The 10th round of the league at Frankie Stadium was thought to be evenly matched, but the hosts have found their rhythm after a very poor start to the new season, winning two in a row recently. The visitors have become strong contenders for the league title in the first month, once chasing Napoli who maintained a winning streak, and once ranked second in the table, so this encounter is also one of the most eye-catching in this round of the league.

However, the difference in the concept of player use still makes the two managers have a certain disagreement in the arrangement of the starting lineup. Last weekend's very comfortable win over vice-captain Benevento allowed Pioli to have all the main players in good physical condition, so he didn't have to play away from home in four days, or he didn't have relegation side Crotone in his sights at all, and still showed the strongest card in his hand in this game to keep the winning streak going.

And Li Mudi, who still has to face the difficult schedule of the double match next week, does not dare to take physical risks with the players, and when there is already a lack of three generals, he still chooses to focus on stability, and more rotation is the rule he has set for the team in the near future. So in the 3-4-1-2 formation, youngsters such as Bonifaczi, Dimarco, Fambas and Balic all got the chance to start, which was a surprise to most people. After all, the opponent we have to face today is still very strong, and we are fighting away from home, so even if we use all our strength, we may not be able to secure three points, let alone make such a big reservation.

Sure enough, as soon as the ball kicked off, Purple Lily gained a big advantage after a short battle. Although the veteran Spanish player Valero, who lost the original core of the midfield in the summer, and the plan to take Benassi from the Torino team also went bankrupt, former Empoli striker Saponara, who joined the team last winter, has gradually shown his strength after spending the run-in with the new coach at the beginning of the season. Under his tandem, and the combination of Chiesa Jr. and Simeone Jr., who have grown rapidly in the past two years, Fiorentina's 4-2-3-1 formation is still enough in attack to be ranked in the top five or six in Serie A.

In just ten minutes of the opening game, the home team completed three attacks in succession, one of which forced Casillas to make a beautiful save, and the momentum was impressive! However, under the instructions of Li Mudi, the Red Bulls immediately stepped up their efforts on the defensive end, quickly stabilized the situation, and tested Fiorentina goalkeeper Sportiello with a wide cross and a powerful long-range shot from the perimeter. However, just as the two sides were struggling to find new opportunities, the unexpected happened, and in a dribble and tackle battle, the home team's French striker Taylor and the visiting left-back Dimarco both fell to the ground in pain and looked unable to recover anytime soon.

After an emergency investigation, the team doctor announced that Taylor could no longer hold on, and Pioli had to make a substitution less than 20 minutes into the game, with another Frenchman, Esserik coming on, and Simeone Jr. also being transferred to the central striker position. And Li Mudi got better news, his defender did not suffer a major injury such as ligaments, but the collision just now was too hard, which made the pain in the thigh muscles a little unbearable, and he may slowly recover after a while. The Torino boss was quite satisfied with the substitution, after all, it was the most effective way to save it in the second half of the emergency, but after a minute, he couldn't laugh anymore.

It was precisely taking advantage of the temporary lack of one player on the field of the Torino team that Fiorentina launched an attack and directly rewrote the score. In the 21st minute, after a simple pass with two feet, Simeone Jr. turned his back to the goal less than two meters in front of the arc of the penalty area, faced with Goldaniga's close defense, and suddenly sent the ball into the right side of the penalty area with his right foot in a very awkward way. At 1-0, the purple lily took a somewhat abrupt lead.

After conceding the goal, the away team immediately launched a counterattack, but Pioli chose to attack against attack, and after the two teams played about six or seven minutes of rapid offensive and defensive transitions, the Torino team, which was still playing away, was the first to be suppressed, and slowly recycled the formation again, and began to focus on defensive counterattacks. After halftime, the score of 1-0 did not change again, and Li Mudi's team was also in a situation of falling behind in all statistics, and the situation can be said to be very bad.

Before the start of the second half, Barreca, who was supposed to be out of action, replaced Dimarco, who returned to the pitch shortly after conceding the goal, but the pain in his leg never completely disappeared, which continued to affect his performance in the following games. After receiving treatment from the team doctor again in the dressing room, he was not fully restored, and the Torino boss had to replace him, knowing that this was the result, could have avoided the goal by making a substitution when he was injured? This idea naturally appeared in the minds of some people involved, but unfortunately no one had the ability to predict the future, and no matter how much it was said at this time, it was an afterthought.

After the rematch, the home team with a one-goal lead did not rush to score twice to seal the win, they still followed the tactics at the beginning of the game, through the cooperation of several players in the front field to create opportunities, and the back field still maintained a solid defensive formation, not giving the opponent the possibility of a lethal counterattack. After the 60th minute, Li Mudi finally couldn't sit still, he replaced Balic with Farke, and Bareka on the left also frequently assisted the front, and the team began to intensify the attack, trying to break through the home team's defense from both flanks and equalize the score.

However, luck was on the side of the purple lily again, Falke chose to pass back to the edge of the penalty area before breaking through to the bottom line on the right side, and after Fabas made a direct and powerful long-range feint to deceive the opposing central midfielder Badelji, he wanted to send a diagonal pass to his teammate on the left side, but the ball accidentally touched the calf of referee Mariani and bounced in front of Eserik.

The latter, of course, did not miss the gift of this big gift, and a long pass was handed to Chiesa in front of him, and the former Fiorentina legend ran 35 meters from the midfield like he stepped on Hot Wheels, and distributed the ball to his right side at the edge of the visiting penalty area. Simeone Jr., who was following him, failed to deal with the ball at the first stop, and directly volleyed from the penalty area, and the ball pierced the Torino goal like a cannonball, making Cassie's flying fish save useless. 2-0, taking advantage of this counterattack, the home team extended their lead.

In the face of this flying disaster, Li Mudi was very helpless, because the referee did not deliberately block the pass of Fabas, and the greater reason for conceding the goal was that the number of players on the side was too large, resulting in the air defense weakness, but if there was no accident, the opponent would not be able to play this counterattack, I really don't know who should be responsible for this lost goal.

Fortunately, the Torino players quickly created an exquisite combination to make the score 2-1 and did not let the suspense of the game disappear. In the 69th minute, substitute Barcelona split the ball in front of the field to Bareka who assisted on the left side, who shook the home team's right-back Laurini and crossed to the middle of the penalty area, because Mobile did not stop the ball and pushed the opponent's right side of the goal with the arch of his right foot. The ball in a beautiful arc went around Sportiello's hands and into the home goal's net.

This goal greatly boosted the momentum of the Red Bulls, giving them hope of equalizing or even overtaking, but the Turines' bad luck today could not be shaken off. In the 73rd minute, Chiesa Jr. went straight to the back post with a cross from the left, and just as the ball was about to fly out of the bottom line without anyone touching it, the referee's whistle sounded, and he signaled that in the process of scrambling for the spot, Bareka carried out a back-pushing action on the home team's players, and then not only awarded a penalty, but also sent the Torino left-back off with a red card.

Li Mudi, who was outside the court, knew through the FM system and the report of the coaches who watched the live broadcast in the locker room afterwards that Bareka did have a foul just now, and it was reasonable to be caught and awarded a penalty in the strict sense. However, he believes that a red card is too harsh punishment, this kind of foul without the will and degree of harm, a yellow card is enough, and the referee's decision is really difficult for the Torino team to accept.

However, no matter how much he protested, he couldn't stop the result, and when substitute center Babakar deceived Cassie and easily pushed the penalty into the bottom corner, the 3-1 score and the lack of a man ended the game. In the end, the Red Bulls, who suffered a series of surprises, still ushered in their second defeat of the season, once again opened up a gap with the leading group in the standings, and also suffered a trough of two rounds of winless league games, and the situation became a little critical.

In another key matchup of this round, Sampdoria came close to a big comeback, as they scored twice in a row after trailing Inter Milan by three goals away from home, and finally lost to Meazza. Among the other traditional powerhouses, only Lazio were held to a 1-1 draw away by Bologna, while Juventus, Napoli, Roma and AC Milan also won against their respective opponents.

In the standings, Napoli 28 points, Inter Milan 26 points, Juventus 25 points occupy the top three positions with Champions League qualification, Lazio 23 points, Torino 22 points, and Roma 19 points with one less round are in the area of qualifying for the Europa League, Sampdoria with 17 points, Fiorentina and AC Milan with 16 points, and they are also eyeing European qualification. And because most of the games are between strong and weak teams, most of the teams with less strength have reaped losses, so the situation in the relegation circle has not changed much, and Benevento's ten-game losing streak has covered up the still sluggish state of many other teams. In fact, the news of the change of coach has been circulating in the community, and it is believed that after Cagliari and the vice-president of Serie A, there will be more than one team that will replace their head coach in the near future.

However, at this time, Li Mudi is obviously not in the mood to care whether his peers are living in dire straits, because his own troubles are not small. After losing and losing away from home, the gap between the team and the leader was widened to six points, which caused many people to sneer. The man who had predicted that Torino would have a chance to challenge the league title was slapped in the face, so he turned his gun and opened fire on the manager and even the players, as if this would bring back some of their long-lost discipline. There are criticisms of Torino's managerial rotation system, there are accusations that the club's summer recruitment is unfavorable, and there are also ridicules that the young players who played in this game are short-lived and useless, in short, after the defeat to Fiorentina, there is no place for the Torino team to praise, it looks like it is about to fall into the relegation zone.

Just when Torino President Urbano Cairo frequently hinted in media interviews that "Belotti is close to returning, and the team will soon return to its previous form", Li Mudi held an intra-team meeting before the start of training on Friday, and then all the Torino coaching staff and players responded in interviews to topics such as winning the title, challenging Juventus and Napoli. The Torino boss himself replied on Friday night in response to a question from a reporter from the newspaper Torino Sport: "Serie A champions? That's between Juventus and Napoli, and the Red Bulls aren't going to do that kind of unrealistic daydream right now. Our goal is clear, to finish in the top five in the league and qualify for next season's European competition, and the rest is what your media has been saying before, and it has nothing to do with the team. ”

In fact, Li Mudi's inner thoughts are still relatively consistent with the views of most people in the outside world, and when he achieved an excellent result of 7 wins and 1 loss at the beginning, it is obviously unrealistic to say that he has no idea about the league championship at all. However, before the team even really enters the toughest schedule, they have lost too many extra points that they can't lose if they want to compete for the title, but anyone with some football knowledge will understand that Torino has not yet reached the level of strength to beat the domestic giants this year. With the exception of Juventus and Napoli, the Red Bulls will only have a home win and at least a draw away from home to get a point that can be used to try to win the title when facing a team of similar strength to them. And the draw at home to Roma and the away loss to Fiorentina can already declare Li Mudi's team out.

So now we still have to return to reason, throw away all those unnecessary extravagant hopes, move forward step by step, hibernate as low-key as possible, and if God gives you the opportunity, then do that sudden thing.