Chapter 259: The last piece of the frontcourt puzzle is finally in place
Paris Saint-Germain is indeed very strong, but they are not invincible, otherwise they would have lifted the Champions League long ago.
Their weakest point is also their strongest point, which is the terrifying three giants in the front court.
Each of these three players can become the absolute core of a wealthy club, and in their previous careers, they have often played the role of the team's core.
But when the three of them came together, they failed to create a power greater than that of three.
Messi and Neymar are fine. The two have worked together in Barcelona for a period of time and have a very good understanding on the field and a very good personal relationship off the field. Although the two have different levels of self-discipline and professionalism, this does not prevent them from working together in occasions.
Before Messi came to Paris Saint-Germain, Mbappe said that Neymar was his friend with whom he could talk about anything. However, after Messi arrived, due to a series of issues in terms of status in the team and core of the team, the relationship between the two became increasingly distant, and they often even failed to pass the ball to each other on the court.
In the end, Pochettino became the scapegoat, and Galthie's most important task after arriving at Paris Saint-Germain was to reintegrate the three giants with a delicate relationship.
From a tactical point of view, the playing styles of these three players all require a lot of ball possession.
There is no problem between Neymar and Messi. Neymar is very willing to assist and support his old brother from his time at Barcelona.
As a newcomer to Paris Saint-Germain, Messi has no intention of competing for the top spot in the team. His status in the world no longer needs to be proved by Paris Saint-Germain. He is very willing to assist his two younger brothers and help the team reach the top of Europe.
But the knot between Neymar and Mbappe shows no signs of being untied, and instead has a tendency to develop into a dead knot.
Neymar and Mbappe, on the other hand, contributed very little defensively.
The 35-year-old Messi is unable to double-team his teammates and get the ball back as soon as the team loses possession throughout the game, as he did when Guardiola coached Barcelona.
Kvaratskhelia is very excited about playing for Roma for the first time and facing a team like Paris Saint-Germain.
Even excited and a little nervous.
When he comes on the pitch, he will play as a left winger and will face Ashraf, who was once the best right back in Serie A.
After helping Inter Milan regain Serie A in the 2020-21 season, Ashraf was bought by Paris Saint-Germain for 68 million euros, and he became one of the closest players to Mbappe in the team.
When the Roma players saw Kova come on the court, they all showed anticipation.
They knew how capable this Georgian boy was. During team training and tactical drills, his dribbling made the defenders complain.
When seeing Mourinho behind Kva making tactical gestures for a quick counterattack, his words countless times in the locker room, in the conference room and on the training ground seemed to echo in the ears of the Roma players again.
"My defense is not just for defense. I can win games and lead Inter Milan to win the treble by counterattack! Counterattack!"
"The purpose of our defense is to wear down the opponent's offensive confidence, and then let them press forward recklessly, so that they fall into our trap!"
"Only a sharp counterattack can prevent them from attacking recklessly. They will always be on edge when attacking, fearing that we will counterattack!"
"When the other side has concerns in their hearts, their attacks will no longer be resolute."
"That's why the Barcelona team with Messi at his peak and the Bayern Munich team that won the Champions League the following year fell in front of me!"
"Without defense, there is no counterattack!"
"Without counterattack, it's impossible to defend!"
"There is no perfect defensive tactic in football! Of course, there is no winning offensive tactic either!"
"We must combine offense and defense together!"
If Guardiola's football philosophy is "the best defense is to not give the opponent the ball", then Mourinho's is "the best offensive opportunities are in defense."
But with the changing trends in football, the styles of the two have become more neutral in recent years.
Guardiola no longer pursues a very high ball possession rate, and allows Manchester City players to launch quick counterattacks and emphasize the role of crosses. He even bought Haaland for this purpose in the summer.
Mourinho also began to tell the team not to retreat when they could attack, and gradually shifted from the crazy 9-0-1 turtle bus of that year to an all-out attack and defense mode.
Patricio kicked the ball, Mbappe did not look at any defender, Patricio kicked it directly to Malaysia on the left.
Malaysia pushed forward but Messi came up to block his path.
Malaysia passed the ball to Enzo, who then passed it directly to Chen Xiaoliang in front of him.
At this time, Kva, who had just come on the field, had already advanced to the vicinity of the center line without the ball, and Chen Xiaoliang made a diagonal pass to him.
Kwa immediately cut inside after receiving the ball, and seeing that Ashraf did not come up to stop him, he continued to dribble the ball until Sanchez came over to defend him.
Chen Xiaoliang stepped forward to receive the ball, and Kva immediately passed it back to Chen Xiaoliang.
Chen Xiaoliang dribbled the ball forward to the middle, and when Sanches saw Kvarr walking away, he immediately came over to defend Chen Xiaoliang.
At this time, Malaysia, who had just been in the backcourt on the left side, moved forward at high speed, took the initiative to enter Ashraf's defense area, and made preparations to receive the ball.
Chen Xiaoliang immediately passed the ball to Kva who was running behind Ashraf on the left side without the ball. Kva rushed to the left baseline after receiving the ball!
With the support of their teammates, the two of them advanced to the penalty area of Paris Saint-Germain by passing the ball back and forth!
Ashraf chased after him. He was very fast. When Kwa just dribbled the ball to the left side of the penalty area, Ashraf chased after him.
While Ashraf had not yet fully slowed down, Kwa immediately dribbled the ball and cut into the middle of the penalty area.
Ashraf immediately adjusted his direction and headed towards Kwa again!
Just when Ashraf's outstretched leg was about to reach Kva, Kva shook his right foot and kicked the ball past Ashraf's crotch, then he stepped with his left foot and passed him from behind!
Mourinho was standing on the sidelines at that time. After the change of sides in the second half, the left side was not far in front of him. Seeing Kwa changing direction continuously to tease Ashraf, he showed a confident smile.
After Ashraf found himself being dribbled past, it was too late for him to chase after Kvar. Even though his starting speed and maximum speed were much faster than Kvar, they were already in the penalty area and he did not have enough space to display his superhuman speed.
Kva came to the end line, and Donnarumma was facing a formidable enemy and moved closer to the goal post in advance.
Kva lightly rubbed the ball with his left foot, and the ball flew towards the area between the penalty spot and the small penalty area line!
Cesco jumped up! But his shot went over the bar! Ramos and Marquinhos, who were guarding him closely, also went over the bar!
The ball falls to the back point!
Abraham suddenly made a forward run and shot at the back post before Kimpembe could react!
No matter how fast Donnarumma's reaction was, he couldn't jump from one goal post to the other in an instant.
2 to 2! Roma equalized the score!
Cesco smiled and pulled Abraham to his feet, and the two jogged together to find Kwa to celebrate.
Even though they were full of confidence in Kwa, Mourinho and Chen Xiaoliang did not expect him to create a goal right at the start, and through such a beautiful continuous dribbling past Ashraf.
At this moment, Napoli coach Spalletti, who was watching the broadcast on TV, was very angry and complained alone in the room: "This was originally my player! You stole him!"
On the sidelines, Galthie smiled helplessly and asked Joao: "Is this Mourinho's secret weapon?"
Joao had to admit, nodding silently.
He thought to himself, so many things happened in the six months since he left Rome?
When giving tactical analysis to the players before the game, Joao, the assistant coach, could hardly get any analytical reports about Kvaratskhelia from Paris Saint-Germain's scouts, only some records of his few appearances in the Russian Super League.
Although he was famous for his dribbling there, the overall level and defensive strength of the Russian Premier League cannot be compared with the top five leagues.
As for the Georgian League, there may not be as many scouts there as in the Japanese J League, which has attracted less and less attention from European scouts in recent years.
This time it was Mbappe's turn to kick off, and the French superstar looked obviously unhappy.
Given the level of attention Paris Saint-Germain is receiving now, if they lose this game, there will definitely be media outlets that will say things like "The team is ahead when Messi and Neymar are on the field, but loses when Mbappe comes on."
As for Messi's die-hard fans who have always believed that Mbappe should humbly let Messi be the boss of the team, there is no need to mention it.
The game continues.
Gradually, the running routes of the Roma players on the field changed slightly in the offense.
Abraham, who played as a right winger, began to frequently move inwards to the middle and wandered around Cesco.
As a central midfielder, Chen Xiaoliang often moved to the right side, repeatedly cooperating with Binya and challenging Nuno Mendes' nerves.
In addition to keeping a close eye on his idol Messi in defense, Enzo also occupied the center of the midfield and was responsible for supporting and reorganizing the team as long as Chen Xiaoliang moved to the wing in offense.
The tacit understanding and trust established by the four players of similar age during extra training gradually emerged in this strong dialogue.
At the same time, Paris Saint-Germain's attack seemed to have stalled.
Kwa's active performance directly forced Ashraf, who was facing him, into the backcourt and he dared not move forward at will.
Even if the former best right-back in Serie A wanted to press forward, the captain Marquinhos behind him would remind him to return to defense quickly.
Once the mysterious Georgian winger on the opposite side dribbled the ball into the penalty area and attacked him one-on-one, the Paris Saint-Germain captain was not sure he could defend him.
On the right side, Nuno Mendes, who was so overwhelmed by Chen Xiaoliang in the first half that he couldn't catch up even barefoot, could only retreat silently when he saw Chen Xiaoliang going over the wing and Binya supporting him. He tried to compress the space behind him as much as possible and stand closer to Kimpembe to prevent Chen Xiaoliang from attacking him from behind through hard dribbling or two-pass cooperation.
Kva then successfully dribbled past Ashraf twice in a row, making Verratti and Sanchez afraid to press too hard.
After both legs were lame, I couldn’t even hold up my waist.
In the three-center-back system, once the wing is lost, the center-back on that side has to move forward to fill the position, but Roma sent two 195cm tall center forwards into the penalty area.
It would be fine if it was just one person, but the continuous running and position switching of two people made the three central defenders restless.
As a result, Messi and Neymar could only retreat more and more, transforming into central midfielders to ask for the ball and organize the attack.
And Neymar often gets the ball but doesn't pass it to Mbappe...
Director M was alone in the front and had no choice but to wait for Messi to pass the ball.
Although he is gifted and has outstanding abilities, facing a group of defensive players in front of the goal and without the cooperation and support of his teammates in the frontcourt, he can only sigh and forget about the goal.
Despite this, these three superstars still relied on their own strong personal abilities and launched several threatening attacks under the coordination of Messi.
In the 62nd minute, Messi received a pass from Sanchez in the midfield and dribbled forward.
After all, it was a friendly match. When Enzo was defending his idol, he did not use a tough tackle at the first time, allowing Messi to shake him off with a light change of direction.
Next came the inward-moving Malaga, but before Messi reached him, he passed the ball to Neymar on the left.
After passing the ball, Messi instantly changed direction and ran to the left. Neymar understood, turned around and pushed the ball back to Messi. Messi came to the middle, with Cristante in front of him. He passed the ball to Mbappe who retreated out of the penalty area to receive the ball.
After Mbappe received the ball, Messi was still cutting in from the middle to the left, and Mbappe completed another wall pass with him.
Everyone watched as Messi made two wall passes and ran from the right to the left side of the penalty area like a stroll.
Vina and Mancini came over, while Cristante and Ibanez double-teamed Mbappe as he passed the ball and prepared to head towards the goal.
Messi took two quick steps and suddenly kicked the ball with his heel, passing it to Neymar who was one or two meters outside the penalty area.
The Argentine superstar has attracted all the defensive players along the way through continuous passing and cutting, and all that is left is for Neymar to score!
The Brazilian seemed to have sensed Messi's good intentions. After receiving the ball, he saw that the defensive players in the area he was looking at were a certain distance away from him, so he did not shoot. Instead, he adjusted himself, pushed the ball to the right, and prepared to shoot towards the goal.
At this time, Paris Saint-Germain left-back Bernat, who was warming up on the sidelines, had already shouted several times: "Back! Back! Back!"
However, compared to the noisy environment with tens of thousands of people seated and Neymar who was immersed in his own world, this shout failed to attract anyone's attention.
Before Neymar's foot could even land to shoot, with a "bang", the ball he kicked out was intercepted by a white shadow that he couldn't even see clearly, and he was knocked to the ground!
"ah!"
Neymar screamed, fell to the ground, hugged his calves and started rolling around.
One roll, two rolls, three rolls... until it turned to the fifth one, and it stopped only after Messi reminded it.
"This is a warm-up match, lie down for a while and then get up."
After the ball was cleared out of bounds, Chen Xiaoliang slowly stood up and vaguely heard what Messi said to Neymar.
The referee did not make any comment. After all, it was a clean tackle. The right foot was close to the ground without any studs showing, and the left foot was slightly retracted, also close to the grass and not lifted up.
The right foot touched the ball first, and the knee of the left leg hit Neymar's standing foot.
Although the speed is fast, this kind of collision will only cause pain for a while and will not cause any injuries to either party.
As a friendly gesture, Chen Xiaoliang stood up, walked over and took the initiative to pull Neymar up.
Galti started work on July 5 and worked a total of 25 days.
The opponents in the previous warm-up matches were all weak teams, with four or five goals being scored at any time, and the main players did not face any challenges. However, in today's dialogue with the new Serie A champions, he discovered that the problems hidden under the deck of this superstar aircraft carrier were far greater than he had imagined.
With a heavy heart, he said to Joao, "Let them attack again. It's almost time."
Joao nodded, shouted a few words to Nuno Mendes who was walking up to throw the sideline ball, and then asked several people who were warming up on the sidelines to take off their vests and prepare to go on the court.
Nuno Mendes turned around and shouted a few times to his teammates, then waved his hand, and Verratti, Ashraf and Ramos all ran over to participate in this "last attack".
The ball was thrown out from the sideline, Neymar caught it, looked up and saw Chen Xiaoliang standing not far from the center, and his calf began to ache slightly.
Abraham didn't give him time to stick to the ball, he just stretched out his foot to steal the ball, and Cristante also took the opportunity to move forward.
Neymar held the ball between his feet and threw it forward from behind! Rainbow pass!
The ball flew over Cristante's head and Neymar's man flashed past him.
"This time I got rid of two people, it was really beautiful!"
But before the commentator of France 4 could finish his words, Neymar felt his eyes go dark and he fell to the ground again.
This time he couldn't roll up. He just felt his nose was sore, his eyes were full of stars, and there was a sharp buzzing sound in his ears. He also heard people arguing next to him.
The replay clearly showed that as soon as Neymar's ball fell and bounced on the grass, before he could control the ball, Enzo rushed up and kicked it away without saying a word, and the ball hit Neymar's face...
Nuno Mendes looked confused, while Mbappe stood in the penalty area trying not to laugh.
Marquinhos, who is also a Brazilian, rushed over and pushed Enzo away. Enzo immediately turned around and was about to fight back.
As one of the two favorites for the World Cup at the end of the year, Brazil's odds of winning this time are far higher than Argentina, and it ranks in the top two with France.
The media had already been fanning the flames, and coupled with generational grudges, it was inevitable that it would affect the players.
Fortunately, Messi and Ramos came over to separate the two.
As soon as Enzo saw Big Brother coming, he immediately changed from Tibetan Mastiff mode to Chihuahua mode.
"What the hell is this..."
Galthier waved his hand, Joao nodded in understanding, and the fourth official began to raise the electronic number plate continuously, almost dislocating his shoulder.
Messi, Neymar, Verratti, Ashraf, Ramos, Marquinhos, Nuno Santos, Donnarumma, almost half of the team were replaced.
But Mbappe, who had just come on the field and hadn't even sweated yet, was left behind.
A number of young players including Ekiti, Halbi, Mukiele and Emery were substituted.
Especially Emery, whose full name is Warren Zaire Emery, has been selected for almost all age groups of the French youth national team. At the age of 15, he became the main force of Paris Saint-Germain U19. He was promoted to the first team by Galthie when he just turned 16 this year.
Although Chen Xiaoliang has just turned 18 years old, Emery, who is also a B2B midfielder, has been hailed as "the next Chen Xiaoliang" by many French scouts.
When Mourinho saw that Galthie took the initiative to admit defeat, he also asked Forti to arrange a substitution.
Chen Xiaoliang, Enzo, Cesco, Mancini, Ibanez and Patricio were replaced by Volpato, Tasirovic, Faticanti, Kramisis, Svilar and other new players.
Seeing this scene, the fans unanimously agreed that although this warm-up match had less than 30 minutes left, it had essentially come to an end.
Some spectators at the scene had already left the stadium early in order to avoid a collective exit after the game and traffic jams on surrounding roads.
However, they never expected that a group of young people from both teams would create a huge storm of youth on the court.
On one side is Mbappe, and on the other side are Kva and Abraham. The midfield is full of young players under the age of 24. They finally have the opportunity to perform in front of King Messi and tens of thousands of fans present. They are trying their best to show their talents.
Chen Xiaoliang looked at Emery and really felt that he was a bit like himself. When he grabbed the ball, it was like he was robbing a bank. He would be caught by the police if he delayed for even a second, and he did it without any hesitation.
However, his stealing accuracy is still far behind that of his 16-year-old self, which had reached its peak after the "dong dong dong"...
In the remaining 25 minutes, Kwa completed an assist hat-trick, helping Abraham score two more goals. The England striker also completed a goal hat-trick at the Parc des Princes in Paris.
Cristante also scored a penalty after Kimpembe's handball.
On the other side, Mbappe was even more ruthless, scoring 4 goals by himself. The 18-year-old Kramisis and the 22-year-old Bianda, one is still playing in the U19 Serie A, and the other was loaned out to play in the French Ligue 2 last season. They have never faced a top striker like Mbappe.
In the end, after a wonderful goal battle, Paris Saint-Germain won 6-5 at home, and both sides were happy.
Although the situation on the field was tense at one point, the optimistic Neymar still happily shook hands with every Roma player after the game.
Chen Xiaoliang also exchanged jerseys with him, and the two of them posed for a long time with their shirts off in front of the reporters who surrounded them.
Enzo was the first to grab Messi's jersey. The other Roma players could only watch and sigh, and then took photos with Messi and others.
But Enzo promised in the locker room that after the World Cup, he would bring back a national team jersey signed by Messi for all coaches and players.
His teammates asked Mourinho to witness it so that Enzo would not deny it, and Mourinho laughed.
Although they lost in the end, the next day all the media except Tuttosport believed that Roma was the better side. After all, the real game ended when the major substitutions were made in the 65th minute, and the remaining young players' matchup could not represent the true strength of both sides.
Even France Football, the sponsor of the Ballon d'Or, a media outlet that protects its own team, believes that tactically Mourinho's boys performed better, while Paris Saint-Germain is still in chaos after the change of coach.
As expected, Kwa's performance attracted the attention of the media.
However, since Paris Saint-Germain replaced a bunch of young players on the back line soon after he came on the pitch, his delicate dribbling and varied passing styles were questioned by many discerning fans as "bullying a child", who believed that he might not be able to display his skills well in official matches and with the main defenders.
Kwa himself didn't care at all.
The team's overall good performance gave the players great confidence. Before returning to Rome, everyone watched the video of yesterday's game on the plane.
What to watch? See how many times you and the Big Three have faced off, or even appeared in the same shot.
Even the substitute goalkeeper Svilar, who was scored four times by Mbappe, was watching over and over again how Mbappe scored the ball into his fingers...
After returning to Rome, the team resumed pre-season training the next day.
And a stranger yet familiar person also joined them to train together.
The club officially announced on August 1:
"The team has signed a three-year contract with free agent, Argentine striker Paulo Dybala. The player has arrived in Rome and passed the medical examination, and officially became a member of the new season of Roma! He will wear the No. 21 jersey to compete in various competitions in the new season!"
Despite being opponents in the past, almost everyone in Roma knows what kind of player Dybala is.
At the same time, Argentina national team coach Scaloni is also looking forward to the combination of Dybala and Enzo in Rome.
The improved form and the arrival of strong reinforcements have changed the team's dull atmosphere before the warm-up match. Everyone has also fully realized how to deal with and how to implement tactics when facing strong teams if they want to go further in the Champions League in the new season.
Six days later, on August 7, they faced the last warm-up match at home against the Ukrainian powerhouse Shakhtar Donetsk with such a confident and pragmatic attitude.
The Ukrainian team, which suffered heavy losses due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, is no longer able to compete head-on with Roma, who are playing at home.
In this game, the trio of Chen Xiaoliang, Cesco and Kva did not start. Wijnaldum was in the central midfielder position, Dybala started as the right winger, Zaniolo as the left winger, and Abraham as the lone striker.
Although it was his first time playing for Roma, Dybala's delicate footwork and perfect ball handling in the frontcourt made Chen Xiaoliang, who was sitting on the sidelines watching the game, applaud him.
In the end, Dybala made two assists and one goal, each of the front three scored a goal, plus a goal from young player Bove and an own goal from the opponent, and Roma won 5-0 at home, ending all the warm-up matches this summer. They will only go to Salerno in a week to play the first round of Serie A against Salernitana away.
