Atlético Madrid's attack was indeed a little sluggish. Compared with how smoothly they played in La Liga, they didn't have a good answer for the defensive shape AC Milan had set up in this match.
But Simeone wasn't in a hurry.
Because Shane was not someone who had never been man-marked, double-teamed, or shadowed for an entire match before. His dribbling ability was very strong, but even he couldn't single-handedly burst past two defenders every single time. That kind of player simply didn't exist.
Maradona's famous five-man dribble became a classic goal precisely because a one-man run that dismantles an entire defense by dribbling through everyone is really not something you see very often. Naturally, Shane couldn't dribble recklessly every time he got the ball. He had to look for the right moment.
And what Simeone trusted most was exactly that. Shane was smart. He knew when to do what.
Now he had started to slow things down. He motioned for calm with both hands, then kept receiving, shielding, passing, and moving. His stamina was borderline absurd. With his conditioning, he could run all over the pitch. Even in the 90th minute, he could still sprint with plenty of energy. His opponents, meanwhile, were often dragged into running the entire match by him and ended up exhausted.
So once Shane realized the defensive system was too hard to crack, he immediately chose to take it slowly. On one hand, he wanted to wear down the opponent's stamina first and see whether their concentration would slip. A chain defense sounds impressive, but maintaining that kind of collective synchronization is actually very difficult, especially over a long period of time.
On the other hand, the match had barely been going ten minutes. There was no need to rush. The best option was simply to watch and wait.
When Allegri saw Shane voluntarily slow the pace of the game down, he couldn't help but tug at the corner of his mouth. He was actually a little worried inside. The situation he wanted most was for Shane to get frustrated after seeing his attacks blocked and start forcing the issue harder. That way, AC Milan could pick up more counterattacking chances.
But now Shane had suddenly chosen to control the tempo, and that made Allegri quietly admire him.
"It's hard to believe this guy is only nineteen."
That thought flashed through Allegri's mind, the same thought many coaches had had after facing Shane in previous seasons.
Still, he wasn't too worried. Three holding midfielders and four defenders already formed a very solid structure. Add in Boateng and Bojan dropping back to help defend, and they had completely sealed off Shane's room to pass forward or break through individually.
From what it looked like now, Shane really didn't have much of a solution in the short term. Otherwise, why would he be slowing the rhythm down?
Before this, the Spanish media had been hyping Shane up as the most complete midfielder in history. Some even called him the new libero, the new Beckenbauer, the Football Emperor, and all kinds of deliberately exaggerated praise.
Allegri scoffed at that. Shane was certainly very good. But that good? He wasn't convinced.
Especially since Shane had only been famous for a little over a year. As people paid more and more attention to him, Allegri believed Shane was probably about to encounter the first real bottleneck of his career. Especially because Champions League football was completely different from La Liga. This was the highest level stage.
Shane kept switching the ball side to side, passing backward and sideways. He did not believe any team could maintain such compact spacing and such extreme concentration forever. No one could play a 90-minute match without making a single mistake. If they could, then it would only mean the pressure they were facing wasn't strong enough.
After keeping the tempo low for a while, Shane suddenly changed gears.
He took the ball and drove forward. When Muntari stepped up to close him down, Shane didn't keep going forward. Instead, he suddenly played it wide. The ball went to Raúl García, and then Shane moved toward him.
Muntari thought Shane was going to receive the ball again, so he followed closely. But what he didn't notice was that Shane gave Raúl García a hand signal. His hand was held in front of his chest, and Muntari missed it. He was convinced Shane was moving to support Raúl García.
But once Raúl García saw the signal, he immediately passed the ball in the direction Shane had pointed out. The ball was laid back diagonally to Gabi.
And at that very instant, Shane's lateral movement had drawn Muntari and Flamini closer together. Right then, he suddenly burst horizontally into motion. Gabi understood immediately and played the ball into his path.
Muntari realized at once that he had been fooled. Shane had deliberately dragged him away to one side. If, before this, AC Milan's two chain-like lines of defense had been stretched open into a front line that could resist Atlético's attack, then this move by Shane had pulled Muntari away and suddenly changed direction horizontally, using his acceleration to split one of those chains apart.
Of course, Muntari noticed this immediately, so he quickly tried to recover. But for Atlético, the opening was only a momentary one.
The instant Gabi released the ball, Shane let it run across his body and used the inside of his left foot to push a pass through. The ball slipped between Mexès and Abate. At the same time, Costa burst through from behind Mexès.
"A beautiful through ball."
"Costa is onside."
"Shane has played an extremely dangerous pass."
"Beautiful."
The commentators shouted in excitement.
The Milan players had not expected it either. The tempo had changed suddenly. Shane's lateral drag had ripped open AC Milan's defense. And more importantly, the moment those two defensive chains were about to close back together, Shane did not give Milan any chance to recover. He played the through ball first time, using the gap he had created to slip the ball through.
The Milan players turned and saw Costa's back. They all raised their hands, appealing that Costa had been offside.
But Costa didn't care about any of that. If there was a chance, he would shoot.
He struck it first time.
Abbiati made a crucial save, pushing the ball out for a corner.
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