Chapter 657: Open the door black
Feng Quan broke the world records of three sprint events one after another, especially the immortal achievements of breaking 19 seconds in the 200 meters and 43 seconds in the 400 meters, which not only further consolidated his image as a "great god" in the hearts of domestic sports fans, but also regarded many patriots who do not like sports as national heroes because of Feng Quan's wonderful performance in the World Championships in Athletics.
Of course, in addition to the huge gain in fame, Fengquan's wonderful performance in the World Championships also made the sales of "Fengquan brand" reach a new peak.
As Feng Quan led Atletico Madrid to win the double of La Liga and the Champions League, to a certain extent, the sales of the "Feng Quan" brand were promoted, so that the (domestic) sales of the "Feng Quan" brand in the second quarter increased by 25 percentage points compared with the first quarter, and the final net profit reached 75 million euros.
Although the recognition of the foreign public for the "Fengquan brand", which has been established for less than a year, is very limited, but since the global launch on June 10, the net profit in just 21 days has reached more than 9.6 million euros.
Taking into account the huge sensation caused by the acquisition of Fengquan and the "joining" of AC Milan, as well as the World Athletics Championships in the capital in August, the company expects the (global) net profit of the "Fengquan brand" to exceed 120 million euros in the third quarter.
If Fengquan can win the 100m, 200m and 400m sprint championships at the same time, the net profit of the "Fengquan brand" in the third quarter is even expected to hit the 150 million mark.
However, what made the senior management of the company wake up with a smile is that Feng Quan not only won the three sprint events with a world record result, but also greatly improved the 200m and 400m world records that have been in the dust for more than a decade.
Although there is still more than a month to go before the end of the third quarter, as of August 28, the net profit of the "Fengquan brand" has reached 1203 million euros. It is worth mentioning that the net profit in just 5 days from August 22 to August 27 reached a staggering 31 million.
Even by the most conservative estimates, the profit dividend for the third quarter would be 64 million euros.
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In stark contrast to Feng Quan's huge success at the World Championships and in business, AC Milan, who made huge waves in the transfer market after changing hands this summer, have been somewhat disappointing in the first round of Serie A.
Although the absence of Feng Quan has a great impact on the strength of AC Milan, the addition of Mandzukic, Pjanic, Felipe Luiz and Romagnoli has at least given AC Milan's main squad the strength to wrestle with Juventus.
AC Milan, who had a clear advantage on paper, had a fierce but threatening attack after the opening, but they were successfully defused by the Fiorentina backline led by Gonzalo Rodriguez.
After withstanding the onslaught of the opponent's opening stages, Fiorentina, who had the advantage of being at home, continued to threaten the door of AC Milan with sharp counter-attacks.
In the 16th minute of the first half, Borja received a pass from Tomovic near the right halfway line and sent a through ball directly into the middle of the field.
Although Kalinic, who quickly stepped forward, got the ball first, Romagnoli, who was in charge of the defense, and Felipe Luiz, who quickly adducted, were also ready to close Kalinic.
However, Rodrigo Elie, who made his Serie A debut in this competition, was annoyed that he couldn't clear Kalinic before him, and pulled him to the ground directly behind him.
The next moment, the referee blew the whistle to award Fiorentina a free-kick 28 meters from goal, and then showed a yellow card to the foul Rodrigo Elie.
Although Marquez Alonso's free-kick went just wide of the post, it surprised Mihajlovic from the sidelines.
In order to effectively contain Fiorentina's rapid counter-attack, Mihajlovic ordered his team to slow down the pace of attack, changing the rapid advance of the wing in the opening stage to a pass-and-control style that emphasized the midfield organization.
Although Mihajlovic's adjustment can be called the right medicine, the midfielders are not very suitable for the pass-and-control style of play except for Pjanic, plus Mandzukic, Felipe Luiz and other 5 new signings are representing the team for the first time to participate in official matches, and the players have not yet formed enough tacit understanding, so AC Milan's "pass-and-control play" is only a formality, and it is difficult to form a truly threatening attack.
Although the changes in AC Milan have weakened Fiorentina's counter-attacking threat to a certain extent, they have also caused the pressure on Fiorentina's defensive line to drop sharply when it is difficult to form an effective threat.
As the pressure dropped on the defence, Fiorentina put more energy into attacking, and between the 20th and 35th minutes, Fiorentina had seven shots on goal, forcing Diego López to make four thrilling saves.
At the same time, AC Milan only managed a long-range shot from 27 meters from the opponent's goal by Keisuke Honda, and was easily picked up by the opposing goalkeeper.
Just when everyone thought that the first half of the game would end in a draw, the situation on the pitch changed.
With 43 minutes played, Bernardeschi sent a through ball from 40 yards out on the right side of the pitch to find Kalinic on the right side of the box.
Kalinic, with his back to the goal, was originally going to hold the ball and wait for Bernardeschi, who was quickly moving forward, to get close before making the next move, but Rodrigo Elie, who had already received a yellow card, chose to stretch his leg from behind him and steal it very recklessly.
As a result, the experienced Kalinic first dodged Rodrigo Elie's steal with a flick of his right foot, and then turned 180 degrees to the right with his right foot as the axis, and then prepared to wipe into the box from the right side of the opponent's body.
With Romagnoli marking Borja in front of him, Kalinic will be in a one-on-one position with goalkeeper Diego López once he has slipped into the box. In desperation, Rodrigo Elie had no choice but to reach out and pull Kalinic directly to the ground.
Just as Rodrigo Elie was rejoicing that he had prevented Kalinic from breaking into the box, he saw that the referee who was walking quickly towards him had reached into his pocket with red and yellow cards. Suddenly, the thought of something bad was born in his mind.
Sure enough, the referee showed Rodrigo Elie a yellow card and then pulled a red card out of his pocket, thus ending Rodrigo Elie's Serie A debut early.
A minute later, Marcos Alonso's free-kick also gave Fiorentina the lead in breaking the deadlock.
After the change of sides, Fiorentina continued to attack AC Milan with a small number of players, and in the 59th minute, Ilicic took advantage of a penalty opportunity to extend the advantage to 2-0.
AC Milan, who played one man less, launched a frantic counterattack in the last 20 minutes of the second half, but they were never able to break through Fiorentina's goal despite the lack of tacit understanding among the midfielders.
In the end, AC Milan, who were considered very likely to challenge Juventus' supremacy before the start of the season, suffered a bad start at the Stadio Frankie.