Chapter 245 The 2021-22 Serie A season came to a perfect end!

The score of 0-3 made Torino give up completely.

We are all decent people. We have tried our best and tried our best. The young players who were highly expected are injured again. If we really couldn't play, it was caused by the objective situation. There was no need to make each other unhappy in the last ten minutes.

In the 82nd minute, Mourinho replaced Abraham, Celik and Matic with Wu Lei, Carles Perez and Volpato, so that they could also feel the atmosphere of winning the championship.

Although Roma was no longer organizing an all-out attack, Chen Xiaoliang still passed the ball to Wu Lei a few times, and they tacitly took a few long shots from outside the opponent's penalty area, just like a team training exercise.

In the 89th minute, the fourth official was very sensible and added 2 minutes of extra time. Too little would be inappropriate, and too much would be inappropriate.

In addition, the referee blew the final whistle at 91 minutes and 45 seconds, and Roma's players and coaches were completely excited!

Chen Xiaoliang raised his hands high, turned around, and then lay on the ground.

At that moment, he felt that all the burden, pressure and energy that had been suppressed for a whole season were completely relaxed.

Soon, teammates rushed over one after another, leaned over and hugged him excitedly.

No matter how the people in the team viewed this newcomer from the Red Country with a mysterious background before the season, and no matter whether he would continue to stay in the team or pack up and move on to the next stop to continue his career at the end of the season, at this moment, the whole team knew clearly that without this young midfielder who ran almost frantically at both ends of the court in every game, making fierce tackles, timely interceptions and precise assists time and time again, Roma would never have been able to win the championship.

What makes him both admirable and terrifying is that no one knows how much potential he has.

With 8 goals and 16 assists in the league, he leads the Serie A assists list by 2 assists ahead of second-placed Berardi.

Looking at the top five leagues, only Bayern Munich's Thomas Muller's 18 assists and Paris Saint-Germain's Mbappe's 17 assists are higher than Chen Xiaoliang.

With 56 successful crosses, he is tied with Pellegrini for 5th in Serie A. This is also the best statistic among players who do not play on the wing.

He ran an average of 13.66 kilometers per game, made 4.1 interceptions and 4.4 steals. Although the latter two data declined a bit because he rarely played as a defensive midfielder in the second half of the season and played more as a central midfielder who needed to participate a lot in the offense, these three data are still unique in the top five leagues.

Joan Armeni, who was booked by Real Madrid for 100 million euros, is the interception king of Ligue 1, but he only averages 2.9 interceptions per game.

Therefore, the Corriere dello Sport, which has always been reluctant to brag and advocated a low-key approach to winning the championship, also published a large number of pre-prepared reports celebrating the victory during the garbage time after the game entered 0-3.

One of the articles openly spoke up for Chen Xiaoliang, claiming that his price tag of 85 million could not reflect the Red Country midfielder's ability and performance.

If his nationality is England due to the bonus of the household registration book, then his worth is at least 150 million.

Mourinho also walked into the stadium and hugged and greeted his players one by one with great emotion.

After walking around, the 59-year-old Portuguese man came to Chen Xiaoliang and sat down.

When Chen Xiaoliang saw the head coach coming, he also sat up. A group of reporters who had entered the venue with video cameras and cameras saw this scene and immediately swarmed over.

The two knew that with the camera pointed so closely at them, they couldn't say anything too personal or too deeply personal.

"Coach, we did it!"

"Thank you! Congratulations to you too!"

That's all.

But unlike Chen Xiaoliang, who was only one day away from turning 18 and whose eyes were full of pride and ambition, the 59-year-old Mourinho already had red eyes.

Soon, the on-site staff came over to inform the players and coaches to go back to the locker room to prepare, as the stage needed to be set up and the final award ceremony would begin.

Everyone naturally did it immediately.

On the way back to the player tunnel, some veteran players, such as Matic and Patricio, raised their hands and applauded the fans in the stands, while the young players, such as Abraham, Cesco, Zaniolo, Mancini, etc., had already been singing and dancing shoulder to shoulder.

Entering the locker room, almost everyone was laughing in a state of complete relaxation.

After a while, when those young comedians came back, the locker room was immediately filled with celebratory songs.

Chen Xiaoliang also followed their lead.

Then after the song was over, Abraham and Zaniolo asked him to lead one.

Chen Xiaoliang was stunned, thinking to himself, I’m pretty good at singing love songs, but this is the first time I’m singing the song that won the championship.

He thought for a moment and sang loudly:

"Champion, Oh Wey!"

"Oh Wey, Oh Wey, Oh Wey!"

The players were stunned when they heard this, especially those who had been in the Premier League, such as Matic, Abraham and Patricio.

Suddenly the whole locker room fell silent.

Abraham whispered: "Boss, why are you singing Manchester United's team song..."

Chen Xiaoliang was confused, thinking: Why is this Manchester United's team song? How the hell should I know? Isn't this sung by many clubs?

But how could this group of people, who were filled with a happy atmosphere from head to toe, be embarrassed by such a small mistake?

Although it is an English song, this part of the song is indeed sung by everyone in the football community and has long gone beyond the scope of Manchester United alone. Milan and Juventus also sang this part together after winning the championship. However, for the Roma players who lack championship experience, this is still a relatively new experience.

Pellegrini immediately joined in the singing, and the entire locker room returned to a state of burning again:

"Champion, Oh Wey!"

"Oh Wey, Oh Wey, Oh Wey!"

Just after singing at both ends, Mourinho came in.

He was also confused.

Having served as Manchester United's head coach for more than two seasons and having been active in the Premier League for many years, how could he not have heard this song?

I am leading Roma, I am in Turin now, who is the one who is leading the rebellion? To provoke me?

Seeing the head coach's expression change, everyone fell silent again.

At this time, Chen Xiaoliang walked to the table in the middle of the locker room, put his hands on the table, and said loudly:

"Now, we are the Serie A champions. Not only does the championship belong to Roma, but the whole of Italy belongs to Roma! We are the champions! We can sing whatever we want!"

After saying that, he lifted the table with both hands. Now, even Mourinho was smiling and joined the locker room which was no longer burning but clearly "exploding".

"oh!!!!!!"

"yeah!!!!!!"

After having fun in the locker room for a while, everyone started to dress up.

The club's props preparation staff distributed clean jerseys and shorts to each player, whether they had played or were on the bench.

Several people who care about their appearance are still combing their hair and applying hairspray in the mirror.

It’s not about showing off, but about returning to the field to receive the medal, lift the gold cup, and take photos with the teammates. These are all destined to be lifelong souvenirs and memories, and everyone wants to preserve the best moment.

On the field, the championship stand has been set up on the side of the court close to the player tunnel, and the exit of the player tunnel has also been set up, with an arch decorated with the A-League logo and sponsor logos.

Officials from the Italian Football Association, Serie A, board members from Roma Club and Torino Club who were present at the event, as well as coaches and support staff from both sides who would not be on the field to receive awards, had already lined up in a V shape on both sides of the podium, with their eyes fixed on the players' tunnel.

Since this is a league, there will be no award ceremony for the runner-up.

Following notification from the staff, the entire Roma team packed up and lined up in the player tunnel in the order of appearance arranged in advance.

The announcer began to shout:

"Number 1, Rui Patricio!"

Then Patricio walked out from behind the arch amid the cheers of the crowd and with dozens of cameras focusing on him.

Unlike usual, Patricio wore the same uniform as other players instead of his usual goalkeeper uniform, walked onto the stage via the blue carpet that led all the way to the podium, bowed his head slightly in front of Serie A President Lorenzo Cassini, let the latter put the championship medal around his neck, then shook hands with him, and stood at the designated position on the stage, waiting for the next teammate to appear.

"Number 2, Rick Karsdorp!"

Although his situation in the team is already very embarrassing and he is destined to leave the team in the summer window, Karsdorp has still played for the team many times and he deserves the championship medal. Mourinho will not make things difficult for him on this point, so even though there is still no Dutchman in the roster for the away game against Turin, he is still brought along.

"Number 3, Roger Ibanez!"

"Number 4, Brian Cristante!"

…

Except for Chen Xiaoliang, the rest of the team members entered the venue in order of their numbers.

Although they were playing away, Torino fans did not seem to want to miss the championship award ceremony, and they politely applauded and cheered for the players together with the fans from Rome who came from afar.

When Abraham and Zaniolo came on stage, they each held a large bottle of champagne in their hands.

Just like that, one by one, the players came on stage, until the No. 87 substitute goalkeeper Fuzato and No. 92 Shalawi, the announcer called out that name:

"The head coach, Jose Mourinho!"

The players who were already standing on the podium, excitedly looking forward to the final stage, applauded and welcomed their mentor to enter.

After passing through the arch, Mourinho hugged and greeted owner Dan Friedkin and his son Ryan Friedkin who were standing in the queue on both sides, then high-fived everyone else present and walked onto the stage to receive his medal.

After putting on the medal, he turned around, stretched out his right hand towards the stands, and made a "2" gesture.

Lou Yichen: "Ah! Let's see! At the Italian Cup awards ceremony, Mourinho raised a finger. We were still guessing what he meant. Now it seems to be the number of championships he has led Roma to win this season!"

Liu Yue: "Congratulations to Mourinho. This championship is really important to him. Even though Roma spent a huge amount of money to introduce many players before the season, most predictions did not take them into account for the championship."

Lou Yichen: "For them, this season is not over yet! It all depends on whether they can win the third championship of this season at the Aviation Stadium in Tirana, the capital of Albania, on May 26!"

Mourinho stood among the players and waited with them for the last person to appear.

"Winner of the 2021 Kopa Award, this season's league assist leader..."

"Number 33, the captain of Roma!"

"Chen! Xiao! Liang!"

Amidst everyone's applause, Chen Xiaoliang walked out from behind the archway, raised his hands high and greeted everyone.

He also walked to the side of the boss and his son and shook hands with them.

However, as the last link, after being awarded the medal, he walked to the platform at the back door of all the players.

Right in the middle of there, there is a gilded trophy with a round bottom, thin columns, and a large round opening.

Chen Xiaoliang, who was wearing the captain's armband, picked it up, walked down from the podium, walked around to the front of all the players, stood in the middle, and suddenly raised the trophy high above his head!

“Bang!”

“Squeak!”

The entire podium was instantly lit up with fireworks ! Fireworks burst into life in the sky!

The whole team jumped up!

"Champion, Oh Wey!"

"Oh Wey, Oh Wey, Oh Wey!"

After dancing and singing for a while, Chen Xiaoliang handed the trophy to Patricio. The players lowered and raised the trophy in turn under the camera's aim. The fans in the stands followed their movements and shouted "Yeah!"

This time, Chen Xiaoliang left the most lively group of people and found Mourinho who was standing aside and watching the players celebrate silently.

The two hugged each other.

Facing his beloved disciple, Mourinho said: "Promise me that we must achieve greater success next season."

Chen Xiaoliang laughed: "Isn't this what I should tell you? But coach, you said we won the league championship, what could be considered a greater success?"

Mourinho knew that Chen Xiaoliang had bad intentions, so he smiled crookedly and asked, "What do you think?"

Chen Xiaoliang laughed again: "It must be the Italian Super Cup! Hahahaha!"

Mourinho: "Fuck you... That game is the platform to judge whether a player is a real star, and it is also the best game on the planet."

Chen Xiaoliang: "Coach, I think we still have a game to play?"

Mourinho: "We were going to win that game, no, we already won it."

He paused and said, "But I'm only saying this to you. You can't tell them."

"What are your plans for the end of the season? You need to take a good rest. Listen to me, don't train. Your body needs to be completely relaxed so that you can get back into good shape next season. If you are always so tired, your body can't maintain its excitement ."

Chen Xiaoliang nodded: "It's time to have a good rest. I plan to go back to the Red Country. I haven't been back in the past two years since I came to London."

Mourinho: "Look at your parents and friends, that's good, pay attention..."

Mourinho originally wanted to tell the boy to pay attention to self-discipline and work and rest schedule, but he soon realized that his fatherly advice was completely unnecessary. The man in front of him might not take a rest even if he begged him to, so there was no need for him to remind him about self-discipline.

Chen Xiaoliang asked: "What should I pay attention to?"

Mourinho: "Be careful not to get fat."

Chen Xiaoliang: "Hahahaha! That's too fake, coach. This is not what you wanted to say."

Even the most exciting celebrations must come to an end, especially when played away from home.

After a crazy moment, everyone returned to the locker room with the trophy, continued singing for a while, then packed up and returned to the hotel to rest.

The next morning, under the arrangement of the Serie A League, the local city hall sent police cars and police motorcycles to clear the way for the team's bus, which arrived at the airport unimpeded and flew back to Rome.

When landing, the Rome city government also organized a grand celebration ceremony. The plane passed through the water gates fired by two fire trucks with high-pressure water cannons, and the gangway was lowered on the tarmac. Mourinho was the first to get off the plane holding the trophy.

Thousands of fans sang the team song at the airport entrance to welcome their heroes' triumphant return.

But when they walked out of the airport entrance, the team was stopped.

A beautiful stewardess dragged a tray to Chen Xiaoliang. Behind her was a bald, white-haired, bespectacled politician. After the stewardess lifted the red cloth on the tray, he put a plastic crown on the confused Chen Xiaoliang with a smile on his face...

"My name is Berto Gualtieri and on behalf of the people of Rome I would like to congratulate you on your achievement and also on your 18th birthday."

As soon as he finished speaking, a few "bang" sounds were heard from paper firecrackers in the hands of the flight attendants on both sides, and wisps of colorful ribbons and paper floated towards the players.

Then the excited fans sang the birthday song and reporters swarmed over.

For this politician who has just been elected mayor of Rome for a year, this kind of superficial work that can please the citizens, has low cost and can win votes is absolutely not to be missed.

Chen Xiaoliang, who was embarrassed, didn't have time or even need to respond before the mayor had already skillfully made a celebratory gesture and stood in the center, leaving a frozen picture in the cameras of the reporters.

Of course, the club and the city government had already discussed all the details of the championship parade and celebration, especially regaining the Serie A championship after 21 years, which was an extremely important event for the entire city.

But that day is definitely not today. The season is not over yet and the team still has planned training arrangements.

Although the politician's behavior was a bit artificial, Chen Xiaoliang was still deeply moved by the birthday song sung by thousands of fans who came to the airport to pick him up.

Many of them wore No. 33 jerseys, held high posters and banners with Chen Xiaoliang's name on them, sang and shouted with tears in their eyes, welcoming the return of their king.

The coach and players stood by, smiling, clapping and watching.

At the age of 18, he can drive on the road by himself, sign a professional contract with the club, and will not be driven away by the police as a minor when passing through some "colorful" places in Rome.

After much difficulty, we boarded the bus, exited the airport, passed through the crowds of people surrounding us, and drove back to the Trigoria base.

Outside the gate of the base, there were still a large number of fans and media waiting, and the players could only wave to them through the car windows.

The Friedkin father and son, who had returned to Rome on a private plane overnight, led all the club staff in the lobby of the office building to applaud and welcome the triumphant heroes.

After the last Italian Cup victory, both the board of directors and the coaching staff led by Mourinho asked the players to forget the celebration as soon as possible, but now that the league championship has been won, how to celebrate properly has become the club's final task for the current season.

The welcome ceremony at this moment is just an appetizer. Before the players dispersed and went home to rest, owner Dan Friedkin publicly stated that at the end of the season, all players will be given season bonuses in an amount exceeding the amount set in the pre-season budget. And because the club won the championship and entered the Champions League next season, not only can a lot of foreseeable income be increased at the competitive level, but also at the commercial level, it has attracted many new sponsors to join. The board of directors will continue to make high investments in accordance with the three-year team building strategy in the summer window to create a more competitive lineup.

The crowd dispersed one after another amid cheers, except Chen Xiaoliang and Cesco, who stayed behind, along with their agent Reese.

In the club's meeting room, the two players signed their names on the new contract with vice chairman Ryan Friedkin as the cameras focused on them.

That afternoon, the club posted the good news on its official website.

The club has signed a new 5-year contract with Chen Xiaoliang and Cesco respectively.

Fans gave thumbs up:

[Great! A new contract, at least I don’t have to worry about Chen being bought out in the summer transfer window]

[The new contract is 11 million euros. Although this is already a top-tier contract, it is still confusing to me that it ranks behind Brozovic and Sandro. Why do they get more than Chen? ]

[Vlahovic scored 28 goals and 5 assists this season, Chen Xiaoliang scored 13 goals and 23 assists, DV9's annual salary is 2 million euros higher than Chen's]

[Roma is not a wealthy club after all, this contract is already the highest price in history]

After signing the contract, Chen Xiaoliang and Cesco got in the car, left through the side door of the base, bypassed the large number of reporters at the main gate, and went straight home.

The club has hired 24-hour security outside the couple's residence to deal with harassment from paparazzi who have heard of the couple.

Mourinho also gave the pair of young talents, who together scored 38 goals and created 33 assists, an extra day off.

After the winter break, Chen Xiaoliang spent a day and a half without training or extra practice for the first time. He stayed with Helena, waiting for all the results of Serie A and trying his best to relax his body in preparation for the last game of the season.

Another day passed, and the results of the last round of Serie A were all revealed.

Fiorentina lost 0-2 to Juventus at home, while Napoli and Inter Milan won 3-0 away and at home against Spezia and Sampdoria respectively.

Although AC Milan has lost the championship, they still worked hard to beat Sassuolo 0-3 away from home.

Finally, the 38th round of the 2021-22 Serie A season has come to an end, and the rankings are as follows:

1st, Roma, 87 points;

2nd, AC Milan, 85 points;

3rd, Inter Milan, 76 points;

The above three teams directly enter the Champions League group stage next season;

4th, Juventus, 74 points, will enter the third qualifying round of the Champions League next season;

5th, Napoli, 74 points. With the win-loss record with Juventus, Napoli ranked fifth and entered the Europa League group stage next season.

6th, Lazio, 62 points. Since the Italian Cup champion Roma qualified for the Champions League, Lazio qualified for the Europa League group stage next season.

No. 7, Atalanta, 55 points, qualified for the Europa League qualifiers next season. If Roma wins the Europa League this season, the Europa League group stage qualification award will be won by Atalanta;

8th, Fiorentina, 53 points. Whether Fiorentina can enter the European competition will depend entirely on Roma's performance in this season's UEFA Europa League final.

9th, Sassuolo, 53 points;

10th, Verona, 53 points;

11th, Torino, 46 points;

12th, Udinese, 46 points;

13th, Bologna, 44 points;

14th, Empoli, 39 points;

15th, Sampdoria, 36 points;

16th, Spezia, 34 points;

17th, Salernitana, 29 points;

Finally, here are the three clubs that will be relegated to Serie B next season:

18th, Cagliari, 29 points;

19th, Genoa, 27 points;