On the pitch, Tevez watched the moment unfold with complete disbelief.
That save was made as well!
'Was my shot that poor?'
'No!'
'I already gave everything I had on that chip!'
'There was no way to produce a better chip than that!'
"Look at this! Look! Still no goal!"
"Couldn't you have just passed it to me for the follow-up?"
Pogba came charging over, shouting at Tevez without stopping.
Tevez, unusually, kept his head down and said nothing to Pogba.
'You understand nothing.'
'Explaining it to you would only lower my standards.'
"Stop shouting!"
Vidal and Pirlo pulled Pogba away at the same time.
Constant bickering on the pitch was unacceptable.
Pogba was not a forward, and finishing was not his strength, so he had no real appreciation for how perfect Tevez's chip had just been.
The only explanation was that Leon was simply on another level entirely.
Both Pirlo and Vidal could not help but glance over at Leon.
At the rate this goalkeeper was progressing, it would not be long before he surpassed Buffon.
The match continued.
Pirlo walked over to take the corner.
"Hey! Over here!"
Pogba pointed to his own head from inside the box, signalling to Pirlo.
"Why not!"
Pirlo responded with a gesture in return.
Although Pogba's brain was not always his strongest asset, his imposing frame made him a solid option for attacking corners in the box.
Leon remained fully focused throughout.
After catching the small exchange between Pogba and Pirlo, Leon had already formed his read on what was coming.
"Bang!"
Pirlo whipped in a sharply curling inswinger, aimed directly at Pogba near the near post.
'Oh!'
'This guy Pirlo is a real one.'
'He actually played it to me!'
Pogba felt a surge of excitement.
'The goal that Leon is guarding, let me be the one to break it.'
'Get in!'
Pogba leapt high, judged the flight of the ball, and snapped his head at it with full force.
Mexes, who had been marking Pogba, was completely dominated by him.
Although Mexes also jumped with full effort, his leap fell well short of Pogba's height.
'This is bad.'
Mexes already had a sinking feeling in his chest.
Despite the sharp decline in Mexes's physical output as age caught up with him, his reading of the game had only grown sharper over the years.
The trouble was that his body simply could no longer keep up with what his mind saw.
"Ha!"
"I really am the best!"
Pogba caught a glimpse of Mexes jumping far lower than him from the corner of his eye, and felt a wave of quiet satisfaction.
'Leon who?'
'Unstoppable saves who?'
'Watch me, Pogba, put this one away!'
"Come on!"
"Hmm?"
"What?"
After snapping his header, Pogba felt no contact between his forehead and the ball.
What had just happened?
As Pogba landed and tried to make sense of it, he heard a collective gasp ring out from the home supporters in the stands.
Leon had come off his line and claimed Pirlo's corner cleanly.
Because Leon had moved early based on his read, taking the ball involved very little difficulty at all.
After collecting it, Leon surged to the edge of the penalty area and launched the ball with a powerful throw towards the centre circle.
Leon had no throwing range boost in this match, but that did not stop him from reaching the halfway line with a strong throw.
During that corner attack, the majority of the Juventus players had pushed into the penalty area, leaving their defensive line completely exposed.
And because AC Milan had been pressing hard throughout the match, there were still three Milan players waiting near the centre circle.
Torres! Menez! Suso!
Juventus had only two full-backs sitting deep.
Three against two.
A situation suddenly emerged that was very much in AC Milan's favour.
Menez brought down Leon's throw with a neat touch, prodded the ball forward, and immediately burst into a run.
"Get back!"
Allegri felt his eyelid twitch and immediately roared towards the pitch.
'It should be fine, they can hold it.'
'Menez tends to keep it himself, he probably won't pass.'
'Buffon will know that too.'
Allegri could not help rubbing his nose as that thought ran quietly through his head.
Out on the pitch, Lichtsteiner and Asamoah were thinking exactly the same thing.
Asamoah tracked Menez directly, pushing hard to disrupt his run.
Buffon adjusted his positioning as well, shifting his full attention towards the shot he expected Menez to take.
"Hey! Hey! Pass it!"
Suso and Torres, flanking Menez on either side, both called out to him urgently.
If this ball could be slipped through cleanly, it would be a one-on-one with Buffon.
Menez continued driving into the box under pressure from Asamoah.
Juventus supporters in the stands began to show visible relief.
'Just keep charging, it will be stopped by Buffon.'
But before they could settle, Menez drew Buffon into closing out, then gently rolled the ball to his left.
He passed it.
Buffon was still throwing himself into a save, but he already knew the ball was going in.
Torres, on the left, exhaled when he finally saw Menez play it through.
He guided the ball calmly into the empty net.
Goooooal!
2-0!
AC Milan extended their lead!
The Juventus Stadium fell into complete silence.
The Juventus supporters were shell-shocked.
"Ha!"
Torres was absolutely buzzing.
He had scored again!
His goal tally for the season had now moved to three.
Since Leon had started in goal, Torres had scored twice.
By that measure, Leon really was his lucky charm.
Torres broke away from his teammates entirely and sprinted the full length of the pitch straight to Leon, pulling him into a big embrace.
"Leon! We scored again!"
"That was a brilliant save from you!"
Torres could not quite explain why he had run across the entire pitch to find Leon.
But in his excitement, it was simply what he wanted to do.
This friendship with Leon, he was certain of it.
At that moment, Mexes, the captain, also walked over to Leon.
"Leon! Welcome to the squad!"
Mexes smiled as he spoke.
"Keep it going. The match isn't over yet."
Leon replied with a calm smile.
From this moment on, he had truly become part of AC Milan.
Whether it was a foreign star like Torres, or the veteran core that had long been at the club, everyone was beginning to make room for Leon.
Even though Leon still carried feelings he could not quite let go of regarding certain decisions at the club.
But that did not stop him from building a real relationship with his teammates.
Especially the entire back line.
That would be essential for Leon to maintain his form going forward.
For the remainder of the match, Juventus could not create a single meaningful chance.
2-0.
AC Milan pulled off a thoroughly "unexpected" victory at Juventus's home ground.
Many supporters called it a major upset.
But then again, was it really so surprising that AC Milan had beaten Juventus?
A wounded lion is still a lion.
You could never write off AC Milan.
As for the AC Milan supporters, they were lost in celebration.
"This is a new beginning!"
"Leon's arrival has brought something different to this club!"
"I believe we can find our way back to the glory days."