Chapter 402: The moment you scored a goal, we couldn't help cheering
Old Trafford, 18:30, 15 February 2024.
Before arriving at the stadium and changing his jersey, Chen Xiaoliang went to the Roma locker room alone and said hello to his old friends.
Despite being an opponent, Chen Xiaoliang, who left too many beautiful and sacred memories for Roma, was still welcomed by the whole team.
Even Van de Beek and Tuanzebe, who were sold from Manchester United, are full of respect for the new captain of the Red Devils.
The 19-year-old double champion is a walking legend. Any professional football practitioner knows that he is a super player without any weaknesses.
Moreover, although players like Van de Beek and Vitor Rock have never worked with Chen Xiaoliang, their transfers were promoted by Riise. Rock is even a player represented by Riise, and the relationship between Riise and Chen Xiaoliang is well known to everyone, and has long surpassed that of ordinary agents and players.
One of these two players became a regular starter in Roma again, and the other came to the top five European leagues from Brazil with the halo of genius. Both are grateful to Chen Xiaoliang.
The key is that he has a distinct personality and is quite appealing. No matter whether he is a man, a woman, or a Walmart shopping bag, everyone will be attracted by Chen Xiaoliang's temperament and appearance.
But Gerard did not have any specific interaction with Chen Xiaoliang, just nodded from a distance.
He is a Liverpool player and the head coach of a rival team, so he must stand firm.
The players on the Roma side are familiar with Chen Xiaoliang, while on the Manchester United side, Chen Xiaoliang is familiar with both the Roma players and Gerrard's tactical style.
In the tactical meetings before the games, he was the one explaining the tactics to the first-team players. Ten Hag also told him privately that he had the potential to become an excellent coach in the future.
In the first three games, Chen Xiaoliang gained 14 training points and 4 breakthrough points against Bournemouth, 7 skill points and 2 breakthrough points in the FA Cup against Cambridge United, and 3 training points in the league draw with West Ham.
Add the 40 points from 10 days of training, for a total of 57 training points (0→57), 7 skill points (35→42), and 6 breakthrough points (59→65).
At 19:00, after the starting lineup was announced, it was exactly the same as Chen Xiaoliang predicted.
Roma's starting 4-3-2-1 Christmas tree formation:
goalkeeper Patricio;
The back four: Zalewski, Mancini, Ito Hiroki, and Spinazzola;
The three defensive midfielders are Cristante, Wijnaldum and Kokcu;
The double attacking midfielders are Vitor Roque and Pellegrini;
The forward is Abraham.
Among them, Hiroki Ito is a former Bundesliga best newcomer signed from Bundesliga Stuttgart in the summer window. He has also performed well in Serie A this season.
Kokcu was the core midfielder of last season's Dutch Eredivisie champion Feyenoord. Under the operation of Riise, Roma beat Benfica, Sevilla and other teams and bought him in the summer window for 25 million. He was also ready to fight and plug and play.
Van de Beek was not used because Manchester United players knew him too well.
Roque, a genius who was as famous in Brazil as Endric who was signed by Real Madrid at the age of 16, fully demonstrated the outstanding skills he had honed in Brazil after coming to Roma in the relatively slower and more technology-oriented football atmosphere of Serie A. Hailed as the "new alien" in Brazil, his performance of 5 goals and 5 assists in half a season minimized Roma's losses in breaking through the defense after Kovač's departure.
Although this lineup is not as good as the treble-winning team of last season, the three lines are more balanced, with both new and old players, and are equally threatening.
The best proof is that they are currently ranked third in Serie A, only 4 points behind Inter Milan, and qualified as the top team in the Champions League group stage.
Manchester United:
goalkeeper Livakovic;
The back four is Wan-Bissaka, Varane, Lima and Luke Thomas;
The double defensive midfielders are Milinkovic-Savic and Casemiro, and the central midfielder is Chen Xiaoliang;
The trident is still Kwadwort, Cesco and Rashford.
When lining up in the player tunnel, both sides shook hands and greeted each other in a friendly manner. Even the referee team felt that this game was like a friendly match, and there was no sign of tension between the players.
Especially when both sides walked into the stadium and the announcer at Old Trafford shouted out Chen Xiaoliang's name loudly, the Roma fans who had traveled away from home cheered together with the Manchester United fans to pay tribute to their former Pope.
But once the game started, everything changed immediately.
Gerrard and his Roma proved with their attitude and actions that they were definitely not in Manchester for vacation or to visit friends.
Roma, who won the coin toss and kicked off first, launched a quick attack from the very first moment.
After receiving the ball, Rock moved forward. Facing the tall Milinkovic-Savic, he cut directly into the middle and attacked the junction of Manchester United's double defensive midfielders.
Although Milinkovic-Savic was following closely, he was 191cm tall and was unable to keep up with the pace and speed when defending against Rock who was 172cm tall one-on-one.
Casemiro had to come over to defend and prevent Rock from getting the chance to shoot in the middle.
As soon as Casemiro moved, Rock passed the ball to the right side of the rib, Pellegrini received the ball and made a diagonal cross. Abraham in the penalty area rushed to the near point and headed the ball, which flew straight to the right side of the goal!
Fortunately, Livakovic predicted the situation in advance, leaned to the left, and used his left hand to block the ball out of the baseline, otherwise Roma would have scored the first goal 30 seconds into the game.
Rock was the player chosen by Chen Xiaoliang and for whom Riise flew to Brazil specifically to grab the agency rights .
He originally wanted to recommend him to Manchester United, but considering that there were too many players in the winger position in Manchester United's lineup in the summer, it would not be conducive for a Brazilian player who was about to turn 18 to get stable playing time, so he recommended him to Gerrard.
The name Vitor Roque is well-known in the European scout circle, and Gerrard naturally knows some of the rumors about him and Barcelona.
Moreover, at that time he had sold Chen Xiaoliang and three others, and had more than 300 million euros in cash but lacked a good transfer target. So after careful study, he immediately decided to bring this Brazilian genius to Rome.
After it came, it really worked.
No matter how many videos you watch, it is better to play a game in person. Chen Xiaoliang on the field also discovered this at this moment.
Although there are not many fans in Roma, Manchester United gave them 5,000 away tickets, but the momentum of these 5,000 people is not much inferior to the remaining 69,000 Manchester United fans.
Although they know that the probability of defending the Champions League title this season is extremely low, as the treble winners, Roma's fans are just like they did last season. No matter which stadium in Europe they are in, they will cheer and become the 12th man of the home team.
In addition to the fans, the VIP stands were also filled with celebrities.
Sir Alex Ferguson, David Gill, and Van der Sar are of course present, as well as England coach Southgate, Argentina coach Scaloni, Italy coach Roberto Mancini, Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman and other national team coaches all appeared in the stands.
You know, in the summer of 2024, Europe has the European Cup in Germany and America has the America's Cup. Especially this America's Cup, it is no longer a competition for the ten South American countries, but also includes six teams from Central and North America, becoming a veritable "America's" Cup.
Both Ronaldo and Messi have expressed their desire to continue playing for their country. The outside world is paying attention to whether the two aging superstars can lead their team to victory again.
Mbappe's France is the favorite for the European Cup. Haaland's Norway is in Group A of the qualifiers with Spain, Scotland, Georgia and Cyprus. It is still unclear whether they can qualify for the finals.
What's more, there will be the Paris Olympics in the summer of 2024, and the gold medals for men's and women's football are also an honor that many countries want to strive for.
In addition, there are a number of famous players such as Totti, Beckham, Lampard, and Maldini.
Zidane, who is rumored to be replacing the underperforming Nagelsmann and returning to Real Madrid, also appeared at the scene.
Mourinho's wife Matilda is recovering from a serious illness, and he is watching the game in the rehabilitation hospital with his family.
Although Harry Kane was intercepted by Bayern at the last minute, he also snatched Uruguayan midfielder Ugarte from Sporting CP from his old club Chelsea for 65 million euros.
Mourinho always has a premonition, whether it is UEFA's "invisible hand" or the hand of fate in the dark, in short, he believes that there will always be a hand that will make him and Chen Xiaoliang meet in this season's Champions League.
Looking across Europe, he believes that only the two Manchester City giants can pose a threat to his Paris Saint-Germain team at the moment, and all other teams are in the eyes of this madman.
But after all, he still has deep feelings for Roma, and he also wants to see how Roma will perform under the leadership of Gerrard without Chen Xiaoliang.
After 10 minutes, after withstanding Roma's three-pronged attack, Manchester United gradually gained a clear advantage.
Gerrard's three defensive midfielders were designed for Chen Xiaoliang. As a legendary all-around midfielder in his career, he knows that even if he returns to his peak years, he cannot do anything to the current Chen Xiaoliang in a one-on-one match. He can only follow the path taken by most coaches and use quantity to fight quality.
And Ten Hag naturally has a way to deal with it.
In the 12th minute, Manchester United attacked and Roma tightened their defense. Chen Xiaoliang moved to the right and switched positions with Rashford.
Spinazzola, who is known as the "Great Italian Left" who has the potential to become a great Italian left-back, was both focused and helpless when he saw Chen Xiaoliang.
He was able to come back from a serious injury, quickly recover and frequently start in games, all thanks to Chen Xiaoliang's extra training team.
But everyone who has experienced the extra training team knows what a terrifying existence Chen Xiaoliang is.
If we talk about the training plan arranged by the coaching staff, it is a complete exercise for the entire team. Even if it is group training, forwards practice forwards and defenders practice defenders.
This type of training focuses on tactical drills and physical fitness reserves.
Chen Xiaoliang's additional training focused on small-scale coordination and one-on-one and two-on-two local confrontations.
First one side attacks, and then the other side defends.
Therefore, almost every player who participated in the extra training had an unforgettable picture, that is, they were confused by Chen Xiaoliang's offense in defense, and then they were discouraged by Chen Xiaoliang's defense in offense.
At this moment, Chen Xiaoliang had just received the pass from Milinkovic-Savic, and Spinazzola took a defensive stance.
But before he could defend, two teammates rushed over to help.
Kokcu, the Turkish midfielder from Feyenoord has blocked Chen Xiaoliang, and behind Chen Xiaoliang is Rock who has retreated to assist in defense.
Neither of them had ever partnered with Chen Xiaoliang, so no matter what their inner motivations were, like previous players who faced Chen Xiaoliang for the first time, they all wanted to have a chance to fight against this top football star who is known for his excellent offense and defense and no weaknesses.
Chen Xiaoliang started his dribbling.
He first dribbled with his right foot on the right, quickly rushed to the right front, and instantly passed Kokku with his unparalleled explosive starting speed.
Kokku simply couldn't believe that there was someone in the world whose first step could be so fast!
In order to prevent Chen Xiaoliang from passing through, he stretched out his left hand and pulled him up with an action that was almost equivalent to hugging the waist.
Chen Xiaoliang's body was immediately slowed down as he rushed forward, but he still protected the ball with his feet to prevent Kokku from stepping on it.
The referee Sandro Schar from Switzerland had put the whistle in his mouth.
At this time, Kokku had returned to Chen Xiaoliang with the hug just now, and Rock, who had retreated to assist in defense, also ran over, ready to steal the ball.
Chen Xiaoliang blocked Kokku with his right hand, pulling him away with his left hand, while turning his body sideways to protect the ball with his left foot to prevent Rock from stepping on it.
At this time, the Manchester United fans in the stands were shouting in unison like a rising tide.
Chen Xiaoliang stepped forward with his left foot, and Rock missed the ball. Kokku took the opportunity to stretch out his right leg and try to steal the ball. At this moment, Chen Xiaoliang pushed the ball to the front right and it flashed past Kokku's left side again, and this time he really left him behind!
Spinazzola, who had been lagging behind waiting for an opportunity to make up for the defense, wanted to go forward to block Chen Xiaoliang, but the Red Devils captain, who had just passed Kokcu, pushed forward with his left foot, and Spinazzola, who had leaned forward, passed him cleanly in an instant!
Zhan Jun: "Xiaoliang! One over three! Wow! I can't stop him!"
"Go straight to the middle!"
"Sesco!"
"The shot was blocked by Japanese international Ito Yoki, and Manchester United got a corner kick!"
Zhang Lu: "Xiaoliang just now really had...superb physical confrontation and dribbling abilities, it was as if I saw the shadow of Messi dribbling the ball."
Zhan Jun: "Eh? Let's see, hahaha, maybe Spinazzola himself didn't react."
Zhang Lu: "Hahaha, this is so interesting..."
Zhan Jun: "The camera captured that after Cesco's shot was blocked by Roma's Ito Hiroki and went out of bounds, Spinazzola and Chen Xiaoliang in front of him actually looked up and sighed at the same time."
"Do you still think that Cesco is your teammate?"
Zhang Lu: "Hehe, it's true."
Chen Xiaoliang turned around and blinked his left eye at Spinazzola. The latter smiled awkwardly and stretched out his hand to wave at Chen Xiaoliang, meaning "Stop teasing me."
The referee Sandro Schar gave Kokku a yellow card. The action of hugging the player around the waist was a completely active foul. However, Chen Xiaoliang had not lost the ball just now, and the attack was in his favor, so Sandro Schar did not stop the game.
Manchester United corner.
Rashford pushed the ball back to Chen Xiaoliang who was standing on the right side, and Chen Xiaoliang directly kicked a curved cross.
Milinkovic-Savic made a run in the front point and attracted Ito Hiroki;
Rashford and Cesco roamed in the middle, with Cristante, Wijnaldum and Abraham keeping a close eye on them;
The two players moved forward and jumped one after another, launching a feint attack and fooling a large number of defenders in the Roma penalty area.
Then the ball flew straight to the back point in an almost level state!
Varane jumped high and was about to head the ball, but Gianluca Mancini jumped up and headed the ball first and blocked it!
Zalewski, who was standing aside, kicked the ball to the front court.
Chen Xiaoliang himself was amused, thinking: "How could I have forgotten about this guy?"
When in Rome, whether it was a corner kick, free kick or cross, Mancini's header attack at the back post was one of the team's regular tactical routines.
On the contrary, at Manchester United, the tactics for heading the ball in the penalty area are more complicated and varied.
Therefore, it can be said that Mancini is much more familiar with how Chen Xiaoliang will pass the ball to the back post than Varane.
"We have to try something different." Chen Xiaoliang thought.
In the 31st minute, Rock made a comeback, this time he switched positions with Pellegrini, ready to attack his compatriot and big brother Casemiro.
Casemiro certainly knows his reputation. The top scorer of the South American Youth Cup is regarded by many in Brazil as the main striker candidate for Brazil in the 2026 World Cup.
This time Rocky shook a few times and launched an attack from the right flank, trying to go through the junction of Casemiro and Luke Thomas, but was decisively blocked by the two.
Then Rock passed the ball through the crotch and pushed it between Casemiro's legs. Casemiro immediately turned around and stretched out his hand to block Rock who was trying to slip past him. Luke Thomas on the side cooperated well and kicked the ball to goalkeeper Livakovic.
Roque followed the unique Brazilian custom and when his body touched Casemiro's arm, he immediately fell backwards as if he had been electrocuted.
Referee Sandro Schar immediately blew the whistle. Although Casemiro and Chen Xiaoliang who ran back repeatedly appealed that it was a diving, after all, his hand did touch Rock, and even if the performance was a bit exaggerated, there was still basis for the whistle.
On the right side of the penalty area, Pellegrini and Rock stood on both sides of the ball.
Chen Xiaoliang stood on the far left of the five-person human wall.
"Beep", the referee blew the whistle and Pellegrini took a run-up!
Rock on the side also made a gesture to start.
Pellegrini shot the ball directly with his right foot!
In the human wall, Milinkovic, who was standing on the right side of Chen Xiaoliang, jumped up and blocked Pellegrini's shot with his forehead, and the ball bounced back.
The kick was quite powerful. Milinkovic fell backwards onto the grass after landing, covering his head with his hands!
Rock on the side was about to turn around to retrieve the ball and launch an attack, but he felt a gust of wind on the left side of his body, and then a figure in red flashed over and caught up with the ball!
There is clearly number 7 on the back!
Rock quickly ran at full speed!
Zhan Jun: "Xiaoliang counterattacks! It's still a three-line fast break, Kwa is on the left, Rashford is on the right and they are both running!"
Zhang Lu: "It's three against four in the frontcourt. Let's see if Roma can defend it."
Gerrard on the sidelines knew that this situation was the most threatening moment. Having the ball taken by Chen Xiaoliang and run in an open area during a counterattack was as deadly as handing a revolver with an unknown number of bullets to the opponent and pointing it at his head.
Gerard immediately shouted: "Collect first! Collect first! Quick! Quick!"
"Shou" means to retreat to the middle, and "kuai" means to run quickly back to the backcourt to defend.
Ito Hiroki and Mancini started running, while Zalewski and Spinazzola sprinted towards the middle.
Rock was chasing, chasing desperately.
It is only natural for an 18-year-old player who has just entered the top five European leagues, performed well, and is under the aura of genius from the football powerhouse five-star Brazil to be arrogant.
It seemed as if all he had to do to catch up from behind, stick his body to the ball and kick the ball away would be to prove that he had defeated the World Footballer of the Year and the Ballon d'Or winner in a one-on-one match.
But the cruelty of reality was like a ruthless slap in Rock's face.
I tried my best to chase it, but I couldn't get close to it.
This young man, who at the age of 17, scored 2 goals and provided 2 assists in 7 games in the South American "Champions League" - the Copa Libertadores, left many strong opponents behind with his speed, and finally helped his old club Paranaense to reach the final, where they unfortunately lost to another Brazilian team, Flamengo.
But he had never encountered a situation like this, where he was crushed by a person running with the ball in a short sprint!
When Chen Xiaoliang approached the front of the penalty area, Ito Yoki blocked him.
Chen Xiaoliang pushed his right foot and changed direction to the right front.
Rashford, who was running on the right side, had already started to circle towards the middle of the penalty area, while Kwa on the left side was moving inward towards the top of the arc.
This is the three of them having B Fee, Maguire, Lindelof, Mengi, Luke Thomas, Wan Bissaka, Dalot and others take turns acting as defenders during extra training, and they have practiced fast break coordination countless times!
The players on the Manchester United bench had unconsciously left their seats, and Ten Hag, who was standing on the sidelines, also subconsciously tiptoed slightly.
They knew that a goal might come, but the choice of how to score it was all up to Chen Xiaoliang.
Chen Xiaoliang dribbled the ball to the right and came to the right side of the penalty area, about 2 meters away from the penalty area line, and suddenly slowed down and stopped.
The person defending Ito Yoki was afraid that he would change his rhythm and suddenly accelerate, so he shrank inside the penalty area, bent down, put his hands behind his back, and stared at Chen Xiaoliang intently.
Rock had just caught up at this time. He saw that Ito Hiroki was already in position and was ready to run into the penalty area first, then turn around and double-team his Japanese teammate.
Rock had the best idea, but if nothing unexpected happened, something unexpected was going to happen.
He had just entered the penalty area and had no time to turn around when Chen Xiaoliang kicked the ball with his right foot and it flew into the penalty area.
Patricio was worried that Chen Xiaoliang would take a long shot, so he stayed on the side close to the goal post, with Spinazzola blocking him in front.
Mancini and Zalewski were at a distance, keeping a close eye on Rashford and Kvart.
At this moment, the ball flew out, and Mancini saw its trajectory and arc, and immediately realized that it was a cross to the back post!
For any central defender, the two main tasks of aerial defense are to prevent the opponent from jumping and then to jump up and head the ball away.
Mancini secretly grabbed Rashford's clothes. This move was the most useful move in close defense that Chen Xiaoliang shared with his Roma teammates during extra training.
He was confident that with his close interference, coupled with his heading ability and the fact that Rashford was not a striker who was good at heading, and Spinazzola beside him also closely following Kva who was not good at heading, this ball would definitely be easily blocked!
The ball was about to fall, and it seemed that the landing point was a little behind him. Seeing this, Mancini became more confident. He gently pushed Rashford forward so that he could not rush to the landing point. Then he took a step back, took a deep breath, and jumped high!
Oh my god! Impossible!
The ball was clearly about to fall, and this was clearly Chen Xiaoliang's diagonal pass from the back post, so why couldn't he feel the ball touching his head at all!
Before he fell, he caught a glimpse of Patricio, who was rushing towards the far post, falling awkwardly inside the goal line, and then Old Trafford erupted with deafening cheers!
Zhan Jun: “This ball goes in!”
"In the 33rd minute, Xiaoliang made a fake shot in the counterattack, fooling goalkeeper Patricio and defender Mancini, and the ball went directly into the left side of the goal!"
"1 to 0!"
Zhang Lu: "The staff told us that some netizens asked in the comments if Xiaoliang's kick missed. How could that be possible? With his kicking skills, when the defender was more than two meters away from him, he had enough space to kick. How could he miss?"
In the backcourt, Abraham subconsciously raised his hand above his head when Chen Xiaoliang scored a goal, and then realized that it was the opponent who scored a goal, so he could only pretend to scratch his head...
Players wear jerseys on the field, play for their team, receive club salaries, and face the expectations of the fans, so they must take a clear stance, but this is not the case for some Roma fans in the stands.
In fact, when the clock just turned to the 33rd minute, they had already started shouting the slogan "Number 33 of Rome, the eternal city's eternal Pope!"
Afterwards, after the goal was scored, although many people could not hide their disappointment, they still clapped loudly and gave their heartfelt congratulations to the former hero.
Chen Xiaoliang did not celebrate, but looked up and saw this scene.
He ran towards the Roma fans' stand on the east side of the stadium and raised his hands to applaud and thank the fans who still supported him.
At this moment, everyone in the stadium began to applaud, and Manchester United fans also began to follow the slogans shouted by Roma fans, keeping rhythm with their applause.
Zhan Jun: "At Old Trafford, in the 33rd minute of the game, local Manchester United fans and Roma fans who came from afar cheered heartfeltly together because of one person's goal!"
"We have witnessed confrontation, grudges, and even violence in too many games. Similarly, we have also seen unity, warmth, and a touching side in the world of football!"
"If super world waves and shocking comebacks are miracles, then this scene at this moment, where two cities with centuries-old football genes join hands because of one person, is not another manifestation of a miracle!"
"This is football. Football can give you heaven and hell. How can you not love football?"
