Although Mireti was not physically injured, the impact cast a shadow on his heart.
To put it bluntly, he was afraid .
He is 179 cm tall and weighs only 58 kg, which is even thinner than Chen Xiaoliang when he first arrived at Tottenham.
It's okay that he is light in weight. Chen Xiaoliang's old rival, Pedri of Barcelona, ​​is only one year older than Mireti. He is worth 90 million euros, is 174 cm tall and weighs only 60 kg.
The youth training programs of today's football giants will not deliberately increase the weight of their young players. What they train is technique, awareness, rhythm, and the use of their bodies.
Especially for players aged 16-18, whose bodies are in the final stage of development, deliberately increasing strength training may sow the seeds of disaster for their future careers.
To give the simplest example, for a 16-year-old player, the pressure and wear on the bones and ligaments of the knees and ankles caused by shuttle runs, explosive sprints, and repeated jumping with a body weight of 80 kg are completely on a different level than those of a person weighing 60 kg.
People who receive the same training may have obvious differences in height, weight, and even race and skin color, but human bones are essentially the same. Unless there is severe malnutrition or other reasons, there will not be much difference due to factors such as race.
Unlike some areas where football is lagging behind, in order to achieve results in youth training teams and youth national teams, players are required to do physical training prematurely so that they can have a clear advantage in competitions with other children.
But once they reach the adult team, the other players' bodies have also improved, and the huge gap in technique and awareness can no longer be made up.
This is even more evident in basketball. Many talented draft players squander their bodies without restraint in college, which leads to frequent injuries or even retirement within a few years after entering the NBA. This kind of thing is not uncommon.
So even though players like Pedri, Gavi, and Mbappe who became world-famous at around the age of 18 are not heavy, their muscle lines are very clear and they can protect themselves well in confrontations.
With the current trend of world football, which relies more and more on running, among the players in the midfield and frontcourt, even in the Premier League, which emphasizes confrontation, especially among the giants, forwards like Heskey have long been out of print.
The best example is Lukaku, who played for Chelsea twice and also for Manchester United, but was not successful.
Manchester City's Mahrez is 179cm tall and weighs 62kg, while Grealish is 180cm tall and weighs 68kg. Alvarez, the Argentine striker who has ended his River Plate career in the new season and played for Manchester City, is 170cm tall and weighs 68kg.
Even for Haaland, with a huge height of 195cm and a weight of 87kg, it is not exaggerated. In addition, his physical fitness is so abnormal that such weight does not affect his flexibility and speed at all, so it can help improve his goal-scoring ability.
In contrast, Harry Kane's height of 188cm and weight of 89kg clearly contrasts with Haaland.
The British top star's running ability and sprint speed are visibly lower than Haaland's, and his confrontation ability is not stronger than Haaland's just because he weighs 2 kilograms more.
As the best comparison with Harry Kane, Lewandowski, who is of similar type, is 185cm tall and weighs 79kg, a full 10kg lighter than Kane, but this has not affected the Polish striker's goal efficiency, confrontation and running ability at all.
Vlahovic, who is standing opposite Roma at this moment, is 190cm tall and weighs only 78kg.
On the other hand, when Maguire, who is 194cm tall and weighs 100kg, stands there, he does not bring an absolute advantage in the confrontation, but rather visibly slow turning and poor running ability.
In sharp contrast to him is Varane next to him, who is 191cm tall and weighs 78kg.
Both of them are 29 years old.
In Serie A, Atalanta's 19-year-old defender Scalvini, who is 19 years old, 194 cm tall and 76 kg, has been used as a main player by Gasperini and has attracted the attention of major European giants. He also represented the Italian national team at the age of 18 years and 183 days.
There are many similar cases, which shows that in Italy, which has always focused on the training of defenders, the concept of youth training is no different from that of the Premier League and La Liga.
Weight does not equal muscle, and weight does not equal confrontation.
This is why Maguire seems to be okay in the England national team. When playing against some mid-to-lower-level national teams, the opponent's tactical routines are relatively not so new, and the game intensity is not very high. In slow games, Maguire's weaknesses will be hidden. However, once he plays against teams like Manchester City and Liverpool that emphasize pressing, mobilization, and have fast forwards, Maguire's problems will be infinitely magnified.
Once Maguire is out of position, it is equivalent to losing a player for the team, because his speed is not enough to make up for the position twice, and he cannot help his teammates to make up for the position well.
This is why Manchester United gradually gave up on him.
Without the ability to run, it is impossible to keep up with the development trend of football. Berbatov will only appear in the past and will never appear in the future.
In early 2006, Prozone, a long-established British sports data company, installed 12 cameras at each Premier League team's home stadium to capture player data.
The report they issued at the time stated that in the 2002-03 season, the average running distance (excluding goalkeepers) of the 20 Premier League teams was 9.87 kilometers per 90 minutes.
At that time, this data was hailed as "setting a historical record", indicating that the players were getting more and more tired on the court.
In the 2018-19 season, among the 20 Premier League teams, Cardiff City ranked last in terms of running distance per 90 minutes at 10.42 kilometers.
The leading Arsenal is 11.47 kilometers, and the average of the 20 teams is 11.12 kilometers.
In 15 years, this figure has increased by 1.25 kilometers.
This means that every player has to run 1.25 kilometers more in 90 minutes than 15 years ago.
This is modern football, this is the trend of football development.
20 years ago, before Mourinho arrived at Chelsea, Ferguson and Wenger no longer used long passes and brutal confrontations, let alone the current BIG6 of the Premier League.
Now, a center forward like Heskey who stands still in the penalty area will be called a pestle king, and a typical old-school white central defender like Maguire will be called an aircraft carrier.
For midfielders, who have the greatest need to run, it is even less likely that heavy players will appear.
The peak Barcelona combination of Havertz and Bailey has long indicated the development trend of modern midfield.
But the problem is that Mireti has good technical awareness, but his physical use, especially his ability to confront, can only be described as weak.
As the game continued, Mireti's running position changed obviously, especially in the attack, he always avoided Chen Xiaoliang, as if he was afraid of physical contact with him again.
Allegri obviously noticed this as well. He began to stand on the sidelines and applaud and encourage Mireti, who had high expectations for himself and was nicknamed "Prince" by Juventus fans along with another young player, Facioli.
If a player who is favored by the head coach for his awareness and running stops running, it is equivalent to Juventus having one less person in the frontcourt.
As a last resort, Vlahovic could only frequently retreat outside the penalty area to support the defensive area where Chen Xiaoliang was responsible.
This makes it even more difficult for Juventus, who already have two 34-year-old veterans on the wing, to launch their attacks.
If a tiger has its teeth removed, it will no longer be able to deliver a fatal blow and can only rely on its claws.
Di Maria and Cuadrado increasingly rely on their own abilities to dribble inside and threaten the goal.
However, facing the defensive midfielder combination of Chen Xiaoliang and Enzo, the veteran pair had no better solution except long-range shots.
Then Locatelli and Rabiot could only start to move forward and join the attack.
In the 25th minute, Vlahovic received a long pass from Rabiot in the middle, held off Enzo and dribbled the ball for a short distance before passing it to the right.
After Cuadrado got the ball on the right side, Vlahovic had already rushed into the penalty area, and Enzo followed him into the penalty area without giving him a close look.
On the other side, Di Maria was wandering around Chen Xiaoliang, leaving Enzo's defensive midfielder position vacant for a moment.
Cuadrado immediately passed the ball horizontally, and Locatelli met it and shot directly!
The ball seemed to fly out of the goal post at first, but it turned back halfway!
Zhan Jun: "World wave! Patricio still didn't react! This ball goes in!"
Zhang Lu: "Today, Juventus didn't score a world-class goal! Hehe! In fact, Juventus played very passively during this period. I didn't expect that Locatelli would come up with a brilliant move in the only chance..."
Before Zhang Lu finished speaking, Zhan Jun interrupted:
"Eh? Something seems to be wrong. The referee Orsato did not immediately point to the center circle kick-off point, but was communicating with the video referee team!"
Before the two of them could start discussing, Orsato ran towards the VAR on the sidelines.
Although Chen Xiaoliang was also anxiously waiting for the penalty result, he still walked to Enzo and reminded him with words and gestures that he could not follow Vlahovic to the end of the ball. If there was no one else to fill the position of defensive midfielder, if he left, it would be equivalent to letting the opponent shoot.
In the situation just now, when I came over, Di Maria would be left open, Malaysia would come over from the wing, and Cuadrado would get the chance to receive the ball and break into the penalty area from the wing.
The correct approach should be to follow for a while, then turn back to block Locatelli's shooting path, while cutting off his route to pass the ball to Vlahovic.
Passing the ball high from that position is what the central defender and goalkeeper need to focus on, as the defensive midfielder cannot cover all the responsibilities of everyone.
Chen Xiaoliang said this with his mouth covered to prevent nosy media from asking lip-reading experts to interpret the situation.
Enzo nodded repeatedly after hearing this.
At River Plate, he usually plays as an all-around midfielder and his defensive tasks are not as heavy as in Roma.
However, he found learning from Chen Xiaoliang very useful. After all, training could not simulate so many unexpected situations in actual combat.
In addition, Argentina national team coach Scaloni also called him, asking him to try the position of defensive midfielder more in Roma. In the national team, he may partner with De Paul and be responsible for acting as the "left and right guards" behind Messi.
As soon as the two finished talking, they couldn't help but feel nervous.
Orsato turned around and walked back. As soon as he stepped onto the field, he waved his hands several times and pointed at the Roma goal!
Goal disallowed! Roma takes goal kick!
"Are you kidding me? You're a black whistle!"
"You didn't give the red card to the Red Countryman just now, and now you've disallowed the goal! How can someone like you be qualified to be a referee!"
"The Italian Football Association just can't stand Juventus' dominance and is deliberately suppressing them!"
In the stands, many curses were heard from the mouths of Juventus fans.
But the audience watching through the screen saw very clearly from the replay that when Rabiot made a long pass to Vlahovic, Vlahovic, who was in physical confrontation with Enzo, touched the ball that bounced up from the ground with his left upper arm near his elbow, which objectively helped him stop the ball. Therefore, there was no problem with the referee's decision.
Zhan Jun: "Roma avoided the embarrassing situation of being two goals behind despite being in the lead. It's a pity that Locatelli's world wave failed to turn into a goal! What does Zhang Zhi think of VAR's change of decision?"
Zhang Lu: "I think it's good. Although it disrupted the continuity of the game, it maintained the fairness of the game."
Zhan Jun: "But some fans say that misjudgments are also part of the charm of football..."
Zhang Lu: "Haha, this is something that only people who watch the fun say. If a wrong decision happens to the team they support, they won't say that anymore."
"I've seen similar words, such as Maradona's Hand of God. There was not enough technology in that era, so misjudgments were inevitable."
"And now, for example, in the 2010 World Cup European qualifiers in South Africa, France and Ireland played in the play-offs to compete for the last spot to enter the World Cup."
"It was the second leg of the match. I remember it very clearly. The game was very intense. Henry received a pass from his teammate near the baseline and stopped the ball with his hand. He controlled the ball and assisted Gallas to score in front of the goal. In the end, it was with this goal that France advanced to the World Cup with a total score of 2-1."
"At that time, there was no baseline, goal-line technology, and no VAR. As long as the three referees on the field had poor vision, major misjudgments could occur. In that case, the fans on the other side of the goal and the fans watching on TV around the world clearly saw Henry's handball, but the referee didn't see it."
"This kind of misjudgment is definitely not the charm of football. Instead, it will seriously damage the credibility of football and make rumors of match-fixing, scripts, and internal decisions more prevalent. Even the French, who benefited from the incident, criticized Henry. No one can afford to lose that person."
As the two were talking, Patricio kicked off and the game continued.
After experiencing the "gate of hell", the Roma players were more focused on the field.
Facing Juventus's gradually moving forward midfield, Roma also consciously gave up some ball possession to make the game look more balanced.
But it only seems so.
Just like Juventus attacked at the beginning, they also wanted to score a goal and equalize the score before Juventus relaxed their defense and attacked forward.
The opportunity came soon.
In the 35th minute, Rabiot fouled Dybala while assisting in Roma's right-wing attack and received a yellow card, which gave Roma a free kick on the right side of the penalty area.
Dybala stood behind the ball, while other players ran into Juventus' penalty area one after another according to the set-piece attack routine.
Since the Little Magic Fairy joined the team, his ranking in the team's set-pieces, especially the set-pieces facing the right side of the goal, has been ahead of Pellegrini.
Because the angle was a bit small, Juventus did not form a human wall, but left Di Maria not far in front of Dybala to harass him.
Chen Xiaoliang also stood in Juventus' penalty area, while Enzo was on the penalty area line.
Dybala has been watching, Bremer and Locatelli have been sticking close to Cesco, just like the small advertisements on the telephone poles, which can't be removed.
However, Dybala had already clearly seen the look that Chen Xiaoliang gave him and the gestures he made secretly.
"Beep!" The referee Orsato, who was destined to become the focus of this game, blew the whistle. Dybala took a run-up and then rubbed the ball under his left foot!
As soon as the ball came out, Enzo immediately moved in, while Chen Xiaoliang immediately walked out of the penalty area.
At the same time, on the Juventus side, Mireti, who was guarding Enzo outside the penalty area, followed him in, while Cuadrado, who was concentrating on Chen Xiaoliang, immediately followed him out.
Enzo walked to Chen Xiaoliang's side and stood still!
He used his inner body to protect his upper body and blocked Cuadrado!
This made Cuadrado and Mireti confused! What is this? Off-ball screen? You two basketball players are in the wrong place!
The ball passed by Dybala has already flown over, but the ball was not passed to the center of the penalty area near the goal, but to the outside of the penalty spot near the goal line!
Chen Xiaoliang has already run towards where the ball landed.
Although Enzo tried to stop Cuadrado, the Colombian veteran immediately broke free and continued to chase Chen Xiaoliang.
Dybala passed the ball a little too far. He wanted to shoot directly, but the ball was too high. He wanted to head it, but it was too low.
This ball is difficult!
It's okay as long as it's difficult!
Seeing that the ball was about to fall towards him, one meter inside the penalty area line, Chen Xiaoliang first twisted his body slightly to the right, then immediately turned back to the left, and with the help of the force of his body rotation, he swept his right foot sideways and hit the falling ball!
Cuadrado just caught up, but like all the players from both sides in the penalty area who turned around to look at where the ball landed, he witnessed Chen Xiaoliang completing a sideways volley!
However, Juventus goalkeeper Szczesny, who wanted to see the ball most clearly, was blocked by Cuadrado who rushed in front of Chen Xiaoliang, and failed to see the trajectory of the ball at the first time!
He didn't see it until the ball passed over the heads of people in the penalty area, but it was too late!
At that moment, Szczesny's world was silent, as if his heart had stopped beating.
The 0.3 seconds or so was too fast. He was stabbed in the heart before he could even struggle. But it also seemed very long, so long that until he was fatally wounded, he still hadn't figured out how the opponent's sword had stabbed him.
In the end, he only heard the friction sound of the ball flying towards the goal and hitting the net heavily.
This is a death sentence for the goalkeeper.
In an instant, everyone on the Roma bench, those who were sitting stood up, and those who were standing jumped up!
Many of them hugged each other and even checked each other's eyes to prove that they were not dreaming!
Even Mourinho, who is used to big scenes, excitedly hugged Forti to celebrate!
Zhan Jun: "Incredible goal! Xiaoliang used the Dragon Tail Swing from the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms! Scoring in three consecutive league games, unstoppable!"
Zhang Lu: "This goal is amazing. It must be one of the top five goals of the year. I think Xiaoliang can compete for this year's Puskas Award! This goal is very similar to the one Zidane scored that year."
Zhan Jun: "Zhang Zhi is right! Many people originally said that Xiaoliang could only head the ball in the penalty area, and his footwork was not good enough! Now he used an extreme volley shot, which seemed to reproduce the 2002 Champions League final, when Zidane completed the flying shot in the Leverkusen penalty area!"
"On the night of the full moon, on the top of Turin, a sword came from the west, and a fairy flew from the sky!"
“I believe that after this game, this goal will be watched countless times by fans around the world in the days and nights that follow, just like Xiaoliang’s amazing long-range shot against Lazio at the same start of last season!”
At this moment on the court, Chen Xiaoliang, who was running to the sidelines and sliding on his knees to celebrate, had already been pinned down by his teammates who rushed over one after another.
He himself did not expect that, in a hurry, he subconsciously kicked a volley which just triggered the skill [Excellent at difficult shots], which also added a bonus to the shooting attribute of 15. With the help of Cuadrado, Szczesny was caught off guard!
Inside the stadium, everyone on the Roma side was extremely excited. This was a goal that was one in a million in the world, and now they were witnessing it with their own eyes. They were shouting and yelling wildly.
Even the Juventus fans in the stands were unable to curse, just like Mireti who had just been knocked unconscious by Chen Xiaoliang. This goal made them speechless.
Some people even couldn't help clapping their hands, even though they felt bitter inside.
Allegri finally understood now that he could not judge the Reds player, with whom he had played against him for a season, with normal eyes, and it was even more impossible to send in the equally young Mireti and expect him to play the same role on the court.
Maybe this shot was random, but the off-ball running, back-running cover and Dybala's corner kick specifically towards that point before the shot all showed that this was a carefully designed corner kick tactic.
To be able to deploy such tactics, it ultimately depends on the players' strong personal abilities and tactical qualities to execute them.
Zhan Jun: "Two world-class goals, a 1-1 draw! These two goals are destined to remain in the history of Serie A! And the game was only in the 37th minute!"
Zhang Lu: "After the tie, we'll see if Juventus will attack or if Roma will be more aggressive. Anyway, from the fans' point of view, the more open the game is and the more rounds the two sides go back and forth, the more exciting it will be."
"From the time and the rhythm on the field, the probing part tonight should be over. Whether the balance will completely tip or the two sides will go back and forth depends on how the coach arranges and how the players execute."