Today is a day to say goodbye. The sun has been shining brightly since noon, and at night, the stars in the sky gather together, and the neon lights of San Siro make the place colorful.
Today is a farewell day. Roseneri, the city of Milan, and world football will bid farewell to a great old boy.
On May 19, 2007, in the 37th round of the 2006-07 Serie A season, AC Milan faced Udinese at home. This was Milan’s last home game of the season and the last game of 41-year-old Alessandro Costacurta.
A professional game.
His nickname is Baton, and his nickname is Billy. Today is his farewell match, where he will bid farewell to professional football after 23 years of playing.
Today is a farewell day. One of the most outstanding man-marking central defenders in world football, a representative of Italian football defensive culture, the founder of the Milan dynasty, a living textbook of defensive awareness and defensive skills, and the founder of the Milan Round Table Paladins.
Costacurta will bid farewell to the football stadium he loved his whole life here today.
Even Inter Milan, which has always been in opposition to AC Milan, did not make any mistakes. They also praised the baton's career. The whole of Italy, Europe and the world were praising him.
Eighty thousand people filled the San Siro, and the stands were filled with huge portraits of the number '5' in red and black stripes. Many heavyweights in football came to the scene, including Costacurta's old friends, buddies and even old rivals.
.
The old baton cannot treat a super heavyweight UEFA Cup final as his farewell game like the German superstar Hassler who retired in Madiburg. If he can, the Champions League final a few days later will be very memorable.
A meaningful farewell performance. But he couldn't do it, and AC Milan couldn't do it, because unlike Hasler, he still had considerable strength until the last moment of his career. Costacurta could no longer meet the normal competition requirements.
Hasler is only one month younger than Costacurta. He was 39 years old when he retired two years ago, and this year the baton is 41 years old.
In fact, five years ago, after the end of the 2001-02 season, Costacurta retired once, and there was even a farewell game like today. At that time, he was 'only' 36 years old, and he was unwilling to be lonely after retirement.
He went to the American Major League to play for health. However, at the last moment when the transfer window was about to close at the end of August, AC Milan felt that the back line of defense was insufficient and urgently summoned Costacurta to wear the shirt again. Therefore, he, who has been loyal to Milan throughout his life, never looked back.
Return.
But this time we said goodbye, everyone knew he would never come back.
In fact, Costacurta knew that he was old twelve years ago, when he was only 29 years old. In the Toyota Cup that year, two fatal mistakes of the baton caused the world-dominated AC Milan to lose 0:2
In a mere Sarsfield. From that day on, everyone knew that he was old.
Facts have proved that everyone was right. After 1995, Costacurta's competitive level never reached or even approached his peak.
But it is such a classic car that is gradually going downhill, and it continues to play for the Rossoneri for 12 years. It is not because he is in love, or because AC Milan cannot be embarrassed, but because of his hard work, Costacurta's professional attitude is world-class
Unparalleled.
In the past twelve years, Costacurta has been like a revolutionary screw, turning wherever it is needed. Needless to say, the central defender is his job, but the two full-backs on the left and right are full of freshness. The baton relies on
With rich experience on the field, he can fill any holes in the defense.
It's not like the center has never done it before, although he didn't score a goal. He has played as a defensive midfielder a lot, and he is no stranger to it at all. The baton said: I am a brick of Milan, I can move it wherever it is needed.
Today Costacurta started playing as a defensive midfielder. To be honest, it’s not that he has much experience playing as a defensive midfielder now. I really don’t dare to put him on the back line of defense. If I insist on putting him in the defensive midfielder, it will essentially be an act of swindling the enemy.
.Even if AC Milan no longer values ​​the results of this game, it cannot deliberately follow the pattern of losing.
Two days ago, the AC Milan club made a major decision: the first priority is to win the Champions League championship, and the qualification for the Champions League next season is left to fate. In other words, the league match with Udinese before the Champions League final was strategically abandoned by AC Milan
.
This is not only the decisive temperament of wealthy clubs, but also the helplessness forced by reality.
There are only two rounds left in the league, and they are still 4 points away from fourth place Fiorentina. If Viola wins a victory, it will not help Milan to win the day. Most of the main players are already very tired. If they continue to pursue two-line gains by force,
, more may become a loser at both ends.
Maybe Milano's feng shui is biased this year, and there are many weird things in the league. AC Milan has encountered some inexplicable troubles this season. But the Champions League has performed very well, including the qualifying rounds, with 12 wins, 1 draw and one loss in 14 games.
He scored 42 goals and conceded 9. Such offensive power made European football fearful all night long.
Last week, the front page of "Gazzetta dello Sport" published an article by the gold medal reporter and famous writer Fabio Liccari, "Without Milan, Serie A would be a joke." In addition to praising AC Milan's high-profile performance in Europe, the article also
He denounced the other strong men for their embarrassing behavior.
Serie A champion Inter Milan lost to Valencia in a kicking ball game and even fought against them; Roma made all Italians ashamed of them with a miserable 1:7. Chievo didn't even bother to mention it, they even dared to lose in the qualifying round.
Bulgarian football team.
Only AC Milan has maintained the dignity of Serie A in Europe, and only AC Milan dares to break the increasingly powerful Premier League's attempt to monopolize the Champions League.
Perhaps it was this article that gave Milan's senior management the determination to cut off their strength. After careful consultation, the first thing to give up was the game with Udinese, even if it was Costacurta's farewell match.
Almost all the players who could become important players in the Champions League final were hidden, so Costacurta, wearing the captain's armband, led a group of people onto the court that belonged to him.
The 22-year-old Argentinian left-back Leandro Grimmi made his first appearance on behalf of AC Milan. Although he belongs to the first team, he has been mixed with the second team before. It has been a year since Zhuo Yang even knew he had such a teammate.
Among the substitutes and substitutes, there is only one main player in the starting lineup, and he is No. 18 Zhuoyang.
Since he gave up the league, Zhuoyang was naturally not in the plan for this game, but he forcibly persuaded Braida to join Ancelotti with a very determined attitude. Zhuoyang certainly knew that qualifying for the Champions League next season was very slim, but he did not want to give up.
, could not change the club's strategic policy, but he wanted to give it a try again.
He was suspended for two games because of the "arrangement incident", and it was a loss and a draw in these two games that caused AC Milan to lose the hope of qualifying for the Champions League. Zhuoyang believed that he was responsible, although no one took it to his face.
He said something, but he knew he couldn't shirk it.
In the first Serie A season, the ban alone reached as many as eight games. As a forward, this is simply appalling. Some of these eight-game suspensions are his fault, and some are due to bad luck. Zhuoyang is too lazy to think about how to distinguish the responsibilities.
, but there’s nothing much to say about these two scenes.
Braida and Ancelotti were a little surprised by Zhuoyang's stubbornness and seriousness, because he had always been playful and playful with them this year. Seeing that he continued to refuse, Zhuoyang's face dropped, and he was obviously emotional.
They both had no choice but to agree to his request.
Of course, the most important reason is that the Milan laboratory has shown that Zhuoyang's physical fitness and functional condition are excellent. Unless there is an injury, it will have minimal impact on the Champions League final five days later. Therefore, more suspensions are also beneficial.
Chapter completed!