The second half got underway!
AC Milan's four-forward setup meant they had effectively abandoned the midfield entirely!
There were now only Essien and Menez left in the middle of the pitch!
And Menez was fundamentally more of a forward than a midfielder!
Which meant AC Milan currently had five attacking players on the pitch!
Essien looked at the situation and felt like weeping inside!
If this had been Essien in his prime, he might still have been able to contribute something in midfield.
But the Essien of today could only drift along with the tide.
'The manager's already decided we're not defending, so what's the point of me bothering!'
With things as they were, AC Milan's four defenders had reached the same conclusion.
'Might as well push all the way forward!'
'High press!'
'Win the ball and we're up!'
'If we don't win it, force the offside!'
'And if the offside trap fails, leave it to fate!'
No.
Leave it to Leon's performance!
In the 51st minute, Juventus found themselves clean through on goal.
It was not that Juventus had played any particularly brilliant ball, AC Milan were simply handing it to them!
A precise long pass from Pirlo split the entire AC Milan defensive line and landed perfectly in behind.
Tevez took the ball in his stride and charged towards goal!
Pogba and Vidal followed closely behind, all three of them bearing down at once!
"It's over!"
"It's really over this time!"
"I believe Leon is brilliant at stopping one-on-ones!"
"But this is three against one, how can he possibly stop this!"
Every supporter watching from the East felt their stomach drop, convinced this was going to end badly.
Looking at the AC Milan players on the pitch, some had not even bothered tracking back!
They were throwing Leon to the wolves!
Leon saw three Juventus players charging directly at his goal, and his brow creased for just a moment before smoothing out again.
One-on-ones are always saved!
Three Juventus players bearing down on him still fell within the category of a one-on-one situation!
So long as no teammates were there to help him during the save, it counted as a one-on-one!
Leon immediately settled.
'Now let me show you the true power of One-on-One Mastery!'
Tevez's dribbling was beautifully smooth, and he carved his way into the penalty area quickly.
Because there were other Juventus players in support this time, Leon chose not to rush out and commit!
If he came off his line and Tevez slipped the ball to a teammate, not even supernatural forces could put that right.
Tevez had actually been planning to play the ball to a teammate the moment Leon came out to close him down.
It was a rare moment of unselfishness from him.
But to his surprise, Leon did not come out at all and simply stayed rooted to his line.
That actually gave Tevez a moment of hesitation.
'Pass or shoot?'
'There's no reason not to shoot in a situation like this!'
In a flash, Tevez made his decision!
He drilled a low shot towards the far top corner!
"Yes!"
The moment his foot connected, Tevez knew the quality of that strike was exceptional!
And at the exact moment Tevez pulled the trigger, Leon moved!
He launched himself into the air, body fully extended in flight!
Thwack!
Leon's large hands met the ball and pushed it wide towards the touchline.
The ball had not gone out for a goal kick!
Good grief!
He had actually kept that out!
The Juventus home supporters had already started their goal celebration, only to find that Leon had somehow saved it!
That feeling was absolutely unbearable!
They swallowed it back down hard!
"What a save!"
"That was an absolutely stunning stop!"
"Leon is the greatest goalkeeper in the history of football in the East!"
Plenty of supporters watching from the East leapt to their feet in front of their screens in sheer delight.
They were discovering for the very first time that watching a goalkeeper make saves could be this thrilling!
Back in the commentary booth, Jackson was just about to reach for some flowery language to properly praise Leon, only to find that the situation on the pitch refused to give him the time.
Leon sprang to his feet after the save and rushed to collect the ball, which had not gone out of play, gathering it cleanly with both hands!
Pogba and Vidal, who had followed up, were both slightly slow to react and had not moved to contest it!
The sheer impact of Leon's save had momentarily stunned them!
Boom!
Leon launched a long kick straight into the attacking half!
Juventus now had three players camped in front of their own goal, which meant AC Milan had the numbers advantage in the Juventus half at that very moment!
"Oh no!"
"Get back!"
Vidal was the first to snap out of it and called out to Tevez and Pogba to recover!
But Pogba and Tevez were clearly not on the same page.
The two of them had already started an argument.
"You should have passed it!"
"Pass it to me and I would have put it away for certain!"
Pogba was furious that Tevez had gone for goal himself instead of squaring it to him.
"Get lost, what do you know!"
Tevez fired straight back.
It did not matter that Pogba was currently being groomed as a key figure for the club; Tevez was not going to bow to that!
'Watch yourself or you'll end up getting sold!'
Pogba's irritation only deepened.
'I'm the future of this club!'
And while the two of them were bickering, AC Milan had already launched a lightning counter-attack.
Leon's long kick had been brought down perfectly by Torres.
He looked up and saw AC Milan players everywhere.
This was going to be straightforward.
Torres played a quick one-two with Pazzini and drove into the Juventus penalty area!
"Get across! Block him!"
Buffon sharpened his focus and bellowed at Bonucci.
Bonucci reacted quickly and closed in tight.
But Torres did not try to force it himself, squaring the ball across to the centre instead!
Two AC Milan players were arriving in the middle!
Menez and Suso!
Suso got there first and slotted it from a tight angle!
The ball clipped the post and nestled into the net!
Goooooooooal!
Suso had scored!
Suso was visibly buzzing after getting the goal!
He sprinted to the corner flag and mimed firing a machine gun in celebration.
Pure swagger!
Buffon pinched the bridge of his nose with a resigned look.
From where he had been standing, the penalty area had been absolutely full of AC Milan players!
So where exactly had all of Juventus's players been?
"Hey, thanks for the argument, it helped us score!"
Leon spotted Suso's goal and walked up calmly in front of Pogba and Tevez.
"Bloody hell."
Pogba and Tevez exchanged a glance, both feeling like they had been completely rattled.
The two of them trudged back to their half one after the other.
And what they walked back to witness was AC Milan's players going absolutely wild in celebration!
"The credit for that goal belongs first and foremost to Leon!"
"It was Leon's one-against-three save, followed by his rapid launch of the counter-attack, that handed AC Milan this goal!"
"Without any exaggeration, Leon has become the true heart of AC Milan in this match!"
Jackson finally found his moment and unleashed a full round of praise for Leon!
"Ha! Jackson always knows exactly what to say, that felt wonderful to hear!"
"Same here! We can say it with confidence now, Leon is the future of football in the East!"
"Honestly, this has me thinking about switching to goalkeeper at my club, the saves and the counter-attacks are just too cool!"
"Steady on mate, you'll end up fracturing something trying to dive like that!"
"Ha!"
Posts and comment sections across the internet in the East were alive with celebration!
And all of it had been brought about by Leon.