"We are in a very serious situation right now. In the Champions League, we will not give up," Mancini said in the dressing room before the home game against Sampdoria, "and in the league, we can't give up. But now we are one point behind Juventus. This point, maybe easy to catch, maybe, will always be between us and Juventus. ”

"What we're going to do is win every game until the end of the season. Start with this one! Juventus face AC Milan this round and it may be a good opportunity for us to overtake the points, but it is up to you to take advantage of it. ”

His majestic voice stopped, slowly scanning the room.

"Are you confident that you will seize this opportunity?"

"Yes!"

"Okay, then take Sampdoria for me!"

The Inter Milan players rushed out of the dressing room and onto the lawn of the Meazza Stadium to clean 2-0 off Sampdoria to reach 70 points.

In another game the next day, in order to keep the Champions League alive, Juventus, which had some of the main players resting, was forced to draw 0:0 at home by AC Milan, accumulating 69 points.

Once again, the Inter Milaners took the initiative into their own hands.

On the evening of March 14, Inter Milan defeated Ajax 1-0 at home and advanced to the quarterfinals with an aggregate score of 3-2.

Juventus, on the other hand, defeated Werder Bremen 2-1 at home, with an aggregate score of 4-4, and scored more away goals to advance.

AC Milan defeated Bayern Munich 4-1 at home and easily advanced with an aggregate score of 5-2.

Real Madrid drew 0-0 away at Arsenal and successfully qualified.

Last season's runner-up, Liverpool, lost to Benfica with an aggregate score of 0:3 and was eliminated......

After this round, the draw for the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the Champions League took place at the Hôtel de Ville in Paris.

The quarter-final draw is random, and teams from the same league may meet in advance. There is a possibility of a Serie A derby or a La Liga derby this year, with the possibility of a Milan derby being the most talked about, and perhaps the least desirable derby to see, as it has already been seen twice in the last three seasons.

The draw was presided over by UEFA CEO Olsson, with former French centre-back Blank, who won the 1998 World Cup at the Stade de France, as a guest. The draw also featured a trophy newly designed to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Champions Cup, with the names of the previous 50 champions engraved on it. Former Real Madrid star Gento and last year's champion Zanetti take part in the trophy.

Hento was one of the Real Madrid players to win the inaugural Champions League and the only player to have won six trophies. Gento and Gerard handed the trophy to Olsson, who in turn handed it over to the Mayor of Paris, Delanoë, and the trophy will be on public display until the final day.

In the subsequent draw ceremony, Barcelona, who are the second odds to win the title, drew Benfica, and everyone speculated that they could easily advance to the last four. Juventus were unlucky, drawing the biggest favorite, Real Madrid.

AC Milan were lucky and drew Lyon, and Inter Milan was okay and drew the yellow submarine Villarreal.

Villarreal were in a group with Benfica, Lille and in-form Manchester United as they topped the group, drawing 3-3 with Glasgow Rovers in the quarter-finals and knocking out the latter on away goals.

In terms of total strength on paper, Villarreal is more than a step behind Inter Milan.

Of course, it's another thing to actually kick it.

As soon as the draw was announced, Roberto Mancini warned his players not to take the yellow submarine lightly, as the team with Riquelme was no good team.

And even with a win over Villarreal, their last-four opponents will be Juventus and Real Madrid, which will not be easy to overcome.

On March 19, Inter Milan defeated Lazio 4-1 at home; On 22 March, they defeated visiting Udinese 1-0 in the first leg of the Coppa Italia semi-final.

Seeing that everything was going in a good direction, on the evening of March 25, he lost 1-0 away to Parma.

At the final whistle, there was confusion and wonder in the eyes of every player. They can't believe that at this critical time, they have dropped the chain again. Parma has lost a lot of blood in recent years, and it is no longer Parma when it was the seven sisters of Serie A.

Although Inter Milan stayed for the Champions League match in midweek, with the likes of Ricardo and Adriano not playing, from the perspective of the strength of the two sides, Inter Milan is enough to crush the opponent.

But Wurm's mistake in the box allowed Simplicio to score the only goal of the game. And the efforts of Martins, Cruz and others were magically defused by Parma's goalkeeper Bouzzi.

But fortunately, Juventus, which also wanted to stay in the Champions League, was also held to a 1-1 draw by Roma at home. If it weren't for the referee's bias in Juventus' favour for several crucial decisions, Juventus would have even suffered a defeat.

Now, Inter Milan and Juventus are tied on 73 points, and since the two meetings between the two sides have ended in a draw, Inter Milan is ranked second on goal difference by 2 goals less than their opponents.

On the evening of March 29, Inter Milan hosted Villarreal.

Just 40 seconds into the game, Riquelme played a delicate pick pass to Jose. A great opportunity in Mali. Although Jose Mari's shot was saved by Toldo, Diego. Forlan's follow-up shot was still successful.

In the 6th minute, Inter equalized. Stankovic's cross found the foot of Adriano, who turned and fired past Vieira.

In the second half, Inter Milan continued to attack aggressively, and in the 54th minute, Stankovic picked the ball past Sorin, and then volleyed the ball to the goal, and Ricardo flew with a cushion with his foot arch to hit the ball into the goal, and Inter Milan achieved a comeback.

After that, although Inter Milan still tried to expand the score, but Ricardo and Adriano's shots were always off the mark, or were bravely defused by Vieira, and Riquelme also made several good passes to threaten Inter Milan's goal, and even hit the crossbar with a free kick, so that Inter Milan did not dare to let go of the attack.

Inter Milan beat Biarrreal 2-1 at home to win the first game. The fly in the ointment was that the opponent was given an away goal.

Juventus, on the other hand, lost 0:3 to Real Madrid away, with Ronaldo scoring twice; AC Milan and Barcelona were both held to a draw away from home.

"It looks like we're up against you in the semi-finals," Ricardo said on the phone to Ronaldo. ”

"First of all, you've got past Villarreal. I warn you, they are not weak, and if you dare to underestimate the enemy, you will surely suffer. ”

"Haha, how is that possible! We will win! ”