Chapter 178 Round 2! Challenge San Siro!
On January 3, the team completed all training for the winter break and flew back to Rome.
Before that, on December 29, the club had already arranged flights for the players' families to fly back to Rome so that all the players could concentrate on training.
To put it simply, you've had enough fun and relaxed enough, it's time to focus.
Although the training time together was not long, the three new players who had played for half a season were in relatively good physical condition, and they were able to understand and integrate into Mourinho's style of play tactically.
Especially Matic, he came here with an instruction manual.
The pass he made when switching from offense to defense in the defensive midfielder position was the exclusive charge for Mourinho's bus defense.
Soon, it was January 5th, and the team arrived in Milan, the fashion capital of Italy, and went to San Siro to start the first game of the second half of the season.
During the 12 days of winter training, Chen Xiaoliang accumulated a total of 52 hours of training value through team training and individual training, which allowed him to further improve his attributes, but at the cost of using up 3 physical recovery cards.
Training value 30→82
Stamina recovery card 5 → 2
Now, except for 18 crossing and 20 steals, which can no longer be increased by adding points, all other attributes can be further improved.
Faced with the considerable training points he had accumulated with great effort, he would hesitate for a long time every time this happened.
Whether it is to make up for shortcomings or to achieve growth, both are important in the long run, but it is impossible to do both at the same time at the moment.
However, the performance of the three new players after their arrival eventually affected his judgment.
Malacia and Celik's passing ability is average. Whether in positional battles or quick counterattacks, I, as a central midfielder, often cooperate with them on the wing. Sometimes the balls passed by these two... especially the balls passed during high-speed running, are often either half-high balls or bouncing on the grass. It is really difficult for him to stop the ball with only 10 points...
In addition, there is Matic who likes to pass the ball forward. Although he has a good passing ability, the way he passes the ball only depends on the opponent's defensive position and the size of the receiving space. He doesn't care what kind of ball you are good at or not.
Sometimes, after the transition from offense to defense, Matic would make a low through ball like a shot or a long pass from 35 meters away. As the hub of the front and back fields, Chen Xiaoliang had to find ways to stop the ball.
These three new players, especially Matic, will obviously play an important role in the second half of the season.
Thinking of this, Chen Xiaoliang made up his mind and spent 80 training points and added 4 points of ball stopping.
Training value 82 → 2
Stop 10→14
As time goes by, some people come and some leave the team.
In addition to Niles being returned to Arsenal after his loan ended, Calafiori, who can play as a two-way back, was loaned to Genoa, which is on the verge of relegation, where he can be guaranteed playing time;
The newly bought American full-back Reynolds was unable to adapt to the intensity of the mainstream European leagues and was loaned out to the Belgian First Division team Kortrijk for training, which also made way for Celik to make room for a non-European player.
Center forward Marayol, who had been unable to get enough playing time and had even less playing time after Cesco joined the team, was loaned to La Liga team Getafe.
In fact, there is a very special loaned player in the Roma lineup, he is Florenzi, the former captain of the team who was born in Rome and made his debut in the Roma youth training camp and was once called the "third generation".
After De Rossi left the team, Florenzi, as a native Roman, took over the position of team captain.
He had always played as a midfielder, but the team transformed him into a full-back. He was good at attacking but not at defending. Although he played well in this position, after suffering serious injuries one after another, Florenzi's position was gradually marginalized after the arrival of the previous head coach, Portuguese Paulo Fonseca.
Especially after the team spent 29.5 million euros to introduce Spinazzola and 16 million euros to Karsdorp from Juventus, Florenzi's playing time became even less.
In the end, the disheartened "third generation" was unwilling to renew his contract with the team and insisted on letting the club loan him out. Even the arrival of Mourinho could not change his mind.
Over the years, he has been loaned out to Valencia, Paris Saint-Germain and currently AC Milan.
Under Pioli, although Florenzi is still not an absolute main player, he also has regular rotation playing time. Both parties have basically confirmed that AC Milan will buy him out before the end of the loan period, making him an official member of AC Milan.
At the pre-match press conference, Pioli also said that Florenzi would definitely start in this game. It would feel strange to face his old club, especially since he was once the captain of the team, but he was very confident that Florenzi would play well in this game with extraordinary professionalism.
To put it bluntly, Pioli was not satisfied with the result of the first leg at the Olympic Stadium in the first half of the season, which was a 3-3 draw with Roma. This time at San Siro, he not only wanted to win, but also win in a "heart-breaking" way.
However, Mourinho is full of confidence in the game.
If for no other reason, it was because almost half of AC Milan's main players were unable to play in this game.
Kessie, Ballo Toure and Bennacer were called up by the national team to participate in the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon;
On defense, goalkeeper Tatarusanu, who started in the last game, the team's captain and vice-captain Romagnoli, and Calabria are all injured and will definitely miss this game. Also absent are veteran Kjaer and Tomori, who started in the last game.
Wow, if you count it this way, 7 of AC Milan's 11 starting players in the first round of the league at the Olympic Stadium will be unable to play.
As for Roma, not only have the new players arrived and the main players are all healthy, but the impact of the African Cup is also negligible for the team .
Currently, there are only two players missing due to injuries, the second goalkeeper Fuzzato and the long-term patient Spinazzola. The only players called up for the African Cup are Diawara, who has been demoted to the reserve team by Mourinho, and the iron substitute young player Darbo.
Given the circumstances, any coach would feel that tonight would be the perfect time to overthrow the seven-time Champions League winners at San Siro.
All major media outlets also expressed a unanimous pessimistic view of AC Milan.
Even the betting odds have changed to Roma giving a 50% handicap in the away game.
Of course, there is inevitably some "green" among the flowers. As the number one anti-fan of Roma and Chen Xiaoliang, Turin Sports Daily has continuously released various "unfavorable" news:
"The general and the coach are at odds, Pellegrini has been isolated in the locker room, his captaincy is in name only, and Chen Xiaoliang's faction has completely taken control of the discourse"
"Internal strife among new players: the arrival of three new players has caused strong dissatisfaction among Veretout, Karsdorp and Binya. Some players support them behind the scenes and accuse Mourinho of breaking his promise."
Roma's transfer spending this season has reached 140 million euros, and will be sanctioned by UEFA's Financial Fair Play Act. Roma owner: If it happens, Mourinho will be fired.
"Chen Xiaoliang has issued an ultimatum to the club. If he is not given the highest salary in Serie A, he will move to the Premier League in the summer window."
Faced with these news, Mourinho did not respond at all in the press conference, but only said one sentence:
"I don't want to give clicks to certain media outlets who are waiting for my response and then making a big fuss about my response, which will never end. Once that happens, they will be the winner."
However, Matic, who accompanied Mourinho to the press conference for the first time, praised the harmony and unity in the Roma locker room and said that the players were ready to win the championship under Mourinho's leadership.
However, in the writing of the Turin Sports reporter, the story has become another picture:
"Matic praised the unity of the Roma dressing room and implied that Manchester United had many factions and conflicts within the team"
"Escape from Rome, Matic: Finally left the nightmare years in Manchester"
Ralf Rangnick is just a third-rate guy? Matic claims Mourinho is the champion coach
Now, not only did it successfully help Roma mock the Serie A giants, it also brought the war to Manchester.
There are naturally reasons behind Turin Sports Daily's actions.
At the end of the first half of the league season, Juventus is only 3 points away from 4th-placed Napoli. The transfer of the 80 million pound man Vlahovic has been agreed, with only the final details to be finalized.
Fiorentina are prepared to wait until mid-January before releasing the Serbian striker to Juventus.
After all, Vlahovic's feet are hot now. In the 19 league rounds in the first half of the season, he scored 16 goals, ahead of Immobile and Lautaro, ranking first in the scorer list.
Juventus is also facing schedule pressure as they are eagerly waiting for the game but still have to wait for more than half a month.
In this round, their opponent is Napoli, their direct competitor for the top four, and in the next round, they will challenge Roma away.
That is to say, for Napoli, Roma and Juventus, the results of the first two games in the second half of the season will determine the tone of whether they can enter the top four of the entire season.
The best result, of course, would be to win two consecutive games in direct confrontations , which would not only allow Juventus to be directly promoted to fourth place, but would also significantly narrow the gap with Roma.
The worst result is two consecutive defeats and Napoli and Roma winning two consecutive games. The gap will widen to 9 points, and it will be very difficult to catch up.
As the mouthpiece of Turin Sports Daily, of course it has to go all out at this time.
But Chen Xiaoliang naturally had no interest in caring about these things.
Before every game, he would go to the bathroom and sit on the toilet after getting fully dressed.
It’s not that he was anxious before the game, but he wanted to open the system and check the game props again, especially the number of the most critical physical recovery cards.
However, there is one very important thing he has to keep in mind in this game, that is, the [superstar mission] between him and Ibrahimovic has not been completed yet.
[Superstar Mission: Win 5 aerial duels with Zlatan Ibrahimovic]
[Mission Reward: Zlatan Ibrahimovic Skill Training Package]
[Task progress: 1/5]
Due to Tottenham Hotspur's withdrawal from the game, it is certain that there will be no chance to play against Tottenham this season. The "superstar mission" between him and Harry Kane has been confirmed to be impossible to complete, so the match with Ibrahimovic is particularly precious.
But unexpectedly, he saw a series of tasks in the system that he had ignored before...
[Exclusive mission: Win against the giants]
[Task Reward: Randomly obtain a legendary football star card of this wealthy club (five minutes)]
[Task progress: Defeated Manchester United (April 9, 2021)]
[Mission Reward: Obtain a Peak Beckham Free Kick Attribute Card (Five Minutes)]
The two lines above have changed from gold to gray.
[Task progress: Defeated Inter Milan (December 4, 2021)]
[Mission Reward: One Inter Milan Legendary Star Card]
I didn’t expect that after completing the nemesis mission with Barrera, I actually missed a chance to draw a card!
"Boom boom boom"
However, this was not a system prompt sound, but someone knocking on the door outside the toilet.
"Chen, are you ready? I want to enlarge it too."
It’s that silly Abraham.
"Right away."
Chen Xiaoliang quickly collected the reward.
There was another flash of golden light.
[Obtain a Peak Samuel Marking Attribute Card (Five Minutes)]
Although the card was stored in the system, the two lines of text about Inter Milan's mission turned gray again, and then a new line popped up:
[Task progress: Face AC Milan (January 6, 2022)]
[Task Reward: One AC Milan Legendary Star Card]
Although Samuel can be regarded as a legend of Inter Milan, he is also a legend of Roma. In the 2000-01 Serie A championship lineup, Totti, Montella and Batistuta certainly made contributions, but Samuel was also an indispensable defensive pillar.
Chen Xiaoliang pretended nothing had happened, turned off the system, flushed the toilet, and opened the door.
"Chen, what did you eat? It has no taste at all." Abraham asked while taking off his pants impatiently.
"You fucking idiot..." Chen Xiaoliang said halfway and quickly fled the scene.
The scene bombed by this kid Abraham was so suffocating that people could be suffocated to death the next day.
At 19:30 on January 6, 2022, players from both sides were already standing on the San Siro stadium!
This largest stadium among Serie A teams has another name, Giuseppe Meazza Stadium.
This is the home stadium shared by the two AC Milan clubs, and all 75,923 tickets were sold out early.
Both sides coincidentally arranged in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
Pioli, who was short of money, selected many young players to play:
The goalkeeper is the Frenchman Maignan, the No.1 goalkeeper. He was bought by AC Milan from the French Ligue 1 champion Lille for 14.4 million euros in the summer transfer window this season. In the first round, due to injury, the No.2 goalkeeper Tatarusanu played.
The right back was Florenzi, who was loaned to AC Milan by Roma. When he lined up in the player tunnel to play, he saw that he didn't even recognize two-thirds of the 11 starters in the Roma lineup, and the old captain was more determined to leave Roma;
The central defenders are the 21-year-old French wonder Kalulu, who is worth 28 million euros, and the 22-year-old Mateo Gabbia, and the left back is Theo, who wears the captain's armband and is the core of the team;
The double defensive midfielders are the 21-year-old Tonali and Krunic, who played as the attacking midfielder in the first leg;
The attacking midfielder was replaced by 22-year-old Spanish midfielder Brahim Dias, who was loaned from Real Madrid;
The left winger is 22-year-old Belgian striker Salema Koers, who had a mediocre performance on the right side in the first round, and the right winger is 30-year-old Brazilian striker Messias on loan from Crotone;
The center forward is French veteran Giroud;
Ibrahimovic was not scheduled to start in this game.
Thanks to the instigation of Turin Sports Daily, this game attracted a lot of Manchester United and Premier League fans who support Mourinho.
Seeing that a mighty Italian Serie A giant sent out a scout group, including several players on loan, they sighed as they were used to the Premier League giants buying and selling players at low prices.
[Is Serie A unable to afford to hire players? Why are there so many renters? ]
[Serie A has such economic strength. You don’t need to maintain them if you rent them. If they play well, you will get more money to buy a few. If they play badly, you will get less money to return them without any pressure.]
[Roma almost feels like Real Madrid in Serie A...]
[Real Madrid? El Shaarawy is a famous player, Mkhitaryan is a discarded player from Muller, Abraham is a substitute for Chelsea, Smalling is a bench player for Manchester United, and Patricio is a famous player from Wolves. Tell me which one Real Madrid likes? ]
…
Amidst the chaos, Chen Xiaoliang, Special Olympics and the referee selected sides for the two teams. Everyone stood on both sides and the game was ready to begin!
Roma's three new players all started:
Left back Malacia, right back Celik, center backs Smalling and Ibanez;
Double defensive midfielders Matic and Veretout;
Central midfielder Chen Xiaoliang;
Left winger Abraham, right winger Zaniolo, center forward Cesco.
In addition to the rotation of Pellegrini, Cristante and Mancini, this is also Roma's strongest lineup at present.
The starting lineups of both teams have an average age of 26.1 years for Roma and a market value of 290 million euros, while AC Milan has an average age of 25.5 years and a market value of 190 million euros.
This is the first time in many years that Roma can stand up straight at San Siro and face AC Milan with the attitude of a strong team.
“Beep!”
The referee blew the whistle and Giroud kicked off first!
The value is the value, the injury is the injury, but Mourinho is not the kind of young head coach who will get carried away and change tactics when he sees an advantage. The tactics he formulated in this game are still the team's secret weapon - defensive counterattack.
After the start of the game, AC Milan did not show any signs of stage fright due to the absence of a large number of main players. This group of young players was full of energy and launched several consecutive waves of attacks.
Theo continued to attack on the left, but Celik's defense was very solid. He prevented breakthroughs but not passes. He would block 45-degree long passes away from the penalty area if possible, and ignore them if not. However, he was determined not to let Theo break through to the end line or dribble into the penalty area.
Seeing that Roma's right-side defense had improved significantly, Theo immediately adjusted his style of play, re-introducing the inward tactics and frequently moving to the middle to participate in the attack.
In the 3rd minute, Krunic and Theo switched positions. Krunic's cross from the left rib was headed out by Smalling. Veretout headed the ball but it was not cleared far enough. Theo rushed forward and shot a cold arrow outside the penalty area, but Patricio made a desperate save with his sideways movement!
Roma broke out in a cold sweat!
However, before the cold sweat had even subsided, a greater crisis had arrived.
In the subsequent corner kick attack, Theo was about to take a corner kick, but the referee blew the whistle!
Everyone turned around and saw him covering his headphones, and they knew that the situation was not good!
Sure enough, after listening to the video referee team for a while, the referee ran to the VAR to watch it repeatedly, then turned around and awarded AC Milan a penalty!
Mourinho is confused!
The players on the Roma field were also stunned!
The referee ran back to the field and showed Abraham a yellow card for intentionally handballing in the penalty area!
The replay in the live broadcast room was very clear. When Theo took the long shot just now, Abraham, who was actively replaying the shot, subconsciously leaned left, trying to block the flying ball, but his left hand naturally touched the ball lightly. Although the ball was moving very fast, this slight contact with body hair did not change the flight trajectory of the ball at all, but it was still discovered by the "sharp-eyed" video referee team!
Abraham was very angry! He wanted to catch up with the referee and argue with him.
But since he already had a yellow card, doing this was tantamount to wanting to leave the field early!
Chen Xiaoliang went up and pulled him away, and it was replaced by Matic, Veretout and others who went up to argue with the referee.
Although the result cannot be changed, reasonable pressure will affect the referee's subsequent decision-making.
"Didn't you wash your hands after you were done? Your hands stink."
Chen Xiaoliang pushed Abraham hard.
"I'll pass the ball to you later, and we'll get the score back!"
Abraham nodded glumly and sniffed his left hand again.
"It doesn't have any smell. I always wipe it with my right hand."
