Chapter 194: Chen Xiaoliang’s first overtime!
Being able to take advantage of the opponent's inattention in the first half to equalize the score was very important for Mourinho.
And the cost is completely affordable, it's just a waste of a substitution quota.
In the past, only three substitutions could be made in a game, and one substitution quota seemed relatively important. Now, all first-level competitions in Italy have aligned themselves with UEFA and have changed to five substitution quotas. In addition, Mourinho rarely uses all five substitution quotas except when the team is leading by a large margin, so this cost can indeed be described as "negligible."
He repeatedly explained on the tactical board several major offensive tactics used by Atlanta, and once again emphasized the importance of letting the team retreat and attract the opponent to attack.
After all, the last time the two teams met was here, Roma was in full bloom and won a big victory 1-4 away from home.
Then he asked Pellegrini, Zaniolo, Zalewski and others to warm up and be ready to go on the court at any time.
The 10 minutes passed in a flash, and the stadium staff came over to remind us that it was time to return to the stadium.
While clapping his hands to encourage the players to stay motivated, Forti stayed at the door and watched the players leave one by one, but he did not leave himself.
Similarly, seeing that Mourinho did not leave, Chen Xiaoliang did not leave either.
At first, the few players who were leaving didn't realize anything, but halfway through, the remaining players realized that things were still not good, and quickly left this place of trouble.
Until the only ones left in the locker room were Mourinho, Forti, Chen Xiaoliang and Karsdorp, who was leaning against the locker in silence.
Futi looked at Chen Xiaoliang and raised his eyebrows.
Chen Xiaoliang immediately understood and walked up to Mourinho and said, "Come on, coach, we need you on the sidelines."
Futi immediately responded: "I am here, and you are more needed outside."
The two people sang the same tune, not only implicitly expressing that now is not the time to escalate the conflict, but also praising Mourinho and making it clear that the team cannot do without him for a single minute.
Seeing the two men say this, Mourinho didn't want to get angry anymore, so he put down the marker and turned away.
“Beep!”
After the start of the second half , both teams played very conservatively.
In a cup competition, one match decides the winner. There is no such thing as goal difference or tie-break to determine ranking. Whoever has the last laugh is the only winner.
Then they equalized the score before halftime, which gave Roma a great psychological advantage. Although Atalanta still had a high possession rate, they could not find a good solution when faced with Roma's tight defense.
When it came to crossing the ball, although Roma's three central defenders were slow to turn, they relied on their height advantage and heading was their strong point. Chen Xiaoliang and Matic would retreat from time to time to help with headers and force high crosses. Atalanta's two center forwards did not have any advantage.
When taking long shots or inverted triangle shots, there are two defensive midfielders in front of the penalty area, and the two wingbacks often move inwards. Not only is the penalty area crowded, but once Chen Xiaoliang retreats to assist in defense, the ball can be easily intercepted.
So we saw Atalanta often passing the ball from left to right, and from right to left, surrounding the team without attacking. Once Roma's midfield was too aggressive, they would make a long pass back to the backcourt, allowing the central defender to reorganize the attack.
However, a ball is round after all, and players are human beings. No matter how sophisticated the tactics or how complete the strategies are, there will always be deviations.
In the 55th minute, after Smalling headed out a corner kick from the left side of Atlanta, De Jong caught up with the ball and moved to the empty right side. While his teammates who were participating in the corner kick in the penalty area had not retreated yet, right wingback Hartbauer rushed into the penalty area with the ball and made a reverse triangle pass to the penalty spot.
Atlanta's two centers, Malinovsky and Boga, immediately fell to the ground and tried to shoot!
However, before the ball rolled to their feet, a long, dark leg stretched out and poked the ball first!
“Shoot!”
"Xiao Liang blocked it!"
"Atlanta's players raised their hands one after another, indicating that the ball went in!"
"But the referee didn't say anything. He even raised his wrist and pointed at the bracelet he was wearing!"
"The goal-line technology has been approved by FIFA and has long been popularized in major competitions. Once the ball crosses the goal line, the device worn by the referee, usually a wristband, will send a signal."
"The Hawkeye system in the stadium will also report to the video referee team in a timely manner."
"So at this point, the probability of misjudgment is almost zero."
He Wei was explaining when he suddenly exclaimed "Ouch".
"This ball, did Abraham go in the wrong direction?"
"Did he mistake his own goal for the opponent's goal?"
"This is a shovel shot!"
"Fortunately, Chen Xiaoliang, who was defending the near post during the corner kick, had not left and the ball was blocked by him. Otherwise, Patricio would not have been able to save the ball."
"After Abraham stood up, he stretched out his hands and repeatedly apologized to his teammates."
"The camera turned to Mourinho again, and it was obvious that the madman's hair, which originally had some gray, had turned almost completely white after arriving in Rome. This was the result of worrying too much."
"When Karsdorp was substituted in the first half, many fans left messages in the live broadcast room, saying that Mourinho had reached the stage of catching the traitor again. Now it seems that Roma is almost going to have another traitor."
Chen Xiaoliang helped the team escape danger, and Roma played more cautiously.
In the 66th minute, Pasalic's long shot was blocked by Veretout's outstretched leg and refracted high out of the bottom line, giving Atlanta another corner kick.
Chen Xiaoliang and Celik still guarded one side of the goal post.
However, when he retreated, he asked Abraham to stay in front and not come back.
8 people are enough to defend the corner kick, why add one more to cause trouble.
Moreover, seeing that Roma kept both forwards in the front, it would also force them to have one more person staying in the backcourt, reducing the pressure on corner kick attacks.
This time, Atlanta's high ball did not cause any threat. The ball flew across the middle and no one headed it, and it was taken off by Matic who was chasing out.
Seeing that Roma was about to counterattack, two nearby Atalanta players immediately surrounded Matic, preparing to snatch the ball from his feet. The rest of the players, except for the two forwards, immediately returned to defense.
The battle-hardened "Ma Xiangqian" is not a young man like Abraham who would make mistakes in a hurry.
He rubbed his left foot and made a long pass forward.
Cesco, who switched positions with Abraham, moved to the left side of the center circle, ran forward a few steps and jumped high towards the landing point. Jimsiti had no way to defend him in this position and could only watch Cesco head the ball back.
Veretout caught the ball, and Binia on his left had also made a run.
Facing the pressure from De Jong next to him, Veretout made a straight pass to the front left, and Binia took the ball and moved forward with big strides.
De Jong had no choice but to turn around and chase Binya again. The Uruguayan left-back ran with the ball for more than ten meters and saw that he was about to be caught up by De Jong, so he stepped on the ball with his left foot and pushed the ball to the middle with his right foot.
Just as he and Veretout were working together, Chen Xiaoliang had already rushed up from the penalty area!
Physical strength recovery card 3→2!
Chen Xiaoliang ran faster and faster. In front of him, there were only three defensive players: Jimsiti, Zappacosta and Fruller.
Among them, Djimsiti was looking at Cesco, Zappacosta was looking at Abraham, and Fruller was retreating while keeping parallel with the other two teammates and maintaining the existence of the offside line.
In an instant, a three-on-three situation formed in the middle of the court!
【Xiaoliang, charge! 】
【Master Liang, cut him in the middle! 】
【Directly shoot a dragon! 】
Chen Xiaoliang's speed of dribbling the ball was obviously not as fast as the speed of the fans typing on the keyboard in the live broadcast room. Within just a few seconds, a series of new comments appeared under the live broadcast room.
"Xiao Liang is still dribbling the ball, and no one is blocking him!"
"The other players behind me obviously can't catch up!"
"Xiaoliang is about to lead the restricted area!"
"Sesco suddenly changed direction from the left to the middle!"
"Fruler didn't pounce on Xiaoliang, but chose to block Dusko!"
"Xiaoliang is moving to the right and has reached the top of the penalty area!"
"Still changing direction, seems to be trying to increase the angle for the shot!"
"Cesco counter-runs! To the left!"
"Xiaoliang got up!"
" Frueller pounced!"
"It's a fake move!"
"Xiaoliang, keep going to the right!"
"Kick again!"
"Zappacosta pounces!"
"Abraham was let go!"
"Xiao Liang passes the ball!"
"The ball went over Zappacosta's head!"
"Abraham!!!"
"The ball went high!"
"It seems that this day is not destined to belong to the Englishman on the field!"
Just a moment ago, when Zappacosta was about to turn around and pounce on Chen Xiaoliang, his center of gravity just changed and Chen Xiaoliang made a lob pass.
Abraham, who was less than 3 meters away, jumped high and headed the ball directly, and Musso had no time to react.
But facing such a big goal, Abraham, who had just made an accurate "clearance" towards his own goal and almost scored an own goal in the dead corner, headed the ball ridiculously high.
Chen Xiaoliang, Cesco, and even Weletu behind him, all stopped, gasping for breath, and looked at Abraham in astonishment.
The comment section immediately exploded.
[Amauri found his successor in Italy, the new generation of iron guard Abraham]
【Tell a joke, Great British Star】
[7 goals in 24 league games, 3 goals in 8 UEFA Cup games, a striker played 24 games and only scored 10 goals, but it cost 40 million euros]
[Chelsea's decision to abandon Duck Neck already shows that he is no longer useful. I really don't know what the bird likes about him]
[Get out of here sooner, Wu Lei is better than him]
[That’s right, Wu Lei at least managed to head the ball into the goalkeeper, giving the team one more shot on target (dog head)]
Mourinho on the sidelines felt mixed emotions.
The Dutch full-back, who was given high hopes in the first half, lost the ball at the beginning and finally equalized the score. Seeing that the team was gradually gaining momentum, he was defeated by the English striker .
If you don't seize this opportunity, you may be punished by your opponent!
Looking at the dejected Abraham, Mourinho had to make a substitution and replaced him with Zaniolo.
Zaniolo received a red card in the last league game and was suspended for two additional games for verbally attacking the referee. Mourinho originally wanted him to start in this Italian Cup game.
However, the tall physique and tough style of play of Atalanta's defense made Mourinho choose Abraham, who had slightly better confrontation ability, at the last moment.
I have to say that the decision made rationally was the right one.
After Zaniolo came on the court, he could only roam in the frontcourt. With his playing style and confrontation ability, although he is 190cm tall, he was completely unable to withstand the siege of Palomino and Zappacosta in close confrontation.
This also left Cesc as the only fulcrum in Roma's frontcourt, and the tactic of using high balls to attack the gaps between the wingbacks and central defenders on both sides was greatly reduced in effectiveness.
Demiral, who is in the middle, can hand over the middle to Palomino at any time and move to Jimsiti's side to defend Cesco.
Why did Mourinho choose to play with high balls?
Even He Wei in the broadcast room noticed the signs.
"After the game entered the 70th minute, the running and reaction abilities of both teams changed significantly."
"The defending side has to constantly respond to the attacker's moves, so it consumes more energy."
"At the same time, Mourinho's quick counterattack style requires players to sprint about 50 meters to create offensive opportunities after getting the ball, just like Xiaoliang's long-distance assist just now."
"Every time I run back and forth like this, it consumes a lot of my physical strength."
"With this decline in physical strength, complex passes through the middle are obviously becoming more and more difficult to carry out, because the physical strength of the players on the field is no longer able to complete the counterattack pass during high-speed running."
"So we saw that Roma increasingly used long passes to pass through Atalanta's midfield and reduced the number of players involved in the attack to counterattack. This saved effort, but the success rate also plummeted."
In the Atlanta coaching bench, Jens was calm and confident.
He knows that his physical reserve training plan since joining the team, especially during the winter break, has been effective.
This is an important guarantee for the team to make a comeback in the second half of the season and strive to enter the Champions League for the fourth consecutive year.
What's more, although this civilian team ranked third in the Champions League group stage and was forced to switch to the Europa League, progress in every competition is what the club pursues and what Gasperini has been doing in recent years.
Therefore, the team must have a good level of physical fitness to cope with the next three-line battles.
Mourinho made another substitution.
Pellegrini replaces Veretout and Malacia replaces Binya.
But he did not let Chen Xiaoliang retreat, but let Pellegrini go to Veretout's original position of defensive midfielder on the left half of the field.
The team had just finished playing the league and came to an away game. They had no time to rest. Now they were facing a team that had been coached by Jens, the master of physical training in the football circle, for some time. He needed Chen Xiaoliang's abnormal running ability to maintain the pressing pressure on Atlanta's midfield and backcourt.
Once even this little bit of pressure is removed, Atlanta will be even more unscrupulous in controlling the ball and organizing the game.
As time passed, Gasperini made three substitutions.
As the end of the second half approached, Atlanta's physical advantage became more obvious and the scope of their attack became greater.
Their conspiracy was simple: before the end of the game, when one of Roma's spirit or body could no longer hold out, they would deliver a fatal blow and then advance to the next round.
However, they also underestimated the toughness of Mourinho's bus.
No matter if you bomb from the high altitude or transmit the ball on the ground, the eight players in the midfield and backcourt will be there to deal with it. When they receive a cross, they will try their best to head it, and when they receive a long shot, they will risk their lives to block it.
Until the 95 minutes of extra time was used up and the referee blew the whistle, Atalanta was unable to score against Roma.
According to the rules, both sides will enter overtime.
Although they had made plans, neither head coach expected the game to actually come to this point.
There is only a 5-minute break before the overtime starts. Players from both teams will not go into the locker room, but will stay near the bench on the sidelines, where they will be helped by team doctors and fitness coaches to recover or receive massages to relieve fatigue.
Today, with the rapid development of sports science, team doctors will use cooling spray on players' calves, ankles, groins and other areas to reduce the soreness caused by high-intensity friction and force, and use the freezing feeling brought by low temperature to mask fatigue.
Mourinho had Kumbulla and Cristante warm up.
Although four players have been substituted, the rules stipulate that there will be one more substitution in overtime.
He didn't say anything more to the players or make any tactical arrangements.
The current situation is very clear, one side is attacking and the other side is defending.
Even in Mourinho's football philosophy, he believes this is a way for his team to "dominate" the game.
No matter how the opponent attacks, they are helpless. This invincible state is of course the proof of dominating the game.
And he only needs one counterattack, a fatal strike, to take away the final victory.
"The next match between the two sides will be on February 14, the 25th round of Serie A."
"That is to say, no matter how exhausted the game is, as long as there are no injuries, seven days is enough time for the team to recover."
"Therefore, judging from the current deployment of troops, Mourinho and Gasperini have no intention of giving up the game and are ready to fight to the end."
"When two brave men meet on a narrow road, the brave one wins!"
"Although there weren't any dramatic moments, we certainly didn't expect the game to go this far before the game."
"The camera pans over players from both teams as they prepare for overtime."
"Compared to the more complicated expressions and looks in the first and second half, the players' eyes at this moment have become much clearer."
"Perhaps they no longer have the extra energy and strength to think about anything other than the game, and the little episodes that happened in the game have been temporarily erased from their minds."
"The only way before them now is victory."
"And overtime is the best test of both sides' will to survive!"
Players from both teams returned to the court at the reminder of the fourth official.
This was also the third time the game was switched halves.
“Beep!”
The referee blew the whistle for overtime!
"Zhongyang TV, Zhongyang TV."
"You are watching this season's Italian Cup quarter-final match between Atalanta and Roma at home."
"The two sides tied 1-1 in 90 minutes, and now the game has entered overtime!"
"This is also the first time that Red Country player Chen Xiaoliang has played overtime. The last time he played overtime, he was in the Glasgow Rangers in Scotland. At that time, he was also in the quarter-finals of the Europa League. Facing the Red Devils Manchester United, they tied with their opponents in the second round and entered overtime."
"However, Xiaoliang did not get a chance to play in that game because of a torn ankle ligament, and Rangers were also blocked by Manchester United from reaching the semi-finals."
"Today, history repeats itself. I don't know what kind of game will be against Xiaoliang in the next 30 minutes!"
