Genius - Chapter 523: Facing Inter Again! (Patreon)

There was not much time left for Manchester United in the FA Cup semifinal. Bruno Fernandes kept working hard in the final third to create chances for Rashford while also trying to bring Lingard further into the game.

Sancho’s introduction signaled that United intended to attack more aggressively down the flanks, and Sancho was excellent at taking defenders on out wide.

More importantly, the defender he was facing was Alexander-Arnold.

72nd minute!

“Sancho finds Bruno Fernandes on the left. Bruno carries the ball forward, while Sancho stays put and waits for the return pass!”

Sancho did not make a run in behind Alexander-Arnold, which left Bruno Fernandes somewhat frustrated.

Still, Bruno gave him the ball.

A moment later, Sancho’s dribbling immediately brought a smile to Bruno’s face.

Sancho’s changes of pace and direction prevented Alexander-Arnold from finding a defensive rhythm. Before long, Alexander-Arnold lost his balance and Sancho went past him, continuing his run toward the penalty area.

Once inside the box, Sancho found himself facing Van Dijk.

He suddenly cut the ball back and shaped to shoot, but Van Dijk drove his shoulder into him.

It was almost identical to the physical defending Leo had used earlier.

Van Dijk then calmly played the ball back to Alisson.

“Liverpool defend differently now. Ever since Lin started relying more on physical challenges, it feels like the rest of Liverpool’s players have started using them more often too.”

After Van Dijk stopped Sancho, Alisson passed the ball to Mac Allister.

Liverpool transitioned from defense to attack with remarkable smoothness.

Mac Allister cleverly slipped a through ball into Núñez’s path.

On his first real run of the match, Núñez immediately left Lindelöf behind.

Maguire had never been particularly good at recovering toward his own goal, so all he could do was watch as Núñez carried the ball toward De Gea.

De Gea rushed off his line.

He had barely left the six-yard box when he came face-to-face with Núñez.

Núñez chose to lift the ball over him.

He did not put much power into it. Instead, he used the curl to guide the ball past De Gea at waist height and toward the Manchester United goal.

Leo had already started running toward Núñez.

From where he was standing, he knew the ball was going in.

“Núñez scores!!!”

“Manchester United are two goals down in the FA Cup semifinal!”

“Liverpool have played very well today! Núñez and Mac Allister combine for the goal, and Mac Allister’s through balls just keep getting better!”

Klopp immediately made changes.

Gakpo came on, with Salah given a rest.

Gravenberch replaced Leo, while Ødegaard came on for Mac Allister.

Liverpool were only two goals ahead, but Klopp had plenty of confidence in the players he brought on.

And sure enough, the rest of the match continued to belong to Liverpool.

Manchester United’s approach in midfield essentially came down to getting the ball to Bruno, and whenever Bruno looked forward, Rashford was his main option.

Rodri now focused entirely on defending.

Ødegaard played as the lone defensive midfielder, but his only real responsibility was to distribute the ball.

Liverpool hardly needed to defend aggressively. Their passing alone was enough to drain the momentum from most of United’s attacks.

The more Liverpool played this way, the more impatient Manchester United became.

Bruno Fernandes was still organizing attacks carefully at first, but as time passed, even his through balls began losing accuracy.

Rashford simply could not get away from Van Dijk.

And after Gravenberch came on, he not only helped Liverpool carry the ball forward but also dropped back to help Konaté deal with Rashford.

With Gravenberch’s long stride, he could even keep up when Rashford tried to burst away.

What infuriated the Manchester United supporters most, however, was Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson.

Every time the ball was played back to him, it seemed destined to remain inside Liverpool’s penalty area for ages.

“Alisson looks completely comfortable every time he gets the ball in his own box. Almost too comfortable for a goalkeeper. He waits until Rashford is practically on top of him before finally passing it away.”

“Alisson, you’d better hope I never catch you making a mistake. I’ll have the entire Manchester United fanbase laughing at you!”

“Now you understand why so many Premier League clubs are signing goalkeepers with good distribution. When you’ve got Alisson in goal, you can confidently keep passing the ball back to him again and again.”

With Alisson helping Liverpool run down the match, the FA Cup semifinal quickly reached its conclusion.

Manchester United ultimately lost 3-1 to Liverpool and missed out on a place in the FA Cup Final.

“The FA Cup semifinal is over. To all the Manchester United supporters watching, it looks like United may no longer have any trophies left to fight for this season.”

“But that’s all right. Liverpool didn’t win anything last season either, and look at them now. They’ve already started winning trophies again this season.”

“So United supporters can still look forward to seeing the team improve next season!”

“In the other semifinal, Manchester City defeated Chelsea. That means Manchester City and Liverpool will meet in the FA Cup Final.”

Gullit and Scholes were already looking forward to it.

Manchester City had recently lost to Liverpool in the league, but City still held the advantage on points.

“For the past several seasons, Manchester City have been the only team consistently able to challenge Liverpool for trophies. Now that Liverpool are gradually emerging from their slump, the two clubs are competing for titles again.”

“And both teams are doing very well in the Champions League. They each won away from home in the first leg.”

Gullit looked over the Champions League results for both sides.

In the first leg of this season’s Round of 16, both had won away from home.

Liverpool, meanwhile, were about to face Inter Milan again in the second leg.

“In the Champions League Round of 16, if Liverpool can beat Inter Milan in the second leg, they’ll advance to the quarterfinals.”

“And the second leg will be played at Liverpool’s home ground, so Inter Milan don’t have particularly good odds.”

“Still, Inter have been excellent in the league this season. If they go out of the Champions League, they can devote all their energy to chasing the league title.”

Inter Milan certainly did not share Gullit’s thinking.

Inzaghi had prepared a completely different tactical approach from the first leg.

Even at Anfield, Inter’s objective remained the same.

Win.

“I’m sure all of you have seen Liverpool’s recent performances. They’ve been excellent both defensively and offensively, especially Lin, whose form just keeps improving.”

“So in the second leg, I don’t want you playing the way Manchester United did. I want you to take the initiative and compete physically from the very beginning.”

“United’s problem was that they surrendered too much control of the physical battle to Liverpool, and especially to Lin.”

“We need to do the opposite. We have to create physical contests all over the pitch and constantly challenge different Liverpool players.”

“Not every Liverpool player is as strong in physical battles as Lin.”

“So we need to create as many points of contact as possible before Liverpool can impose themselves, and before Lin can take control of those battles. That way, we can limit how much influence he has physically.”

Inzaghi intended to turn the second leg into a full-scale physical battle.

Rather than sit back and wait for Leo to find opportunities to impose himself, Inter would take the initiative and challenge Liverpool head-on.