Milan lost to their arch-rivals in the derby. In addition to Pato's exceptional performance and Lu Wenbin's restricted free kicks, Mourinho's desire to save his strength for the Champions League was also a reason.
In the Milan derby, Lucio, Maicon, Cambiasso, Eto'o and others did not start, and did not even come on as substitutes, just to save their strength for the Champions League quarter-finals three days later.
Although the opponent in the quarter-finals is Tottenham Hotspur, who has already played against him in the group stage, Mourinho did not take it lightly.
In the first round of the group stage, Inter Milan beat Tottenham 4-3, and in the second round, Tottenham drew 3-3 with Inter Milan. Inter Milan only had one win and one draw, with the total score only one goal more, which was a very thrilling win.
Although Lu Wenbin's free kick skills have greatly improved, Mourinho does not dare to underestimate the enemy.
This season, Moratti invested more than 100 million euros to introduce Lu Wenbin, not to dominate the domestic arena, but to win the Champions League.
Considering the transfer fee, annual salary and bonus that Moratti invested in Lu Wenbin, it would be a failure if Mourinho does not lead the team to win the Champions League this season.
Therefore, he did not send out all the main players in the last Milan derby, and only sent out all the main players in the Champions League quarter-final against Tottenham, their opponent in the group stage.
We have always maintained a points advantage in the league, so it doesn't matter if we lose one or two games, but in the Champions League we must advance to the final and win the championship.
At 20:45 on the evening of April 5, with the referee's whistle, the first leg of the 2010/2011 Champions League quarter-final between Inter Milan and Tottenham Hotspur officially began at home.
Lu Wenbin's current free kick scoring rate is really scary. Almost all opponents are racking their brains to think about how to reduce the number of free kicks Lu Wenbin takes at the front of the penalty area.
The last Milan derby gave Tottenham a good reference.
Therefore, in this game, Tottenham Hotspur followed suit and wanted to imitate AC Milan by moving their defense forward and fouled Lu Wenbin near the center line.
However, they did not expect that the defensive strength of Tottenham and AC Milan were not at the same level at all.
The luxurious defense line composed of Nesta, Zambrotta, Gattuso, Van Bommel and Silva is much stronger than Tottenham.
Coupled with the overall defensive tacit understanding rooted in the Italian team's genes, they were able to limit Lu Wenbin's free kick performance like in the Milan derby.
Moreover, there is a national team match day before the Milan derby, which lasts for more than ten days, so AC Milan head coach Allegri has relatively more time to perfect this temporary tactics.
As for Tottenham, they only had two days after the Milan derby, and they had to fly to Italy a day in advance, so they didn't have much time to train temporary new defensive tactics.
Without the defensive strength of AC Milan, we still have to learn from AC Milan to advance the defense line.
The consequence is that the back line lacks tacit understanding, and the empty defensive area was completely destroyed by Lu Wenbin, who has full off-ball running and speed, using offside traps.
Just three minutes into the game, Sneijder got the ball in the backcourt and made a straight pass. Lu Wenbin took advantage of the lack of coordination among Tottenham's defense line in the midfield and successfully got offside and caught up with the ball behind the defense line.
After successfully countering the offside trap, the next step is relatively simple.
Lu Wenbin took the ball and went to the meeting alone. His full speed and dribbling made Lu Wenbin's combination with the ball not much slower than running in the air. Several Tottenham defenders tried their best to chase back but could not catch up with Lu Wenbin.
Near the top of the penalty area, facing the attacking goalkeeper Gomez, Lu Wenbin made a fake shot and knocked the nervous Gomez down.
Then, Lu Wenbin dribbled the ball to the side and followed up with a push with his other foot. The ball rolled past Gomez and into the goal.
It was not until then that the Tottenham defender who was desperately chasing back ran to the penalty area line, but could only watch in despair as the ball rolled into the goal.
Just three minutes into the game, Tottenham's defense was broken through by Lu Wenbin with a simple offside move.
Inter Milan led Tottenham 1-0, and the Inter fans in the stands immediately cheered loudly.
The commentators in the commentary booth also shook their heads and sighed, saying that Tottenham's attempt to copy AC Milan had failed.
In the rest of the first half, as everyone expected, Tottenham was completely beaten by Inter Milan.
Not long after Lu Wenbin scored the first goal, in the 9th minute, Eto'o followed suit and scored Inter Milan's second goal by receiving a pass from Stankovic after being offside.
In the 17th minute, Lu Wenbin got another chance to shoot, but this time goalkeeper Gomez performed well and saved Lu Wenbin's one-on-one shot.
However, this could not make up for Tottenham's tactical failure.
In the 31st minute, Lu Wenbin suddenly started an offside again and succeeded. With the tacit cooperation of Sneijder, he made a long pass to the back of Tottenham's defense line, allowing Lu Wenbin to successfully receive the ball in the frontcourt.
The next thing was easy. Facing the goalkeeper who came out to attack, Lu Wenbin directly made a lob shot.
The ball fell accurately into the goal, Lu Wenbin scored twice, and Inter Milan led 3-0.
In the 43rd minute, just when the first half was about to end, Lu Wenbin did not counter-offside this time, but because Tottenham's backcourt was too empty, he directly used a long-distance dribble to eat up Tottenham's defense and had a single chance to score another goal.
In the first half alone, Lu Wenbin completed a hat trick and Inter Milan led by four goals 4-0.
Tottenham Hotspur, who were almost tied with Inter Milan in the group stage, were completely defeated by Inter Milan led by Lu Wenbin in the Champions League quarter-finals.
The fast winger Marcel, who was highly expected, did not perform well in this game.
After all, Bell's strength is still far inferior to Lu Wenbin.
It's okay to perform exceptionally well in one or two games, but it's impossible for a player like Lu Wenbin to score in almost every game.
At halftime, the Tottenham coach admitted the failure of his tactics and returned to Tottenham's normal formation in the second half.
After returning to their familiar formation, Tottenham played much better, and in the second half center forward Crouch scored a header from a corner kick.
However, Tottenham scored a goal, but Inter Milan, playing at home, scored two more goals in the second half.
In the 63rd minute of the second half, Sneijder scored a long shot outside the penalty area.
In the 88th minute, Lu Wenbin got a free kick in a good position, then used his special skills to kick the ball directly into the goal.
Lu Wenbin once again scored four goals in the Champions League.
In the end, Inter Milan defeated Tottenham Hotspur 6-1 at home, making the second round of the game basically suspense-free.
After the game, Lu Wenbin's four goals and Tottenham's tactical failure became the focus of media discussion.
It seems that how to restrict Lu Wenbin is still a global problem in football! (Seeking monthly votes)