Chapter 243: An old horse still has ambitions to run a thousand miles
Ivan Yurich's tactic of trapping Chen Xiaoliang unexpectedly turned out to be a success and actually worked.
On the Roma side, in fact, in the league match against Inter Milan, Mourinho began to try to let Chen Xiaoliang hold the ball more and attack more directly to attract more defensive attention from the opponent, thereby creating space for his teammates.
Originally, Torino's actions today played into Mourinho's hands, but Roma's players were particularly restrained today and did not effectively take advantage of the defensive vacuum created by the opponent's double-team. They either waited for Chen Xiaoliang to pass the ball or simply transferred the ball elsewhere.
This made Mourinho anxious, and he kept making gestures on the sidelines, asking the players to run and move.
But to be honest, he himself was very nervous facing the league championship, a trophy that was more tempting than the Italian Cup.
After all, he has never won a league title since leaving Chelsea, especially when he was at Manchester United, he publicly told the media that "leading Manchester United to second place in the Premier League is my greatest achievement."
Now, with just one victory to regain the championship of the top five leagues, how can he not be nervous?
So even though he was gesturing with his hands, he could understand the players' reservedness and caution in his heart.
Chen Xiaoliang was also anxious on the court.
Since Torino double-teamed him with the ball, the ball had to come to him.
Only when you have the ball and the opponent double-teams you, can the space for your teammates be expanded.
So he kept running and asking for the ball, but his teammates saw that there was always someone guarding him and were afraid that the ball would be intercepted, so they didn't dare to pass it to him.
With this back and forth, Rome's attack and organization immediately became chaotic.
In the 27th minute, Abraham moved from the left to the front of the central penalty area. After receiving the ball from Pellegrini on the right, he leaned on Torino midfielder Samuel Ricci with his back to the goal.
At this time, Chen Xiaoliang was running behind him to ask for the ball, and Pobega was defending on the side.
According to the routine in training, Abraham, who had the ball with his back to the goal, could knock the ball back to Chen Xiaoliang. Chen Xiaoliang dribbled the ball forward and pretended to take a long shot, attracting Richie who was defending Abraham. He then made a lob pass to Abraham who had already run back into the penalty area to complete the shot.
But when Abraham saw Pobega staring at Chen Xiaoliang menacingly, he immediately forgot all about the tactics, directly kicked the ball to the left with his left foot, then turned around and shot with his right foot.
The ball went way off target and hit the billboard behind the goal, almost hitting the caddy.
Abraham himself felt embarrassed and raised his hands to apologize to Cesco in front of him and Chen Xiaoliang behind him.
Chen Xiaoliang frowned slightly, and while running back to prepare for defense, he waved his hands on the ground, meaning why not pass the ball over.
This scene was seen by Portman, who had been staring at Chen Xiaoliang in the press area in the stands. He immediately made it into a GIF and posted it on the social account of Turin Sports Daily, with a text: The 17-year-old Red Chinese openly expressed his dissatisfaction with his teammates and has become a bully in the Roma team. Roma may repeat the mistake of falling apart in Mourinho's second year.
Soon, the Red Country’s “Relay Bar” reposted this content and added a translation.
Red Country netizens left a message below:
[I thought the French surrendered the fastest in Europe, but I didn’t expect the Italians to be just as fast in making up stories]
[As a core and leader, you must express your opinions in a timely manner, otherwise it will become a blind attack sooner or later]
…
On the field, because Roma's attack was stalled, Torino's defensive pressure was suddenly reduced a lot, and the offensive firepower was actually improved.
In the 28th minute, Belgian attacking midfielder Praet made a low cross from the right side of the frontcourt into the penalty area. Another attacking midfielder Blekalo received the ball, and Belotti prepared to receive the lob pass and attack the goal.
Blekalo shot directly, but the angle was too straight, and Patricio knelt on the spot and held the ball in his arms.
Although the quality of the ball was not high, the attack was very dangerous.
In the 33rd minute, after Veretout got the ball in the backcourt, Chen Xiaoliang asked for the ball near the center line. Veretout saw someone was marking him, and he hesitated and failed to pass the ball immediately. The ball was intercepted by Praet, who then immediately got rid of Veretout who was still in a daze, took a few steps and passed the ball directly to the right side of the penalty area.
Belotti got the ball, and suddenly he kicked the ball to the left with his right heel. In an instant he got rid of Ibanez's defense, and then he kicked a curved ball with his left foot and went straight to the goal!
Patricio flew to the side and pushed the ball over the crossbar!
After getting up, Patricio shouted at Ibanez and pointed two fingers at his eyes.
Ibanez, who was almost scored by the opponent, was also very annoyed. He spread his hands towards Veretout and made a complaining expression.
Mourinho couldn't help but shake his head when he saw .
They were anxious. Everyone was very worried.
But what can we do? Not only at the beginning of the season, but even in the middle of the season, these kids never thought they could really win the league championship.
However, most of them have no experience in winning the Serie A title.
Although many people have won league championships in small countries before coming to Rome, such as Mkhitaryan's Armenian Super League, Cesco's Austrian Super League, and Binya's Uruguayan Super League, the intensity and level of confrontation of these leagues are still far from those of the top five leagues.
After all, not all leagues called "Super" League are really super.
In this regard, fans of the Red Country have the most experience.
Like Veretout, he has only won two championships in his life. One was the U20 World Cup championship in 2013 representing the French U20 youth team, and the other was the UEFA Nations League championship last year with France as a substitute throughout the whole process and rarely played.
There is almost no difference between this kind of championship experience and no experience.
However, if Ansaldi is the veteran of the Torino team, then Roma also has veterans who are still ambitious in their old age.
After Torino took a corner kick, Smalling jumped up and headed the ball out. Matic on the penalty area line caught the falling ball, raised his left foot and kicked it directly to Chen Xiaoliang near the center line.
It's so straightforward?!
Not only Chen Xiaoliang was stunned, but Bobega who was staring at him was also stunned.
The two immediately ran towards where the ball landed, and the Nigerian right wingback Ola Aina also joined in to help his teammates to attack Chen Xiaoliang from both sides.
Although the combined value of these two people is only 21.5 million euros, which is a far cry from Chen Xiaoliang, whose value is 85 million euros and is ranked among the best in Europe, in terms of attitude towards the game, these two people are not much worse than Chen Xiaoliang.
Especially Ola Aina. Although this Nigerian international is a little rough on his feet, he has played in the Premier League and Serie A for many years thanks to his strong muscles and excellent explosive speed. He also won the Premier League championship in the 2016-17 season with Conte's Chelsea.
That year, the 19-year-old Abraham was loaned out by Chelsea to Bristol City for training.
On the other side, Poberga, who was double-teamed, has every ability to be a rotation starter in a traditional giant like AC Milan. The gap between him and Chen Xiaoliang in ability is not as far as his net worth.
The two men sandwiched Chen Xiaoliang like a hot dog bun. One pulled him with his right hand and the other pushed him with his left elbow. Chen Xiaoliang could not exert his fastest speed in such a close fight. He relied on his physical fitness to maintain balance and tried to get rid of the two men.
The three of them ran about six or seven meters, and the ball fell in front of them and bounced forward a few times. Chen Xiaoliang hooked the ball with the instep of his left foot and picked it behind him, then he stopped suddenly and wanted to turn around to catch the ball and then dribble away from the two men.
But as soon as he turned around, he found that he couldn't move his body, and the ball was cleared away by Pobega with a kick right in front of him.
It turned out that Ola Aina was unable to turn around in time and was holding on to his jersey tightly from behind.
It just so happened that the linesman for this half was on the other side of the touchline, and the referee's view was blocked. I don't know if the video referee team said anything, but in the end they didn't blow the whistle.
In addition, this is an away game, so instead of shouting that there was a foul, the fans applauded their players.
The high clearance flew towards Roma's half and Belotti pulled out, ready to head the ball.
Just as he jumped, he felt like he was hit by a truck from behind. His body instantly fell forward and he didn't even hit the ball.
The next scene made Lou Yichen and Liu Yue, who were commentating on the championship match in the Red Country live broadcast room, laugh.
Lou Yichen: "Let's see! Belotti was obviously about to get angry after he stood up, but the fierce expression on his face disappeared in an instant, and he simply shook his head and walked away."
Liu Yue: "Maybe because I thought we would probably be teammates next season, I was so angry and swearing, but I just endured it."
Lou Yichen: "I can't help it. This is called being grateful to the people who have helped you. Hahaha."
Liu Yue: "The referee didn't blow the whistle for this goal. It seems that he was retaliating for the foul by Ola Aina on Chen Xiaoliang. The video referee team should have mentioned it to him. Matic's header was very experienced. On the one hand, this kind of collision in the header would not result in a card even if the referee blew the whistle. Moreover, it was far from the penalty area, so the threat of a set-piece was not great. On the other hand, it was also to suppress Torino's gradually rising offensive momentum and psychological advantage."
On the field, the ball headed by Matic was caught by Celik. The Turkish defender pushed hard with the arch of his right foot and passed the ball to Chen Xiaoliang again in a big diagonal line.
Still coming?!
This big diagonal line seemed to raise a question mark in Ola Aina and Bobega's minds, and they immediately moved towards Chen Xiaoliang.
But Chen Xiaoliang would never give them another chance. A low pass does not require chasing the landing point like a high ball. He can just retreat along the path of the ball.
He ran back a full 10 meters, with Pobega and Ola Aina chasing closely behind him.
Chen Xiaoliang aimed at the distance, pushed the ball to his left rear with the outside of his left foot, then pushed with his right foot and instantly completed a stop and turn to run to the front court. He also swung his left hand backwards and knocked away Pobega's right hand that was stretched out to grab his jersey again.
This stop and pass not only made the players on the Roma bench shout "Bull Cup", but even the Torino bench couldn't help but feel shocked.
Seeing that the midfield defense had been breached, the three central defenders who had returned to defense from the corner kick began to retreat into their own penalty area. Ola Aina saw that he could not catch up with Chen Xiaoliang, so he immediately returned to his position and kept an eye on his "old colleague" Abraham.
Ansaldi stood at the front of the penalty area, as if waiting for Chen Xiaoliang to come over.
However, as he already had a yellow card, he could no longer pose any threat to Chen Xiaoliang. He could only delay the latter's speed of moving forward.
Chen Xiaoliang ran to the top of the penalty area, facing Ansaldi, and changed direction with his left foot as if he was going to break through to the left. Then, when Ansaldi's center of gravity moved, his left foot did not touch the ball, as if he made a fake move like riding a bicycle. At the same time, he pushed the ball to the right with his right foot and completed the breakthrough in an instant.
Ansaldi was unable to turn around in time, but Swiss center back Rodriguez had already stretched out his legs to intercept Chen Xiaoliang.
Chen Xiaoliang pushed the ball to the right with his right foot. The people on this side had completely left the right side empty because they were defending him.
The ball rolled to the right side of the penalty area, and Celik rushed forward at high speed like a 100-meter race!
David Zima in the middle of the penalty area wanted to block it, but it was too late!
Celik received the ball at the bottom line and swept it across the goal. The moment the ball left his feet, he lost balance and fell outside the penalty area.
Cesco fell to the ground and shot, and goalkeeper Berisha made a desperate save. The ball hit his outstretched left hand, changed direction, hit the post and bounced back!
Pellegrini, who was assisting from the side, made a follow-up shot, but the ball was blocked by Lukic's chest and bounced out of the penalty area!
In Turin's penalty area, the defensive players were like warriors who rushed forward one after another to block the opponent's shots with their bodies. It seemed that they were determined to stop Roma from winning the championship even at the risk of their lives.
And Pobega was like a dog-skin plaster, always sticking to Chen Xiaoliang in the penalty area.
The ball landed outside the penalty area. It was Matic! He swung his left foot back, leaned his body to the right, and stretched out his right hand, as if he was going to shoot from a distance!
Richie in the penalty area immediately pounced on him.
But the ball floated towards the right goal post!
Celik, who had just fallen outside the penalty area, has returned to the field and is lying in ambush there. Because he ran back from outside the field, the Torino players didn't pay attention to him for a while!
Celik didn't even jump at the back post. It was as if the ball came to him on its own initiative. It landed flatly and quickly on his forehead. He gently pushed the ball into the goal that was so close!
The whole audience suddenly fell silent!
After scoring the goal, Celik and other Roma players immediately turned their eyes to the linesman!
The Torino players raised their hands in unison.
The linesman didn't raise the flag!
The referee did not say anything, but his action of holding the headset against his cheek with his right hand showed that he was communicating with the video referee team.
Cesco, Chen Xiaoliang and Abraham have already run towards Celik, and other players have also run over. They hugged each other's backs but did not celebrate. They were all looking at the referee anxiously, waiting for the final whistle to decide!
Lou Yichen: "The broadcaster's slow motion is here!"
"This ball doesn't look offside from this angle! Rodriguez is lagging behind and blocking the goal post on the other side!"
Liu Yue: “It would be even better if there was a clear line shot at this time.”
As soon as the words fell, the crossed-out shot came out!
Lou Yichen: "Not offside! At the moment when Matic passed the ball, Celik's torso was almost parallel to Rodriguez, and goalkeeper Berisha was on the goal line, which means that there were two defenders behind Celik!"
Liu Yue: "The referee seemed to be communicating with the video referee team at the scene. I wonder if he will choose to watch VAR..."
Lou Yichen: "No! The referee blew the whistle directly! He didn't choose to look at VAR, he pointed his finger to the center circle!"
"In the 35th minute, Roma scored a goal away from home! They have one foot in the championship!"
The referee pointed his finger, and the Roma players immediately hugged each other! They shouted loudly! The players on the bench also rushed over and hugged them!
Lou Yichen: "We just talked about the Roma team's experience in big competitions and championships, as well as the embarrassing situation of Veretout, Pellegrini and others who were out of control and did not dare to perform tonight. Unexpectedly, the two champion players took the initiative to step forward and jointly created this priceless goal!"
Liu Yue: "What Lou said is absolutely right. Although Celik is not worth much and is not as famous as he should be, he was the champion of Ligue 1 last season. Lille unexpectedly beat Paris Saint-Germain, which is coached by Pochettino and has a number of big names such as Mbappe and Neymar, to win the Ligue 1 championship."
Lou Yichen: "And it is very similar to today's situation! It was also the last round, and both teams were playing away from home, but the last round of Ligue 1 started at the same time. Paris Saint-Germain scored two goals in an away game to defeat Brest, while Lille withstood the huge pressure and defeated Angers 2-1, maintaining their lead at the last moment and winning the championship!"
"In that game, and that season, Celik was the team's main starting right back! So tonight you can say that Mourinho sent him to start because he saw his experience in this kind of high-pressure game!"
Liu Yue: "In addition, Matic, who just passed the ball, has won the Premier League three times with Chelsea and was selected into the Premier League's best team of the season. It can be said that his experience is unmatched in the team."
"The goal just now was scored because he took the initiative to pass the ball to Xiao Liang while his teammates were timid, allowing Xiao Liang to create a series of chaos in the penalty area while attracting multiple defenders. In the end, he made a fake shot and passed the ball to Celik, giving him a wonderful assist."
Lou Yichen: "This is the experience of a champion! And this Roma team is on the road to becoming a champion! And they are getting closer and closer to the finish line!"
On the sidelines, the anxious and nervous Mourinho couldn't help but hug Forti, Lapeti and others excitedly after seeing the referee's gesture.
But soon, he turned around and kept making downward pressing gestures with both hands towards the players who were celebrating on the field.
He also asked Forti to remind them with him to quickly return to their own half.
The Turin people did not give up, and the game was far from the final whistle!
They must stay calm and maintain their lead until the last minute for the championship!
