Due to the Italian Super Cup, the Torino duo were played early, albeit on Christmas Eve afternoon, but at least the players could enjoy the holiday of the night and the next day. It's not like other teams who have to play on the second day of Christmas, and they can't rest peacefully.

However, this is just a different choice of sweet and bitter or bitter and sweet, and while the rest of the teams can stay in the Apennine Peninsula to prepare for the final round of league games before the winter break, the two teams from Turin City will have to leave for the far Far East on the evening of the 26th, a 17 and a half hour long journey that sounds unbearable.

Fortunately, on the evening of the 27th local time, when the members of the Turin club who arrived at Baiyun International Airport on a chartered flight walked out of the hatch, they immediately felt the warm welcome of the fans of the Celestial Empire, which somewhat alleviated their fatigue.

In order to do a good job in this Italian Super Cup, Yangcheng ZF still made some preparations, whether it was reception, catering, training venues and security, they all gave the highest level of care, leaving a very good impression on the two Italian teams.

Compared with the civilianism of the Torino club, Juventus is full of giants, and the Bianconeri flew to the Celestial Empire on their own special plane, which saved about an hour and a half of time compared to his sworn rivals in the same city, and the arrangement was more flexible. So they arrived in Yangcheng a little later, so that the players could reverse the jet lag.

During the last weekend of 2018, the whole of Yangcheng and even Nanyue Province became fanatical because of football.

There is a deep football cultural tradition here, it is the most developed area of football in the Celestial Empire, coupled with the fact that the world's top club Juventus, the quasi-ball king Cristiano Ronaldo and the country's pride in world football Li Muddy will attend, and it is almost the New Year's Eve to catch up with the time, which has made the attention of this Italian Super Cup reach the highest level in history, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a football carnival.

If you want to elaborate on how the two teams have been sought after in Yangcheng, there is no need to mention other aspects, just by looking at each of their training sessions can attract at least 5,000 people to buy tickets to watch, everyone can have a sense of it.

In this atmosphere of all the fans, on the evening of December 30, the Yangcheng Olympic Stadium, which can accommodate 80,000 spectators, was full, making the temperature of only about 18 degrees Celsius break out into the feeling of midsummer.

And then a very exciting and intense enough game, which did not live up to everyone's previous expectations, at least it was worth the ticket price.

Although Ronaldo's popularity in the Celestial Empire football world is unmatched, and Juventus has also gained a large number of Celestial Empire fans by virtue of its achievements accumulated over the years and the influence of Serie A in the Far East, but all this cannot produce absolute suppressive force in front of Li Mudi.

In the Coppa Italia final, one of the few matches in which Torino could still have at least half of their supporters when playing away from home, the crimson jersey and Tifo were almost as many as black and white, much to the excitement of Torino Club President Urbano Caiiro and other senior executives who came with the team to Yangcheng.

It's a pity that Li Muddy has decided to leave the Red Bulls after his contract expires in the summer, and such a scene may be seen again in the future.

However, it turned out that the loyalty of Celestial Empire fans is still relatively high. Similar to the Houston Rockets in the NBA, even though Li Mudi is no longer in charge, the Torino team still gathered a lot of Celestial Dynasty diehards with its performance in the previous three years, so that the club enjoyed high support for many years later, bringing a lot of surprises to the Red Bulls.

Of course, that's all for later, so let's turn back to the 2018 Coppa Italia final.

At 22:15 on the evening of the 30th, when Immobile kicked the penalty into the goal guarded by Perrin with a thunderous and violent volley, the entire Yangcheng Olympic Stadium was like a glass of water poured into a hot oil pot, completely boiling.

Torino won the first Italian Super Cup in the club's history with a penalty shoot-out victory over Juventus, who had reached the final of the tournament seven times in a row.

Although this trophy is a bit of a frustration and is far less important than the domestic league and the Coppa Italia, it is still an honor to brag about for the Red Bulls, who have not won a national championship for a long time.

What's more, Torino, who have been the absolute underdogs in the history of local derbies for more than two decades, have beaten the old lady for the second time in a row this season, which is definitely a remarkable achievement for all their members and supporters.

And this victory will also give a strong psychological comfort to the Torino players who feel a lot of pressure in the Serie A championship battle, so that they will unconsciously have the confidence to defeat the other party when facing Juventus' pursuit in the future.

As for the details of the competition, there are still some things worth introducing. The Torino boss surprisingly reversed the tactical set-up of the half-month-old win over the formidable opponent and instead used a 4-3-3 and 4-5-1 back-and-forth stance in this final, emphasizing the need to control the ball as much as possible.

As mentioned many times before, because of the influence of Real Madrid's fast attacking style, coupled with the extremely good performance of the French and Belgian national teams that used similar tactics in the World Cup in Russia, Li Mudi has been firmly moving forward on the road of pursuing faster and more counterattack points this season.

However, this does not mean that in all games, the Torino team will shrink back and focus on counter-attacking. When the opponent takes the initiative to swing the bus, or the strength is quite different from his own side, Li Mudi will still use a more active attacking style, and the multi-possession style of play is not too difficult for the team that has introduced two Portuguese internationals.

It's just that this strategy has rarely been used against strong teams before, so it has not left a deep impression on the outside world and has rarely been noticed. However, this also hid this tactical intention of the Torino coach very well, and caught Allegri off guard.

Left winger Boyer and Dicman scurrying forward and backward down the right helped Torino to gain a numerical advantage in midfield, giving the two central midfielders of Marcel Barceli and Andre Gomes more points of contact. Azcasibal, who unexpectedly secured a starting position, played at the top level in the defensive midfield position, and although he did little in attack, he at least looked like N'Golo Kante, the number one defender in world football today, in terms of interceptions and tackles.

This style of play rarely creates too many decent chances under the solid defense of Juventus players, but under Li Mudi's emphasis on stability, it is also difficult for the opponent's defensive counterattack to play, and the whole situation is almost 180 degrees upside down from the previous league matchup.

But how could the Serie A hegemons be the team that follows the rhythm of the opponent throughout the game? After the frustration of the first half, Uncle Yu quickly adjusted after the rematch, and Juventus, after strengthening the midfield scramble, began to fight frantically for possession, wanting to take the situation into their own hands.

It's just that Torino's defensive ability is not what it used to be, and with enough preparation, they have unknowingly formed a first-class defense in Serie A, leading the league with only 14 goals conceded in the half-season. And on the premise of not pursuing the speed of the counterattack too much, it is still difficult for Juventus players to get the ball again after an offensive is defused.

In this way, under the deliberate control of Li Mudi, the rhythm of this final has always made the old woman feel very awkward, and it is difficult to show 100% strength. And in the face of Belotti's small number of but threatening points, the aging Chiellini and Benatia, who have not been in stable form, have made mistakes twice, although they have not conceded goals, but they are also a big hidden danger. Trapped in the slump of the two central defenders, Juve did not dare to invest too much in the front, resulting in insufficient support for the striker.

However, just as the game played out according to the Torino manager's script, the superstar's flash of inspiration almost undone the former's long-planned strategy.

In the 71st minute, Cristiano Ronaldo scored a perfect direct free kick from about 27 meters from the goal in the middle.

However, the Juventus boss and his supporters were not happy for long, and immediately after conceding the goal, they switched on Immobile and Bruno Fernandes and changed the formation back to a 3-4-1-2 Torino team, which soon equalized the scoreline. In the 75th minute, Benatia made a mistake to stop Immobile, who was lying behind him, with no one to mark within three metres of him. The Torino No.10 brought in Chiellini's reinforcement and slotted the ball down the middle, where Belotti easily slotted it over, and this time it was Perrin who surrendered.

Both sides then had a few chances in attack, but both missed each other and the game went into 30 minutes of extra time.

As a result, the players who had traveled a long way were unable to score in extra time due to physical reasons, and the sixth penalty shoot-out in the history of the Italian Super Cup final was officially staged.

Lady Luck sided with the Red Bulls today, although the second to appear in the field was Baseley fired an anti-aircraft gun that nearly undone the team's entire efforts.

But in the next two rounds, it was the experienced Cassie who stepped up to save the team. He first struggled to block Pjanic's kick into the bottom right corner, and then used his keen judgment to force Mandzukic to change his foot shape temporarily, causing the ball to fly out of the woodwork, and it can be said that he single-handedly brought the Torino team from hell back to heaven in an instant.

Although Sandro and Cristiano Ronaldo both scored penalties to keep the suspense of the game alive, Immobile, the last player in the regular round to stand 12 yards in front of him, did not let his opponent's fantasy come true, and he beat his team-mate and former Genoa goalkeeper Perrin with a powerful volley to keep the trophy in the hands of his own team.

It is worth mentioning that this is the third time in a row that Juventus have lost a penalty shoot-out in the final of the Italian Super Cup, having previously lost to Napoli and AC Milan in the same way in 2014 and 2016 respectively, in what seems to have become a spell of even-number years.

The award ceremony after the race was also particularly grand, and the momentum was comparable to the world's top competitions. As the main sponsor of the event and the president of Huawei Group, who is also the brand endorsed by Li Mudi, Ren Zhengfei personally took the stage to present the gold medal to the champion team. The picture of Ren and Li's intimate conversation spread to all corners of the world with the broadcast signal, and the gorgeous award stage behind them and the hot atmosphere in the stadium let the outside world see the super rise of the Celestial Empire in the two fields of business and football market, which can be regarded as playing some role in publicity.

Instead of awarding Casillas, the Argentine midfielder was substituted in the last minute of extra-time, but contributed ten tackles throughout the game and greatly limited Dybala's play, and was the main contributor to Torino's ability to drag the game into a penalty shoot-out.

And his excellent performance today, as well as his excellent performance in place of the injured Mouthiss, directly caused his status in Li Mudi's mind to skyrocket, and finally occupied the main position of the team, leading to a transfer deal that was not originally planned by the Torino team before the winter transfer window closed.

On the other hand, Juventus, who lost this game, also had a series of chain reactions because they were trampled under the feet of their rivals for the second time in a row. In the summer, the old lady came close to bringing back their former first-choice centre-back Leonardo Bonucci, but the deal was never made possible because they were never able to negotiate a bargaining chip with AC Milan, and the Italian defender's personal relationship with his former team-mate or even the former manager was not too good.

However, after the start of the season, Juve's biggest barrier to dominating the domestic league - defensive ability, has had a big problem. The 34-year-old Chiellini has frequent injuries, Benatia is always in an infinite cycle between reliable and unreliable, and Rugani, who almost left the team in the summer window, has not been able to show a stable form for various reasons, which has made the team's defensive ability regress in great strides.

The 0.9 goals conceded per game in the league is their highest in the last seven seasons and is one of the biggest reasons why Juve are currently behind Torino.

So after losing the Italian Super Cup, the Bianconeri immediately reopened negotiations with AC Milan, and officially announced the signing of Bonucci, who is still in the top 10 of the world's football central defenders today, in just four days, laying a good foundation for the second half of the season.