Chapter Ninety-Nine: Zidane who does not admit defeat

Old Ma now knew that he must not say big things in front of Ling Feng - it would be better to kill him if he stayed still in one place for three years.

Ling Feng is also holding the handle to play with the old horse, after all, the old horse will still return to Florence after the World Cup, as for the Chinese team, it is not a way to always find outsiders to help with their own affairs, and they still have to be trained from local personnel.

Whether it was Qi Wusheng, Zhu Guanglu or something else, Ling Feng decided to send them to some small European clubs to coach after the World Cup - of course, if the record was not good and he was fired, then he could only blame himself for not being angry.

After all, he also knows his ability, compared to the old Ma Lai, it is a world of difference, even compared to his compatriot Zhu Guanglu, Qi Wusheng is probably a grade worse now - after all, Zhu Guanglu has been honestly studying in Sao Paulo, Brazil, following the famous coach Santana for the past two years, two years is enough for his overall consciousness and football concept to rise to a higher level.

As for the problems at the back, it is not urgent to rush now - besides, football is not an ordinary addition and subtraction, and the most important thing is to play on the field.

Of course, it depends on how the old horse is arranged.

After a month in China, a group of youngsters from overseas youth teams have finally decided the best seven players, who will join other Chinese players returning from overseas for a final training camp in Dalian Golden State, from which the final roster of 22 will be determined.

Among the seven young players, Fiorentina accounted for three, namely midfielders Yue Lingxiang, Liu Dong and striker Ding Rui, Jianlibao players accounted for two, namely Li Tie and Zhang Xiaorui, and the other two players were from the training bases in Munich and Amsterdam respectively, one is Dalian's 17-year-old defender Xu Jie and Sichuan's 17-year-old fullback Zhu Yin.

Ling Feng and a couple of Fiorentina youngsters flew back to Fiorentina by plane - in the four rounds of games that were not crowded, Fiorentina only won one, drew one, and lost the other two - although it didn't matter much to Fiorentina themselves, but for the other teams, it was very important for them to get points from Fiorentina at the end of the league.

With one round of Serie A to go, Fiorentina set a record for the highest points in Serie A history with 91 points, and the final game was a battle between first and second place in the league, but it didn't make any sense.

Fiorentina fielded their full squad for the last time in the league, with captain Batistuta sitting on the bench and Ukrainian nuclear warheads in the starting line-up.

Because, this is also the last Serie A match that Shepchenko played for Fiorentina.

It's more like an exhibition game than a competition for one or two places, and the stars of both teams played quite well, but the atmosphere was not hot at all.

The final result of the game was 2:2, the two teams shook hands, Ronaldo scored two goals, Ling Feng and Shepchenko, the two players who were about to leave, scored one goal each.

It is worth mentioning that Ling Feng's goal expanded his total number of goals in Serie A this year to 46, firmly occupying the top scorer list - but this number is exactly the same as his shirt number.

Maybe in the future, attacking players will expand their numbers to get a good sign - for example, Adriano was 99 when he was in Parma, doesn't he think he can score 99 goals in a season?

In a week's time, all the leagues in Europe have come to an end, and players from all countries have to return home to participate in the final training camp, because before May 15, the 22-man squad for the top 32 of the World Cup will be all established and reported to FIFA, this time is the last moment for each player to fight for their own World Cup road.

Although Maradona returned to Fiorentina and was going to Amsterdam to watch the Champions League final with everyone, he will return to China with several Fiorentina players after this game to review the players.

On May 2, 1998, the Amsterdam Stadium in the Netherlands, where the final of the European Champions League was to be staged.

Lippi was very depressed, he led the team to the final of the Champions Cup last year, only to meet Borussia Dortmund led by Heathfeld and was kicked 1:3 to lose the championship.

This year, they led the team to the final, and as a result, they met the stronger Fiorentina.

If he loses again this time, he will become the only coach in history to reach the final two years in a row but return empty-handed.

It's just that in the first few rounds of Serie A, although it defeated Fiorentina, but the opponent's main players basically didn't play, thinking about the first half of the season when Fiorentina solved his game away from home, Lippi's heart began to tremble, because Juventus's current strength is weaker than the last time - the main goalkeeper Peruucci is injured and has not been able to play until now.

Thinking about Ling Feng's two perverted shots in the last game, Lippi had reason to believe that his current goalkeeper would probably not react at all when he encountered such a shot.

The match took place in Amsterdam, which was a very fair neutral stadium for both teams, because most of the home fans were neutral except for the fans of both teams who came from afar, and they just came to enjoy a good game, and nothing else.

Maybe it would not have been the same for the other two Serie A teams - because the Serie A teams are good at defending, and the two teams that defend and counterattack play each other, and the field is dull for sure.

But Fiorentina is different, looking at the entire European giants, there are probably only a few teams that can match them in attack, and Juventus' defense is also known as one of the strongest in the world.

Such a contradictory battle naturally attracts different eyeballs.

For Fiorentina, this should be the last big game of the season – as Roma are not yet capable of posing much of a threat to them in the Coppa Italia final in 10 days – even on their own home turf.

Scotland's referee Hugh •Dallas blew the whistle to start the game, and the battle for European supremacy this season is officially underway!

The final of the Champions Cup is different from other competitions, a decisive victory, there is no room for a comeback, so this kind of knockout game is very cruel, and the players are also quite careful.

Juventus's lack of goalkeeper ability is the key to Fiorentina's victory, the Italian goalkeeper named Lampra is 34 years old this year, but has never played in the World Series, although age represents a certain amount of experience, but compared to the main goalkeeper Peruci, there is still a considerable gap.

Think about when Ling Feng was in Hamburg last year, goalkeeper Corz suffered a divorce and was devastated by the divorce, and substitute goalkeeper Heyman made a very serious mistake in the last game against Dortmund - if it wasn't for Koltz being saved by Gaskein's old boy, Hamburg probably wouldn't even be able to win the league title.

Now feng shui takes turns, last year Ling Feng had a goalkeeper crisis, and this year it is his opponent's turn.

The tentative attack lasted only five minutes, and Fiorentina suddenly went crazy and started attacking the Juventus goal!

Lao Ma sat in the stands - he is not the head coach now, and there is no way to command on the spot - but it doesn't matter, the game is completely controlled by Ling Feng on the field, and the guy who takes over his shift only needs to replace the physically exhausted players in the second half.

Fiorentina's favourite game is the Champions Cup.

Because in the Champions Cup, Chinese young players can play without any constraints, so that Fiorentina's biggest substitution problem will be solved.

So now Fiorentina is attacking very fiercely, and the players don't have to worry about physical strength at all, especially a few attacking players.

In the seventh minute of the first half, Batistuta's powerful shot in front of the penalty area hit the opponent's goalkeeper out of his hands, but fortunately Montero reacted quickly enough to drive the ball off the sideline before Baggio could stretch his foot - Juventus escaped.

This is psychological warfare.

The European Champions Cup is a high-level competition that is no less than the World Cup, especially in the final, the pressure on the players on both sides is very high, and the opposing goalkeeper Lampola is old enough, but he is basically equal to zero in terms of experience in the tournament.

If the home team plays well, the goalkeeper can adjust his mentality and condition to the best, but the opening game is bombarded like this, and the pressure on the opposing goalkeeper is quite great - and it can even affect his performance for the rest of the game!

Even Lippi, known as the "Silver Fox", has no way to deal with Florence's "bullying" approach, and can only hope that his defenders will work harder and not give the opponent a good chance to shoot.

However, even if Juventus' backline can block Fiorentina's tidal wave, fouls are inevitable.

In the space of 15 minutes, Juventus committed four fouls in their own half, but none of them were dangerous areas, and Piero also took advantage of a counter-attack to create a dangerous shot.

However, in the sixteenth minute, Ling Feng forced a breakthrough in front of the penalty area, Torricelli had to pull him down, and Fiorentina got a well-placed free kick opportunity in the arc of the penalty area.

The Fiorentina fans are already cheering, the position of this free-kick is fantastic!

As against Barcelona, Ling Feng, Baggio and Carlos all stood in front of the ball – a chorus of haters for Juventus.

The old rule, the three of them started together, but this time the opinions of the Juventus wall were not unanimous, when Baggio ran over the ball, Piero in the wall jumped up first - for Baggio, a senior, Piero is still quite jealous.

It's a pity that Baggio played a feint, and then Ling Feng followed, his body almost tilted to the ground, and his right foot swept under the ball!

The ball flew over the head of Deschamps next to Piero and into the gate!

Poor Deschamps is only a mere 1.74 meters, and there is nothing he can do about this ball.

And the opponent's backup goalkeeper Lampola just reluctantly made a head-turn.

1:0! In the sixteenth minute of the first half, when the situation could not be opened, Ling Feng's free kick was the first strike for the team!

After scoring the goal, Ling Feng quickly rushed to the corner flag, holding the flagpole with one hand and shouting to the sky - he didn't know what the roar was, it was just a kind of venting, he won the top trophy in Europe!

Looking at the picture of the world and the earth, Zidane's heart was very uncomfortable.

Recall that in the previous year's meeting between the two teams, Saint-Germain's strength was more than a notch higher than his Bordeaux, but Bordeaux was able to draw under his leadership, and his own performance could be called a classic duel with the opponent.

But once he arrived at Juventus, he was completely in charge of the organisation of the midfield – just like Fiorentina's Rui • Costa, who rarely had the opportunity to assist.

Zinedine Zidane is also a top-tier assist midfielder, but the conservative Lippi did not dare to send both him and Piero to attack at the same time, leaving Zidane to organize behind him, and even giving Piero all threatening set-piece opportunities.

It cannot be denied that Piero's performance this season is indeed very eye-catching, but Lippi's arrangement will inevitably completely put Zidane under Piero, which is a very difficult thing for Qi Bald to accept.

Qi Bald can't be regarded as a master of art now, but his elegant ball control on the court is Ling Feng is worse than it - no way, Ling Feng is the kind of crazy attacking type, and the ball control that makes him hold back in the midfield is better than killing him - not a type of player, this comparison is unscientific.

Then the game continued, and Lippi on the side was very surprised to find that Zidane, who was supposed to organize an attack in the midfield, rushed up and formed a double forward formation with Piero on the left and right!

"What does Qi Zu want to do?!" This was Lippi's doubt, but everyone else thought that this was a new tactic arranged by Lippi.

Zidane's possession of the ball has increased significantly, compared to the previous time when he got the ball in the midfield, such control undoubtedly made Juventus's control of the midfield greatly strengthened.

Lippi, who had stood up and was about to be mad at Zidane's disregard for himself, sat back down and muttered: "Maybe it's too limiting his ability, let's see......"