"In short, we will prepare carefully for these two games, and none of the teams that can reach the knockout stage are underdogs. To despise an opponent is to insult oneself. ”

The TV showed Simeone being interviewed and then cut back to the studio, where the host smiled and said, "Simeone looked serious when he said this, and he looked quite sincere." When I thought it was just a spectacle – he certainly couldn't have said it in front of the media that he didn't take Sampdoria seriously. But that's the way it is, and teams like Sampdoria can't afford to make Atletico Madrid so nervous, no matter how well they perform in the group stage...... I have to say, don't look at Simeone's usual crazy performance in the dugout, but when he faces the media, he knows what to say and what not to say, and he is the same as when he was a player, this cunning 'fox' ......"

"Dad, is that really the case?" A young man in front of the television turned around and shouted behind him.

"Your dad isn't a fox." A middle-aged man's voice rang out.

"I'm asking if what you're saying in front of the camera is completely different from what you think?"

The middle-aged man who came out of the shadows was none other than Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone.

He handed the tablet in his hand to his son, and instead of answering the question directly, he said, "Look at it. ”

When my son picked it up, he found that it was a video of a player wearing a Sampdoria jersey.

He looked up at his father curiously.

'It's the highlight of Sampdoria's key striker's Champions League and league goals this season.

Hearing his father's explanation, he looked down.

Soon he exclaimed, "Oh! This ball ......"

"This technique is so beautiful!"

"Unbelievable, how else can you do this?"

"He's obviously been knocked out, why can he still ......?"

Simeone stood nearby, quietly listening to his son's exclamations as he watched.

After his son watched the highlight video, he asked, "Do you still think that what I said in front of the media was a scene?" ”

The son frowned and thought for a moment, then said, "I admit that he is very strong, Dad." But football is not a one-man sport, and if Sampdoria is on his own, I don't think it can be compared to your Atletico Madrid. ”

"That's what you think in a normal way, that's what Celtic and Ajax thought at the beginning. But the result ......" Simeone pouted. "Football is a team sport, but Giovanni, you remember, football is also a stage for individual heroes. Some people can change the outcome of the game on their own. ”

Giovanni Simeone was a little surprised: "Dad, do you think so highly of him?" Don't worry, I'm not going to leak our conversation......"

He thought his dad was on guard against the ubiquitous paparazzi.

But Simeone shook his head: "Giovanni, you also play in the forward position, if you still can't see the horror of this person, it will disappoint me." ”

Giovanni Simeone looked back at the tall man with the eastern face in the video.

He frowned slightly, unimpressed by his father's words. If Dad is telling the truth, then he is also disappointed in Dad in his heart......

How can such a person be frightened?

He admits that this man has beautiful goals and outstanding individual ability, but his weaknesses are also prominent, and one only needs to look at his stature to guess that he is not good at physical confrontation. Highlights only show the strengths of the player, but his weaknesses do not show up......

As long as he stares at him in the game, with Sampdoria's overall strength, how could he make his father so jealous?

He didn't believe that with Atletico Madrid's defensive hardness, he couldn't limit the man in front of him.

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After the draw came out, Sampdoria manager Di Francesco was also approached by the media to ask him what he thought about the result.

But Di Francisco said: "I'm not thinking about next February, the problem in front of us is the league. So I'm not going to make any comment on that. ”

Maybe the media will interpret his remarks as "confession", he doesn't care, and he wishes everyone thought so.

But he was telling the truth.

To be able to reach the knockout stage of the Champions League is actually done for him, and he has chosen a very risky strategy in the first half of the season, which is to abandon the league and focus on the Champions League. This strategy is bold, but it also carries a lot of risks. Luckily, in the end, he got the results he wanted.

Then it's time to shift the focus back to the league.

Although Sampdoria had a decent run in the league in the first half of the season, at least not falling into the relegation zone, Di Francisco is still hoping to move the team up the league table. If you can still play in Europe next season – not the Champions League – as long as you can play in the Europa League.

He didn't know how long Gao Zheng would stay in this team, and Gao Zheng's stay was not something he could decide, all he could do was to seize the opportunity of Gao Zheng while he was still in Sampdoria and maximize Gao Zheng's role.

After this Champions League clash with Ajax, Sampdoria travelled away to take on league rivals Chievo. Di Francesco did not make a large rotation in this game, after all, there is no need to fight on multiple fronts - the Champions League group stage is all played, the Italian Cup will not be rekindled until January next year, before the Christmas holiday, Sampdoria has two games left, there is no need to save any physical strength, after playing these two games, the team will be on vacation, and will not regroup until next New Year's Day.

In the end, Sampdoria beat Chievo 1-0 away.

A week later, they beat Parma 2-1 at home, with Gao Zheng scoring the winning goal.

After this game, Serie A entered a very short winter break.

After 17 rounds of league fixtures, Sampdoria has eight wins, four draws and five losses, accumulating 28 points and ranking seventh in the league. At the moment, the team has won four in a row and the momentum is very good.

However, the winter break will certainly interrupt this form, and it is difficult to say whether the team will be able to perform like this when they assemble after a short break.

So Frecello, a reporter accompanying the newspaper Nineteenth Century, expressed his regret on social networks about the winter break.

※※※

In the dressing room after the game, Alberto Massie sent an invitation to Gao Zheng: "We are going to Mallorca, do you want to come with us?" ”

Gao Zheng nodded: "Okay, I'll go." ”

He's fine in Genoa anyway during the Christmas holidays. There were Feng Shiyu and Xiao Yingying before, who came out for a meal at Christmas, but there is no such treatment this year.

After Christmas dinner at the club, they left Genoa together and flew to Mallorca, a resort town in Spain.

There, they will spend four days of complete relaxation before flying back to Genoa to prepare for the eighteenth round of the league.