"Pogba's taking it?"
Leon smiled suddenly.
Especially seeing that slightly smug look on Pogba's face, he had a pretty good idea of how Pogba intended to take this free kick.
Pogba thought he had come up with a clever idea that Leon would never see coming.
What he did not know was that a few unconscious little gestures had already given his intention away entirely.
"Pogba's taking this free kick!"
"I thought it would be Pirlo!"
"That said, Pogba has developed very quickly over the past few seasons, and his free kick quality is certainly there!"
In the commentary booth back in the East, Jackson was doing solo commentary.
He was feeling a little uncertain about this free kick himself.
In Jackson's view, Leon had not been in great form during this match.
His performance was nowhere near as dazzling as it had been in the Milan Derby!
There had been none of those quick throws to launch attacks!
His shot-stopping had also looked a little shaky at times.
Jackson's read was that Leon's public fitness test in front of the media a few days earlier had taken a significant toll on his mentality.
In reality though, this was simply Leon's true current level!
"Right, let's watch, Pogba's on his run!"
"How's he going to hit this?!"
"Wait, sneaking it low! Pogba has rolled it along the ground!"
"Can he hold on to that?"
"Did Leon's sightline get blocked at all?"
"He's got it! Leon went straight down and gathered the ball!"
"This... it feels like Leon read Pogba's approach before he even struck it, this is incredible!"
"Once you get the read right on a ball like that, it poses absolutely no threat."
"Because neither the pace nor the angle makes it particularly difficult to stop!"
"But for a goalkeeper, rolling shots like that are almost never what you prepare for."
"That is exactly what makes Leon so extraordinary!"
Inside the commentary booth, Jackson's voice rang out with mounting excitement!
On the touchline, Inzaghi pumped his fist with a burst of relief!
The moment he had seen Pogba roll the ball along the ground, Inzaghi had feared the worst!
He had not expected Leon to still get down and gather it!
Leon truly never let anyone down!
Not once!
"Good technique, very imaginative!"
Pirlo offered a word of praise.
That free kick from Pogba was genuinely well executed.
You simply had to say that this kid Leon had something uncanny about him!
"How did he stop that?"
"I don't believe it, it must have been luck!"
Pogba stared at Leon, his face full of frustration!
This had been a good moment for him to shine, and Leon had killed it stone dead.
The first half came to an end.
In the remaining few minutes, neither side managed to create anything meaningful.
Nil-nil!
The two sides went in level at the break.
Looking at where both clubs stood this season, AC Milan had actually put in a very solid performance!
Juventus were in a class of their own in Serie A at this point.
AC Milan, meanwhile, could not even be considered second tier anymore.
In the away dressing room, Inzaghi was in discussion with his assistant coach Tassotti.
Going purely on the balance of power between the two sides, AC Milan were clearly the weaker team.
In an away fixture like this, a draw was already a good result, and even a narrow defeat would not have been unacceptable!
But Inzaghi still wanted to win this match!
For one thing, AC Milan were already at a point where they could not afford to keep dropping results!
If they kept losing, their position in the table was going to be dragging them into a relegation battle.
For another, Inzaghi had a point to prove.
Both the club's hierarchy and the fanbase were growing louder in their doubts about him!
Naturally, Inzaghi wanted to show what he was capable of.
"Pippo, I'll say it straight!"
"If we want to win, we need goals, so we have to keep committing men forward!"
"But at the same time, we can give very little guarantee over our defensive line!"
"Leon seems to be in worse shape today than he was last match!"
Tassotti spoke with his usual clinical precision.
"Leon's not the problem, and you saw those saves yourself!"
"Anyone would have some emotional turbulence after being targeted like that for no good reason!"
Inzaghi moved pieces around on his tactics board, sketching and adjusting.
His real concern was not the goal Leon was guarding, but the fact that AC Milan's forwards simply were not scoring!
AC Milan's midfield was in complete disarray and could not produce any effective build-up play.
And in this match, Leon had not been able to pull off any of those eye-catching throws to launch attacks either!
Several of his long kicks had gone straight out of play.
But then again, asking a goalkeeper to run your attack for you was asking the impossible!
"I want to take off a midfielder and bring on another forward!"
Inzaghi suddenly drew a firm line across his tactics board!
"What? Are you mad?"
Even Tassotti, who had always backed Inzaghi, felt the full weight of his manager's recklessness in that moment!
AC Milan's midfield was already toothless, and pulling another man out of it would leave them with virtually nothing there!
"No, it's precisely because the midfield isn't doing anything that I'm pulling one off!"
"In the second half, I want us to push even higher up the pitch and give Juventus more one-on-ones to deal with!"
Inzaghi said it calmly.
Tassotti stared at Inzaghi, genuinely taken aback.
Had he completely lost it?
Tassotti knew full well that Leon was exceptional at stopping one-on-ones!
Up to this point, he appeared to have never been beaten in one!
But still!
What if something unexpected happened?
AC Milan could end up on the receiving end of an absolute battering from Juventus!
If that happened, the only thing waiting for Inzaghi would be the sack, no question about it!
In a match against Juventus, even a one-nil defeat would not provoke much criticism from the supporters.
But going down this road?
Inzaghi had already made up his mind though.
"Right then, the second half is underway!"
"Hang on, AC Milan are making a substitution!"
"Muntari off, Pazzini on!"
"They've taken off a midfielder and brought on a forward, are they going all out for it?"
"But isn't it a little early for that?"
In the commentary booth, Jackson was genuinely baffled and could make no sense of Inzaghi's thinking!
It felt much the same as trying to work out how Inzaghi as a player had always managed to time his runs to beat the offside trap!
"Bloody hell, has AC Milan given up on this match? How can they not concede playing like this?"
"Feeling for Leon, looks like he's going to have his hands full in the second half!"
"The Gaffer was fine as a player, but as a manager he's a bit of a disaster!"
Supporters back in the East were far less diplomatic than Jackson, and the criticism came pouring in!
Out on the pitch, Pazzini himself had not expected to be brought on so early in the second half!
Inzaghi's substitution was a clear signal: they were going to go full throttle on attack!
Up in the stands, the Juventus supporters were enjoying every bit of this!
Was Inzaghi's substitution not simply self-sabotage?
Was this some sort of statement that he had no respect for Juventus's attacking firepower?
And there, standing in front of his goal, Leon lifted his head and smiled quietly.
The second half was his.
His moment was coming.
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