Chapter 221: Sticks and Teeth
After playing the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie with Liverpool, Inter Milan face Sampdoria in the 24th round of Serie A the following weekend.
After that big battle with Liverpool, Leon made a wide rotation in this game.
Despite the rotation, Inter Milan managed to get a win away from home, with Adriano's goal giving Inter a narrow win away to Sampdoria.
Winning the game against Sampdoria also means for Inter Milan to continue to create and continue the record they are currently holding and breaking constantly: 24 consecutive wins in Serie A.
While Inter Milan continued to soar, Juventus lost 2-1 away to Reggina in the league of their two league chasers, leaving Juventus 25 points behind with 14 games left in the league and still with their theoretical hopes of winning the title.
In addition, Juventus' unexpected defeat gave Roma behind him a chance to overtake, a 1-0 win over Fiorentina in this round of the league, and the Roma team with a key victory overtook Juventus in the standings, with 48 points, one point more than Juventus, to occupy the second place in the league, however, Roma is 24 points behind the leader Inter Milan, and also only has a theoretical hope of winning the title.
When talking about the current state of the Serie A title, "French football" said in a humorous tone that all Roma and Juventus can do now seems to be waiting for the moment when Inter Milan wins the championship, and then they can be relieved. Their most realistic goal now is a direct qualification place for next season's Champions League in second place.
A record 24-game winning streak in the league and a 5-1 win away to Liverpool in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals essentially sealed the win for the quarter-finals and the semi-finals in the Coppa Italia.
In everyone's opinion, it was only a matter of time before Inter Milan won the championship early.
It is in this situation that Inter Milan will face their opponents in the 25th round of the 2007/2008 season.
They will face Roma in this round of the league at their home stadium at the Estadio Meazza.
It's a direct clash between leaders Inter Milan, who are far ahead, and Roma, who are chasing them.
If Roma can beat Inter Milan away from home, it may delay Inter's title winning streak, which will at least not be too embarrassing for Roma and Juventus and other pursuers. In addition, Inter Milan have won all of their Serie A games this season and the Roma could be proud if they become the first team to beat Inter Milan this season.
This game is also regarded as the most important matchup in Serie A this season.
Italian national television and Sky TV have even produced special programs to analyze and discuss the key game in depth.
Everyone knows that Li Ang is a rebellious character, and if he can start a war of words before the game, then it must be very selling.
In addition, there is a gimmick in this game, that is, the collision between Antonio Cassano and Roma, as the former darling of Roma City, after Cassano returned to Serie A, every game between him and Roma will not be too calm.
Cassano has returned from injury at this time and has shown good form in the team's training, so the media has speculated whether the former Roma star will play against his old boss in this big game with Roma.
For the collision with Cassano as an opponent, Roma fans obviously have the most mixed feelings.
"Roma Sport" made a special investigation, and some Roma fans scolded Cassano, believing that Cassano was a cancer that was eliminated by the Roma team!
In the summer of 2001, the 18-year-old Bari genius joined Roma for a whopping 30 million, and in January 2006, he left in a fit of rage without saying goodbye to any of his teammates and left for Spain.
It can be said that when Cassano left Rome, it can almost be said that he was 'betraying his relatives', and after Cassano and Totti completely fell out, the choice of the teammates of the Roma team was very decisive, closely united around the wolf king, and completely abandoned the bad boys.
After Cassano's departure from Spain, veteran Panucci even invited the whole team to dinner, although he only used the excuse of "substitute fine", but anyone with a discerning eye understood that this was a celebration of Cassano's departure. In the ensuing game celebration, the Romans used a computer game to teach Totti a harsh lesson to Cassano. Not only that, although Roma only got 5 million euros by selling Cassano, which seems to be disproportionate to his value, coach Spalletti still feels lucky: in order to eradicate the "cancer" in the team, even if Real Madrid pays a low price, the Italians are willing!
Roma manager Luciano Spalletti was unsurprisingly surrounded by a crowd of reporters asking questions about Cassano during an interview at his regular pre-match press conference.
Everyone knows that Cassano was almost expelled by Rome, and the relationship between Spalletti and Cassano at that time had completely fallen out.
So, when asked by reporters what he had to say to Cassano when he was about to play against Cassano in Serie A, Spalletti replied coldly, "I don't talk about players from other teams, he has nothing to do with me." ”
At that time, the relationship between Totti and Cassano was completely broken, and in the end, the entire Roma locker room was on the side of captain Totti, which was also the most direct factor in Cassano's hasty escape, so the media was very interested in this meeting between Totti and Cassano.
"Francisco, Cassano said he was persecuted in Rome and there were people who were jealous of his football talent. What do you think about this?" asked a reporter with 'ill intentions'.
"Football talent?! Roma now have a lot of good and more promising players, which is a huge asset for the Roma team. As for the one who left Rome, I don't want to talk about anything. Totti's face didn't look good.
He was very angry that Cassano actually said such brainless words, it was clearly the anger of this bad breed who died in the Roman team, but he said nonsense that he was 'persecuted' in Rome, which was really infuriating.
"Do you have anything to say to Antonio (Cassano)?" a reporter asked.
In this regard, the captain of the Roma team was expressionless: "I wish him good luck. ”
Totti and Cassano turned against each other back then, which was a shocking revelation for the whole of Italy, which made some media make a fuss for a long time and fed a group of reporters.
Now, one of the parties, the captain of the Roma team, spoke.
So, what about Cassano?
A reporter posing as an Inter Milan fan 'bumped into' Cassano in a bar and asked him what he planned to do with his upcoming opponent, Totti.
"I like to crack my teeth with a big stick!" Cassano hiccuped.
"And then poke in the mouth!" Balotelli shouted suddenly.
"God, that's a great idea!" Cassano gave Balotelli a thumbs up with his eyes shining......