Chapter 341: The Second Step of the Triple Crown: Red and Yellow Team Football
The next day, the Roma team took the high-speed train back to Rome in a relaxed and happy mood. They would play two games at home next. The most important one was the latter one - the Italian Cup final against Juventus.
Benefiting from the rule adjustment starting from the 2007-08 season, the Italian Cup final was reformed with reference to the English FA Cup, and the final venue was fixed at the Olympic Stadium in the capital Rome, which is also the home ground of Roma, saving Chen Xiaoliang and his teammates from unnecessary travel.
The best player of the last game was given to Inter Milan goalkeeper Onana, who made seven successful saves throughout the game.
Chen Xiaoliang obtained 9 basic skill points, plus Inter Milan's doubling coefficient, which is 18 skill points (86→104), 18 training points (54→72 ) and 1 breakthrough point (6→7).
The card of [Rich Family Mission] gave Chen Xiaoliang a card that he treasured:
[Peak Inter Milan Ronaldo pendulum pass card (once)]
[Function: Ball control 20 when dribbling past the goalkeeper with a single shot]
[Additional skills: Good at shooting after dribbling past the goalkeeper]
Although the chances of scoring are higher when you are in a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper, there are still frequent cases where the goalkeeper saves the one-on-one situation.
But with this card, it basically means that this one-on-one opportunity can definitely be converted into a goal.
As for the new skills, Chen Xiaoliang looked at a large number of skills such as [good at long-distance free kicks], [good at dribbling on the wing], [good at choosing angles for clever shots], [good at fancy dribbling], [good at dribbling away from double-teaming], etc., and he was at a loss for a moment.
Some of them are not suitable for him yet, such as free kicks . His basic ability is low and it is useless even if he has the skills.
Some of them do not fit his positioning for the time being, such as [good at dribbling on the wing] and [good at counter-offside], which are the jobs of wingers and forwards.
At the beginning, he kept thinking about Manchester City's midfield and defense, Rodri, Stones, Akanji, Dias, what are the characteristics of those people, and how to unlock skills against them, but after thinking about it, he realized that if he could deal with this, he might not be able to deal with that, so it would be better to play to his strengths.
Let him be as arrogant as he wants, the bright moon shines on the river.
Finally, Chen Xiaoliang unlocked his favorite dribbling move:
【Good at passing the ball】!!!
Skill value 104 → 4
This skill can not only increase the starting speed and ability to get rid of the opponent after a burst of dribbling in a wide space, but also improve the ability to use small tricks such as crotch penetration in a narrow range.
Every time he unlocked a new skill, he would go to the training ground to try it out with his good friends. As a result, Perrone became the worst victim today.
Whether it was the half-court tactical drill or the one-on-one training, Perrone was either lowering his head to protect his crotch or turning around to find which side of his body Chen Xiaoliang had dribbled past...
If the upright Enzo was still on the team, he would definitely fight Chen Xiaoliang to the end, even if it meant pulling his jersey, which would be a foul.
Perrone arrived late and was on loan. He knew that he was young and had little weight in the team. What's more, his sparring partner was the captain Chen Xiaoliang who was at the peak of his career. Although he tried his best, he did not feel angry or complain after being teased. He just asked to go to the captain's house for dinner in the evening.
Chen Xiaoliang laughed and agreed immediately, thinking: So you are waiting for me here...
However, he did not only focus on Perrone. Gvadiol was also his main target in today's training. However, the Croatian became famous in the World Cup, and with the baptism of a whole season in Rome, he has now reached a very high level in experience, self-confidence and ability. With Chen Xiaoliang's current dribbling level of 15, even with the blessing of new skills, it is not an easy task to use the ball to pass Gvadiol in a small space.
After all, the central defender is the last line of defense and will not easily press forward too much. There is no chance to use explosive speed to force your way past him.
With such a powerful practice object, Chen Xiaoliang roughly knew how to continue to improve in the next month.
Just before the next league game, he trained fully and practiced for two days (training value 72→80), and he directly used these points on his dribbling attributes.
Dribbling 15 → 16
Training value 80 → 0
To break Guardiola's Manchester City midfield stranglehold and protect the ball from multiple double-teams, speed and physical strength alone are definitely not enough. Dribbling will be the most important ability.
On the evening of May 21, Roma played against Salernitana at home. Chen Xiaoliang, as a symbol of the main force who must play in accordance with the principle of fair competition, led a group of substitutes and youth training players into the stadium.
But this day was very special for him.
Before the game, Serie A President Lorenzo Cassini personally presented Chen Xiaoliang with the Serie A season MVP trophy on the sidelines.
Another award that has been confirmed, the best midfielder of the season, will be presented at the end of the season along with the best players in other positions.
If winning the first Serie A MVP award with 8 goals and 16 assists in last season's league can be said to be a breakthrough, then this season's historic performance of 21 goals and 17 assists in the league is not only well-deserved, but also the best one.
However, it is worth pointing out that this award, which was established in the 2018-19 season, is the highest individual award officially awarded by the Serie A League for performance in the Serie A league.
In addition, the most authoritative award in Italy is the Player of the Season, which was established in 1997 and awarded by the Italian Professional Footballers Association (AIC). The award ceremony is held in October every year for all players playing for Italian clubs, and is not limited to performance in the Serie A league.
Last year, the award was given to Leao, who scored 14 goals and had 12 assists. Chen Xiaoliang won the Best Midfielder and Best Team awards, which triggered a lot of complaints. Although the date has not yet arrived this year, judging from various media and public opinion, there is no suspense about Chen Xiaoliang's winning the award.
While receiving the award, the announcer in the stadium loudly told all the fans present that today was their captain’s 19th birthday!
The mayor of Rome presented a trophy symbolizing the city's golden key on behalf of the municipal government and gave Chen Xiaoliang the status of honorary citizen.
Everything was normal after the start of the game. Salernitana, who were not worried about relegation, played very relaxed. The players on the Roma side were also passionate. The two teams launched wave after wave of attacks on each other.
In the 19th minute, all the fans stood up and applauded and sang the birthday song. Team flags, posters and No. 33 jerseys were waving everywhere. Mourinho also replaced Chen Xiaoliang with Perrone at this moment. Chen Xiaoliang walked to the sidelines amid the singing and cheers, raising his hands to applaud and thank the fans.
Mourinho didn't want to send him to play today. There was no need to waste the main players' energy in such an insignificant game. As for the few main players who must be on the field according to league regulations, Pellegrini, Abraham and others could just "make up the numbers".
But the club notified in advance that it would hold a birthday celebration and a small award ceremony. Mourinho believed that these were the courtesies Chen Xiaoliang deserved, so this 19-minute formality was held.
In the end, Roma defeated Salernitana 1-0 with a penalty in the 56th minute when Perrone's long-range shot hit the opponent's defender's arm. Abraham scored the only goal of the game.
Chen Xiaoliang also took advantage of his teammates' benefits. He played for 19 minutes and earned 3 training points (0→3) and 2 physical recovery cards (2→4).
Juventus flew directly from Germany to Rome the next day. They eliminated Bundesliga team Leverkusen in the Europa League the day before and advanced to the final.
Rather than hoping that the league penalty points will be cancelled, Allegri believes it is more pragmatic to qualify for the Champions League as the Europa League champion.
Their opponent will be the Red Devils Manchester United.
But before that, Juventus also wants to fight for the Italian Cup. Although Roma is in high spirits and playing at a familiar stadium, the Italian Cup championship can also guarantee a qualification for the Europa League next season, which is exactly what Juventus, who are currently ranked 7th in the league due to penalty points, urgently needs.
Mourinho didn't want the fat meat in his mouth to fly away, and winning the league title ahead of schedule also gave the team's main players plenty of rest time.
Even after the Italian Cup final on the 24th, the main players can maintain a low-consumption rotation method in the last two rounds of the league until the Champions League final 18 days later.
So he did sufficient mobilization before the game.
He told the players that winning the league title consecutively was great, but from a historical perspective, winning the league title alone would not leave much of a mark in football history.
The Champions League is of course the highest trophy, and for many stars it is something they are unable to win in their entire lives.
If the team achieves the league and Champions League double this season, it will be enough to end every player's career and make Europe remember Roma for five to ten years.
But if one wants to achieve one of the few trebles in the long history, then tonight's seemingly least important cup championship has become a chasm that has stumped many once-dominant teams.
Since the establishment of the Champions League, there have been only 7 treble winners. The three teams before the reform were:
Celtic in the Scottish Premier League in 1966-67;
Ajax in the Eredivisie in 1971-72;
1987-88 Eredivisie PSV;
After the Champions League was restructured, four teams won three or more titles six times, namely:
Manchester United in the Premier League in 1998-99;
2008-09, 2014-15 La Liga Barcelona;
Inter Milan in Serie A in 2009-10;
Bundesliga Bayern Munich in 2012-13 and 2019-20.
This term was coined by sports writer Charles Hatton in an American newspaper in 1930. It was originally used to describe the invincible racehorse Gallant Fox that won three Grade 1 championships in five weeks. However, it has spread throughout the world within the scope of the world's number one sport, football, but there are only a few teams qualified to own it.
In other words, whether you want to be famous for a while and then be forgotten in a few years, or to go down in history and be recorded forever, it all depends on tonight.
These words will actually put some pressure on some veteran players, such as Matic, Smalling and Patricio.
They are used to the cruelty of competitive sports and know how difficult it is for a team to get to this point and what it means if they miss it.
But for those young players who have just debuted for a few years, especially those who still aspire to become famous with one goal or one battle, there is no more tempting motivation than this.
The ideals of some players are no different from those of workers, which is nothing more than becoming a top star, dating a beautiful, rich woman, and reaching the peak of their life. This is why so many players work hard when they are young, but become content with pleasure and lose the desire to make progress when they reach a certain age.
The purpose of working hard is to stop working as soon as possible. In a few years, you can earn more money than others can earn in their entire lives. So you have to keep playing music and dancing.
That night, the starting lineup was announced. Allegri, who is a cautious player, would not try to use consumption and then attack like Inzaghi. His starting lineup was no different from the starting lineup in recent leagues, but the formation was also changed to the popular three-center-back system:
Goalkeeper Szczesny;
The three central defenders are Danilo on the left, Bremer in the middle, and Gatti on the right. After Sandro was injured, Gatti, who was still playing in the lower leagues the previous season, gradually became the right central defender under Allegri.
The two wingbacks are Kostic on the left and De Sciglio on the right;
The three midfielders Rabiot, Locatelli and Pogba, this was also Pogba's second game after returning from injury;
The deep-lying striker Di Maria and the forward Vlahovic.
Poor Chiesa is still on the injury list, while Vlahovic, like Barella, is no longer considered a rival because of losing three games in a row to Chen Xiaoliang.
This 3-5-2 formation earned Juventus a lot of points in the second half of the season. If they hadn't been penalized, they would now be ranked third in the league with 73 points, surpassing Inter Milan.
Roma returned to 4-2-3-1. In addition to the front four, Cristante and Wijnaldum at defensive midfield, and Gvardiol and Mancini at central defenders are all regular starters. Only Spinazzola and Bigna's starting wing-backs today were slightly different from the media's predictions before the game, but it was also reasonable.
In addition to the suspense of whether Roma can retain the treble, another major highlight of this game is that the Italian Football Association has for the first time appointed a woman as the referee to officiate the Italian Cup final.
Maria Caputi became the first female referee in the history of Serie A in 2022. Although she has not yet demonstrated outstanding ability in refereeing, at least she has not made any major mistakes such as serious misjudgments.
The Italian Football Association chose from a bunch of experienced male referees, but felt that whoever they chose would be accused by the media of having a "criminal record", so they decided to be creative and send in Maria Caputi, hoping that her female identity would make the players more "gentle" when encountering controversial incidents and reduce the turmoil on the court.
With her witness, Chen Xiaoliang and Danilo, as captains of both teams, guessed the sides and returned to their own half.
Chen Xiaoliang, who originally had no special ideas, was attracted by the behavior of one person. That was Pogba, who had not been seen in European football for a long time.
Without the colorful and weird hairstyles that caused controversy in the past, the French seem to look a lot more stable, but it seems that this is only an appearance.
He had his hands on his chest, pointing to the sky, and muttering something.
If it were any other player, Chen Xiaoliang would know that they were praying devoutly. However, Pogba's weird expression, the strange way he looked at himself, and the witchcraft curse on Mbappe that was previously exposed by his brother, who was nicknamed "Pogba Seven" by the fans, made Chen Xiaoliang really suspect that he had also asked an African wizard to curse him...
However, he never believed in such weird and supernatural things. He laughed in his heart, thinking that Africa has its own magic and the Red Country has its own spells.
“Bounce!”
As Chen Xiaoliang finished his recitation in his mind, the referee blew the whistle and the competition for the Italian Cup officially began!
Vlahovic kicked the ball to Pogba, who passed it back to Danilo. Juventus' overall formation began to press forward significantly.
Everyone in Roma saw that there was no suspense. Allegri still used the same tactics, attacking at the beginning and then slowly hiding.
In the front, Di Maria went to the left and Vlahovic was slightly to the right. In the midfield, Pogba and Rabiot came to the vicinity of the attacking third zone from the right and left respectively. Only Locatelli fell behind. On both sides, Kostic and De Sciglio had crossed the half court and continued to advance.
Roma did not retreat as a whole. They were well prepared. The two defensive midfielders blocked the two Juventus midfielders and started man-to-man marking in the area, unless the two midfielders retreated out of the attacking third zone.
Chen Xiaoliang was in the middle, ready to intercept the ball from Juventus' backcourt to the midfield at any time.
Dybala and Kva followed behind Juventus' wing-backs, and they could double-team the full-backs immediately after the ball was transferred, or they could launch an attack forward as soon as the offense and defense changed.
This formation in the midfield is a bit like the man-to-man marking in basketball. It is a midfield pressing defense tactic that Mourinho has specially arranged and practiced recently.
Capello, a commentator for Sky Sports Italy, saw at the first moment that Mourinho was aiming for the Champions League final. This set of tactics was actually used to target Manchester City's strong midfield passing and control capabilities, and Juventus was just a touchstone.
As soon as Capello finished speaking, Bremer, who had the ball in the backcourt, passed it to Pogba who had advanced some distance.
If Pogba is a former genius in the hearts of Juventus or French fans, then in the hearts of Mourinho and Manchester United fans, this guy should be a complete devil.
No one can deny his talent, but no one can say that he has never been crazy.
He has two sides, and no one can tell what he really is. The final answer may depend on Pogba's thoughts. To put it simply, it depends on his mood today.
It was obvious that Pogba was in high spirits and full of fighting spirit today. He started moving forward as soon as he received the ball.
When Allegri saw his generals so motivated, he immediately frowned and thought: It's bad.
Mourinho smiled coldly in his heart. He knew the Frenchman in front of him very well.
When other players are fully committed, they make the best choices at the best time, but when Pogba is fully committed, he often feels like he has the world under his control with a ball in hand.
Pogba ran less than 3 meters with the ball when a figure he had played against before blocked his way.
Chen Xiaoliang, a Red Countryman, No. 33 of Glasgow Rangers, is a rough guy who can only tackle and run around. He learned some basic shooting skills from Gerrard and took advantage of Roma's above-average performance to increase his value.
That’s right, in Pogba’s eyes, this is how he views Chen Xiaoliang.
It is no wonder that any player who had played against Chen Xiaoliang two years ago, whether in the Scottish Premier League or the Europa League, would not believe that a person could have such a drastic change in more than two years.
At this point, Pogba, who has always been abnormal, seemed to be normal for a while.
But Chen Xiaoliang immediately made him understand that there is an idiom that goes "When a scholar has been away for three days, he should be looked at with new eyes."
"Don't stick to the ball! Pass it!" Rabiot's reminder was like playing the lute to a cow. Seeing Pogba preparing to dribble past Chen Xiaoliang, Rabiot was ready to run back, cursing as he ran: "The reason this idiot was injured for half a year is because his head hit the ground, right?!"
A second later, Chen Xiaoliang and Pogba were like two Japanese samurai dueling with swords during the Warring States Period. The winner was decided in the moment they flashed past each other.
Pogba's dribbling ability is actually quite good, and his physical fitness is also top-notch among technical midfielders, but his feet are too long, which results in a long stride when dribbling the ball. Coupled with the arrogance and conceit in his character, he did not take Chen Xiaoliang seriously at all.
Chen Xiaoliang easily poked the ball forward with his toes in the interval between his two dribbles, and the ball rolled under his crotch. He combined the two skills of [Good at close defense] and [Good at separating the ball from the player], and rushed forward in an instant with continuous breakthroughs, dribbling, and counterattacks.
Pogba found that the player had passed and the ball was gone, so he had to look back awkwardly, and then began to jog towards his own half as if he was doing some health and leisure.
Young players such as Perrone and Volpato were stunned off the court. They couldn't help but turn their heads to look at Mourinho and then at Allegri, wondering why it was already 2023 and there were still such lazy players able to gain a foothold in the top five leagues. How talented must he be to make the head coach of a top club tolerate such behavior?
If it were them, if they were not aggressive or fast enough in returning to defense during training, they would have been scolded by Mourinho and would have forgotten about playing in the game.
Chen Xiaoliang sped up with the ball. Rabiot, who turned back early, tried to intercept diagonally, but found that he was not fast enough to catch up.
In front of Chen Xiaoliang, Locatelli greeted Pogba's family in his heart while stopping Chen Xiaoliang.
It was not known whether the people he greeted included the French brothers Borg Seven and Borg Nine, but in any case, the look of stab wound on his face could not be hidden, and it turned into anger that surged towards Chen Xiaoliang.
Chen Xiaoliang is not Pogba. Before getting close to Locatelli, he made a diagonal pass to Kva who was cutting in from the left.
After two rounds of the Champions League, the Georgian football king deeply studied his gains and losses against Dumfries, Damian and Skriniar, including the lesson of being closely watched by Calabria throughout the game against AC Milan, and improved his playing style.
I don’t know if he plays some card killing games, but in any case, during the extra practice with Chen Xiaoliang, he figured out this saying: The ability to advance and retreat is the real magic weapon.
After receiving the ball, Kva met Gatti outside the left sideline of the penalty area. He faced the inside of the penalty area and Gatti faced the sideline. On the right side of his body, De Sciglio, who was chasing back, also arrived and formed a double team with Gatti, and was about to kick to grab the ball.
Kvara ran back with the ball, as if he was going to pass it to Spinazzola who was waiting behind him.
Seeing this, De Sciglio immediately wanted to go around and intercept Kwa's pass.
The moment De Sciglio pounced, Kva, who was coming back, immediately dribbled the ball with his right foot and turned around, got between the two people, and passed them both in an instant!
Totti, who was sitting next to Capello and serving as a guest commentator, stood up excitedly and shouted, "It's coming! It's coming soon!" This made the beautiful host Dilita Leotta's cheeks blush.
Kva broke into the left corner of the small penalty area. Bremer could no longer stick to Cesco, so he gave up defense early and rushed towards Kva.
The Georgian football king made an inverted triangle with his right foot, looked back at Cesco and Chen Xiaoliang in the middle of the penalty area, and then passed the ball to the far post on the other side of the small penalty area!
The Argentine, Juventus' once most familiar stranger, Paulo Dybala shook off Danilo and rushed into the penalty area. He shot the ball less than two meters away from the goal as if to vent his anger. Szczesny, who was blocking Kva at the near post, had no time to rush to the far post and could only look at the ball sadly.
The ball exploded into the net, but because it was hit with such great force, it bounced out of the net.
But this did not affect Dybala from running to the sidelines to celebrate passionately.
Inside the stadium, one side is red and yellow, and the other side is black and white, and they are clearly separated by security personnel.
At this moment, the red and yellow side was like a raging flame, watching the goal scorer on the sidelines celebrating wholeheartedly, while the black and white side was like stagnant water, booing in unison, scolding their former general.
Dybala said in an interview before the game that if he scored a goal, he would definitely celebrate:
"Juventus is a thing of the past and it is only natural for me and my teammates to celebrate the goal."
He ignored the boos from the other side of the pitch as his last game at Juventus seemed to appear before his eyes.
In his heart, as much as he could not forget the tears he shed in the last game at the Allianz Stadium in Turin, he wanted to use a goal to fight back against those past events and old friends who questioned him.
"Beautiful, Dybala!" Chen Xiaoliang's loud congratulations brought Dybala back to reality.
Dybala didn't say anything. He pulled up Kva who passed the ball to him and Chen Xiaoliang who launched the attack, and hugged them tightly around the necks!
Trusting his teammates and being trusted by them, he is sure that he is enjoying the happiest period of his career!
For Roma, they were already leading 1-0 just 1 minute and 31 seconds into the game, and the second step of the journey to the treble had already begun!
