Chapter 443: Hymn and Role Change
The next day's edition of the Torino Sports Newspaper devoted about two-fifths of its pages to a brief introduction to the young players sent by the Torino team the night before.
In addition to the German striker Johannes Egerstein, who is already well-known in European football, and Vanja Milinkovic Savic, who has been the starting goalkeeper several times this season, central defender Alejandro Bastoni, who joined from Atalanta, left-back Luca Pellegrini who acted as a countervailer in the Brazilian wingback Bruno Perez deal, and Torino's own academy winger Vittorio Parrigini, etc. They have also become potential new stars that the Red Bulls can expect in the future.
Not to mention Pieto Pellegri, who has already become famous in world football, the striker, who has just turned 17, scored a very wonderful curling ball in this game, thus scoring his fourth league goal of the season and the eleventh goal in all competitions combined, which is definitely the focus of major giants.
If the impact of this newspaper, which is mainly distributed in the Turin area or in the northwest of Italy, is not too great, then when the Turin U19 and U17 teams both won the Italian Youth League in their respective age groups two rounds more than ten days later, the entire Apennine Peninsula really saw the huge changes that Li Doudi brought to the club in just two years. You must know that when the Serie A team registered in August last year, there was only one player from the team's youth training in the first team of the Torino team, and because it did not meet the relevant regulations of the league, the 25-man squad could not be filled, which is simply different from the current situation.
Although the Torino coach has praised the talent and achievements of the Torino coach in developing young players countless times before, the Italian football industry, which has lost the right to participate in this year's World Cup in Russia and has a clear gap in talent, is still inevitably stirring up leftovers, especially after the Red Bulls used a large number of newcomers in the league at the weekend and obtained relatively satisfactory results, "Corriere della Sera", "La Repubblica" and other major media have joined the ranks of introducing the essence of the revival of the Torino team. Although their main purpose is to persuade other Italian teams to pay attention to the development of their own youth talents, they will inevitably praise Li Mudi as an example, and then his reputation in the system seems to be on the rise again.
But that's all for later, so let's go back to the 34th round of the league last weekend. In the aftermath of the Battle of Yato, all those who follow the First League and indeed world football have turned their attention to the Allianz Stadium in Juventus, where a match that could well decide the final winner of this season's league title starts at 8:45 p.m. local time. The top two teams in the standings faced each other directly, and the difference between the two points had just the chance to be reversed after a fierce 90-minute confrontation, and this Mars collision with the Earth style of the two giants became a gluttonous meal that fans around the world began to look forward to as early as a month ago.
Considering the tactical restraint between the two sides, the current morale of the team, and especially the precedent of the old lady winning 1-0 away in the first direct conversation at the Sao Paulo Stadium in the first half of the season, the outside world is naturally more optimistic about Juventus, which has home advantage. However, when Allegri announced the starting list before the game, French central midfielder Matuidi appeared in the left winger position, which immediately caused a lot of controversy, because it meant that the old woman gave up her attacking threat on the left wing. Or to put it more bluntly, it is Uncle Embarrassing, he wants to focus on stability, because a draw is also acceptable for the home team.
It was this idea of cowardice before a battle that led to the birth of a tragedy. The six-time Serie A champion is on his own turf, and he is so limited by his rivals in the game that he can't even find the north. At the end of the game, they only got 40% of the possession, and the shooting statistics were only a pitiful 4-0, and the only lead was the number of yellow cards they received.
The Bianconeri did play an incomparably bad game with an injury in the 11th minute of the opening game, and the sleepwalking performance of Dybala, the heart of the attack, forced the manager to replace him after half-time.
In the end, thanks to Senegalese centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly's header in the 90th minute, Napoli not only avenged a narrow home defeat to their opponents at the beginning of December last year, thus ending their unbeaten record at the beginning of the season, but also climbed to the top of the Serie A standings again after six rounds. Although the lead is also a point difference, this is undoubtedly like a strong shot for the White Dolphins supporters who have almost fallen into despair before. Fen. It also made everyone who didn't want to see Juventus achieve a seventh consecutive title to have a very fast weekend, and Li Mudi was one of them.
In addition to the major event of the change of ownership at the top of the list, there are also many topics worth mentioning in this round of Serie A. First of all, AC Milan, who are struggling for a place in next season's Europa League, lost 0-1 at the feet of vice-captain Benevento at their home stadium, not only giving the latter three away points in the top flight for the first time in team history, but also making themselves one step away from European qualification. Rivals Lazio and Atalanta both won this round, leaving the Rossoneri eight points behind the Blueeagles, a gap that is too much for the remaining four games to follow.
However, the Coppa Italia winner can also provide an additional Europa League spot, and given that both teams in the final have all but locked up a top-four spot in the league, then this qualification will be extended to the seventh-placed team in the Serie A table, and AC Milan's chances have not been completely sealed.
In the other extreme scenario, Torino were able to win this year's Europa League and lose all the games that followed, dropping them to fifth place in the table. In that case, Italy would replicate this season's Premier League with five teams in the Champions League. However, the original three Europa League tickets will be reduced to two, and the seventh-place Serie A will still be the last train to catch a European spot, so the Rossoneri will be able to achieve the goal set at the start of the season if they can overtake Atra.
It's just that with Fiorentina and Sampdoria pressing on behind them, neither of them looks secure in eighth place in the league at the moment, and Gattuso's side will have to go all out for the rest of the game or risk another resentment.
Coincidentally, in the real world, AC Milan actually qualified for the Europa League last season, but was disrupted because of Li Mudi's messy entry. And in the 2017/18 season, the Rossoneri were in a much better race for a European ticket than they were in the world of travel. If Li Mudi, who claims to be a Milan fan, knows that his appearance has interfered with the plans of this Serie A giant for two consecutive years, he must feel a little ridiculous and helpless in his heart.
In the battle for a Champions League spot, Inter Milan and Roma both won this weekend, allowing them to close the gap on the Red Bulls, but similar to AC Milan, the number of games remaining is too small to complete the counterattack. With five games remaining, including replays, Moody's side only need seven points to secure third place in the league and six points to secure a top-four finish in the table, and given that the Red Bulls have always had good luck in the Celestial Empire, Inter and the Red Wolves may have to fight to the death for the final Champions League ticket.
On Monday, the Torino team had their usual holiday, and their coach was a rare departure from his home and drove to the airport after breakfast, heading straight for Barcelona.
Less than four hours after the Battle of Yato, Spanish clay king Rafael Nadal defeated Japan's Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-2 in the final of the Monte Carlo Masters. It was also the 31st Masters title of his career, surpassing Djokovic's record. In the end, he also retained 1,000 points and was able to maintain his position as the world No. 1 in the ATP rankings released on Monday, which can be said to be very rewarding.
However, with the Barcelona Open already underway, Rafa and his team, who could not afford to stay at the casino de Monaco to celebrate, had to return to the Iberian Peninsula after a short post-match break, where the title of "Eleven Champions" was still waiting for him, the king of clay.
Li Mudi was unable to come to the scene to help his friends because he was too busy with work before, and in the next two weeks, the Torino team's game schedule was still very full, and it was estimated that he had no time to clone, so he used this rare rest day to visit Rafa, saving him from always talking about the Torino coach on the phone.
It was just in time for Nadal's first-round bye to make his debut in the tournament against the little-known homegrown player Baena, and the result was no surprise. Although the final score was two 6-4, it still looked quite intense, but those who watched the game knew very well that the situation of the game was always firmly in Natto's hands, and he was just using this opponent to adapt to the new environment and adjust his state.
Seeing that his friend was promoted without worry, Li Mudi whispered in the stands with Raul, who also came to cheer, and murdered countless reporters on the scene.
Since returning to Real Madrid last summer as assistant to general manager Alexis Sanchez, the former Bernabeu prince has started his 9-to-5 career in professional attire. However, the position of assistant general manager is quite bluffing, but the specific responsibilities are an errand, which makes Raul, who wants to learn some management knowledge on the front line, a little disappointed. At the beginning of this year, the Spanish media broke the news that Real Madrid intends to make some adjustments in personnel, especially in the position of coach.
In early February, Raul confirmed in a phone call with a friend that Galeries Lafayette intended to take him out of management and into a coach. With Castilla's record this season having been somewhat poor, having fallen into the relegation zone of La Liga at its worst, Solari is almost certain to leave before the summer, perhaps in a few days. According to Lafayette's plan, the coach of the Real Madrid B team will be handed over to Guti, who has done a very good job in the youth A team, that is, the U19, and the position he leaves behind will be filled by the coach of the youth B team, Alvaro Benito, then the latter's original position will be vacant, and the best replacement in the heart of the Real Madrid president is Raul.
At that time, Qi Zu's class turmoil was in the final stage of being hyped on the Internet, and Li Mudi couldn't help but make some bad associations about this matter, thinking that Lafayette may have really moved the mind of changing the coach at that time.
Since football has been affected by modern broadcasting methods and attracted fans around the world, as the world's best club, Real Madrid's ownership of the position has always been a topic of concern for global sports media and fans, when Zidane, who led the team to win two Champions League trophies in a row, suffered a serious dismissal crisis at the beginning of the new season, the outside world has launched a vigorous discussion about his successor, and the names of Loew, Conte and others have also appeared in everyone's sight.
It's just not to mention whether these two famous coaches who have refused to join the Bernabeu many times before will suddenly change their minds, and it is completely impossible for them to put aside their original jobs in the middle of the season to clean up the mess for others, so there was media speculation at the time that Lafayette may invite Ancelotti, who has already left at Bayern, to enter the palace.
However, Real Madrid insiders know very well that even if the situation is so bad that it really can't be saved, Lafayette who is full of Zidane's "favor" also hopes to appoint one of his own people to take over the first team, considering Solali's own outsider attributes (Redondo's cousin-in-law, and the previous generation of Prince Bernabeu was a supporter of Lafayette's original rival for the presidency of Lafayette), then Guti is the most suitable successor.
However, due to the regulations of the Spanish Football Federation, only those who meet the following four conditions can be the head coach of a La Liga team: one year as the head coach of the five major leagues, two years as the head coach of the top league of other major football countries, two years as the first assistant coach of the first team of the La Liga team, and one year as the head coach of the B team of the La Liga team. Zizou met the last condition to succeed Rafael Benitez as Real Madrid's manager. Guti currently only has the qualifications to coach the youth team and is not qualified to coach the first team, so there was rumor at the time that he would soon take Solari's place in preparation for the next succession.
However, fortunately, the performance of the Galaxy Battleship in the European War has always been quite stable, and with the support of Lafayette, Qi Zu finally survived the most difficult period. Just to prepare for a rainy day, Galeries Lafayette started his preparatory plan after all the turmoil had disappeared, so as to avoid falling into the same passivity when similar events occurred again. And Guti's promotion also had a cascading effect, completely disrupting Raul's future development direction, which was a bit unprepared.
According to a big plan previously drawn up by the small group of Li Moody, Raul is the obvious choice to become the future president of Real Madrid, when the likes of Hierro, Figo and David Beckham will enter the management when the opportunity arises. As for the team's coach candidates, even if Qi Zu can't become the long-term captain of the Galaxy Battleship like Lord Fu, Li Mudi, Guti, Morientes and others can also go up and try.
It's just that this change has caused some twists and turns in this plan, but after some communication with the Torino manager, Raul still agreed to take a coaching certificate first and add some experience in the management of the team. But at the same time, he also enrolled in an MBA correspondence course at the University of Madrid, and as an ambitious candidate for club president, he still has to be determined to move forward bravely towards his goal.
And Raul's classmates in this coaching class are also all well-known, Xavi, the Alonso brothers, Valdés, Capdevilla, Senna, Baptista, Luis Garcia, etc., forming a star class, which has become a hot topic in the Spanish media in recent times.
This time he met Li Mudi, Raul made a request, hoping to go to the Turin team to consult with the Turin team in the internship activities that began in early May, which naturally would not be rejected by his friends, and the two of them could not wait to look forward to the day of working together soon.