Simeone was satisfied with the scoreline.
They were playing away from home.
They had an away goal.
And they still had a clean sheet.
What more could you ask for?
So at halftime, Simeone praised the players for their performance and told them to keep playing the same way in the second half.
Inside the home dressing room,
AC Milan manager Allegri obviously had no intention of sitting back and waiting for fate.
But what he emphasized most was not attack.
It was defense.
He told his players:
"We're one goal down now, but if you were Atlético Madrid's players—or, more precisely, if you were their midfield core, Shane Carter—what would you be thinking?"
"They're waiting for the moment we push up in numbers to attack. We can't do that. There's still a lot of time left, and we need patience. So... the key thing in the second half is still defense!"
Allegri spent most of his time explaining how to defend Shane Carter.
First, the man marking role would shift from one of the three holding midfielders to the attacking midfielder, Boateng.
Boateng was strong, energetic, and intense in the duel.
He was not a traditional attacking midfielder.
So having him mark Shane
was actually a very suitable arrangement.
If he took on Shane,
then AC Milan's three holding midfielders could stay in place and remain tight with the back line.
He also told both fullbacks never to push up.
"We need to keep a compact shape. Being one goal down is not the end of the world! We can absolutely score on the counterattack! Mario!"
Allegri looked at Balotelli.
Balotelli had been in excellent form lately.
"You need a bigger radius of movement. If you get a chance, shoot!"
Balotelli nodded.
Allegri had already figured out Balotelli's characteristics.
He knew that when giving Balotelli instructions,
the first rule was simple:
don't make them too complicated.
The simpler, the better.
Once the second half began,
Shane noticed that the opponent's three holding midfielders were staying very deep and very disciplined.
They were not moving out of position at all.
And the man now assigned to mark him was Boateng.
Just as expected.
Allegri had made a targeted adjustment at halftime.
Faced with that,
Shane did not rush to launch an attack either.
After all,
Atlético Madrid were the team leading now.
If they could bring a 1-0 away win back home,
Atlético would gladly accept that result.
The second half became rather dull.
That made quite a few Italian journalists anxious.
"What on earth is Allegri doing?"
"Now Milan are behind. Are they just going to accept losing at home?"
"Milan need to attack!"
The Italian reporters in the media area were buzzing.
The camera kept cutting to Allegri on the touchline.
But Allegri sat calmly, as steady as if he were fishing.
He did not react at all.
He knew the situation too well.
On paper,
this AC Milan side was far inferior to the current Atlético Madrid side.
Milan might have the bigger name, but reputation does not turn into strength.
What Milan could do now was stay disciplined and wait for the chance to counter.
Italian teams have always been best at this.
When you think an Italian side has no chance at all,
they often end up creating a miracle.
Allegri was now waiting for the moment when "the Italian talent awakens."
The minutes ticked by.
The tempo stayed slow.
Atlético Madrid had most of the ball.
At one point, the home side AC Milan's possession dropped below 30%.
Shane and his teammates controlled the ball with ease.
If you don't come out to press,
then we'll just keep the ball.
Until the final whistle.
At that pace,
Allegri sharply noticed a change in Atlético's mentality.
They were starting to relax.
He watched Griezmann receive the ball and string together several stepovers, before finally returning it to Shane with a flashy, almost acrobatic pass.
Shane didn't release the ball immediately either.
He stopped it under his foot and waited for the opponent to step up, then passed it sideways in one touch.
From that sequence,
Allegri could tell.
Atlético Madrid's players thought they had already won.
They had relaxed mentally.
That was normal.
If Shane Carter had any weakness at all,
it would be his age.
His experience...
Allegri narrowed his eyes.
No matter how mature Shane looked,
he was still only a nineteen-year-old youngster.
And another of Atlético's key attacking players, Griezmann, was only 21 as well...
He turned to the bench.
Soon, two substitutes were sent to the touchline.
Veteran Massimo Ambrosini and winger Stephan El Shaarawy came to the sideline.
Allegri first told El Shaarawy:
"Use your speed and dribbling to break them down on the wing!"
He patted El Shaarawy on the shoulder and pushed him toward the substitution area.
Then he put an arm around Ambrosini and said:
"Massimo, do you see it? Their mentality is starting to relax. Our chance is coming..."
Ambrosini nodded.
Among the star-studded AC Milan sides of the past,
Ambrosini had always been understated.
He was nowhere near as dazzling as Kaká, Pirlo, or Maldini.
But the fact that he could hold down a place in that Milan side already showed his ability was not simple.
Now, as a veteran,
he could no longer play a full ninety minutes in some high-intensity matches.
But for twenty or thirty minutes,
he could still produce a very high level of output.
Ambrosini nodded.
As a ball-recovery machine,
he could also see it.
The opponent was becoming too relaxed under this slow tempo.
"At the 73rd minute, AC Milan make a double substitution. El Shaarawy replaces Bojan, and Ambrosini replaces Flamini..."
As the commentators were speaking,
Atlético also made changes.
Thiago replaced the returning-from-injury Koke.
Mario Suárez came on for Gabi, who was also carrying some fitness concerns.
In the 70th minute range,
both sides made substitutions.
Nobody found that strange.
Because it was indeed the right time to make changes.
Everyone treated it as a routine substitution.
No one expected
what would happen next...
Read ahead with 70+ chapters now with daily updates!
@patreon.com/Authorizz