Chapter 158 I came here to win the championship
Back in the locker room, Chen Xiaoliang was applauded by his teammates!
Pellegrini specially sat next to him: "Chen, today was really wonderful! That goal just now was really incredible! From now on, all the free kicks in the front court will be taken by you!"
Chen Xiaoliang quickly refused, saying that he would still follow the tactics arranged by the head coach.
However, Pellegrini thought he was being polite and still insisted on being humble.
Chen Xiaoliang didn't want to get entangled with him, so he just let it go.
At the post-match press conference, the head coaches of both teams praised each other highly.
Pioli praised Mourinho for playing his signature defensive counterattack, while Mourinho believed Pioli was a very real person and the right person to lead AC Milan's revival.
Moreover, when the two were asked about their comments on Chen Xiaoliang, they did not hesitate to praise him.
Pioli believes that Chen Xiaoliang should be the most competitive contender for the European Golden Boy Award. Several other players, such as Pedri, Bellingham and Musiala, are not only inferior to Chen Xiaoliang in playing time and internal status, but are also far behind in personal data.
Pioli told reporters that in 11 league rounds and 5 Europa Cup games this season, a total of 16 games, Chen Xiaoliang scored 5 goals and contributed 6 assists, including 4 goals and 4 assists in the league, which in itself is an excellent data.
Not to mention his 52 interceptions and 44 steals, both of which put him far ahead of the second place in the Serie A player list.
All these prove that Chen Xiaoliang not only adapted to the environment and rhythm of Serie A in his first year in the Scottish Premier League, but has also become one of the best midfielders in Serie A.
However, Mourinho is taking the initiative to cool down Chen Xiaoliang.
He said he had coached legendary midfielders such as Lampard, Xabi Alonso, Essien, Sneijder, and had also worked with super attackers such as Eto'o, Kaka, Robben, Drogba, Ibrahimovic, Benzema, not to mention a rare superstar like Cristiano Ronaldo.
Chen Xiaoliang is already on the right track, but he still has a long way to go.
Opportunities, environment, choices, including injuries, each of them will affect his future. He also called on the media not to pay too much attention to Roma's individual performance, but to look at the team's progress and overall tactical improvement.
When a reporter from the French newspaper L'Equipe asked Mourinho that he had received news that Paris Saint-Germain was considering spending 100 million to sign Chen Xiaoliang in the winter transfer window, Mourinho did not respond directly. He just said, "Money can't buy a championship," and hurriedly left the press conference.
After this round, Roma has 24 points and continues to rank third;
AC Milan has 29 points, but was deprived of the first place by Napoli, who beat Salernitana 0-1 away, and now ranks second;
Napoli returned to first place with 30 points;
Inter Milan beat Udinese 2-0 at home and accumulated 24 points, but they still ranked fourth due to their goal difference disadvantage.
Verona beat Juventus 2-1 at home, but Juventus still had 13 points and fell outside the top 10 again.
Roma's next league opponent Venezia drew 0-0 with Genoa away from home, with 9 points, ranking 16th in the league.
However, before challenging Venice away on November 7, they will continue to face their UEFA Cup group stage opponent Mura at their home Olympic Stadium on the 5th.
Exhausted, Chen Xiaoliang returned home.
He fell asleep while Helena was testing his physical health.
Too tired.
The next day was another routine holiday. Chen Xiaoliang slept until 9 o'clock before getting up, which was a very rare occasion for him to sleep in.
After waking up, he was still reluctant to get dressed and get out of bed. He just leaned on the pillow and opened the system to collect the reward for yesterday's game.
In the last game, I completed three tasks: [Enter the roster for the next game], [Appear in the next game], and [Win the best player in the next game], with a total of 8 training points.
There are also 2 assists and 1 goal in exchange for 6 training points.
Unfortunately, the team neither won the game nor kept a clean sheet, so they couldn’t get the stamina recovery card for this game.
Training value 2→16
Then he opened his phone and browsed various sports websites and football forums for a while.
"Red country's rising star vs. Swedish striker! The two sides shook hands in the goal battle"
"The runner-up of last year defended desperately to keep 1 point. Did Mourinho transform the bus into a chariot?"
Ibrahimovic announces to the world: Chen Xiaoliang is the next superstar in football
Beckham: I couldn't take a free kick like this when I was 17
"Can Chen Xiaoliang defend against Mbappe? Neymar said Mbappe is unstoppable, but Chen Xiaoliang has a promising future"
"Chen Xiaoliang is popular! 'Conquer Generation' has become the best-selling football shoe in Asia"
"Glasgow Rangers chairman Dave said: Cooperation with the Red Country's youth training will cultivate more Chen Xiaoliangs"
"An agent who makes a splash by staying silent - how did Riise identify Chen Xiaoliang and Cesco and sign them?"
"Mourinho's second battalion commander? Chen Xiaoliang's free kick replay from all angles"
In short, after looking around, I found that most of the comments were positive about me, and many fans from top-tier clubs left messages, hoping that their club would not miss the opportunity a second time and must buy me this time.
According to their logic, once they transfer to a top club like Manchester City, Barcelona or Paris Saint-Germain next summer, it will become impossible to transfer again.
However, there are also some comments questioning Chen Xiaoliang's future prospects. Apart from those who are dissatisfied with everything, or those keyboard warriors who don't understand football at all and make random comments on technical style, there is one thing that Chen Xiaoliang himself thinks is understandable.
That's the level of fatigue.
Roma is fighting on multiple fronts this season. Now it is early November and the team needs to maintain a top four position in the league and qualify for the Europa League group stage.
This means that there can be no mistakes on both fronts.
In January, the Italian Cup will begin again. According to Roma's experience over the past decade, they have never won the league championship, so they often look for opportunities to win the Italian Cup.
Chen Xiaoliang certainly knows that Mourinho also understands that the team's current lineup depth is simply unable to meet the needs of fighting on three fronts.
But under the pressure of actual results, he has to take one step at a time, which has led to the current main players working around the clock without any chance for rotation or respite.
To some extent, this is also the reason why Roma's continuous attacks in the last game were unable to break the opponent's goal when Milan was one man down and completely behind.
These players, including myself, are so tired that they cannot maintain a high level of performance in every game in such a close combat.
Fatigue can also lead to injuries. Although you have an injury recovery card and a BUFF that halves the duration of negative states, long-term overload competition is likely to lead to chronic injuries.
The most famous cases are the knee of former England golden boy Michael Owen and the foot bone of United States giant Yao Ming.
It is due to long-term and excessive use that the injury becomes irreversible. Even if the injury is healed, it will recur after a period of time, and each time it will be more serious than the last.
Helena naturally knew all this. As Chen Xiaoliang's personal sports science director, she sent the data to the chief team doctor of the Roma club.
However, the club’s response was simply that it “will be passed on to the coaching team and scientific advice will be provided.”
To put it bluntly, the head coach has the final say.
Thinking of this, Chen Xiaoliang couldn't help but recall the time when he was at Rangers, in the second match of the Europa League round of 16 against Manchester United, when Gerrard insisted on not letting himself play despite having torn ankle ligaments.
But he also understood that Gerrard had basically secured the Scottish Premier League title at that time, and being able to play two real games against Manchester United in the Europa League was already an above-average performance.
At the moment, Mourinho may fall out of the top four of the league or be eliminated in the Europa Cup group stage at any time because of two or three consecutive defeats.
Fortunately, Reese came back and brought two good news.
First, after communicating with several full-backs on the transfer list, Lille's Celik and Feyenoord's Malasia are willing to join Roma in the winter window, and the club is also willing to let them go.
The two together only cost 22 million euros, which can greatly enhance the team's wing defense!
The two players also agreed that once the transfer was completed, they were willing to hire Riise as their agent.
However, the other two, Wolfsburg's Baku explicitly refused, saying he was unwilling to play under the bus tactics and preferred the relatively fast football style of the Bundesliga;
However, after much persuasion from his current agent, Shakhtar Donetsk's Dodo decided to accept Fiorentina's invitation and join the Viola next summer.
Riise has told the news to Roma's football director Pinto in person, and he will start negotiations with Lille and Feyenoord as quickly as possible.
The second thing is that Boss Wu is willing to form a consortium with Chen Xiaoliang and, as the absolute majority shareholder, acquire an Algerian natural gas mining company.
Chen Xiaoliang remembered this matter after he met the Godfather at the suburban manor and got the promise of cooperation from Boss Wu. He asked Reese to be his representative to communicate privately with Boss Wu's men.
Riise was very puzzled as to why Chen Xiaoliang, as a player, would be interested in natural gas and willing to rely on financial leverage to use his contract period in Roma as collateral to finance investment in natural gas.
His hometown, Norway, relies on oil and natural gas exports as its main economic pillar, and Riise has more or less some understanding of this industry.
In today's world where green, low-carbon, environmental protection and energy conservation are increasingly emphasized, reducing carbon emissions is a politically correct slogan. At the same time, due to the development of environmental protection industries such as solar energy, wind energy, and new energy vehicles, the price of traditional chemical energy has been slowly declining. After much calculation, Reese feels that investing in natural gas is not a very profitable business, and the profit may even decrease.
At first, Boss Wu was not interested. He also said that his friend, Mr. Li from Hong Kong, had bought nearly half of the country's natural gas companies in the UK, and his profits were declining year by year.
But after Chen Xiaoliang had a very long phone call with him, he suddenly changed his attitude and expressed his willingness to get involved.
But no matter how Reese asked, Chen Xiaoliang never said what he had talked about with Boss Wu, so Reese had to give up asking.
On this day, Chen Xiaoliang had some free time, so he asked Reese to stay and asked David to invite his son. Together with Helena, Erica, and Cesco who lived nearby, there were seven people in total, who happily had a hotpot meal at home.
David's son was very excited to see Chen Xiaoliang, even though he was four years older than Chen Xiaoliang. He brought a lot of jerseys and souvenirs from his dormitory, many of which were entrusted by his classmates. Chen Xiaoliang and Cesco signed them one by one and took photos with little David.
I originally wanted to invite Wu Lei's family, but unfortunately Wu Lei didn't play and had no rest day. He had to train in the club, so I had to give up.
A day passed quickly and it was November 4, with only one day left until the match against Mura.
Chen Xiaoliang, Cesco and Wu Lei followed their usual schedule, arriving at the club an hour early, getting ready in the locker room, jogging on the training ground to warm up, doing some simple passing and receiving exercises, and waiting for the main force to gather.
The morning's training is mainly focused on physical recovery, and during the intensive schedule, more attention should be paid to the stability of the players' physical condition.
However, at the end of the morning training, Mourinho asked all the players to wait on the training ground and not leave.
Just when everyone thought the head coach was going to announce something, the club's iconic figure appeared with a smile, accompanied by several of the club's publicity staff who were taking photos and recording audio.
Francesco Totti, the eternal prince of Rome, came to the circle of players holding a columnar trophy in his hands and said: "I am entrusted by the Serie A committee to present the honor of the best player of the league in October."
Before anyone could react, Totti gave the answer directly: "Congratulations, Chen Xiaoliang!"
Amid the applause and cheers from his teammates and coaches, Chen Xiaoliang took the trophy from Totti, and then took a lot of photos of the two of them with his camera.
Then the press officer handed over a manuscript with some acceptance speeches on it. The content was mainly words of thanks to teammates, coaching team, club, etc., especially the underlined content - the arrival of the new boss brought a new atmosphere to the club.
Obviously the club has prepared a standard answer in advance.
However, the press officer also said that this was just a hint and that people could say whatever they wanted based on this.
From Totti's calm expression, it can be seen that the Roma club ambassador is not surprised by this kind of cliché speeches after winning awards.
After finishing the interview, Chen Xiaoliang and Totti walked towards the restaurant holding the trophy.
"Although two days have passed, I was still shocked when I saw the replay of that free kick!" Even Totti, who is a veteran and has won the World Cup, could not hide his excitement when talking about Chen Xiaoliang's free kick.
After hearing this, Chen Xiaoliang thought: You are excited... I am also very excited...
"Daniele (De Rossi) told me that Gerrard once taught you a lot of things, such as long passes and long shots. Did he also teach you the free kick?"
Judging from Totti's tone, he didn't seem to believe it at all.
Chen Xiaoliang always pushes Gerrard towards whatever problems he has now. The year at Rangers became his secret training camp, and Gerrard was the super mentor who could do everything and teach everything.
"Yes, I live with him, and he teaches me everything when he's free."
Yes, that's absolutely true, he even wanted to give his daughter to me...
"Really? Well, he is really a great player." Totti still expressed great surprise.
As two legendary players who repeatedly rejected Real Madrid at the peak of their careers, the two men who are not very familiar with each other have a good impression of each other.
However, unlike De Rossi who regards Gerrard as an idol, Totti, who is now an agent, although he has not taken up the coaching position like Gerrard, he does not think that there are few players in the world who can be better than him in his era.
"Chen, I heard that you always do extra exercises after training. How about I do some exercise with you after training this afternoon?"
Faced with Totti's sudden invitation, Chen Xiaoliang of course nodded and agreed.
After practicing offense and the transition from defense to offense for an hour and a half in the afternoon, Mourinho let the players go home on time.
Chen Xiaoliang's five-man team - him, Wu Lei, Abraham, Cesco and third goalkeeper Boll stayed for additional training again, but Abraham had some discomfort in his hamstring and only did restorative stretching on the sidelines.
Totti, who had been watching Mourinho direct the training on the sidelines in the afternoon, also changed into training clothes and joined in.
Totti, who is already 45 years old and has been away from daily training for a long time, certainly cannot confront these "kids" in his eyes. He is more focused on feeding them the ball, directing their running positions, etc.
Chen Xiaoliang played more of the role of the last defender in front of Boll, while the others passed the ball around the pole, ran out of space, and found space to shoot in the face of his defense.
Watching Chen Xiaoliang's defensive ability up close once again refreshed Totti's senses.
He marveled silently in his heart. When it comes to defense alone, not to mention the 17-year-old De Rossi, even the 27-year-old De Rossi could not compare to this boy from the Red Country.
These players in front of them can't get any advantage in a one-on-one situation.
What a pity! I am already 45 years old. If I were 20 years younger, I would really like to try it myself!
But... when it was Chen Xiaoliang's turn to attack, Totti was also shocked!
Is this guy really the "offensive genius" who can kick super arc free kicks and score amazing long shots? !
4 out of 10 long passes failed to find the player, but the crosses were always accurate, flying towards the striker as if the ball had eyes. What kind of operation is this? !
And his shooting...I couldn't tell that this was a player with excellent footwork.
Totti was puzzled and finally came to one conclusion:
This guy is holding back in front of me! He doesn't want to show off his skills to me!
He has seen this too much. The kids in the youth training team often try their best to show themselves after meeting Totti.
Various kinds of bicycle kicks, cow tail passes, and flower-foot passes, in short, they just try their best to show off their football skills.
These actions will only disgust the older players, because most of them are not practical on the court, and no professional club is willing to let ten other players watch a young player who gets his first chance to play show off his skills in an official match.
If so, this person will either soon lose the qualification to play or be on the road to becoming the king of football.
Seeing that the others were accustomed to Chen Xiaoliang's behavior, Totti also pretended to be calm.
However, in an hour of extra training, he still taught several people a lot of practical tips and experiences, especially repeatedly demonstrating and explaining his signature moves to several forwards - lob shots outside the penalty area and spoon penalties.
His lob shot from outside the penalty area is very powerful in a quick counterattack when the opponent's goalkeeper is standing relatively forward, but it also requires a high level of control over the footwork and strength.
In short, no matter what, Totti and several young people who had not been active for a long time were very happy.
After a day of rest, it was already the evening of November 4th.
In the fourth round of the UEFA Europa League Group G match, Roma will face Mura at home, and the kick-off time is set at 22:00 Rome time.
Compared to the match against AC Milan, today's buses from both teams did not cause much commotion when they drove into the stadium, especially on the Mura side. The number of fans who traveled with the team was pitifully small, with only more than 30 die-hard fans and some Slovenians living in Italy who bought tickets. The seats were also scattered among the home team fans.
However, Mourinho, who finally no longer has to sit in the audience, does not want this game to turn into a boring formality.
The Portuguese people are prone to making trouble for no reason and making a big deal out of it.
Regarding this "mowing" game which was considered a sure win and no suspense in the eyes of Roma fans, he once again made shocking remarks at the pre-match press conference.
When asked by reporters whether the club's goals for this season have been adjusted in light of the recent good results , he smiled and replied: "I go everywhere for the championship. Maybe you will say that Tottenham is an exception, but if I had not left the club at that ridiculous time, Tottenham's championship display room would definitely have one more English League Cup trophy."
"Jose, do you mean the Serie A champion? Or the Italian Cup champion? Or the European Cup champion?"
Mourinho gave his signature sly smile: "Guess."
However, in the player tunnel, a reporter from Corriere dello Sport once again caught up with Chen Xiaoliang, who was queuing to enter the stadium, and asked him what he thought of Mourinho's words.
At this time, many players turned around and waited to hear Chen Xiaoliang 's answer.
At the urging of the fourth official, the players in front have begun to enter the field.
Chen Xiaoliang only left one sentence before leaving: "Yes, we are fighting for the championship."
