Chapter 232: Suffocating Competition

Jessee's goal made the commentators and guests of the Celestial Empire praise loudly, and Zhang Lu emphasized that there is still time, and it is not impossible for the attacking Torino team to score another goal within ten minutes of stoppage time.

Li Mudi naturally knew that although the time left for him and the players was not much, it was enough to fight for another goal, so he commanded the two full-backs on the field to press boldly, leaving only two central defenders and Las Diarra in the back when attacking. Seeing this, Spalletti asked the Roma players to stabilize the defense first, and then wait for the opportunity to counterattack, and replaced the high school striker Dzeko with the fast horse Perotti in the last minute of the game. (joke)

However, after withstanding the frenzied waves of attacks of the away team, the old and spicy Red Wolf still seized the opponent's eagerness to score and completed a stunner. In the 91st minute, Perotti shook off the defenders in a series of changes on the left flank and burst to the bottom line to cross with his feet, Bareka leaned on Totti at the back post and tried to reach out to stop the ball before attacking. However, he made a mistake under the interference of Salah, who suddenly rushed in, and failed to stop the ball, and the ball hit the Egyptian's lap and bounced in front of the wolf king. The Roma captain leaned his back to goal, leaning on his marker Rossettini, then put the ball back on the line of the penalty area, where Nainggolan picked up his right foot and fired a powerful volley. The ball raced towards the visitors' goal like a cannonball, grazing the near post and hitting the net, but Joe Hart's save was once again just air. 3-1, the game completely lost its suspense, and even the gods were powerless to save the fate of the Red Bulls' away defeat.

Torino did lose their desperate momentum immediately after the score was rewritten, and the three minutes of stoppage time quickly passed with both sides in a situation where both sides had no intention of fighting, and in the end Roma managed to avenge the defeat to their opponent 19 rounds ago. The two sides won 3-1 at their respective home stadiums, and in terms of results alone, neither of them was able to take advantage.

The technical statistics of the whole game showed that the Torino team did not lag too far behind in terms of regular pass success rate, and the possession rate was six percentage points higher, but the offensive efficiency of the two sides was nearly doubled. The home side had 21 shots on goal, eight of which were on target, while the visitors were crushed with 4-of-12 in that statistic.

Today's post-match press conference will naturally be a difficult one for the Torino manager, who has been beaten down by the Italian capital's media, led by Sport Roma, due to his hostile relationship with Lazio FC. Although the Red Wolves and the Blue Eagles are mortal enemies in the same city, there is no such thing as an enemy being a friend in the media circle. As a result, Li Mudi didn't have time to resolve the helplessness in his heart after losing this important game, and he had to face the doubts of a group of reporters.

Although these X-raised reporters have been using very vicious words to stimulate the nerves of the Turin coach, Li Mudi, who knows that he can't act rashly on other people's turf, has already done a good job of "it's not too late for a gentleman to take revenge for ten years", and he stubbornly survived this difficult time that was only a little more than 20 minutes but felt like it was more than an hour with a fairly peaceful attitude.

Fortunately, Spalletti and Totti and other Roman bigwigs affirmed the performance of the Red Bulls in an interview, especially the Roma captain, who put Li Mudi in the first position in the ranks of young coaches in European football today, and the heart of the latter's protection can be seen to the world. After that, some media brainily interpreted that remark as: Totti hopes that Shuai will get out of the way quickly, and it will be more in line with his expectations for the Celestial Empire to take over the capital team, which is to put pressure on the top management of the Roma club, and it is also a powerful response to Spalletti's previous remarks about contract renewal.

The Turin coach, who was inexplicably involved in the internal struggle of the red wolf, was also confused when he learned the news, and secretly sighed in his heart whether he had some unfavorable trends in the past few years, how could any kind of bad things be found on his head? He had wanted to make a statement saying that he had no intention of joining Roma right now, and he didn't think Totti's words contained that meaning. However, it was still stopped by Gines, and the contract renewal negotiations with the Torino club are progressing slowly, and the Spanish agent predator needs to find some breakthroughs from the outside to force the other side to comply. And no matter what you say at this time, people who want to do things won't believe it, it's better to wait for the situation to calm down naturally, otherwise the rumors will get bigger and bigger, and it will not be beneficial to anyone at that time.

After seeing that his agent had other plans, Li Mudi completely left this troublesome matter behind, after all, the devil's schedule has just begun, and the following games are equally important and difficult, and now the team must seize the time of every training session to make targeted deployments. The battle for a place in the Europa League has reached suffocating levels following Torino's defeat to Roma, with the top three still firmly in place, and the teams behind them are already in contention for fourth and fifth place in the league (and sixth if Lazio fail to win this season's Coppa Italia).

After 25 league games, several teams at least seven points behind Napoli in third place form a huge second group, with four teams tied on 47 points, a situation that has never been seen in Serie A after the dissolution of the "mini-World Cup". Due to the Italian Football Federation's rules, teams with the same number of points are ranked based on the relationship between winners and losers, and then compare goal difference and goals scored. In the games that have been played, Torino has played 2-2 with Inter Milan and Lazio, and 2-1 with Atalanta in both meetings, so the relationship between wins and losses is the same, and the Red Bulls are in fourth place in the league with a slight advantage of 18 goal difference.

The remaining three teams have a back-to-back record with each other, so the next place is determined by goal difference, with the Nerazzurri (16 goal difference), the Blue Eagles (15 goal difference) and Poseidon Son (13 goal difference), with the difference between the four contenders being extremely small and perhaps a change in the table after a week.

As for AC Milan, which currently has 43 points, and Fiorentina with 40 points, it does not mean that there is no chance, after all, there are still thirteen rounds of the league with a total of 39 points to fight for, and the probability of them completing the counterattack in the final stage is not small, the key is to depend on their respective states and the performance of their opponents.

And if we only look at next weekend's clash of fixtures, Torino will not be too good as they will be the last to play against the Purple Lilies on Monday night Beijing time. The opponent is not weak, and there is a home advantage, no one dares to guarantee that the Red Bulls will be able to get out of the Frankie Stadium, once they suffer two consecutive defeats, not only will they be overtaken by the teams around them, but also Fiorentina will narrow the gap between the two sides. Their main rivals, Lazio, are at home to underdogs Udinese, and the probability of winning all three points should be more than 80%, and in the eyes of many, the Blue Eagles will occupy fourth place in the table after the next round of games.

Inter Milan, another team that can play at home, but their opponent is the mighty Roma, judging from the odds given by the bookmaker, the outside world generally believes that the strength of the two sides is still relatively close, and the possibility of a draw is relatively largest. The remaining Atalanta and Rossoneri are playing away from home against Napoli and 10th-placed Sassuolo, with the former unanimously expected to suffer a defeat, while AC Milan, who have drawn one and lost two of their last three away games, are also not favourites to win. Overall, Torino's situation can be considered moderate, not the best, nor the worst.

However, the results of Saturday and Sunday made Li Mudi cry out incomprehensible. Despite the all-out main force and the return of Milik, who had been seriously injured for many months, Napoli played an extremely bad game on their home turf, with a huge advantage of 20 shots on goal and 66% possession, and were successfully attacked by Gasperini's team in each half, and finally suffered a second defeat at home of the season 0-2, giving the Torino coach who had expected Atalanta to drop the chain.

With Lazio and AC Milan winning 1-0 each on Sunday night, the Red Bulls are in danger of losing 100,000 yuan, and if they can't beat Fiorentina, they will drop two places in a row and miss out on European qualification in an instant. Fortunately, there was good news before the start of this game, Inter Milan was beaten 1-3 by Roma at home, and took the lead in pulling down half of the position in the competition.

In order not to be in a passive situation in the following games, Li Mudi repeatedly conveyed instructions to the players before the game to do their best to win, hoping that they can burst out with all their energy under pressure. Considering that neither side has won at home in the last four-and-a-half seasons, the Torino lads will need some extra motivation if they are to take all three points at the Stadio Frankie.

Unlike last year's seventh round, Paulo Sousa has changed his formation from an attacking 3-4-2-2-1 to a control-oriented 4-2-3-1, exactly the opposite of last weekend's Spalletti. After the Purple Lily came to Saponara on loan, they also freed up Valero, who was too far forward and not very good at breaking through, so that the Spaniard could return to the familiar central midfield position to connect the whole team. And letting Colombian defender Carlos Sanchez temporarily play at left-back also looks a bit like Mourinho used Essien to play right-back, allowing him to freeze Falke, who has been in a slump in the last game recently but has played well before, and reduce the team's defensive pressure. However, the absence of Slovenian internationals Ilicic and Purple Bebe before the start of the game also greatly weakened the attacking ability of the Purple Lily, and the home team could only start Tello and Federico Chiesa (son of the famous Italian goalscorer Chiesa) on loan from Barcelona and stand in the position of two wingers.

The visitors were 4-3-3 in the regular game, with Joe Hart, Zampacosta, Ranocchia, Rosettini and Barreca, Baseli, Las Diarra, Benasi, Farke, Belotti and Jesus, with the exception of Akwa, who was rested in the same position as in the previous league game.

The pace of the game was blazing fast from the start, exchanging possession eight times in just three minutes, with Tello and Kalinic each completing a goal, but neither could hit the target. However, the home team gradually grasped the initiative on the field, Valero frequently combed to maximize the power of the purple lily's possession, and the defenders of the Torino team began to feel a little embarrassed.

In the eighth minute, all six players in the home team's midfield rushed into the opponent's penalty area, forming a siege situation. Chiesa Jr. received a pass from a teammate two metres outside the touchline on the right side of the penalty area and was ready to pick the ball past Rosstini in front of him, but the power was not mastered and the ball was a little far away from his body. However, it gave Valero a good chance on the edge of the six-yard box, and the bald star picked up his right foot and fired a powerful shot that was saved by Joe Hart, who was extremely quick to react. But the ball bounced down the middle and fell in front of the unguarded Saponala, who swept the ball into the middle of the goal with a very beautiful sidehook that the Torino goalkeeper, who had no time to get up, could only "wave his gloves and fail to take anything away".

1-0, most people didn't expect the goal to come so quickly, but in the face of their own team's strong attack, the 30,000 Fiorentina fans at the scene had no reason not to cheer, so the entire Frankie Stadium instantly turned into a sea of joy, people shouted the names of the players in turn, and the momentum was amazing.

Li Mudi was once again very annoyed by the lack of concentration of the Torino players, and there were two consecutive leaks near his own small penalty area, and if he continued to play like this, I am afraid that even a vice-squad leader like Pescara would not be able to win. However, this problem seems to have become a stubborn problem for the Red Bulls, and there have been similar problems in many games in a row, but the weaker teams have not been able to take those opportunities. However, strong teams like Roma and Fiorentina will not easily feed and spit out what they put in their mouths, and how to cure this problem has become a task that the Torino coach needs to think about in the coming time.