Truth be told, Fiorentina were able to sit at the top of Serie A despite the past third of the league, which was indeed a surprise to many. At the start of the season, most pundits agreed that Fiorentina were at best the same level as Roma and a little worse than the likes of Parma and Juventus. As luck would have it, Fiorentina could be able to secure a European place for next season at the end of the season.

But after eleven league games, when Fiorentina actually beat Juventus, Parma and other strong teams to the top of the standings, the defending champion AC Milan really surprised many "brick beasts".

A team that struggled in the second division a year ago can get off to such a good start in their first year back in Serie A, which cannot but attract a lot of attention.

There are also many entanglements between Fiorentina and Juventus: in the summer of 1990, Juventus paid a sky-high transfer fee of $10 million to forcibly poach Robert Baggio, the core of the team at that time, from Florence, causing a big march in Florence; And this summer, Juventus repeated their old tricks, using the Agnelli family's strong influence in Italy to steal half of the back line from Zhuang Mingge. These "new hatreds and old hatreds" make Fiorentina fans desperately hope that the team can give the "old woman" a blow on the opponent's home stadium.

With Fiorentina, Parma and Juventus separating them by just one point, the result of this match between Juventus and Fiorentina is also related to which team will dominate next.

As a result, for Juventus and Fiorentina, the major media in the Apennine Peninsula have spared no effort to make all-round reports, of course, the media representing different interest groups are also different in the tone of their speech.

"Torino Sport", as the mouthpiece of Juventus, spared no effort to report that Juventus is currently in good shape and has a full lineup, but also did not forget to hit Fiorentina, who lost at home to Sampdoria in the last game, and they unceremoniously pointed out: Fiorentina, which has had a relegation experience, is completely a second-rate team in Serie A, and now it can be at the top of the league completely because other teams in Serie A do not know much about this rebuilt Fiorentina, and this "pseudo-strong team" will soon be beaten back to its original shape.

The Stadio Alp, built to host the 1990 Shijie Cup, is now the home of Juventus and Torino and has a capacity of nearly 70,000 spectators.

Oddly enough, Juventus, who are relatively strong, have not been able to match their average attendance at this stadium, but have not been able to catch up with Torino, who often fight for relegation. Zhuang Mingge, who only knew one and didn't know the other before, finally made the most intuitive discovery through several previous trips to Turin: in the minds of the citizens of Turin, there is only one "Red Bull" Turin team that can be called the hometown team; Juventus, on the other hand, represents the whole of Italian football.

Juventus's home stadium, normally, is about 50,000 fans to watch the game, but today is obviously an exception, under the strong publicity of the media, today's Alp Stadium is obviously in a state of full capacity, there are more than 60,000 Juventus fans on the scene, and nearly 10,000 Fiorentina fans from all over the world, filling every inch of space in the stands of the Alp Stadium.

"Chairman Corleone, long time no see!" Moji, who learned from his subordinates that Zhuang Mingge had come to the Alp Stadium, waited early in the reserved Haode VIP box, "I'm very happy to be able to watch this key game with you!" ”

"Hehe, Manager Moggie, I guess you invited me to Turin this time, not just to watch such a game, right?" Zhuang Mingge decided to directly pick out the topic, after all, he thought that he didn't have the ability to win this old fox Mo in kung fu, "If you have something important to discuss with me, please just open your mouth now, otherwise when the game starts in a while, I'm afraid we won't have the extra energy to discuss business." ”

Mo Ji obviously didn't expect Zhuang Mingge to ask him so straightforwardly, and he was stunned for a moment, but the old fox still quickly stabilized his rhythm and said quietly: "Chairman Corleone, then I'll tell you directly, what kind of player do you think Robert Baggio of our team is?" ”

"I think, as Franco Baresi has said in previous interviews, Baggio is the only player in Italy who 'has the ability to decide the direction of the game'."

Zhuang Mingge knew that the main drama was coming, but he must not first mention Baggio's transfer at this time to expose his attitude towards this transfer, otherwise Moggie would seize the initiative in negotiations and ask Fiorentina for a high transfer offer.

But Juventus is different, Lippi already has a Piero who can replace Baggio, Baggio in his prime is unlikely to agree to be Piero's replacement, and the budget-conscious Moggi cannot tolerate the presence of a player with a high salary on the bench.

Juventus did not dare to push Baggio too much, after all, in '94, his personal popularity was at the peak of his career. If Juventus dares to come hard, for example, they will "refrigerate" Baggio or forcibly sell it abroad. Then it will inevitably cause dissatisfaction among many fans, and Juventus can't afford the anger of the fans.

"Well, President Corleone, I mean, if we at Juve sell Baggio at the end of the season, would you choose to take it?"

"Manager Mogi, you mean that you Juventus are ready to sell Baggio next summer?" Zhuang Mingge pretended to be surprised and said, with an incredulous expression, "I heard you right, right?" Baggio has been the heart of your club's attack in recent years! ”

Cut, if it weren't for Baggio's own request to stay in Italy to play, I wouldn't have dared to be angry, otherwise how could I have found you to take over such a superstar, Moggi said something else in his heart, but his mouth said something else.

"We are really looking to sell Baggio, after all, our current manager does not consider Baggio to be an indispensable player in his tactical system...... Chairman Corleone, since you just gave such a high evaluation to Baggio, you must be willing to pay a transfer fee that matches his status, right? ”

"Holy!" Zhuang Mingge scolded secretly, he didn't expect that he was still pitted by Mo Lao Fox, it seems that he will have to practice more in negotiation in the future, "Haha, although I am personally optimistic about Baggio, but Fiorentina's current midfield is not short of manpower, even if Baggio comes, we have no place to place!" ”

"For the sake of the friendship between Fiorentina and Juventus, we are happy to accept players that your club cannot accommodate." When he said this, Old Fox Mo looked sincere.

He who believes in you (9)! Zhuang Mingge scolded in his heart, he didn't expect Moggie to be so cheeky, not only wanting to clean up the unused Baggio out of Juventus, but also wanting to take advantage of Fiorentina.

The two people sitting in the box clashed each other like this, without realizing that the battle for the top spot between Fiorentina and Juventus had begun!

PS: Chapter 12 of "Jihua".