtle.

He wasn’t directly in front of Alves, but consistently maintained a certain distance from him.

After the run-up, Xavi sent the ball towards the penalty area.

He still didn’t dare to gamble.

In the penalty area, players from both sides jumped up, Milan’s aerial advantage was very apparent.

Thiago Silva rose above Piqué and cleared the ball.

"Dangerous, foul immediately!!!"

Enrico shouted from the sidelines.

Busquets didn’t participate in the set-piece attack, seeing Rakitic take the ball on the right, he rushed directly towards him.

Rakitic didn’t give Busquets a chance to get close, he tapped the ball with his right foot and turned to the middle.

Busquets quickly closed in.

But the next second, Rakitic had already passed the ball to Huang Kaiwen on the left.

As Huang Kaiwen received the ball, Alves slid in.

His tackle was avoided by Huang Kaiwen with a quick flick, but Alves’ hand touched the ball and knocked it away.

Huang Kaiwen took a step forward and stopped, looking at the main referee Brikkiri.

Brikkiri jogged over but didn’t make an immediate decision.

The situation was clear, Alves’ hand seemed a bit unnatural, and he was almost certain that Alves deliberately used his hand to disrupt the opponent’s attack.

But there’s a critical issue; Alves was marking Huang Kaiwen, and he had fouled Huang Kaiwen before, which had brought him considerable pressure. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

If he gave a yellow card now, Alves’ defense would definitely be severely affected.

The player marking Huang Kaiwen being unable to defend vigorously basically decided the outcome of this match.

So he couldn’t make up his mind to penalize.

"Referee, he pushed the ball out with his hand."

Rakitic rushed up, urging in English.

But Barca players were even faster, and they surrounded the referee almost instantly, all talking at once.

"Referee, he obviously didn’t do it on purpose."

"Yes, and it’s still in the front zone, wouldn’t it be too harsh to give a card?"

"Give one more chance, sir."

"..."

Milan players came up to block the Barca players, not allowing them to surround the referee.

Both sides were getting heated.

Brikkiri then walked over and warned, "Be careful, you won’t have such good luck next time!"

"What the fuck!"

Rakitic blurted out.

Huang Kaiwen quickly covered his mouth.

Whether the tackle touched the ball is for the referee to decide, but if you curse, the referee won’t tolerate it.

As Brikkiri walked away, Huang Kaiwen let go of Rakitic.

Rakitic complained, "This home whistle is just too obvious."

"Not really, don’t worry so much."

Huang Kaiwen said.

He had been mentally prepared for this decision for a long time.

Because it was obvious.

When fouled on Huang Kaiwen, the referee had to be severe with penalties.

So in other aspects, they had to give some advantages to the players marking the Yellow Ball King.

Referees like to find balance on the field the most.

With the ball restarted from the back, Milan also began to slowly organize from the backfield.

The Barca players, who were pressing upfront, felt a strange sensation rising inside as they chased the ball.

Because this AC Milan was too similar to them in some ways.

Guardiola couldn’t completely replicate Barca’s tactics, but he hadn’t let go of his obsession with ball control.

It’s been almost a season.

Even if they didn’t like this tactic that much, the Milan players had become very proficient.

Especially every player in the back from the goalkeeper to the defenders had the ability to pass out, not panicking in the face of Barca’s pressing.

In their passing, Milan gradually moved the ball out of the dangerous area in front of the penalty box.

Huang Kaiwen never pressed forward, constantly running in the backfield ready to receive.

Kaka and Torres were enough for the counterattack.

So he stayed back to help Rakitic complete the transition between attack and defense.