Chapter 234: That year I put my hands in my pockets, not knowing who my opponent was (Part 2)
In the stands, a huge flag with "FORZA MILAN" printed on it slid slowly over the heads of Milan's diehard fans. Everyone raised their hands and moved the flag to their left. From a distance, it looked like the ups and downs of a rolling wave.
The rest areas and shopping areas in the stadium are also separated to prevent the escalation of conflicts between the diehard fans of both sides due to verbal quarrels.
On Milan's side, the atmosphere was filled with the joy of victory. Many Milan fans cried out "disappointment", saying that they had expected it to be a tough battle, but they did not expect to win so easily and that Roma was just so-so.
The atmosphere on the Roma side was much more depressing. Even if there were fans gathered in groups of three or four to chat or relax, they were criticizing which players had ridiculous performances and which tactics were inappropriate.
Reporters from Tuttosport, Gazzetta dello Sport and Sky Sports interviewed fans in the stadium and asked them to predict the score of the game.
Meanwhile, voting was also opened on social media.
Soon, the results came out. The most popular choice was Milan 0-5, which means Milan could score two more goals in the second half. A total of 36% of people chose this option.
Less than 3% of people chose Roma to equalize the score, which is even lower than the proportion of people who chose Milan to win by 7 goals.
Needless to say, in addition to fans of both teams, there are also many supporters of Juventus and Inter Milan.
They don't want a new competitor to emerge in Serie A to disrupt the existing situation.
If they were really allowed to choose, they would hope that the other two of the three giants would be relegated as soon as possible, and that their own club would be the only one to stand out in the future leagues and win the championship forever.
Those outside the locker room are people, and those inside the locker room are naturally people as well.
As a human being, you have seven emotions and six desires, as well as joy, anger, sorrow and happiness. What's more, those in the locker room are the eyewitnesses and parties involved in the game, and their emotions are even stronger than those of the fans.
Faced with the perfect first half, Milan head coach Pioli was naturally very satisfied. Seeing the players singing, dancing, talking and laughing in the locker room, although he reminded them several times to pay attention to the opponent's counterattack in the second half, he was worried that too much cold water would lower the team's morale. It would be better to let nature take its course and let the players continue to use their explosive state to perform on the field in the second half.
After all, the entire season has reached the last half month, and everything that needs to be practiced, said, and arranged has become old hat. The championship is within reach, and the players' excitement is also a manifestation of their desire.
He originally wanted to ask director Maldini to come to the locker room for another talk. Although he himself had won the European Cup with Juventus in the 1984-85 season, this period of his time at Juventus only lasted less than three seasons, a total of 57 games.
In terms of winning mentality, he is incomparable to Maldini and his group of Milan players.
However, in order to increase the influence of the event and rebuild the brand of Italian football, the Italian Football Association invited a large number of celebrities and legends to watch the game on site, as the TV camera swept across the VIP area of the stands in the first half.
These people are the highlights of the game, and they can also be the trump card to kill the nostalgia during the award ceremony.
As the club director, Maldini was currently socializing among those celebrities and had no time to say a word in the locker room.
Finally, it was Ibrahimovic, the oldest and most prestigious player on the team, who clapped his hands loudly to quiet his teammates, and then said something about staying focused and being alert to the opponent's counterattack in the second half.
The teammates nodded and started celebrating again. It was unclear how much they heard.
On the Roma side, after everyone entered the room, Mourinho swung his foot and kicked the door of the locker room like a volley, "Bang!!!", the door hit the door frame heavily, as if it was embedded in it.
He didn't even need to get angry, as most of the team members already had frustrated looks, blurry eyes, and a lack of morale.
"What are you doing here today?!"
"ah?!"
"Tell me! What are you here for?!"
As soon as Mourinho opened his mouth, his voice was at full decibel level.
"I know you're all here to receive your awards! It turns out that you don't even need to compete in this match. The championship is already yours, right?!"
"Look at yourselves in the first half. Are you here to participate in the finals ? Do you treat your opponent as a final opponent at all?!"
He picked up the tactical magnetic board that he had knocked to the ground, and then, without caring whether the numbers were correct, he just grabbed a few and put them up.
"Three central defenders, we have been talking about this for almost a year. If the wing is breached, one will go out to defend the wing, the one in the middle will take the position of the central defender who went out, and the remaining one will defend in the penalty area."
"What was the result? For the entire first half, they were still just looking at their own players! Leo made several offside attempts and almost broke into the small penalty area but no one came to defend. They were all in the penalty area looking at Giroud."
"I'm asking you, is Giroud so good-looking? Does he have big breasts or a nice butt? Krunic rushed to the penalty spot for the last ball, Malaysia recovered the ball, and Ibanez was still looking at Giroud!!!"
When he was angry, Mourinho grabbed a handful of magnetic stickers and threw them at Ibanez, who quickly raised his hands and lowered his head to dodge.
However, as soon as a hint of displeasure flashed in his eyes, Mourinho walked towards him, and Ibanez immediately backed down again.
"Where's your anger? Touch yourself and see if your thing is still there! Where's your temper? Where's your anger? Why didn't you dare to resist when I threw you? Why did your opponent shit on your head three times, and you gave me such an expression when you returned to the locker room?!"
Then he turned to Veretout and said, "Fuck you, look at your fellow Frenchmen on the field. Giroud is a definite player for the World Cup, Theo is a definite player for the World Cup, and Kalulu is only 22 years old and is worth 35 million euros. Tell me, what are you?!"
"Can't tell? Let me tell you, you are the main midfielder of the French team!"
Veretout looked up at Mourinho with grievance and resentment, then lowered his head again.
"Not convinced? Am I wrong? Then why did you play so conservatively on the field? Are you worried that injuries will affect your performance in the World Cup? Damn it, if I were Deschamps, and I saw you playing like this today, I would never choose you to go to Qatar even if you kill me!"
"If you're this nervous in an Italian Cup final, how are you going to play in a World Cup final?"
Mourinho paused and scanned the players in the room. Except for Chen Xiaoliang and Cesco, the other players were afraid to make eye contact with him and lowered their heads.
"I'm telling you right now, we still have 45 minutes left and the game is not over yet."
Mourinho shouted as he fiddled with the magnetic stickers.
"In the second half, Smalling goes off and Pellegrini comes on. Listen to what I say! I want you to press the other team's two defensive midfielders after they cross the half court."
As he spoke, he kept coming up with several possible responses from the opponent and the corresponding pressing strategies.
"We have to take the midfield back and not let them pass the ball through so easily."
"Force their midfield to pass the ball to the wing. They have no advantage if they only play on the wing!"
After he finished speaking, Mourinho looked at the clock on the wall and saw that there were still 6 minutes left.
He was just thinking about letting the players return to the court early to practice with the ball and get into the game earlier when Chen Xiaoliang stood up.
"Coach, can you and all the staff please leave here first."
Mourinho was stunned, but did not answer directly. He simply turned around and left to show his attitude.
Subsequently, Forti, Lapeti, team doctor Manara and others also left one after another.
With Mourinho's departure, many people breathed a sigh of relief, and the depressing locker room finally had a bit of lively atmosphere.
Chen Xiaoliang spoke up: "Let me tell you about the current situation."
"We were three goals down and there were 45 minutes left."
"But that's not the most important thing. What's important is that we are 45 minutes away from becoming the biggest joke of the season."
"If this joke comes true, it will not only be the coach's words that will be used to nail us to the pillar of shame, but also the countless media and fans."
"Every time you open social media, you will be mocked by fans who have too much free time to do anything about this tragic incident tonight."
"No matter how many games he wins or where he moves to, this won't change. You can never get rid of him."
"In a football match, no one will sympathize with the second place, but fortunately we still have half time, and we still have a chance to make this stadium our home again!"
"We have to score a goal in the first 15 minutes of the second half! As long as we can score this goal, we can bring the game back to our own track!"
"At the beginning of the season, no one believed that we could beat Napoli, beat Juventus and leave Inter Milan far behind in the standings."
"In the first two games against AC Milan, we had a draw and a loss, but it doesn't matter, that's all in the past. Whoever wins in the end is the real winner!"
"The head coach just said that many of their players are going to play in the World Cup at the end of the year and they are still fighting hard. We played so elegantly tonight, like a group of young ladies who didn't know how to resist after their opponents stripped them of three layers of clothes."
"Guys, it's time to go on the field. I won't talk about doing it for the fans, for the club, for the ideals, but don't forget that you have worked so hard to get to where you are today, for the sweat and blood you have shed."
After saying that, Chen Xiaoliang put the towel in his hand back into his own locker, opened the door of the locker room, and was the first to walk out.
Shortly after the Roma players came out, Milan players also returned to the field one after another.
Leo was talking and making gestures with Giroud, meaning that he had already made two assists, so in the second half, let Giroud help him and see if he could score one as well.
Both Tonali and Kessie were planning to play a little further forward, taking advantage of the opponent's poor form today to see if they could get in on the attack and score a goal.
Even Kalulu and Tomori were thinking about how to take advantage of set-piece opportunities to score a goal so that they could be noticed by the head coaches of their respective national teams and catch the last train to the World Cup.
Both teams stood on both sides. Paul Valery looked at his watch and the whistle blew on time, and the second half of the game began!
Although Mourinho left cleanly just now, standing on the sidelines now, he hoped more than anyone else that the team could play something different in the second half.
It’s not that he doesn’t know how to encourage, but that he doesn’t like encouragement, or encouragement in the conventional sense.
Unlike those who boost players' confidence by praising them, he likes to belittle them, stimulate them, and even describe them as worthless to arouse their desire to prove themselves and defeat their opponents.
To put it bluntly, it means "doing the opposite."
Therefore, in his career, many players with very distinct personalities who were difficult to manage like thorns in other coaches' eyes became his die-hard believers, such as Ibrahimovic and Materazzi.
However, some people who do not have such strong personalities may also fall into devastation because of this, such as Ali, who was once one of Tottenham's British stars and whose value once reached 100 million euros.
Although his barrage of insults in the midfield and Chen Xiaoliang's subsequent remarks did not completely boost the team's morale after falling behind by three goals, one thing did play a real role - the tension that had originally been building among the team because the championship was so close was gone.
In the 49th minute, Salemacols made a low cross from the right, the ball was touched by Giroud in front, hit Patricio's knee and bounced out, Krunic grabbed the ball and passed it back, Tonali ignored Leo who was waving at the back point, but chose to take a long shot directly, and the ball went wide of the post.
In the 51st minute, Pellegrini came on and shot hard from 28 meters in front of the goal, but it also missed the post.
Immediately afterwards, AC Milan counterattacked. Theo dribbled the ball all the way forward and was tripped fiercely by Veretout at the front of the penalty area.
The referee Paolo Valeri seemed to see Roma's pitiful appearance of being three goals behind, so he did not give a card to Veretout, but only awarded Milan a free kick on the left side of the penalty area.
Theo took the penalty and he moved horizontally to the middle. Kessié stepped on the ball and flicked it with his right foot. Without waiting for the Roma players around him to block, he took a long shot, but the ball was caught by Patricio.
Two consecutive attacks ended with long shots from the back midfielder, which made Leao, who was roaming around the edge of the penalty area looking for the ball, very dissatisfied. Even when Patricio threw the ball to the right and Celik dribbled forward in front of him, he just pretended to follow for a few steps and then walked with his hands down.
Seeing this, Kessié, who had just made a long shot, immediately came over to press. Celik made a long diagonal pass from the right to the left. Salemacols, who was defending Malaysia, also joined the attack but did not have time to retreat.
The shift between the strong and weak sides allowed Milan's formation center of gravity to slowly move from one side to the other.
Malaysia brought the ball to the front court, took a few steps to pull away Calabria's defense and passed the ball to Pellegrini who was coming from behind with the outside of his left foot.
In the middle, Cesco, Zaniolo and Chen Xiaoliang have all appeared near the penalty area.
Calabria immediately turned and rushed towards Pellegrini, while Tonali, who returned to defense, took on the task of marking Malaysia.
Pellegrini didn't want to waste time, he swung his right foot and prepared to pass the ball with his left foot, but the ball hit Calabria's foot as it moved.
Just when everyone thought the ball had been blocked, the ball bounced off Calabria's feet and back into Pellegrini's control.
Roma's No. 7 took the lead and opened up a gap of one body length, and when Calabria caught up, he immediately pulled back and passed the ball back to his right foot, making Calabria miss again, and then he passed the ball into the penalty area with his right foot from the left!
It doesn’t fly very high, but it’s very fast!
Cesco moved forward, but Kalulu held him back, his hands almost reaching into Cesco's clothes to grab his flesh.
Zaniolo rushed towards the goal and prepared to grab the back post, but Tomori blocked him behind him and prepared to clear the ball after it came.
As the ball was passed in with the inside of the right foot from the left side, the arc of the ball was spinning towards the goal, so Maignan did not dare to attack easily, for fear that the final cross would roll directly into the goal.
"not good!"
"OK!"
At this moment, two voices were heard simultaneously.
The former came from Pioli's heart on the sidelines, and the latter came from He Wei's mouth in the broadcast room.
The two men clearly saw the person who was missed by the players on the field!
Kessié was just watching Celik on the left and he didn't come back, Tonali was watching Malaysia and he didn't return to the penalty area, the two full-backs were on the edge of the penalty area, and the two central defenders were marking the opponent's forwards in their respective areas.
Then who will watch over Chen Xiaoliang? !
He Wei: "Chen Xiaoliang header!!!"
“The ball goes in!!!”
"In the 53rd minute, captain Chen Xiaoliang received a cross from Pellegrini between the small penalty area and the penalty spot, jumped high and headed the ball into the upper right corner of the goal!"
"This is Roma's first goal today and also Xiaoliang's first Coppa Italia goal in his career!"
"Roma's players didn't celebrate! Zaniolo immediately rushed into the net, picked up the ball and rushed towards the center circle!"
"Xiao Liang! His arms are constantly raised. He is encouraging the team!"
"The Roma fans at the scene started cheering again! They seemed to have seen a chance for the team to fight back!"
In the stands, Totti's worried face relaxed a little. He first glanced at Maldini on his right, and saw that the latter was chatting with other friends and not paying attention to him. He couldn't help but ask Riise on his left:
"Do you think this is a good show?"
However, when Totti turned around and looked at Riise, he was surprised!
He didn't expect that Reese not only celebrated excitedly, but even had tears in his eyes!
It's just a goal, it shouldn't be that serious...
Does he have such deep feelings for Rome?
Of course, Riise didn't notice what Totti was thinking.
But in Riise's eyes, at this moment he seemed to see the omnipotent red No. 8, who was good at both offense and defense, returning to the court and leading his teammates to launch another Jedi counterattack!
Hot comments in the live broadcast room comment area:
【The counterattack starts now!!!】Like 27149
