After losing 3-2 to old rival Federer in the Australian Open final at the beginning of the year, Rafa's body seems to have found some of his peak form, and wrist and hip injuries have not recurred, and some have gone in a good direction.

After reaching the finals of the Mexico Open and the Miami Masters in March and April, two hard-court tournaments that he was not good at, he lost to American Sam Querrey and Fei Tianwang respectively, and won two runner-up titles again, and has experienced an eleven-and-a-half-month title drought since winning the Barcelona Open at the end of April last year.

Thankfully, his favourite clay season has finally begun, with Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid and Roland Garros, all four events like tailor-made for him. With the exception of Madrid, where the tournament was changed from hard court to clay, the other three places were blessed by Rafah, and the three nine-time champions made the "King of Clay" famous. And natto's great cause of hitting the first single event "ten crowns" in the history of human tennis began with the Monte Carlo Masters starting on April 16. (PS: In the Open era, only Fei Tianwang has set a record of eight wins at the Halle Open in Germany, and Nadal's nine is the longest)

Judging by the draw released a week before the tournament, Rafa's luck was mediocre, and although he is the defending champion, he will have to deign to the fourth seed due to points reasons, and according to the normal progression route, he will face one of his bitter opponents, the current world number two, Serbian Novak Djokovic, in the semi-finals, and potential final opponents will be the winner of top seed Murray of Great Britain or Wawrinka of Switzerland.

But I don't know if it was the god who made a threat, and after entering the semi-finals, all the seeded players except him have been eliminated. After beating Belgium's David Goffin 6-3, 6-1 last night, Natto is one step away from winning his 10th Monte Carlo Masters title and 50th clay title. At 11:30 p.m. Monaco time on Sunday, Rafa will make history at the stadium of the Monte Carlo Country Club, with Spanish colleague and world number 24 Albert Ramos facing him across the net.

Nadal made this call in the hope that his best friend Li Mudi would be present at the final to witness the glorious moment that might come.

The Torino coach is a tennis fan with some basic knowledge, and naturally knows how great it is to win ten championships in one tournament, so after receiving an invitation from a good friend, it is natural that he wants to be able to attend in person. After calculating the time, he urgently used his mobile phone to book a plane ticket from Turin to Monte Carlo heliport in the evening, since there was no direct flight to Verona, so he had to take a car back to Turin overnight, so he had to book a separate return car in advance. He didn't want to bother Falcina with this little thing.

The match with Chievo is still the first game of this round of Serie A, and it will be 6 o'clock in the afternoon, plus the post-match press conference that cannot be absent without reason, and it should be possible to get on the highway before 7:30, and if you arrive at the airport in more than three hours, you can just in time for the plane to take off at 11:45. You'll be there in about seven hours, and you'll be able to enjoy one of the four largest casinos in the world.

But before that, he had to win the match with Chievo first, and Li Mudi didn't want to go to cheer on his friend with regrets.

After successive defeats to Bologna, Crotone, Juventus and Cagliari, the Donkeys have halted their upward momentum, with Rolando Malan's side having a highlight against the Blues Lazio in the second half of the game but have not been able to regain their pre-winter form for the rest of the season. Although they can still maintain the 14th place position because of the poor performance of the team behind them, the morale of the team has become very low, and the state of worry-free relegation makes it difficult for the players to give their best in the game, so the outside world has been optimistic that the Red Bulls can easily take all three points.

Verona is one of the oldest, most beautiful and most glorious cities in Italy, Latin means "city of great elegance", located in the southern foothills of the Alps, west of the Adige River, is a world-famous historical and cultural city. In 2000, the city was also included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Wine and marble are local icons, and the architecture of the ancient Roman style is also unique, and the story of Shakespeare's masterpiece "Romeo and Juliet" takes place in Verona, attracting a large number of tourists every year. The bronze statue under the balcony of Juliet's "former residence", its right chest has been shiny by tourists because of the good luck it brings (inexplicably feels dirty).

However, the Turin boss was not in the mood to make a good appearance here, and after arriving at the booked hotel at 12 o'clock in the afternoon, everyone rushed to the restaurant to start eating. After an hour's rest, the group went to the Marco Antonio Bentagotti Stadium for a training session, and then borrowed the training ground of Hellas Verona (another team in the city, who won the Serie A in 1984-85 and was relegated to the second division last season) for about 40 minutes of preparation, before returning to the hotel to make adjustments and wait for the pre-match to go straight to the venue.

Li Muddy had already arrived at the stadium before them, commented on the recent performances of both sides in the pre-match press conference, and then said some compliments before entering the visiting dressing room to discuss what to look out for with the coaching staff.

Although there is no desire anymore, Coach Malan still strictly adheres to professional ethics and does not take the opportunity to train newcomers on a large scale, but still takes out all the team's recent main lineup. The 4-3-1-2 position is clearly intended to strengthen the midfield defence, but the forward line of veteran Pelissier and the youngster Inglese, who had broken through the Torino ball in the first half, and the Slovenian international striker Bielsa, who is on loan from AC Milan, cannot be underestimated, and the goal rate of more than one goal per game is not so easy to deal with in the absence of Ranocchia.

Torino, on the other hand, made another change to the starting formation, and Jesse was hit by a team-mate in the thigh muscle during Thursday's training, although it was not too serious, but it was also recommended by the team doctor to be conservative. So Li Mudi offered a 4-2-3-1 position, with Belotti as the lone arrow, behind him stood the three attackers of Cherci, Rajadzic and Farke, Barceli and Akwa who returned from suspension partnered in the middle of the midfield, and the back four from right to left were Silvestri, Rosettini, Moretti and Barreca, and Zampacosta was rested.

Due to the difference in quality between the two sides, after one or two tentative attacks after the opening kick-off, the visiting players took the initiative on the pitch and spent significantly more time on the ball. Chievo, on the other hand, adapted to the situation and played a counter-attacking tactic, except for Pelissier, who needed to conserve his strength, and the rest of the players had to make their own contribution in defence. Striker Inglese and Bielsa formed the team's first line of defence, pressing against Torino's forward midfielders and two wingers.

It can be seen from the point that the forward midfielder was set up in this game, Li Mudi still attaches great importance to the problem that the offensive operation is not very smooth against Crotone last weekend, so he did not hesitate to change his usual position, and even reduced the defensive intensity of the midfield, just to use Rajjadzic's better passing and control technology to sort out the attackers in the frontcourt, so that the team's offensive can form a multi-point flowering situation, rather than once a routine is chosen, it can only be carried out to the end and seriously lacks flexibility as before.

However, the home team's back four and three central midfielders have made them a bucket formation from around 15 metres outside the penalty area, and even with the support of Baseli and Akwa, it will be difficult for the Torino players to find space in the middle. The two wings could have been impacted, but Malan had a very clear idea today and could put a cross, but cutting inside was absolutely not allowed. So after the opening fifteen minutes, the visitors sent eight wide crosses, but to the despair of European header Belotti, the two Chievo central defenders next to him are tall and strong men, the veteran Dario Dainelli, who is about to turn 38, is 1.91 meters, and the other starting central defender, Argentine Nicolas Spoli, is 1.93 meters tall.

And because the opponent is still three central midfielders operating near the big penalty area, the second landing is also controlled by the home team, so that the Torino team's wide cross is almost completely out of threat, and it is really a bit unreliable to break the goal in this way. With a big swing of his hand, Falke returned to the familiar right with his left foot, while Cherci, who rarely played on the left, moved to the left winger.

Both of them have left-footed feet, and their famous stunts are to cut inside on the right side to hit the goal, but Cerci has suffered a major injury after all, and his physical fitness is far from the peak state of three or four years ago, and it is difficult to use speed and technique to force the inside cut in the right winger position. The current situation on the pitch requires two wings to be able to attack the opponent's penalty area to help open up the situation, so this difficult task can only be handed over to the Spaniard, who is more suitable in all aspects. If only Hesse hadn't been injured, the Torino coach on the sidelines would inevitably miss his direct disciple at this time.

When the visitors made the change, Chievo's defence was not as easy as before, but they were able to keep Torino's attack under control due to their superior numbers in the half, without giving the latter too many opportunities to get on the back of the net. However, just when the two sides were in a stalemate, an accident changed the whole situation, allowing the Torino team to passively adjust their own attack.

In the 29th minute, Silvestri collided with the opposing midfielder Serbian Ivan Ravanovic in a scramble, and the calf was kicked and it was difficult to hold on, and Li Mudi had to summon Zampacosta, who was supposed to rest, to play. However, after replacing Silvestri, who was not good at assists, Torino's wide attack became more and more active, and Zampa's cross finally tore a hole in Chievo's defence. Although they failed to score before half-time, the home team's frequented behaviour seemed to indicate that the moment when the score was rewritten would not be long in coming.

Sure enough, just seven minutes into the second half, a siege by the Red Bulls paid off. Farke caught the attention of a defender on Zampa Costa and suddenly dribbled sideways to the middle and sent the ball diagonally to the left of the box before the home midfielder could come over to block. Rajjdzic made a straight feint after receiving the ball, and the two Chievo defenders hurriedly half-turned to mark Belotti, who had already started to move forward, but the Serbian midfielder suddenly shot directly with his feet. The ball was so fast and so close to the bottom that the home goalkeeper Sorrentino couldn't save and crashed into the net from the near corner. 0-1, Torino finally scored on the 11th crossing.

After taking the lead, Li Mudi's team played more and more smoothly. In the 56th minute, Falke's corner kick on the left side was pushed out of the penalty area by Spoli in front of the goal, and Zampacosta, who was ambushed outside, volleyed directly with his right foot half a meter outside the penalty line, and the ball drew a wonderful arc into the inside of the side netting in the far corner. Pretty world wave! Zampa's flash of inspiration gave the away Torino team a two-goal lead, and Rolando Malan on the sidelines could only shake his head helplessly, this kind of fairy ball can catch up, it can only be said that Chievo's luck today is very bad.

After 0-2, Li Mudi signaled to slow down the tempo and stop attacking like before, after all, the game seems to be almost stable, so don't waste too much physical energy to pursue goals. But nine minutes later, when veteran Pelissier took advantage of a lapse in the visitors' back, burst into the box after receiving a through ball from Inglaise and slotted home Joe Hart in the six-yard box, the Torino boss had to lash out at the distracted guys and then instructed his players to pick up the pace again.

In the 75th minute, the Torino team successfully counter-attacked in front, Falke took the ball to the front of the penalty area under the pull of his teammates' running, and slashed with his left foot, kicking the ball at a good speed and angle, and it was so sudden that even Sorrentino did not react. The ball eventually found the right corner to make it 3-1 and Chievo's hopes of equalising were dashed.

In the end, the Red Bulls won the weaker Flying Donkey Army on the road, and by the time the players returned to the hotel to rest, their head coach had already gotten into the car to Turin Airport, and Li Moody's journey officially began.