Volume 1 Chapter 305 Milan's Difficult Choice
In the two rounds of the league, the competition for the Serie A championship has reached the last moment.
AC Milan currently have the upper hand, with 75 points tied with Juventus, but are at the top of the table with a win-loss advantage.
Fiorentina are third with three points, but Fiorentina have the upper hand in the record with AC Milan and Juventus, and if the points are the same, Fiorentina can beat AC Milan and Juventus to the top.
Behind Fiorentina is Inter Milan, who have two points less than Fiorentina and can already secure a Champions League spot, but there is only a theoretical possibility left to win the championship, that is, in the last two rounds, they won all, AC Milan and Juventus all lost, and Fiorentina lost at least once.
However, Inter Milan are not without a little motivation to win, and if they can surpass Fiorentina, they can go straight to the main stage of the Champions League without having to play qualifying.
Fiorentina have reached the Coppa Italia final, the final will not start until the league is all over, Juventus Champions League and Coppa Italia are all out, fighting for the league title wholeheartedly, AC Milan is the most painful of the three most likely to win the championship, the league has reached the most critical juncture, but four days after the 37th round of the league played Palermo, they had to go to Istanbul to participate in the final match of the Champions League, three days after the Champions League final, they had to return to play Udinese.
Within ten days, all the truth will be revealed. Everything will follow an Italian tradition: from one extreme to the other. If AC Milan can win the seventh Champions League trophy in the club's history and win the league title, then the club and key players will be blown away. And if Liverpool toasts and loses the league title again, then Ancelotti will suffer, and all his arrangements, especially the arrangement of l or strikers, will be scolded by the media and fans.
For the aging AC Milan, fitness is the biggest concern, which is somewhat similar to Sacchi's AC Milan in 1990, in the Champions League, until injury time they were suppressed by Bayern, and finally struggled to qualify for the final. Subsequently, they ceded the league title to Napoli in Verona. In the final against Benfica, the Rossoneri also struggled to win.
Now, it's time for Ancelotti to make a tough choice again.
Before the match with Lazio Blues, Fiorentina's interim head coach Busso announced the appointment of the team's third captain and fourth captain, the third captain is Dainelli, the fourth captain is Maresca, one is a defender, the other is a midfielder, and the second captain is Chen Yu, these three captains cover Fiorentina's front and back midfield, and the media believes that Fiorentina is preparing for next season and keeping the core players of the three lines.
'Fiorentina have five or six players who can do the job, with Dainelli and Maresca as our third and fourth captains. It is because they have demonstrated sufficient charisma, leadership temperament and mental strength. “
At a press conference, head coach Busso told reporters.
Dainelli and Maresca were of course grateful for the crucial task of winning the league title, and they pledged their allegiance to their club, vowing to bring home one or two titles for Fiorentina.
With AC Milan playing in the Champions League final, the Italian Football Federation licensed AC Milan and Palermo to play the match a day earlier.
Faced with the early league game, Ancelotti did not let his guard down. Reservations are for sure, but AC Milan don't want to end the league in disgrace: "We don't want to give up the league title to Juventus," Carlo Ancelotti said in his pre-match press conference, "and they have to win it themselves." The game against Palermo is not training for anyone, Palermo have a chance to secure a place in the League Cup and they will definitely give it their all at the San Siro. ”
Before the game, Palermo's head coach Zhuge Guidolin said that they are not playing for Juventus or Fiorentina, they need to go to Europe to show Palermo football, "It's a good year, we have fought for 4th place, we wanted to have a high position as possible, but we didn't succeed, but the UEFA Cup is also a proud result, we are a promoted team, but we are not yet able to guarantee our top six position, Messina may also break into the League Cup, but we will not fall off, We're going to give it our all and try to get the three points. The best thing for us is that AC Milan are playing the Champions League final and we want them to win the title at the end of the game, but we want them to win this game. ”
Palermo centre-forward Toney is also ready for Friday's tough game: "AC Milan will continue to fight for the league title hopes, but we have to play a good game at the San Siro. It was going to be a real game, we wanted to leave a good image, the top scorer is out of the question, we're fighting for a UEFA Cup place now.
The match between AC Milan and Palermo was crucial to the final title win, with both Juventus and Fiorentina sending their assistant coaches to watch the game.
In this match, AC Milan played with most of the main team, but they did not give up on defending the league title.
In the 7th minute, AC Milan counterattacked, Crespo and Tomasson shot back-to-back goals were blocked, Serginho scored from the meter in front of the goal, and AC Milan took the lead. AC Milan didn't have good luck, though. Just l minutes later, Toney's header from inside the box was crossed and Costacuta's header was flicked back to the goalkeeper, but the ball flew over Abbiati's head into the empty net, and Palermo levelled the score with an own goal.
In the 13th minute, Serginho broke through the left rib and knocked cross, Crespo faced the goal at the edge of the penalty area, cleverly knocked back the right heel to Serginho who was inserted into the penalty area, Serginho stopped the ball with his right foot, faced the attacking Guadalben, and hit the far corner with his left foot from Umi in front of the goal, and AC Milan exceeded again
In the first minute, Tomasson split the ball in the middle, Brockie picked up a pass from the right side of the goal, Tomasson hit a sideways right-footed volley from the front of the goal, the ball flew past Guadalben's fingertips into the upper left corner, and AC Milan extended the score to.
Seeing that AC Milan led 3:l in the first half, Fiorentina and Juventus were a little frustrated, thinking that the result of the game had been decided, and even if Palermo could score again in the second half, I was afraid that it would be difficult to stop AC Milan from scoring.
However, in the last 10 minutes of the second half, the situation changed dramatically. AC Milan saw that the win was decided, replacing Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo in preparation for the Champions League, but Palermo pulled a goal back as soon as the two absolute main players came off the pitch.
In the first minute, Gonzalez cut inside on the left to get rid of Brockie, his pass was not very threatening, but Dorasu stretched out his right foot at the edge of the penalty area, Simic leaked the ball in the box, Zauli took the ball and turned to be saved by Abbiati, penalty. Toney converted the penalty, but Tumbolini thought Collini had rushed into the box early and the penalty was re-penalized, and Toni calmly fired a low right-footed shot into the bottom left corner to make it even for Palermo
With only one goal left in the lead, AC Milan was a little flustered, and in the 87th minute, Ferry's low cross from the right caused a scuffle in the penalty area, Barone got the ball on the right side and passed Pancaro who rushed up, and then buckled Costacuta near the bottom line, and hit the near corner with his left foot in the corner of the small penalty area.
The score was equalized, AC Milan woke up like a dream, and then began to fight back desperately, but it was too late, after Palermo equalized, morale was boosted, full of confidence, and in the end AC Milan was not able to score again, and could only reluctantly accept the result of being forced to draw at home.
AC Milan's holding them to a draw is a huge positive for Juventus, who can win the league title as long as they win their last two games.
It's also a good thing for Fiorentina, but their fate is still not in their own hands, and if AC Milan wins in the last round, even if Fiorentina win both games, they will still be one point behind Milan, not to mention a more stable Juventus in front.
Fiorentina showed no sign of giving up, though, and on the second day of the AC Milan game, Busso expressed his determination to win at Roma. 'Yesterday AC Milan drew and that's good news but it's not the best news and we want AC Milan to lose but no matter what the other result is, we're going to give it our all and win the game against Lazio. As long as there is a little hope, we will not give up. ”
Fiorentina's leader Chen Yu also challenged Juventus and AC Milan before the game, "In this season, Juventus and AC Milan have won the lead, but we will not admit defeat, no matter who they want to win the championship, they must play to the last round, the league championship, we will never give up, Serie A is not AC Milan and Juventus Serie A, we will let everyone know that the purple lily is also a strong contender for the championship." ”
Fiorentina are determined to keep the title in suspense until the last round, which is not good news for Lazio as the Blues are in danger of relegation after the last two rounds of the league and a loss in this game could see them fall into the relegation zone.
"The 20UU standings from top to bottom are Lazio, Juventus, Milan, Inter Milan, Parma, Roma and Fiorentina...... Looking at today, it seems like a century has passed. "Milan Sport" commented: "Clubs like Atalanta are more or less used to relegation, but Roma and Lazio are still more or less difficult to adapt to this change of role." ”
Lazio are still fighting for relegation, which can only be said to be the after-effects of the bubble of previous years, of course, this is also "attributed" to the "amazing" performance of the team led by Papadopoulo: they have only scored points in the last five rounds, and it is precisely like this that Lazio, who could have been able to go ashore early, fell back into the water.
Former Lazio star Damiko lamented in a recent interview with Corriere della Sera: "It's sad to stand in the standings. It's hard to say that we're back in the age of poverty, but it's true. ”
Papadopoulo said before the game, "My only regret is that a month ago we were in the UEFA Cup, but a month later the UEFA Cup is gone, but we don't have time to reflect, we have to win the game against Fiorentina on Saturday, otherwise we could be in a more dangerous situation, in previous years we were already relegated, but now we have to continue to fight, yes, we can't expect Fiorentina to show mercy, they are still working for their title dreams, we have to take our own destiny into our own hands." ”