Chapter 331: Big Heart Open! A Game That Cannot Be Lost!
After the game, someone came up and offered to exchange jerseys with Chen Xiaoliang.
Chen Xiaoliang took a look and found that it was the Danish rising star Hoilund who replaced the main striker Zapata. He was 20 years old, 191 cm tall, and was bought by Atlanta for 17.2 million euros last summer. After half a season, his value has risen to 35 million euros, making him the next hot striker.
It was obvious that Hoylund was a little fan of Chen Xiaoliang, and his home team's loss did not affect his mood at all to exchange jerseys and take photos with his idol.
Chen Xiaoliang didn't know that he was his fan before . With his current status in European football, there are many professional players who recognize him. Sometimes after a game, several people will come and rush to exchange jerseys with him.
But Hoylund still aroused Chen Xiaoliang's great interest.
After the two exchanged a few pleasantries, Chen Xiaoliang said to Hoylund, "I have a game in three days and I have to rush back tomorrow. I have a friend who really wants to meet you and talk. Is it convenient for you?"
Hoylund didn't expect Chen Xiaoliang to say that, and he didn't know what meeting friends meant, but he agreed anyway.
The friend Chen Xiaoliang was referring to was naturally Reese.
When he returned to the hotel that night, he called Riise and asked him to find a way to get the agency rights of Hoylund.
In the past two years, Riise would ask Chen Xiaoliang what he specifically thought, but with Kva and Cesco, two players who were almost ignored before growing into stars, and Enzo's value increasing by 100 million euros in half a season, and the natural gas and endorsement issues, all these things added up to make Riise go from a small shrimp in the agent circle to a well-known local lord.
He now has complete faith in Chen Xiaoliang and immediately asks the team to start preparing information about Hoylund. After all, one needs to do homework before fooling others and one needs to draft before bragging.
In this match, the best player of the match naturally went to Kwa who performed brilliantly. Chen Xiaoliang obtained 5 training points (57→62), 1 breakthrough point (4→5), and 1 physical recovery card (2→3).
After returning to Rome, Chen Xiaoliang did not rest the next day. As the club's "supreme baby", Mourinho arranged a three-person physiotherapy team to work with Helena to provide Chen Xiaoliang with routine muscle relaxation and recovery after the game during the sprint stage at the end of the season.
It has to be said that with more and more scientific training and the participation of more advanced instruments, the growth process and career of athletes are also getting longer and longer. Players around 35 years old like Messi, Lewandowski, and Benzema are still able to conquer the giants and major competitions, while older players like Modric and Ibrahimovic can still play an important role for the giants and the national team.
Two days later, they faced Fiorentina. As they had to play AC Milan in the next game, Mourinho did not want to reduce the 9-point advantage that he had worked so hard to gain, so he made large-scale rotations in the second round of the Italian Cup semi-final.
Svilar started as the second goalkeeper, with Zalewski, Mancini, Ibanez and Spinazzola as the defenders;
Matic and Perrone are in the defensive midfield;
In the frontcourt, El Shaarawy, Abraham and Pellegrini form a trio of arrows from left to right;
Chen Xiaoliang still plays as central midfielder.
Since Dybala and Kvarr did not play, Roma's wing attacks were greatly reduced and the offensive tasks were largely tilted towards the middle. Chen Xiaoliang achieved an overwhelming victory in the confrontation with Fiorentina's two midfielders Mandragora and Bonaventura.
Whether it was dribbling forward, passing the ball from the side, cutting in to directly participate in the goal or shooting from outside the penalty area, his speed, strength and shooting power once forced Florence's attacking midfielder Castrovilli to retreat to play as a defensive midfielder.
At the same time, the huge offensive pressure forced the opponent's midfield to retreat to defend and move away from their own goal, which greatly reduced their own defensive pressure and gave them the ability to fully control the ball and deal with the opponent.
As soon as goalkeeper Terraciano saw Chen Xiaoliang was about to receive the ball within 40 meters, he bent down and knelt to prepare for the save, because no one knew when he would suddenly kick the ball, and the ball would fly very fast. If he was a little slow to react, he would only be able to pick the ball out of the net.
Abraham has made some progress in this period. Although he is still a little lazy when asked to practice his back-to-the-basket and header techniques, since he saw Chen Xiaoliang use his body to block Enzo and Jurgen Klopp's goals, he has also started to increase the amount of weight lifting and confrontation training in the gym.
Black players have good innate physical fitness. After half a month of training, although the results cannot be called significant, there has been considerable progress.
Finally, in the 52nd minute, Pellegrini took a corner kick from the right side. Ibanez headed the ball in front of the goal, but it was saved by goalkeeper Terraciano. Abraham in the middle forcibly withstood the push from central defender Igor and hooked the ball into the net with his left foot.
With this goal, Roma advanced to the Italian Cup final with a score of 1-0 and a total score of 3-0.
On the other side, Juventus eliminated Inter Milan with a total score of 2-2 and 7-6 on penalties and also reached the final.
In this game, Chen Xiaoliang gained 7 skill points (61→68), but because he did not score any goals or assists, he failed to gain any breakthrough points.
After another two days of training, David accumulated another 6 training points (62→68). Just as the relaxing extra training in the afternoon was over, David was driving Chen Xiaoliang, Cesco and the other three back to their residence. Chen Xiaoliang found an unfamiliar luxury car parked at the door of his house, and it seemed that the person was still sitting in the car and had not entered the house.
Since he had experienced a dangerous situation with the Blackfoot Gang before, David took out a pistol from the locker in the car and hid it in his back pocket. Then he parked the car and got out before Chen Xiaoliang.
He is a bodyguard, this is his job.
After a while, Chen Xiaoliang in the car window saw David chatting with the person who got off the car for a few words. Then David turned and walked towards him, but his face was no longer as serious as before.
Chen Xiaoliang lowered the bulletproof window glass. David handed him a business card, then turned around and used his body to protect the window glass, looking at the car.
Chen Xiaoliang took the business card and looked at it:
Manchester United Football Club Director John Murtaugh
This is the second-most important person in Manchester United's club management, second only to CEO Richard Arnold.
Chen Xiaoliang took a closer look and found that it was indeed true, so he immediately asked David to invite Mutaf into the house.
It's easy to guess why he came all the way from Manchester and waited quietly at his doorstep.
However, the other person who got off the car with Murtaugh was obviously much more famous. He was Manchester United's sporting director and former professional player Darren Fletcher. He was also an important member of Manchester United's Premier League dynasty. His fierce defense and running were even once called "the man who destroys football" by Arsenal's then coach Wenger.
However, in the late stage of his career, he suffered a rare and difficult-to-treat ulcerative colitis, which caused his physical fitness to decline sharply and forced him to retire early.
Everyone entered the house and exchanged polite greetings and pleasantries as host and guest. Helena also served desserts and sparkling water, but Murtaugh and Fletcher obviously had a purpose, so the three of them did not beat around the bush.
Mutaf told Chen Xiaoliang that CEO Arnold was supposed to come in person today, but he was currently actively negotiating with the Qatari royal family and Britain's richest man Sir Ratcliffe on the sale of the club's shares on behalf of the Glazer family, the board of directors of Manchester United Club, and had no time to spare.
Head coach Ten Hag is currently leading the team to the final sprint for the top four and is unable to get away.
Originally Sir Alex Ferguson wanted to come in person, but considering that he was too old and not in good health, the club decided that two directors would come at the same time to express Manchester United's sincerity.
At the same time, in order to avoid leaking information to the outside world, they did not contact Riise and Roma, but chose to wait after the game.
Chen Xiaoliang immediately expressed his gratitude and enthusiastically told Fletcher that he often watched past Manchester United game videos, but he also told Mutaf that the transfer should be discussed by the agent and he did not want to have direct contact, although if the buyout clause was triggered, a private meeting between the two parties would not violate the rules.
It was already past 9 p.m. when the game ended. After washing up in the home dressing room, I returned to the base and drove home. It is already past 11 p.m. now. To be honest, the two directors of Manchester United are really sincere.
Mutaf told Chen Xiaoliang that he came today just to verbally express to the parties concerned how much Manchester United valued the transfer. The management team firmly believed that after the transfer of the club's overall equity, this veteran Premier League giant would return to its peak. Even if the transaction was not successfully completed in the end, the club itself had enough funds to buy Chen Xiaoliang and provide a salary offer that was hard to refuse.
Both the management and the coaching staff see this transfer as a necessary cornerstone for the club to return to its peak. Mutaf honestly told Chen Xiaoliang that they were once very close to Haaland, but historical and family reasons ultimately made the Norwegian choose Manchester City. This time they don't want to fall behind in the competition with their neighbors.
After that, Mutaf asked his secretary to play a video of head coach Ten Hag, in which Ten Hag briefly described the future tactical system and the role that Chen Xiaoliang would play in it, and promised to give him the No. 7 jersey, etc.
To be honest, Chen Xiaoliang was quite touched. After all, this is one of the largest clubs in the world. The fact that two industry leaders attach so much importance to him is indeed enough to show their sincerity. However, he still replied to them that he is now a member of Roma and does not want to confirm his intentions with any team before the end of the season.
This is unfair to his current club, unfair to his teammates, and even more unfair to the Roma fans.
The two did not seem surprised by Chen Xiaoliang's reaction. Instead, his high professionalism made them more determined to pursue the transfer.
In order not to waste time, the secretary handed over another thick paper document. Fletcher told Chen Xiaoliang that this was the club's scouting system's scouting report on Chen Xiaoliang, as well as the coaching staff's detailed plan for his future.
Chen Xiaoliang flipped through it casually and found a page that actually recorded and analyzed his professional qualities in detail, including his salary level at Glasgow Rangers, whether he had any conflicts with the club when he left Tottenham, and his historical behavior in training and contract negotiations after joining Roma.
This is several times more detailed than the scout report that Mourinho sent to observe him at the time!
Chen Xiaoliang himself can't remember many things. He knows him better than he knows himself.
After that, the two of them didn't say anything else. They left politely, saying "If you're interested, we can fly over from Manchester at any time."
Chen Xiaoliang saw the two off and returned to the house to briefly explain the matter to Riise so that he would have a better idea of what to do when dealing with the Manchester United transfer team.
[Boom boom boom] The system actually rang!
[Not accepting the high-priced invitation from the rich and powerful in person while the existing contract is in effect 1/1]
[Cherish the fans, reject temptation, and achieve success]
[Achievement Reward: Professional Quality +1]
Chen Xiaoliang couldn't help but burst out laughing, and suddenly he felt the same as the moral value he had when he was a child playing a certain game of Heroes.
However, what interested him more was the scout report on himself, which highlighted Chen Xiaoliang's ability to pass the ball while dribbling and his ability to launch a counterattack immediately after stealing the ball on the spot.
What is emphasized here is his tactical ability, not just his personal ability.
And there are highlights. The report calls Chen Xiaoliang "the best in the world":
One is the ability to press high up the pitch. Combined with prediction, physical strength, confrontation and stealing ability, he is the strongest candidate in this aspect.
The other is his offensive ability at the top of the opponent's penalty area, that is, the No. 14 position, which no other player can match.
The final conclusion is that when the team is equipped with a defensively stable midfielder, from the perspective of maximizing offensive and defensive benefits, the all-around attacking midfielder in a high-pressure pressing system is the best position for Chen Xiaoliang. In an all-out attack and defense system, the report gives Chen Xiaoliang a new positioning - a free man based on the all-around midfielder.
He didn't have time to finish reading the thick report in one night, but he kept thinking about what was inside it.
Obviously, this is a detailed plan to recruit Chen Xiaoliang, but the detailed content in it reflects the basic capabilities in all aspects that a real wealthy family possesses.
This has intensified his desire to move to a top club, but before that, he must do so as a winner.
The next afternoon, the team took a bus from the Trigoria base and headed to the Olympic Stadium in Rome again.
AC Milan, which has been in good overall form recently, has arrived at the stadium in advance to warm up.
The Rossoneri have 55 points, 6 points behind fourth-placed Lazio, and are making a strong sprint for a place in the Champions League.
There was no spark in the pre-match press conference. Pioli even played a psychological game, congratulating Roma in advance on their successful defense of the title and saying that in their current form, no one could beat them in Serie A.
Since the "worldwide offer for Chen Xiaoliang" incident began, Mourinho has been faced with questions like "Where will Chen Xiaoliang go next season?" and "Will you still coach Roma next season?" at every press conference, and he never gets tired of asking them.
Although Pioli said that he would consider adopting a more balanced lineup, when the starting lineup came out, it looked like he was going to fight to the death in Rome tonight.
Goalkeeper Maignan;
The back four: Theo, Tomori, Kjaer and captain Calabria;
Tonali and Krunic are defensive midfielders, Bennacer is attacking midfielder;
Left winger Leao, right winger Dias, and center forward Giroud.
There were no surprises in other positions, but Krunic, who usually plays as an attacking midfielder, was arranged in the defensive midfielder position, which still exposed Pioli's idea - if he can't defend, then attack.
Roma's main lineup remains the same.
Goalkeeper Patricio returned to the starting lineup after a one-game rest;
The back four is Malacia, Gvardiol, Smalling and Celik;
Wijnaldum and Cristante are defensive midfielders, Chen Xiaoliang is central midfielder;
The three strikers are Kova, Cesco and Dybala.
4-2-3-1 versus 4-2-3-1.
Despite the rotation, the different physical conditions of both sides after the opening still had an impact on each other's condition.
Unlike Roma which plays a game every three days, AC Milan only has the league to fight after being eliminated from both the Champions League and the Italian Cup. In their last game they beat Lecce 3-0 and had five days of rest, giving them plenty of time to prepare and mobilize.
Although Roma was on the offensive and AC Milan was on the defensive after the opening, the condition of Lucas and Leao on the left was definitely the best since Chen Xiaoliang came to Serie A.
In the 3rd minute, Dybala dribbled the ball on the left and wanted to cut inside and pass it to Chen Xiaoliang, but the ball was intercepted by Tonali.
Theo started moving forward instantly, and Tonali passed the ball before Chen Xiaoliang came over to steal the ball.
Theo forced his way forward and used his speed to eat Cristante alive. Celik was afraid of being dribbled past, so he kept blocking his route inside. What's more, there was Leo behind him to support him, so he didn't dare to lose his position blindly to steal the ball.
Theo dribbled the ball all the way to the outside of the penalty area , and made a triangle pass to the middle while running. Diaz followed up with a powerful shot, and Patricio fell to the ground and pressed the ball under him.
Lou Yichen: "It's dangerous! This goal immediately made Mourinho, who had been calm and composed since entering the field, unable to sit still. He stood up and warned the defense line at a high decibel."
Xie Hui: "The two defensive midfielders were not paying attention and did not see Diaz go from the right to the penalty spot and shoot. If Xiaoliang or Dybala had taken the shot, the goal would have been scored."
In the 6th minute, Roma fought back.
Malaysia dribbled the ball unhindered to the frontcourt and passed it to Kva who was on the side. Kva suddenly made a low cross with his left foot under the siege of Calabria and Diaz. Cesco half squeezed and half pushed Kjaer away, and shot with his left foot, but unfortunately it was too high.
Chen Xiaoliang was relatively dull after coming on the court today. Pioli changed his thinking based on the team's previous attempts. Since he couldn't defend or carry the team, and the team didn't have a midfielder with strong defensive ability and physique after selling Kessie, he used more running to limit Chen Xiaoliang's possession of the ball.
Although Krunic's defensive ability is not very strong, he is always diligent and he and Tonali and Bennacer are like two satellites surrounding Chen Xiaoliang. As long as Chen Xiaoliang passes the center circle of the half court, the two of them will block the ball and Chen Xiaoliang on the left and right to prevent the ball from passing.
Spanish midfielder Diaz was in exceptionally good form today . Playing as a left winger, he not only actively defended Kvart, but also repeatedly used his footwork to get past Malaysia.
In the 17th minute, Diaz dribbled the ball through the right side of the midfield. Facing the tight double-team of Malaysia in front of him and Kva behind him, he stepped on the ball, pulled it, and then passed it through the crotch of Malaysia, directly shaking off the two people who had not yet reacted and rushed forward.
Giroud took the initiative to move to the side to attract the defense's attention, and Leo on the left ran to the open area in the middle.
Diaz passed the ball straight over, and Gvardiol wanted to tackle it halfway, but he was a beat too slow and the ball passed by his toes.
Smalling rushed over from the other side, but it was too late to stop Leo from getting the ball.
It is said that some players become lazy and slack after signing a long-term contract, but they shine during the contract season, and then after winning the next contract with excellent performance, they start a new round of laziness.
The young Leo is obviously such a person. He is extremely talented and his performance has improved since returning from the World Cup, and his recent state has been out of control.
After receiving the ball, Leo took a few steps forward and was already about 3 meters away from the small penalty area.
Seeing that the defender had no time to defend, Patricio made an emergency attack, and Leo faced Patricio and lobbed the ball with his right foot.
Lou Yichen: "Beautiful, Leo! But Diaz deserves credit for this goal!"
Liu Yue: "That's right. Diaz played very well in the first 15 or 16 minutes today."
Xie Hui: "Leo's final handling was very calm. Diaz made a diagonal pass and he went straight in and broke through Roma's defense."
Lou Yichen: "Leo showed his signature smile, with a mouthful of big white teeth. Some fans left a message on the platform, saying that Leo's shallow smile is like black plum sauce!"
Three people: “Hahaha!”
AC Milan was celebrating wildly, but Roma was caught off guard.
There are problems with this ball, from the wing defense to the positioning of the central defender. Gvardiol is indeed strong in one-on-one defense, but when he is in a relatively forward position when supporting the attack, he is prone to making the mistake of looking at the ball instead of the player, and being offside by the opponent from behind.
Roma, who had recovered a little, played well for 10 minutes. Dybala's cut-in shot, Cesco's header in the penalty area and Cristante's long shot from behind all posed a great threat to AC Milan goalkeeper Maignan.
However, in the 29th minute, AC Milan launched an attack again on the left side. Leo cut in from the left and passed the ball to Giroud who was retreating. Giroud passed the ball back to Leo after hitting the wall. Facing Wijnaldum's blockade, Leo moved to the left, and Bennacer who was on the side received the ball and immediately passed it to the middle.
Guevadiol jumped up and touched the ball, but missed the target, and the ball fell back to Diaz's feet.
The Spaniard first faked a shot with his right foot, then shot with his left foot from close range into the near corner. Patricio was already blocking the near corner, but the ball hit Guevadiol who came forward to block it for the second time, and the ball was refracted and bounced into the far corner!
Lou Yichen: "What's going on?! In 30 minutes, AC Milan, playing away from home, is already two goals ahead!"
Liu Yue: "It's still a problem of flank protection. Roma's back line chose to shrink and protect the middle, but the premise of this defensive method is that the cross must be headed out and there must be an advantage in the air. But today it was obvious that Gvardiol's condition was not very good, and the results of several headers were not ideal."
Chen Xiaoliang was deliberately bypassed in these two defenses, and AC Milan's counterattack today was very determined. As long as he defended the player with the ball in the middle, the opponent would immediately move to the wing. No matter how fast this person ran, he could not be faster than the kicked ball.
Mourinho was already standing on the sidelines and was about to start yelling when he saw Chen Xiaoliang jogging towards the backcourt.
He ran to Gwadiol and waved his hand to call the defender and midfielder over: "Why are you so nervous? Don't you know how to play football?"
Several people looked depressed, and faced the captain's questioning, they all lowered their heads and remained silent.
Chen Xiaoliang knew these people very well, so this reaction was not unexpected at all: "You are all grown men, I just want to ask you, are you unable to stop them? Do you need me to withdraw and help you defend?!"
Gwadiol, who made the most mistakes today, said softly, “No, I will improve.”
Chen Xiaoliang: "Touch your bottom to see if your balls are still there. If you speak too softly, you won't be able to hear me."
Gwadiol: "No need! I can f*cking handle it!"
Chen Xiaoliang looked at the others again: "What about you? Do you still want to defend the flanks? If not, I will come to help you. As for the midfield air defense, leave it all to those two central defenders. It has nothing to do with you, right? Speak louder, can you handle it?!"
Everyone: “We can do it!”
Chen Xiaoliang: "Hurry up, we can't lose the ball anymore. There's still plenty of time. Let's deal with them."
Referee Antonio Rapuano had already blew the whistle twice, reminding Roma to kick off as soon as possible.
Cesco placed the ball at the center circle kick-off point, his brows furrowed.
Chen Xiaoliang: "Relax, you are so nervous and yet you still can't play well. If you can't even beat a team like this, why are you still playing in the Champions League?!"
After hearing this, Cesco nodded and deliberately relaxed his brows twice, but his expression was still very heavy.
Chen Xiaoliang: "Damn it, Erica is watching from the stands. You two are so cowardly. Don't go for a morning run tomorrow."
These words were not only spoken to Cesco, but also to Kwa who was standing on the midline.
When the two guys heard the word "goddess", their eyes lit up immediately, their hormones further stimulated the production of adrenaline, and their whole body became excited!
When Chen Xiaoliang saw the two LSPs’ eyes lighting up, he knew that his mobilization had worked. He turned to look at Dybala on the other side, but he didn’t say anything. The two just made eye contact and Dybala nodded to him.
In fact, the two had a long talk about the future before the game, but now is not the time for them to recall the content of the conversation.
【Dong Dong Dong】
The system actually prompted.
[Detected to be two goals behind]
[Passive skill: Big Heart takes effect]
[Skill Effect: Random attribute increased by 2 points → Cross attribute increased by 2 points]
“Beep!”
Referee Lapuano blew the whistle and Cesco kicked the ball to Chen Xiaoliang.
Chen Xiaoliang turned off the system, but he already had a plan in his mind on how to play next.
18 crosses plus 2 points means that his crosses in this game have temporarily reached the full value of 20.
Fight back, start now!
