Chapter 404: The "Lighthouse Derby" Reduced to a Supporting Role

The impact of making the Coppa Italia a key goal is that Sampdoria have to play twice a week when they don't need to play in the Champions League.

For example, Sampdoria will face Genoa in the next league, and after Genoa, it will be the first leg of the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia.

Both games are important for Sampdoria, so they now have to face a situation where they will have to play at a high intensity over the course of three days.

It was all their own doing, they could have simply given up the Coppa Italia and could now concentrate on Genoa.

However, the Sampdoria players didn't find it difficult.

For qualified professional footballers, facing challenges is something they have to deal with.

And for this young team, it's better to get into trouble than to do nothing. Without the excitement of the Coppa Italia, their mental state during this period would have been completely different.

Now, despite the intensity of the game and the tiredness of the team, the team's results are not bad.

They have been stable in seventh place in the league and have reached the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia.

Even if they have to fight two tough battles in three days, they are confident that they will win.

The Lighthouse Derby with Genoa is one of the most important matches of the season and one that must not be lost. The first leg of the semi-final against Napoli is also crucial to whether the team can successfully qualify for the Coppa Italia final.

Genoa, for their part, are happy that Sampdoria are facing such a dense situation with two important games next to each other. Doesn't that mean they have a chance?

Since Gao Zheng played in the first team of Sampdoria, Genoa have not taken any advantage in the "lighthouse derby".

And this is the best opportunity.

Genoa had a poor start to the season and then turned for the better after a change of manager. At the height of the league standings, he was in seventh place. Later, it fell back and is now 11th in the league with 24 points. The situation of relegation is still very good.

This "lighthouse derby" is very early, and it will not affect Genoa's relegation cause. However, Genoa can influence Sampdoria's Coppa Italia semi-finals through this pizza.

They will be hoping to hold Sampdoria back in the 'Lighthouse Derby' and let Sampdoria expend too much energy in this game, so that they will not be able to cope with the Coppa Italia semi-final against Napoli.

It would be great if Sampdoria could have lost back-to-back lighthouse derbies and Coppa Italia semi-finals.

However, this "lighthouse derby" did not go the way Genoa fans had hoped.

Sampdoria, who were playing away, broke the deadlock in the twenty-fourth minute.

It was Gao Zheng who scored for the team.

Sampdoria, who were in the lead, then contracted to play the defensive counter-attack that they were good at.

In the face of Genoa's constant attacks, Sampdoria seemed to be at ease, as if there was no pressure.

I have to say that Sampdoria, who participated in the Champions League and reached the knockout round in the Champions League, as well as eliminated Roma and Juventus all the way in the Coppa Italia and reached the semifinals, is no longer what it used to be, and it is not comparable to a team like Genoa that is still in relegation.

Although it was a "lighthouse derby", the difference in strength between the two teams was huge, which made the excitement of the game also reduced.

In the end, Sampdoria relied on Gao Zheng's goal to defeat Genoa 1:0 away.

With just a dozen minutes remaining, Di Francesco made a substitution in preparation for the Coppa Italia semi-final against Napoli.

This seems to have completely ignored Genoa.

But in the face of Sampdoria's arrogant adjustment, Genoa could not do anything, obviously only one goal away, but could not score.

They couldn't put all their strength into the attack, because Di Francisco used up three substitutions, but they just didn't change Gao Zheng.

With Gao Zheng on the field, even if he can't get a few begging, Genoa doesn't dare to press the attack.

In the end, Gao Zheng's suppression made Genoa's attack futile, and they could only accept this result with grievance.

Not only did they not beat Sampdoria in the final 'lighthouse derby' of the season, but they also didn't use the local derby to drain Sampdoria more energy – at the end of the game, anyone could tell that Sampdoria still had plenty of energy to spare.

That's what makes Genoa fans even more unhappy than losing the game - we all worked so hard, but you sent us away so lightly, what kind of system?!

But no matter how unhappy the Genoa fans are, they can only accept this result now, watch Sampdoria wave their hands, do not take away a cloud, and turn around to play the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia with Napoli.

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The Coppa Italia semi-finals were played by Sampdoria and were not a good arrangement in terms of schedule. After all, whoever plays at home will have more initiative. In a two-legged match, it is difficult to end the suspense of the match in the first round.

If Sampdoria doesn't get a good result in the first leg and goes to Napoli's home stadium in the second leg, it will be very lucky.

And when it comes to the cup, there is no situation where the opponent does not take them to heart and the Italian Cup.

So it's unlikely that they will still want to meet Roma and Juventus.

Moreover, judging from the performance of Sampdoria, Juventus and Roma, the top two in the league, Napoli, who are third in the league, dare not slack off.

From this semi-final onwards, Sampdoria faced a hard-fought match, with no chance of shortcuts.

Many pre-match analyses also suggested that Sampdoria had a strong performance in the Coppa Italia, but their Coppa Italia journey should end here.

Although Napoli will participate in the Europa League in the second half of the season, there is no conflict in the schedule, after all, the Europa League starts later than the Champions League......

Sampdoria and Napoli have met once in the league this season, losing 2-0 away to Napoli just this past January.

This is one of the reasons why everyone is not very optimistic about Sampdoria.

Sampdoria, who are away and then home, will have to fight in the second leg unless they can win Napoli by three goals at home.

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On 4 February 2014, Udinese beat Fiorentina 2-1 at home to the Coppa Italia semi-final.

Despite the win, Udinese is still generally not favored, and they have the same problem as Sampdoria, home and away.

Winning just one goal at home and allowing Fiorentina to score an away goal on the road.

In this kind of competition, where the away goal advantage is to be calculated, this 2:1 score is almost equal to the loss of Udinese.

Udinese's game was like a bad start for Napoli, with a bad omen.

Gao Zheng expressed his opinion on the impact of this schedule in an interview before the game: "I don't think there is any difference between home and away and away first, and I don't think that home and away are necessarily more disadvantageous. Because it doesn't matter if it's one game or two, we only want to win, whether it's away or at home, and winning is going to make sure we qualify for the final, so it's fine, just win. ”

He shrugged.

"That's true, but it's not easy to win......," a reporter reminded him.

"Of course it's not easy, how can there be a game in the world that can be easily won?" Gao Zheng asked rhetorically, and the reporter was speechless. 'But you can't give up because it's hard to win, we have a lot of respect for Napoli, so we're going to give it our all to win.'