Mourinho celebrated with one powerful fist pump before immediately returning to the match.
"Juventus's problems become much worse when they press high," he told Faria.
"They recovered enough players during the counterattack, but there was no coordination between them."
"Ramsey does not fit beside Pogba in a defensive transition. Neither naturally protects the other."
Faria glanced toward Juventus, who were already preparing to restart.
"They'll throw everything forward now."
"Yes. And they'll hunt set pieces."
Mourinho expected Juventus to increase the pressure around midfield and the edge of United's penalty area.
Crosses, corners, and free kicks remained among the clearest routes toward Cristiano.
"Should we drop deeper?" Faria asked.
Mourinho turned sharply.
"No. No. No."
He looked toward the bench.
"Sandro, warm up."
Faria raised an eyebrow.
"We're going to attack them?"
"We push their full-backs backward," Mourinho replied. "If we only defend, Juventus will spend twenty minutes crossing into our box."
Sandro immediately pulled on his training vest.
Juventus were his former club, but sentiment had no place in a Champions League semifinal.
Playing well against them could strengthen his position at United and perhaps secure his status as Mourinho's first-choice left-back.
Professional loyalty now belonged to the club paying him.
...
Sarri felt as though insects were crawling beneath his skin.
The craving for a cigarette became almost unbearable.
'How did we allow that?'
Three players had been close enough to stop Ling.
None had even succeeded in committing the tactical foul required to end the attack.
Ramsey's failure irritated Sarri most of all.
Perhaps replacing Pjanić had been the wrong decision.
Dybala would have offered far more attacking danger.
Regret offered no solution.
Sarri had only one choice remaining.
Attack!
The Juventus board had already made its expectations clear.
If the club failed to reach the Champions League final, Sarri's position would be reviewed at the end of the season.
After leaving Chelsea, he had returned to Italy believing Juventus would provide escape from the chaos of English football.
Instead, Ling appeared to have followed him.
Sarri called Dybala from the bench.
"Warm up."
...
Both teams made their changes.
Dybala replaced Higuaín.
Alex Sandro came on for Luke Shaw.
"Sarri adds creativity and movement through Dybala," Beglin said. "Mourinho responds by introducing a more aggressive left-back."
Drury recognized the message.
"Manchester United are two goals ahead in Turin, yet Mourinho refuses to retreat into the familiar shell."
"He possesses the sharpest attacking weapon in football, and tonight he intends to keep using it."
Juventus had dominated Serie A for almost a decade, but European competition exposed different weaknesses.
Domestic opponents often approached them cautiously, allowing Juventus to control matches through reputation and superior individual quality.
Manchester United offered no such respect.
They pressed.
They attacked.
They forced Juventus to defend spaces that were rarely tested in Italy.
That did not make Serie A weak or Juventus fraudulent. It did reveal how prolonged domestic dominance could allow structural flaws to remain concealed until the level of opposition rose sharply.
Higuaín's removal also changed the attack.
Sarri had trusted him for years, but the striker and Cristiano often occupied similar spaces without complementing one another.
Both wanted to finish moves, and neither naturally sacrificed his position for the other.
Dybala offered something different.
He could drop between the lines, carry the ball, and relieve some of the creative burden placed on Pogba.
Juventus finally had another player capable of connecting the attack.
...
In the 73rd minute, Matić dispossessed Bernardeschi.
The winger tried to win it back immediately, but Matić protected the ball with his body until Sandro moved into position.
Then he passed left.
Sandro attacked Cuadrado.
The Brazilian accelerated down the touchline, but his former teammate tracked him well and denied the route toward the byline.
"Here!"
Kanté surged forward in support.
Sandro passed inside.
United's attacking players immediately began moving.
Grealish and Mahrez pushed high.
Ling did the opposite.
He dropped into the space between Pogba and Ramsey—the weakest point inside Juventus's midfield structure.
A flat 4-4-2 relied upon the lines remaining connected. When the midfield stretched, gaps appeared both in front of and behind the central pair.
Ling positioned himself inside one.
Kanté saw him.
The pass arrived sharply.
Ling received and turned.
Bonucci stepped forward, expecting the shot.
United's number 7 opened his body.
Instead of striking, he slipped a disguised diagonal pass behind the defender without looking toward the target.
Mahrez had drifted infield from the right.
Danilo had lost him.
"MAHREZ IS THROUGH!"
He opened his left foot and curled the ball toward the far corner.
Szczęsny stretched.
The ball entered the net.
Mahrez turned to celebrate and saw the assistant referee's flag raised.
Offside.
The stadium screen showed the replay.
Mahrez's knee had moved marginally beyond De Ligt.
The decision was close, though clear enough once the line appeared.
"Damn VAR," Mahrez muttered.
Ling shook his head.
He had released the pass with his back partially toward goal and could not see Mahrez's exact position.
The timing had been based entirely on instinct.
They had missed by a fraction.
"It's fine!" Ling shouted. "Next one!"
He pointed backward.
"Recover now!"
...
Sarri wiped sweat from his forehead.
A third United goal might have ended the semifinal before the second leg had even begun.
Juventus still could not establish sustained pressure.
Cristiano repeatedly dropped into midfield, but he was no longer the young winger who could receive forty yards from goal and dribble through an entire defensive line.
Kanté tracked him closely.
Herrera blocked the passing routes.
United forced him to expend energy in areas where he was least dangerous.
Mourinho remained composed.
A two-goal victory with two away goals already exceeded his expectations. Another goal would be welcome, but United no longer needed to chase one recklessly.
The priority was retaining control.
A sudden roar came from the crowd.
Danilo had attempted to dribble forward, knocked the ball too far ahead, and allowed Wan-Bissaka to tackle him cleanly.
Beglin sighed.
"Danilo has become a serious problem for Juventus tonight."
"He has contributed little in attack, and now his loose touch creates another transition."
Drury added:
"Manchester City replaced him with João Cancelo and may feel increasingly satisfied with that exchange."
City's supporters had every reason to enjoy the comparison. They had moved on an unreliable, injury-prone defender and acquired a far more versatile full-back in return.
Juventus supporters could only wonder why their club had allowed Cancelo to leave.
Sarri's patience ended before the eightieth minute.
He removed Danilo despite having no natural replacement available.
Bentancur entered.
Rabiot shifted to left-back, while the Uruguayan joined Pogba and Ramsey in midfield.
The change reduced Juventus's attacking width but at least offered greater defensive security on the left.
The mistakes from that side became less frequent.
...
In the 84th minute, Pogba found Dybala between the lines.
The Argentine had often been compared with Messi because of his nationality, left foot, and ability to drift inside from attacking positions.
Those comparisons had sometimes become an unfair burden, but his quality was beyond doubt.
He had been one of Serie A's finest players.
More importantly tonight, he could retain possession under pressure.
That allowed Cristiano to remain higher and concentrate on attacking the penalty area.
Dybala dragged the ball backward to escape Kanté and exchanged a quick one-two with Pogba.
Then he switched play toward Bernardeschi.
The winger controlled near the touchline and tried to accelerate toward the byline.
Fatigue affected the final action.
His standing foot slipped slightly as he crossed.
The delivery rose too high and travelled beyond Cristiano.
Even with every muscle engaged, the Portuguese could not defeat gravity.
He landed and struck the turf.
"Foda-se!"
Cristiano climbed to his feet and rounded on his teammates.
"We have to move faster!"
His eyes were red with frustration.
"We're producing nothing!"
Dybala approached him.
"Calm down. The match isn't over."
Cristiano snapped back immediately.
"We're playing terribly—including me!"
"This is a Champions League semifinal. If we don't play our game, we deserve to go out!"
Juventus were two goals behind, yet several players still moved as though they had endless time remaining.
Cristiano could not tolerate it.
He knew his career was approaching its final years. This might be his best remaining chance to lift the Champions League again.
Missing it could mean never returning to this stage.
He took a deep breath and forced his voice under control.
"Come on."
He looked at every teammate around him.
"Ten minutes with stoppage time."
"At least score one."
The Juventus players nodded.
Whatever private resentment they felt toward the criticism, nobody challenged him during the match.
Ling watched from nearby.
A phrase entered his mind.
'A hero at twilight.'
Cristiano's career had been magnificent.
His battle now was no longer only against United.
It was against time itself.
No footballer had ever won that contest!
...
Juventus threw themselves forward during the closing minutes.
United defended proactively rather than retreating onto De Gea's goal line.
Their midfield stepped toward the ball, the center-backs attacked crosses, and the wingers continued tracking Juventus's full-backs.
The chants around the Allianz Stadium grew louder.
Dybala received near the right half-space.
Matić approached.
The Argentine produced a sharp elastico and slipped the ball through the Serbian's legs.
He accelerated toward the penalty area.
Kanté arrived.
Dybala touched the ball away just before the tackle.
Kanté caught his planted foot instead.
BEEP!
The referee produced a yellow card.
Juventus had a free kick in a dangerous central position.
The stadium stirred.
Cristiano placed the ball down.
Two years earlier at the World Cup, he had scored three times against De Gea, including a superb late free kick that completed his hat-trick.
Now he had another opportunity to hurt the Spanish goalkeeper.
"Can Cristiano Ronaldo rescue Juventus?" Drury asked.
De Gea organized the wall nervously.
He shifted the players left.
Then right.
That World Cup free kick had haunted him.
The mistake-filled performance damaged his confidence and briefly transformed public perception of one of Europe's best goalkeepers.
He had rebuilt himself since then.
The memory remained.
Cristiano took several steps backward.
BEEP!
He inhaled, then began the run-up and his right foot struck through the ball.
BANG!
The shot climbed.
It continued climbing.
The ball sailed over the crossbar and into the crowd.
A wave of disappointment passed through the stadium.
The referee checked his watch.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Full time.
Juventus 0–2 Manchester United.
Cristiano remained motionless for several seconds.
The final opportunity had escaped him.
According to the broadcast's tally, his free-kick conversion had declined sharply during the later stage of his career.
Since his final season at Real Madrid, only one of more than fifty direct attempts had found the net.
That one had come against Manchester United in the Champions League final.
His transformation into a penalty-box scorer had made him more efficient overall, but it had also reduced the power and repetition once devoted to long-range shooting.
The famous knuckleball had gone from signature weapon to unreliable memory.
Peter Drury delivered the final words from Turin.
"Cristiano Ronaldo sought one final answer."
"The ball climbed into the night, and with it disappeared Juventus's last opportunity."
"Jeremy Ling has scored twice."
"David de Gea has conceded nothing."
"Manchester United leave Turin with two away goals, a two-goal advantage, and one enormous step taken toward a third consecutive Champions League final."
Beglin remained cautious.
"The tie is not mathematically over, but Juventus now require an extraordinary performance at Old Trafford."
"They must score at least twice against a team built to punish anyone forced to chase."
Ling stood near the center circle and looked toward the scoreboard.
Juventus 0.
Manchester United 2.
Cristiano walked toward the tunnel without looking back.
The first battle between the two number 7s belonged decisively to the younger man.
---------
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