Chapter Seventy-Six: Some People Rejoice and Some People Worry

A weakened AC Milan suffered a humiliating defeat at the Stadio Vladhi, and after the game, all the AC Milan players, including Kaka, were under fire, not to mention Carlo Ancelotti, who made several substitutions during the game that were unfocused and looked more like they were dealing with errands.

What is even more unacceptable to the fans is that it seems that from the beginning of the game, the Milan team has no interest in winning, and all the players give the impression of being lazy.

AC Milan, which was already anxious because of the loss, was in turmoil because of Degan's post-match remarks.

The re-emerging Milan president Silvio Berlusconi immediately refuted Digan's remarks: "Our internal affairs in AC Milan are not yet the turn of an outsider to point fingers, I want to say that Kaka is very happy in Milan, he will not leave the city, he also spoke to me on the phone after the game, expressed his loyalty to Milan, I think this is what everyone wants to see, Kaka is an important member of Milan, is not for sale in the team, and I always believe that he can succeed in Milan, Just like we've been experiencing in previous years! ”

Berlusconi's words reassured Milan fans a little, but this defeat was still unacceptable.

Once upon a time, when Milan faced Fiorentina, didn't they all have an absolute advantage?

When was it actually Florence's turn to and pee on their necks?

Disgrace!

After the game, even AC Milan's mouthpiece, "Milan Sport", used such a word to describe AC Milan's defeat.

5:0!

AC Milan's zuihou coat was torn off by Fiorentina.

If AC Milan loses, after all, it is still an Italian civil war, in this round of the Champions League group stage, the performance of the other three Italian teams, although it is also unsatisfactory, but not all defeats are painful, such as Roma's small defeat to Manchester United this time.

With the headline "Roma are good, it's not entirely your fault this time", the newspaper praised Roma's defeat at Old Trafford.

Indeed, Roma, who lost the game, was left behind by Manchester United and shared three points with Sporting Lisbon, and the next two fierce battles with the Portuguese basically decided the future, objectively putting Roma into the second team of the group, forcing Roma to be more nervous in the next few group games.

Four games in 11 days, Roma drew one and lost three, fell from the leader of Serie A to fourth place, and the Champions League group stage qualification situation has become precarious, which is all bad news, and let Roma be careful about the future signals.

However, after successive setbacks in the league, Roma were able to show off their football style with a deep Roman imprint in the away competition against the Premier League champions, showing a balanced and calm temperament of the game, which shows that they are making great strides on the road to maturity.

Throughout the game, Manchester United had a slight advantage, with a reasonable lead in possession and tackles, but the comparison in the frame was basically the same, which showed that there was not much difference between the two teams in terms of attacking finishing.

Looking closely, Roma have better chances, which the Roma players repeatedly stressed after the game.

Pizarro said, "It's hard to accept defeat, we should win!" ”

De Rossi said: "Too many opportunities were wasted? No, we've always scored a lot of goals and this time we were just unlucky. ”

In the first half, Totti received a cross knock from Gyuli, broke through the back line, directly faced the attacking goalkeeper, and shot high from a small angle, before the end Perrotta received De Rossi's ferry, and kicked away with a left-footed volley, Esposito was unguarded, but he sent the ball away, and failed to take advantage of three good opportunities.

Manchester United seized their best chance of the game, the goal was a flash of genius of Nani and Rooney, Roma's overall defense was not too problematic, the whole team was still in the reaction stage after Totti's foul on the opponent, waiting for the referee's penalty, but the referee thought that Manchester United was favorable, and the ball continued to run, causing Juan and Aquilani to not keep a tight mark.

Compared with the 7:1 slaughter last season, Manchester United only retained five main players, and Roma changed more, only Totti, De Rossi, Mex, and Mancini Jr. four, the lineup has changed, the attitude has changed, and the game has changed, Roma is very cautious, paying attention to keeping the backfield personnel distance and defensive superposition, and has not invested too many troops in the attack, but the attack when the score is behind is also impressive.

No wonder the media praised the defeat for Roma after the game, with Spalletti also saying in his post-match press conference: "The result of the defeat is not entirely correct, and in terms of performance, a draw is right." We didn't give the opponent a little bit of space and we created some chances ourselves, especially in the Zuihou stage, which unfortunately we couldn't take advantage of. ”

While seeing progress, the Romans also objectively revealed their own shortcomings.

Speaking after the game, Spalletti said: "Over the years we have developed our own characteristics and are trying to maximise our strengths and we are thinking correctly. We played against all our opponents, but we couldn't maintain a high level of concentration and we couldn't play at a high level in all the games, and that was the biggest problem! ”

Despite the frustrating defeats, Roma finally ended one of the most horrific consecutive games in the Devil's schedule, with one draw and three defeats not pleasing them, and what made the Romans even more unsettling was that they had squandered great chances in a row, missed goals, or failed to turn their advantage into a victory, or failed to break through in balance or behind.

It's easy to think of playing Manchester United for a few minutes, when Perrotta's left-footed volley from two metres in front of goal flew wide, and Esposito aimed at two pieces wide of the far corner.

The biggest problem for Roma now is that they lack a player like Batistuta or Montella, in the game, they feel like they are always thinking about how to make themselves more attractive, they must play wonderful scenes, ordinary and not beautiful goals are not willing to score, as if scoring such goals is a sin, it is difficult to speak, so they are not stable in front of goal, they can always make the opponent see life, will scare the opponent, but will not destroy the opponent, This can be seen in many Roma games.

Spalletti was also aware of this, admonishing his players in his press conference after the game: "Don't talk about the referee's decision, we just want to miss a few goals." ”

Easier said than done, who will score?

Apart from Totti, Roma couldn't find anyone in the squad who could find the back of the net consistently, and everyone took turns performing, including the defenders.

When Totti doesn't work, the team is on fire.

Roma lost on the road, but their home rivals Lazio held a draw on home to a strong Real Madrid, in which Dutch sharpshooter Ruud van Nistelrooy scored twice to give Real Madrid a two-time lead, while a tenacious Lazio equalised twice thanks to two goals from their leading goalscorer Pandev.

Real Madrid are unbeaten at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome against a team from Roma, with three victories over Roma and one draw against Lazio).

The first time the two teams met was in the second group stage of the 2000/2001 Champions League, where the two sides drew 2-2 at home to the Stadio Olimpico.

Lazio have never fallen behind in European competitions against La Liga teams, with an overall record of four wins, three draws and five defeats in 12 games, with the most memorable match being a 2-1 victory over Mallorca in the 1999 Cup Winners' Cup.

However, now this Lazio team is absolutely different from the beginning, after Lotito came to power, Lazio has always insisted on a small business, in the face of the Galaxy Battleship, they have been firm in their belief in defense from the beginning of the game.

However, when the game reached the eighth minute, Real Madrid still took the lead, Sneijder's free kick from the left side crossed the crowd, and Vanney subconsciously pushed the ball with his right foot in front of the goal, and hit the ball into the bottom left corner, 1:0!

With the score behind, Lazio then played a quick counterattack, and in the sixteenth minute, Mauri found Rocchi with a deep ball, but Cannavaro made the first tackle to destroy. In the 21st minute, Mutarelli's shot was blocked by Real Madrid defenders, and in the 25th minute, Rocchi's exquisite pass to Pandev, who was unmarked on the left side, was blown offside by the referee.

Lazio came close to levelling in the 30th minute when Rocchi received a direct pass from Mauri to single out the goalkeeper, but he faced the onrushing Casillas and fired a half-volley in front of goal, but the ball flew away.

Then, Rocchi tried to shoot again, but was saved by Casillas, and Pandev's shot was also blocked, and Casillas became a wall built by Real Madrid in front of the goal, airtight.

However, Lazio's attack was still in the 32nd minute, Zauri crossed diagonally from the right, Stendaldo's header at the top of the penalty area, Pandev volleyed with his left foot on the left, and the ball was scored on the left side of the gate, and Lazio drew 1:1!

In the second half, the two teams changed sides and fought again, and Lazio, who equalized, still wanted to defend, but in the face of Real Madrid's strong attack, their defense looked stormy.

In the 61st minute, Real Madrid exceeded the score again, Mauri was surrounded by three people with the ball in the midfield, Raul broke the ball with the outside of his left foot and passed straight with the instep of his left foot, Vanney burst into the penalty area against offside, and shot easily in front of the goal, the football crossed the goalkeeper Balota into the net, and Real Madrid exceeded 2:1 again!

However, the tenacious Lazio obviously can't accept losing at home, in the seventy-fifth minute, Makinwa broke the ball in front, Pandev cut into the penalty area on the right, after receiving the ball, he shot low with his left foot and hit the near corner, 2:2, Lazio tied the score again!

Since then, the head coaches of both sides have changed frequently, but they are unable to rewrite the score again, and the two sides finally shook hands 2:2.

Roma drew one and lost one, although the process of the game and the ability shown were amazing, but the result was still disappointing.

Another Italian side, Inter Milan, gave a little bit of face back to Italian football, and the Nerazzurri beat PSV Eindhoven 2-0 at home to Meazza, the first European meeting between the two teams.

The last time Inter faced the Dutch side was in the 1972 Champions League final, when they lost 2-0 to Ajax, with Cruyff scoring twice.

Inter Milan won the first half of the game, and it was Zlatan Ibrahimovic who opened the door for them, as the Swede broke a two-season Champions League goal drought by winning a penalty and converting a penalty, before heading twice to take the tally to nine goals this season. However, in the second half, Zivu and substitute striker Suazo were sent off with red cards, which also cast a shadow on Inter Milan's next Champions League journey.

Overall, the performance of the Italian team in this round of the Champions League group stage is hardly satisfactory and mixed, although Fiorentina won by a big score at home, but it was an Italian civil war after all.

Originally, the Italian Football Federation was still hoping that the five Serie A teams competing in the Champions League could once again win the Big Ears Cup for Italian football and help Italian football regain some impression points.

They are still looking forward to the Milan duo, but now it seems that Fiorentina are more competitive, but the lack of European experience makes it difficult to expect too much from them.

However, a closer look at Fiorentina's two Champions League group games, whether away against Shakhtar Donetsk or at home against AC Milan, Fiorentina have an overwhelming advantage.

Empiricism doesn't seem to be reflected in them at all.

All the members of the Young Guard had the impression that they were not afraid of tigers, and even against the defending champions, they dared to hold high the banner of attack and successfully suppressed AC Milan throughout the game, scoring five goals.

Could it be that the spring of Italian football is on Fiorentina's body?

Although it is difficult to accept this argument, but the current situation is like this, in the case of Inter Milan's layman, AC Milan's overall weakness, and the lack of competitiveness of the Roma duo, in the European arena, it is actually Fiorentina who carries the banner of Italian football, which is really surprising.

"It's not surprising, the most Haode team wins, that's it, of course, we don't have any flags of Italian football at all, we only want to play Fiorentina football, we will continue to do so and not disappoint any of the fans who support us!"

As a topic of conversation in European football in recent times, Deegan said in an interview with reporters:

"So here I want to advise some people who are still full of old impressions, now the pattern of Italian football has completely changed, and it is no longer the era when the top three in the north have the final say, but now this era belongs to young people, belongs to young Fiorentina!"

The age of youth!?

Although Digan said it arrogantly, it seems that it is not unreasonable to look at the current twilight of Italian football, and Italian football, which has almost forgotten what vitality means, really needs a young revolution.