Chapter 228 The Hand of Fate! The King of Rome Scores Another Goal!
"We can no longer use the original tactics to deal with him!"
Inzaghi calmed down from his excitement and said to assistant coach Faria.
"He is definitely different from what we analyzed before the game!"
"Hurry up and remind the three midfielders that they must contain him as soon as possible when defending. Don't defend him after he receives the ball, but try to prevent him from getting the ball!"
Faris nodded and quickly ran over to whisper to Barrera who was celebrating.
When Barrera heard that the head coach wanted him to deal with Chen Xiaoliang himself, his face changed instantly.
He had long wanted to face off against this red Chinese midfielder.
So far this season, not only does Roma have higher league points and gone further in all competitions, but in the descriptions of the media and football experts, Chen Xiaoliang is also ahead of him, and he seems to be the best midfielder in Serie A.
And judging from the statistics, Barrera, who has 3 goals and 12 assists in the league, is also behind Chen Xiaoliang, who has 6 goals and 16 assists.
Therefore, the Italian midfielder urgently needs an opportunity for a head-on confrontation, to prove to the world who is the better one by winning a single game and winning the game.
He ran to Calhanoglu and Brozovic and informed them of the head coach's on-the-spot instructions.
Soon, after Cesco kicked the seventh center circle ball of the game, the positions of Inter Milan's three midfielders changed significantly.
When Roma has the ball, Calhanoglu, who is at the front of the three midfielders, is responsible for harassing Chen Xiaoliang who retreats to his own half to get the ball, while Barella, who is in the middle, is responsible for marking after crossing the midfield. Brozovic is still in the defensive midfielder position, in charge of the last gate of the midfield defense.
Everyone on and off the court naturally noticed this.
Of course, Chen Xiaoliang was the first to bear the brunt.
But this is actually the inevitable result of Mourinho's pre-match plan.
So much so that when Forti couldn't help asking him whether he should let Chen retreat, he confidently said no, the situation was developing in a direction favorable to Rome.
Before the game, the Roma coach called Chen Xiaoliang to his hotel room alone and showed him a clip of the game.
It was the 2011 Champions League semi-final. Mourinho, who was coaching Real Madrid, stood on the sidelines and watched with tens of thousands of people at the Bernabeu as Messi dribbled past five Real Madrid players and shot into the far corner to score a goal.
Before that, Messi received a cross from winger Afellay and scored a goal in front of the goal.
In the end, Barcelona won 2 goals away.
Of course, Chen Xiaoliang has seen this goal of dribbling past five players many times.
Mourinho told him that he had actually arranged many tactics in that game to limit Messi.
Man-to-man defense, double-teaming, assisting defense in key positions, and even dirty kicks and deliberate collisions.
But these failed to achieve any effect in the end. Instead, because too much defensive attention was placed on Messi, Villa, Pedro and others were given many offensive opportunities.
Mourinho told Chen Xiaoliang that the reason he showed him the video today was to show him that when a person's threat level reaches a certain level, all coaches will focus a lot of defensive attention on him.
Once too many players move towards one person, a large area on the court will be vacated, allowing his teammates to get better offensive opportunities.
Mourinho also said that the reason why he likes to counterattack is because when the opponent launches a large-scale attack, a huge space will be left behind for the defending side to counterattack.
What about the side that is passing and controlling the ball? It seems that the ball is at their feet, but they have compressed a large number of opponent players into their own narrow defensive area, which will cause huge offensive problems for the side that is passing and controlling the ball, leaving them with no space to attack.
Mourinho vowed that the reason Barcelona was able to dominate Europe with passing and controlling the ball was because of Messi's superb personal ability and a group of excellent players surrounding him. Otherwise, why was it that after Guardiola left, a lousy fake like Enrique could win six championships, while Guardiola could not win the Champions League when he went to Bayern and Manchester City?
It is precisely because of Messi's superb ability with the ball and his threat without the ball that the side that was compressed in the defensive area still had to send several people to double-team him in the area where he appeared. This led to the fact that Barcelona was able to find sufficient offensive space under passing and control.
It’s not that his passing and control are strong, it’s that Messi is too strong.
When a person's ability becomes strong enough, the opponent will change tactics for you.
Mourinho said to Chen Xiaoliang that it was precisely because your defensive ability was so strong that it gave every head coach a headache that many teams kept moving back and forth between the two flanks to bypass the area you were defending.
Now, in the same way, he needs Chen Xiaoliang to demonstrate his offensive ability while maintaining the intensity of defense by running non-stop between the two penalty areas.
It's not just one type of offensive ability, but all offensive abilities, all displayed in one game.
Xavi is recognized as a legendary midfielder, but when Xavi does not get the ball near the opponent's offensive third zone, it does not make the opponent too nervous because he does not have a strong direct attack ability.
In this game, Mourinho's goal was to make sure that as soon as Chen Xiaoliang got the ball, the entire Inter Milan would focus all their defensive attention on him.
To this end, he gave Chen Xiaoliang unlimited offensive firepower in front of everyone at the pre-match tactical meeting.
Therefore, the defensive strategy adopted by Inzaghi against Chen Xiaoliang at this time did not surprise Chen Xiaoliang.
He started running, using his world record-breaking running ability, running endlessly up, down, left and right in the midfield.
In the 56th minute, Veretout received a quick hand-thrown ball from Patricio in the backcourt and passed it to Chen Xiaoliang.
Chen Xiaoliang was caught up by Barella as soon as he ran out of a little space. He could only kick the ball diagonally to Pellegrini who had moved from the left to the middle.
In such a huge midfield, no one paid any attention to Roma's old captain No. 7 for a moment.
Pellegrini took a few steps and took a long shot from outside the penalty area before Brozovic could come out to block.
Handanovic fell to his left side to save the ball, blocked it with both hands to prevent it from going out of the baseline, and then immediately stood up and picked up the ball.
In the following 5 minutes, although Chen Xiaoliang's number of receiving the ball was greatly reduced due to being repeatedly marked, he used unlimited running to mess up Inter Milan's midfield defense. Pellegrini and Zaniolo took turns to move from the wing to the middle, playing the role of temporary attacking midfielder.
In the 63rd minute, Inzaghi was the first to become restless.
He replaced Dimarco with Bastoni, replaced veteran Dzeko, who was obviously unable to run and was not used to this fast style of play, with Argentine striker Correa, who had already been selected for the World Cup, and replaced the equally old Croatian Perisic with German midfielder Gosens.
It's not that Perisic lacks physical strength, but in the national team, whether it is 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3, whether he plays as a left winger or a left back, the area covered and the focus are relatively limited.
In Inter Milan's current three-center-back system, he and Dumfries act as wing midfielders, which means they have to rush forward to attack and retreat to defend. However, the offensive rhythm tonight was like all 22 people on the field were going crazy, causing him to consume his physical strength abnormally quickly.
Just two minutes later, Roma made corresponding substitutions.
Spinazzola replaced Celik as right back and Cristante replaced Veretout as defensive midfielder.
Although Cristante's number of starts has decreased significantly this season, his average of 2.3 steals and 1.2 interceptions per game still proves that he is an excellent player who can be reused.
Mourinho gave special instructions before the two players came on the field, asking the fast Spinazzola to provide more assists. Once he went up, the space on the right would be filled by the relatively slow Cristante.
Making full use of strengths and avoiding weaknesses is also a stopgap measure made when the players' comprehensive abilities are insufficient.
In the 67th minute, Pellegrini received the ball on the left, cut inside and passed it to Cristante who came from behind, who passed the ball directly to Zaniolo on the right.
Zaniolo made a beautiful change of direction and accelerated to shake off Bastoni, who had just come on the field, and shot directly from a small angle on the right side of the goal, but the ball was ridiculously off... The ball flew directly to the other side of the sideline and was caught by Dumfries.
In the 70th minute, Inter Milan launched a positional attack. Dumfries came in from the right side, received the ball from Barrera, and after a one-two with Correa, he got rid of Malaysia and came to the bottom line to cross the ball in front of the goal.
Dumfries swept across the goal!
Mancini rushed over and tapped the ball before Lautaro behind him could make a shot, wanting to pass it back to Patricio.
But Patricio never expected that he would make such a back pass at this distance, instead of clearing the ball directly out of the baseline!
The goalkeeper cannot use his hands to catch the defender's return pass. If the referee Osato takes it seriously and awards Inter Milan an indirect free kick in the penalty area, the risk is too great.
In a panic, Patricio could only use his chest to block the half-high ball.
Lautaro behind was like a hound that smelled blood, with no intention of stopping at all.
Patricio felt a collision in the chest and quickly stretched out his hand to catch the ball, but Lautaro had already rushed to him and poked the ball with his right foot!
The ball suddenly changed direction and hit Patricio's chest again, and then the two people in front and behind collided with each other!
The ball rolled slowly into the goal.
"yeah!!!"
There was a burst of cheers from the Inter Milan stands!
But just as the cheers started, the referee Osato blew the whistle!
“Beep!”
He crossed his arms and waved them outwards, indicating that the goal was invalid, and then judged that Lautaro had fouled by colliding with the goalkeeper!
The Roma players, who were almost frozen to death, suddenly felt warmed up in their hearts, as if they had emerged from the water and breathed air after being suffocated underwater for a long time.
On the sidelines, Mourinho replaced Mancini, whose performance today was disastrous, with Smalling.
The subsequent game gradually entered the rhythm that Mourinho had expected - Inter Milan obviously slowed down their play. Although they still tried to take the initiative in the offense, they were increasingly just controlling the ball and were unable to rush behind the Roma defense to look for opportunities as quickly as before.
In addition to the overall decline in physical strength, the fact that Calhanoglu, an important passer in the midfield, was substituted out was also an important reason.
He was replaced by Gagliardini in the 72nd minute.
From the moment he started to keep a close eye on Chen Xiaoliang, he began to run endlessly. Not only did his running volume increase greatly when he didn't have the ball, and when he had the ball, he also did not reduce his running speed at all in the quick counterattack from back to front. Moreover, when defending Chen Xiaoliang, physical confrontations and other activities that he was not good at also appeared repeatedly.
All these seriously led to a decline in his physical fitness.
So much so that after the 65th minute, his speed in counterattacks was obviously not as fast as other players, not to mention compared with those players who had just come on the court. Not to mention facing Chen Xiaoliang's defense, even Cristante could restrict him and make him lose his temper.
Without Calhanoglu, Inter Milan is essentially missing a lethal passing point.
However, as a player who was selected for the Italian national team, Gagliardini is by no means mediocre. Mourinho sent on young player Volpato in the 75th minute, replacing Matic, whose physical strength was also close to exhaustion, to continue to maintain his running ability in the defensive midfielder position.
In the 78th minute, Volpato, who had just come on the field, tackled Correa while defending and received a yellow card.
As the game was about to reach the last 10 minutes, Barrera was panting, consciously reduced the frequency of his sprints, and tried his best to maintain defensive pressure on Chen Xiaoliang by moving in advance.
But I just try my best.
Although he still had plenty of physical strength at this time, like Dumfries, his explosive speed in sprints and his ability to hold on in confrontations were far inferior to what they were at the start of the race.
Although Brozovic, who plays the defensive midfielder position, is well-known for his good physical strength, after nearly 80 minutes, plus a yellow card, his already slow speed seemed even slower when facing Chen Xiaoliang's running.
Chen Xiaoliang had already used up his physical recovery card when Inter Milan made a substitution in the 63rd minute.
Stamina recovery card 2→1
As one side gained strength, the other side lost strength. Barella and Brozovic found it increasingly difficult to cope with Chen Xiaoliang's endless running, and the balance of the game began to change significantly.
In the 81st minute, Chen Xiaoliang moved to the left and prepared to cross the ball. Dumfries blocked the ball with a tackle. Chen Xiaoliang dribbled the ball. Although Dumfries retracted his feet, he could not stop his high-speed sliding. Finally, he knocked Chen Xiaoliang to the ground, received a yellow card, and gave Roma a free kick on the left side outside the penalty area.
Inter Milan retreated across the board, and except for Lautaro, all the others came back to participate in set-piece defense.
Inter Milan, with 64 points, was 2 points ahead of Napoli in fifth place before this round. Therefore, if they draw with Roma in this game, even if Napoli wins, both sides will have the same points of 65. Relying on the goal difference calculation in the head-to-head matches, Inter Milan will still be able to surpass Napoli and rank fourth.
But Roma absolutely cannot accept a draw!
Abraham came on to replace the exhausted Zaniolo.
Pellegrini took the free kick, and even Chen Xiaoliang was pressed to the penalty area line of Inter Milan!
Smalling won the header! But the header hit the wrong spot, and it bounced off the ground and landed at Bastoni's feet, who kicked it straight out!
But the ball was not high enough and was well-aimed, and was kicked back to the left corner flag area where Pellegrini took a corner kick.
Since it was the opponent who "passed the ball", the linesman did not raise the flag for Pellegrini who was in an offside position.
Roma No. 7 took a look and passed the ball to the penalty spot when Dumfries rushed in front of him!
Chen Xiaoliang also rushed forward!
Near the penalty spot, Abraham, who had just come on the field and watched most of the game while warming up on the sidelines, jumped high with great enthusiasm!
He was holding back a lot of energy!
Everyone says I’m not good at heading and that I’m not willing to work hard!
But I have talent!
I want to prove it to everyone with my actions in this most crucial game!
Prove that I am also a good center!
Abraham contracted his abdomen and hit the ball hard with his forehead!
At that moment, more than 80,000 people in the packed Meazza Stadium fell silent.
They were all anxiously watching where the ball would go.
Handanovic used all his life's skills to block the ball with both hands, but just 0.5 seconds later, the ball somehow flew into his own goal!
Everyone was stunned for a moment, unable to digest the scene happening before their eyes immediately.
Then the players from both teams turned to look at the assistant referee and then the referee, and found that neither of them said anything.
"oh!!!"
"ah!!!"
Although there were few people, the Roma fans who came to cheer away and everyone in the Roma coaching booth still made shouts that could be heard clearly throughout the Meazza!
Mourinho jumped up!
But then, he quickly regained his rationality, kept waving his hands to signal the players to quickly return to their own half and stay calm, as the game was not over yet!
At this moment, in the live broadcast, the camera was aimed at the referee Osato, who was listening to the words of the video referee team in his headphones.
Lou Yichen: "Let's look at the replay. Abraham jumped up and headed the ball to the left side of the goal. Handanovic turned sideways and blocked it with both hands. The ball hit Chen Xiaoliang's face right as he made a run to the left post! Then it bounced into the goal!"
"The referee is still listening to opinions, but the broadcaster has already written the score as 3 to 4! In the 83rd minute! Roma has taken the lead again!"
Liu Yue: "Technically, this was an opportunity he created through his unremitting running. But in terms of luck, I can only say that it was God's will that helped Roma."
"Handanovic has done his best. It was not easy to save the ball. Abraham warmed up very well on the sidelines. Coupled with his excellent physical fitness and height, his jump in the penalty area just now stood out from the crowd. It was powerful and solid."
"But for a player to score a goal, it still depends on his luck."
Lou Yichen: "Let's see! The referee Osatu pointed to the center circle! The goal is valid!"
"Perhaps just as Liu Yue said, God also plucked the strings of fate invisibly and secretly pushed Rome forward!"
"It's already the 84th minute, and there are about 10 minutes left in the game! Let's witness together where this epic goal battle will end!"
