Chapter 320: Who destroyed the Rome derby single-handedly?
After a while, Enzo sent Chen Xiaoliang a photo of himself wearing a Chelsea jersey during the game.
"Captain, I didn't expect to meet you all so soon, but I will never lose to you!"
Chen Xiaoliang laughed and replied to him: "Forget it, wash yourself and wait for me."
For Roma, it took a full five years to reach the knockout stage of the Champions League again. The last time was in the 2017-18 season, when they met Barcelona with Messi in the quarterfinals. After losing 4-1 in the first leg, they completed an amazing 3-goal comeback in the second leg and eliminated Barcelona with away goals to advance to the semi-finals.
In the semi-finals, they fought Liverpool for two rounds and eventually lost with a total score of 7 to 6 and missed the final.
After that, Roma basically couldn't even get into the Champions League, let alone regain its glory.
So after the results of the Champions League draw came out, a large number of Roma fans in Italy, Europe, and even the Red Country were thinking about buying tickets for the two-round match online. The seats behind the bench were even sold for 5,000 pounds each on the black market.
In addition to the topic of "Mourinho returns to Stamford Bridge", the media and self-media also listed a lot of highlights:
"Chen Xiaoliang versus his own shadow"
"Potter knows all the tactical details of Roma through Enzo"
"Chen Xiaoliang, Enzo, Felix, Cesco, Gvardiol, Mudrik, Kvaratskhelia, young European talents gathered together"
And so on and so forth.
In the matches against Juventus and Sassuolo, Chen Xiaoliang gained a total of 8 training points (58→66), and obtained 2 stamina recovery cards and used 2 of them, with a net increase of 0.
These 12 days of training and extra practice brought him another 48 training points (66→114). He used 80 points to improve his flexibility by 1 point (15→16), which can help him improve the speed of all agility-related actions such as changing direction and sudden stops, and further improve his reaction ability in the game.
Another 20 points were used to add 1 penalty kick (13→14).
Training value 114 → 14
In addition, the task of defeating Juventus also gave Chen Xiaoliang a [Piero Area Shot Bonus Card (5 minutes)], the effect of which is that if he shoots from the left side of the penalty area, he can increase the score by 2 points within five minutes.
On the second day after returning from UEFA headquarters, Chen Xiaoliang brought his teammates to the "away game" to face the city derby with Lazio.
We have to thank Sarri and his team for defeating Napoli in the last round of the league, allowing Roma to expand their lead.
But thanks aside, the city derby has always been a tense confrontation, and there has never been any politeness.
Mourinho, who was in the limelight before the game, also mocked Lazio by criticizing UEFA's European war policy:
"The eliminated team in one European competition should not participate in another European competition. Why should the third place in the group eliminated from the Europa League be eligible to participate in the Europa Cup? Lazio has now been eliminated in the Europa Cup. They finally have no games to participate in."
Faced with such ridicule, Sarri did not say anything, but responded with a passage:
"Even when he is behind, he (Mourinho) has never lost to anyone in terms of words. Last season, he criticized the referee 12 times after the game, which is almost more than other coaches combined. Moreover, Roma is now the leader far ahead, so, well, he has always been the champion in this regard, I quit."
Although they said they didn't care, Lazio created the strongest sense of pressure on Roma in recent times during the game.
In order to deal with Lazio's 4-3-3 all-attack and all-defense formation and ensure that it does not go wrong, Mourinho restarted the three-center-back lineup, with Guvardiol in the middle, Ibanez on the left and Mancini on the right, Cesco and Dybala as partners on the front line, Wijnaldum and Cristante as double defensive midfielders, Spinazzola and Zalewski as left and right wingbacks, and Chen Xiaoliang is still the core of the midfield.
But in the key data of the first 30 minutes after the opening, Lazio took an all-round lead.
Chen Xiaoliang could see that the sudden relaxation, the one-game-a-week schedule, and the recent overly strong performances had made the players feel lacking in pressure, urgency, and overly relaxed.
Even when facing Lazio's fierce and active fighting and running at the beginning, while they were dealing with it, they might still be thinking in their hearts, "The opponent will collapse if we hold on for a while, and victory will be achieved sooner or later."
But the same logic still applies. If the side that looks stronger always wins in football, then this sport would not have the appeal it has today.
In the 32nd minute, Ibanez, whose performance had been up and down recently and whose appearance rank was behind three other central defenders, did something stupider than scoring an own goal out of a special desire to perform.
On his way back to defense after a corner kick, he stretched out his leg to trip Milinkovic-Savic when he had already shaken off the ball. He received his second yellow card of the game and was sent off.
The foul was too obvious, so obvious that even though Chen Xiaoliang appealed to the referee verbally, he knew in his heart that this appeal could at most put pressure on the next penalty, but it not make the referee take back the card he had drawn.
Mourinho did not adjust the personnel. After making some gestures with Chen Xiaoliang, Chen Xiaoliang called on his teammates around him to let the wing-backs retreat and change the formation to 4-2-1-2.
However, in the three-center-back system, the left and right center-backs are responsible for the defense of the left and right flanks. In addition to the center-back in the middle, the two defensive midfielders also have to retreat to participate in the defense in the central penalty area.
The wing attack was led by the two wing-backs, with Chen Xiaoliang and the striker on that side providing support.
In this formation, once the full-backs press forward, the wing defense will be empty. If the full-backs don't press forward, the team won't even have a fixed wing attacker...
In this situation, Chen Xiaoliang almost started running endlessly, sometimes on the left, sometimes on the right, and sometimes back to the center. Lazio's fighting spirit was very high today. In addition to taking on the task of attacking, he also had to constantly retreat to participate in the defense and help his teammates withstand Lazio's wave after wave of attacks.
However, in the 46th minute, in the first half stoppage time, the dense defensive formation was torn apart.
Midfielder Alberto and Milinkovic-Savic made a two-pass combination to bypass Cristante, and Milinkovic-Savic's forward pressure also attracted Chen Xiaoliang's defense.
Alberto made a wonderful through pass from the left side outside the penalty area. The ball passed between Zalewski and Mancini. Left winger Zacani made an offside move from the outside of the left side, went around the two players to receive the ball, and then broke into the penalty area.
Mancini turned around and wanted to return to defense, but Zacani, who was more than 2 meters away from the corner of the small penalty area, had already adjusted all his shooting postures.
He leaned his upper body slightly to the right, and gently pushed the ball with the inner instep of his right foot. As if Henry from the Arsenal era was possessed, the ball rolled in a curved arc on the ground, passed the fingertips of Patricio's left hand who was struggling to the ground, hit the inside of the post and the net, and rolled into the goal!
The blue camp on half of the stands suddenly surged. After scoring the goal, Zacani ran across the track to the bottom of the stands to celebrate with the fans, while the Lazio fans in the upper stands kept shouting friendly greetings and making polite greeting gestures to the red area on the other side of the court .
During the half-time break, Mourinho was furious in the locker room, but Ibanez, as one of the first members to support Chen Xiaoliang as the leader of the locker room, took the initiative to admit his mistakes to all the coaches and teammates in advance with a very sincere attitude. Mourinho knew that he was not a brainless troublemaker like Karsdorp and Zaniolo, so he had to swallow his anger.
Adjustments were inevitable. Binya came on to replace Zalewski, and Kva came on to replace Cesco.
While ensuring the two wingers, let Chen Xiaoliang, who has better athletic ability, move forward to act as a front midfielder, let Wijnaldum and Cristante control the midfield, and set up a formation between 4-4-1 and 4-2-3, try to make good use of the width of the court, and seize every counterattack opportunity to try to score.
If you have adjustments, I have countermeasures. When Roma was one man short and falling behind, Sarri basically guessed all the moves Mourinho could think of, with one exception, which was to withdraw the center forward Cesco and let Chen Xiaoliang go to the front to play a strikerless formation.
Not long after the start of the second half, with the skillful cooperation of Alberto, Milinkovic-Savic and Cataldi, Wijnaldum and Cristante handed over the control of the midfield and retreated to the front of the penalty area to act as long pass machines.
After getting the ball, they passed it to the left to Kva who was good at making late runs, and then to the right to Dybala who liked to retreat to receive the ball. But in the end they found that the long pass to Chen Xiaoliang had the highest success rate, because not only the opponents, but even their own teammates could not guess how Chen Xiaoliang would receive the ball next time.
Facing Cataldi, he used his bounce and explosive power to jump up and head the ball to catch it;
Facing Milinkovic-Savic, he used his speed to shake off his opponent and catch the ball;
A little further forward, facing Romagnoli, he was able to use his body to hold the opponent so that he could not jump with full strength, then he unloaded the ball with his back and then used his speed to shake off Roma.
Especially for Cristante, who is good at long passes, after the formation change in the second half, it suddenly seemed like his long pass success rate was improved. As long as the ball landed within a reasonable range and was not passed to an area where the opponent could form a double-team, Chen Xiaoliang basically succeeded in every pass he received.
Sarri on the sidelines was stunned. He couldn't understand why, being fast was fine, but why were the strong and healthy Milinkovic and Romagnoli clearly at a disadvantage in terms of positioning and confrontation in the contest with Chen Xiaoliang?
The old coach, who never puts down his cigarette, even wonders if the reason why the red Chinese are not good at playing football is because they, like the beautiful Chinese, are not very interested in football, but prefer making money, kung fu and table tennis?
Cesco, who was off the field, was also stunned, and what was even more shocked was Abraham, who had been feeling depressed recently.
He understood at this moment: "The captain always told me to be tougher, otherwise I wouldn't be able to play center well. It seems he was right... With my body and my ability to fight, compared to him, it seems that I have played center for nothing for so many years...
Forti couldn't help but sigh with Mourinho: "If Chen's footwork is more delicate and his dribbling ability is more skilled, he can definitely launch a one-stop attack in the frontcourt..."
Mourinho: "Next season, at the rate he's improving, I believe we'll see it next season."
Although he was wreaking havoc on Lazio's defense on the field by himself, constantly receiving the ball from the backcourt and then passing it to his teammates, Chen Xiaoliang clearly felt that such a high-confrontation style of play consumed much more physical energy than before.
He used up his stamina recovery card (3→2) at 55 minutes.
And he also has to face another problem, which is the serious shortage of offensive players in the frontcourt. If they only rely on the three of them to cooperate in the front, after the opponent's midfield and backcourt retreat, the ratio of offense and defense will be 1 to 2, especially in the penalty area, where they may be double-teamed by two or three people at any time and anywhere.
The center position is a position he is completely unfamiliar with. Staying in the penalty area for a long time facing the opposing central defender will prevent him from exerting his full strength. He can only retreat to the penalty area line to look for opportunities.
In the 57th minute, Lazio took advantage of Dybala's forward attack and made consecutive short passes on the left. Hysaj made a cross at a 45° angle on the left. Felipe Anderson in the middle was a step slow and failed to poke the ball, so Patricio saved the ball.
At this time, the away game between Napoli and Torino, which had started earlier, had ended. Napoli won 4-0 away and recovered the points to 6 with one more game.
Forti also told Mourinho the news.
Mourinho is still waiting, he is waiting for 75 minutes or even 80 minutes.
In the 63rd minute, Milinkovic pressed forward and suddenly shot while holding the ball outside the penalty area. Patricio dived to the left at the first time and dragged the ball out of the baseline.
In the 67th minute, Kva advanced at high speed on the left and made a cross from the left to the middle with the outside of his right foot. Romagnoli tried his best to stop Chen Xiaoliang from making the first forward move. Another central defender, Casale, did not dare to be careless and cleared the ball directly out of the baseline.
Roma got a rare corner kick opportunity.
Spinazzola and Wijnaldum stayed on defense, while the rest of the players went on.
Dybala took a corner kick from the right side, and Mancini's first header was blocked by Lazio goalkeeper Prodwell. Chen Xiaoliang in the middle immediately stepped forward and stretched his legs to make a supplementary shot. The ball hit the center back Casale and bounced into the goal!
Just when Chen Xiaoliang was about to rush into the goal and picked up the ball and ran towards the center circle, the referee blew the whistle and ruled that Chen Xiaoliang was offside before shooting! The linesman on the right sideline did not raise the flag!
Chen Xiaoliang was stunned. He clearly stepped forward and stretched his leg to take a supplementary shot after seeing the ball being blocked. Moreover, the ball hit Casale, which meant that Casale was standing closer to the goal than him!
He immediately surrounded the referee with his teammates.
Mourinho on the sidelines was also furious. He immediately rushed to the sidelines, shouting at the referee while turning back and pointing at the fourth official.
Even though Forti was usually calm and tolerant, he couldn't help it at this moment, and his voice directly drowned out Mourinho beside him.
Pedro, who was passing by and was thinking about putting pressure on the referee, saw Forti making a scene and turned to him and said, "If you can't afford to lose, do something else."
Forti was furious! He rushed into the field and stuck close to Pedro, saying he was a liar and a shameless person.
Although Forti retired early in his career due to injury, he was once a professional player in Serie A and Serie B. Just because he was trembling with fear when he saw Mourinho, it doesn't mean he would be timid when he saw others.
The referee today is Davide Massa. As a permanent referee in Serie A, he has refereed many matches of big teams. But today, for some reason, he was distracted and, after hearing the review suggestions from Guida, his colleague from the video referee team, he resolutely called for offside and gave a yellow card to Chen Xiaoliang, who was the leader of the trouble.
At this time, the fourth official used headphones to remind David Massa, who immediately came over and gave Forti a red card.
However, this approach did not calm the conflict, but instead intensified it. Romagnoli and the hot-tempered Mancini started arguing and pushing each other. Although both sides were very angry, as professional players they all knew what it meant to fight each other, so they quickly came over to pull the people apart.
But some people are pulling their teammates, while some people are pushing their opponents away. They are already angry, and then you push them. Isn't that adding fuel to the fire?
At this point, even the staff, coaching staff, and security guards on the sidelines rushed into the field to join the team separating the players from both sides, while the fans of both sides in the stands also booed loudly in unison, accusing the opposing players of being picky eaters and expressing their strong dissatisfaction with the referee's poor control ability.
The people at the scene were still relatively calm, but what was even more angry were the countless audiences in front of the screens.
The offside line was clearly drawn on the screens of Sky Sports and other broadcasters. When Mancini headed the ball in front of the goal, Casale and Romagnoli were parallel to Chen Xiaoliang and the other passed half of Chen Xiaoliang's body.
"Offside, what the hell", "Too dark", "The fake has started again" have also become the most common comments in major forums and live broadcast rooms.
No matter what Chen Xiaoliang said to David Massa and asked him to take a look at VAR, David Massa was determined tonight and was determined to believe in his own teammate Guida.
Mourinho had no choice but to run into the field and try to pull Chen Xiaoliang away.
But he was still a step too late. David Massa thought he had tolerated Chen Xiaoliang's constant nagging, and when he saw Mourinho coming in, he thought he was also there to help Chen Xiaoliang question himself.
He showed Chen Xiaoliang the second red card.
Mourinho was furious. He could lose Ibanez, Forti, Dybala, Kva, and even accept being sent to the stands, but he knew that this team could not do without Chen Xiaoliang.
But he still pulled away Chen Xiaoliang who was about to attack.
After the game, there are still channels for public opinion and legal channels to criticize and appeal against the referee, but if he makes irrational behavior and plays into the hands of some blind people, he will be subject to additional punishment.
Just as Mourinho was pulling his men, the fourth official reported again through the headset, and David Massa ran over and showed red cards to Romagnoli and Mancini again, sending both of them off.
After a while, and then another while, this farce that lasted for a full 7 minutes finally subsided.
Mourinho even felt that if he were 20 years younger, he might have led his players to retire directly.
But he also knew how serious the consequences would be.
A farce, 4 red cards, 3 for Roma and 1 for Lazio.
Roma replaced Dybala with Smalling, Lazio replaced Pedro with Radu, and both sides added a central defender to maintain the integrity of the defense.
Roma, playing against an opponent with only 8 players, was no longer able to attack and could only retreat to the backcourt and defend.
Lazio was also distracted by the referee's inexplicable behavior and lost interest in the fight. They pressed and attacked but never got a chance to score.
In the end, a derby turned into a farce, with Lazio defeating Roma 1-0.
However, the audience and fans still underestimated David Massa's ability to make things happen.
After the game, the players of both sides inevitably had a quarrel. Marusic and Cristante quarreled again. The staff and players of both sides immediately came over to separate them. However, David Massa seemed to be addicted to giving cards and gave each of them a red card again.
There was a lot of cursing in the locker room after the game. Although both sides had different perspectives, they were extremely dissatisfied with the referee team, especially the referee David Massa, and cursed all their ancestors for 18 generations.
At the press conference, the two head coaches did not mention the course of the game, and all the reporters did not raise any tactical issues. Everyone focused entirely on the refereeing.
Although Sarri led the team to win 3 points, he inexplicably lost two main players. Although he restrained himself, he still ridiculed the personnel arrangements of the Serie A referee committee and the professional ability of the referee.
Mourinho was obviously merciless. He directly refused to attend the press conference and asked Pinto to appeal to the Serie A League on behalf of the club.
But after the game, in the passage leading to the bus leaving the stadium, the reporters who had been waiting for a long time because they failed to interview Mourinho finally caught Chen Xiaoliang.
Chen Xiaoliang asked his teammates to get on the car, and he stayed alone to face the long guns and short guns, and he opened fire directly:
"If someone thinks we are too far ahead and wants to do something to increase the suspense of the league, they can just give us a 15-point penalty, or more. Wouldn't that be more direct?"
"Today I will not talk about the dedicated gentleman on the field. I want to talk about the one sitting in the video room. His name is Guida. He is an excellent Italian referee. How good is he? When I first arrived in Serie A last season, this gentleman left a very strong impression on me."
"Here we were playing Fiorentina and he was the referee and he gave a penalty for a foul that was clearly outside the box on replays and after reviewing the VAR.
"Later we complained to Serie A, but we hadn't won the championship yet, so our words didn't work. Serie A didn't even give us a response. In the match between Turin and Inter Milan, they missed a handball by Belotti in the penalty area, which was protested by Inter Milan, so they demoted Mr. Guida to Serie B."
"There is another dear gentleman, his name is Maresca, who was also demoted to Serie B after our match against Milan at San Siro, and also returned within a month.
"I don't know what the point of these people being sent down to Serie B is? Are they going on a trip? Are they going on vacation? Is it to hide away to protect them? Or is it to reflect and retrain?"
"And then they let a referee who was sent off for our protest referee our game again. Maybe someone will say that I will be punished by the Serie A for saying this, but which of the above things I said is not an objective fact?"
"In the end, I have only one thing to say, not on behalf of the club, but on behalf of myself. Last season, our coach was sent to the stands three times, and we later won the championship with our strength. I thought things were over and heading in a better direction, but today it seems that is obviously not the case."
"No matter what the reasons are for today's situation, I feel regret and sadness for the refereeing environment in Serie A. The referee committee has spoken to the media more than once under external pressure, vowing to improve the level of referees. But what is the result? The referee committee has been replaced one after another. Is it useful? It's just a change of name!"
"I am going back to the base with my teammates now. I don't know how the club will handle it yet. Maybe we will have a meeting to discuss this issue tomorrow."
"But I just want to say one last thing. God is watching what we do. The football world does not need karma. Such low-level penalties again and again are equivalent to driving fans away from La Liga and the Premier League. This retribution will come quickly."
After saying that, Chen Xiaoliang left the crowd, and the security guards nearby immediately stopped the media who wanted to chase him and ask questions.
On the bus back to the base, no one said a word. It wasn't that the game could not be lost, but the way they lost was too unacceptable.
Pinto did not follow Mourinho's advice and appeal to the Serie A League immediately, but reported to the board of directors first. Boss Dan Friedkin believed that a meeting should be held internally to discuss how to deal with subsequent matters.
Mourinho and Chen Xiaoliang both agreed when they received the notice, but they didn't expect that something unexpected was waiting for them.
