Chapter 162: A Classic Case of Defeating the Strong with the Weak

The game started with the 10th minute and the away team kicked off for the second time in midfield. point, into the half-court offensive and defensive mode, the Roma team played a wave of super offensive highs in the next fifteen minutes. tide, the fans who watched the game shouted again and again, drop.

First, Egyptian winger Salah connected two people on the right side, suddenly cut inside to the middle, and shot with his right foot from outside the penalty area, which was blocked by Kastan, who was five or six meters in front of him. A minute later, Nainggolan sent in a clever through ball from a double pack, and Dzeko slotted to the left side of the six-yard box to volley with his left foot, but the ball was saved by the well-positioned Hart side. In the fourteenth minute, Florenzi, who was playing at right-back, suddenly interjected. Entering the home team's hinterland, a long-range shot from the edge of the penalty area was easily confiscated by the England international due to the angle being too square.

Torino didn't give up on attacking completely, and in the 17th minute, Silvestri broke the ball and passed it to Barceli, who then picked up the ball up front, but Belotti started a little earlier and fell into the opponent's offside trap, and the home team missed the opportunity. However, to outsiders, this counterattack was more like a return to the glory of the Red Bulls, and then they were once again suppressed in their own half, and it seemed that they no longer had the ability to resist.

In the 19th minute, Nainggolan took advantage of the running of his teammates to find an opportunity to attack the goal, and performed his super long-range shooting kung fu about 35 meters away from the goal outside the penalty area, which scared Li Mudi to jump directly from the coach's seat. The midfielder, who is of Indonesian descent, may not be tall at 175 cm, but he is very versatile, especially known for his super mohican hairstyle and the ability to regularly kick world-class goals. At this time, he blasted a long-range shot in the face of Joe Hart, the "witness of the world wave", can the Torino coach not be afraid! Unfortunately, the shot was powerful enough, but not so tricky in terms of angle, and was knocked out by the Englishman with a double fist. However, the danger was not over, Dzeko ran to the left side of the penalty area to grab the second landing point, he kept the ball and hit the goal directly from a small angle, but was blocked by the pounced Rossettini.

Three minutes later, De Rossi suddenly sent a through ball up front and Rossetti flew before Perotti to shovel the ball off the touchline.

In the 25th minute, Roma's attack finally slowed down, and they also used a lot of energy in this wave of attacks, and needed to use a few minutes to adjust. The broadcasters, on the other hand, duly put on the screen the stats so far for both sides, with the visitors having three of their seven shots on goal while the hosts had two shots on goal and one on target. However, the Torino team, which had a very obvious disadvantage, temporarily took a one-goal lead, which made Roma's supporters shout "This is not scientific"!

In fact, the physical fitness of the away team's players is far from reaching the limit, and there is no problem at least besieging it with a high-intensity posture for more than ten minutes, but Spalletti on the sidelines feels that the previous results are not good, so it is better to recycle it first to see if the opponent's defense line that has been compressed to the limit can be pulled apart, so as to create enough space for Dzeko and others. However, Li Mudi, who was already leading, naturally would not let the players press at this time, and at this stage, he still had to focus on steady defense, and could not give the opponent a chance to counterattack.

So after the visitors slowed down the tempo and controlled the ball more in the midfield for only three or four minutes, seeing that Torino did not have the slightest intention of taking the initiative to step forward, the Roma coach waved his hand and instructed the players to press the situation again and start the second round of strong attacks on the home team's goal.

In the 31st minute, Perotti forced a breakthrough on the left side of the penalty area, and after wiping past Silvestri, he wanted to kill the goal along the bottom line, but unfortunately the ball was slightly deformed under the interference of Benassi who came over to make up the defense, and the linesman raised the flag to indicate that it was out of bounds. Two minutes later, Nainggolan received De Rossi's pass in front, shook off Barceli with a move similar to Marseille's return pass, and then crossed the ball into the box from the right side, but unfortunately the Bosnian center forward made a low-level mistake to stop the ball and touched the ball off the line and did not even get a corner. In the 36th minute, Florenzi, who came up with the assist, sent a low cross from the right side of the penalty area, Dzeko followed up with his right foot in the middle of the penalty area, and Hart flew to the side and did not touch it, but the shot was still missed. In the 39th minute, Roma left full-back Rui was not willing to be lonely, he ran to the front of the field to receive the ball and suddenly cut in, and vigorously blasted the ball to the far point with his left foot, but unfortunately he was not equipped with a crosshair, and he missed badly. A minute later, Mohamed Salah picked out a cross from the right side of the box and Dzeko's header went wide of the right-hand post again, reflecting the impatience of the players at this stage.

However, it is unlikely that they will be able to make any further adjustments, as the visitors who have reached a physical plateau will no longer be able to control their movements very precisely, passing the ball is better, and aspects such as shooting, which require extremely good feeling, are completely out of control. On the other hand, the home team, because it was on the defensive most of the time before, had a greater physical consumption than the opponent, and the limit came earlier. However, after the 40th minute of the game, the Torino players, who had already broken through the limits of their physical fitness, gradually regained the advantage on the field, and the statistics of shots on goal that had not changed for half an hour finally changed.

In the 41st minute, De Rossi crossed from the left, Dzeko outflanked the ball in the middle, and the home team immediately launched a quick counter-attack. It only took three passes to get the ball into the heart of the opposition, and after Berotti dribbled into the box at high speed, his powerful volley from the left was saved by Roma goalkeeper Szczesny.

Three minutes later, Torino made a comeback, Jesse passed the ball into the box, and Red Bebe was knocked to the ground by visiting defender Manolas when he was about to watch the players run with his back to the ball, and the referee even signaled to continue the game, but no penalty was awarded. This angered the more than 23,000 Red Bull fans in the stadium, and a large number of excited fans once again launched an attack on the protective net, which made the guards and supporting police officers nervous for a while, constantly driving these people away with shields and batons, and even arrested several people who took the lead in making trouble and took them away from the stands.

Fortunately, the whistle at the end of the first half sounded quickly, and when several commentators and guests were snoring incredibly, the Torino players returned to the locker room with a score of 1-0, and Li Mudi immediately explained to everyone the adjustments that needed to be made in the second half.

At half-time, the broadcaster's comments were indispensable, with both the Italian national television and the Celestial Empire coaches praising the home team's tenacity, which suffered eleven attacks in the first half in the face of Roma's formidable attacking line, and the 30 per cent to 70 per cent possession rate illustrates the difference in quality between the two teams to a certain extent. However, Li Mudi's team still relied on a united team defense and the favor of Lady Luck to hold on to a one-goal lead. Yes, most of the Western media believe that the scoreline is more due to Roma's bad luck, with a number of shots missing the goal, and it seems that it is only a matter of time before they equalize the score. However, Li Mudi knew that there was a seventy percent probability of winning this game in his pocket.

In fact, the most dangerous period for the Torino team was the fifteen minutes after the lead, when the Roma players were able to maintain 100% concentration and naturally play to their full strength. During that time, the home team was naturally under the most pressure, but fortunately, the opponent did not find the best chance, and many attempts on goal were in vain, which is undeniable, there is indeed an element of luck. However, when they tried to organise a strong attack after a few minutes of rest, the mentality of the players changed significantly, and the failure to find the Torino goal despite the previous all-out efforts, coupled with the crucial Europa League game four days later, made the visitors more and more impatient. It can be seen from the offensive method they chose in the next ten minutes or so that the previous three-dimensional attack with multiple people and multi-foot passes has all disappeared, most of them are long-range shots and simple and rough crosses or straight stops, and the final attack is also based on force, and patience is almost exhausted. Although the defensive strength of the Torino backline can only be regarded as the level of the middle of Serie A, it is naturally not too sad in the face of such an attack, and as the game time passes further, the anxiety of the Roma team will become more and more obvious, and the balance of victory will be tilted in the direction of the home team step by step, as long as the second goal can be scored, Torino can completely seal the victory.

Of course, there is another key factor that cannot be mentioned, today's game is between 12:30 and 14:15 noon, which is the hottest time of the day and the most sunshine intensity. Although it has entered the second half of September, the outdoor conditions in Italy at noon are still not very conducive to the players' performance, compared to the Roma team that has been using the main lineup, the Torino team with better player rotation is undoubtedly more physically advantageous, as long as it can withstand the first fifteen to twenty minutes of the second half, Li Mudi believes that the opponent will lose the control of the ball before, and the home team's opportunity will naturally come.

Fifteen minutes passed quickly, and the fans gave a standing ovation to the legend before kick-off. Because Spalletti replaced De Rossi with Prince Totti before the opening, the Wolves, who will turn 40 in two days, deserves the most sincere respect and love from all Italians and fans around the world. Roma were still in a 4-2-3-1 formation, but Totti's midfielder and Nainggolan were clearly more aggressive than in the first half. In other words, their midfield interception ability has declined, and it is an unsuccessful style of play.

After the rematch, the visitors were still the first to attack. In the 46th minute, Roma made a successful tackle at the back and hit the ball to the front, Dzeko curled a ball with his left foot at the top of the penalty area, but unfortunately it still missed the left post. A minute later, Salah's cross from the left side of the box was again dominated by the Bosnian centre-forward in the box, who headed in a powerful header from seven yards out that was lifted away by Joe Hart with one hand. As soon as the second half began, Roma showed a strong desire to attack.

Just when everyone was speculating about when the equaliser would come, Li Mudi's boys proved that they were not soft persimmons who could only defend to the death. In the 52nd minute, Salah's cross was pushed out by Kastan, Fabas received the ball and suddenly kicked a precise long pass from 40 meters away, Belotti unloaded the ball and dodged Fazio's flying tackle, and then burst into the away team's penalty area with the ball, and five meters to the right side of the penalty spot, the left-back Rui who was defended by the penalty spot stretched his leg and tripped to the ground, and the referee decisively awarded a penalty!

After Belotti, who has taken two penalties this season and has scored one goal and one loss, he stood at the penalty spot again, and he didn't push too hard, but pushed the ball lightly to the right side of the goal. Szczesny judged the right direction, but the angle was too tricky to prevent the ball from going into the net. At 2-0, the Red Bulls widened the deficit seven minutes into the second half, much to the surprise of almost everyone.

Just when Li Mudi thought the situation was decided, just two minutes later, there was a major mistake in Torino's backline. Totti's through ball found its way through the defensive area of the two centre-backs, and the blistering Perotti was fouled by De Silvestri when he forced his way down the left side of the box, and the referee pointed his finger at the penalty spot again, and both sides were awarded a penalty within two minutes. The substitute Prince Roma fired a powerful shot past the England goal, blasting the ball into the top left corner of the home goal. At 2-1, Roma quickly pulled the difference between the two sides back to one goal.

Although the goal was finally successful, the mentality of most of the away players still failed to adjust to their normal state, and the attacking organization was still further simplified, with many long-range shots and forced attacks. On the other hand, Li Mudi made two personnel changes in a row in the 60th minute, replacing Jesse and Fabas with Iago Farke and Avilar respectively, and the team's formation immediately changed to 4-4-2, with Bruno Perez and Avilar standing in the two wing-back positions.

It was also from this time period that Torino gradually had the opportunity to attack positionally, taking advantage of his physical strength. In the 66th minute, Berotti finally paid off with an aggressive counter-attack in front of him, and Fazio made a mistake in his passing. Baseli broke the ball and found the red babe, who burst into the box and knocked cross, and the inserted Falco directly kicked and pushed, the ball touched the hapless Facio's calf and refracted it, hanging over the head of the Roma goalkeeper and falling into the net. At 3-1, the home team completely sealed the win.

Spalletti, who was unwilling to lose, was replaced by Shaarawy and Paredes in succession, but while scoring a goalless goal, the home team played a number of counter-attacks and almost conceded again. In the end, he had to accept the reality of losing Torino away, and became the first target of the Celestial Empire coach's upset.