Chapter 301: Benzema who shocked the world and Chen Xiaoliang who made it to the Ballon d'Or list
At halftime, the score was still 1-1.
Facing Roma, which is in the limelight and has won 8 consecutive games in all competitions, getting 1 point is completely acceptable for Lazio, which can continue to help them remain in the second tier of the standings, but for Roma, ending the winning streak in the derby is somewhat psychologically difficult.
Looking at the main players on the bench, Mourinho considered for a while and decided to let the starters play for a while, especially Abraham, who missed a big one-on-one opportunity in the first half. Being replaced at this time will undoubtedly have a huge negative impact on his mentality, and will do more harm than good for the subsequent schedule.
He asked the team to look for more set-piece opportunities and asked Chen Xiaoliang to pay more attention to protecting the backcourt. The two wingbacks and two defensive midfielders pressed forward more boldly, kicked more high balls from the flanks, and used crosses to break through the opponent's dense defense.
The players also felt that there was not much pressure on defense in this game. Immobile had a biceps femoris injury and Milinkovic-Savic was suspected to be injured, so they were excluded from the game roster by Sarri. If Ibanez had not had a brain short circuit, the goal conceded in the first half should not have happened.
These starters did not disappoint the head coach's trust and launched a continuous forward attack .
For a moment, Chen Xiaoliang, Bigna, Spinazzola, and even Pellegrini, seemed to have turned into bombers, continuously sending crosses of different arcs, heights, and landing points from various positions on the wing into the penalty area, like carpet bombing, making Lazio's defensive players jump, jump, and jump again in the penalty area.
We continued to attack like this for a while, and although we didn't score any goals, the effect was evident.
As Cristante and Matic frequently pressed forward into the Lazio penalty area to compete for headers, the opponent's three midfielders including Cataldi who were originally blocking outside the penalty area were forced to retreat back to the penalty area to participate in the defense of high balls, creating a defensive vacuum in front of the penalty area.
In the 66th minute, Chen Xiaoliang made a run in from the left and received a pass from Spinazzola who was going down the flank.
In the penalty area, Abraham, Cristante, Matic, Bigna and Pellegrini were in position.
Right-back Lazari was still struggling with Spinazzola who was running without the ball. For a moment, Chen Xiaoliang became an idle person on the field, with no one within 5 meters of him.
After guarding the high ball for 20 minutes, the Lazio players were numb. Just when they thought that Chen Xiaoliang would take two steps to adjust his pace and then make a cross, Chen Xiaoliang dribbled the ball diagonally and headed straight for the middle of the penalty area.
Realizing that Roma was going to change positions, Cataldi and Becino immediately rushed out of the penalty area to block Chen Xiaoliang's route.
The most taboo thing in a football match is to temporarily change the defensive formation at the moment of attack and defense. This will not only make the opponent's offensive players lose defensive pressure, but also make teammates who are also on defense at a loss.
After Chen Xiaoliang discovered that the two had left the penalty area, without waiting for them to get close, he kicked the ball with his right foot and the ball flew over the head of Becino who was rushing towards him and landed at the feet of Matic who was unguarded.
This Serbian veteran, who is prone to being unable to run back due to his age, has rarely participated in direct offense this season, but he will not give up such an opportunity.
He lightly tapped the left foot to steadily remove the ball, stepped on the ground with his right foot to adjust his pace, and then pushed the ball cleanly with the inner instep of his left foot, just like a precisely aimed golf green putter, and the ball rolled directly from the left side of the penalty area to the left side of the goal.
Goalkeeper Prodwell, who just joined Lazio this season, tried his best to fall to the ground and save the ball to his right as quickly as possible, but as the commentator of this game said, saving a ground ball requires the goalkeeper to go to the ground, which will increase the time and distance required to save the ball.
Prodwell was only halfway through his move when the ball pushed out by Matic hit the inside of the left post and bounced into the goal.
Roma reversed the score to 2-1!
After scoring the goal, Matic immediately turned around and pointed at Chen Xiaoliang.
He is old and can’t party as wildly as the young guys. When he scored his second goal this season, he didn’t run on the field to celebrate. He just happily hugged and high-fived his teammates who came to celebrate.
Mourinho then replaced Matic, who had completed his mission perfectly.
As he slowly left the field, Matic received applause from all the Roma fans, which was the honor that a dedicated veteran deserved.
Mourinho saw that the team's overall condition was average today. In order to maintain the victory, he had to send Enzo and put up a formation of six defenders behind him.
For him, in the long league cycle, as long as he can get 3 points, the means are not important, practicality is the first priority.
In the end, the score of 2-1 was maintained until the end, and Roma achieved six consecutive league victories.
After the competition, Chen Xiaoliang flew to Paris overnight to attend the annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony held at the Chatelet Theater the next day.
The first time is new, the second time is familiar. Chen Xiaoliang, who was at a loss when he attended the ceremony for the first time last year, has become a celebrity of the party this year, and is sought after by various stars, club managers and media.
Since he knew he didn't have to go on stage to receive the award this year, and he had an away game two days later, Chen Xiaoliang went alone.
However, Benzema, who is almost certain to win this year's Golden Ball, still attracted the attention of the world in a special way.
Not only did he bring his wife Cora Gauthier and children, he also brought his current girlfriend Jordan Ozuna to attend...
This has caused the media to start working hard to dig up the big melon.
Benzema has a total of four children, the first of whom was born to his ex-girlfriend Chloe Delaunay.
The two later broke up and Benzema married his current wife Cora Gauthier, with whom he had his second child.
But after marriage, he rekindled his old love with his ex-girlfriend Chloe Delaunay, who later gave birth to his third child...
And now, his current girlfriend Jordan Ozuna is pregnant with his fourth child...
This kind of thing is not uncommon for football stars with a net worth of tens of millions of euros. Apart from anything else, the private lives of the two old football kings, Pele and Maradona, are much more chaotic than Benzema.
Especially Pele, in the second half of his life, there were so many people who publicly claimed to be his illegitimate children that the media couldn't even count them.
But compared to his predecessors, Benzema is probably the first one who can manage his harem so well and let his wife, children and girlfriend attend large-scale events that attract the attention of the entire world football community...
But the person who gave Benzema the courage to do this was actually Chen Xiaoliang...
Just then, the two met in the backstage before the award ceremony. Benzema took the initiative to pull his wife and girlfriend to greet Chen Xiaoliang.
However, Benzema was surprised to see Chen Xiaoliang standing alone. He clearly remembered that when this guy won the Copa Trophy last year, he was accompanied by two beauties who looked exactly the same.
After hearing Benzema's introduction of his partner, Chen Xiaoliang was completely confused. The two exchanged greetings for a while, and when they parted, Benzema thanked Chen Xiaoliang.
Chen Xiaoliang said you're welcome, but in his heart he was thinking, thank you for your family...
This year's Ballon d'Or ceremony will still be co-hosted by Chelsea legend Drogba and French beauty host Sandy Herribert.
In the end, Benzema, who received the highest vote, received the Golden Ball trophy from his mentor Zidane and received tributes and applause from the audience.
The Copa Award was given to Pedri, who lost to Chen Xiaoliang last year. The two men, who were arranged to sit together by the organizing committee, greeted each other specially.
The Women's Ballon d'Or was won for the second time by Barcelona women's football star Putlas, who also became the first player to win the Women's Ballon d'Or for two consecutive years.
The Yashin Award (Best Goalkeeper) was awarded to Real Madrid goalkeeper Courtois.
Polish striker Lewandowski, who moved to Barcelona, won the Gerd Muller Award (Best Forward) for the second consecutive year.
The Socrates Award (Humanitarian) was given to striker Mane, who moved from Liverpool to Bayern, in recognition of his contribution to building hospitals and schools in his hometown.
Perhaps considering that almost all individual awards were given to Real Madrid and Barcelona, the best club award was finally presented to Manchester City.
The official explanation is that the establishment of the Golden Ball Award not only takes into account the performance of men's football, but also covers the club's women's football development and honors won.
In the final Ballon d'Or ranking, except for De Bruyne who ranked third from Manchester City, the other eight were all players from Real Madrid and Liverpool, the champions and runners-up of the previous Champions League.
As the face of Serie A, Chen Xiaoliang unexpectedly squeezed into the top 10 and ranked 10th, second only to Real Madrid midfielder Modric, surpassing "Majin Buu" Haaland who has been popular in Manchester City this season and ranked 11th, and Son Heung-min, who won the Premier League Golden Boot last term and ranked 12th.
Pascal Ferre, editor-in-chief of "France Football", later made a special explanation about this on his personal social media. As last season's Serie A MVP, the steals leader, interception leader and third in assists in the top five leagues, plus the Serie A champion, Italian Cup champion and European Cup champion, it can be said that in the Golden Ball Award selection where "whoever wins the Champions League wins the world", Chen Xiaoliang has done almost everything that can be done except the Champions League.
Although Haaland and Son Heung-min scored more goals, they both had no team honors last season.
At the reception after the ceremony, the media also captured the scene where Real Madrid President Florentino took the initiative to greet Chen Xiaoliang.
For a while, the media speculated that Real Madrid would make a move on Chen Xiaoliang next summer.
However, Chen Xiaoliang himself knew that during the chat with him, apart from congratulating him and asking about some trivial matters such as daily life, Mr. Ferguson never mentioned the transfer at all.
But as a top figure in European football, once the photo of him and Chen Xiaoliang going to that station was released to the public, it would be enough to cause a stir in the transfer market.
After Chen Xiaoliang became familiar with the crowd at the cocktail party, he flew to Sassuolo overnight.
Mourinho originally asked him to stay in Paris for a few days to rest, but Chen Xiaoliang rejected the coach's kindness.
The World Cup is about to start, and he will have a full month of rest...
The match against Lazio plus a day of training gave him 8 training points and 1 stamina recovery card. Including the one used in the match, he still has 4 stamina recovery cards, and the training value is 10→18.
The match against Sassuolo was not as smooth as the media predicted. Playing a game for three consecutive days plus traveling back and forth between Liverpool, Rome and Sassuolo made even those players who had not played consecutive games feel exhausted.
Apparently inspired by Lazio's three midfielders blocking the center in the previous game, Sassuolo coach Dionisi also deployed the same 4-3-3 formation.
Mourinho returned to the 4-2-3-1 formation, with the rested players such as Guevadiol, Dybala, Kvart, Cesco and others all playing. Chen Xiaoliang did not appear in the starting lineup, and Mancini, who partnered with Guevadiol as a central defender, wore the captain's armband.
In the 20th minute, Pellegrini held the ball with his back in the middle and knocked it to the left rear with his right foot. Dybala on the right took the ball.
Dybala first took a few steps towards the baseline, then stopped suddenly and dribbled the ball to his left foot, and then made a precise cross to find Cesco near the penalty spot.
Cesco, who ranked sixth in the just-announced Copa Award, behind Pedri, Bellingham, Gavi, Musiala, Camavinga and other young top stars of top clubs, rushed forward instantly, shook off the defender and headed the ball into the right side of the goal.
Roma took the lead away from home.
The subsequent game was uneventful and the score remained unchanged. In the 70th minute, Mourinho also replaced Dybala, Enzo and others with substitutes such as Volpato and El Shaarawy.
The team originally wanted to keep the fruits of victory in the offense, take away 3 points safely and reduce the physical consumption of the main players. Unexpectedly, not long after the substitution, in the 77th minute, Sassuolo's left winger Laurent drove straight into the counterattack, and after going down the bottom, he made a triangle pass to the center of the penalty area. The main striker Pinamonti still completed a shot under the pressure of Mancini and directly equalized the score.
It was already the 78th minute when the game kicked off again, and Napoli, who had finished the game earlier, had already defeated Empoli 2-0 at home, and were leading Roma by one point with one more game played, temporarily ranking first in the league.
Facing the extremely strong Napoli this season, Mourinho wants to keep the first place in the league at all costs before the World Cup starts, which will bring great psychological advantages in the second half of the season after the World Cup.
So it was very rare that he replaced Chen Xiaoliang when the ball was dead in the 80th minute.
Then an interesting scene appeared. The on-site director politely announced that Chen Xiaoliang had just won the 10th place in the Ballon d'Or selection. This is the highest ranking obtained by a Serie A player since Ronaldo left Juventus.
So, the Sassuolo fans at the scene gave Chen Xiaoliang, who was standing on the sidelines, a dozen seconds of applause, and then when Chen Xiaoliang touched the ball for the first time after coming on the court, the whole stadium immediately booed .
Time was tight and the task was heavy. After coming on the court, Chen Xiaoliang played at full speed with only one goal, which was to get all three points.
And Sassuolo also clearly felt that the energy and pressure brought by this Ballon d'Or No. 10 was completely different from the intensity it had endured in the previous 80 minutes.
Not only does he have better passing skills than Pellegrini who was substituted in, but he is also not at a disadvantage in physical confrontations. He can push his opponents away in headers and use his speed to shake off defenders at any time.
What's even more terrible is that if the ball is transferred near him, as long as the Sassuolo players hesitate and fail to pass the ball immediately, they will inevitably face a fierce but very clean and decisive tackle.
Chen Xiaoliang's appearance completely suppressed Sassuolo in their own defensive third zone. Apart from kicking the ball long after a successful defense, they had almost no way to launch an attack forward.
After the wolf king came on the scene, the pack of wolves in Rome seemed to have activated the wolf nature in their blood. They surrounded the prey, forcing it into a small circle, and then used continuous biting to tear apart the prey's last bit of resistance and desire to survive.
Finally, in the 91st minute, Chen Xiaoliang made his fourth cross from the right, this time accurately finding Mancini who was pressing forward from the backcourt.
Roma's vice-captain made up for his mistake and scored a goal at his most familiar post, making the score 1-2. Roma, playing away, took away 3 points as they wished and continued to maintain a 2-point lead over Napoli in the standings.
