Chapter 295: The Best Ending
The result is naturally that Cassie agreed to join the Red Bulls, and even if Serie A can no longer reproduce the glory of the former "Little World Cup", it is also one of the top four competitions in Europe, and its influence is even stronger than the Bundesliga, which ranks third in points, and is far from being comparable to the Portuguese Super League.
Unless there is another treble and the Champions League, it will be difficult for Portugal's team to get the attention of the outside world, where there is no halo of protagonists. Therefore, after solving the salary problem, Li Muddy has a lot of confidence that it can be said that this old goalkeeper who is still excellent and in urgent need of exposure, after all, the Torino team is now the focus of world football because of his yellow-skinned manager, and it is very likely that coming here will make Cassie's goal of returning to the national team be realized.
After finalizing the main goalkeeper for next season, Li Mudi, who is in a good mood, ushered in a good news from the personal side. Lim Yoon-a's filming in the TV series was completely over on Friday afternoon, and the entertainment company signed a new contract, so she can finally stop worrying about it. After a long period of negotiations and exchanges, he finally failed to resist the temptation of cooperation and agreed to Cambridge Film and Television's request to take over Lin Yuner's business in the Celestial Empire, laying a good foundation for the latter's future development in the two countries to go hand in hand.
Even better news came at 8 o'clock that night, when Juventus, who had sent a half-bench team, reversed Bologna 2-1 away from home at 8 o'clock in the opening two games of the season's league finale. In the other game, Gasperini's side won by just one goal at home when they needed a lot of goal difference, which made Torino's supporters smile.
As things stand, Atalanta are three points ahead of Lazio and Torino in most games, but they are at a disadvantage in terms of head-to-head results or goal difference, and a win for the next two teams on Sunday night could overtake the former to qualify for the Europa League group stage, leaving the play-off drudgery to Poseidon's son.
So Sunday morning's Sport Roma and Torino Sport were predicting the remaining games in a very relaxed tone, with the local team largely convinced that they would be able to do the little task.
In fact, when Li Mudi communicated with the members of the coaching staff at noon, he was still surprised why the Italian Football Association did not arrange the last round of the league at the same time, so as to avoid the appearance of tacit ball, and also create a greater sense of suspense to attract the attention of fans. The Premier League has done just that, and in recent years, they have put all 10 games together in the final league game, keeping the suspense of the title race, European place or relegation until the last minute.
Naturally, there will be no answer to this kind of question, the brain circuits of those people in the Football Association are different from those of normal people, and it is impossible for you to guess what they are thinking. However, this also proves from the side that the current mentality of the Torino team is indeed very relaxed, and it is idle enough to pass the time with such boring topics.
And perhaps for the sake of broadcasting, Sunday's game was also split into three time slots, which happened to be the two balls in the race for second place in the league were extracted separately. At 16:00 in the afternoon, AC Milan, who had already secured seventh place in the league, suffered a stunner away from home, and the short centre-back Pisacane's follow-up shot in the 93rd minute gave Cagliari their first victory against the Rossoneri in 19 years 2-1.
An hour after the upset, Roma and Napoli, who had been battling for runners-up all season, came on. The latter was a guest at the Luigi Ferraris Stadium and still maintained a strong attacking firepower, completing 22 shots on goal in the whole game, and finally won a 4-2 victory, which almost achieved a reversal.
And the reason why the White Dolphins saw a glimmer of light was because the Red Wolves almost capsized in the gutter, and they ushered in Genoa, the fifth from the bottom of the league, at home, which should have been a victory without suspense. However, with 70% possession and 24 shots on goal, they made two fatal mistakes that allowed the opposition to seize the opportunity to take the lead. Fortunately, the strong strength and the advantage of the home field helped the capital team, and substitute Argentine winger Perotti scored the winning goal in the last minute of normal time to lock the score at 3-2 and help the Red Wolves retain the league runners-up position by one point.
The game was much more than just the result, as Totti, who had already confirmed that he would retire at the end of the season, made his last appearance as a player on the grass at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. 786, which is the number he played in official matches for this team; 307, the number of goals he scored in his career, and when the referee blew the final whistle, it all became part of history. Li Mudi sent three messages in a row to the wolf king on social software, so that his youth memories also spread out along with the applause and tears of the fans on the TV......
Of course, with the departure of veterans, there is the rise of new stars. Youngster Manuel Pellegri got his first start of the game and scored a goal just three minutes into the game, making him the first post-01 player to score in Europe's top five leagues. Coincidentally, in Juve's victory over Bologna last night, teenager Keane became the first post-00 player to score in Europe's top five leagues, and the record was broken in two days, attracting a lot of media coverage later.
However, the happiest at this time is naturally the Red Bulls, who have just taken over the ownership of Pellegri and brought the rising star under their command, and Li Mudi's "Divine Eye" has once again become a hot topic in the club, consolidating his voice in the transfer work.
And with Dzeko and Mertens both scoring only one goal in the final round of the league, plus Higuain and others who have played all the games, Belotti has actually won the top scorer in Serie A with 30 goals. Icardi, who has not yet played, has 24 goals and is injured, and Immobile has 22 goals, which cannot pose a threat to the red bebe, so the members of the Torino team congratulated Belotti before the start of the game, and the atmosphere was very relaxed.
At 20:45, the remaining games will kick off in five stadiums at the same time, except for the two innocuous games of Fiorentina against Pesca and Inter against Udinese, the remaining three games will directly determine who will finish sixth to play in the play-offs and who will be relegated to the second division to regain strength.
Facing Sassuolo, which rotated four main players, Li Mudi naturally did not carelessly and sent his usual 4-3-3 formation. Joe Hart, Zampacosta, Ranocchia, Rossettini, Barreca, Benasi, Akwa, Baseli, Jesé, Boyer and Belotti were all on the pitch, with Boyer starting for the fourth time in the last five games since his absence in the previous round, and he repaid the manager's trust with his impressive performances.
Just six minutes into the game, the home side played a quick counter-attack after the ball broke at the back, and Jesse found the Argentine who was cutting in at high speed on the left with a long pass. The latter failed to stop the ball at the first moment, taking advantage of the mentality of the opponent's right-back Gazzola who did not dare to rush the ball, and controlled the ball in the corner of the left penalty area. I saw that he shook off the opponent with an unstable center of gravity with a wonderful outside dial and internal dunk, and then lay down in the direction of the goal, regardless of the fact that Belotti in the middle had been outflanked in place, and directly volleyed the far corner of the goal with his right foot. The choice of power and angle was brilliant, sliding past the hands of the visitors' second goalkeeper Gianluca Pegolo and slamming into the inside of the side-netting. 1-0, the Red Bulls made a fantastic start that allowed them to overtake Atalanta and Lazio in the instant standings and return to fourth place.
Of course, this position is not secure, there are more than 80 minutes left in the game, and the result on Lazio's side has not yet been determined. However, even if they only finished fifth, they could avoid the play-offs, so the Torino team was still very happy, and the momentum of the players on the field suddenly rose, and they began to put more energy into the attack to try to break the opponent at once.
However, it was precisely this excitement that caused the team's defense to have a problem of concentration, and Sassuolo seized the opportunity to equalize the score. In the thirteenth minute, the visitors also played a delicate combination with a defensive counter-attack, Berardi burst forward with the ball in the middle, attracted the defenders and distributed the ball to the left. Left winger Politano used the arch of his foot to make a wall and blocked the ball into the middle to create a straight stop, and midfielder Stefano Sensi successfully pushed a shot into the right corner from a step before the penalty spot and was saved by Joe Hart. However, French centre-forward De Vrel rushed to the back post like a ghost and successfully scored an empty goal to make it 1-1, and the two sides returned to the same running line, which also put the home team back in sixth place.
Just when everyone was feeling a little frustrated by the goal conceded, there was good news from the other field: Crotone had scored, giving them a 1-0 lead over the Eagles thanks to a 14th-minute goal from 26-year-old midfielder Nalini. This goal not only helped them secure the initiative of relegation, but also allowed the Red Bulls to overtake Lazio by one point and move to fifth place in the standings.
And the rollercoaster-like viewing process is a rare experience, which makes these fans shout "Prepare for a quick heart-saving pill". In the 22nd minute, both pitches were scored at the same time, first on the counter-attack, Belotti showed his delicate side at the top of the penalty area, and knocked the ball across the middle with his heel to Barceli in the middle, who burst into the box and smashed a right-footed shot into the bottom right corner of the goal. The visiting goalkeeper misjudged the direction and could only watch the ball run into the back of the net, giving Torino a second lead.
About 10 seconds after that goal, striker Falcinelli, who was on loan from Sassuolo, used a point grabber to help Crotone extend their lead, and the 2-0 score almost made them relegation.
However, just four minutes later, Lazio pulled one back when Mobile converted a penalty of their own creation to close the gap back to a goal.
In the 40th minute, in the situation of three against six in the front, Politano took the ball in the middle of the penalty area and chose to shoot with his left foot under the interference of Acwa, but he failed to kick the right position, but turned the shot into a second pass. The ball made a wonderful arc around the space between Rosstini and Ranocchia and happened to be in front of De Frell who was looking to make a stoppage. The Frenchman was not to miss the gift, as he stabbed Joe Hart with a right-footed shot from around three yards outside the six-yard box to beat Joe Hart's 10-finger mark. 2 to 2, the suspense of the outcome of the game is still in an unpredictable situation.
Torino must win to ensure they don't fall to sixth place in the league, and if they lose, they will be behind Lazio and Atalanta, so this draw is extremely unsafe, and if the Blue Eagles score another goal, the Red Bulls will lose a good game. So there was no way back for the home team to go on a frantic attack, and finally exceeded the score for the third time before half-time.
In the 46th minute, Zampacosta, who was advancing down the middle, and Baseli completed a slow half-beat to hit the wall, and the latter caught the attention of the opposition defender on the left side of the middle and sent a precise through ball. Zampa burst into the six-yard box and took a step to adjust to the ball, then volleyed into the far corner, but the visiting goalkeeper couldn't make a move to save it, and was breached for the third time in the game.
This lead allowed the Torino players who returned to the locker room to regain their confidence to win, and also completely shattered the psychological baggage of previous gains and losses, so that the team's performance in the second half has improved significantly. In the 57th minute, substitute Falke cut inside from the right to the middle and then shot from a distance, the ball was pounced by Pegolo and hit the right post and bounced back, Belotti followed up with an accidental slippage but completed the assist, Falke successfully made a close range of goals in the middle, extending the lead to two solid goals.
Three minutes later, Crotone was also two goals ahead of Lazio thanks to Nalini's second goal of the game. When the news reached the Stadio Olimpico in Turin, the home team's fans were once again in a state of flux, almost announcing that the Red Bulls would not only qualify for the Europa League group stage, but also have a good chance of finishing in Serie A this season. The Turin TV commentators, who broadcast the match live, kept shouting: "This is the best finale in 20 years, a perfect fit for the team's spirit of using their indomitable fighting spirit to achieve ultimate success, I love it today!! ”