Chapter 191: The Roman Traitor
"UEFA is a vampire. Frequent matches have led to a significant increase in player injuries"
"The revised rules of the European Super League will make Serie A better"
"Paris Saint-Germain can pass the Financial Fair Play Act at will, but Serie A teams have to keep selling their best players"
Whoever opposes the European Super League is supporting monopoly
Florentino: We know LeBron James' salary, but we don't know UEFA's salary
…
A large number of news headlines from newspapers, television and online platforms swept in from all directions to fans in Italy and even all over Europe.
Some of these were published in Turin Sports Daily and some were reported by Turin journalists. However, soon after this topic spread on the Internet, more and more people got involved, and the scope and angle of the discussion naturally far exceeded the original expectations.
However, contrary to expectations, in European countries, fans' support for the "European Super League" is almost unanimously opposed, while in the Red Country, there are many fans who are willing to watch the fun and help "Emperor Savin" criticize UEFA.
Even fans of the 12 founding clubs of the European Super League, especially the Premier League's BIG6, are almost unanimously opposed and even critical.
The reasons can be complex, but they can also be simple.
If you see someone on the street wearing a different color of clothes than you, would you go up to them and start cursing? No.
After you scold him, if he talks back, will you punch him? Most likely not.
Would you take off your shirt and scream like a primitive man with your chest hair exposed in public? Not at all.
But once these absurd things happen in the football fields of mainstream European leagues, they not only become reasonable, but also become commonplace.
What is football culture? What is football atmosphere?
That's it.
The same case actually happens in the Red Country.
Zhongyang TV station was broadcasting a live interview on the street and asked a passerby to go up and swear at the camera and the people of the whole country. Would he dare to do that?
I dare to ask for your money back.
The shout was justified and loud.
Premier League fans also have something to say. The English League has been around for how many years, 132 years. How has it been able to get to where it is today and become the number one league?
Apart from tradition, there are three things.
Fair, fair, and damn fair.
At the beginning, everyone agreed that a large number of matches would be moved to the afternoon. Who would be the first in the five major European leagues to play in the hot midday sun? Which club would not want to warm up and prepare in the relatively comfortable evening?
It was agreed at the beginning that no matter whether you are a wealthy club or a poor club, whether you are from the Premier League or the English Football Association, the profits will be shared according to a fixed ratio. If you are a wealthy club and have the ability to sign more sponsors through brand marketing, that is your business. In the league, the profits are shared according to the ranking.
Back then, we all worked together to overcome all objections, appease the anger of the fans, calm the dissatisfaction of the players, change the game time to noon, invest together, work hard together, and attract fans from all time zones around the world. Now you six bastards want to run away?
dream!
You are enjoying the fairness in your bowl and want to grab the monopoly in the pot?
Do you think all of Britain is a fan of your PIG6?
People from Leeds have the soul of Leeds for life. Their grandfathers are die-hard fans of Leeds, and their grandchildren are still die-hard fans of Leeds. The Leeds team logo is printed on their diapers since they were born. Even if they are relegated to the Championship, they will still be Manchester United's sworn enemies.
Want to leave? Sure.
The British Prime Minister immediately spoke out that if PIG6 insisted on participating in the European Super League, the British government would cancel all their players' work permits.
The Court of Justice of the European Union?
Abuse of power?
Suspected of monopoly?
I’m leaving the EU!
What are you doing to me?
Take Serie A for example. Ten years ago, when the gap between the top five leagues was far from as obvious as it is today, Serie A was competing with La Liga with the glory of reaching the Champions League final four times and winning the trophy three times in the 10 years from 2001 to 2010. At the same time, afternoon games in the Premier League were already very popular, and the league's revenue had shown a leapfrog growth trend.
However, AC Milan vice-president Galliani strongly opposed to kicking off at 12:30 noon, believing that it would affect the team's form in the league.
Until more than a year ago, the whole of Europe was hit by a winter chill due to the economic environment, and Serie A clubs were complaining that the afternoon games were too hot, so the Serie A League had to cancel the afternoon games and set the earliest kick-off time at 17:15, which is around 23:15 East Asian time, and there was only one game per week on weekends.
When it comes to dividing the money at the end of the season, the league champion only gets 23.4 million euros in broadcasting fees. When they see that the bottom team in the Premier League gets 94.4 million pounds, they complain about the poor organization and lack of appeal of the league.
Back then, during World War II, even if Italian soldiers were digging trenches or marching quickly, they had to stop on time every afternoon to rest and have afternoon tea.
In this way, most Serie A clubs also oppose the three giants joining the European Super League.
No matter how lazy they are, they know that if these three companies leave, they will not be able to share the 23.4 million euros.
Seeing that it was really not going well and that even the big clubs would not get any money if it went on like this, everyone reluctantly agreed to add the afternoon session back this season.
These are the five major leagues. If it were the Eredivisie, Belgian Bundesliga, Austrian Bundesliga, and other leagues that are destined to miss out on the European Super League and rely on entering the Champions League to gain fame and fortune, as well as their fans, they would never allow an elite monopoly league like the European Super League to exist.
What's more, people may not necessarily recognize the word "elite".
Ajax, Lille, Sevilla and Dortmund all have something to say. Arsenal, Tottenham and AC Milan will come out and try their luck in two rounds of home and away games. It is still unknown who will win and who will lose.
Under such public opinion, the pace set by Turin Sports Daily was quickly drowned out by the attacks from the crowd.
In fact, the ancestors of the Red Country have long said that this is called "The people are not worried about scarcity but inequality."
Chen Xiaoliang was quite calm. Nowadays, no matter how explosive the news is, even if it is a plane crashing to the ground, it will not survive more than a week under the Internet frenzy.
The team set off immediately the next day after playing against Genoa, heading to Bergamo, the northernmost province of Lombardy in Italy, to challenge Atalanta, their opponent in the quarter-finals of the Italian Cup.
This is the second time Roma has come here this year. The last time was in the 18th round of the league. Roma, in good form, defeated the home team 1-4 away from home.
However, this is a different time now. Roma, who just gave a point to Genoa at the bottom of the league, will challenge Atalanta, who has not won in the last three rounds of Serie A, with only one day left. In particular, the home team lost to Cagliari, which is also in the relegation zone, in the previous round. It can be said to be a duel between brothers in distress.
With such a short time, there was naturally no training to speak of. Mourinho could only take the team to the Azzurri Stadium at the designated time to walk around and adapt a little.
At 6 pm on February 7, the lists of both parties were announced.
This is right here:
Goalkeeper Musso, 27 years old, Argentine;
The three central defenders, from left to right, are 32-year-old Argentine Palomino, 23-year-old Turkish Demiral and 28-year-old Albanian Gimsiti;
The two defensive midfielders are 30-year-old Dutchman De Jong and 29-year-old Swiss player Froule;
The right wingback is 28-year-old Dutchman Hartbauer, and the left wingback is the rare Italian in the team, Zappacosta;
Central midfielder, 26-year-old Croatian Pasalic is one of the team's most expensive players, 28 million euros;
Another player of the same value is 28-year-old Ukrainian Malinovskyi, who will serve as one of the two strikers in this game. The other striker is Boga from Côte d'Ivoire.
The total value of the starting lineup is 220 million euros, which averages out to 20 million euros per person, and the average age is 27.8 years old.
To sum up, the secret for coach Gasperini to keep close to Juventus and firmly occupy the sixth place with this lineup is balance.
There are no overly outstanding stars, no particularly weak points, the team atmosphere is relatively united, and the tactical style of play has been highly consistent over the years. There have been some slight fluctuations this season, and the competition for the top four is unprecedentedly fierce. Otherwise, this slightly ordinary team can completely replicate the outstanding performance of reaching the Champions League last season.
When talking about Gasperini, we have to mention a phenomenon.
In the football world, a considerable number of famous head coaches with long coaching periods follow the trajectory of "small team emerging → big team achieving results → coaching a top club → coaching another top club".
For example, Mourinho, after leaving his assistant coaching career at Barcelona, had his first full coaching stint at the Portuguese Super League club Leiria, then at the big team Porto, before embarking on a rotation route for the giants.
Ancelotti is also a typical case. He started as an assistant coach of the Italian national team, then coached Reggina and Parma, and later took over from Lippi to coach Juventus, AC Milan, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. He also had brief coaching experiences outside of top clubs at Naples and Everton, and now he has returned to Real Madrid for a second coaching stint.
Therefore, many of Mourinho's loyal fans also feel that their idol's coaching of Roma is exactly the same as Ancelotti's experience in Naples and Everton, both of which are preparations before returning to a top club.
The same goes for Conte, Klopp, Allegri and so on.
Of course, there are also some famous coaches who will turn to coach national teams with a much slower pace in the later stages of their coaching careers.
For example, the four championship coaches, Capello, Lippi, Hitzfeld and Trapattoni.
Sir Alex Ferguson's achievement of coaching Manchester United for 27 years and 1,500 games after coming to England may still be seen occasionally in lower-level teams, but it is undoubtedly unprecedented among the giants.
There are also some head coaches who, although they have won unanimous recognition in the circle and have strong professional and innovative capabilities, once they go to a wealthy club, they will soon return in failure.
For example, the "King of the Europa League" Emery, the "Mr. Solid Ball" Magath, the "Mad Man" Bielsa, the "Chilean Engineer" Pellegrini, the "Tinker" Ranieri, and the "High Coach" Gasperini.
Their abilities are outstanding, but they seem to be suitable for leading mid-table teams.
It’s not that they don’t have the opportunity to join a wealthy family, but after they go there they are always unable to display their talents for various reasons.
Ten years ago, Gasperini became the head coach of Inter Milan. It should be noted that the Inter Milan he took over was just over a year away from winning the treble, but the final result of 1 draw and 4 losses made him the third shortest-lived head coach during Moratti's tenure with a record of being sacked after 90 days.
But every time the outside world thinks they are finished and no longer capable, they will hide in some mid-level team and play with a different style to make you remember them again.
After taking over Atalanta in June 2016, the veteran coach quietly led the team, which was ranked 13th last season, to 4th in his first year and successfully entered the Champions League.
The champion that year was still Juventus, the runner-up was Roma, AC Milan ranked 6th, and Inter Milan ranked 7th.
In the next four years, except for the 2017-18 season when it was ranked 7th, Atalanta firmly secured the 3rd place in the league no matter how the standings changed in the next three seasons, and did not even have to participate in the Champions League play-offs.
So much so that in Serie A, many fans jokingly call Inter Milan the "fake Nerazzurri" and Atalanta the real Nerazzurri.
Mourinho was also very polite to this "old brother", because Gasperini never said bad things about the Portuguese at press conferences. Recently, he said that he was "great and keeping up with the times", and that Roma was "injected with soul" because of his arrival.
After all, Mourinho is almost 60 years old. Since the other party has said this, he can only accept it with a smile and then praise the other party in the same degree.
In this game, he once again moved Chen Xiaoliang forward to the central midfielder position.
Atlanta is very good at using space to transfer the ball, trying to maintain control of the ball, and then attacking the opponent's weak points.
In the confrontation with the three giants, this team can always maintain the lead in ball possession at home.
Moving Chen Xiaoliang forward is just Mourinho's first step, which is to use his running and coverage to try to obstruct the opponent's backcourt transfer and force them to push the ball forward.
The second step is to switch to playing with two centers.
Although there have been ups and downs in recent games, it is a consistent fact that Roma is short of pure wingers.
Mkhitaryan is old and his speed is not as good as before, so he can't be the explosive point for counterattacks from the wing. Although Zalewski has good physical fitness, he is young after all, and he is a right-footed left-winger, so he can't consistently contribute high-quality crosses.
The remaining Abraham, Zaniolo, Carles Perez and others are not pure wingers, which will more or less affect their impact and scoring ability when they are on the wing.
Since you don’t have it, don’t force it. Just wait and see.
That is the third step, going back to three central defenders.
This is a cup competition, and one battle will decide the outcome. If you waste time in the league, you can make it up in the next game, but if you waste time in the cup competition, you will have to wait until next year. Mourinho definitely doesn't want to waste such a good draw.
The old combination of Smalling, Mancini and Ibanez was used as central defenders, while Karsdorp and Binya, who have better offensive abilities, played as wingbacks.
The double defensive midfielder is Veretout on the left and Matic on the right.
Since Matic's running ability is poor, let him stay in the back and occasionally have the opportunity to make a long shot or pass the ball.
Veretout supported the left wing more in attack, acting as a temporary left midfielder.
The right side was handed over to Chen Xiaoliang, who moved over from the middle to provide support.
After repeated confirmation and explanation, Roma's players walked out of the locker room and stepped onto the court!
As this match is the Italian Cup, it is not included in Roma's combined broadcast package of European games and league games, so fans in the Red Country can only watch the live broadcast on CNBTV5 on the central balcony.
"Beep!" The referee blew the whistle and the game began!
"Zhongyang TV, Zhongyang TV!"
"Dear viewers, welcome to watch the live broadcast of this season's Italian Cup quarter-finals."
"I'm He Wei."
“As soon as the game started we saw Roma kick off and pass it to Caldidorp on the right.”
"The ball was too big and was intercepted!"
"Atalanta makes a long pass behind him!"
"There's a chance!"
“The ball goes in!”
"My mouth is really quick. I actually said this beginning."
"10 seconds! 10 seconds!"
"Karstrup made a fatal mistake."
"Looking at the degree of pressure in the formation, Roma seemed to want to use the kick-off from the center circle to grab a quick attack at the start. As a result, after Abraham passed the ball to the right, Karsdorp stopped it directly and was intercepted by Atalanta's left wingback Zappacosta."
"Mourinho was very dissatisfied and his face turned blue!"
"In slow motion, Karsdorp did not quickly counter-attack after the ball was intercepted. Instead, he ran slowly to regain control of the ball. As a result, Zappacosta broke through from behind and then made a long diagonal pass to assist Ivorian striker Boga to score."
"It looked like Gasperini wanted to hold it back, but he couldn't seem to hold it back, fearing that it might cause internal injuries, so he turned around and laughed at the bench."
"Lose a goal at the start like this will disrupt all the coach's pre-match arrangements."
On the sidelines, Mourinho called Forti and said through gritted teeth: "Let Celik warm up and prepare for substitutions."
Even though Forti still hadn't forgotten Joao's past, Mourinho's words still shocked him: "This...Jose, it's only been one minute..."
Mourinho turned his head and looked at Forti with eyes that seemed to be shooting flames: "Today is February 7th. If it is 8 days in the morning, I will definitely ask you to call Pinto and tell him to sell this guy to me before the winter transfer window ends!"
After saying this, Mourinho still felt unsatisfied.
"It's been half a year, and he has made so many mistakes and lost his position! His attitude doesn't make him worthy of being here! He is a traitor! He betrayed everyone's efforts!"
Forti had no choice but to nod, then turned around and communicated with Celik on the bench.
Celik was also shocked, but everyone on the bench saw Mourinho's murderous expression. They either frowned and looked at the field seriously, or deliberately avoided making eye contact with him.
“Beep!”
The whistle sounded again, and Abraham and Cesco, who had not yet run out of the center circle, returned to the midpoint to kick off.
