Chapter 439: Relax Your Mind
The clash between Torino and Chievo is the final match of this round of Serie A competition, which was specially arranged to take care of the red bulls who just finished playing European competition on Thursday night, so after the results of the match played at the Marco Antonio Bentagotti Stadium, the ten league games in the 32nd round have been completely over, and the result is still very satisfactory to Li Mudi.
Five of the ten meetings have resulted in a new record for the season, with four of them going 0-0. The 15 goals scored in a single round is also the worst attacking performance in the last two seasons, and the Serie A side seems to have regained the world's top defensive ability overnight, but it looks more like their crosshairs are all in trouble at the same time.
The three highly anticipated pre-match matches: Atalanta vs. Inter Milan, AC Milan vs. Napoli and Rome derby, all ended in a goalless draw between the two sides, much to the disappointment of all fans. Coupled with Fiorentina, who have been strong since Astori's death, were forced into a goalless draw by relegation side SPAL and a number of stars have suffered a cold winter this weekend, in stark contrast to the warmer weather conditions.
The consequences of those draws were delightful for both Torino giants, as the Dolphins failed to bring back three points from the San Siro and extended their lead to four points with a three-goal home win over Sampdoria. As long as at least one draw can be guaranteed in the direct dialogue between the top two after two rounds, the old lady can almost announce the great cause of sealing the league for seven consecutive championships in advance, and once this result becomes a reality, it will be a real tragedy for Italian football! A dominant league is destined to gradually decline, the enthusiasm of the fans will wane, and the other rivals will lose their fighting spirit because they have no hope of counterattacking, as is the most obvious example of Lyon's Ligue 1 form during the seven-game winning streak.
However, it is too early to say this, and the next day some media members have already begun to sing the praises of the Bianconeri who are about to set a new record for consecutive titles, and everyone is not concerned about the negative effects of another Juventus reign, but simply excited. With Real Madrid failing to defend their La Liga title this season, the Old Lady will be at the top of the top five league titles, which is also an honour for Italian football.
Torino also had plenty of reason to rejoice, as the teams behind them all picked up just one point, extending the Red Bulls' advantage over fourth-placed Inter and fifth-placed Roma to nine and ten points after 32 league games. And with a make-up game against underdogs Crotone, they should theoretically be secure with another victory, and as long as they don't go home empty-handed in the remaining six games of 18 points, they can now claim to have a hand on their Champions League ticket and just have to put it in their pockets when the time comes.
Because it was a night game, Li Mudi and others did not choose to return to Turin overnight, because Verona does not have an airport, like to take a plane, you have to go to Bologna or Venice first, the distance is enough to take a bus to go back to Turin at high speed, so this time to the away game, the red bull chose to land transportation. It was obviously not a good idea to drive overnight, so it was decided in advance that they would stay here for the night and then leave for home tomorrow morning.
However, the squad will not be able to take a break and will have to start analysing the tactical footage as soon as they return to the club in the afternoon, and although Wednesday's game against the Rossoneri is at home, the clock is still very tight, with almost all the coaching staff and players wanting to secure a point in third place in the league as soon as possible, so that they can devote all their energy to the Europa League and the Coppa Italia final in late May.
This mentality cannot be said to be wrong, after all, the pressure of fighting on three fronts is still very big for the current Torino team, but fortunately, there is only one final title showdown left in the domestic cup, which can avoid a more anxious situation. However, because of the World Cup in the summer, the league schedule will be closer than in previous years, and the team's consecutive weekly double matches not only make the players who play next game feel extremely difficult, but even the coaches who are preparing off the field are miserable. If the pressure to win is forced on everyone's heads, it is estimated that the day of a full-scale collapse is really not far away.
Therefore, as the boss of the team, Li Mudi still has to stand up in time to relieve pressure for the team, and reduce the potential threat of explosion caused by a slight touch.
On Tuesday afternoon, with only one day to prepare for the match day, the Torino first team unexpectedly ended the day's training ahead of schedule, and the entire team went to a recording studio in the heart of the city under the leadership of Li Mudi to start producing the players' version of the Torino team song "Ancora Toro".
This activity can also be regarded as a tradition of the team, every five or six years or so, or when the team has achieved good results, the club will select a few core figures from the squad at that time to record the team song, which can be regarded as a commemoration. After all, the speed of change of the Torino team is so fast that it is almost impossible to find someone who can play here for more than five years in a row, so each version is very innovative.
Since the selection criteria are the core players plus those with relatively good singing skills, the point record on the Internet every time it is broadcast is still considerable, even if the free form does not bring any real benefits to the club, but it is also a good gift for fans, which is conducive to strengthening their sense of belonging to the team.
It's just that the recording time is basically in the offseason, and it is the first time that this activity has been carried out in the middle of the season, and this time it is all the players of the first team who are on the field, and everyone feels very fresh.
This is naturally Li Mudi's desire to use this opportunity to relax everyone's extremely tense nerves, and it is also a common stress relief method he has used since his time in charge of Castile. Singing, there are hidden voices that have strayed into the sports world, and there is a broken gong voice that kills people and doesn't want money, so it is always full of all kinds of surprises and joys, and it is really suitable to liven up the atmosphere.
In this way, the Torino players, who do not require too much professionalism, after two or three hours of playful recording, completely completed the team song representing the spirit of the red bull, and in the process, everyone laughed many times, unconsciously forgetting the pressure of the game for a while, which is a perfect achievement of the purpose of the team manager.
However, they are not completely relaxed, after all, there are still many key duels to be played, but their mentality is no longer as impatient as before, but has stabilized.
However, the reality is always not 100 per cent, and Inter Milan, who were already feeling the pressure of a four-game game on Tuesday night, finally came back to their senses after two rounds of winless defeats, regaining momentum with a four-goal home win over Cagliari, who are still in danger of relegation. It is worth mentioning that Spalletti's team not only played a rare level in attack, but also showed world-class ability in defence, and did not give the visitors a chance to get a kick in the whole game, creating the best performance of the Nerazzurri in the past six seasons, which became the focus of major media attention the next morning.
Icardi's performance of one goal and one assist in the game has also made the competition for the scorer list more and more active, and he still has a one-goal gap with Immobile and could overtake him at any time. With Mobile's freshly relieved mood feeling tense again, Wednesday afternoon's training session was always carried out with a serious look on his face, allowing the reporters who were allowed to enter the stadium to shoot an opportunity to play freely, and continue to stir up the topic of the league's top scorer battle.
After Atalanta's three-goal win at vice-captain Benevento, all eight remaining league games kick off at 20:45 p.m., the most notable of which is undoubtedly the meeting between Torino and AC Milan. When the two sides met for the first time of the season on November 26 last year, the Red Bulls drew 0-0 away at the Rossoneri, which led to the latter's then-head coach Montella being dismissed after the game, which gave Gattuso a chance to return to his old club.
And the small plane that later took over Seville is not having a good time in Spain at the moment. Although he led the team to eliminate Manchester United and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Champions League, after stopping at the feet of Bayern, the domestic league has almost no hope of reaching the top four, and the former European League hegemon has moved the idea of changing the coach again. Fired twice in a year, Montella's future is indeed uncertain now.
For Gattuso, Li Muddy and the Torino team are the "nobles" who fulfilled his dream of coaching AC Milan, after all, if there was no draw, maybe Montella would have taken the opportunity to turn around and stay in office. However, in the current critical period of the battle for sixth place in the league, the young coach, who was called one of the best midfielders in the world when he played, still has only one way to win, even if they play away, their goal can only be to win all three points.
The Rossoneri sit seventh in the table with 53 points as of today's game, with fierce competition with the three or four teams behind them – Lazio, Atalanta, Fiorentina and Sampdoria – and it remains to be seen who will be the winner. However, AC Milan still have a big advantage in terms of the difficulty of the schedule, which increases the chances of them squeezing out other opponents and returning to Europe, but only if they try to earn every point.
It's just that their recent form has been a bit terrible, with four consecutive rounds of winless derbies since a narrow home win over Chievo in mid-March, including that remedial tie, with three draws and one defeat missing out on the best chance to secure a European spot, and there is not much to waste in the few games left. Therefore, in the face of the Torino team, which has shown the temperament of a quasi-first-class team in Europe this season, the Rossoneri can only grit their teeth to fight each other, otherwise the transfer investment of more than 200 million euros last summer will really be wasted, who knows what kind of purge operation will be carried out by Brother Li in anger.
Judging from the starting line-up announced by both sides before the game, the home team maintained a consistent self-oriented attitude, and the 3-5-2 formation did not change in any way, Casillas, Diego Llorente, Ranocchia, Goldaniga, Silvestri, Vukocevic, Benasi, Baseli, Barreca, Belotti and Immobile were all able to play, showing that Li Mudi wants to take all three points.
AC Milan did not make any changes to their positioning, with Gattuso still using the 4-3-3 formation that has been practiced in recent times. Donnarumma's position in front of goal is unshakable; Bonucci, who missed the last round of the league due to the accumulation of yellow cards, has added a lot of confidence to the team's defence, and he is joined by Abate, Zapata and Ricardo Rodriguez; Kessie, Biglia and Bonaventura form a midfield that is balanced in attack and defence, but shorter than the attacking organization; However, right winger Suso will share the burden of the ball to some extent, feeding Kalinic in the middle and Borini on the other side.
Once kick-off, the visitors who won possession of the ball tried to control the tempo of the game with their skillful ability to pass the ball, and then expected Torino's defence to leak holes in the process of being maneuvered, giving them a chance to burn the fire into the home team's dangerous zone. So within the first 100 seconds, the ball was always in the hands of the AC Milan players, but as soon as the game started, the Red Bulls' defensive position was still relatively stable, so there were no wonderful shots.
It's just that the home team won't watch the opponent "slip monkey" there, the two strikers are always running actively, cooperating with the ball to move to the wingbacks in the corresponding area to interfere with the action, so that the Milan players can calmly achieve the pass and cut coordination. And this strategy, which was not expected to have much effect, unexpectedly helped the red bull open up the situation, as if a pie had really fallen from the sky and happened to fall on their heads.
Less than two minutes into the game, the young Ivorian midfielder Kessie, who was playing with his teammates in his own half, made a serious mistake under the intense pressure of Belotti, and when he tried to pass the ball to Biglia, he used too much power, and the direction was also greatly deviated, and Bareka was cut off with an acceleration by Bareka who pressed up from the left. The Torino left wing-back then opted for a high-speed dribble on his own and slotted into the box diagonally from the left.
Kessie, who hurriedly returned to the defense, followed behind Bareka all the way, trying to rush to the front as soon as possible to intercept, but the latter suddenly slowed down after entering the danger zone, causing the Milan midfielder to be unable to react and knock the opponent to the ground from behind. Although the physical contact between the two men did not seem to be too intense, the referee decisively stopped the game and awarded a penalty to the home team. Belotti, the team's original first penalty taker, once again ceded the penalty to his good friends, but Mobile did not live up to everyone's expectations, tricking Donnarumma into the bottom left corner of the visitors' goal.
1-0, less than 200 seconds into the game, the Red Bulls knocked on the opponent's city and temporarily took a one-goal lead, which was indeed something that most people did not expect before the game.