I don't know if the Italian Football Federation and Serie A have deliberately arranged it this way, but in this season's league, some teams will always meet the Torino duo within three or four rounds, and even occasionally a team will meet these two powerhouses in two consecutive rounds.

For example, Inter Milan played Juventus and Torino back-to-back games in four days at the beginning of the season, and a similar situation occurred with Napoli.

Ancelotti, who has always been a "good old man in Italian football", has been a little disappointing in his first season after taking over the new team, and the main structure of the team has not changed much, the white dolphins in the previous two or three years under the former coach Maurizio Sarri can force the Serie A hegemon Juventus to be extremely embarrassed, but in the hands of "An Fat", it seems to have lost the natural winning temperament that he had before, how can it not be dissatisfied?

After being held to a draw away by Fiorentina last weekend, the record of 7 wins, 3 draws and 2 defeats in 12 league games is not too bad in theory, but compared to the series of wins that broke the team's all-time opening record 12 months ago, it is clearly a significant regression.

To make matters worse, Napoli were already eight points behind the leaders by less than a third of the way into the league season, a situation never seen in Maurizio Sarri's time. Rumors have even begun to circulate that if it weren't for the exaggeration of the new manager's liquidated damages, the club's hierarchy might have begun to consider a replacement at this point.

However, just when Ancelotti, who has always been critically criticized for his Serie A trip, the Sao Paulo Stadium on the evening of November 4 brought a surprise to those who were "anti-Juventus". The Napoli players, who had the experience of beating the Old Lady away from home last season, felt like they had found the feeling of eating and sleeping against Juventus, and in the cheers of more than 40,000 home fans, they cleanly handed over a complete defeat to the seven-time league champion with a score of 2-0, and indirectly helped the Torino team dominate the top of the standings with a three-point advantage.

Contributing to this result is also the promoted Parma team, which returned to the top flight after a three-year hiatus, the former Serie A seven sisters controlled by real Chinese capital, helped their "ally" Li Doudi drag Inter forward, a 1-1 draw brought the difference between the latter and the league leaders to three points.

The Red Bulls led the way alone, which had previously been seen after the fifth round and was snatched back by Juventus just one round later, so at the beginning, the media and fans didn't make much fuss about it, and in their subconscious, maybe it won't be long before the top of the table changes hands "yesterday". But everyone never thought that the development of the plot was not going in the direction they set at all, because someone "played a big name" and actually changed the script by himself!

In the thirteenth round of Serie A on the second weekend of November, the top three teams all won their own plans, but after the next two UEFA Nations League matches, Juventus and Inter Milan both suffered injuries to their main players. Although the Torino team also temporarily lost Glick, the core of the defense, during this period, it did not suffer much because several opponents were relatively weak after that, and Li Mudi had already hoarded a number of excellent talents in the position of central defender.

It is precisely because of the special period during this period of time when the players frequently have injuries due to fatigue, and always insists on rotating the game lineup, and at the same time, the red bulls, who have a small difference in strength between the main team and the substitutes, seem to have a sudden force in the eyes of the outside world, and have accumulated a lot of points advantage in the league.

Despite a goalless draw away to Napoli in their opening league game after the international break, Torino supporters will be pleased to be able to pick up a valuable point from this strong opposition. And the other two competitors also failed to win, allowing Limdoudi's team to unexpectedly hold on to the three-point deficit.

The next two opponents were not too competitive, so the Serie A leaders won two consecutive victories without any suspense, with 13 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss, scoring 40 goals and conceding 11 goals, the best start of the team since Supega, ushered in the 17th round of the league and the first Turin derby of the season.

However, this schedule was very unfavorable to the Red Bulls, because four days before that, they were going to Moscow, which is said to be able to freeze people to death. The central army will play the final round of the Champions League group stage. Fortunately, due to the home victory over the qualifying rivals two weeks ago, the ranking was determined in advance by virtue of the direct win-loss relationship over Schalke 04, as long as it does not lose more than three goals in the Russian capital, it can hold the second place in the group and thus get the chance to advance to the round of 16.

So in order to prepare for the key league against the city's sworn rival and the biggest league title rival, Li Mudi once again presented a full rotation lineup, and key players such as Cassie, Immobile, Belotti and Glick did not get on the flight to Moscow at all. And under the strategy of all-out retreat and occasional quick counter-attacks, neither the starting lone centre-forward Pieto Pellegri nor the substitute German striker Johannes Eggstein could create any decent threat to Akinfeev's goal.

In the end, the Russian Premier League giants fulfilled their promise they had made in Turin three months ago, and although they did not get a big win, the score of 1-0 was enough for them to use the principle of better records between them to squeeze Schalke 04 out and enter the first knockout round of the Europa League as third in the group.

In this group, except for Atletico Madrid, which established the advantage of qualifying early, the other three teams only decided the second, third and fourth places in the final round, which is more in line with the expectations of the outside world after the draw ceremony.

It's just that this result made the German media very dissatisfied, and they have issued articles accusing Li Mudi of letting water in the last game. The central army easily scored three points, burying the Schalkes' hopes of remaining in the European race.

However, this time there is no need for the Torino coach to respond, he has conquered the vast majority of Italian football people, and has not made any statement, and the "Milan Sports Newspaper", which has not been very good with him before, directly replied to his peers: "If Schalke 04 can win a point from the desireless Atletico Madrid at their home stadium, they will not become this unlucky guy, so this pot, the head coach of our Italian team does not carry it!" ”

After the group stage of both European competitions, the Italian team also repaid the support of the fans with an extremely good performance. All seven teams qualified for the knockout rounds, and all four Champions League teams finished in the top two of their group without being drawn to the Europa League, the first time since UEFA implemented the current European rules, which will naturally make the Italian media show off.

However, except for Juventus, the other three Champions League teams all qualified as group runners-up, and will inevitably encounter stronger opponents in the knockout rounds of 16 to 8, as well as an unfavourable schedule of home and away first. It's just that in the environment where the momentum of Real Saren is still strong and the Premier League giants are rising, it is already a great achievement to be able to qualify, so Italian football is not too demanding of its own team, and it is still based on an encouraging attitude.

However, it is clear that the Turin derby at the weekend is the biggest focus of attention, and the provisional results in Europe are just a concoction after everyone is tired of discussing and analysing the key league game on Sunday night, because everyone wants to know if this year's Serie A is really going to change?

As of last weekend's round of 16 league games, Torino topped the table with 41 points, while Juventus, who had been close behind with only one win, were at a low point in form after the last international break, suffering two draws in a row, and are now the top chasers with five points behind.

As for Inter Milan, after playing a wave of easy opponents, they started four consecutive rounds of hellish fixtures, and are currently 6 points behind the Red Bulls, and the championship situation is in danger again.

After that, Roma, Napoli and other teams are even more away from the leaders, with at least 9 points of difference, which not many people could have predicted before the start of the season.

More crucially, if Juventus fail to emerge victorious in this head-to-head meeting, the five-point gap will most likely remain in place until early February, given that several of Torino's opponents are in the middle of the table. And if the old woman herself made any mistakes, the situation became even more unfavorable.

Of course, there is an even worse outcome, although it is unlikely in the eyes of the outside world, but there is a certain chance of achieving it after all. That is, the Red Bulls took advantage of the home advantage to defeat the local rivals, and the difference between the two sides was stretched to 8 points, which would be a desperate difference.

It's just that in the pre-match predictions of many so-called experts, it is still the majority who are more optimistic about Juve's side, and ten out of 15 people are on the side of Allegri's team. The reason is that the Bianconeri have been strong in past derbys, and with the addition of Cristiano Ronaldo this year, there is no reason not to win.

Judging from the support rate collected by "Milan Sports Newspaper", more than 51% of national fans believe that the seven-time Serie A champion can win away from home and regain the momentum of the former hegemon; Less than two out of five thought Torino would win, and the rest were tied to a draw.

On the day of the game, more than 3,000 fans from both sides who could not buy tickets almost clashed on a large scale outside the Olympic Stadium.

On the contrary, the coaches and players of both teams were very low-key before the game, and Uncle Yi, who was the first to attend the press conference, said that the team is now encountering a difficult situation that has rarely been seen in the past few years, but he believes that his players will be able to find a solution to the trouble and play a strong team. However, the usually cautious Juventus coach was silent about the outcome of this derby, believing that the opponent's form was very good, and it was a bonus to the support of the fans at home, which was really difficult to deal with. But on the other hand, Juventus also have a considerable psychological advantage in the previous meetings, and the final outcome is difficult to predict.

The team's top player, Cristiano Ronaldo, also praised the Red Bulls' previous performance in an interview with reporters, saying that they are the best Italian team so far in the season. After that, he turned the topic to his old acquaintance Li Mudi, and even praised the Turin coach to the sky.

'The Torino team was really good, they showed me a glimpse of Real Madrid at the top of the previous two years, with the players but also the coaching staff. Especially my good friend Lee, who is one of the rare best coaches in world football today, and I knew him very well when I was in Spain and knew that he would definitely grow into the best team manager in the world, but I really didn't expect that day would come so quickly. ”

"Lee's coaching ability is of course unquestionable, not to mention those coaches who have long been famous, he and Zizou should be the best managers that have emerged in recent years. And our understanding of football and the concept of dealing with people are highly similar, so it always fits in well. What did you say? Will he play under Lee in the future? Haha, that's an easy question to answer! Of course I'd love to be able to work with someone who understands me, but Masimi is also a manager who is very much in line with my heart, and my age makes it unlikely that I'll change teams again, so it's hard to make your wish come true. ”

"Is there any certainty that this game will be won? I fight every game with a winning mentality, and as for the result, let's talk about the performance on the field. However, because I know the opposing coach too well, I have already passed on some of Lee's coaching details and strengths and weaknesses to my teammates in the first two days of training, so I still think Juve will have some advantages in the game. ”

After that, all these words came to Li Mudi's ears intact, and he also smiled and gave his response to the praise and joking provocation of the emperor superstar:

'Both teams are very good, maybe the other side is better, but we have the support of the fans, so overall it should be evenly matched. It's just that having a superstar like Cristiano in the opposition is a huge variable, and you know, he's always been able to lead the team to victory on his own for over a decade, so we have to use a special defensive strategy. Cristiano said that he knew me very well, in fact, I should have said that I knew him better, and I hope he won't complain that I was too ruthless after the game, haha! ”