Chapter 175: Psychological warfare wins! A red whirlwind sweeps over Rome!
Seeing Barrera getting angry, referee Marco Di Bello immediately trotted over.
Young Inzaghi and assistant coach Faris on the sidelines almost stopped breathing, cursing Barrera in their hearts, calling him a fool!
Zhan Jun: "Brother Jianxiang, we rarely see Xiaoliang quarreling with opposing players during a game. In the past, even if there was a dispute between the two sides, he was the one who took the lead in calming the situation and tried his best to ensure that the team avoided unnecessary penalties on the court."
Huang Jianxiang: "I wonder if there is a possibility that Xiaoliang is deliberately provoking Barrera."
Zhan Jun: "Barrera already has a yellow card!"
Huang Jianxiang: "That's right. In addition, they play in the same position and have similar playing styles, so they often face off directly. They are both used to using physical confrontation in defense, which makes them easily angry. In addition, they said something to each other, which must have been unpleasant to hear, which led to Barrera's big reaction."
Zhan Jun: "The referee still warned Barrera, but did not show a card!"
Huang Jianxiang: "This is already the second warning. If it happens again, Barrera will definitely go down. It depends on his ability to control his emotions."
On the field, Lautaro kicked the ball out and Inter Milan attacked!
After Roma's quick counterattack just now, Inter Milan's defense line didn't dare to press forward anymore. They could barely follow Chen Xiaoliang's first few starts, but who could catch up with him after he ran at full speed?
However, without the central defender to receive the pass, Inter could only complete the transfer between the two flanks through the midfield.
Brozovic and Barella were forced to retreat to serve as supporting players, leaving only Calhanoglu, who was not good at defense, to roam behind the striker to provide support.
This not only significantly reduced their strength and ability to pass the ball forward, but also greatly increased the risk of losing the ball.
Because Chen Xiaoliang is guarding this area.
Barrera also realized that if he received another card, he would be completely finished. Not only would this game become a disgrace, but he would also be suspended for the next game.
The team was able to win the championship last season, and his league performance of 36 appearances, 3 goals and 9 assists was the backbone. This season is his time to prove that he is the best midfielder in Europe. How could he argue with a 17-year-old kid?
Although he thought so in his heart, the more Barrera looked at Chen Xiaoliang, the more unhappy he became.
In the remaining ten minutes, neither side was able to change the score, and there were not even many shots. However, the relatively conservative offensive forces of both sides allowed Chen Xiaoliang and Barrera to make several interceptions and steals.
Back in the locker room, the head coaches of both teams took the time to arrange tactics.
"We have to let them play!" Mourinho shouted, pointing at the magnetic stickers of Cesco and Zaniolo on the tactical board.
"You two, don't bother with Skriniar and D'Ambrosio, and focus all your pressure on Brozovic!"
"Leave Barrera to Chen!"
"Try your best to prevent their two deep-lying midfielders from getting the ball, and force them to pass the ball back to the central defenders!"
"So, if they still want to win, their central defenders have to move forward and shorten the distance between them and the wingers and forwards."
"Let them pass it! Let them pass it!"
He pointed at Cesco:
"When Skriniar passes the ball, he must get rid of you, so that once he switches from defense to offense, he won't be able to stick to you in the first place!"
"Zaniolo, you too!"
"We must insist on counterattacks and don't look at those statistics, such as ball possession and number of shots. They are all rubbish! They are meaningless!"
"In football, the only meaningful statistic in the end is who scores more goals!"
"Young man, be patient! Victory will be ours!"
As the game was about to end and he was about to go on stage, Mourinho pulled Chen Xiaoliang to his side again:
"You know what Materazzi did to Zidane?"
Chen Xiaoliang laughed, shook his head, and then nodded: "I understand."
Mourinho knew that his favorite disciple understood everything immediately, so he grinned, then hooked his arm around him and walked onto the field together.
In another locker room, Inzaghi was also busy:
"Press! Press! I've said it so many times! Press as soon as you lose the ball! Get the ball back, don't let them pass the ball in the middle, and don't let them launch a counterattack!"
Inzaghi then gave instructions to Calhanoglu and Barrera individually, but his expression was much kinder:
"Hakan (Calhanoğlu), once they get the ball, they press Cristante, he's very slow and if someone's watching him he can't get the ball!"
"And you, Nicolo (Barrera), you have to cut off other people's passing routes to Chen Xiaoliang! That Veretout's feet are not thin, and the wingers they used today are not fast either! Don't always think about stealing the ball from Chen Xiaoliang, make sure he can't get the ball!"
Barrera nodded without saying a word, completely different from the chatterbox that his teammates usually saw.
After saying this, Inzaghi asked the other players to go first and specifically left Barella behind.
"Control your emotions, otherwise I will have to substitute you early. The team cannot bear the impact of one less player."
Barrera nodded, still saying nothing.
Inzaghi patted him on the back and walked onto the field together.
At the start of the second half, neither side made any adjustments to their lineups, but the intensity of the fight on the field went up a level.
Brozovic and Barella almost never stopped, they were constantly moving, whether they were moving forward or backward, or moving left or right. In short, they followed the instructions of Inzaghi and the position of Chen Xiaoliang, and always stayed on the passing route of their teammates.
Roma's attack was completely exhausted, and they could only rely on the individual abilities of the two wingers to try to break through, but to little effect.
However, Inter Milan's situation was not much better. Although they had more time to control the ball, it was basically all in the hands of Skriniar and D'Ambrosio. As long as their teammates could not find a chance to pass the ball forward, they would pass the ball back to them.
Cesco and Zaniolo stood on the left and right sides of Brozovic, making it impossible for the defensive midfielder to get the ball unless he retreated to an area parallel to the central defender.
In this situation, it was very difficult for both sides to attack, and the scene was naturally ugly.
However, Roma fans have long been accustomed to it. It doesn’t matter whether the scene is ugly or not. Before Mourinho came, the scenes were often ugly, but after Mourinho came, the ranking on the standings looked much better. This is their greatest satisfaction.
On the Internet, fans also agree with this view.
With Roma's lineup, it would be more pragmatic to play a defensive counterattack instead of attacking Inter Milan.
[Rival Mission: In this game, the rival's passing, steals, interceptions, headers, and assists are all less than the host's and no goals are scored]
[Task progress: Passing 31-34, Steal 3-1, Interception 2-2, Heading 1-1, Assist 1-0, Goal 0-0]
Seeing the ball return to D'Ambrosio's feet, Chen Xiaoliang moved in the midfield while confirming the progress of the system task.
According to the current style of play, Inter Milan's ball possession time will continue to increase, and the number of passes will also increase accordingly. Compared with Brozovic, who has a fixed position, it is very difficult to completely prevent the flexible Barella from getting the ball.
It is quite difficult to complete this task.
But Chen Xiaoliang cannot deliberately disrupt the team's predetermined tactics and force the ball to improve his stats just to complete his mission.
For him, team victory comes first.
At this time, Mourinho's words reminded him.
In fact, he was also angry.
He worked so hard to win the Scottish Premier League Player of the Month and the Serie A Player of the Month and obtained two injury recovery cards, but Barre's foul "blackmailed" him and he was very unhappy.
So after Zaniolo scored a goal in the first half, he, who didn't like to talk too much on the court, took the initiative to use "dog" to respond to Barrera's ridicule.
Unexpectedly, Barrera's reaction was far beyond his expectations.
He knew then that the Italian was eager to win, easily irritated, and cared a lot about the outcome of his competition.
So when Barrera rushed up, Chen Xiaoliang wanted to hand Barrera a knife and let him stab him, but it was a "pity" that the Italian was pulled away by Lautaro and Dzeko in the end.
For the sake of the entertainment and integrity of the game, the referee did not show a second yellow card to Barrera.
But Chen Xiaoliang was not going to use Materazzi's "despicable" words to provoke Barrera.
For a legendary star like Zidane, using language within the context of football can no longer provide any stimulation.
The World Cup, European Cup, Champions League, League Championship, all the major collective honors were won;
He has won all the personal honors he deserves, including the World Footballer of the Year, the Ballon d'Or, the Golden Foot, the Laureus Best Award, and the League's Best Player.
Materazzi's star power is nothing compared to the French. Going up to him and saying "Why do you play so badly" will only lead to Zidane's ridicule.
Therefore, Materazzi directly targeted Zidane's Algerian ancestry and family background, and also insulted his sister.
Racial discrimination plus gender discrimination is intolerable.
In the Internet age, once you do something bad, it will be infinitely magnified and preserved forever.
After retiring, Materazzi did a lot of charity work, donated jerseys, and organized charity matches, but how many people know about this?
When people talk about him, they still only remember his insult to Zidane and the "Zidane header" he received in return.
Fortunately, Barrera is far from that level, and Chen Xiaoliang doesn't need to do that.
On the field, Veretout made a long pass to the frontcourt, but Cesco was unable to increase his speed due to Skriniar's close harassment, and the ball was cleared by Bastoni and passed back to Handanovic.
The Inter goalkeeper took a few steps, then fell to the ground and caught the ball under him after Cesco rushed up.
I lay there for a long time before getting up, and I hit the ball several times, successfully wasting a lot of time.
"I heard you were ranked 26th in the Ballon d'Or?"
Barrera, feeling annoyed, heard Chen Xiaoliang talking to him again.
"What? Ready to worship me?"
This is the proudest thing in Barrera's life. I thought to myself, I didn't even have the courage to show off to you, but you actually brought it up on your own initiative.
"Pedri is ranked 24th, right? He is only 19 and you are 24, it's a pity."
"What a pity?! Explain it to me clearly!"
Chen Xiaoliang smiled slightly and said as he walked, "It's a pity that you won't be able to win the league championship, the league's best midfielder, or the Golden Ball next year."
"Can't see me?! Then can they see you? Who do you think you are?"
"Me? I beat Pedri."
Barrera rubbed the ground, and the anger that he had suppressed with great difficulty was instantly rekindled! He went to the Ballon d'Or awards ceremony in person, and he also knew that Pedri lost to Chen Xiaoliang in the Copa Award selection by a clear margin.
But he just had a bad temper and a straightforward personality, and he wasn't stupid enough to chase after Chen Xiaoliang and yell at him.
However, the advantage of emotions driving adrenaline is that it can make you more excited, but the disadvantage is that being too excited will cause you to lose your composure.
Born on February 7, 1997, Barrera began to stir things up in the midfield like a wild bull.
That day happened to be the first day of the Red Country’s Lunar New Year, the first day of the Year of the Ox.
Barrera asked for the ball everywhere, sometimes making long shots and sometimes making diagonal passes, and instantly became the most active person on the field.
However, Inzaghi and Faris on the sidelines frowned as they watched.
He forgot all the tactics that were assigned to Barrera in the locker room during the midfield.
Although Barrera remembered that he had already received a yellow card and was very careful about the amplitude of his movements and the choice of defensive methods on the field, his constant insertions and large-scale running interceptions left Chen Xiaoliang, who was supposed to be defended by him, open.
Barrera’s idea was very simple. After the boy from the Red Country got the ball, I would go to the middle to intercept him!
However, Chen Xiaoliang's activity area is far from limited to the middle road.
In the 56th minute, Perisic received a pass from Calhanoglu on the left and made a cross from the flank.
Dzeko was unable to head the ball as he was double-teamed by Smalling and Kumbulla, so he had to head the ball back and pass it to Dumfries who was running in from the right behind him.
Dumfries made a reverse triangle pass, and Barrera headed the ball past Veretout on the penalty area line and shot directly into the goal!
But his shot flew straight into the stands like a power pill, causing all the Inter Milan fans behind the goal to raise their hands to protect their heads to avoid being hit by the cannonball-like shot.
Patricio quickly turned around and called the caddy, who understood and threw the ball immediately.
The Roma goalkeeper kicked the goal kick at the fastest speed!
When Barrera saw the ball flying towards the center circle where Chen Xiaoliang was standing, he immediately chased back at full speed!
Although Chen Xiaoliang was entangled by Brozovic, the Croatian was unable to stop him from jumping for the header.
Chen Xiaoliang headed the ball backwards, and Cesco, who was in sync with him, stuck his butt out to block Skriniar behind him, then caught the ball with the inside of his foot and pushed it to the left side of his body.
After landing, Chen Xiaoliang turned around and shook him off like a compass leaning against Brozovic, and at this time he had already rushed forward to receive Cesco's cross shot!
Fight back!
Seeing the opportunity in the frontcourt, Zaniolo, Veretout and Binia all rushed to the frontcourt frantically!
But this time, Bastoni is in front of Chen Xiaoliang!
And Perisic was chasing him from the wing.
Bastoni kept backing away while waiting for Perisic to double-team him, wondering:
"Is this guy planning to rush to the right or to the left?"
He had already seen Chen Xiaoliang's speed in the first half, so he didn't dare to kick the ball blindly. Once he was passed, he would never be able to catch up.
Chen Xiaoliang took a few tentative steps, and seeing that Bastoni didn't dare to approach him, he turned around to take a look at where Barrera was.
This ordinary glance back to confirm the position turned into a mocking drama in Barrera's mind!
"Where are you?"
"Why are you so slow?"
"Can you catch up with me?"
"You can't even beat Pedri, and you still want to beat me?"
"Golden Globe Award, do you deserve it?"
"Xiaogou, come and defend me if you can, Xiaogou!"
It seemed as if countless taunts lingered in Barrera's ears, buzzing like flies.
He immediately turned into a Spanish bull seeing the red cloth, and rushed towards Chen Xiaoliang desperately!
Chen Xiaoliang didn't pay attention to Barrera who was far behind him. He glanced at Bastoni who was right in front of him, and when Bastoni's foot was just raised to retreat, he kicked the ball 10 meters to the right front with his right foot, creating distance and moving forward!
Bastoni quickly turned around and walked in the same direction as Chen Xiaoliang!
Seeing that Chen Xiaoliang was about to slip past him, he reached out and tried to pull Chen Xiaoliang's jersey!
Chen Xiaoliang ran in a slight arc, raised his left hand and shook off the hand that Bastoni extended!
Bastoni wanted to struggle one last time and grab Chen Xiaoliang's arm, but it was all in vain!
Perisic, who was behind them, saw that Chen Xiaoliang was about to shake off Bastoni, and tried to speed up, but after running a few steps with all his strength, he couldn't go any faster...
Time is unforgiving.
Perisic looked at Chen Xiaoliang who was walking away, and he looked like himself at the age of 20.
Bastoni failed to pull or drag, and seeing that there was no hope of blocking the wing, he had to change direction and move towards the middle.
If you can't defend the ball passing point on the wing, defend the ball receiving point in the middle!
In the middle, Cesco failed to get rid of Skriniar, but Zaniolo had already left D'Ambrosio to the ends of the earth.
At the back post, there is Binya, with Dumfries chasing closely 3 meters behind him.
Chen Xiaoliang ran so fast that his teammates couldn't keep up with him.
Blindly going down the rim like this will only reduce your passing space.
He rushed to the right side of the penalty area, slowed down, and made a gesture to Zaniolo to come over!
Zaniolo moved sideways immediately!
Chen Xiaoliang gave him selfless assists in two consecutive games. Now, not only is he willing to be a supporting player, he would even be willing to be an engineer!
Chen Xiaoliang pushed the ball to him lightly, and Bastoni chased into the penalty area and immediately left Chen Xiaoliang to chase Zaniolo!
The latter just scored a goal in the first half, and now he is closer to the goal and more threatening!
In the live broadcast room, Zhan Jun's speech speed is getting faster and faster: "Zaniolo dribbles the ball to the baseline! Bastoni is about to catch up with him!"
"Zaniolo knocks his heel and passes back!"
"Chen Xiaoliang receives the ball at the penalty spot!"
"Chance!!!"
"Skriniar rushes up to block!"
"I didn't choose to shoot, but passed the ball to Cesco who was left open on the left!"
“You can knock on the door now!”
"Dumfries chased back and tackled the ball!"
"Cesco still chose to pass the ball!"
"Don't knock on the door yet!"
“Is this Manchester City possessed?!”
"Back point Binya!"
"Binia is unguarded!"
“Finally a shot!”
“The ball goes in!”
"In the 57th minute! Roma once again used a quick counterattack, with Cesco assisting Binya to score a goal to overtake the score!"
"Roma leads defending champions Inter Milan 2-1 at home!"
"This is also the Uruguayan's first goal since joining Roma!"
Huang Jianxiang: "The quality of the two counterattacks today was very high, and they were completely different from the previous Roma team. It was no longer like getting the ball from the backcourt and directly kicking a high ball and then trying to outsmart them. If they could beat them, they would charge forward, if they couldn't, they would retreat, if they could charge forward, they would shoot, and at most one more cross would be made. A counterattack could be completed with 2 to 3 passes at most."
"Today's counterattack was very targeted. After the continuous pass in the middle in the first half, Inter Milan's midfielders were confused about the targets they were supposed to defend."
"And just now, Xiaoliang could have chosen the simplest inverted triangle cross to let Sesco or Zaniolo make a flanking pass in front of the goal, but he, Sesco and Zaniolo made continuous wall passes in the middle, making several Inter Milan defenders run around in circles. In the end, with more people against fewer, Binya, who was completely unmarked, made a flanking pass and scored an empty goal in the backcourt."
Zhan Jun: "Brother Jianxiang, do you think that Inzaghi's tactics today were completely defeated by the wily Mourinho?"
Huang Jianxiang: "From the current point of view, this is definitely the case. We are still a little inexperienced. We are using our own weaknesses to attack the opponent's strengths. In fact, Roma's defense is also very slow, but Inter Milan insists on playing with the opponent to control the ball and fight positional battles, which makes Roma's defense line able to stand and play comfortably. These Roma defenders are hard to run."
Zhan Jun: "Today Xiaoliang played as a central midfielder, and both quick counterattacks were initiated by him! 2 shots on target, 2 goals, Inter Milan's old captain Handanovic was also forced to be shot on target!
It’s like seeing a young man drawing his bow, not afraid of time or wind!
Xiaoliang's speed created a red whirlwind in Rome!"
On the sidelines, the fourth official raised a card, Inter Milan made a substitution!
Veteran No. 22 Vidal came on the field, replacing Barrera.
When Barrera saw his teammates’ reminder, he was stunned for a moment, then he reacted, and kept muttering to himself and shaking his head.
He came to the sidelines, high-fived Vidal, and walked straight into the player tunnel. He and Inzaghi ignored each other.
But Faris gave chase.
"What's wrong with you today?! What's on your mind?!" Faris asked loudly.
Barrera kicked the wall and yelled, "What was I thinking?! I want to win!"
"Where's the defensive zone assigned to you?! Where's the target assigned to you?! Have you forgotten everything?!"
Barrera wanted to talk back to vent his anger, but Faris made him speechless.
Cao! Right, where is my defensive area? Where is my defensive target? !
Damn!
He kicked the locker room door open, took off his jersey and threw it out, sat down on the ground and covered his head with a towel.
This substitution not only completely destroyed his chance to compete with Chen Xiaoliang on the same field, but also completely ruined the team's chances of winning away from home!
