On the pitch, the sequence from Leon saving Icardi's one-on-one to launching a quick attack with a goalkeeper throw happened far too fast!
Both sets of players were caught slightly off guard.
In midfield, Menez suddenly noticed the football stopping precisely in front of him.
Whoa!
A flash of surprise crossed Menez's eyes, as he wondered whether this was a coincidence or Leon Feng's deliberate intention.
But Menez did not hesitate, stepping on the ball with his right foot and immediately driving forward.
In the hearts of AC Milan supporters, Menez was a player they both loved and hated.
That was because Menez had earned the nickname "Menez Never Passes."
Once the ball was at his feet, he would not pass it until he had either broken into a dead end or been dispossessed.
Yet in this season, AC Milan's strong start had genuinely been built on Menez's unstoppable dribbling runs that led to goal after goal.
However, as the season progressed, Menez had been targeted more frequently and his form had dipped, so he could rarely replicate those end-to-end bursts from the early weeks.
This made the non-passing Menez increasingly more of a liability.
Even so, Menez was in excellent form at the start of this match.
Leon Feng's goalkeeper throw landed precisely in the gap between Inter Milan's two centre-backs, Juan and Andrea Ranocchia.
Menez's run was decisive and committed, and he rapidly found himself in a one-on-one situation.
Juan and Andrea Ranocchia were already too late to recover.
Hiss!
Was it going to be this thrilling right from the kick-off?
The supporters of both sides had barely recovered from one shock before being plunged into the next wave of excitement.
Inter Milan's goalkeeper Samir Handanović chose to come off his line as well.
As Neuer had grown increasingly dominant, his sweeper-keeper approach had been adopted by more and more goalkeepers.
Seeing Samir Handanović charge out, Menez showed no nerves whatsoever.
Setting aside Menez's technical attributes, looking purely at his mental attributes, he truly was a superstar.
Menez produced a dazzling flick of the foot, curling the ball out on a perfect arc that looped around Samir Handanović and flew straight toward the top-right corner of the goal.
The dead angle!
Swish!
Goal!
Samir Handanović had absolutely no time to react, and could only watch helplessly as the ball hit the net.
"Wow!"
"Wow!"
Menez looked absolutely thrilled and set off on a wild sprint around the pitch.
The supporters were all captivated by Menez's audacious finish.
Meanwhile, Inzaghi and Mancini Jr. both turned to look at Leon Feng at the same moment.
On the pitch, Leon Feng smiled faintly and applauded for Menez.
[Assist +1!]
This was the first assist of Leon Feng's professional career.
He was genuinely grateful that Menez had put the ball away.
Before this match, Leon Feng had done thorough preparation.
He had spent 1,000 system points to purchase a [Goalkeeper Throw Master] card from the system shop for the first time.
[Goalkeeper Throw Master: Active for 1 match! Goalkeeper throw attribute temporarily raised to 20 (maximum)! Long kick attribute temporarily reduced to 1!]
Although the [Goalkeeper Throw Master] was only active for a single match, which seemed like poor value on the surface, the effect it delivered was second to none.
With the goalkeeper throw attribute at maximum, it was enough for Leon Feng to initiate highly accurate quick attacks.
Compared to long kicks, a goalkeeper throw was clearly faster in building attacking rhythm and far harder to read.
A long kick rarely created chances directly.
Furthermore, AC Milan's forward line had no target striker type, so controlling the first bounce was not guaranteed.
Leon Feng needed this Milan Derby to be his moment to make a name for himself.
Spending 1,000 system points was going to be well worth it.
And indeed it was.
Within ten minutes of kick-off, Leon Feng had already registered an assist.
"Outstanding!"
"It seems I still do not know enough about Leon."
Inzaghi laughed with delight.
Leon Feng saving Icardi's one-on-one had been within expectations.
But this goalkeeper throw assist was something Inzaghi had simply not known Leon Feng was capable of.
Mancini Jr., on the other hand, was left in complete shock.
This goal had been created entirely by Leon Feng.
He had saved a one-on-one and immediately created another one.
Compared to Leon Feng saving a one-on-one, his own side's goalkeeper looked useless in comparison.
In truth, after the match ended, footage of both goalkeepers saving one-on-ones was edited together and posted online, drawing a stark contrast between the two.
Samir Handanović was utterly demoralised.
Saving a one-on-one required a degree of luck for any goalkeeper.
But compared to Leon Feng, Samir Handanović had nothing to say for himself.
Could you please not do this?
The ones who end up suffering from this arms race are the goalkeepers.
Samir Handanović felt deeply miserable.
The match continued.
Having conceded first, Inter Milan had to push forward now.
Mancini Jr. had assumed that after taking the lead, Inzaghi would choose to sit back and defend.
To his surprise, Inzaghi had no intention of protecting a 1-0 lead whatsoever and continued to press relentlessly at Inter Milan's goal.
Good grief.
Mancini Jr. had misjudged the situation on the pitch once again.
In the 34th minute, Inter Milan created a very good opportunity.
A two-on-two in the attacking third.
Icardi drove into the penalty area and cut the ball back to Palacio who had arrived in support.
Palacio's shot was caught cleanly by Leon Feng.
After collecting Palacio's effort, Leon Feng immediately used a goalkeeper throw to launch the next attack.
Every Inter Milan player on the pitch felt a shiver run through them.
Here we go again.
Fortunately, this time Suso fired the ball over the bar, wasting Leon Feng's chance to register another assist.
In the 42nd minute, Shaqiri's late run into the box created another one-on-one.
But young Shaqiri, faced with Leon Feng's rapid advance, could not work out in that instant what to do next.
Before he had even managed to shoot, he realised the ball at his feet had vanished.
After picking up the football, Leon Feng once again used a goalkeeper throw to land the ball precisely into the attacking half.
With Leon Feng in goal, it seemed AC Milan no longer needed a deep-lying playmaker at all.
Leon Feng alone could do the work of several players.
This time, Bonaventura did not waste the opportunity.
He ran to the byline and delivered a cross to find Torres at the far post inside the penalty area.
Torres leapt high and snapped his head powerfully.
The ball crashed off the underside of the crossbar and into the net.
Swish!
Another goal!
Samir Handanović was completely powerless to react once more.
The angle Torres had attacked with his header was exceptionally sharp, and there was simply nothing Samir Handanović could do.
"Yes!"
Torres let out a fierce roar after scoring, releasing the emotion he had bottled up inside.
He had finally scored again.
Since joining AC Milan, Torres had gone through a goalscoring drought that had placed him under enormous pressure.
Now the goals were starting to come again.
This was a good beginning.
'In the second half of the season, I will rediscover the brilliance that made me the Golden Boy.'
Torres thought this with boundless excitement.
On the touchline, Inzaghi threw his arms into the air and rushed onto the pitch to celebrate with the players.
The AC Milan supporters in the stands descended into pure frenzy.
2-0!
A perfect first half.
This was the Milan Derby.
Eternal Milan, we march forward together.
And at the AC Milan goal, Leon Feng stood in front of his net with a calm expression.
'I am guarding the goal. You can count on me.'