Chapter 230 New Opponent! Dutch Genius Forward Gakpo!
Chen Xiaoliang checked the system panel while watching the match between AC Milan and Lazio.
In this game, he was deservedly named the best player of the game with 4 steals, 4 interceptions, 2 headers and a hat-trick of goals, and his score was a full 10 points.
This gives him 14 training points and 1 stamina recovery card.
Training value 4→18
Stamina recovery card 1→2
The most important thing is that he completed the task of [Achieve a hat trick in the next game] for the second time and received [Reward: Any technical attribute +1]!
Since the mission rewards cannot be saved forever and must be used as soon as possible, and cannot be used to increase attributes of 18 or above, he hesitated between long shots and passing the ball, and still chose to pass the ball first.
Pass 16 → 17
Regardless of the midfield position, passing is a more important and more frequent task than long shots.
Next are two special missions: [Rich Family Mission] and [Enemy Mission].
Since we beat Inter Milan in this game, we will naturally get the star card as a reward for the rich club mission!
[Exclusive mission: Win against the giants]
[Task Reward: Randomly obtain a legendary football star card of this wealthy club (five minutes)]
[Task progress: Face Inter Milan (April 23, 2022)]
[Mission Reward: Obtain a Peak Eto'o Speed Attribute Card (Five Minutes)]
!!!
Although Eto'o only stayed at Inter Milan for two seasons, in these two seasons, he not only helped Inter Milan win the unprecedented treble, but also helped the team win the Club World Cup in the second season. He also broke Ronaldo's record of 34 goals in a single season at Inter Milan with 37 goals in all competitions in a single season.
Chen Xiaoliang specially checked and found that after using this attribute card, the burst and speed attributes can be changed to 19 within five minutes!
Although it is still a little short of the peak, this level of short-distance burst start and maximum speed is enough to kill 99.9% of the players instantly!
Next up is the Nemesis mission with Barrera.
[Rival Mission: In this game, the rival's passing, steals, interceptions, headers, and assists are all less than the host's and no goals are scored]
[Restriction conditions: Player rating after the game, enemy rating is lower than the host]
[Mission Reward: 1 Legendary Star Card of the Enemy's Team]
[Task progress: Passing 98-82, Steal 4-3, Interception 4-1, Heading 2-0, Assist 0-0, Goal 3-0]
[Restriction conditions: Player rating after the game, enemy rating is lower than the host]
[Task progress: score 10-7.0]
[Mission Reward: 1 Legendary Star Card of the Enemy's Team]
But when Chen Xiaoliang reached out to click the reward button, the system popped up another reminder...
【Boom boom boom! 】
[One of the host's six statistics is lower than that of the enemy, and the reward is downgraded]
[Task Reward: Obtain a Nicolo Barella 2020-21 Serie A Championship Season Collectible Commemorative Card]
Oh my god!
Chen Xiaoliang jumped up from the bed!
Why the hell do I need his card?
Or a commemorative card? I commemorate him?! What does Inter Milan's championship have to do with me?!
Chen Xiaoliang quickly asked the system: "Can you give me a new one?!"
The system has no response, that means it cannot...
He had no choice but to put the card with Barrera's portrait into the system's card pack and use it as a material card for upgrading points in the future...
On TV, the match between AC Milan and Lazio was equally intense. Immobile scored a goal in the first half, Giroud equalized the score in the second half, and Tonali scored another goal in the 89th minute to help AC Milan reverse the away game.
When they saw Giroud equalize, Cesco and Wu Lei ran to Chen Xiaoliang's room to watch together.
Finally, in the second minute of injury time, Milinkovic-Savic forced a cross from the bottom, Immobile rushed over and pushed the ball into the net in front of the goal!
At that moment, cheers broke out in more than a dozen rooms on the upper and lower floors of the hotel!
In the end, Lazio drew with AC Milan at home. The Rossoneri still ranked first with 76 points, but the gap between them and second-placed Roma has narrowed to 1 point.
During the two days when the group returned to Rome, the results of other competitions were announced one after another.
Juventus beat Sassuolo 1-2 away, while Napoli lost 3-2 away to Empoli.
Inter Milan escaped death, but they didn't expect Napoli to fail at the critical moment and gave them such a big gift, so they still have 64 points and are ranked 4th with a 2-point advantage. Napoli is still struggling in 5th with 62 points, and Juventus is no longer tied with Inter Milan, and is alone in 3rd place with 67 points.
However, after returning home, Helena's results of the physical condition test on Chen Xiaoliang were not very good.
After nearly a whole season, and in most of the games not only did he play the entire court, but he also ran and fought endlessly over a large area, which made it impossible for Chen Xiaoliang's muscle fatigue to be restored to zero through the existing work and rest schedule.
If you want to recover completely, you must stop training and extra training, or not play in some games, or play less, otherwise fatigue will continue to accumulate and may cause chronic injuries.
But the last four rounds of the league, one Italian Cup final and two rounds of Europa Cup semi-finals are all extremely important. If we make it to the semi-finals of the Europa Cup, there will be a total of eight games left to play in late April and May.
The last round of Serie A will be on May 20 and the Europa League final will be on May 25.
This is equivalent to playing 8 games in 28 days, an average of one game every three and a half days, which is quite a burden.
Helena sent the test results to the club's chief doctor Manara. Based on Helena's data and the club's daily evaluations, Manara suggested to Mourinho that Chen Xiaoliang should stop training and take a week off.
However, Manara also conveyed Chen Xiaoliang's opinion truthfully. He himself did not want to completely stop training, as this would lead to a decline in his condition.
Of course, that was what he said nominally, but in reality he was reluctant to waste precious time and miss out on the training points that could be accumulated.
Mourinho hesitated again and again, and discussed with the team doctor and the director of sports science for a long time. Finally, he decided that Chen Xiaoliang would only participate in tactical training and aerobic training with the minimum amount of exercise to maintain his condition, and not participate in physical fitness and internal confrontation.
This also ensures that we can still have 3 hours of training every day.
Three days later, on April 28, the team flew to Eindhoven, the Netherlands, to participate in the first round of the UEFA Cup semi-finals and challenge this veteran Dutch team.
Founded on August 31, 1913, PSV Eindhoven won the Champions League once in the 1987-88 season, the UEFA Cup once in the 1978-88 season, and a total of 24 Eredivisie titles, the most recent of which was in the 2017-18 season.
Although they have been completely overshadowed by Ajax in the domestic arena in recent years, this season they have defeated their old rival in the final on April 17, won the Dutch Cup, and won the Dutch Super Cup at the beginning of the season.
Although the opponent was in a strong position, Roma, who was playing away, also received some favorable news before the game.
PSV's main striker Zahavi and Germany midfielder Gotze were suspended due to accumulated yellow cards, while rising superstar Cody Gakpo was sidelined due to hamstring discomfort.
As it was a two-legged match, Mourinho deployed three central defenders again in the first match, consisting of Ibanez, Smalling and Kumbulla;
The left and right wingbacks are Spinazzola and Binya. Malacia and Celik, who have been playing continuously, will be rested in this game.
In the defensive midfielder position, Volpato and Cristante started;
The two attacking midfielders are Pellegrini and Mkhitaryan, and the center forward is Abraham, who has been in good form recently, starting.
Chen Xiaoliang and Cesco were also rested in this round and did not start.
Mourinho's requirements in the locker room were very simple. Today, the main focus was on bus defense and quick counterattacks. Let him forget about ball possession.
Facing the crazy high-pressure defense of Eindhoven under Roger Schmidt, Roma's rotation players gradually took control of the rhythm of the game after some discomfort in the first 10 minutes.
Although the ball possession rate was only an astonishing 29%, Roma relied on skillful and quick counterattacks. In the 59th minute of the second half, Mkhitaryan passed the ball directly to Abraham during a rapid advance, and the latter shot into the far corner to score.
This is also Abraham's sixth goal in this season's Europa League, the highest in the team.
Wu Lei and young player Dalbo also got a long-awaited chance to play in the 66th minute of the second half.
Mourinho was naturally satisfied with the 1-goal away win, not to mention that some of the main players were given a rest.
After the whole team returned to Rome, they began to prepare for the final May schedule.
The first game will be at home against Bologna, which is ranked 12th in the standings.
Since AC Milan had defeated Fiorentina 1-0 at home a day ago, with Portuguese winger Leo scoring the only goal, the pressure was on Roma again.
Facing Bologna, who had no ambition, could not enter the European competition, and could not be relegated, Mourinho sent out all the main players, mainly playing a 4-1-3-2 formation, with Chen Xiaoliang as the single defensive midfielder, and Cesco and Abraham on the forward line to strengthen the offensive ability in the penalty area.
Roma attacked throughout the game and had a possession rate of 66%, but they still couldn't solve their old problem of being good at counterattacks but not good at positional warfare.
Due to the lack of players who are good at dribbling in a small space, Roma is always unable to create space when facing the opponent's dense defense.
Although Zaniolo has good dribbling data, ranking 6th in Serie A with 2 dribbles per game, the 190cm tall man is better at changing direction in open areas during counterattacks, using his physical and speed advantages.
His strong point is not the ability to maneuver in a densely packed penalty area.
Finally, in the 77th minute, Abraham was knocked down by the opponent's 35-year-old central defender Medel while competing for a corner kick. The referee awarded Roma a penalty kick, and Cesco scored in one fell swoop to make the score 1-0.
Although the score was not good, the 3 points were real.
In the 35th round of the league, Napoli beat Sassuolo 6-1 at home and continued to rank fifth with 65 points;
Inter Milan defeated Udinese 1-2 away, and with 67 points, they firmly defended their 4th place;
AC Milan beat Fiorentina 1-0 and has 79 points, still leading Roma by 1 point. Now the competition is about who makes the first mistake;
Juventus defeated Venice 2-1 at home, accumulating 70 points and continuing to lead fourth-placed Inter Milan by one win.
Chen Xiaoliang was replaced by Darbo in the 81st minute, which gave him a chance to rest.
By completing the mission in this game, he gained a total of 3 training points and 2 physical recovery cards.
As the whole field was under siege, Bologna's counterattack had almost no threat. There were only 4 shots and 1 shot on target in the whole game. Therefore, the attacking side did not consume much physical strength. It was a rare occasion that Chen Xiaoliang did not use the physical strength recovery card in the game.
From April 23rd after the Inter Milan game to May 5th, 12 days, excluding two games and the journey to away games, Chen Xiaoliang participated in team training for a total of 9 days and obtained a total of 27 training points.
Training value 18 → 48
Stamina recovery card 2→4
He took out 40 training points to improve his dribbling and ball-stopping skills.
Dribbling 14 → 15
Stop 14→15
Training value 48 → 8
At 8:00 p.m. on May 5, the second match of the UEFA Europa League semi-final kicked off on time at the Olympic Stadium in Rome.
If the defeat in the first round was due to the absence of key players, then PSV Eindhoven played with a full complement of players in this game.
On the forward line, the right winger is Japanese international Ritsu Doan who was selected for the World Cup, the center forward is Zahavi who has won the top scorer in the Red Super League twice, and the left winger is Cody Gakpo, the new main striker of the Netherlands World Cup selected by Van Gaal.
In the center of the midfield is Mario Gotze, who once kicked Messi's dream of winning the World Cup in 2014. He became famous in Dortmund and has put in a very good personal performance under Klopp.
Later, he "betrayed" Bayern before the Champions League final between Dortmund and Bayern Munich, but failed to perform as expected and was sold back to Dortmund.
But Klopp had already left for Liverpool, and the subsequent head coach was unable to get Gotze back to his original performance. In this way, the once promising star of German football was sold to PSV Eindhoven, and after two seasons, he will be confirmed to join the Bundesliga Frankfurt next season.
To Gotze’s right is midfielder Gutierrez, who was selected for Mexico’s World Cup squad;
On his left is Ivory Coast international Sangar.
In the defense line, the right back is Brazilian Mauro, the left back is German Max, and the two central defenders are Dutchman Teze Jordan and Brazilian Ramalho.
The goalkeeper is Swiss national team substitute goalkeeper Mwogo.
Judging from the lineup, PSV Eindhoven has the usual characteristics of a Dutch club - top-heavy.
The three players who will participate in the World Cup are all concentrated in the midfield.
In the Netherlands, which has a fixed 4-3-3 formation, many teams like to focus their transfers on the midfield and frontcourt, especially on offensive players, while among the midfield and backcourt defensive players, they tend to buy some practical players with low prices and fame.
Roma still uses a three-center-back defensive counterattack formation. Mourinho hopes that the team can maintain the one-goal lead in the aggregate score, and score another goal through counterattack to completely kill the game.
After the game started, what Chen Xiaoliang expected happened exactly.
In his opinion, based on the current evaluation of Gakpo by the media and professionals, his worth of 45 million euros, and his age of 22, he is fully qualified to become his rival and start the [Rival Mission].
The system did send out a reminder after Gakpo kicked off:
[Enemy Detected]
[Rival Mission: In this game, the rival has no goals and no assists]
[Restriction conditions: Player rating after the game, enemy rating is lower than the host]
[Mission Reward: 1 Legendary Star Card of the Enemy's Team]
However, Chen Xiaoliang never expected that just 7 minutes after the start of the game, Gakpo received a half-high pass from Gotze on the left side of the penalty area, and volleyed the ball with his right foot against Matic's defense.
The ball drew a scimitar-like trajectory in the air and directly pierced through the gate of Rome, leaving Patricio stunned and unresponsive.
The score became 0-1, and the total score between the two sides was tied at 1-1.
This goal not only overturned Mourinho's plan to maintain the lead in the overall score, but also shattered Chen Xiaoliang's mission to defeat his old enemy.
This was the first time that Chen Xiaoliang's mission competition was disrupted by his opponent shortly after it began, which made him even more interested in Jakpo.
Just like the previous league match against Inter Milan at Meazza, Dutch coach Van Gaal appeared in the stands again in this game.
But Davis was not accompanying him today.
The old coach did not come to observe Gakpo, after all, he is already one of the core plans of the Dutch team for the World Cup.
The old coach is very interested in what the result will be when this Dutch superstar faces Roma's red country genius.
Coincidentally, Chen Xiaoliang thought so too.
Seeing that Gakpo's flexible speed and changeable movements were constantly tormenting the right side area defended by Celik and Matic, Chen Xiaoliang decided to withdraw his position a little, on the one hand to help the two defend and face the Dutch striker head-on, and on the other hand to receive the ball in the first time during the transition from offense to defense and launch a quick counterattack.
