Chapter 198: A fierce race against AC Milan! Chen Xiaoliang returns to Glasgow Rangers!
In the match against Verona, Cesco felt some discomfort in his hamstring during training the day before the game. Mourinho did not force it and sent young player Gian as left winger, letting Abraham attack in the front as the lone striker.
In the last game, Mkhitaryan played as a right wingback, exposing his shortcomings of old age and weak burst. In this game, Mourinho let Binia on the left try to play as a right wingback, but the result was not ideal.
In the 5th minute of the first half, Verona quickly took a tactical free kick from the right. The cross was blocked by Fuzzato, but it did not go far and fell right at the feet of midfielder Ballack near the penalty spot in the middle. The Verona No. 7 pushed the ball and scored the first goal.
Not long after, in the 19th minute, after scoring on the right, Verona moved to the left and made the same inverted triangle cross from the bottom. Cameroon midfielder Tameze followed up with a shot and Roma fell behind 0-2 at home.
Two balls, one on the left and one on the right, both used the same tactics, using the advantage of numbers on the wing to carry out short passes in a small range, and creating cross opportunities behind the wingbacks. Although Roma's three central defenders kept a close eye on the opponent's forward attacking players, the three central defenders and double defensive midfielders missed all the opponent's midfielders ambushing behind the striker.
In less than 20 minutes, the team ranked 9th in the league was slapped left and right at home. Some radical Roma fans have already made intermittent boos and ridicules, expressing their strong dissatisfaction with the players running around like headless flies.
Although Roma had the upper hand on the field and was ahead of their opponents in ball possession and shots, they were almost all playing on their own in the attack. Whoever got the ball near the penalty area would try to end the battle with a single kick, and would choose to ignore the positioning of their teammates.
In the 60th minute of the second half, Mourinho saw that there was no hope with the players on the field, so he simply replaced them with two young players, Bove and Volpato.
In particular, the 18-year-old Volpato, wearing the No. 62 jersey, has dual citizenship of Italy and Australia.
Born in Sydney, Australia, he attracted the attention of Roma in a game in Malaysia in 2020. He was invited to Rome for a trial and eventually managed to stay.
Two years after joining the youth training system, he has become the best player in the Roma youth training system.
Since the World Cup year, the Australian national team coach has made the first call-up to Volpato, hoping that he can play for the team in the Qatar World Cup as an Australian citizen.
Volpato has not yet made a public decision, but everyone in the club knows that he prefers to play for the Italian team in the future.
After he came to Rome, his agent was none other than Rome’s eternal prince – Totti.
In Mourinho's vision, Volpato, Zalewski, Bove and Gian can all become the absolute main force in the corresponding positions of the team after 1-2 years of polishing.
But I didn't expect that the original intention of bringing the newcomers to the league to familiarize themselves with it turned out to be giving the newcomers a task in a critical moment to make a charge.
What was even more unexpected was that both of these young players played a huge role.
In the 64th minute, Pellegrini took a corner kick from the right side. The ball was blocked by a Verona player and bounced out. Volpato followed up and shot. He scored in his debut and Roma pulled one point back 1-2!
In the 83rd minute, Pellegrini attacked through a set-piece again. A Verona player failed to head the ball far enough. Bove received the ball on the right and took a step forward. Just when everyone thought he was going to make another cross and move towards the middle of the goal, Bove suddenly fired a beautiful shot from the near corner.
The ball passed by three players wearing Verona's white away jerseys and flew into the goal right under the nose of the stunned goalkeeper!
Roma 2-2 Verona.
Although they lost 2 points, Mourinho's fans still praised this game as another classic work of the madman. There were countless comments and posts praising the game after the game:
[Two magical substitutions, two goals, Mourinho is still the most special one in Europe! ]
[Who said Mourinho can't train young people? In addition to Chen Xiaoliang and Jian, two more future pillars have emerged! ]
[Shock! The most talented player that Italy and Australia are scrambling for has been conquered by Mourinho, and he may become the strongest midfielder in Europe in the future! ]
After reading the title, one can't help but wonder whether Mourinho has secretly invested in UC.
The performance of the two young players really made Mourinho show off in the post-match press conference, and he took the opportunity to criticize the old players who did nothing.
Fortunately, although three consecutive draws only resulted in three points, the top four situation did not change much.
AC Milan defeated Sampdoria 1-0 at home and Salernitana 1-2 away. When facing mid- and lower-level teams, AC Milan's stability helped them return to the top of the list with 56 points.
Inter Milan first tied Napoli 1-1 away, with each team getting 1 point, and then unexpectedly lost 0-2 at home to Sassuolo, who had just tied Roma and were in high spirits. Currently, Inter Milan ranks third with 51 points, only 1 point ahead of Napoli, which is fourth.
After drawing with Inter Milan, Napoli drew 1-1 with relegation zone team Cagliari away from home. The team showed signs of decline in the second half of the league and was like a completely different team from the start.
Juventus first drew 1-1 with Atalanta, who was right behind them, away from home, and then defeated Torino 1-0 in the Turin derby. They gained 4 points in two rounds and accumulated 47 points, only 3 points behind Naples and 7 points away from Lazio, which was in 6th place.
However, only one goal was scored in both games, Danilo's equalizer and De Ligt's winning goal. The 80 million euro man Vlahovic only scored one goal in 4 games after joining the team. Head coach Allegri was once again under tremendous pressure from the fans.
After receiving the award, Chen Xiaoliang immediately returned to the team's training. He also welcomed Volpato, the goal scorer in the previous game who was promoted from the youth team.
The players on the team were already used to it, but the coaching staff watching on the sidelines couldn't help but marvel at the 17-year-old Chen Xiaoliang taking care of the 18-year-old Volpato like an older brother.
There is an international friendly match in the nine days between February 19th and February 28th.
Since it is a friendly match before the World Cup, the head coaches of each country mainly focus on observation.
Countries that qualify for the World Cup use this last chance to see how their players perform and decide who to include and who not to include.
Countries that did not qualify for the World Cup will also call up some players who were rarely selected in the past or have never been selected to see how they integrate into the team.
In this case, Roma was very "lucky" to have only 3 players selected for the national team.
Italy missed the World Cup, and Mancini recruited many new players. In addition to Spinazzola who was still recovering from a serious injury, Cristante, the only player in the national team of Roma, was not selected.
Having just hosted the Africa Cup in January, African countries are not participating in this friendly match cycle;
Patricio and Celik are injured and will definitely not be able to play for the national team;
Among the remaining small countries, Mkhitaryan and Cesco, one older and the other younger, were both excluded from the national team's list due to excessive fatigue and enjoyed special "rest" treatment.
In the end, only three people were selected: Albania's Kumbulla, France's Veretu and Poland's Zalewski.
Faced with a relatively complete lineup, Mourinho packed the schedule and focused on physical training.
The European Cup will start in early March, and the Italian Cup will also enter the two-round battle of the semi-finals. If you want to make a difference, the schedule will become very tight.
Although the relaxation during the winter break stimulated the team's harmony for a time, it also fostered a complacent mentality, causing the team to often fall into a mode of working alone in the frontcourt when facing weak teams.
To this end, Mourinho repeatedly practiced offensive routines, especially offensive routines in counterattacks. While ensuring that there are always two receiving points in the frontcourt, he uses speed or height to form a one-person support and one-man advancement mode, quickly advancing the ball from the backcourt into the opponent's penalty area, and then using an inverted triangle or horizontal pass to finish.
These nine days of training later proved to be crucial for the team.
The league has officially entered the two-horse mode of AC Milan and Roma competing for points.
On February 28, Roma visited Spezia and challenged .
The entire Spezia team is worth only 69 million euros, and their goal this season is the same as last season, which is to avoid relegation.
In this game, Roma once again fielded all its main players, with Chen Xiaoliang as the single defensive midfielder, Pellegrini and Mkhitaryan as double attacking midfielders, and Cesco and Abraham as double center forwards.
From the first second, the game entered a state of Roma siege against Spezia.
Although the team once again fell into the vicious circle of "knowing how to counterattack but not knowing how to attack", no matter how long shots, crosses or headers were made, they were all resolved one by one by the tenacious home team, but the well-prepared and persistent Roma players still reaped the rewards in the last minute of the game.
In the 93rd minute, with 20 seconds left in the game, Pellegrini took a corner kick and Mancini headed the ball at the back post which bounced off the crossbar. When Veretout made a second attack, Spezia midfielder Maggiore raised his foot too high and kicked Veretout on the head.
After watching the VAR, the referee awarded Roma a penalty. Abraham, who scored the penalty against Sassuolo, was once again given the right to take the penalty with the approval of Chen Xiaoliang.
He kicked the ball towards the left side of the goal. Although the opponent's goalkeeper touched the ball, the ball still flew into the goal after deflection.
Abraham also scored the winning goal at the end of the game.
Roma won 0-1 away and continued to rank second with 56 points.
In the same round, AC Milan defeated Udinese 1-0 at home and still led the standings with 59 points;
Inter Milan was like "Roma possessed". They drew 0-0 with last-placed Genoa away from home, and were overtaken by Napoli, who beat Lazio 1-2 away this round, by one point, falling to fourth place.
Juventus beat Empoli 2-3 away, and only has a 2-point gap to the top four.
A week later, on March 6, Roma will play against Atalanta at home for the third time this season.
This game can be regarded as a replica of the Italian Cup. Under the command of Gasperini, Atalanta still "surrounded but did not attack", trying to gradually consume Roma's physical strength.
Because Atalanta ranked third in the Champions League group, it participated in two more Europa League knockout play-offs against Greek team Olympiacos, so it was obviously behind Roma, who was well-rested, in terms of physical reserves.
Coupled with the home advantage and the end of Mourinho's suspension, Roma defended very patiently and did not give the tired Atalanta any chance.
In the 35th minute, Roma played an efficient counterattack. Chen Xiaoliang received the ball and passed it to the right. Abraham received the ball, cut inside and passed it to Cesco. After receiving the ball, Sesco suddenly ran back to create distance and shot into the far corner of the goal.
In the end, the game ended 1-0 with only 12 shots on goal between the two sides.
Chen Xiaoliang was once again elected the best player of the game with 5 successful headers, 5 successful confrontations, 4 steals and 4 interceptions.
In the highlight of this round, AC Milan still did not stop their winning streak and did not give Roma any chance. They defeated their rival Napoli 0-1 away from home and continued to lead the league with 62 points after four consecutive wins.
Roma continues to rank second with 59 points;
Inter Milan beat Salernitana 5-0 and Juventus beat Spezia 1-0, both winning.
It is worth noting that with 10 rounds left in the league, Juventus finally entered the Champions League zone with 53 points, the same as Napoli in fourth place.
After this round of games, Zaniolo's red card suspension will also end.
However, Roma's intensive schedule also began with the start of the European Cup.
The whole team gathered and flew to a place that Chen Xiaoliang was very familiar with - Glasgow.
Their next opponent will be the Scottish Premier League champions Celtic, who finished third in the Europa League group and defeated Norwegian Super League team Bodø in the Europa Cup play-offs.
There is no doubt that many people were excited when the result came out.
Needless to say, Chen Xiaoliang experienced the first derby of the "old-brand" derby after becoming a professional player. It was both a derby between rivals in the same city and a Scottish national derby.
Even when there is no game in the city, fans of the two teams will fight each other after drinking because of a disagreement.
And as the "legendary star" officially announced by Rangers, owner Dave informed Riise as soon as he learned the result of the match, and was willing to provide the training base free of charge as Roma's training venue in Glasgow.
Mourinho gladly accepted the invitation and arranged an internal training match with Rangers' new head coach, Dutchman Van Bronckhorst.
After hearing the news, Chen Xiaoliang almost didn't sleep the whole night. He wanted to fly over immediately and reappear on the same training ground with his old friends like Barisic, Davis, McGregor, and Tavernier.
Although Rangers have fallen behind Celtic by 8 points in the Scottish Premier League this season after Gerrard left, basically declaring their failure to defend the title, they eliminated Red Star Belgrade in two rounds in the Europa League and reached the quarterfinals again. Their opponent was also the Portuguese Super League team Braga, which was weaker than themselves.
In the twenty days, excluding the competition date and travel, 16 days of training, extra training and two games allowed Chen Xiaoliang to obtain a total of 75 training points, including 64 points for training and extra training, 11 points for the game, and 4 physical recovery cards, and also consumed 3 physical recovery cards.
Training value 5→80
Stamina recovery card 2→3
He added all 80 training points to long shots.
Training value 80 → 0
Long shot 10→14
At this point, as a midfielder with a defensive and organizing bent, Chen Xiaoliang's attributes are already in place.
On the morning of March 9, two days before the start of the European Cup, a bus carrying the entire Roma team and marked with the Rangers logo drove from the hotel into the Rangers training base.
Dave was very thoughtful. He asked the young players sent by Coach Xu and Dong Dazui, together with head coach Van Bronckhorst and captain Tavernier, to welcome the arrival of the Roma team at the door.
There were also slogans put up inside the base: Welcome Roma Club to visit, welcome legendary star Chen Xiaoliang home.
But Dave's kindness is not free. Local media have already flocked to the scene. In the souvenir shop at Ibrox Stadium and the club's online store, Chen Xiaoliang's 2022 special edition "Go Home" jersey has already been printed and sold out by fans.
Compared with these benefits, a bus, some grass maintenance fees and two lunches at the club base are almost free.
There were many reporters at the gate of the base, and Tavernier kept an official face throughout.
But when Chen Xiaoliang walked into the players' locker room, he was immediately surrounded by a group of "bad friends", some of whom tickled him, some pulled off his pants, and some poured water on his head.
Those who know would call it a meeting of old friends, while those who don’t would think there is a deep hatred.
Van Bronckhorst accompanied Mourinho on a tour of the club facilities, guided by club staff.
After a brief welcome, the two teams trained together. This training session was also discussed in advance and was led by Mourinho.
Chen Xiaoliang saw through it but didn't say it out loud.
Dave's move was simply a great win.
