After the team had a half-day break and resumed training, Mancini called Ricardo to the sidelines of the training pitch for a brief conversation.

"Licardo, I was very happy with your performance in the last game, can you keep it that way?"

RICCARDO SAID CALMLY, "OF COURSE YOU CAN, I'M READY, BOSS." ”

Mancini nodded: "I can't guarantee that you will start every game in the future." But I'm telling you, you're already on my radar, and I'm probably going to gradually put a burden on your shoulders. ”

"I'm happy, BOSS. I think I can take responsibility. ”

"Privately, you can call me Robert," Mancini said with a smile, "Ronny has talked to me about you many times and he thinks you can be a great help to the team. Frankly, I was always skeptical of his words, but you made me change my mind. Now, get back to training and put on a good performance to fight for yourself a starting spot. ”

"Okay, Robert."

This is the end of the conversation.

Three days later, Inter Milan hosted Palermo and Ronaldo returned to the starting line-up. Mancini didn't deliver on his word and he still left Ricardo on the bench waiting for his chance.

In the first half, the two sides played 0:0.

Soon after the start of the second half, Roberto Mancini warmed up Ricardo and in the 55th minute, he replaced Donny van der Meyde as a right wing-back.

In that position, Ricardo didn't play well on the left, but he was also better than Donny van der Meyde, who came on and almost set Ronaldo back in the net with an accurate cross.

Inter Milan, who had been unable to attack for a long time, played a little impatiently, but was seized by the opponent to counterattack.

Before the end, Ricardo broke down the right flank and sent the ball to Ronaldo's feet accurately. Ronaldo showed the style of the ball, making a series of quick stops in a small area, shaking off two defenders, and before knocking on the goal, the unmarked Adriano pushed the empty net to equalize the score.

On the evening of September 22, Inter Milan visited Bergamo City to challenge promoted Atalanta away.

Atalanta have just been promoted, but they are actually not bad, with a number of quality players.

At the "Blue Italy" stadium, they dominated the home field, and for a moment they couldn't hold Inter Milan up, and took advantage of Zenoni's header to take the lead, and at the end of the first half, they led Inter Milan 1-0.

Changing to a Ricardo when he is behind seems to have become a routine. After the break, Roberto Mancini brought on Ricardo for Keeley. Gonzalez, playing as left wing-back.

Ricardo's appearance was the turning point of the game.

He had just come on the pitch and had a successful connection with Ronaldo, who made a through pass from outside the penalty area, Ronaldo cut in diagonally and fired into the far corner from a tight angle to equalize the score.

Five minutes later, Inter Milan handed the ball to the left on the counter-attack, Ricardo took the ball and cut inside and sent it through, Ronaldo cut in at high speed, and a big stride past Atalanta's last two defenders, and finally shook off the goalkeeper Taibbi to score an empty goal.

The score became 2-1 and Inter reversed the situation.

Atalanta seemed to have lost their fighting spirit for a while, and looked confused on the court. Soon after, Ricardo provided another assist for Ronaldo, who picked the ball into the box after getting rid of the entanglement on the left flank, and Ronaldo didn't wait for the ball to hit the ground before volleying the ball into the underside of the crossbar and bouncing into the net.

The goal conceded allowed Atalanta to concentrate again, and they quickly increased their commitment to attack. A mistake by Mihajlovic gave Comantini a golden chance in the box, and his cool shot drilled under Toldo's armpit into the back of the net.

Inter slowed down the tempo and started to have more inverted feet and possession in midfield.

Atalanta were anxious to equalise but didn't get too many chances.

Before the end of the game, Veron's clever pass found Adriano, who chested the ball and rushed into the penalty area, raising his left foot to shoot hard.

The final score was fixed at 4:2, and Inter Milan came back to win.

Although the match was won, the fans were not satisfied. They questioned Manich online why he couldn't be sure of the next consistent starting line-up, why Mancini waited until he was behind to bring on Ricardo, and why Mancini played so badly against the promoted side......

Mancini himself is thinking about this. Last season, he led Lazio, who could not pay salaries, to lead the team to play well, and finally played to 6th place and qualified for the UEFA Cup.

Inter Milan, who led a stronger team this season and also has the current football king Ronaldo, is confident of competing for the title, but the reality has given him a blow to the head.

This team is more difficult to lead than he imagined, there are many factions in the team, and the bigwigs don't take his words as a head coach very seriously.

In these official games in charge, he used a different starter each time. Except for the six positions of Toldo, Zanetti, Materazzi, Veron, Ronaldo and Adriano, which are basically confirmed, the remaining five positions have different players in each game.

It's not that he doesn't want to fix a starter, it's that there are too many capable and talented players in the team, in fact, everyone can contribute to the team, and several factions have different demands.

For example, on the left wing, Zanetti wants Keeley. Gonzalez can play in the main line, Ronaldo wants his younger brother Ricardo to start, and Vieri wants Emre to play.

In terms of effect, the team had the best results when Ricardo was on the pitch, and he scored a hat-trick of assists in the last game, and his connection with Ronaldo is always the magic weapon to change the situation.

But Mancini can't let Ricardo play right away, there are so many people waiting in line to play.

It's better than having Ricardo come off the bench and change the tide when they're down or drawn, rather than starting Ricardo and replacing him when the team is struggling.

These things, and can't complain to the media, Mancini can only silently maintain the fragile balance of the dressing room.

On the evening of 26 September, Inter Milan hosted Parma at home in Meazza.

The current Parma is no longer the original Parma, and many of the main cores have left, but they still finished fifth in the league last season and are still considered a strong team.

Cannavaro Jr., Bresciano, Mofio, Corradi, Del Vecchio and other famous players have kept Parma in excellent form.

At the end of the first half, Inter Milan were still 1-0 down, and Corradi scored a goal with an assist from Mofeo.

Mancini had no choice but to bring Ricardo off the bench again.