Chapter 129 A brilliant substitution

However, Ricardo's worries soon became a reality.

In the 17th minute of the game, Malouda suddenly fired a long shot from 30 meters away in the middle. The ball was very powerful, so the trajectory of the ball was a bit floating; therefore, Buffon did not dare to catch the ball and could only try his best to save the ball...

However, the blocked ball bounced back to the corner of the penalty area, and Henry made a small-angle shot from 6 meters away from the goal on the left side of the penalty area before anyone else. The ball hit Cannavaro's legs, making Buffon's second save in vain, and the ball changed direction and fell into the bottom of the net...

2-0, the French quickly expanded their lead!

Fortunately, just two minutes later, Italy equalized the score with a free kick.

Gilardino headed the ball into the goal from Pirlo's free kick 40 meters away on the right side in the middle of the penalty area, making the score 1-2. Italy used the only shooting opportunity after the opening to pull one point back and narrow the score.

In the 26th minute, after a series of patient passes, Sagnol cut inside under the cover of his teammates' cross-running and shot with his left foot from 15 meters away from the goal. Buffon saved the ball on the goal line.

In the 28th minute, Grosso dribbled past the opponent on the left and pushed the ball across the goal. Gilardino missed the ball in front of the goal and also shook off Coupet. Marchionne followed up in the middle and shot the ball into the far corner 3 meters in front of the goal...but Coupet reacted quickly and fished the ball out on the goal line, causing exclamations from all the French fans in the stadium.

In the following games, Italy gradually found the feeling of the game after scoring a goal, but the strong strength of the French midfield also gradually emerged. Malouda's appropriate move to the center, Ribery's interlaced running and Henry's retreat made Italy completely at a disadvantage in the midfield battle.

At the end of the first half, France led Italy 2-1 at home.

In the second half, the two sides changed sides and started the game again; with neither side making any personnel adjustments, the French team's advantage in the second half was still obvious. They basically pressed Italy in the half, and the latter could only try to create threats through sporadic counterattacks and set pieces.

In the 55th minute, France's patient offensive organization paid off again. Ribery broke through the middle and passed the ball to the side. Sagnol made a 45-degree pass from the right to the middle of the penalty area. Gove forced a header near the penalty spot despite Cannavaro's interference!

Gove headed the ball, which bounced off the ground, bypassed Buffon's dive, and fell into the far corner of the goal. 3-1, the French team once again expanded the score.

When the game was about to reach the 60th minute, Italy, which was two goals behind, had to make the first personnel adjustment. Donadoni replaced Cassano, who was almost invisible throughout the game, with Inzaghi, who scored the key goal in the last game, as a double striker; he was prepared to use Pirlo's long passes and the two wingers' attacks to play the wing cross tactic instead of the midfield.

After the substitution, Inzaghi also actively retreated to participate in the midfield fight. Therefore, both sides fought for the ball in the midfield, the game was fierce but not exciting enough, and Italy naturally did not have many opportunities to close the score.

When the game reached the 70th minute, the French team took advantage of the Italian team's physical decline and organized two dangerous attacks again.

In the 71st minute, France got a chance to counterattack. Henry broke through on the left and passed the ball to Vieira at the top of the penalty area. Vieira cleverly passed the ball to Goveu who was unguarded on the right. The Lyon striker shot the ball with his right foot 15 meters away from the goal, and the ball went straight to the far corner. Fortunately, Buffon used his fingertips to poke the ball out of the bottom line, keeping the goal.

Two minutes later, Henry once again broke through on the left and passed the ball to Ribery behind him. Ribery also shot with his left foot from 2 meters in front of the goal. The ball hit the right post and rolled out of the bottom line. The Italian fans and Donadoni were so scared that they broke into a cold sweat...

Afterwards, Italy made another substitution. Donadoni finally remembered the World Cup's best newcomer Li Qi, and hoped that Li Qi could replicate his strong performance in the World Cup final. He replaced him with right midfielder Marchionni, who was almost turned into a sieve by Henry.

Around 75 minutes into the game, Li Qi came on the field, hoping to assist with Zambrotta in defense and control the Gallic rooster's breakthrough on the left.

Almost at the same time, the French team finally made its first personnel adjustment. Gove, who had performed well in this game, was replaced by veteran Wiltord.

However, Li Qi did have a certain effect after he came on the court. The young, strong and energetic Li Qi immediately stuck to Henry who was holding the ball, making it difficult for Henry to turn around. He could only seek cooperation with Ribery in the middle...

At this time, Zambrotta took a step forward and intercepted Henry's cross pass to the middle. After all, the intention of the pass was somewhat obvious; and Zambrotta was very confident that Li Qi could stop Henry, so he had been lying in ambush behind Li Qi to steal the ball and counterattack.

After intercepting the ball, Zambrotta took the ball and launched a counterattack. He kept driving forward until he was about to enter the French team's defensive third zone before he was brought down by Makelele's sliding tackle, winning a good position for Italy in the frontcourt.

In the 78th minute, Pirlo was again responsible for taking the free kick from 35 meters on the right side; the ball drew a rainbow-like arc and went straight to the middle of the penalty area... In the penalty area, Italian captain Cannavaro accurately judged the point in the crowd, jumped high, and made a beautiful header; the ball went straight to the lower right corner of the goal at a very fast speed!

Unfortunately, Coupet, who replaced Barthes as France's number one goalkeeper after the World Cup, also performed exceptionally bravely in this game. He flew across the field and blocked the ball out of the baseline with one hand, keeping the goal safe!

Although the Italians had few options in positional warfare, they used limited set-piece opportunities to create a lot of trouble for the French team. However, this was not enough. Li Qi knew that Italy needed a goal, a goal that came as soon as possible, to have a chance to equalize the score.

After the 80th minute of the game, Henry, who had been headed several times by Li Qi and whose physical strength was beginning to run out, began to lose interest in the fight. The French team no longer attacked the left side, and after receiving the ball, Henry usually passed it back or to the other side.

So Li Qi seized the opportunity and began to frequently assist.

In the 82nd minute, Li Qi received Pirlo's lob on the right side and made a cross pass with Zambrotta. Then Li Qi made a diagonal pass in the ribs of the penalty area... Inzaghi made a diagonal run into the penalty area, but unfortunately his shot was too straight and was directly caught by Coupet who blocked the near corner.

In the 85th minute, it was Li Qi again, and he and Zambrotta made a tiling assist on the wing. Li Qi quickly went to the bottom, observed the situation in the penalty area, and then made a half-high inverted triangle pass back to the front of the penalty area.

Inzaghi chested the ball in front of the penalty area, and Gilardino, who was 2 meters away, swung his right foot and shot from 18 meters away from the goal. Unfortunately, the ball was hit by a cannon and a golden opportunity was missed!

When the game came to the last ten minutes, Italy seized the opportunity when France was slack and launched a wave of attacks, and it seemed that they were just a little bit away from breaking through the French team's goal.

However, in the 87th minute, when Li Qi's dribbling was forcibly disrupted by Vieira and went out of bounds, Italy, which was behind in the score, made an incredible substitution. Donadoni actually replaced Gilardino, who was performing actively, with midfielder De Rossi. Even the commentator of the TV broadcast could not understand the Italian team's substitution: "Shouldn't they replace the offensive players to further strengthen the attack? It seems that Donadoni wants to maintain the score of 1-3?"

On the other side, the French also replaced the exhausted Ribery with Saha. All the French fans gave a long applause to Scarface for his wonderful performance in this game.

Taking this opportunity, Li Qi also quickly exchanged the coach's tactical arrangements with his roommate and best friend De Rossi: "What, you play as a defensive midfielder, and Pirlo plays as an attacking midfielder? Isn't this funny?"

"There's nothing we can do. We'll just follow the boss' instructions and tell Brother Shuipi, but I don't think he'll move forward." Fighting Vieira and Makelele? This will definitely cripple Shuipi...

“How about this, you are standing in the defensive midfielder position anyway, but you don’t have to fight to the death in the middle. Come to my right and help me watch Henry’s counterattack. Leave the middle to Pirlo. I will go up and beat them!”

De Rossi thought it was a good idea and he could give it a try, so he went to tell Pirlo about Donadoni's arrangement and Li Qi's idea. Then, after receiving the news, Shuipi winked at Li Qi.

Before the ball was kicked out, Shuipi took a few steps forward, and then quietly walked back to the central defensive midfielder position to receive the ball and organize the attack, still trying to keep a distance from Vieira's long legs...

De Rossi also secretly moved to the right, and once Li Qi rushed up, he took over the defense area on the right.

When the ball was back in motion, the game was about to enter injury time. Pirlo had planned to pass the ball to Barzagli, who was rushing into the penalty area as a center forward, when he heard Li Qi waving and shouting on the sidelines, "Okay, give it to the young man..."

Li Qi received another long pass from Pirlo on the wing. With his light arch of the foot, the ball stuck to Li Qi's feet like clay and fell on the grass. Li Qi stopped the ball and observed the situation before Abidal came up. He kept building attack routes in his mind. The game could end at any time, so he had to make the most of it!

In a split second, Li Qi made a decision...

At this time, on the other side of the English Channel, Sarafina was watching the Italy-France match in her dormitory in London with her new roommate. Seeing that her national team was falling behind and the head coach even replaced the main center forward, the little princess couldn't help but puff up her face cutely. The rare beautiful roommate couldn't help but hug Sarafina in her arms and tease her.

However, the two people's laughter could not cover the commentary of the TV broadcast. When she heard Li Qi's name, Sarafina quickly asked her roommates to be quiet and watched carefully to see if the handsome boy could turn the tide...

"Oh my God! Why did Donadoni replace Gilardino? He played a good role as a fulcrum in the front, especially in set-piece tactics, and created good threats several times..."

"I really don't understand the purpose of replacing De Rossi at this time; it is Italy that is lagging behind..."

"Zambrotta threw the ball out of bounds... Pirlo... Gattuso... De Rossi..."

"The ball is back at Pirlo's feet... Pirlo is preparing to move into the penalty area, and Barzagli is already taking position in the penalty area..."

"Oh, no, Pirlo made a long pass to Li Qi on the wing... Li Qi made a wonderful stop and organized an attack on the wing..."

"Time is running out. Li Qi's move is a bit like Ronaldinho's. I wonder if he learned it from him at Barcelona last season."

"Li Qi and De Rossi collided with each other, bypassing Abidal, and Li Qi cut inside..."

"Li Qi passed the ball to Barzagli, who was blocking the center. The ball was a bit too big and hard to stop..."

"Barzali bounced the ball directly in the direction of Li Qi's running, and it bounced high!"

"Beautiful, Li Qi jumped up and kicked the ball brilliantly. Under the pressure of Makelele, he moved the ball into the penalty area..."

"The ball went right over Gallas' head!"

"Inzaghi! Shoot!"

"Damn! Coupe's reaction was too quick, blocking this sure-fire shot on the goal line!"

"There's still a chance! Li Qi!"

"Ditch oooooh! Ditch oooooh! Ditch!"

"Li Qi cuts in from the back row, gets in front of Thuram, and flicks the blocked ball past Coupet's second dive!"

"The ball fell into the net! In the final moments of the game, Li Qi helped the Italian team score another goal!"

"It's 2 to 3, just one goal away, Italy is closing the gap! I just don't know if there is still time to organize an attack..."

"It turns out that Donadoni's substitution was to let De Rossi fill in Li Qi's defensive task and push Li Qi to the front line!"

"What a brilliant substitution! This adjustment caught the French team off guard..."

Donadoni, with his arms crossed on the sidelines: (??????)... Hmm... This doesn't seem to be what I thought... No, that's what I thought! This is why I made the substitution! Right! Just do it! Li Qi, go for him!

Li Qi didn't have time to celebrate with his teammates. He just high-fived Inzaghi and rushed into the net to take the ball from Coupe. He quickly returned to the midfield and high-fived Barzagli on the way back: "Fortunately, this big guy has a tacit understanding and understood my idea in seconds."

"If the pass is not strong enough, it is impossible to avoid Vieira's long legs; if the pass is strong enough, it is difficult to stop, just hit the right position. Once I trigger the explosive point, the second point is likely to be mine."

"As long as he bypasses Vieira and Makelele and passes the ball in front of the penalty area, Inzaghi, who has a room on the offside line, will have a high probability of hitting the ball out..."

"As for Gallas and Thuram, they will definitely intervene. Coupet is also in good form. It all depends on our luck in making the follow-up shot in front of the goal! Fortunately, we had good luck today!"

"I hope I'll have time to steal another one!"

Li Qi put the ball down in the center circle, and Henry came over slowly to kick the ball... Soon after the kick-off, the entire Italian team rushed over to grab the ball. Their morale was high, so they hurried to get another one!

But obviously, the referee didn't give much face. Thuram kicked the ball towards Italy's half. Just as Cannavaro unloaded the ball in the air, the referee blew the final whistle...

Shit! Only one minute of extra time?! In the second half, both sides replaced 3 players and it took more than a minute!

However, once the final whistle blew, the result could not be changed.

In the end, the French team narrowly defeated Italy 3-2 at home and completed their revenge in the World Cup final.

Italian fans and media were filled with regret. If given a little more time, the Italian team, whose morale had risen, would definitely have a chance to equalize the score under the leadership of Li Qi.

Hmm? It was led by Li Qi? Instead of Pirlo, Cannavaro or Inzaghi?

But after all, it was just a European Cup qualifier, and neither the process nor the result caused any huge waves; the best player of the match was given to Gove who scored twice.

In the press conference after the game, Donadoni only briefly praised Li Qi and indirectly highlighted his magical substitution, but he mostly attributed the responsibility of the two-game losing streak to the fatigue of the World Cup...