The second half kicked off.
"Oh, AC Milan are coming at this even harder now!"
"It looks like Inzaghi is absolutely determined to take this match away from home."
In the commentary booth, Donny opened the second half.
"They have no choice — Juventus have that away goal."
"Attacking is the only path available to AC Milan."
Jackson added from beside him.
"Allegri is quite something, though."
"Juventus have clearly pulled their shape back even deeper in the second half."
"Parking the bus at their own ground."
"For a club of Juventus's standing in Serie A, that really is something you don't see every day."
Donny shook his head with a small laugh, genuinely impressed by Allegri in his own way.
On the touchline, Allegri's expression remained as pained as ever.
But that was genuinely how he saw it.
Sitting deep and grinding out a draw to go through — why would he not want that?
Were it not for the fact that this was a home fixture, Allegri would have been tempted to take off a forward and bring on an extra midfielder to reinforce the defence.
Truly extraordinary.
Anyone who did not know better would have mistaken Juventus for a side fighting to avoid relegation.
The match reached the seventieth minute, and the scoreboard still read nil-nil.
On the touchline, Inzaghi's expression had grown visibly tense.
Against Juventus's massed defensive block, AC Milan were genuinely struggling to carve out any clear opening.
When it came to the Italian catenaccio done at its absolute finest, Juventus were without question the masters of it.
For all that Allegri cut an unassuming figure, his attention to the fine details of his team's setup on the pitch was meticulous.
He had prepared thoroughly for every AC Milan attacking pattern, right down to the four-forward and five-forward arrangements Inzaghi had thrown at him.
Add in the fact that Juventus possessed the most formidable defensive line in Serie A, and the outcome up to this point was hardly surprising.
'Something needs to change now.'
Leon said it quietly to himself.
In the seventy-sixth minute, a rare moment of crisp, intricate combination play in AC Milan's attacking half worked the ball forward again to the edge of the Juventus penalty area.
Juventus's entire defensive shape had been compressed into an extremely flat, narrow block.
Even Morata up front had dropped back to the edge of the penalty area.
Only Tevez remained, drifting around the centre circle.
Morata's height of one metre ninety did at least give him a modest advantage in any aerial contest.
The ball fell to Menez.
Say what you like about Menez's tendency to hold the ball — his dribbling, when he chose to use it, was genuinely something.
Pogba pressed him relentlessly at close range, yet could not get the ball off him.
A frustrated sliding tackle not only failed to dispossess Menez but actually opened up space for him to drive into.
Earlier in the season, Menez might well have gone down out of habit.
But since Leon's arrival, the entire character of AC Milan had undergone a noticeable shift.
Leon was only a goalkeeper, yet his focus and his uncompromising saves had been gradually leaving their mark on the whole squad without anyone quite realising it.
This moment was exactly that.
Menez stumbled slightly from Pogba's challenge but chose to keep going regardless.
Chiellini was forced to step across and cover.
Menez then produced a disguised pass that looked like a shot, slipping the ball sideways with real style to Suso.
Suso received, checked back, and looked to cut inside again.
Bonucci arrived just in time and hoofed the ball clear toward the centre circle with a big clearance.
"Oh no!"
"What a chance!"
"Suso's decision-making was far too slow!"
The AC Milan supporters had already been bracing themselves to celebrate a goal, only to watch helplessly as Juventus cleared their lines again.
Against Juventus's catenaccio, there was no room for even the slightest hesitation.
Beat one line of defence and another would already be forming just as quickly.
'Is this going to be another one-on-one?'
'Doesn't matter — we have Leon.'
The AC Milan supporters' eyes tracked the ball as it floated through the air.
"Wait — bloody hell, that's Leon!"
Nobody had noticed, but Leon had already pushed all the way up to the centre circle.
Tevez, the only Juventus player holding his position at the top of the pitch, had been preparing to bring the ball down comfortably and launch a counter-attack, when he suddenly became aware of a tall figure appearing right beside him.
Tevez stood at only one metre seventy-three.
Leon stood at one metre ninety-one.
Leon won the aerial challenge with ease, got a touch to direct it forward, and continued driving with the ball.
"Bloody hell!"
Players from both sides could not help but curse under their breath.
In that instant, something shifted in the minds of every player on the pitch.
Pogba came charging straight at Leon.
'Got him.'
'I'm going to score into an empty net.'
All Pogba could think about was winning the ball off Leon's feet and then lobbing it from the centre circle into the unguarded goal.
As for why he did not carry the ball closer before shooting, well, that was simply how Pogba's mind worked.
"Don't lose it!"
Even Inzaghi on the touchline could no longer maintain his composure, watching the situation on the pitch with a look of barely contained anxiety.
Up to this point, no matter how many one-on-one opportunities Juventus had created, Inzaghi always had Leon to fall back on.
But now Leon himself had charged forward, and there was nobody left to cover AC Milan's goal.
Leon was ice-cold in that moment.
Rather than let Pogba close him down, he played the ball first-time out to Bonaventura on his side.
Seeing that Leon had passed rather than tried to hold it, Pogba lost interest in pressing him and used his momentum to run over and join Marchisio in squeezing Bonaventura instead.
Juventus's defensive weight immediately shifted across to the right flank.
Bonaventura found himself under pressure from two players and was beginning to struggle.
He was on the verge of hoofing the ball forward without thinking when he suddenly heard Leon shouting from behind him.
"Hey, here!"
Leon called out sharply to Bonaventura.
Bonaventura did not hesitate and played it back to Leon straight away.
The pass was slightly rushed, a looping, awkward ball that came flying toward Leon.
'Oh no.'
Even as Bonaventura released it, his stomach dropped.
That pass had landed Leon in trouble.
Bonaventura was already steeling himself to sprint back and help.
But at that very moment, Leon brought the ball down with a light, effortless touch and had it sitting obediently at his feet.
The badge [First Touch Master] activated.
Bloody hell.
That first touch was a joy to behold.
Without pausing for a single moment, Leon played the ball forward in one motion, switching it wide to Suso on the left.
The quality of Leon's long pass was nothing special, but the timing of it was completely unexpected.
Leon's sudden forward run had already thrown Juventus's organised defensive shape into disarray.
Suso made amends this time and produced an excellent piece of control, bringing Leon's slightly overhit pass under his spell just in time.
"Defend! Shut it down! Now!"
Twenty years of goalkeeping instinct told Buffon immediately that something serious was developing.
Juventus's right back Lichtsteiner sprinted flat out after Suso.
Bonucci also moved out from inside the penalty area toward Suso, trying to cut off any shooting angle.
But Suso chose to pass.
A square cut-back, swept across to Torres who was waiting at the edge of the penalty area.
Torres met it and hit it clean first-time.
The ball flew into the net.
Torres had rediscovered the feeling of scoring that had once come so naturally to him.
One-nil.
AC Milan had scored.
Across both legs, the aggregate score was now level at one-all.
Both sides were back to square one.