Chapter 232: Blow the horn of the triple crown!
After the game, and even the next day, Cesco was still in an excited state.
Chen Xiaoliang even felt that rather than saying that he had accepted a rival mission before the game, he felt that Jakpo was more like Cesco's rival.
Both of them have tremendous talent that is visible to the naked eye, but the performance of this talent is clearly the result of countless hard training.
Although Cesco, who is taller and heavier, is not inferior to most center forwards in speed and dribbling, his greatest role is the impact and fulcrum in the penalty area.
Gakpo, who plays as a left striker, has a wider range of movement and can attack the goal from a longer distance. With a height of 189cm, he dribbled past Celik and Matic several times in this game, which made Mourinho feel uneasy, not to mention the world-class goal he scored shortly after the start of the game.
When the old partners were doing extra practice after completing their training, even Wu Lei was infected by Cesco's excitement.
On the way home, I couldn't help but sigh that in Europe, even in the football leagues of some medium-sized countries, teenagers can gradually play in the games.
At the same time, witnessing and competing with high-level opponents can also help them improve their skills quickly.
Ultimately, in this huge pyramid-shaped young talent system, a steady stream of new people will join.
Mbappe, Haaland, Pedri and others are naturally the top players standing at the top of the tower.
In the Red Country, 23-year-old players are still considered young players. If the league had not forcibly formulated a U23 playing policy, they would not even have the chance to be substituted after playing for 1 minute to meet the U23 policy.
Thinking of this, Wu Lei once again lamented that he should have come out earlier.
The so-called best local striker in China is not as good as the many unknown young strikers under the age of 20 in Europe.
After discussing with Chen Xiaoliang, he has clearly informed his parent club Espanyol that he will return to the Red Country next season and return to his old team Donghai Port to play the rest of his career.
The Spaniards, who were in financial difficulties and were already living frugally, naturally did not try to keep him.
After Wu Lei was introduced, although the team's exposure in the Red Country increased greatly for a period of time, the team's subsequent record became worse and worse and it was even relegated to the Western Second Division. In addition, the subsequent head coaches were unwilling to make Wu Lei the main starter, so this deal did not bring any substantial benefits to the club.
There are countless such cases.
Take South Korea as an example. Although there are already many players playing in the top five leagues, the one who really brings obvious benefits to the club in terms of "making money" is the popular Son Heung-min.
Chen Xiaoliang understands Wu Lei's situation very well, but they still have three championships to fight for this season.
These three championships are important goals that must be won not only for the two of them, but also for Mourinho, who has won many championships.
After training in Rome for two days, everyone flew to Florence to participate in the 36th round of the league.
In the last European Cup match, Chen Xiaoliang contributed one assist and gained a total of 7 skill points.
Add to that the BUFF that doubles the European competition rewards this season and PSV's 1.5 times reputation coefficient, and the final skill value reward is 21 points.
Skill value 30 → 51
In 3 days, he trained with the team for a total of 9 hours. Although Chen Xiaoliang also participated in the extra training of Cesco and others, in order not to increase fatigue, he only fed the ball to a few people. The amount of exercise was too low, so there was no system and no accumulated training time.
Training value 8→17
On May 9, 2022, the last game of the 36th round of Serie A kicked off.
Roma once again came to the Stadio Franchi to challenge Fiorentina, who had been given many yellow cards in the Italian Cup semi-final.
But after the game started, Fiorentina head coach Italiano discovered that the team in front of him seemed to be a different group of players after only not seeing it for a month.
Each of them looked like the wolf on their team logo, with ferocious eyes, and they couldn't wait to rush forward and tear the opponent into a bloody mess.
At the same time, Fiorentina, who fought AC Milan for 90 minutes at San Siro in the last round and wanted to fight for a place in the Europa League next season, still lost by 1 goal after losing three players, Piatek, Bonaventura and Lucas Torreira, due to injuries. This had a great impact not only on the strength of the team's lineup, but also on morale.
Facing such a purple lily that was almost exhausted by the wind and rain, Mourinho ordered his team to launch a fierce attack at the start and achieved the expected tactical goal in the first 30 minutes.
In the 7th minute, Matic took a long shot from outside the penalty area, but unexpectedly the shot turned into an assist. When the ball rolled to the left post, Zaniolo poked the ball to give the team the first goal.
In the 29th minute, Roma launched a signature quick counterattack. Patricio kicked the ball to Mancini, who passed it to Spinazzola on the right, who passed it forward to Chen Xiaoliang in the middle.
Chen Xiaoliang passed the ball to Zaniolo who was already near the center line on the right. Zaniolo was moving forward at full speed, and the entire Fiorentina defense line was desperately chasing back.
At the front of the penalty area, Zaniolo pushed the ball with his right foot and passed it to Cesco who was cutting in from the left.
At this time, Chen Xiaoliang in the middle had also rushed up, and all of a sudden there were quick attacks on the left, middle and right lines. Cesco could either shoot himself or pass the ball back in a triangle.
In the end, Cesco did not waste Zaniolo's wonderful pass and shot into the near corner with his left foot. The whole counterattack took only 10 seconds and the score was changed to 0-2.
After being hit twice, Fiorentina parked the bus obediently and no longer had any unreasonable thoughts.
Roma did not try to kill all the opponents, and the rest of the game was like garbage time in a basketball game. Both sides attacked and defended "symbolically" several times. The home team did not provoke the visiting team to kill them, and the visiting team did not force the home team to do something desperate.
The most important thing is that after AC Milan defeated Verona 1-3 away the day before, Roma can also secure the 3 points in this game and continue to keep close with a 1-point gap.
In this game, Chen Xiaoliang was substituted in the 65th minute. Wu Lei played the entire second half and had two good shooting opportunities but unfortunately failed to score. However, his hard fighting in the frontcourt helped the team control the situation on the field after the main players were substituted.
After the game, 3 training points and 2 physical recovery cards were distributed to Chen Xiaoliang's prize pool as task rewards.
Stamina recovery card 4→6
Training value 17→20
In the 36th round of the league, Inter Milan defeated Empoli 4-2 at home, Torino lost 0-1 to Naples at home, and Genoa, who fought desperately to avoid relegation, defeated Juventus 2-1 at home.
As a result, although the rankings from 3rd to 5th in the standings remained unchanged, the gap between Juventus and Inter Milan, who both had 70 points, and Napoli, who was in 5th place with 68 points, was narrowed to just 2 points.
In the last two rounds of the league, these three teams competing for a place in the Champions League will surely fight to the very last minute.
At the same time, with only two rounds of the league left, Lazio, who ranks sixth with 60 points and is 7 points ahead of Fiorentina in seventh place, has completely secured a spot in next season's Europa League.
In the relegation zone, Venice, which is at the bottom, has a 5-point gap with Spezia, which is 16th. The five teams will fight to avoid relegation until the last minute.
Such fierce competition is naturally what the Serie A is happy to see. Many media and fans have praised this season as one of the most exciting seasons since the new century.
Rome is naturally the biggest and most eye-catching factor among them.
However, whether it was the post-match press conference or all the coaches and players who hurried back to Rome from Florence, everyone was not excited about the easy victory of the game, but became more and more nervous.
Mourinho even issued a media gag order to everyone at the club, including youth team coaches and players, as well as clerical staff, after obtaining permission from owner Dan Friedkin.
Because in two days, at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, the capital of Italy, which is the home stadium of the Roma team, this season's Italian Cup final will start!
If we say that in terms of the number of domestic top league titles, Roma, with only three titles, can only rank 8th among all teams, not only can it not compare with Juventus, which has won 36 times, Inter Milan, which has won 19 times, and AC Milan, which has won 18 times, but it can not even compare with mid- and lower-level teams such as Genoa, Torino and Bologna, and is just a "little brother", but in the Italian Cup, they have a record that can be proud of.
The first edition was held in 1922, but was later suspended due to various reasons. It was not until 1935 that it was resumed. Since then, Juventus has won 14 Italian Cup titles and 7 runner-up titles, while Roma is closely behind with 9 titles and 8 runner-up titles.
But the most recent one was the 2007-08 season.
Following them are Inter Milan, which has won the title seven times, and city rivals Lazio.
Another giant, Roma's opponent this season, AC Milan, has only won the championship five times.
Although the importance of this championship does not seem to be as great as the league championship and the European Cup championship, as the first competition that can yield results in the half-season three-front battle, the impact of the outcome of this final on the team's mentality and confidence in the last three games is self-evident.
Mourinho doesn't want any unexpected behavior to happen before the game.
He wanted to use this game as a clarion call for a charge towards the Treble, rather than a death knell for empty-handedness at the end of the season.
What's more, when the league competition comes to the last two rounds, being able to defeat AC Milan in a direct dialogue will at least have a significant impact on the opponent psychologically.
During these two days of training, Mourinho only practiced one thing, which was defense.
Although this has been repeatedly emphasized and rehearsed countless times, Mourinho, who is well aware that "offense wins the game and defense wins the championship", still puts defense first in the final.
How to get Veretout to cooperate with Celik to prevent Leo from breaking through from the left;
How to better prepare the back three to deal with the opponent's positional changes in the penalty area;
How to resolve the pivotal role of Ibrahimovic or Giroud;
How to cut off the connection between Kessie, Tonali and Krunic who is in the front.
In short, after looking at almost all the materials on AC Milan's offensive routines and scoring methods in the second half of the season, Mourinho arranged and emphasized all the areas he could think of.
The players listened very carefully and practiced very seriously.
The effectiveness of this intensive review can only be tested in the final examination.
At 20:00 on May 11, 2022, players from both teams slowly entered the court, holding caddies wearing their respective jerseys.
Roma is very fortunate that since the 2007-08 season, the Italian Football Association has stipulated that the Italian Cup final will be held at the Olympic Stadium in Rome in the future.
This is also learned from the English FA Cup's practice of holding the match at Wembley Stadium.
Therefore, although the Italian Football Association claimed before the game that the number of tickets given to die-hard fans of both sides was the same, a large number of tickets for neutral fans eventually went to local Romans.
Those who are close to the water get the moon first. Many Roma fans have already prepared for the post-match celebrations.
In Piazza Venezia, all the elements of a rally to celebrate the championship were ready, waiting for the arrival of fans who would parade here from all directions after the game.
Many bars have already announced that they will delay closing time or even stay open all night, and have also launched some championship packages, preparing to make a fortune from it.
The first people in the queue of both teams were their respective captain Chen Xiaoliang and right back Calabria.
On the Roma side, goalkeeper Patricio;
The three central defenders are still Mancini, Smalling and Ibanez.
Celik is the right wingback, Malasia is the left wingback;
Cristante and Veretout played as double defensive midfielders;
Chen Xiaoliang played as a solo central midfielder, with center forward Cesco and Zaniolo, who has been in good form recently, in front of him.
For AC Milan, the starting goalkeeper is Frenchman Maignan;
The captain Calabria is the right back, and Theo, the inevitable starter of the French World Cup, is the left back;
The double center backs are a young combination of 25-year-old Englishman Tomori and 22-year-old Frenchman Kalulu;
The double defensive midfielders, Tonali, who is worth 50 million euros, is on the right, and Kessie, the Ivory Coast international who will definitely transfer to Barcelona next season, is on the left;
The Portuguese genius Leao, who is worth 70 million euros, is highly expected by the whole country of Portugal in the World Cup at the end of the year.
Belgian Salle Marquez, left winger;
The attacking midfielder is 29-year-old Bosnian Krunic;
The starting center at the front is Giroud, who is 36 years old but is getting better with age.
Even the new Ballon d'Or winner Benzema said in response to the media's question about who will start in the World Cup that he is willing to appear on the front line with Giroud.
When Mourinho stepped onto the stadium, he still confidently waved and smiled at the Roma fans in the stands.
But his heart was filled with an unprecedented excitement.
This is a completely different experience from when he led Inter Milan to face Bayern in the Champions League final, led Real Madrid to challenge the invincible Barcelona at Camp Nou, and led Manchester United to win the Europa League title.
It was more like when he led a young Porto team to the UEFA Cup final for the first time.
After twenty years of twists and turns, this stadium is destined to be the place where his coaching career will begin again.
But despite his excitement, his confidence was still evident.
Judging from the pre-match arrangements, AC Milan's starting lineups were all guessed accurately, and the key defensive requirements were all practiced specifically.
In his estimation, the next game should be like an open-book exam.
Even the answers had been leaked completely before the exam.
But he overestimated one thing, that is Roma's foundation and the ability of his players to withstand the pressure of the championship battle.
As soon as I entered the examination room, before I even picked up my pen, I became so nervous and confused that I forgot all the test questions I had memorized.
As it was the Italian Cup, the Penguins did not have the broadcasting rights, so the fans of the Red Country once again flocked to the live broadcast platform of Zhongyang Wutai at 3 am.
He Wei: "The referee for this match is Paolo Valeri. It can be seen that the Italian Football Association has put a lot of effort into the refereeing of the recent match between AC Milan and Roma."
"Although Valeri is not as famous as Osato, he is also one of the best referees in Italy. He was recruited by FIFA to join the video referee team for the Qatar World Cup."
"Although many fans think that the work of the video referee team is not as important as that of the referee, VAR will inevitably bear great pressure in a major tournament like the World Cup. It will either not appear or will be accompanied by controversy."
"Therefore, it can be seen that the pressure and role of the video referee team are no less than that of the referee on the field."
"Okay! With Valeri's whistle, the game begins!"
"Giroud kicks off and AC Milan takes the lead in attacking!"
