“…… In a Champions League one-sixteenth final match that ended in the early hours of this morning Beijing time, Sampdoria, played by Chinese player Gao Zheng, was forced to draw 1:1 at home by Atletico Madrid. Despite Gao Zheng's goal in the game, the team failed to win at home, which cast a shadow over Sampdoria's Champions League qualification......

“…… Gao Zheng performed well in the Champions League in the early hours of this morning, scoring a goal and almost beating Atletico Madrid. After the game, Gao Zheng was the highest-rated player in the game in the scoring of many media...... Atletico Madrid manager Simeone said in his post-match press conference that he went back to the dressing room and kissed Courtois hard because he saved Gao Zheng's shot......"

The Italian media praised Gao Zheng's performance, and those media who had a lot of complaints about Gao Zheng last season praised Gao Zheng one-sidedly this time, and "Roma Sport" even thought that not only Sampdoria was not worthy of Gao Zheng's strength, but the entire Serie A was slightly behind Gao Zheng...... To be honest, when I heard this evaluation, I almost thought it was a joke made up by those good people on the Internet. As a result, I went to the official website of "Roma Sport" and saw that the most eye-catching position on the front page was the headline of the report: 'Serie A can't tolerate high!' ’…… Originally, I thought that only China was rich in all kinds of high-flying blows, but now it seems that foreigners have no discipline and bottom line when they blow people......"

……

In China's newsstands and convenience stores, the former has just sold the last weekly sports newspaper in the store, and the boss is enthusiastically recommending several other morning newspapers to those behind him, because they also have a lot of coverage of the Champions League games in the early morning.

A white-collar worker with a briefcase and a programmer with a backpack are waiting at the bus stop, they are very different in terms of dress and temperament, but what they have in common is that they are all holding their mobile phones to browse the Champions League news on it.

There were a lot of sleepy office workers in the subway, but when the multimedia TV in the carriage began to show highlights of this morning's Champions League Sampdoria vs. Atletico Madrid, the people who looked as if they were asleep all looked up and stared at the screen with wide eyes.

On campus, the children who like football are enthusiastically discussing how good it would be if Gao Zheng's last kick in the world wave would have been in, and arguing endlessly about whether Gao Zheng should stay in Sampdoria.

It was just an ordinary weekday morning in China, but it was made special by the Champions League in the early hours of the morning.

Everyone is paying attention to Gao Zheng's situation.

On the Internet, under the Internet, Gao Zheng dominated this morning, making the originally boring and difficult way to work seem to be interesting.

Due to the time difference, it was late in the day when Italy entered the daylight, and the media was active and all kinds of news came in.

With two Champions League games played last night, Sampdoria can't be blamed too much for Sampdoria when they are not in contention.

The Spanish media are more demanding of Atletico Madrid.

They don't think Simeone's side will fail to win away at Sampdoria, not because they fear that Atletico Madrid will not be able to qualify for the quarter-finals, but because they feel that it would be a shame for Atletico Madrid to qualify.

In terms of the difference in strength between the two teams, Atletico Madrid should beat Sampdoria home and away.

Scholars did not understand or be satisfied with Simeone's strategy in the first half, some criticized Simeone as being scared, and some exaggerated that if Atletico Madrid continued to play like this, even if they could advance to the quarterfinals, it would definitely be difficult to move on, and not only the Champions League, but also in all the next games, because of Simeone's timid performance, his authority among the players has collapsed, and the team is close to falling apart......

These words are particularly exaggerated, and they sound appalling, but it makes one wonder whether Sampdoria has a better chance of progressing to the quarter-finals, or Atletico Madrid......

※※※

After playing the Champions League match against Atletico Madrid, Sampdoria have a league and Coppa Italia final to play.

In general, the schedule is still relatively dense.

Sampdoria host AC Milan in the next league fixture, and a week later, on March 1, Sampdoria travel north to Torino in the league before heading to Rome for the Coppa Italia final.

The date for the Coppa Italia final is March 5, with only three days between the two matches.

After this game, it was the league on March 9.

After the league is played, Sampdoria have to travel to Atletico Madrid in midweek.

Before the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, Sampdoria had to play three games in a row, two games a week for two consecutive weeks, which was very physically demanding for the team.

How to rationalize the rotation of the squad is also a test for Di Francisco.

Ahead of the weekend's game against AC Milan, it was assumed that Di Francisco should not rotate his squad because it was clear what the game against AC Milan would mean.

Even AC Milan thought so, but when Sampdoria announced their starting line-up before the game, they found out that Di Francisco had rotated the line-up, and it wasn't the kind of tweaking in one or two positions......

Sampdoria's starting line-up surprised and delighted AC Milan.

I was surprised that I didn't expect Sampdoria to rotate this time, you must know that the last time the two sides met this season, although it was followed by the Champions League group stage, Sampdoria still played with all the main force.

Naturally, AC Milan can finally take revenge on Gao Zheng.

However, the final result was not what AC Milan had predicted.

With Gao Zheng's goal in the 78th minute, Sampdoria drew 1:1 with AC Milan at home.

They still couldn't beat Sampdoria, failed to beat Gao Zheng, and let Gao Zheng score again.

This goal is Gao Zheng's fifteenth league goal of the season.

In an interview after the game, Gao Zheng once again said that the game with AC Milan was an ordinary game, and the rotation of Sampdoria in this game seemed to prove his words, so let everyone not pay too much attention.

However, reporters always think that Gao Zheng said this just because he may not take AC Milan seriously anymore......

Of course, with AC Milan's current results and performances, it is indeed unconvincing - at the beginning of this year, Allegri was dismissed by AC Milan for leading the team too poorly. Seedorf, a Dutchman who had played for AC Milan for many years, was invited, but after Seedorf took over the team, AC Milan's situation did not improve, and the performance was still up and down.

After 25 rounds of league play, AC Milan is 10th with 33 points, while Sampdoria are two places higher than AC Milan, and their rivals are indeed not AC Milan.

The fact that the former wealthy family has fallen to such a state has indeed made many people sigh.

And among these people who sigh, some people can't help but think about it - if they hadn't given up on Gao Zheng at the beginning, if Gao Zheng could have stayed in AC Milan, would they still be so embarrassed now?

But that's just a few's guess.

With the tension between Gao Zheng and AC Milan, it is clear to everyone that this "what if" is never possible.

Even if Gao Zheng wants to leave Sampdoria, AC Milan may not be the target he will consider......