The Coppa Italia final was being played at a neutral ground, which was fair to both sides.
A month on, Dave George had brought little Devin George back to Italy.
This match might well witness Leon's first trophy as a professional, and Devin George was not about to miss that.
Fortunately the family was comfortable enough.
Dave George's work gave him a good deal of freedom, and when it came to his son's wishes, he did his best to make them happen.
"Wow! So this is the Stadio Olimpico!"
"A 70,000-seat stadium really is something else!"
"Every seat is taken! The atmosphere is completely different from back home!"
The ten Feng Fans who had made the journey from afar walked into the ground alongside the tide of supporters.
They had only arrived that day and had not yet been in touch with Leon.
Su Jing had been worried that meeting before the match might affect his focus, so after discussing it with Leon, the fan meet had been arranged for after the final.
Leon stood in the tunnel ready to walk out, captain's armband on, at the head of the line.
Standing alongside him was the Inter Milan captain, Ranocchia.
Ranocchia was 27 this year, a centre-back at the peak of his powers, nearly ten years older than Leon.
The two men exchanged a glance, gave each other a brief nod, and left it at that.
Ten years ago, Maldini and Zanetti would have been chatting warmly at this moment.
But both clubs were going through rebuilding phases now.
Leon was absolutely determined to win this final.
Because once AC Milan lifted the Coppa Italia, Leon would unlock the first team trait in the system's trait module.
A team trait would apply to the entire squad, and Leon was confident it would give this AC Milan side a meaningful boost.
Over the six league rounds that had passed, Leon had accumulated 874 system points.
He had put them straight into attribute upgrades.
[Ball Control]: 8 to 15! 600 system points spent.
[Goal Kicks]: 4 to 10! 260 system points spent.
14 system points remained.
"Ding! System task issued: Win the Coppa Italia! Reward: 1,000 system points!"
Just as he was about to step onto the pitch, the system notification sounded in Leon's mind.
It had been a while since a system task had been issued.
1,000 system points.
Leon felt there was absolutely no reason to lose this match.
The moment he walked out onto the pitch, a wall of noise came crashing towards him.
The stands were sharply divided between red-and-black and blue-and-black.
Both sets of supporters had turned out in roughly equal numbers.
"Milan! Milan! Forever Milan!"
"Inter! Inter forever!"
On the touchline, Mancini Jr. and Inzaghi shook hands, both with complicated looks on their faces.
The two of them were supposed to have been in the same sinking boat this season.
Yet somehow Inzaghi's fortunes had turned.
With a brand of football that Mancini Jr. could not begin to make sense of, he had somehow guided the club into the top three.
It simply did not add up.
Inzaghi paid no attention to Mancini Jr.'s puzzled stare; he was riding high and had every intention of winning this match.
Inzaghi felt he was on the right path, the road towards becoming a truly great manager.
Compared to their two league meetings, the starting lineups for both sides showed little change.
Inter Milan starting eleven: four defenders: D'Ambrosio, Juan, Andrea Ranocchia, Yuto Nagatomo. Four midfielders: Obi, Kovačić, Guarin, Shaqiri. Two forwards: Palacio, Icardi. Goalkeeper: Samir Handanović.
AC Milan starting eleven: four defenders: Abate, Lami, Mexes, De Sciglio. Three midfielders: Essien, De Jong, Menez. Three forwards: Suso, Torres, Bonaventura. Goalkeeper: Leon.
The referee's whistle blew.
"Here we go, everyone!"
"With that whistle, the Coppa Italia final is officially under way!"
"AC Milan versus Inter Milan! Another Milan Derby!"
"Wait a moment!"
In the East's commentary booth, Jackson was going through his usual opening remarks when something in the broadcast caught his eye.
"Director! Can we cut back to that shot from just now!"
Jackson called out to the director.
"No problem!"
The director obliged.
Fans from the East who had stayed up to watch rubbed their eyes, half convinced they had imagined it.
But this time the director replayed it in slow motion, and the image that had flashed past on the stands appeared clearly before every fan from the East.
"Feng Fan Gathering Place?"
"Fans from the East made it to the ground in person!"
"I want to go too!"
Fans from the East instantly spotted a small cluster of their own people in the stands.
"We can see them! It looks like an organised group of Leon's supporters who have come to watch in person!"
"That is extraordinary!"
"Our players who've been in Europe before never had anything like this!"
"Feng Fan Gathering Place! That's a great name!"
Jackson said it with genuine feeling.
Out on the pitch, the match had already turned fierce.
Neither side had bothered with a cautious opening; both had pushed the tempo from the first whistle.
In the 3rd minute, Icardi played a man-and-ball separation at the edge of the penalty area to get past Mexes.
Just as he was about to unleash a shot, Mexes tracked back and cleared the ball out for a corner with ease.
"What the—!"
Icardi shot a surprised look at Mexes.
Since when had his pace and agility become this sharp?
Leon watched the scene unfold and allowed himself a quiet smile.
[Defensive Pillar] bond, look it up.
Since Leon had activated the [Defensive Pillar] bond, Mexes had shown a clear and dramatic improvement.
The 50% boost to pace and agility meant Mexes was no longer at a disadvantage against the majority of forwards in those areas.
Because this improvement in Mexes had appeared so suddenly, many forwards who followed their coach's pre-match instructions for dealing with him found themselves immediately coming off worse.
'I feel like I'm back at my peak!'
Mexes had no idea what had happened to his form recently, but it was a good thing, and he did not think too hard about it.
As far as he was concerned, it was surely Leon's mental strength rubbing off on him and making him play with more passion.
Which naturally meant his performances had improved.
In the 8th minute, Leon burst out of the penalty area again.
Inter Milan pressed in the final third and Mexes played the ball back to Leon.
Palacio came charging towards him at full speed, only to see Leon completely unfazed.
A nonchalant long pass immediately set AC Milan's attack in motion.
Bonaventura flicked a header in the final third to redirect the ball into the centre.
Torres followed up with a shot that flew just over the crossbar.
Hiss.
The Inter Milan supporters sensed something was wrong.
Without quite realising when it had happened, Inter Milan had been completely dominated by AC Milan.
When did AC Milan get this strong?
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