"Well done."
Ancelotti looked at the two with satisfaction.
Throughout the training match, Suker and Kaka had unquestionably performed well.
Even though there were obvious hiccups during possession switches, it was still a good result.
"Actually, this isn't exactly 'coexistence'—it's just using each other's strengths to mask the stuttering during our coordination,"
Suker sighed.
"My style is tight-space dribbling and breakthrough; Kaka excels at long-distance sprints. So I tend to drop deeper and wait for Kaka to push forward, then I sprint to catch up and support."
"All our small-space coordination is just a disguise. It's still mostly solo play. At best, we're turning 1+1 into 2—there's no synergy that makes it more than the sum."
Ancelotti nodded.
"That's already an improvement. Before this, it wasn't even possible for you two to coexist on the pitch."
He was still quite satisfied.
Even though the tactic wasn't polished yet, it proved that Suker and Kaka could indeed function together.
Ancelotti understood what Suker meant.
It wasn't a true dual-core system where both players dominated at the same time.Instead, it was an alternating rhythm.
For example, when "God-mode Suker" was active, Kaka would play a supporting or lurking role.
When "God-slayer Kaka" exploded into action, Suker would adapt to complement him.
In essence: only one of them could fully operate at a time, not both simultaneously.
The biggest issue: the transition between roles was jarring.
Against normal teams, this might be manageable.But facing top-tier opposition, those awkward shifts in tempo would be amplified and punished.
Luckily, both players had such high individual quality that they could paper over the cracks.As long as they got the ball out of their half, they could unleash fluid attacks or lightning counters.
As the three were chatting, Maldini walked over.
"I still don't get it!"
He looked at Suker and Kaka.
"What the hell was with your hand signals?"
Suker blinked.
"Captain, you're still thinking about that?"
Maldini scratched his head in frustration.
"I won't be able to sleep if I don't figure it out."
Kaka:
"Didn't you already figure it out?"
"Me? I did?"Maldini looked baffled."What are you talking about?"
Suker and Kaka exchanged glances.
Suker smiled.
"Captain, what was your theory?"
Maldini explained:
"At first, I thought when Kaka passed, the signals were reversed, and when you passed, they were straightforward.But then, Kaka passed again, and the signals were suddenly straightforward again. That really confused me."
"Then, in the second half, I noticed you two were constantly switching sides. That's when I realized—maybe it wasn't about who passed, but which side you were on!"
"Left side meant reversed signals.""Right side meant straightforward ones."
He paused, scratching his head again:
"But then when Kaka moved to the right, the signals became reversed again!So… what was the real rule?"
Suker and Kaka looked at each other—then burst out laughing.
Suker:
"You were right, captain!"
Kaka nodded:
"Left side = reversed, right side = straightforward!"
Maldini looked shocked.
"Then how come in the second half—"
Suker waved it off:
"We changed it! We thought you'd figured it out, so we reversed the pattern again."
"Right became straightforward, left became reversed. Or maybe I'm reversed, and Kaka's straightforward.Basically, we can change it whenever we want."
Suker stroked his chin, amused.
"Didn't expect it to be this effective though."
Then he asked:
"Captain, did the signals give you a headache?"
Maldini sighed.
"Headache? That doesn't even begin to cover it!"
"Think about it. With how dangerous you are, defenders will naturally focus all their attention on you.But when you start doing all those weird signals—especially ones that look so obvious—what do you think the defenders will do?"
Suker replied:
"They'll get confused."
Maldini nodded.
"Exactly. That confusion throws them off.Your signals have strong misdirection. The only way to avoid it is to ignore you—but defenders can't do that.So they'll always be partially misled."
Suker's eyes lit up.
"So it works like that too!"
Kaka:
"Even I didn't expect that."
Suker said, excited:
"We need a real match to test this out!"
"Next up—Catania."
"Let's try it out!"
"I'm down!"
Ahem!Ancelotti cleared his throat."I'm still the coach, you know."
Suker turned:
"So… coach, can we try it?"
Kaka:
"If we don't test it now, we won't have time before the Champions League!"
Suker:
"Once we play Catania, it's knockout time—we won't have room for experiments."
Ancelotti pursed his lips and sighed:
"Fine. If we're leading at halftime—you can try it second half."
The two immediately brightened up.
Weekend arrives – Serie A Round 25: Catania vs AC Milan
After this match, it would be time for the second leg of the Champions League Round of 16, so Suker and Kaka were eager to test their new tactics.
Even if they couldn't use it against Real Madrid, they needed a working strategy against future opponents.
Catania, like Palermo before them, weren't exactly playing to win.But they still wanted at least a draw—especially on home turf.
Unfortunately for them, AC Milan's first-half attack was relentless.
Suker was once again in full-on berserker mode.
"Swipe cards! Swipe cards!"
He dribbled and broke through the defense while muttering to himself non-stop.
Even though they had the hand signals now, it still wasn't true coexistence.There were flaws and issues.
If possible, Suker wanted to take this even further.So he didn't stop trying to draw ability cards from the system.
Even if the odds were slim—there was still hope!
His constant attacking runs left Catania's defense reeling.They weren't even on Palermo's level and were in terrible form recently.
By the 31st minute, Suker drew a free kick in a dangerous spot.
"Watch Pirlo!"
Catania's players shouted loudly.
But at the ball, Pirlo and Kaka stood side-by-side.
"Excuse me!"
Suker walked up to the Catania wall—but their players refused to make room.
Damn it!
Suker forced his way into the wall.He was going to tear this wall apart!
He stood among them and made a pointing down motion toward his feet.
One of Catania's center backs saw this and quickly shouted to the keeper:
"Watch the low shot!"
The goalkeeper nodded immediately.
At the same time, Pirlo and Kaka exchanged a glance at the spot.
Kaka made the first move—a fake run-up.
The Catania wall instinctively jumped slightly—But Kaka didn't shoot.
Meanwhile, Pirlo began his run-up.
"Jump! No—low ball!"
Caught in hesitation, several wall defenders didn't jump at all.Suker stood frozen in place.
The ball curved over his head and straight into the net.
"Pirlo scores from a free kick! AC Milan takes the lead before halftime!"
Pirlo celebrated while looking at Kaka in amazement:
"Your hand signals work even for set pieces?!"
Kaka grinned.He was very proud of their deceptive signaling system.
With the lead secured, AC Milan switched tactics in the second half.
Ancelotti agreed to let them trial the new playstyle.
And once it was deployed, Suker and Kaka's terrifying offensive potential began to show.
Even with many defenders, one counterattack was all it took to create a scoring chance.
Catania's defenders completely lost their heads.
It was already hard enough to handle the physical and technical pressure from these two—but now they were dealing with some bizarre cryptic hand signals too!
The signals constantly tricked them into making the wrong choices.
Even when they tried to ignore it—their bodies would still subconsciously react to the cues.
Catania had only conceded one goal in the first half.But in the second half—they let in three more!
Suker scored a hat trick
Kaka had two assists
Pato added one assist
Final score:AC Milan 4 – 0 Catania (away)
This match proved the feasibility of the new tactic.
Of course, questions remained:
How much pressure could it handle?
What were its flaws?
No one knew yet—this was only the beginning.It still needed to be tested in many more matches.
The most miserable players of the match were Catania's defenders.
Even after the match ended, they were still trying to crack the code.
But no matter how they tried—nothing made sense.
Because Suker and Kaka had changed the code THREE TIMES during the match!
Guess it right? You might as well try winning the lottery!