Chapter 37: Don't Be Nervous (118/136)

Rome, Stadio Olimpic.

Lazio's players are no strangers to this stadium, as it is also their home stadium.

This time, they even used their own dressing room, but it wasn't their home turf.

It's a bit of a mouthful, and it's not easy to understand - the pitch is the same, and even the dressing room hasn't changed, so why do players feel that this is not their home stadium? Is there any difference between home and away in this city derby?

But just look at the crazy Roma fans in the stands, and the big swaths of dark red. You can see why the same pitch and dressing room can give the players a completely different experience.

The overwhelming majority of Roma fans, and the noise they make, are a constant reminder that the stadium is dark red today!

A huge wolf-headed flag appeared in the south stand of the Olympic Stadium, and a grinning wolf was ready to attack.

Of course, Lazio fans will not allow themselves to be slaughtered by Rome.

In the face of Rome's arrogance, they also had to fight back.

So in the north stand of the Olympic Stadium, the extreme Lazio fans unfurled the Blue Eagle logo. The eagle with outstretched arms looked down on the sworn enemy red wolf on the opposite side with cold eyes.

The wolf and the eagle faced off from north to south across a pitch.

All around the wolf's head were burning red signal rods, emitting red smoke.

Around the blue eagle, there was sky-blue smoke.

The stadium looked like the Colosseum of ancient Rome, where the slaves and beasts had not yet appeared, and the spectators in the stands could not hold back their movements.

Lazio did not have as many fans as Roma, losing out on singing and shouting.

However, this is Roma's home stadium and the number of tickets they can get is extremely limited.

In fact, in the beginning, Lazio fans, like Roma fans, used the south stand of the Olympic Stadium.

The South Stand in European football often means a place where die-hard fans gather, whether it's Italy, Spain, England or Germany.

But then in the city derby, the fans of both sides clashed over the right to use the South Stand, again and again. In the end, the Roma fans emerged victorious. In the 1973 Rome derby, first-team Roma fans checked all exits from the South Stand so that Lazio fans would not enter there. From that year on, Lazio fans had to occupy the North Stand, which has since become a gathering area for Lazio fans.

The two sides have been facing each other for 32 years.

This is the Rome derby.

It's not started yet, and the part leading up to each derby is exciting.

Therefore, some media will choose to start the live broadcast from this time, and let the camera focus on the scene, just to shoot the confrontation between the fans of the two sides is also interesting.

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Neutral fans can naturally consider this to be a beautiful sight in football.

But no one in the middle of it would think it's an easy experience.

Fans from both sides kept attacking and cursing at each other, hitting their opponents in every way they could think of.

The players on both sides will be in a state of extreme tension and excitement.

Even the referee has to bear a lot of pressure, which is not a good job.

In the referee's lounge before the game, Rossetti, the famous Italian whistle who served as the referee of the game, was explaining the key points of the game to his three colleagues.

He explained very carefully, because one of the three people was a young trainee referee, Javier. Papavić, a 36-year-old referee, only qualified to officiate Serie A matches this year, but first he had to start as a linesman.

In fact, Rossetti does not quite understand why the Italian Football Federation would use a young man in such an important match.

He has watched some of the second divisions that Papavić has officiated and admits that Papavić is talented but inexperienced.

In a game like the Rome derby, it's not the talent that matters, it's the experience.

He was the one who officiated the Rome derby, which led to riots on the pitch in the first half of last year and was eventually forced to be cancelled, and Rossetti is well aware of the pressure it takes to officiate such a game.

Especially the linesman, because he needs to judge offside.

This is one of the most controversial decisions in football.

He originally thought that Papavich would become the fourth official, but he didn't expect it to be a linesman......

So Rossetti repeatedly told Papavić: "It's not about you whether you're sure or not, it's about the situation on the field. There are some controversial decisions that you need to be careful when making your decision. Because maybe you make a penalty and the game goes in the other direction - trust me, it's a direction that you and I don't want to see......"

'Rocchi and Montella are both very cunning strikers and they will constantly try to counter offside to put pressure on you. Don't let them get their way. And Totti, where he is there controversy and hot scenes, he is not a good-natured baby, the Lazio players will definitely make a move against him, if they are angry with Totti, we will go and put out the fire for him...... By the way, Chang, that Chinese, that Lazio manager, he doesn't have a good reputation in the refereeing world, I heard that when he was in Spain, he publicly declared war on the Spanish disciplinary committee, and in the end he actually won...... Incredible, right? It's a special game for him and I don't think he'll be in the dugout. Don't let him bother, he's always good at putting pressure on the referee and he's not very clean with his mouth, hey, Ramon, if he's farting anything, let me know and I'll clean him up. Rossetti said to his partner, who is in charge of serving as the fourth official today.

Ramon nodded his head in understanding.

Rossetti then continued to look at Papavić.

'It's often about us fighting with the players, either we overpower them or they trample us under our feet. Also, if you make an offside decision, they will come up and yell at you, with a dry mouth or a sneer, so don't be nervous, don't fight with them, just be silent and call me over the intercom. In this game, you have to make yourself a robot, don't say anything, just raise the flag ......"

Papavich listened and nodded.

Although he has never officiated the Roman derby, the name of this derby is well known to the world.

He is also well aware of the pressure he will be under in this game.

But if you can't stand it, how can you become Pierluigi. A golden whistle like Corina?

"Finally, when you make a decision, you have to be 100 per cent sure that you're right, don't hesitate in the slightest, don't tell me you didn't see it clearly, or what you think it should be. I will only listen to your affirmative answer, and any hesitation is handled by yourself. It's a Rome derby, and even the slightest mistake you make can be exploited and turned into a game-changing turning point. It's going to put you under a lot of pressure after the game......"

Rossetti was reminded of last year's famous Rome derby.

At half-time, Roma fans jumped over the barricade and appeared in the stadium to tell them that a young fan had been hit and killed by a police car, causing a riot among the fans.

At that time, the fans in Roma put up signs demanding that the game be stopped. But Rossetti ignored it and insisted on blowing the whistle at the start of the second half, which angered the fans, who still brought the burning signal sticks and chairs to the pitch.

Eventually, Rossetti interrupted the game due to the large number of fans in the commotion, due to safety concerns.

But even so, the riots could not be stopped, and eventually turned into a large-scale riot conflict. That's the referee's responsibility in a game like this. So it's really sloppy.

It may be okay to make mistakes in other games, but in the Rome derby, you are absolutely not allowed to make mistakes, even in case, you must make sure that nothing goes wrong!

After a long time of repeated admonitions, Rossetti finally let Papavić go, telling him to rest and relax, and then he chatted with the other two referees, and the atmosphere in the lounge finally eased a little.

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While Rossetti was desperately trying to instill in his assistant referee what a Rome derby was, Chang Sheng was also making the final mobilization before the game.

But sending him didn't say much.

With 10 minutes left before the start of the game, he didn't show a video he had edited to encourage the players, nor did he say anything generous like "I just want to win, except to win."

He just repeated the tactical points again and told his players not to be nervous, there was nothing to worry about.

They won't be under too much pressure for this game because the Roma fans won't be targeting them and they can perform as much as they want on the pitch, even if it's through the opponent's crotch.

The players were a little surprised, they didn't understand what the boss was capable of talking.

They also know what the Rome derby is, even if it's players who have played in Italy before, and they know what the Rome derby is since they joined Lazio.

The veteran players in the dressing room told everyone more than a week ago what the game was like.

Being booed on the pitch is almost commonplace. Just went out to warm up, and every Lazio player was booed. At that time, the stands were not full, and when the seats were full, the fans booed them in unison, what a terrifying scene should it be?

Is there anything the boss can do to keep them from being booed?

Turn them all invisible?

Ha!

When you think about it, you can't think of it......

But Chang Sheng looked confident and with ten minutes left to kick-off, he finished his pre-match preparations and left the dressing room.

The room was full of people looking at each other, and no one knew what they were doing here, where they went, or what they did...... (To be continued) wonderful novel [Net] remember our website: