Chapter 323: Meeting Lanqiao again, but as scary as a stranger
In the 4-0 victory over Sampdoria, Chen Xiaoliang gained 5 training points (14→19) and added 1 physical recovery card (2→3). In the match against Fiorentina, he gained 9 skill points (92→101) and converted them into 9 training points (19→28).
[Unlocked Skills: Good at Powerful Shooting]
Skill value 101 → 1
Finally, Chen Xiaoliang has combined the skills of being good at long-range shooting and powerful shooting. Coupled with his 20% burst and 20% strength, he is definitely one of the most powerful players in Serie A, possibly even the only one.
Whether it was the counterattack against the board and Pinto in the 12 days, or the journey in Florence and London, he never fell behind in training. The daily extra training brought him 45 training points (28→73). He used 20 points to increase the penalty kick by 1 point to 15.
Training value 73 → 53
[The achievement of 150 million euros has been achieved]
[Achievement Reward: Disadvantage +2]
Left foot 16→18
I thought the reward for the achievement was good enough, but I didn't expect there would be a follow-up.
[Top 5 in the world in terms of net worth, unlock the Beyond Peak mode]
He looked carefully at the introduction of Beyond Peak Mode:
If the game ends with a shutout and victory, Chen Xiaoliang can get 1 breakthrough point for every goal he scores or assists. 100 peak points can increase any technical and physical attribute by 1, and can only be used on attributes that are already at 20!
Chen Xiaoliang knows better than anyone how powerful the attribute of 20 is. Once an ability breaks through the limit of 20, it means that he has surpassed all players in the past and present in this ability!
But this rule is certainly not difficult. Not only does it ensure that the team's defense is solid and the ball is not lost, but it also requires as many goals and assists as possible. This requires Chen Xiaoliang to not only actively participate in defense, but also to constantly create goals.
However, this mode also has a limitation, that is, once the player's market value falls out of the top 5 in the world, he will not be able to obtain breakthrough points. This means that he must be in a competitive big team and always perform well.
Currently on the German "Transfer Market", his value is only behind Mbappe's 180 million euros and Haaland's 170 million euros. Behind him is Vinicius , and then the three British princes - Saka, Foden and Bellingham, all with 110 million euros.
Chen Xiaoliang can't wait to start the next game. When the day comes when several attributes break through 20, he will be at the top of the world, overlooking all the other mountains.
However, his inner excitement did not show on his face. During this period, he was in the whirlpool of public opinion and transfer frenzy, but he behaved calmly as usual, which made his teammates feel even more in awe.
Which player wouldn't be delighted when receiving an offer from a top club? Especially when a group of top clubs in Europe rushed to make an offer.
But for Chen Xiaoliang, there was really nothing to get too excited about since this was bound to happen.
Only the unexpected is exciting, not the expected.
He is focused on the remaining games of this season. If a player has no performance, no data, no honors, and no trophies, no matter how much news and traffic he has, it will be useless and will only become a burden.
Moreover, after arriving in London, Mourinho also showed an extremely serious state of preparation.
The significance of this place to him does not need any words to describe. If Porto made him famous overnight, then Chelsea is the place that made him famous all over the world and completely established his personal image.
After leaving his assistant coaching position at Aston Villa, John Terry, who is currently serving as a youth training consultant at Chelsea, came to the training ground rented by Roma in London. As Mourinho's former disciple and die-hard fan, the two hugged each other warmly and chatted and laughed at the training ground.
Of course, the former iron-blooded captain of the Blues had another little idea when he came here, which was to see what special super magic the 18-year-old captain of Roma, who is now being sought after by the whole world, has.
Mourinho certainly knew Terry's purpose. Under normal circumstances, he would definitely not let outsiders see the team's tactical training at the critical moment of preparation. But Chelsea is different. Letting Terry watch a training session will not have much impact at all, because Chelsea's current main midfielder is Enzo Fernandez. His understanding of Roma means that Chelsea does not need to send any spies to inquire.
After watching the offensive and defensive training for 30 minutes, Terry, who is proficient in defense, couldn't help but nod to Chen Xiaoliang repeatedly.
Steady, extremely steady, calm, and confident. He is so confident that he is not afraid of any opponent. Instead, many people in the Roma team feel fear when they see him.
This kind of prestige can usually only be seen in veteran players who have been in the team for many years. Just like Terry, who was a product of Chelsea's youth training. After becoming captain, he sometimes glared in the locker room and his teammates around him would quiet down.
The legendary star couldn't help but sigh, if he were 10 years younger, he would be able to fight with Chen Xiaoliang tomorrow night.
Although he has had many problems in his private life, Terry is still a man of his word when it comes to football. Even though Mourinho chose to welcome him with open arms, when they parted, he still told his former mentor that he would never tell Chelsea anything about the Roma training he saw today.
At the pre-match press conference, the media was still chasing after Chen Xiaoliang, such as which team he would go to, whether the club would try its best to retain him, and whether it would affect the team's morale. Mourinho did not answer any of these questions, but just kept saying that today was the team's Champions League press conference, not Chen Xiaoliang's personal transfer press conference.
The reporter was unable to dig out any useful information and returned home disappointed.
Stamford Bridge, London's third largest stadium, with 40,834 seats, sold out early.
Even though he has stepped into this stadium countless times, Mourinho was still excited when he came here today.
Everything is familiar, and it seems as if I have returned to the years when I was the most ambitious and rebellious.
But soon, when he stepped onto the grass, the boos from the diehard fans in the stands brought him back to reality, even though many Blues fans were applauding him, holding signs to welcome him home, and some even held up banners hoping he would return to coach Chelsea.
But at this moment, they are enemies rather than friends.
Chelsea head coach Potter, who was caught in the vortex of being sacked and relied on qualifying for the Champions League to survive, deployed a 3-4-2-1 formation, whose winning rate has recently improved.
goalkeeper Kepa;
The back three: Fofana, Koulibaly and Cucurella;
Left and right wingbacks Reece James and Chilwell, double defensive midfielders Enzo and captain Kovacic;
In the front is the 193cm tall German striker Havertz, followed by Sterling and Felix who was loaned from Atletico Madrid.
Even though Chen Xiaoliang's value has risen to 150 million euros, the total value of Chelsea's lineup of 560 million euros still completely overshadows Roma's 480 million euro starting lineup.
Roma still uses the conventional 4-2-3-1.
goalkeeper Patricio;
Defenders: Malacia, Gvardiol, Smalling, Spinazzola;
Double defensive midfielders Wijnaldum and Cristante;
Central midfield captain Chen Xiaoliang, left winger Kvaratskhelia, right winger Dybala;
Center Cesco.
Zhan Jun: "The referee Felix Zwart from Germany blew the whistle to start the first half! You are now watching the quarter-finals of the 2022-23 UEFA Champions League, with Chelsea, the Premier League giants that have performed poorly this season, playing at home against Roma, the leader of Serie A and the current leader!"
"In addition to the return of the madman Mourinho to face his old club, another highlight of this game is the head-to-head confrontation between the two teams' midfielders, Chen Xiaoliang and his former teammate Enzo!"
Zhang Lu: "Hehe, these two people definitely know each other well. I heard before that Enzo often practices one-on-one with Xiaoliang after training. This kind of understanding is not comparable to that of ordinary opponents."
Zhan Jun: "Let's see if Potter can find a way to restrain Roma with the help of Enzo!"
Enzo did propose a way to contain Roma to his new coach Potter, which is why Chelsea played 3-4-2-1 today.
Aiming at Roma's most threatening point, Chen Xiaoliang, Enzo directly turned into a ball-grabbing machine. As long as Chen Xiaoliang approached the defensive third zone, no matter which area was left, middle or right, Enzo would definitely get close to him and form the first line of defense.
At the same time, in response to the explosive point Kwa on the left, Reece James and Fofana formed a front and back defensive posture. Even if Kwa passed one person, the second person could make up for it.
Another is Koulibaly, who transferred from Naples last summer. He knows Cesco very well. Although he suffers a disadvantage in height, the physique, speed and explosiveness of the 31-year-old are all better than Cesco.
After the game started, Chelsea implemented the established tactics very resolutely, especially Enzo. Although he hugged and greeted his former teammates in the player tunnel before the game, he showed no respect at all after the game started. Whether it was small harassment or fouls, he used all the means he could on Chen Xiaoliang.
Moreover, Chelsea, playing at home today, kept a low profile and took the initiative to launch a defensive counterattack. In the first 5 minutes after the start of the game, their ball possession rate was only about 35%.
The possession of the ball gave Chen Xiaoliang, the central midfielder, plenty of opportunities to hold the ball, which also increased the frequency with which Enzo defended him.
In the 6th minute, Chen Xiaoliang tried to advance into the penalty area from the right side of the center. He kicked with his right foot and tried to use his speed and body to push Enzo away and then get rid of him. However, Enzo blocked his position with his shoulder, pushed and tripped Chen Xiaoliang and knocked him down.
“Beep!”
The referee Zwar blew the whistle and gave Roma a free kick in the frontcourt.
Chen Xiaoliang sat on the ground, looking up at Enzo, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. Enzo smiled at him, then reached out and pulled him up.
Since leaving Rome and coming to London, the Argentine has always maintained the habit of watching Roma's games. Even if the two teams' game times conflict, he will watch the entire video afterwards.
In addition to looking at the performance of his old club, the performance of the old captain is of course what he pays most attention to.
Knowing Chen Xiaoliang very well, he also discovered that after he left, the old captain's strength and power seemed to have increased significantly.
He knew that it was impossible to completely contain Chen Xiaoliang one-on-one with his own abilities, but delaying as much as possible and making rational use of the home court environment to commit more minor fouls could help him contain Chen Xiaoliang before his teammates' help arrived.
Dybala took the free kick and shot directly with very high quality, but because the distance was far, Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa had enough time to dive sideways to the left side of the goal and finally blocked the ball successfully.
Although Coach Kai was once criticized by fans for refusing to leave the court, his ability is still quite good.
In the 11th minute, Reece James launched a quick counterattack after getting the ball, but his teammates failed to keep up in time and had to form a positional attack on the right.
The English full-back was double-teamed by Malaga, Wijnaldum and Kvadrat. He first passed the ball back to Sterling in front of him. Sterling deliberately dribbled the ball back, and then Kovacic came over from the middle to meet the ball.
One of them held the ball, and the other one was assisting them, pretending to make a short pass, which attracted the attention of the three people who were double-teaming them. At this time, Reece James had sneaked to the front.
Sterling passed the ball to Kovacic, who swung his foot and passed the ball to Reece James in front of him. Reece James ran towards the baseline and then passed the ball to the middle.
Felix and Enzo rushed forward to compete for the header, and Smalling headed the ball at the first try, but the ball did not go far and landed at the feet of Havertz on the penalty area line!
Havertz shot the ball, which hit the right post and bounced out of the bottom line!
Countless people at Stamford Bridge held their heads in their hands and wailed loudly!
Zhan Jun: "It was Chelsea who took the lead at home. Havertz's shot was just a little bit off! It also sounded the alarm for Roma's defense!"
Zhang Lu: "Wijnaldum is very active in defense and is willing to run, but his defensive ability is not very strong. The same problem also occurs with Kva. You can see that he often retreats to participate in defense, but if you really ask him to stick to the ball or make a steal, this is actually not his forte."
Zhan Jun: "That's what we call surrounding but not snatching!"
Zhang Lu: "That's right. After the double-team, you have to apply pressure. Someone has to go up and steal the ball. Just standing around and watching won't do. Although Malaysia is good at stealing the ball, with the three Chelsea players passing the ball back and forth just now, he didn't have time to go up and kick the ball, and instead missed Reece James."
On the court, seeing that the team almost lost points because of his own mistake, Malaysia stretched out his hand to signal Patricio, then turned around and looked at Chen Xiaoliang again.
Chen Xiaoliang watched him wave his hands towards the baseline, meaning that he should retreat when necessary and not rush forward blindly and lose his position.
Although the ball did not go in, Chelsea's morale was boosted.
The team's poor performance this season is due to the lack of adjustments at the beginning of the season, a change of coach, and a drastic turnover of players. The inconsistency of the game state and the fluctuations in the players' mentality are also important factors.
Whether it's a good game or a bad game, the ranking never improves, which leads to the players having no confidence in winning the game and no confidence in the performance of their teammates.
Before this game, the odds were all in favor of Roma. The 7-1 win over Dortmund was still fresh in people’s minds, not to mention that Chen Xiaoliang has been in the limelight recently.
But the successful implementation of that easy tactic just now made Chelsea players realize that they are actually fully capable of defeating the Serie A leader.
In fact, they already have this ability. In the competition for corresponding positions, their players are generally worth more than Roma's players.
In the 14th minute, Chen Xiaoliang was preparing to receive the through ball from Cristante at the top of the center circle in Chelsea's half.
As soon as the ball rolled over, Enzo rushed up from behind, kicked it from behind, and made a small move with his hands, pretending to slow down but actually pushing the person, and tripped Chen Xiaoliang again with the ball and the person.
This time, although Zwar still did not give any cards, he called Enzo over and gave him a warning in person.
Chen Xiaoliang stood up, shook his head, and ran forward. Enzo came close to him again.
Chen Xiaoliang used his hand to push Enzo away and said, "I've let you go twice. I won't let you go again."
Enzo: "You don't have to give in. I will definitely defeat you today."
Cristante took the free kick and Chen Xiaoliang took the initiative to reach out for the ball.
Cristante passed the ball without hesitation. Chen Xiaoliang blocked the position with his back, but Enzo still wanted to steal the ball.
But this time, he found that Chen Xiaoliang's legs were nailed firmly to the ground like cement piles, and his back was like a concrete wall that could not be pushed!
When the ball was about to roll in front of him, Chen Xiaoliang arched his back and Enzo was immediately bounced back a step.
Chen Xiaoliang received the ball and turned around. Seeing Chilwell on the right, he started at full speed to the left, preparing to break through the middle.
Enzo stood firm, immediately turned around and moved diagonally to intercept. Chen Xiaoliang had already sped up, and seeing Enzo was about to get close, he gently pushed the ball forward.
Enzo raised his left elbow and raised his left shoulder to hit the right side of Chen Xiaoliang's body!
"Fuck!" Not only did Enzo fail to interfere with Chen Xiaoliang, but he himself was knocked to the ground by the recoil force of the collision because he was going too fast!
“Woo…”
After two consecutive physical fights, Enzo was completely defeated, causing the fans at Stamford Bridge to exclaim...
The World Cup's best newcomer, who they bought for 120 million, was as light as a fallen leaf in front of the Roma captain!
Enzo, who had never given up when competing against Chen Xiaoliang in extra training, immediately got up. Although he couldn't catch up, he still tried his best to catch up.
Facing Kovacic, Chen Xiaoliang changed direction directly from left to right, raised his right foot and shot from 7 meters away from the top of the penalty area!
Enzo, who was still shocked at how strong Chen Xiaoliang was, opened his mouth in amazement the next moment when he heard the ball make a muffled explosion-like sound after hitting Chen Xiaoliang's right foot, and the speed at which it hit the goal like a cannonball!
Is this still the man I fought alongside three months ago?!
Kepa was also shocked. He jumped up with all his strength, but the ball came too suddenly and he obviously underestimated the speed of the ball fired by Chen Xiaoliang!
[Good at powerful shots] + [Good at long-distance shots]!
“Bang!!!”
The ball hit the crossbar, and Kepa just stretched out his hand to save the ball!
The ball bounced straight upwards and then slowly fell down!
Kepa jumped up and caught the ball.
He was surprised to see that the crossbar was shaking slightly, the goalpost was shaking slightly, and then he felt that his heart was shaking slightly as well!
Enzo's open mouth involuntarily closed slightly at this time, but his eyes widened.
Chen Xiaoliang took a look at Chelsea's goal, turned around and returned to his position with an expressionless face as if nothing had happened.
Enzo's eyes, filled with surprise, never left his old captain.
Only now did he understand how terrible it was to become an opponent of this man!
