Chapter Eighty-Eight: Coppa Italia

"Good shot!" Alonna's rock-'n'roll cheers rang out over the Florence City Hall Stadium.

At this time, the score on the scoreboard was tied at 1:1, and there were five minutes left in the game.

The opponent is Manchester United.

This is the second round of the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League, with Fiorentina hosting Manchester United.

In the first round at Old Trafford, they beat Manchester United 4-2 to not only win, but also to score four away goals, which means that Manchester United only need to beat Fiorentina more than 3-0 in this game to qualify for the semi-finals.

It's just that...... If you want to win Fiorentina by three goals, everyone can guess, it's a thing, it's almost impossible.

Although it was expected that Manchester United would attack with all their might, before the game, Lao Ma made a surprising decision.

Baggio, Batistuta, Ling Feng and Effenberg all sat on the bench, the main striker was Shepchenko and Laudrup Jr., who had gradually recovered his form, and the midfield was started by two Chinese youngsters who had shined in the Champions Cup.

Ferguson almost crooked his nose in anger - Maradona couldn't help but ignore him too much!

However, Ferguson still felt fortunate when he was angry, because although the strength of several players who came off the bench was good, there was still a gap compared to those four, so his hope was greater.

Regarding the news that Ling Feng will transfer to Manchester United next season, it is not known that only a few people in the club's top management have real power, and the group of Fiorentina players know that even the players of Manchester United would never have imagined that this opponent who brought defeat to himself would come to Manchester United with the former king next season.

However, Ferguson soon understood that Maradona did not send these young players to support the big, but - he was confident!

Although they are only two young players who have just turned sixteen, under the care of Rui • Costa and Vieira, the two Chinese youngsters are playing well, and even when Ling Feng and Effenberg did not play, the four people in the Fiorentina midfield fought a draw with the powerful Manchester United midfielder!

At the end of the first half, the score was 0-0, and the two teams had possession of the ball 47% and Manchester United 53% respectively.

Such a tiny margin is almost negligible, but in terms of scoreline, for Manchester United, who must win more than three goals, the first half of the game was nothing, and they were basically declared dead.

Ferguson himself knows that at the end of the half, Maradona did not use a substitution card, and Ling Feng, Baggio, Barty and Effenberg were all eager to try off, once Fiorentina fell into passivity on the field, then Maradona would send a few people to play at any time!

Not to mention anything else, Ling Feng's defensive ability is obvious to all, once Ling Feng is on the field, it is quite difficult to score a goal when there is not much time left in the game!

Moreover, every ten minutes, Ling Feng went back to do a warm-up exercise, ran to the sidelines to stretch his legs and twist his waist, and after scaring Ferguson half to death, Ling Feng actually returned to his seat!?

Then it was Effenberg who went to warm up...... And then there's Baggio...... And then there's Batistuta......

"You guys are really bad!" Maradona smiled and said, "Didn't you see that old man was about to have a heart attack?" ”

"Hey, hey, hey, hey......" The four hooligans let out a neat laugh, if this scene was filmed by reporters, then the fans of Baggio and Batty would definitely cut Ling Feng and the others - such a good old man can be taken bad by a few of them, it is unreasonable!

The quartet didn't play until the end, and in the twentieth minute of the second half, Ryan Giggs' break down the left caused Fiorentina another big problem, and his cross was met by Norwegian striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on the shoulder and bounced into the face of the defending Nesta......

This ball is quite controversial.

Although it is a ball that is touched by the shoulder, such an action is very suspicious of handball.

Because in an instant, it was hard to see whether Solskjaer was hitting the ball with his arm or with his shoulder.

Nesta and others surrounded the referee to theorize, but the referee insisted that the goal was valid, and Manchester United led 1:0!

Such a goal also greatly boosted the morale of the United players, and with 25 minutes to go, two more goals are still theoretically possible!

But theory is theory, and practical operation is ...... It's a little more difficult.

The goal just now not only inspired the fighting spirit of the Manchester United players, but also aroused the anger of the Fiorentina players, watching Maradona and the four main players sitting on the bench lying on the bench, the players on the field have a thought - if this game is lost, although it has no impact on the overall result, but after the game, it will definitely be laughed to death by those guys......

For the sake of honor, Fiorentina changed the negative strategy from the beginning of the game to the present, and launched a fierce attack on the door of Manchester United!

Uncle Bei said well, the best offense is the best defense, which makes sense, even if you can't open the opponent's door, but this kind of offense also wastes a lot of time.

Finally, in the 40th minute, Shepchenko received a cross from the left side of the teenager Liu Dong and headed through Schmeichel's door to tie the score.

United's hopes of qualifying were dashed, but thankfully, they became the first team to draw against Fiorentina this year, although everyone knows that Fiorentina did not give their best in this game.

Although it broke Fiorentina's record of invincibility, it was also a release of pressure for Fiorentina's players.

After all, they can't play every game with their full strength, and besides, watching the guys from Manchester United pounce on them with great momentum, fools will fight with them!

As long as there are no loopholes, qualifying has become a foregone conclusion, so at this time, instead of fighting to the death with the opponent, it is better to save some strength and save yourself from being injured in the game.

After the 25th round of matches, Fiorentina will face Inter Milan, the quarter-final opponent of the Coppa Italia.

Although it is only the smallest trophy of the treble, for Inter Milan, who are already hopeless in the league, this trophy may be their only achievement this year, but alas, they met Fiorentina early.

Coincidentally, since Fiorentina and Inter Milan had spent a lot of money to improve their strength before the start of the season, Juventus, who had not spent much money, made a very wrong decision - Juventus forfeited participating in the Coppa Italia in order to prepare for Serie A and the Champions League.

However, now Fiorentina are leading the table and it is only a matter of time before they win the title, while Inter Milan also finished second in the league but are out early in the Champions League.

In the Coppa Italia match, AC Milan were beaten by Roma, while Parma and Lazio will face Lazio for another place in the last four, with the winner facing the winner of Fiorentina and Inter Milan for a place in the final.

However, for the Inter players, the significance of this game is still quite large.

Because Inter Milan and Fiorentina meet in the league is scheduled for the final round, if the two teams go hand in hand and the points difference is very small, then the final league game will be a decisive match for the Serie A title!

However, although Fiorentina is still the first and Inter Milan is not far behind, this one is close – in terms of rankings, not points.

After 25 games in Serie A, Fiorentina won all 75 points to top the table, and the gap between the second place Inter Milan and its score has been expanded to 19 points, that is, after a few more rounds, Fiorentina will lift the Serie A championship trophy in advance, and in the last league game between Inter Milan and Fiorentina - it is likely that Fiorentina's main players are scattered.

Because the World Cup is coming, when Fiorentina won the championship in advance, they must have set their sights on the Champions Cup, and in the next Serie A, the outcome is no longer important to them, and they will not fight too fiercely at all.

A game like this, like Fiorentina against Manchester United today, doesn't reflect the true level of the two teams.

Therefore, this Coppa Italia, which looks the weakest, has become a meeting between the two teams that can fight with all their might.

Because, Fiorentina are aiming for a treble.

The name Treble began when Ling Feng won three titles in his home league, the French Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup for Saint-Germain in the 95-96 season.

It's a first, a real first.

As for the league championship and the double of the domestic league are very common in history, as for the three major European cups and the league championship at the same time, it is not nothing, AC Milan won the Serie A championship and the European Champions Cup at the same time under the leadership of the Dutch Three Musketeers in the 93-94 season.

And taking three together is unprecedented.

Now everyone is watching whether Ling Feng can win the third treble of his career, so for Fiorentina, this humble trophy is not a garbage game.

"Don't be so complacent," Ling Feng sneered at Djokaeff and Ronaldo, who were smiling wickedly on the other end of the phone, "I decided to put a wolf dog next to the stadium......"

Then Djokaeff heard Djokaeff's wail, and Ronaldo smiled on the side: "Don't worry, Ling, I already know his secret, Yuri's car is mine now......"

Forget about this stubble, the last time he met Inter Milan, Ling Feng very "accidentally" leaked the fact that Djokaeff was afraid of dogs......

Djokaeff, the decrepit man, was killed and reanimated by Ling Feng at Saint-Germain, and finally escaped from the clutches of the devil for a year of stable life, and now he has met Ronaldo, a hooligan......

The first meeting is at the home of Inter Milan - Meazza.

This is not the first time that Ling Feng has been here.

While Inter fans call it Meazza but AC fans call it San Siro, and in this stadium, Ling Feng beat Inter Milan in the last minute while still in Hamburg last year, beat AC Milan here this year, and also played in Baresi's farewell match.

So for Inter fans, this white-haired Chinese is no stranger at all.

The match was also known as an early final, as both teams were among the best in Serie A, and more importantly – both teams had their full squad.

I just said that the Coppa Italia is a chicken rib game that is not noticed, and when the league and European competitions are tight, usually teams will give up such games, but now Inter Milan and Fiorentina are the two teams that are clearly the exception.

One wants to fight for the title of Treble, the other is basically able to keep the top three, but there is no hope of winning the league, and the European competition has all ended.

When such two teams meet together, it will definitely be a dragon fight.

Sure enough, as expected by the reporters, half an hour before the game, the starting lists of the two teams had been taken by the reporters, and the two teams sent all their main players to the court.

It was also the first time since the start of the second half of Serie A that Fiorentina had fielded all their main players after the Champions League - the iconic two were Baggio and Batistuta, as Shepchenko has started in the last few rounds of the league.

In the European Champions Cup, although Fiorentina did not play the main force, but the result is the result, which cannot be changed, strictly speaking, Fiorentina's winning record has been broken by Manchester United, and in this game, will Inter Milan continue to break Fiorentina's golden body of 100 wins?

It's a topic that journalists all over Europe are talking about – it seems that every time they come across a strong team, they come out and speculate, but the result is ...... It's often an empty rejoicing.

The game had already begun at this time, and just as the commentator of Inter Milan was still there to sigh what sparks Ronaldo and Ling Feng, the two youngest world footballers in history, could spark when they met, suddenly the entire Meazza Stadium became silent.

Just three minutes into the game, Fiorentina scored.

The player who scored the goal was Ling Feng, and the method was a long-range shot.