Chapter 260: Good Luck Is Back
The three-goal lead made Li Mudi completely relaxed, and judging from Cagliari's offensive ability this season and today's form, the likelihood of them scoring three goals in the next 40 minutes can be said to be extremely low, and the Red Bulls' three points are secure. So after the 65th minute, he replaced Belotti and Benassi with Boyer and Fabas in succession, and began to use the rest of the time to train the young players.
In the 72nd minute, German teenager Maximilian Egerstein also got the opportunity to play, he replaced Baseli, and the tactical play of the Torino team immediately changed to possession in the middle of the field, and no longer rashly launched attacks. The manager's intention is very clear, which is to keep the ball firmly at his feet and spend the remaining time.
However, the home coach Massimo Rastelli can't stand the reality of a three-goal defeat at home, and although Cagliari's relegation should not be a big problem at the moment, the club's hierarchy and fans will not like to see the team look so embarrassed. So he also deployed his troops, hoping to score at least one goal to save some face. It was in this context that a special player was given the opportunity to make a name for himself, and North Korean striker Han Kwang-song, who was born on September 11, 1998, stepped onto the turf of the Santa Elia Stadium in the number 32 shirt.
It was the second consecutive game in which Han Kwang-song was featured, having come off the bench in the 86th minute in Cagliari's 3-1 win at Palermo in the previous round, becoming the first Asian face in the club's history and the first North Korean to feature in Serie A. And that day was only twenty-three days after he joined the team. It was also the day after he was promoted to the first team, and he also created a big miracle.
Born in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, the young man has been very fond of football since he was a child, and has shown great talent, thanks to the new leader, super sports fan Kim Jung-eun, who launched the "opening up" strategy in 2012, Han Kwang-song and the younger players have been formalized in the Western soccer powerhouse.
After the North Korean Under-16 team won the 2014 Asian Youth Championship, many of the core of the team have been focused on by European teams. In February 2015, in preparation for the U17 World Junior Championship in Chile in October, the North Korean youth team came to the Italian region of Umbria for training and held several warm-up matches against local teams, which gave the Serie A team the opportunity to observe their performance up close. In the end, Choi Song-hyuk, wearing the number 10 shirt, became the first lucky winner to be included in Fiorentina's youth squad in January 2016, making him the first North Korean player in Serie A history (not playing, only on the list).
However, the winger, who was considered promising at the time, did not achieve a good result, because there were endless reports that 70% of the player's salary ended up in the North Korean government, as well as passport management, etc., and Zilily, who felt the huge pressure, chose to terminate his contract after six months, which shattered the fairy tale of North Korea at that time.
Han Kwang-song, on the other hand, was much luckier, as he was highly skilled and all-around with both his left and right feet, and he was favored by Cagliari coach Rastelli, who strongly recommended that the club sign him, and gave him the opportunity to play in a row, which was absolutely different.
Li Mudi is also very interested in this North Korean player, and after observing him through the FM system, he found that this kid's ability is very ordinary, but at the age of 18 and a half, it is very unusual, at least there are few people in the Celestial Empire at this age who dare to say that they can be better than him. But at the end of the day, a young Asian player under the age of 19 really doesn't deserve any special adjustments, and those old fritters in Torino's backline can teach him a good lesson.
However, reality slapped the Torino coach in the face again, and the North Korean boy completed the attack with his first touch of the ball after coming on the field, and his right-footed shot on the line of the big penalty area went wide of the near post. However, the moment he got up, there were no defenders from the visiting team within three meters in front of him, which annoyed Li Mudi, and he yelled in the direction of his own penalty area, reminding the players not to relax too much.
In the 91st minute, Akwa received the second yellow card of the game when defending the home team's counterattack, and was sent off after two yellows and one red. Since the away team no longer had a place to make substitutions, Li Mudi signaled that the frontline players should also come back to help his teammates at the back defend. Taking advantage of this rare opportunity to play more and play less, Cagliari launched a final onslaught, even the full-backs pressed up, and this created a final blow for them.
In the 95th minute, when the referee had begun to look at his watch frequently, left-back Muru rushed to the front of the field and plugged straight ahead, and the substitute Brazilian striker Farias withstood Zampacosta's close interference, and suddenly sent a cross at the moment when he was about to break out of the bottom line, and Han Kwang-song, who had been waiting in front of the goal and was only 1.78 meters tall, scored with a successful header without being marked, and pulled back a point for the home team. This goal is not only the first goal of the North Korean in Serie A, but also completes the breakthrough of the North Korean player in the five major leagues to score zero, which can be said to be of great significance.
However, Li Mudi did not want to be remembered by history, and after the game, he severely criticized the three people who were next to Han Kwang-song at the time, but seemed to be pointed, Ranocchia, Kastan and Fabas, and punished these three players for serving as caddies for half an hour each in the next three days of training, which can be regarded as turning the page of the incident.
In the press conference that followed, the Torino boss also praised the history-making North Korean youngster, saying that he is dynamic and confident, and if he can get more training opportunities, he has the potential to become a leading figure for East Asian players in the future. And the reason why his mood has changed is because of the many surprises brought by the other matches that ended at the same time.
Sampdoria slowed Fiorentina's pursuit this weekend after holding off Inter Milan in the previous round, and the two sides ended up 2-2 at the Luigi Ferraris Stadium, bringing the Purple Lily's ferocious three-game winning streak to an abrupt end.
What surprised him even more was that Stefano Pioli's side had dropped the chain again, as the Nerazzurri faced Crotone, who had been in relegation crisis since the start of the game, and they lost again just when everyone agreed that Inter could take advantage of the slump in the previous game. With only 27% possession, Crotone played a super high counter-attack efficiency, and finally scored 7-of-12 shots in the four minutes between 18 and 22 by Inter Academy veteran Falcinelli twice knocked on Handanovic's goal. Although the visitors fought desperately afterwards, it was only one goal that D'Ambrosio pulled back, and finally had to swallow the bitter fruit of two consecutive defeats.
This, combined with the fact that Lazio were thrashed by Napoli by three goals at home in the final big game that ended on Sunday night, left most of Torino's rivals conceding points in the planned league fixture.
After the end of the 31st round, the situation in the standings is gradually getting interesting, and the suspense of Europa League qualification is back again. Ninth-placed Fiorentina are just six points clear of fourth-placed Lazio, and with seven rounds remaining, it's hard to tell what will happen.
The relegation circle became even tighter, with Empoli, who had an eight-point advantage in the middle of the season, suddenly short-circuited from round 23 onwards, with a seven-game losing streak keeping them stuck at 20 points until a draw from vice-captain Pescara this week. Fortunately, the teams in the bottom three of the table also played like shit, except for Pescara, who basically locked up a place in Serie B, during Empoli's losing streak, those two teams only took one point each, and it looked like they had fallen under a spell, and their performance was outrageously poor.
However, this style of painting suddenly changed from last weekend, and Crotone, who was originally in the penultimate position, won Chievo and Inter Milan 2-1 in succession, so that his points instantly rose to 20, not only surpassing Palermo, but also directly touching the butt of Empoli, who thought he was at ease. Had it not been for the latter, a draw in this round would have reversed the rankings of the two teams, with Crotone having the advantage on goal difference in the two meetings between the two sides, and with the same number of points, they would have beaten the opposition to escape the relegation zone temporarily.
For these teams that have been bayoneted and crazy for relegation, no matter who encounters them, they have to be extremely careful, because if they are not careful, they are likely to capsize in the gutter. Torino's opponent in the next round of the league is the hopeful Crotone, who has now evolved into a great white shark, and if he bites it, he may never go ashore again.
And in the middle of this week, when Li Mudi turned on the scouting tool function, he also received a lot of good news. The Brazilian defender Lianco, who the team has just bought, has a potential of 151, and if he can practice it to the fullest, he can be regarded as a very good defender; In addition, the training in recent months has also made great progress in the current abilities of young players such as Maximilian Egerstein, Issa Diop and Hou Yongyong, and with the contributions of others, his progress in training the Master 1 has reached 45/100, which is a gratifying situation. Finally, there is the increase in respect value, in addition to the members of the Torino team, the Lafayette on the Real Madrid side has also increased, because several of the talents he brought in last season have exploded.
First up is centre-back Melle, who was bought from Sporting Gijón for 10 million euros, has been an impressive performer this season after being loaned back to his parent club, and has been firmly in the team's main position since the first round. Although the team has been in the relegation zone, the player's performance has been unanimously praised, and Spain national team manager Julen Lopetegui has begun to take note of the rising star at the back, intending to recruit him into the senior team in the near future in preparation for the succession of Shui Ye and Pique.
After that, Li Mudi has been very optimistic and wants to loan him to Asensio in Turin before the start of the season. At his suggestion, Zizou has stepped up the rest of Real Madrid's first-team squad this year to ensure that the fitness of each of their main players is always in good condition, which is why they can regain the top spot again and beat strong rivals Bayern Munich in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final. Asensio, who has gained a lot of playing time, has shown the world his maturity and skill far beyond the age of 21, and he has scored many times in important games, and he has become a representative of the future new forces in world football.
Last but not least, Mbappe is the French star who came to prominence last year and has exploded since returning to Monaco on loan this season. As of midweek, he has not only scored 12 goals and eight assists in the league, leading the team to the top of the table ahead of Paris, but also began to transform suddenly after entering the knockout stages of the Champions League. After playing a total of 25 minutes in six group stage games without any performance, he turned into a superman from the first leg of the quarterfinals, first scoring a goal at home and away to help Monaco eliminate the Premier League giants Manchester City, and then scoring a brace at the West** Stadium on Wednesday, so that the team won 3-2 and has one foot in the semi-finals.
Mbappe is completely on fire, and his valuation given by the German "Transfermarkt" has soared from the previous 10 million euros to the current 40 million euros, becoming the hottest superstar now. Real Madrid, which only spent 6.5 million euros to buy it, can be said to have picked up a big bargain, and Chairman Lafayette will naturally not forget who contributed the most in this deal, so he began to think of the current Torino coach again, which made the respect for the latter a lot improved.
Now that the progress of Li Mudi's Friend of the Second Class Medal has changed to 397/1000, the increase in experience points is also not small, and it is expected to reach more than 420 after the end of this season, and I can finally see some hope for upgrading.
On the morning of Thursday, April 13, in the hall of the Turin City Hall, Li Mudi received the certificate and medal of "Honorary Citizen of Turin" from the beautiful mayor Appendino, who took office last year, and the event attracted the attention of hundreds of media reporters from the two countries. This is to commend the arrival of the Turin coach for bringing a large number of Celestial tourists to the city, coupled with the sponsorship and investment of those Celestial Enterprises, according to the Torino Sports Newspaper, he alone contributed more than 100 million euros to the city's GDP in less than ten months after taking over the Red Bull manager. That's why the Turin City Council so happily passed the mayor's proposal and awarded him this honor.
You know, this honorary citizen is not a cheap thing, when Juventus Prince Piero left Italy to go to Australia for the rest of his life, the proposal to elect him to become an honorary citizen of Turin was not passed, the difficulty can be imagined, which also indirectly proves that the gold content of this name is indeed full, Li Mudi can be regarded as taking advantage of the light of the people of the Celestial Empire behind him, and got some benefits for himself.