After the group stage, Bayer Leverkusen's players went home and joined Fiorentina in the Champions League rematch with La Liga giants Real Madrid.

With this precious victory over Liverpool and Fiorentina's "help" on the other field, Real Madrid narrowly escaped from this group of death with eight points from six games, two wins, two draws and two defeats.

The next day, the pro-Real Madrid Spanish media commented one after another, highly praising Fiorentina's spirit of fair play, which made Capello, who was preparing for the next game in the office, smile bitterly: These Spaniards are really self-inflicted, I didn't plan to let Real Madrid go from the beginning, but these players in my hands who are suitable for playing are just suitable for this set of tactics, and Leverkusen's own lack of competitiveness has caused such a result.

No matter what Capello thinks, the originally bad relationship between Real Madrid and Fiorentina has indeed changed considerably because of this game, and this easing of the relationship will bring Fiorentina a lot of benefits in the future, but no one can see it now.

After the Champions League, Capello gave his players a short day off to give them a little respite to recuperate, and then took the team to the small town of Vicenza in northern Italy.

Due to the covert support of Zhuang Mingge, a traverser, Vicenza's bench depth and overall strength have been greatly strengthened compared with the same period in history. Coupled with the resourceful "Little Zhuge " Guidolin, this season's Vicenza is not as it has historically been, as distracted European competition has led to a significant decline in the team's results in the league.

On December 14, Fiorentina ushered in the twelfth round of Serie A.

Although the physical recovery of the Vicenza side is not very optimistic because they have just played the European Cup Winners' Cup, compared to Fiorentina who went to Japan, the players of Vicenza still have a certain advantage in terms of fitness, which is a point that Guidolin can take advantage of.

Once the game began, Fiorentina, who had won the tee-off, took the lead in attacking. Due to the team's fitness problems and the advice of the team from the physiotherapy team, Capello is unlikely to field the strongest squad in his hands. In addition, the opponent in this game is still the relatively weak Vicenza, if you play a defensive counterattack, you may be dragged into a draw by Guidolin. As a result, Capello decided to let his players attack as soon as the game started, trying to build up a lead when they were still fit.

Capello's attacking strategy paid off with a powerful volley from Batistuta in the 11th minute to give the visitors the lead and Fiorentina to finish the first half with a 1-0 lead over the home side.

However, after the start of the second half, Fiorentina had to gradually slow down the pace of attack as time went on, because their physical strength was no longer enough to support this intensity of attack, and even Tomasi and Davies Boar, who were known to be unable to run, had a big gasp in the game because of this continuous week of double matches, which is enough to show how bad the physical condition of Fiorentina's players is at this time.

Fiorentina's negative change gave Vicenza a chance to fight back, and after finding that the opponent's fitness had begun to alarm, under the command of Pirlo, the home team's attack gradually improved, and the continuous attack allowed the Fiorentina players who had reached the limit to only parry, but had no power to fight back.

Had it not been for Toldo's relentless repetition in this game, saving several of Vicenza's must-have goals, such as Ambrosini and Ballack's long-range shots from the ground in the second half, Toney's close-range header in the 62nd minute, and Andrea Pirlo's free-kick from the corner in stoppage time, Fiorentina would have conceded a mere number of goals in the second half.

In the end, a tired Fiorentina drew away at Vicenza to end the team's ten-game winning streak since the start of this season's Serie A campaign. However, despite only a draw, Fiorentina still lead the table with 31 points, with Juventus (22 points) and Inter Milan (27 points) and the Purple Lilies both struggling to catch up. What's more, Fiorentina still has one less game now, so on the road to competing for the Serie A title, Fiorentina still has a big advantage.

After being held to a draw away at Vicenza, Fiorentina face Parma in the 11th round of Serie A three days later.

Back at the Frankie Stadium, the fitness of the Fiorentina players, who had been given three days of respite, improved significantly, and in the face of Parma, who were menacing under Ancelotti's leadership, the old and spicy Capello once again pointed out the lack of coaching ability of the young Ancelotti.

A few days before the start of the game, Capello first used the media to launch a wave of psychological warfare, making Ancelotti mistakenly believe that the Fiorentina player's physical condition is still not improving, and intends to rely on stubborn defense to get a point at home.

Misjudgment led to Ancelotti, who had always wanted to complete revenge in front of Capello, to abandon the previous style of play that attached great importance to defense when arranging the lineup, and instead took risks to adopt offensive tactics - in Ancelotti's view, since Fiorentina intends to defend to the death, then if his side also focuses on defense, it will undoubtedly be in Capello's arms.

Goalkeeper Buffon, the four defenders are Benarivo, Cannavaro, San Sini and Thuram, Ancelotti only arranged Dino Baggio in the back position this time, the two wingers on the left and right are Fiore and Zemaria, Croatian Stanić as the front midfield, and the forward line is still Crespo and Chiesa, the striker combination that cannot be beaten.

Carlo Ancelotti believes that with the attacking power of this squad, even if he is playing away from home, it will not be a problem to win against a sleepy Fiorentina.

However, the confident Ancelotti was dumbfounded when he saw Fiorentina's starting line-up: Toldo, Carlos, Nesta, Stam, Zambrotta, Redondo, Effenberg, Rui Costa, Ze Roberto, Ronaldo, Vieri...... Capello did not defend at home as he said in the interview, but also played the card of a single midfielder, and also played offensive tactics!

Ancelotti, who knew that he had been fooled, had no choice but to urgently convene an impromptu combat meeting to calm down the players on his side first, and at the same time made the latest requests.

"Since Capello wants to attack so much, then we have to make him understand that our Parma attack is far stronger than him!" In the away team's dressing room at the Frankie Stadium, Ancelotti knocked on the small blackboard behind him and said impassionedly, "In the face of absolute strength, all intrigues and tricks are just paper tigers!" ”

As for how many Parma players were convinced by Ancelotti's words, it is unknown, after all, almost all Parma players knew this time, and their own manager was put on the side by Fiorentina coach Fabio Capello.

The big battle between Fiorentina and Parma is about to take place.