Chapter 204: A Penalty Kick More Precious Than Gold

Shortly after the restart, the game ended with the referee's whistle.

Although UEFA has completely abolished the rule of determining the outcome of home and away goals since the beginning of this season, losing 0-4 at home means that the Celtics are completely eliminated from this season's European competition.

Unlike other players, captain Callum went straight into the player tunnel in a gloomy mood and did not stay on the field to greet the Roma players and coaches.

However, Joe Hart, despite conceding four goals, still generously shook hands with his opponents one by one.

When shaking hands with Chen Xiaoliang, Joe Hart first congratulated him and then mentioned Shen Mengyu.

A group of Chinese women's football players began to study abroad after the Tokyo Olympics, some went to the United States, Australia, and more came to Europe.

Shen Mengyu's arrival has more or less attracted a wave of attention in the Red Country. The Celtic Club specially asked Joe Hart, the most famous player in the team, to shoot an interview with Shen Mengyu to talk about life, training, language adaptation and integration, etc.

The two became friends because of this and even talked about the popular Chen Xiaoliang.

This is Joe Hart's first season at Celtic. With rich professional experience, he is naturally not too sensitive to the century-old feud between Celtic and Rangers. Chen Xiaoliang has already transferred to Roma and will not regard the newly arrived Joe Hart as the mortal enemy of his old club.

The two of them walked on the court, talking and laughing.

After the game, Chen Xiaoliang simply changed his clothes in the locker room and did not return to the hotel with the team.

Led by the security guard, he came to the second-floor box of the stands, where Celtics club owner Banker, Shen Mengyu and Shen Menglu had already been waiting.

Seeing that Joe Hart and Chen Xiaoliang had a good relationship, the cunning Banker called him over temporarily.

They said that they wanted to provide a place for old friends to "reminisce" and entertain Chen Xiaoliang, the "Scottish Premier League legend", but in fact it was for traffic.

The famous sporting goods company Adidas is not only the jersey sponsor of the Celtics, but also the new jersey sponsor of Roma, which will replace StarBest on July 1 after the end of this season.

Seeing that he missed out on the "golden opportunity" of Chen Xiaoliang because of his arrogance and failure to send the core team to contact Riise, and now the gap between him and Nike in the competition for the sports market is getting bigger and bigger, Adi can't wait until July 1st, and is taking advantage of tonight's opportunity in advance to show off on social media.

When Chen Xiaoliang saw the photographer standing nearby, he already had a general idea of what was going on.

However, he did not shy away from suspicion and it was only right for him to support his two fellow female football players.

The three of them ate, drank and chatted for a long time. The photographer was also very tactful and only took a few photos without interrupting their conversation.

Compared to Shen Mengyu, who looks shy but is very generous, Shen Menglu, who did not perform well in the Portuguese Premier League and hopes that "moving away will save lives" and coming to the Scottish Premier League can change her situation, seems much more shy.

In his eyes, Joe Hart and Chen Xiaoliang, especially Chen Xiaoliang, were like stars in the sky. Seeing them appear beside him at this moment seemed unreal like a dream.

I was so shy that my face kept blushing and I was too embarrassed to speak.

Chen Xiaoliang told her that on the first day he arrived in Glasgow the year before last, when he saw Gerrard coming to pick him up at the airport like a taxi driver, he wondered if he had fallen asleep and was still dreaming.

But time flies by, not only has Rangers' season come to an end, but there are only two months left in their first season in Serie A.

Joe Hart, who was sitting on the side, listened to their conversation and couldn't help but recall his own career.

As they chatted, the two girls gradually turned into discussing various aspects of the Scottish Premier League women's football, while Chen Xiaoliang was chatting with Joe Hart about every detail of the Premier League.

Joe Hart has a lot to say in this regard.

Although he has left, his resource channels, his former teammates, and many other friends are still in the Premier League.

In his words, Guardiola is a rare genius coach, but since working with Mourinho at Tottenham, he found that the two people with very different tactical ideas were highly consistent on one point.

It's just conceited.

Joe Hart told Chen Xiaoliang that Guardiola's intensity in speaking to players within the team completely overshadowed Mourinho's, even though the former appeared much kinder to outsiders, while the latter loved to bicker with reporters at press conferences.

But as long as there is something in training or the game that makes Guardiola unhappy, he will scold the players very harshly.

Not only that, throwing water bottles, balls, markers, towels, and tactical boards, slamming tables and locker doors, and kicking folding chairs out of the way are all common occurrences.

Especially when the midfielder is in the locker room, once the situation is unfavorable, he will require all players not to make any noise after he enters the locker room. Once he sees someone whispering or being absent-minded, they will inevitably face a storm.

Joe Hart said he had never seen Sir Alex Ferguson's "hairdryer", but an angry Guardiola was enough to make a player remember it for the rest of his life.

However, it is precisely because of this strict tactical requirement and ruthless player management that he believes that it will be difficult for any Premier League team to fully compete with Manchester City in the short term.

Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal each have their own strengths and problems.

Although Liverpool and Chelsea achieve good results from time to time, they cannot compare with Manchester City in terms of stability. Although Arsenal's investment has increased sharply in the past two seasons, it has been away from the championship for a long time. It is still difficult for them to stand out among the BIG6.

As for Manchester United, the short honeymoon effect after Ronaldo's return not only exceeded the expectations of fans, but also exceeded the expectations of Premier League teams.

The reasons behind this are complicated. Rangnick is more like a housekeeper, a temporary worker who was temporarily brought in by Manchester United because they couldn't find a suitable head coach.

Once upon a time, Guardiola seriously suggested that the club could introduce Ronaldo to improve the scoring efficiency in the penalty area. Now, they have reached an agreement with Dortmund to introduce the young Haaland next season.

Although Joe Hart has a bad personal relationship with Guardiola, and although so many years have passed, Chen Xiaoliang can still hear that while trying to remain as fair as possible, Joe Hart still cannot hide his disgust for the current Manchester City head coach.

Joe Hart's final words were these:

"Mourinho is almost 60. I have been with him for a year. He is undoubtedly a genius, but his personality is too distinct. Unfortunately, Levy is not the boss who is willing to believe in him unconditionally and will not give him enough time to transform the team according to his wishes."

"Maybe the new owner of Roma is willing, but football is always a business, and the fate of people in the football circle is always determined by businessmen and politicians outside the circle."

"You are also a genius, there is no doubt about that. I am not saying this just because you beat me today. I have seen your game before. It is absolutely incredible for a player to be able to do what he has done at the age of 17."

"Roma will not be your end, but you still need to prove that you can do better, good enough to be one of the only top 50, top 30, or even top 10 on the planet, so that you can enjoy your current status on and off the field in Roma in those giants."

"Guardiola is indeed very successful, but all this is inseparable from the Middle Easterners waving oil money, and CEO Soriano and director Begiristain. These two people used the pounds obtained from oil mining by the Middle Easterners to buy almost every player Guardiola wanted, no matter whether that person was 25, 20 or 15 years old, while also cleverly maintaining a reasonable salary structure."

"I know Manchester City wants to buy you, but that doesn't mean you will succeed there. In Guardiola's standards, the criterion for whether a player is good or bad is whether he can integrate into his tactical system and complete the responsibilities assigned by the system."

"Otherwise, even if you are Ronaldinho, Deco, Eto'o, Ibrahimovic or Yaya Toure, you have to get out."

"Don't think that Aguero cried with him when he retired. The two of them had fierce arguments before."

"The pace of football is getting faster and faster. The reason why De Bruyne can pass the ball in such an incredible way is that under Guardiola's tactical system, those areas on the court that have been arranged in advance must have someone running into them."

"De Bruyne just needs to pass the ball to those areas with precision."

"That's why Sterling, a kid who even the Etihad security guards know loves to play basketball, can still start, because he can run. He can always appear where Guardiola needs him to be."

"Of course, Aguero finally compromised and got what he wanted."

"And I..."

Joe Hart said this and waved his hand gently, meaning "no more words".

"Good luck."

Chen Xiaoliang nodded and shook hands with him to express his gratitude:

"Good luck to you, too."

But before leaving, Chen Xiaoliang said to the Celtics photographer:

"You can use the photo, but you must get my consent to modify it."

That night, Adidas and the Celtics posted a photo on their official social accounts at the same time:

[Shen welcomes his fellow Red Countrymen]

The photo shows four people standing side by side, smiling and cheering each other on.

However, sharp-eyed fans still discovered that the pair of Erke "Conquer" first generation shoes on Chen Xiaoliang 's feet were still on, and they were very eye-catching. Although the LOGO on the side could not be seen, the appearance was clearly there.

That’s because Chen Xiaoliang disagreed with them only posting half-body photos, nor did he agree to cropping the full-body photos.

Adi’s staff was even willing to pay, but Chen Xiaoliang asked Reese to reply “disagree”.

There was no other choice, so I had to choose a photo without the logo and post it.

In this European Cup, Chen Xiaoliang received a total of 11 basic skill value rewards, including rewards for 1 goal and 1 assist in this game.

Including 1.5 times the Celtics' reputation and double the bonus from this season's European competition, a total of 33 skill points were obtained.

However, UEFA still awarded the best player of the game to Cesco who scored a super overhead kick.

Skill value 66 → 99

Only 1 point left to unlock the next skill!

The next day, the team flew directly from Scotland to Udine in northeastern Italy to challenge Udinese in an away league game without delay.

With only one and a half days of rest in between and the continuous long-distance away games, the team was in great pain.

Mourinho had to rotate players on a large scale.

On the forward line, Abraham, who was taken off early in the UEFA Europa League, started with Mkhitaryan and Gyan;

In the midfield, Cristante and Volpato, who has performed well recently, form a double defensive midfielder, with Pellegrini in front;

Defenders from left to right: Malacia, Ibanez, Mancini.

After repeated consideration, Mourinho decided to let Forti urgently summon Karsdorp for the right-back position.

Although there is still no one-on-one communication in private, Karsdorp's attitude has improved a little and he has been much more active on the training ground.

On the evening of March 13, in almost a back-to-back game, at the Friuli Stadium with 25,144 people packed in, Roma once again demonstrated their ability to surround others but fail to score.

Even the local Italian media have summed up a rule that this season when Roma has more than 60% possession in the league, they usually score only one goal, but when the possession is less than 40%, they score two goals.

On the contrary, Udinese, who were under pressure, frequently used quick counterattacks to test Roma's four defenders.

Udinese's 18-year-old left wingback Udogi has performed more maturely than in the first half of the season six months ago, but his market value has reached 22 million euros. Udinese has priced him at 60 million. Although Mourinho likes him, he knows that he is destined to miss out.

Invisibly, although Karsdorp, who was still looking ahead without thinking about the consequences, tried his best, he still got a big negative score in Mourinho's heart.

When he told Forti in a calm tone to let Pinto sell Karsdorp in the summer window, Forti knew that the Dutchman had been completely sentenced to death in the team.

In the 34th minute, Udinese took a corner kick from the right side. Karsdorp tried to clear the ball with his header, but it was not far enough and went directly to the right wing-back Molina who was lurking outside the penalty area.

The latter made a powerful shot with his left foot. The ball drew an arc from the left side, passed through a group of players in the middle of the penalty area, and flew into the goal before Fuzzato's outstretched right hand reached it.

Udinese took the lead at home.

Since then, the situation on the field has further reversed.

Udinese, wearing black and white jerseys, seemed to have transformed into Roma, quietly retreating into the penalty area and launching long passes to counterattack as soon as they got the ball.

The Roma team in red jerseys controlled the ball from left to right and from right to left, but they just couldn't find any gaps to get into.

Udinese's head coach, Cioffi, who was born in 1975, has always been involved in low-level clubs and lower-level league clubs.

On the court, he is accustomed to not wanting the ball or taking shots. As long as he can earn points, he can do anything shameless.

It's not that Roma hasn't tried to lure Udinese out, but no matter how the midfield moved back, they were like an iron turtle, hiding their head in their iron shell and staying in their own penalty area and refusing to come out. But if you rush over, they will stick their head out and try to bite you.

After playing a half-time of inexplicable and helpless siege, Mourinho could only send a group of experts in the second half to bombard Udinese's penalty area with crosses and long shots.

The problem is that Roma wants to maintain its top four position with points and at the same time make an effort to win the long-lost championship, but Udinese has finally ranked 14th, 8 points away from the relegation zone. However, they dare not be careless and are trying their best to get more points. Even 1 point can ensure their qualification to stay in Serie A next season.

Even though Pellegrini and Chen Xiaoliang's feet were sore from passing the ball, and Cesco and Abraham jumped so hard to compete for headers that they felt like they were basketball players. Facing the opponent's central defenders over 190cm tall, and defensive midfielders over 180cm tall and weighing over 85kg, Roma's frontcourt still couldn't find any chances.

In the 67th minute, Cioffi even replaced Deulofeu with a German midfielder, Samaradecki, and played a 5-4-1 super iron bucket formation with 4 midfielders all serving as defensive midfielders.

Mourinho complained in his heart, but he couldn't do anything about Udinese.

Everyone knows that defense is not necessarily effective just by having more people or parking the bus. If the defense could be achieved by parking the bus, Mourinho would have won unprecedented championships.

The only problem was that Rome had always lacked the ability to attack strongholds.

Abraham is 194cm tall but not good at being a stationary forward. Although Cesco has the tendency to become an aerial overlord in Serie A, he is just like a bare electric pole standing in a forest. After all, two fists cannot beat four hands.

The cross was not good and the long shot was not successful.

Pellegrini, Veretout and Cristante took turns trying, but the accuracy of their long-range shots was like the magical swordsmanship of the protagonist in a novel by a certain Duan, sometimes working and sometimes not.

A highlight reel seems to show that his long-range shooting skills are super impressive, but in the final analysis, he can still score one or two goals after kicking the ball too many times.

What's more, Udinese had four defensive midfielders in front of the penalty area.

If you take a long shot from almost anywhere, there will be at least one person blocking you.

In the last 10 minutes of the game, Chen Xiaoliang didn't care about the empty defense. He let the two full-backs stay in the backcourt and went up to try his luck.

God helps those who work hard. In the 94th minute, with less than a minute left in injury time, Pellegrini cut in from the left and shot, the ball hit Udinese captain Robert Perreira and bounced back. Chen Xiaoliang pushed the ball away from the returning striker Beto in the air and passed it to Cesco in the penalty area.

At this time, his target of passing the ball will only be Cesco, who has the bonus of tacit connection, to ensure that the attributes and success rate of the pass can be maximized.

Cesco used all his strength to hold on to the two central defenders who had been entangled with him for the entire second half and ran towards the landing point of the ball, but the ball was still blocked by Dutch central defender Zehrad.

But at that moment, Abraham and Cristante behind Cesco and the visiting fans behind the goal all raised their hands!

"Handball!"

What happened next has been repeated countless times in many games.

On the one hand, he kept raising his hands and shouting to the referee to appeal that it was a penalty kick, while on the other hand, he kept shaking his hands to stop the opposing player from appealing, and loudly accused the other side of having no sportsmanship and trying to get a penalty kick.

Fortunately, Serie A still has VAR. Although it is sometimes effective and sometimes not, just like Roma's long-range shots, we can't be so shameless as to assume that it always doesn't work.

It took more than 4 minutes. The referee ran to the sidelines and looked at the small screen again and again. Finally, he came back and awarded Roma a golden life-saving penalty.

Pellegrini, who started the game and wore the captain's armband, had a brief discussion with Chen Xiaoliang, then picked up the ball and walked to the penalty spot.

He no longer thinks about captain, locker room leader, tactical core, etc.

The sudden emergence of the Red Countryman made him realize that he had to face fierce employment pressure at the age of 25.

But after he overcame his previous resentment and complaints, he calmed down and was delighted to see the team's unprecedented fighting power and cohesion in recent years.

2nd in the league, in the semi-finals of the Italian Cup, and one foot in the quarter-finals of the European Cup.

Although it cannot be said to be a complete rise, this has already far exceeded pre-match expectations.

He himself knows very well that if it weren't for Mourinho's arrival, Chen Xiaoliang's rapid growth, and the arrival of new players such as Patricio, Abraham, Cesco, Malacia, Celik and Matic, the team might still be struggling to make it into the top 6 of the league and qualify for the Europa League.

A thousand-foot-high wall stands firm because one has no desires.

Roma's No. 7 breathed a sigh of relief and took a run-up towards the lower right corner of the goal.

One step, two steps, three steps, raise your leg, and shoot!

After scoring the goal, there was no celebration or shouting. He rushed into the goal and picked up the ball. He even wanted to quickly return to the center circle to create another attacking opportunity.

However, the referee blew the final whistle immediately.

Chen Xiaoliang came over, jumped lightly from behind Pellegrini, put his arms around him, clamped his legs together, and hung on his back.

Pellegrini was stunned and saw Chen Xiaoliang pointing at him to the Roma fans who came to the away game.

Seeing this, the surrounding team members also came over.

Some patted his shoulders, and some touched his head.

It was a late goal celebration.

Although Mourinho was unwilling, he also applauded on the sidelines.

At that moment, Pellegrini felt relieved.

He felt the weight of Chen Xiaoliang, not just physically.

He also felt that his teammates needed him, and not just superficially.

Just like now, carrying my young teammates on my back, isn’t that what I should do in my prime years?

I will use my strength to lift you to a higher place.