October 20th, Milan's Meazza Stadium.
When Gareth Bale received Rakitic's diagonal pass on the left flank and faced Maicon one-on-one, he suddenly poked the ball past him. Like an agile cheetah, he accelerated instantly and left Maicon behind.
The entire Meazza Stadium erupted with deafening gasps.
The Welshman caught up with the ball he had just pushed forward, as fast as lightning.
Approaching the left side of the penalty area, facing Lucio closing him down, Gareth Bale made a clever feint that threw off the Brazilian center-back. He broke to the byline and played a low cross into the six-yard box.
Suarez quickly stepped up, got in front of Samuel, and slotted the ball into the near post.
One to zero!
The Meazza Stadium was filled with the boos of Inter Milan fans.
Manchester City's players sprinted away to celebrate amid the hostile atmosphere.
…
The teams switched sides after halftime.
Manchester City, holding a one-goal lead, continued to play steadily. Inter Milan, eager to respond early in the second half, launched a wave of attacks in the opening minutes. They managed to create two shots on target, but in the 54th minute, Manchester City struck again.
Suarez, positioned with his back to goal, controlled a pass from Rakitic and laid it off to David Silva at the edge of the penalty area. Silva, without pausing, played a quick ball behind the defense.
Gareth Bale, charging down the left side, burst into Inter Milan's penalty area. Despite Maicon's challenge and Cesar quickly closing down the near post, Bale remained calm. Without stopping the ball, he struck it cleanly with his left foot.
The ball flew low across the face of the goal and slammed into the far-right side of the net.
Two to zero!
…
Despite playing at home, Inter Milan showed their resilience.
In the 60th minute, with an assist from Moutinho, Zanetti made a late run and exploited a defensive lapse from Manchester City, scoring Inter Milan's first goal of this Champions League campaign.
It was also the first goal Manchester City had conceded in the Champions League this season.
But even after conceding, Manchester City continued to apply intense pressure, with Gareth Bale on the left and Robben on the right staying highly active.
Ten minutes later, Bale once again broke through on the left, dribbling past Maicon, who was trying to intercept the ball. Bale charged into the penalty area and, without waiting for defenders like Lucio and Zanetti to close him down, struck the ball powerfully with his left foot.
The ball was swiftly played across to the right side of the penalty area.
Robben arrived on time, anticipated the trajectory, and brought the ball down with his chest.
Zivu immediately came over to mark him.
But the Dutch winger gave Zivu no chance to settle. As soon as they clashed, Robben unleashed a series of dazzling feints, dribbled past Zivu, cut into the penalty area, and curled the ball beautifully with his left foot.
The shot drew a graceful arc and flew straight into the top left corner of Inter Milan's goal.
Neither Cesar, Samuel, nor Cambiasso could stop it.
Three to one!
…
Standing in front of the visiting team's technical area at the Meazza Stadium, Gao Shen watched the match intently.
With each Manchester City attack, over 80,000 Inter Milan fans reacted with loud gasps and groans.
Their emotions swayed with every moment of the game, unable to contain their frustration.
It was a spectacular and dramatic scene.
Gao Shen occasionally turned his head to glance at the Nerazzurri fans behind him, then looked toward Leonardo at the home team's technical area.
Like Gao Shen, Leonardo stood throughout the match, barking instructions from the sidelines. But his expression looked grim.
His team's performance had been far below expectations.
The attacking football Leonardo had envisioned never materialized. Instead, Manchester City unleashed wave after wave of relentless attacks, especially down both wings.
Gareth Bale and Robben were simply outstanding tonight.
One to three. For Inter Milan, who had been outplayed in every statistical category, this scoreline was beyond salvation.
Leonardo attempted to change the flow of the match by substituting Coutinho for Montari, switching to three defensive midfielders.
When Gao Shen noticed the adjustment, he smiled but made no changes of his own.
If the opponent wanted to strengthen their defense, then Manchester City's best response was to keep up the attacking pressure.
As for Montari, he was no longer the same player who had just returned to Serie A from the Premier League back when Gao Shen coached Napoli.
Throughout the match, aside from Zanetti's goal, Manchester City's performance had been almost flawless.
Gao Shen completely outclassed Leonardo in both tactical setup and in-game adjustments.
The Brazilians had been given no chance at all.
…
After losing 3-0 away to Napoli, Inter Milan now suffered another defeat, 3-1 at home to Manchester City.
Two consecutive losses dealt a massive blow to Inter Milan's morale.
More importantly, Leonardo's team now looked likely to lose control of their entire season.
Meanwhile, far away in Madrid, Spain, the other group match between Real Madrid and Schalke 04 was still ongoing, tied at 1-1. Cristiano Ronaldo had scored for Real Madrid, while Raul netted for Schalke.
Based on the current situation, Inter Milan seemed destined to fall to the bottom of the group standings.
Realizing this, Moratti and his son, sitting in the stands, both looked deeply troubled.
When Mourinho left Inter Milan to coach Real Madrid, the club's management already sensed that they were heading toward a crisis.
Hiring Leonardo had been a gamble, but now it appeared to be a costly mistake.
If Inter Milan failed to achieve anything in both Serie A and the Champions League this season, it would be an extremely painful lesson.
"This is what the strength of a world-class coach looks like!" Angelo Moratti said bitterly, pointing toward the pitch.
He had long been an admirer of Gao Shen and had once lobbied hard for Inter Milan to hire him. But his father, club chairman Massimo Moratti, had hesitated too long and missed the opportunity.
If Gao Shen had been on Inter Milan's bench, things might have been very different.
"Look at this. We couldn't even put up the slightest resistance against him. And look at Ibrahimovic! Gao Shen was right. Every time he's in a big match, he goes missing. How many chances has he wasted since the group stage began?"
At this point, Angelo Moratti's frustration was clear.
In his view, Inter Milan should not be where they were now.
His father's indecision had cost them a golden opportunity, while their heavy investment over the years had brought little reward.
Moratti sat in silence.
Even his harshest critics could not deny his love for Inter Milan.
But even his closest supporters had to admit that as club chairman, he had failed.
Passion was one thing. But business was another.
Unfortunately, for Moratti, the two had always been intertwined. He wanted both but ended up with neither.
Although Angelo did not say it outright, Moratti knew very well that this season was already lost.
In the league, they had been overtaken by Napoli. In the Champions League, they were bottom of the group. Given the current situation, qualifying seemed highly unlikely.
The next round would see Inter Milan traveling to the Etihad Stadium to face Manchester City away.
Sometimes Moratti couldn't help but wonder, what if Gao Shen had been the one leading Inter Milan back then?
But every time he allowed himself to imagine it, reality would quickly pull him back.
Regret could not change anything.
…
The match ended.
Gao Shen raised his fists in celebration, cheering for his team's performance.
Manchester City's players celebrated their victory on the pitch.
With a 3-1 win away from home, the Blue Moon had secured three consecutive victories in the group stage.
If they beat Inter Milan again at home in the next match, they would secure early qualification for the knockout stage.
But that wasn't the biggest takeaway.
The real story was that in this so-called group of death, where they faced top teams from the three major leagues, Manchester City had discovered that these opponents were not as formidable as they had imagined.
Or rather, these teams did not hold any advantage over Manchester City.
This realization gave Manchester City a huge boost in confidence. Every player now understood what Gao Shen had been saying all along—not only should they qualify from the group, but they should aim to go even further, perhaps even challenge for the title.
With this belief, the entire squad radiated confidence and pride.
A strong team is built on victory after victory.
Leonardo came over after the match, politely shook hands with Gao Shen, then walked away without saying much.
Gao Shen didn't mind. He walked over to the sidelines and greeted each of his players individually.
He praised their performance but also reminded them that in two weeks, they would face Inter Milan again at home—a key match that could decide early qualification.
The Manchester City players, who had long admired Gao Shen, listened attentively.
Gao Shen celebrated briefly with his assistants, then gathered his things and headed toward the tunnel.
The frustration among the Inter Milan fans was boiling over. If Manchester City's players had stayed on the pitch too long, there might have been trouble.
As Gao Shen and his team walked toward the visiting locker room, chatting and laughing, they noticed Angelo Moratti standing near the corner of the tunnel.
Seeing them approach, Angelo smiled and raised his hand in greeting.
He had met Gao Shen several times before and even held long conversations with him.
Gao Shen gestured for his assistants to head to the locker room first and then walked directly over to Moratti.
"Hello, Angelo."
"Congratulations, Gao. You were the better side tonight," Angelo Moratti said graciously.
For club executives like him, losing a match—even losing in the Champions League—was part of the game.
"Do you have a moment? There's something I'd like to ask you," Angelo added, his eyes full of hope.
(To be continued.)