Milan was already aging, and this season Berlusconi was ddling heavily, forcing aging Milan to take in Shevchenko, Ronaldinho, and now Beckham, with frequent demands on tactics and style of play.
Although Ancelotti had done his utmost to et Berlusconi’s demands while also gaining the trust of the locker room players, he still found himself drifting further apart from the upper managent of Milan.
And Chen Zhong was like a shot in the arm, deeply affecting Ancelotti’s heart and giving him renewed hope.
"Pass the ball!"
"Chen! You, pass the ball!" On Milan’s training ground, two teams were engaging in group confrontation; although Team One’s offense was fierce, Team Two’s defense, centered around Chen Zhong, managed to withstand it.
However, this was not what Ancelotti wanted to see. He wanted to see Chen Zhong’s talent in passing; Chen Zhong had already proven himself in defense, but Ancelotti wanted to see Chen Zhong contribute to the attack.
Milan’s 4-3-2-1 mainly emphasized counterattack and midfield control. Milan of old relied on Pirlo’s ball control and organization, Gattuso’s sweeping, and Ambrosini’s offensive and defensive balance for a well-rounded composition.
But now Gattuso was injured, absent for six months, and modern football tactics were reforming and evolving. Midfield was starting to lean towards a box-to-box, a structuring, and an interception setup, which Milan’s 4-3-2-1 Christmas tree formation demanded heavily from players. The 2007 "miracle" was, in a sense, Milan’s last flash of brilliance.
But now, Ancelotti saw the hope that Milan could bounce back once again.
The ball quickly reached Chen Zhong’s feet, and instinctively, he wanted to protect the ball and then make a short pass to a teammate with more creativity.
Back in Real Madrid, he often cleaned up dirty balls, and whenever he did, he managed to attract the attention of opposing defenders, creating space for the offensive players.
However, this ti when he took the ball, he suddenly realized he was in a central midfield position, responsible for organizing and dispatching.
So Chen Zhong had no intention of protecting the ball. He had long noticed the movent of the opposing defenders and his own attacking players. He nudged the ball sideways, took two steps to run, and initiated a long pass that penetrated most of the pitch.
Shevchenko and Inzaghi had been watching the movent from behind, although they didn’t usually interact much with Chen Zhong. But once they saw Chen Zhong’s long pass, they imdiately turned and charged towards the goal.
"This ball..."
"Is it going to..."
A staff mber watching from the sidelines saw the ball seeming to head straight for the sideline and wanted to joke if it was going out of bounds. But who would have thought the ball made a big curve in mid-air!
The football was clearly "flying towards" Inzaghi’s side. Noticing this, Shevchenko didn’t go up to stick close to Inzaghi but suddenly moved to the other side, pulling away so confused defenders.
Inzaghi’s first touch was quite stylish, but Maldini, knowing Inzaghi very well, quickly stepped forward to interfere with him. Inzaghi’s second touch with the ball was also good, but he knew he couldn’t afford a third touch, so amidst defensive pulling, he managed a shot.
The ball blasted towards the goal, but Dida made a beautiful dive and easily caught it.
Inzaghi grimaced a bit before turning his head to give Chen Zhong a big thumbs up, while Chen Zhong scratched his head, slightly embarrassed.
Well, his original intention wasn’t to pass to Inzaghi; he ant to pass to Shevchenko, but the arc trajectory ca out, and he couldn’t control the landing perfectly.
Ultimately, Inzaghi managed to snatch the ball, entirely relying on his excellent sense of play and a bit of luck.
At this mont, Beckham on the pitch was a bit stunned.
He looked at the slightly embarrassed Chen Zhong, feeling that this kid had a limitless future.
Lacking precision—so what? The key is, he can bend the arc!
It’s like in a football ga, the difference between having a free-kick skill and not having it; those without the skill have only a faint straight line, and if you’re not good at controlling free-kick techniques or haven’t specifically practiced them, it’s essentially a free giveaway.
But players with a free-kick skill show a C-shaped arc; you can clearly see the line passes over the wall. As long as the strength is well-controlled and opponents don’t block the goal, you almost score effortlessly every ti, significantly lowering the difficulty of operation.
Many have heard that genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration, but they don’t know the next sentence: "Yet that 1% of inspiration is the most important, even more important than the 99% perspiration."
And now, Chen Zhong already possesses that invaluable inspiration.
Recognizing this, Beckham naturally wouldn’t ignore it. In the following period, Ancelotti frantically ordered teammates to pass the ball to Chen Zhong and let him deliver the ball from the backfield to the front, with one "drifting" arc after another sweeping across the pitch sky.
This even gave staff watching from the sidelines the illusion that Team Two was the main team while Team One was just sparring partners.
There was no other way; Milan’s midfield urgently needed diligent "new blood," especially amid injuries, Chen Zhong was like a lifeline straw Ancelotti attached great importance to.
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