The loss of the derby still had a big impact on the atmosphere in the Torino team, but it was inevitable, although the negative incident of Falke's car accident before the game, everyone's morale was still above the average level, and they all felt that they could wrestle with Juventus, but who knew that it would be a crisp defeat.

However, there is little time on the agenda for them to grieve, as the team hosts last season's top-flight double winners Rijeka on Thursday evening when they host their opponents in the second round of the Europa League group stage. The following Sunday afternoon, the seventh round of the league will also start on time, although the opponents are not too strong, and the Torino team is still playing at home, with the advantage of geographical advantages, but there can be no carelessness. The team agreed that the next two games would serve as a starting point for the team to get back on their way to success, and that if they could put all their energy into training and playing, the Red Bulls would be back to their previous invincible form, and anything would be possible.

So Li Mudi had to say sorry to his mother and girlfriend, he left the apartment before 7 o'clock every morning, and he would not return home until after 9 o'clock in the evening, and he basically could not communicate with them privately. Fortunately, the two of them didn't have anything serious to do now, so they went back to Mallorca together, and then began to visit some tourist resorts in Spain, not caring whether the Turin coach returned home or not.

After taking into account the physical and competitive conditions of the players in the team, as well as the situation of the two opponents during the week, Li Mudi formulated a larger rotation plan to allow the young players to get more playing time, and also to help the veteran and core players relieve the accumulated fatigue. On Wednesday morning, Torino announced their squad for European competitions early, and the names of Casillas, Benassi and Immobile were not included, causing a lot of heated discussions, and almost everyone thought that the Torino team did not take the opponent seriously.

Although Li Mudi and several players in the team flatly denied this statement in interviews before the game, and instead used the players' poor condition or some minor injuries as explanations, no one will believe this excuse. Feeling insulted, Slovenian coach Mattjez Keko openly clamored on Thursday morning to lead the team to give the arrogant Celestial and the Red Bull a good look. His remarks also brought more attention to a game that didn't have much to watch, and Sky Sport Italia even had a discussion before the live broadcast of the game to analyze whether the Torino team has the qualifications and strength to "look down" on the opponent. In the end, it was concluded that there was, and the final result of the game confirmed that these experts were not blindly biased in favor of their own country's teams.

The match was the first time the two clubs had ever met in history, and neither side had ever played each other in a warm-up match. However, with the help of today's strong technological level and professional scouting work, it is not difficult to get the information of the opponent in the recent stage, so the coaches of both teams have a rough estimate of the strength of the other party, and they have prepared a plan to deal with it early.

For the home side, Li Mudi used a 4-3-3 formation, and the goalkeeper position gave Serbian teenager Vanja Milinkovic Savic the chance to make his debut in the team, and the young man knew about the happy event after last weekend's derby and was in a state of great excitement. The back four are England's Frangart Flanagan, veterans Moretti, Canneman and Dimarco, who will also make their debuts. The three midfielders are Fabas, Musis and Baseli, who didn't play much in the last game; Up front, it was Falke, Edra and Belotti.

Although it is a number of rotations and newcomers, the strength of the Torino team is still maintained at a high level, except for the left side is a little different from the main force at both ends of the attack and defense, the rest of the team is still a level that can be ranked in the middle of the Serie A.

On the other hand, Rijeka, who are playing away from home, although they won the domestic league cup double last season, do not have a strong history, and it is only their first top flight and second cup crown in their history. After a strong resurgence of old powerhouse Dinamo Zagreb and the return of other teams to form this season, Rijeka have been squeezed out of the top three of the league and qualification for next season's European competition is in doubt. Therefore, Keko, who has been in charge of the team for three and a half seasons, still chose a relatively safe 4-4-2 position in the game, and let the two central midfielders recover relatively large, at least in the opening stage as a double midfielder.

There are no big-name stars in their team, and the player with the highest international reputation is the Croatian fringe international, 26-year-old defender Filippo Bradaric, but even this player, the Torino team does not know much, and even the scout and Sweden international Andersen, who was sent over to collect information half a month in advance, did not get too much relevant information. The good thing is that the FM system can provide a very comprehensive range of player ability and current form, which gives the Torino boss enough confidence to rotate in the game.

After the start of the game, Rijeka did not blindly adopt the style of playing with full defense and waiting for opportunities to counterattack, and took the initiative to compete with the Torino team for the ball, and even wanted to play a counter-attack. This Li Mudi can't agree, not that he can't accept the opponent's possession of the ball, but before the game, he put on a posture that it is not difficult to win even if he sends a substitute, regardless of the result of the game, if the process is not good-looking, it will be a little irrelevant. Therefore, he immediately instructed the Torino players to also strengthen the pressing of the midfield, and absolutely suppress the opponent in terms of momentum.

Not long after the opening whistle sounded, there were six or seven fouls in succession, but the Israeli referee on duty, Oliel Greenfield, was not very fond of cards, and only showed the first yellow card to warn the visiting centre-back Ellerz before the situation took a turn in an uncontrollable direction. The Red Bulls then took the opportunity to gradually grasp more possession opportunities, and began to launch rounds of offensive under the dispatch of Barceli and Febas.

Li Mudi's main policy before the game was to take advantage of the slow speed of the opposing right-back Visovic and create opportunities for Falke to pick him up, and when the opponent adjusted the defense to pack or scramble, he moved to the other side. Edla, a youth academy youngster, is a technical winger with a good one-on-one ability, especially good at cutting inside on the right flank, and has some advantages against Macedonian international Zuta. It worked wonders in the first half, as Rijeka's defence was porous under the constant onslaught of Torino's two flanks, which allowed Belotti to threaten the goal directly in the middle.

In the 14th minute, after Falke and Baseli completed the collision with the wall, he forced Visovic to win, and then cut inside and entered the penalty area. The Spaniard, who was flickered open by visiting centre-back Zuparic and played the ball down the middle. Belotti was clever enough to get past Ehlez and fired a left-footed shot that was too fast for goalkeeper Slaga to save, and the ball flew under his crotch and into the net. 1-0, Torino's lead came early, and this goal helped the players build strong confidence and laid a good foundation for the final victory.

The visitors then tried to launch a counter-attack, but were unable to create a good chance in the middle, so they chose to make a fuss with a wide cross. However, their two strikers, one is a cameo by central midfielder Pavesic, and the other is Puldzic, although he is 1.87 meters tall, but he is still better at his feet, and headers are not their strong point. So under the pressure of Moretti and Caneman, the Croatian team's header tactics did not have much effect, except for two or three unreliable long-range shots, the home team's goalkeeper Savic has been in a very relaxed state in the first half, and he has not even made a serious save.

However, it wasn't all positive, though, as Barceli felt some discomfort in his right ankle after a kick just before the break. The team doctor made a preliminary diagnosis in the locker room and concluded that it was possible that the ligament had been injured and that it would need to be sent to the hospital for a more in-depth examination to know the final result. The Torino boss had to replace the midfield playmaker who had been unlucky in the recent week with youngster Balic on a depressed expression.

Thankfully, the Croatian youngster, who is on loan from Udinese, did not disappoint his boss and set up Moretti for a corner kick just eight minutes into the second half. In addition to getting the first game statistics since joining Torino, it also extended the team's lead to two goals and one step closer to three points.

With a two-goal lead, Li Mudi was a little more emboldened, and he replaced Belotti and Falke with Pellegri and Parigini in the 58th and 62nd minutes, turning the game into a training ground completely. This contempt also caused Rijeka to burst into a strong fighting spirit, and their form improved a lot in the following ten minutes, directly suppressing the home team played by many youngsters in their own half. Although there were still not many ways to attack, under the siege, he finally created a number of shots within the range of the goal, and pulled one back in the 84th minute of the game.

Substitute Ghanaian right winger Akosti grabbed the second spot in time after a team-mate's cross was broken and struck a world-class shot from around 25 yards out. The ball flew into the upper right corner of the home team's gate like a cannonball, and the two-meter-and-two-meter-tall Savage had already flown to the limit and could not stop the long-range shot, which made Li Muddy on the sidelines think that this kid will not have the attribute of "world wave witness" like Joe Hart.

The 2-1 scoreline gave Rijeka hope of picking up points away from home, and they immediately launched a high-intensity scramble to get the ball back quickly and instigate another attack. At this time, the shortcomings of the Torino midfield without a veteran are revealed, although Fabas's passing ability and overall vision are good, but in the face of high-intensity siege, he is still not experienced enough, and there have been many impatient moves, passing and dribbling have made consecutive mistakes, giving the opponent a lot of opportunities to counterattack on the spot.

Fortunately, the backline led by veteran Moretti did not make another mistake, and Flanagant, who made his first appearance for his new club, also showed the resilience and tenacity of the British, successfully defusing the visitors' attacks again and again.

And when the game came to the last minute of injury time, that is, in the 94th minute, Rijeka, who had been pressed on all sides, could not equalize the score, but was killed by the Torino team who seized the opportunity of the defensive defense. Febas's long ball made it easy for Parigini, who had successfully countered offside, to face the goalkeeper on his own, and when the Torino winger picked the ball past the onrushing Slaga on the line of the penalty area, the nearest defender behind him was more than five metres away.

In the end, in this game, which caused a lot of controversy because the home team hid the main team, the Red Bulls still won 3-1 without danger, which can be regarded as a respite to those pre-game disputes. In the other match in the group that ended at the same time, AEK Athens, Greece, who won away in the previous round, were forced to draw 2-2 at home by Austrian Vienna. After two rounds, the Torino team is still at the top of the table with two wins in two games, and the next ranking is AEK Athens, Greece 4 points, Austria Vienna 1 point, and Rijeka 0 points, and the group situation looks a little clear.

In the other group matches of the Europa League that ended earlier, the Italian team still performed well, and Lazio defeated the Belliga team Jultvalerheim by two goals at home, and also won two consecutive victories; Atalanta's 1-1 draw away from Lyon was also an acceptable result. On Tuesday and Wednesday nights, the three Serie A teams participating in the Champions League also swept away the slump in the first round, winning three games and three wins. Juventus and Napoli won at home to group weakest opponents Olympiacos and Feyenoord respectively, while Roma won 2-1 away at Azerbaijani champions Qarabag.

Despite the lack of quality of their opponents, the result of the three-day game was a delight for all Italian footballers, who have picked up a lot of points in the European table and are now infinitely close to the third-placed German league. The return of Italian football to the third league in Europe could be achieved next month, which is a great event, and they are not very far from second-place English leagues, and it is not impossible to move up to second at the end of the season. However, this requires these six teams to participate in the European competition to be able to give more strength, and the later they are eliminated, the better, but this also puts forward higher requirements for the overall strength of the team.