Chapter 308: It's dark, please close your eyes. Prophet, please open your eyes.
The rain was getting heavier and heavier, and it seemed to have turned from moderate rain to heavy rain. The players' hair and clothes on the field were already soaked.
Spalletti, sitting in the coaching seat, looked at the score falling behind and couldn't help but touching his head. On one hand, he wiped the rain that fell on his face and head, and on the other hand, he was thinking about what to do in this game.
Our team missed the goal post once, but Chen Xiaoliang scored a volley goal.
Spalletti always felt that God was not on his side in this game.
At the end of January, although the temperature of 5 to 15 degrees Celsius is not too cold, it is accompanied by wind and rain, and it feels like cold icy rain is hitting your face.
Rain not only makes you feel colder, but too much water on the grass will affect the rolling efficiency of the ball.
Too dry turf will increase friction, so the stadium usually sprays water on the turf before the game starts.
After moistening the surface with water, the friction can be effectively reduced, making the ball roll smoother and more slippery.
But too much water is not good either, as the accumulated water will slow down the ball and affect the grip of the shoes.
Especially some "vegetable field" golf courses that are poorly maintained or have poor turf drainage functions often leave puddles after heavy rains, which seriously hinder the rolling of the ball.
Obviously, the drainage of Diego Maradona Stadium is still somewhat inferior to that of UEFA five-star stadiums.
In this kind of weather, short passes and long-distance ground passes are much more difficult than in normal weather, because the force required is much greater than usual, which is seriously inconsistent with the muscle memory formed by the stars through long-term training.
Therefore, after the short pass in the backcourt, the long pass in the frontcourt became the main offensive method for both teams to send the ball into the opponent's penalty area.
This type of attack is exactly what the Mourinho-Roman team, which is famous for its counterattack, is good at.
In the 12th minute, Chen Xiaoliang kicked the ball directly from the midfield. Kim Min-jae and Cesco ran towards the penalty area line while looking up to observe where the ball would land in the pouring rain.
The rain hit their eyes, and they pulled and resisted each other with one hand, while swinging the other hand to keep their balance.
In this situation of fighting, the ball was getting lower and lower, and everyone could see that the ball landed in the penalty area.
Seeing Kim Min-jae with his back to the goal, fighting with Cesco but not having the upper hand, goalkeeper Meret was worried and chose to take the initiative.
Just as he rushed forward and was about to jump up and punch the ball out of the penalty area with both fists, Kim Min-jae, who had his back to the goal and saw nothing, jumped up and headed the ball with all his might.
Just when Kim Min-jae was about to head the ball, Meret, who had no time to slow down, bumped into Kim Min-jae's back, blocking his body from jumping backwards, and directly turned his forward clearance into a backward header.
The two full-backs Di Lorenzo and Rui who were chasing back took a deep breath and chased towards the goal at the same time!
On the Roma bench, Pellegrini, Celik and others couldn't help but stand up. If this ball went in, it would be like an own goal for Napoli!
But in the end, it seemed that God did not want the game to lose suspense so quickly. Kim Min-jae's header bounced twice on the grass and almost brushed the left post and rolled out of the bottom line.
Di Lorenzo chased back to the goal post and couldn't help hugging the goal post and kissing it...
Corner kick for Roma.
Dybala walked to the corner flagpole, and after the referee Osato blew the whistle, he kicked a high ball towards the crowded area in the middle.
In such heavy rain, the ball was hit by both rain and wind in the air, and the ball itself was covered with a layer of water. Even he could not fully control his footwork and could only pass it as accurately as possible to a higher point.
Roma certainly knew the key points of playing in the rain, and all their high players rushed into the penalty area.
Cesco headed the ball in front of the goal, and Mancini headed the ball near the penalty spot, but it was blocked by Rui next to him.
The ball bounced outside the penalty area, which was Chen Xiaoliang's area. After receiving the ball, Anguisa and Lobotka, who were guarding along the penalty area, immediately came up to block him.
This scene was not unfamiliar to Chen Xiaoliang. The last time the two teams met in the league, he was surrounded by Napoli's midfield.
But this time they were more proactive.
Lobotka was watching from behind, and Anguisa took advantage of the fact that Chen Xiaoliang was outside the penalty area, pressed his body closely against him, and then tried to steal the ball.
Chen Xiaoliang passed the ball to the left rear with his right foot, and the ball rolled towards Matic who was lying in ambush on the side, splashing with water.
The Serbian veteran swung his left foot and kicked a long shot. Lozano retreated with his hands tightly pressed against his chest, flew over and blocked the heavy artillery out of the baseline.
Roma's second corner kick from the left!
The rain was pouring down heavily, and everyone, including the referee Osato, was constantly wiping their faces with their hands to get rid of the rain.
Dybala took another corner kick, but this time it was not a high lob, but a pass to Chen Xiaoliang outside the penalty area on the left.
Tactical corner kick!
When Di Lorenzo discovered that the ball was heading towards Chen Xiaoliang, he pounced on it immediately.
Chen Xiaoliang received the ball and cut in to the right.
Afterwards, Anguissa came up and Chen Xiaoliang continued to cut inside and dribble the ball horizontally.
Lobotka came up and Chen Xiaoliang was still leading the way until Osimhen, who was retreating to defend, also blocked it. In an instant, four Napoli players in blue jerseys followed Chen Xiaoliang to intercept laterally!
"Oh..." The home team fans in the stands couldn't help but make a restless sound. With this scene, they really put everything they had into defending the Roma captain.
Seeing that his shooting space was completely blocked, Chen Xiaoliang swept his right foot forward with all his strength and passed the ball to Spinazzola on the right before falling to the ground.
The "Great Left" in the European Cup shot the ball towards the goal, but the ball hit the side net.
In more than 4 minutes, there were 4 shots, 2 of which resulted in corner kicks. After conceding the ball, Napoli was suppressed in the penalty area and could not get out.
Without waiting for warm-up, Spalletti asked assistant coach Marco Domenichini to replace the Portuguese left-back Rui, who is only 168 cm tall, with Argentine striker Giovanni Simeone.
After the players came on the field and conveyed the coach's tactical intentions to the players on the field, Roma also found that Napoli's formation had changed to three central defenders. Right-back Loren changed to play as right central defender, and the two wingers were more like wing-backs and increased the intensity of defensive retreat.
Osimhen no longer came back to defend, and instead Simeone behind him moved back and forth between the front and back fields.
The overall formation became 3-5-1-1.
This was an adjustment for the rainy game, which strengthened the defense against high balls in the penalty area and allowed Osimhen to always act as a fulcrum in the frontcourt.
But it's also a gamble.
In the 28th minute, Lozano dribbled the ball to the bottom line on the right side of the frontcourt and suddenly passed the ball back with a half-high triangle while running. Osimhen still headed the ball under the close defense of Gvardiol and headed for the goal at the front point, but the ball was slightly higher than the crossbar.
This finally threatening attack also gave Napoli fans hope of turning defeat into victory. In the heavy rain, their cheers were still loud and uniform.
Three minutes later, Roma returned the favor. Facing Lozano, who had mediocre defensive ability, Kovač made a shoulder drop, a fake move and accelerated to easily shake him off, then passed the ball before entering Di Lorenzo's defensive range.
Seth dived down the middle and overpowered Kim Min-jae, but the ball was saved by Meret, who was in good form today.
Seeing that other players in the frontcourt were gradually lost in the heavy rain, only Osimhen was creating opportunities back and forth in Roma's defense, and Napoli's passing points became more concentrated.
In the 42nd minute, Simeone avoided Chen Xiaoliang, received the ball on the left side, and passed a low ball directly to Osimhen who retreated out of the penalty area.
Enzo's defense zone is on the right side outside the penalty area, and he follows Osimhen closely all the way.
Osimen opened his arms and trapped him behind him. Then, the moment he received the ball, he knocked the ball to the left behind his back with his left foot. Then, he exerted force with his right foot, turned 180 degrees, and flashed past Enzo's left side.
A combative man like Enzo was not willing to admit defeat. He turned around as quickly as possible, stretched out his right hand to pull Osmeen's clothes, and with his left hand called Spinazzo to come over for double-teaming.
Osimhen stretched out his left hand to push away Enzo's hand that was holding his jersey, then he stepped on the ball and stopped suddenly, his butt slightly raised. Enzo, who had no time to brake, bumped into his back and fell backwards to the ground!
"Yeah!" Seeing Enzo's embarrassing situation, the home team fans in the stands immediately cheered!
Osimen did not give Spinazzola any chance. He cut inside from the right and shot directly from one meter outside the penalty area.
Patricio dived sideways and lifted the ball over the crossbar with one hand.
When Osimhen, who was wearing a mask, saw that the ball did not go in, he lowered his head with regret, then turned his head and looked back coldly at Enzo, and said in Italian:
"You? Are you worthy of 120 million?"
Enzo had only been in Italy for half a year and was far from proficient in Italian. Add to that the rain and Osimhen's thick African accent, and he didn't understand what the other person was saying.
But it is not a good thing to think about it.
Napoli took a corner kick, but the ball was too low and was kicked out of bounds by Malaysia at the front point.
Soon, the first half ended with a high-altitude ball exchange under the heavy rain.
Back in the locker room, Mourinho did not make any tactical adjustments, but only warned the players not to think that Napoli would give up easily, and their performance this season is the best proof.
Afterwards, based on the first-half data compiled by data analyst Giovanni Serra, Mourinho began to give pointers on the performance of individual players, and then arranged for Pellegrini, Cristante and others to start warming up based on their physical energy consumption.
In the locker room on the other side, Spalletti was motivating the morale of his players with an almost hysterical speech.
He criticized the team's performance in the first half as being too "sissy", like a group of ladies waiting on the court to dance with the guests.
Body collision, no;
Justifiable fouls, no;
There wasn't even a deterrent yellow card.
He has neither this nor that, and he has no luck either, so how can he turn that into a goal?
He replaced Zielinski, who was in average form after the World Cup, with another black midfielder Ndombele.
Back inside the stadium, the huge Maradona TIFO was once again pieced together by the fans in the stands using the puzzle pieces in their hands.
The old king of football with long hair seemed to be staring at every move on the court, and the slogan shouted by Napoli fans in the rain was to bring glory back to the city.
The people here cannot forget the Serie A championship that the short Argentine brought them, and they have been away from this honor for 33 years.
Roma kicked off in the second half, and the team's tactics did not change at all. They either went straight into the wing or made long passes to the front of the penalty area. In short, as long as they had a chance, they would go to the front court. If they could hold the ball in the front court, they could make a threat by going to the back row.
Napoli strengthened their running strategy in the first half, ensuring that there were always 5-6 players gathered in the attacking third zone during the offense. They would pass the ball if possible from the wing, and if not, Di Lorenzo, who played as the right center back, would press forward and make a long pass into the penalty area.
After the half-time break, the players seemed to have been given a shot of chicken blood by coach Spalletti, and with their physical strength slightly restored, they continued to press forward one after another.
Such a crazy offensive soon produced results.
In the 52nd minute, Politano forced a cross from the left under Spinazzola's frontal defense. Matic headed the ball out in the middle. Ndombele received the ball outside the penalty area and passed it to Politano again. The latter made a second cross. Simeone jumped at the front point and Mancini followed suit. As a result, both of them missed the target, which provided cover for Osimhen at the back post.
Although Gvardiol stayed close to Osimhen's body, Nigeria had no intention of heading the ball.
He flew up, raised his strong black right leg in the air, and used his ankle to block the fast-flying ball towards the upper corner of Roma's goal!
Patricio had never expected him to do such a move, because from a defensive position, Gvardiol's movement had blocked all possible routes for Osimhen's header.
But his strong physical fitness allows this season's Serie A top scorer to use other parts of his body to shoot whenever necessary.
Patricio opened his arms to expand the defensive area, and the ball did hit his right arm, but it was a step too late, and the ball had already crossed the goal line.
At the beginning of the second half, Napoli, playing at home, equalized the score!
Rijkaard: "Gvardiol's defense was fine, but Osimhen's performance was too good. When the striker suddenly made a move beyond common sense, it was difficult for the defender to defend, because for the defender, going beyond common sense usually means risk and mistakes."
Capello: "Napoli did the same thing as many other teams, which was to bypass the middle and the area where Chen Xiaoliang was. In addition, it was almost impossible to execute short passes in such heavy rain today. With such a high-profile tactic, it would be a great test for the central defenders of both sides."
"Spalletti was the first to change the formation, abandoning the wing to defend the middle. Obviously, Mourinho's double central defenders now seem unable to defend Osimhen. We will see if there will be a change in formation next."
The heavy rain and the constant running back and forth took a lot of physical effort from the players on the field, even though there was a break at halftime.
Mourinho made adjustments three minutes after conceding the goal, but in a way that surprised Spalletti and Capello.
He replaced Matic and Dybala with Binya and Celik.
On the left, Binya played as a wingback in front of Malacia. On the right, Celik retreated to play as a fullback, while Spinazzola moved forward to play as a wingback.
Enzo played as the central midfielder, while the positions of Kva and Cesco in the frontcourt remained unchanged.
This also means that Roma has no winger on the right side.
But while everyone was stunned, the Napoli players soon felt something was different.
With two full-backs on each wing, Roma made it almost impossible for Napoli to use breakthroughs to get close to the penalty area and cross the ball in the heavy rain, except for ultra-long-distance 45-degree crosses.
The farther the cross is, the longer the distance, the lower the accuracy, the more time the defenders have to react, and the lower the success rate of the attack.
Spalletti was already standing on the sidelines, ignoring the rain, and getting wet like the players on the field.
He touched his rain-soaked head again and cursed Mourinho in his heart.
Hitzfeld hit the nail on the head: "Mourinho used another angle to solve the problem of air defense in the penalty area."
"Usually most coaches would choose to add more players in the middle like Spalletti did to deal with high-altitude ball competitions, but Mourinho added a pair of wingbacks on both sides of the penalty area, who can double-team Napoli's wide players at any time, preventing them from getting close to the penalty area and shooting."
"If it wasn't raining heavily, Napoli could have used penetration through the middle to shift the focus of attack in the face of this formation. But firstly, the rain was getting heavier today, and the speed of the ground ball was getting slower and slower. Secondly, Spalletti played on the wing to bypass Chen Xiaoliang in the middle and return to the middle, which meant that he denied his own tactics and went head-on against the opponent's strongest defense."
The other three famous players and legends in the live broadcast room did not know that Hitzfeld was Helena's grandfather. They were all wondering why the old German coach praised Chen Xiaoliang, a red Chinese, so much. He either kept silent or praised him heavily.
However, Spalletti and his players had no choice but to jump into the trap set by Mourinho, because continuing to attack from the wing would only waste offensive opportunities again and again.
Osimhen also noticed that the team was trapped on the flanks, so he took the initiative to retreat out of the penalty area and began to help the wing players to move inwards.
In the 65th minute, just after Chen Xiaoliang used up his stamina recovery card (2→1), the Nigerian player retreated to a position not far from the top of the arc, received a pass from Ndombele, and tried to attack in the middle.
There was no doubt that the person standing in front of him was Chen Xiaoliang, and Chen Xiaoliang also knew that Osmeen was looking for him.
The last time they met, the irony of eating at the same table with children caused this African who had a painful experience in Wolfsburg to lose his temper, and now he is here to take revenge.
Osimhen dribbled the ball in short bursts, moving slowly forward.
In the heavy rain, every step he took, whether he stood up or stepped down, would create a shower of water droplets on the grass.
Chen Xiaoliang could clearly see Osimhen's next move, which meant that Osimhen's dribbling ability was not very high, but he was not careless because the Nigerian did not rely on his ball control and skills.
Sure enough, Osimhen suddenly started to the right! He took two steps to pull the ball out of a safe distance from Chen Xiaoliang, then raised his left hand and rushed into the penalty area!
However, at the moment when he rushed to the right, Chen Xiaoliang also completed the movement to the left, as if the two were moving in sync.
This took Osimhen by surprise.
No matter how fast the reaction is, it can't be this fast! It's clear that he predicted his actions!
However, Osimhen was not reckless enough to try to score by simply passing the entire defense line. He knew where his strengths lay.
It didn't matter that he couldn't get rid of Chen Xiaoliang, he passed the ball to the right with his right foot, where Anguissa was already in position, and then he made a counter-run and blocked Chen Xiaoliang's two-pass pass to receive the ball and shoot!
Everything has been remembered, and this is also the mid-lane breakthrough tactic specially created for me by the team.
If the forward run is blocked, there is also a variant of the play where the ball is passed back to Lobotka behind and then the ball is lifted into the penalty area.
After passing the ball, Osimhen immediately accelerated and rushed into the penalty area at the fastest speed without any desire.
However, when he excitedly found that he had shaken off Chen Xiaoliang, he looked back to see where the ball passed to him had flown, only to find that Enzo had already passed the ball to his own half!
Anguisa, who hadn't reacted yet, still bent his knees and tried hard to retreat.
What is going on? !
It turned out that when the ball was just kicked towards Anguisa, Enzo behind Chen Xiaoliang took a step forward and intercepted the ball.
Just as Osimhen rushed forward, Chen Xiaoliang rushed in the opposite direction towards Napoli's half.
Not only did Chen Xiaoliang predict Osimhen's moves, but Enzo also predicted his moves!
The ball was flying in the sky and Chen Xiaoliang was rushing on the ground.
When he came to the top of Lobotka's head, the Slovakian midfielder of Naples felt as if a golden-winged roc was flying past him.
With a height of 170cm, he could not stop Chen Xiaoliang's charge, let alone block him by heading the ball. Chen Xiaoliang jumped up and lightly tapped the ball forward with his head to shake him off.
Chen Xiaoliang controlled the ball in the center circle of the frontcourt and rushed forward with the ball.
Still three arrows were fired at the same time, Luke Vasilyevich and Cesco moved slightly to the right on the left, and the two of them led Napoli's defense line to move back in front of Chen Xiaoliang.
In a three-on-three fast break, the attacking side is in a complete advantage!
When they arrived at the top of the penalty area, Kim Min-jae blocked the way, while Di Lorenzo and Rahmani could only move inward, otherwise Chen Xiaoliang might shoot at any time, which would expose goalkeeper Meret directly within his shooting range.
Chen Xiaoliang changed direction to the left, and Kva entered the penalty area from left to right.
The three central defenders of Naples could only follow the movements of the two players and try their best to block the space in front of the goal and the route in front of the two players.
Suddenly, Chen Xiaoliang kicked the ball out with his left foot!
Kim Min-jae couldn't block the ball in time by stretching his legs, and he fell to the ground with his legs split, but he didn't forget to look back at the trajectory of the ball!
Is it a lob shot? !
No, the ball turned!
It's the back post, Cesco!
Rahmani immediately rushed over and jumped, but the inward-spinning ball passed over his head. Rahmani adjusted his steps and tried hard to maintain his balance, and stretched out his legs to block Cesco.
However, Cesco neither headed the ball directly nor kicked it.
He took a half step back, unloaded the ball with his chest, then used his left thigh to gently bounce the ball upwards onto his right foot, jumped up and kicked it into the air!
What far corner, what push shot, Cesco's kick hit Meret's face.
The ball flew into the goal between his subconsciously raised hands and above his head!
Although Rijkaard is a famous player of AC Milan, he still couldn't help but stand up and applaud when he saw such a simple, smooth, tacit and passionate counterattack:
"We seem to have forgotten that there is another genius in this team! It's just that his personality is a little quiet compared to others."
This is obviously not what Matthaus cares about: "I want to see what happened to the defense just now."
The director must have noticed this and the replay footage came soon.
Everyone then saw a small shot. When Chen Xiaoliang was facing Osmeen's one-on-one defense, he put his right hand behind his back and pointed to his left towards Enzo behind him!
Enzo firmly believed in the captain's instructions and rushed forward to intercept the opponent at the first opportunity!
Barrage:
[Fuck! A prophet!]
[Chen Xiaoliang: Everything is under control]
[Why are you still kicking? He has seen through your next move.]
[Xiao Sai finally scored a goal. He has been playing the supporting role recently]
[Just for this ball, if Enzo is worth 1.2, then Xiaoliang must be worth 240 million, right? ]
…
Perrone, a newcomer who was watching the broadcast on TV in the dormitory of Trigoria Base, couldn't help but open his mouth in surprise.
Looking at what Chen Xiaoliang and Enzo were doing, his hands trembled slightly.
Many people say that the World Cup created Enzo, but the scene before him clearly tells those people that it was his experience in Rome over the past six months, the experience of training with Chen Xiaoliang after every day's training, and the experience of standing behind the captain in Serie A game after game to defeat one strong opponent after another, that gave this Argentine enough ability to assist Messi .
No one's success comes suddenly, it is just the result of repeated trials and tribulations.
Perrone was extremely excited, and he couldn't wait to meet his new captain tomorrow and take a closer look at what kind of magic he used to make his teammates gather around him so unitedly.
