Chapter 244: New Serie A champion!
"Roma took the lead with a highly suspected offside goal. Will this season's Serie A ending be the most unconvincing one?"
The yin-yang headline of Turin Sports Daily reappeared, and even Juventus' official social media account couldn't stand it. They took the initiative to send out a dynamic tweet saying "Roma took the lead with perseverance" to draw a clear line between themselves and the former.
Many neutral fans are also wondering. This year, the teams competing for the championship are Milan and Roma. Gazzetta dello Sport didn't say anything, so why did Turin Sports jump out so quickly to stir up trouble?
Some fans even left a message on the social account of Turin Sports Daily:
Today, it seems that he will win the Serie A championship, the Italian Cup championship, and the European Cup championship. He has a double-double this season, the Copa Award winner, and a market value of 85 million euros. Which player under the age of 21 in Europe can have such performance? According to convention, a player can only win the Golden Boy Award once. In 2021, Pedri will be a shield. So what reason does Turin Sports Daily plan to use to not give Chen Xiaoliang the Golden Boy Award in 2022?
This comment quickly became the one with the most likes.
This is exactly what Portman hates so much. She doesn't want the Golden Boy Award, which her newspaper has worked so hard to create, to be awarded to someone who is completely unwilling to cooperate with her and is getting closer and closer to her arch-rival "France Football".
Since its establishment in 1956, the Ballon d'Or has become the most important and authoritative individual award in world football.
Tuttosport is naturally aware of this. Even the World Footballer of the Year award created by FIFA in 1991 and the UEFA Player of the Season award, which Platini took the opportunity to reform after UEFA's cooperation with FIFA and the fairness of the Ballon d'Or were questioned, cannot be compared with the Ballon d'Or, let alone creating a new football award.
So Turin Sports Daily took a different approach and creatively established the Golden Boy Award to reward outstanding players under the age of 21 who play for European clubs.
Originally, they had nothing to do with each other, especially since the selection model of both sides was voting by the most authoritative or established media, and many media had the right to vote for both the Ballon d'Or and the Golden Boy Award.
But in 2018, France Football established the Kopa Award, which also rewards players under the age of 21, but its scope is the same as the Ballon d'Or, open to players from all over the world.
The selection method also abandons the traditional model of media voting, and instead invites all living Ballon d'Or winners to vote. In this way, fans will naturally feel that the vision and standards of these top players are more professional than the media who can only watch and comment on games. This will undoubtedly deal a fatal blow to the Golden Boy Award in terms of "inheritance" and "professionalism".
In addition, the Women's Football Golden Ball Award was set up for the first time.
This is no longer just about moving the cheese of Turin Sports Daily, but about destroying their foundation.
To this end, after a year of silence, Turin Sports Daily prepared a big move and launched a counterattack. Without trying anything new, it publicly announced the establishment of their own Golden Ball Award and Women's Golden Ball Award.
In order to distinguish them, their awards are commonly referred to as the "Tottenham Golden Globe Awards".
As a result, the feud between the two media outlets has been completely settled in this era where traffic is king.
France Football gave the Ballon d'Or to Messi, while Tuttosport gave it to Lewandowski.
France Football awarded the Women's Ballon d'Or to Spanish midfielder Putlas, while Tuttosport awarded it to Dutch forward Lieke Martens.
Chen Xiaoliang's odds in France Football's Copa Award soared, and Turin Sports Daily announced that the Golden Boy Award would be given to Pedri.
Recently, as 2022 is about to be halfway through, seeing that Chen Xiaoliang is far ahead in the odds of the Golden Boy Award, Turin Sports Daily not only published a large number of reports questioning the true level of Roma, but also praised and expected Gavi, Bellingham, Camavinga, Murcia and LS Ka who will participate in the U21 stars who will participate in the World Cup at the end of the year.
And call them the true future stars who are qualified to stand on the highest stage of world football.
The meaning is self-evident.
Fortunately, these off-field factors have not affected the Roma players who are playing on the field.
After taking the lead, their attitude towards the game became more relaxed and calm. Although Torino played some mature attacks, the gradual equalization of ball possession between the two sides was enough to show the reversal of the situation on the field.
In the 39th minute, Cesco received Pellegrini's cross in front of the penalty area and took a rare direct long shot, but it was slightly higher than the crossbar.
In the 41st minute, Torino's left center back Rodriguez made a mistake when passing the ball back to goalkeeper Berisha under the pressure of Chen Xiaoliang. The speed of the ball was obviously slow and was directly snatched away by Abraham who reacted quickly.
Berisha made a mistake in a hurry and failed to stop his move to save the ball. He still tried to grab the ball that Abraham had controlled with his hands after falling to the ground, but ended up pulling Abraham to the ground.
The referee didn't even bother to consult VAR or the video referee team before immediately pointing to the penalty spot!
Berisha and Torino players wanted to go up and argue, but the referee shouted them away.
Lou Yichen: "Hey! You're still appealing for this kind of ball, wanting to cancel the penalty kick. The referee told me not to say what I was thinking. Otherwise, if it wasn't for the fact that it was Torino's home game tonight, it wouldn't be too much to give goalkeeper Berisha another card!"
Liu Yue: "Yes, if this ball was played in the past, the red dot package would have been the inevitable outcome."
"However, since the red dot package is too harmful to the penalized party and can easily cause a complete imbalance in the game situation, the International Football Association Board has narrowed the scope of the red dot package in the latest rules."
"A red card will only be awarded if a clear scoring opportunity is destroyed by a violent foul in the penalty area."
"Although Abraham intercepted the ball just now, he was not facing the goal, and goalkeeper Berisha was between him and the goal. Therefore, the referee did not determine that this was an inevitable scoring opportunity. At the same time, Berisha's foul was not a violent foul, so awarding a penalty kick and not issuing a card is in line with the current spirit of the rules."
However, after the joy of getting a penalty, new problems arose.
Abraham picked up the ball, Pellegrini, Cesco and Veretout all walked to the penalty spot. These four players who were in the top four sequence of the team's penalty kicks all wanted to take this penalty.
Pellegrini currently has 9 goals in the league, and one more goal will bring him to double digits;
Abraham currently has 10 goals and 4 assists. Although he has scored a total of 16 goals in all competitions, 10 goals in the league is still a little too few for a striker. He hopes to score this goal and then enter the top 20 in the Serie A scorer list;
Veretout is not obsessed with statistics. After all, he often plays as a defensive midfielder, and his stats of 6 goals and 5 assists in all competitions are completely good results. It’s just that this goal is too important. If he can achieve a 2-goal lead in the first half, the championship will be firmly in his pocket.
When Cesco saw that the three of them were actively fighting for it, he took the initiative to withdraw.
He currently has 17 goals in the league. If he can score one more goal, he will surpass Verona striker Simeone, who also has 17 goals, and rank fourth in the Serie A scorer list.
But these selfish thoughts are nothing worth mentioning in front of the champion.
In the end, before Chen Xiaoliang had time to intervene, several people had already discussed the result and let Abraham, who created the penalty, take the penalty himself.
The players from both sides gradually returned to their positions and lined up outside the penalty area.
Tonight, Roma wore an away jersey with a dark yellow background and dark blue shoulders, while Torino wore a maroon home jersey.
Under the gaze of a group of red and yellow people, the referee blew the whistle! Abraham took two steps to run up and kicked the ball to the right side of the goal with his right foot!
Torino goalkeeper Berisha completely guessed the direction wrong. When he saw the ball flying to the other side, his body, which had already jumped out, went limp.
In the 42nd minute, Torino 0-2 Roma!
The Roma players immediately surrounded them, and Chen Xiaoliang called them over one by one, forming a circle and hugging each other tightly!
At this moment, a camera captured an "interesting" scene.
The moment Abraham scored a goal, Torino captain Belotti raised his hands and subconsciously wanted to applaud, but just when his hands were about to put together, he probably remembered that his identity had not yet changed, so he quickly changed the position of his hands and slapped his thighs, expressing a look of regret.
Soon, the first half of the game ended.
When everyone returned to the locker room, Mourinho did not say a word about the tactical victory. Apart from asking some players to start warming up and preparing to come on as substitutes, he used all the rest of the time to warn the players to maintain the lead until the last minute and not to have any unrealistic thoughts in the second half.
As long as the whistle doesn't blow, the game cannot be called a win.
The players listened carefully, but inevitably, the thought of realizing that they were getting closer and closer to their dream league championship gradually occupied more and more space in their minds.
On the other side, in the home team locker room, Torino head coach Ivan Juric threw out some "background theory".
He told the players that if Roma took away the victory and the championship tonight, our home stadium and these players would always become the background for others to win the championship and would be played over and over again in many documentaries and football clips in the future.
From then on, he completely became a background .
However, if we leave each other with some special memories today and create some difficulties, even if the final outcome cannot be changed, then whether tonight or in the future, we can face it all with our heads held high.
Although the words of the two head coaches failed to arouse any passion, the inner fluctuations of the players on both sides combined to form obvious changes on the field in the second half.
Roma's players still played very seriously, but they started to pass the ball more often, and made more transfers and back passes in the midfield and backcourt, because most of the players were thinking about safely carrying the game to the end, without any unnecessary complications, and ensuring that they would win the championship in the end.
Under the encouragement of Ivan Juric, Torino's players began to actively press high.
Anyway, they have already lost two. Two is a loss, three is also a loss, but waiting to die like a salted fish is not something the tough Turin people can swallow.
In the 51st minute, Torino started to make a two-on-one combination from the backcourt, receiving a horizontal pass and then a forward pass.
The ball was initiated by central defender Rodriguez, who passed it to left defensive midfielder Pobega in front of him. Pobega immediately passed it horizontally to right defensive midfielder Richie, who then passed it diagonally to attacking midfielder Blackaro. When Blackaro received the ball, Pobega, who had just passed the ball, had already rushed up at full speed without the ball.
Blackallo pushed the ball lightly with his right foot, and Pobega received the ball while running. He not only got rid of Matic, but also rushed into the penalty area with the ball through the wide gap between Smalling and Celik!
Watching from the sidelines, it looked like a group of standing players playing football were suddenly torn apart by a running player.
The player with the most fighting spirit on the field now is Poberga, who is on loan from AC Milan and will definitely return to Milan next season.
He is 23 years old, 188cm tall, 79kg, his dominant foot is his left, but he is equally skilled with his right foot. In addition, although his physical ability and offensive and defensive capabilities are not outstanding, he has balanced physical ability, which allows him to be a rotation starter in any Serie A team.
Just like those young players who also play in midfield would feel dissatisfied when they see Chen Xiaoliang, Pobega also did not understand why this red countryman could be favored by a famous coach like Mourinho and build a team with him as the core, while he had to be constantly loaned out by his parent team and only had the opportunity to get a chance to play in Milan after wandering for four years.
Holding his breath, he dribbled the ball into the penalty area and shot powerfully into the far corner from a small angle on the left!
Patricio fell to the ground in time and saved the ball.
After standing up, the Portuguese goalkeeper loudly reminded his defenders and midfielder teammates not to just look at the ball and not at the players when defending, as they let the players in without thinking.
Immediately afterwards, Torino took a corner kick from the left side. Belotti jumped high in the middle, overpowered Ibanez and headed the ball, but the ball went wide of the post.
On the Torino side, Ivan Juric saw that the team had a good offensive in the second half, so he immediately replaced Ansaldi, who already had a yellow card, with young defender Buongiorno. At the same time, he replaced attacking midfielder Blakalo with Senegalese striker Demba Seck, forming a double striker attack combination with Belotti.
This set of substitutions also confused Mourinho.
He was already somewhat uneasy about his own players' "taken-for-granted" safe playing style in the second half, and Torino's desperate substitution of offensive players made him feel that Ivan Juric was not ready to give up today and seemed ready to fight to the end.
Seeing that Abraham was in good shape and played very actively today, he replaced Cesco with Spinazzola, letting Spinazzola play as left midfielder, Pellegrini play as right midfielder, and Abraham was in the center of the striker line.
This will strengthen the defensive capabilities of both flanks.
Although Spinazzola was extremely active and fought hard after coming on the pitch, the coach's decision to replace the main center with a defender at this moment further intensified the Roma players' desire to play safely.
In the 60th minute, Ivan Juric made another substitution, replacing Belotti, who seemed to be unwilling to fight, with 21-year-old striker Pellegrini.
This Pellegrini is an absolutely talented player.
Born in 2001, he is now only 21 years old. In the 2016-17 season, when he was only 16 years old, he represented Genoa in the Serie A league.
In the winter transfer window of 2018, when he was 17 years old, he was bought by French Ligue 1 side Monaco for 20.9 million euros. He replaced Mbappe, who was first loaned and then bought by Paris Saint-Germain from Monaco that season. This shows how much Monaco scouts value and have high expectations for him.
According to the usual operation of the "black shop" Monaco, in the next 2-3 seasons, Pellegrini's number of starts will be gradually increased and he will eventually become a main player. Then, by brushing up his data in Ligue 1, his value will rise rapidly. Finally, he will be favored by the top teams and be bought at an eye-catching price, bringing a rich return on investment to the club.
However, there are times when the black shop makes mistakes. Pellegri, who was loaned to Turin by Monaco this season, has already confirmed that he will transfer to Turin permanently for 5 million euros in the summer window.
What caused this European company to lose 15.9 million euros in four years?
The answer is a body that is constantly injured almost everywhere.
Since arriving at Monaco, Pellegrini has suffered from serious injuries such as hernia, groin strain, and hamstring injury, which required him to be out for more than 100 days. He has also suffered from moderate injuries such as adductor strain, abductor tear, and wrist fracture, which required him to be out for dozens of days.
For the rest of the time, I had to stop for more than ten days due to a training injury, more than ten days due to a lumbar problem, a few days due to tonsillitis, a few days due to a sprained ankle, more than ten days due to a fever of unknown cause, and more than ten days due to a biceps femoris injury.
In short, if you open his injury record, you will be surprised to find that this 21-year-old Italian striker seems to have no part of his body that has not been injured except his vitals.
Some media commented that other players spent most of their time playing football and occasionally recovering from injuries, while he spent most of his time helping the team doctor gain treatment experience and occasionally playing football.
In the 62nd minute, Roma made another mistake when passing the ball back in the midfield. Demba Sek, who had just come on the field, intercepted Veretout's return pass, then dribbled to the edge of the penalty area and passed the ball to Pellegrini, who aimed at the lower right corner of the goal and shot!
Fortunately, although the angle was tricky, the speed of the ball was not fast. After Patricio fell to the ground and saved the ball, it went out of the baseline.
In the subsequent corner kick, Lukic hit Pellegrini's waist from behind when competing for the ball, and then Pellegrini fell to the ground in pain, constantly slapping the grass with his right hand.
The Roma team doctor rushed into the field and after some treatment, Mourinho replaced him with Zaniolo for safety reasons.
In the 66th minute, Torino's continuous offensive reappeared.
Demba Sek dribbled the ball inside from the left, and in order to prevent being overtaken, Celik always chose the strategy of pressing back and waiting to enter the defensive area for double-teaming.
However, the energetic Senegalese cut inside, bypassed him and rushed towards Matic's defense.
Just as Matic was about to ask Celik to double-team him from the front and back, Demba Sek made a light pass back to Pobega who came in from behind.
As soon as Pobega received the ball and tried to dribble, he seemed to feel a gust of wind blowing towards him from behind.
He turned around and glanced out of the corner of his eye, and suddenly saw Chen Xiaoliang rushing towards him, and it seemed that he was about to tackle him.
Even though Popega was not convinced in his heart, he did not dare to be careless.
They are all professional players who play as defensive midfielders, and their playing skills can still be evaluated. Although he, like many young people, conceitedly believes that if AC Milan can build a team around him, he can also produce luxurious data and highlight performances, but this does not mean that Chen Xiaoliang is not an outstanding player in his eyes.
Pobega kicked the ball towards the penalty area with his left foot.
Pellegrini made a smart move and, before colliding with Smalling and almost losing his balance, he hit the ball with his forehead!
Even though Patricio had already attacked, his action of jumping up as fast as he could to reach out for the ball still failed to block the ball that was lobbed towards the goal!
Just as everyone was watching the ball flying towards the goal in a strange arc, Pellegrini fell to the ground, and then with a "bang", the ball hit the angle between the crossbar and the post and bounced back. Patricio hurried up and caught the ball on the ground. Fortunately, the goal frame brothers helped and the score was not changed.
But Pellegri could not get up...
Smalling initially thought that he was faking his death to get a penalty, but when he saw him lying on the ground with confused eyes, not even rolling over or raising his hand to appeal to the referee, Smalling knew that the kid was probably injured again...
In the end, after playing for 6 minutes and taking 2 shots, Pellegri created the record of the fastest injury-related exit in Serie A this season. Ivan Juric sighed and replaced him with Croatian striker Pjaca...
Lou Yichen: "I really didn't expect that this young Italian striker's body was so fragile that he couldn't even withstand a very common physical collision. It's not known whether leaving the field after only six minutes can become a new record in the top five leagues, but in any case, it is definitely an embarrassing record."
Liu Yue: "Many talented players were eventually affected by injuries. Some were born with glassy skin, like England striker Michael Owen, who suffered leg injuries many times in his career without any confrontation. German midfielder Deisler also suffered from depression after long-term injuries and had to retire at the age of 27."
Lou Yichen: "I hope Pellegrini's injury is not serious and he can return to the court soon."
Although he left the field in a disappointing way, Turin fans still gave Pellegri on the stretcher an encouraging applause.
Mourinho made full use of this period of treatment and time off the field, calling several players to his side and giving them some instructions.
This unexpected injury episode gave him enough time to help Roma's players recover from their slightly dazed state.
In the 78th minute, Zaniolo, who had just come on the field, faced a long-distance through ball from Chen Xiaoliang on the right side of the penalty area. Just as he was about to receive the ball and turn around, he was about to have a one-on-one opportunity when Buongiorno, who replaced Ansaldi, grabbed him from behind and knocked him to the ground.
The referee decisively showed the yellow card and awarded Roma a penalty again!
After Zaniolo stood up, he insisted that the penalty was created by Chen Xiaoliang and that he would give the opportunity to take the penalty to Chen Xiaoliang.
Abraham and Veretout, who originally wanted to grab the free throw right, immediately agreed when they saw that their teammates were so "sensible".
Chen Xiaoliang laughed in his heart, thinking that he should wait until next season to get a penalty kick to improve his stats, because if he went up now, he might kick the ball away.
While pushing Zaniolo towards the penalty spot, he encouraged him: "Niccolo, we have just agreed that whoever takes the penalty will take it. Just kick it boldly at the angle you are most confident of. We are here outside the penalty area!"
Zaniolo was actually a little nervous...
"If this goal goes in, we will truly be the champions!"
After Chen Xiaoliang finished speaking, he pushed his hands behind his back.
Zaniolo walked to the penalty spot, stepped firmly on the grass, and brushed the two slightly flirty bangs on his forehead.
Outside the penalty area, five Roma players were waiting for an opportunity, ready to rush into the penalty area at any time.
On the sidelines, substitute players and coaches stood in a row anxiously as if they were watching the final deciding penalty kick of a penalty shootout.
Everyone knows that if this ball had gone in, with a score of 0-3, Torino would have completely lost the chance to change the outcome, and the suspense of this season's Serie A championship would have ended!
In front of the screen, there are countless Roma and AC Milan fans who are putting their fists on their chests and praying devoutly.
“Beep!”
The referee whistled!
Zaniolo did not act immediately. He looked at the dancing Torino goalkeeper Berisha again, then took two deep breaths and took three solid steps to run up the court!
"Bang!"
Left foot kicks the ball in the middle!
There is no angle, the kick is in the middle!
Berisha, who pounced to the right, closed his eyes in disappointment in mid-air!
"yeah!!!!!!"
Zaniolo shouted and looked back at his teammates.
And his teammates were rushing towards him excitedly!
In the stands, all the fans stood up and began to applaud.
The Torino bench on the sidelines also politely applauded the entire Roma team.
Including Italian Football Federation President Gravina and Serie A President Lorenzo Cassini and other officials who came to Turin Olympic Stadium today.
It was like welcoming the team that had won the championship early before the game, although Roma's "early championship" was only about 15 minutes.
But everyone knows that a new Serie A champion has emerged!
