Chapter 14 The Excitement of Serie A

The Champions League group draw has ended, and the first round of competition will begin in the middle of next week, but before that, Fiorentina still has a league game to play, the previous three rounds, Fiorentina won one win, one draw and one loss, accumulated four points, and only ranked tenth in the league, compared with the identity of the defending champion, this result is really a bit unbeatable.

The unanimous tone of the media now is that Fiorentina are finished, last season's treble has exhausted their energy, and this season after losing several key players, Fiorentina will inevitably usher in a wave of routs.

In the fourth round of the new season of Serie A, Fiorentina, which has always been the focus of attention, was also given a cold reception, and the most anticipated game was AC Milan, which had lost three consecutive league games, faced Lazio at home with three consecutive wins, ranking at the top of the table, and finally in this game, AC Milan bottomed out and overturned the leader 4:1.

As a result, Inter Milan, who have won three consecutive games in this round, managed to reach the top with ten points, and in second place is Juventus, who have also won three in a row, with nine points.

In Turin, Jose Mourinho's Nerazzurri won with great ease, although Torino also worked hard, but there was a huge gap in strength between the two sides, allowing Inter Milan to win 3-1 without suspense, while Juventus relied on the excellent performance of Amaury and Iaquinta when Piero was rested and Trezeguet was about to operate, especially Amaury's goal, and a small away win over Cagliari.

Fiorentina also won, winning 1-0 at home to Sampdoria, who had pulled Inter Milan in the first round of the game.

However, Degan's goal drought continues, with no goals in three consecutive games, and it has never been the case since Degan's debut at Atalanta, with substitute Pazzini scoring for Fiorentina.

But Pazzini's goal didn't change people's minds, after all, Fiorentina had a very underrun start to the season compared to last season's strong performances.

Attention has been refocused on the traditional giants, especially AC Milan, who have toppled previous leaders in this round of the league, and who joined this summer, Ronaldo and Sheva, who have not been included in the main squad, and AC Milan have won in the absence of Andrea Pirlo.

At 4:1, Carlo Ancelotti's AC Milan announced the beginning of the Rossoneri's recovery with a big victory, and won the first victory of the new season.

After the game, Milan's media commented that AC Milan had regained their form, goals and glory, and Borriello found his form with Kaka, Seedorf and Gattuso, even though Lazio had an excellent first half, they were still defeated at the feet of Milan. It should be said that in this game, Ancelotti made a lot of changes, Borriello and Pato and Kaka started, Gattuso returned to the field, and Seedorf replaced Flamini.

Carlo Ancelotti said before the game that AC Milan's crisis is over and his team needs to prove it on the pitch.

The most important thing in the game was not the goals scored by Zambrotta, Seedorf, Kaka and Pato, not the result of the game, not the excitement of the game, but the fact that AC Milan finally played like a team.

Compared with the previous games, the biggest difference between AC Milan in this game is that some people have run without the ball, the physical condition has improved, and Borriello's running without the ball has created a lot of attacking space for the Milan midfielders.

Borriello was the only striker who didn't score, but he was the biggest player on the pitch and AC Milan definitely need a player of his calibre.

The use of Borriello is also considered to be the most successful part of Ancelotti's game, without Inzaghi, Borriello as a central striker, so that AC Milan's attack, has a fixed routine, and his own active running, but also created opportunities for teammates.

But the brightest star of the game was the prince of Milan City, Kaka, the first goal of the new season, the best player on the field, Kaka once again took the fate of Milan into his own hands, and his face was also re-smiling.

After the game, Kaka also explained in an interview how Milan came out of the crisis: "We told each other that we need to be a great team, it's not enough to just pile up individuals, the most important step we took towards victory was that we became a team. ”

After that, Kaka was also sniffed about Degan's poor form recently: "Rod is a super striker who must not be doubted, I know he has been in some trouble lately, but, again, don't doubt his ability, score!?" I never thought that scoring goals was a difficult task for Degan, in fact, he could have smashed any team's goal if he wanted to! ”

It was just a small episode about Degan, but people still focused more attention on this game, and the score of 4:1 was surprising and reasonable.

Speaking after the game, Carlo Ancelotti also smiled and said that he can finally sleep peacefully: "We have increased the vertical attack in this game, we have done this for many years, tonight we regained that feeling and did a good job, everyone was clear about their thinking, everyone took their responsibility, it was very important! Before, we may have relied too heavily on individual star players. ”

However, Pirlo's injury is still a big hidden danger for Milan, but Gattuso's performance in this game is eye-catching, and the former midfield butcher has now learned to organize attacks.

On Gattuso, Ancelotti said: "Ivan is a true fighter and if each of us has the will and quality of his, Milan are invincible. ”

The next round of the league is the Milan derby, the highlight of Serie A, and the day after the derby happens to be the birthday of Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi.

When asked about the next round of the Milan derby, Silvio Berlusconi, who was in a good mood, joked: "I'm waiting for a win to celebrate my birthday and I hope my kids don't let me down." ”

A big victory, so that AC Milan up and down are full of joy, but it also exposed a lot of hidden dangers, the most criticized of which is AC Milan's transfer this summer, this summer AC Milan made a total of ten acquisitions, in addition to Ronaldinho is also expected, other transfer highlights are really not much.

The previous view was that Shevchenko's introduction was the most unsuccessful, because the acquisition not only did not strengthen the team, but also made it difficult for manager Carlo Ancelotti to set up the line-up, but Shevchenko is a smart man, he is much more mature than when he left, and he has cleverly adjusted his position to make himself a positive player for AC Milan.

Shevchenko didn't play a minute against Lazio but he didn't mind it, while he said he accepted manager Carlo Ancelotti's advice that he "needs to run more".

'I'm going to start running, the whole Milan is going to start running, I'm improving, it's important for me to work hard, goals always come, this team is fighting for Ancelotti, it's a united team, and that's especially important in tough moments.'

Andriy Shevchenko has embraced the 'start from the bench' position, and in doing so, his presence will add depth to AC Milan's squad, such as in the UEFA Cup in midweek, when Shevchenko is likely to play, and he will give Pato plenty of rest ahead of the Milan derby.

Of the ten acquisitions made by AC Milan in the summer, there are currently Senderos, Bioudes and Caldacho who have not played, among them, Bioudes and Caldacho are low-cost, have low annual salaries, and have performed well in warm-up games, they are all waiting for their chances, so what about Senderos? Senderos remains a mystery to AC Milan to this day.

After Senderos joined AC Milan, he only played half of the warm-up game, and the rest of the time was recuperating from injuries, different minor injuries, Senderos is currently injured in the second toe of his left foot, when will Sendros be able to return, in the words of the Milan team doctor: "A week later, but not the UEFA Cup in midweek." ”

But the Milan team doctor also added a premise: "If all goes well. ”

With the UEFA Cup out of action in midweek, Milan Derby is unlikely to be hastily put on him, and then Senderos will be called up to the national team, and if nothing happens during the period, he will be able to play for AC Milan until mid-October, but according to the Milan team doctor, Nesta has returned from injury by then, and when Senderos will make his debut at AC Milan will be questioned again, anyway, he has never appeared when the team needs him most.

Now some media even ask whether Senderos's loan will be a kind of revenge for AC Milan to snatch Vlamini, because Senderos is certainly not the first choice for AC Milan to transform the backline, the person AC Milan has always wanted is Serbian Ivanovic, and the two sides have even initialed the contract, but Senderos's agent suddenly came.

In the form of a loan, Arsene Wenger was half-pushed, insisting on a simple loan at first, and later giving the right of first refusal to AC Milan, for which AC Milan paid 2 million euros to Arsenal first.

In addition, Senderos's annual salary has reached 2.5 million euros, which is 5 million if you include taxes, and now it seems that Wenger saw Senderos's situation, but AC Milan did not foresee it.

If Senderos does not show the ability to surprise after his comeback, with his "injury index", it may be difficult for AC Milan to use the right of first refusal, 2 million euros of loan fees, plus an annual salary of 5 million including tax, AC Milan's 7 million expenses, at least so far has not seen a trace, if AC Milan's defense is tight in the winter, and there are more ideas about the League Cup, it will not be surprising to make new introductions in the defensive line.

Although there were problems of one kind or another, AC Milan won the game, Ancelotti temporarily got rid of the crisis of confidence, and at the same time, Roma, who also had a bad start to the season, was also led by vice-captain Panucci, together with Aquilani who had rediscovered his senses, and the newly discovered Menez, to achieve the first victory of the new season.

Especially in the second half of the game, the fans saw the Roma team that they have been familiar with over the years, a wonderful Roma. Even Baptista had to rest for a month due to injury, but it didn't dampen the good mood of the players after this victory.

As Panucci grew stronger and stronger, Aquilani finally took his responsibility, especially with his jumps, laughter, kissing shirts and hugging his team-mates after scoring a goal, which allowed fans to dispel his dissatisfaction with Roma and Tadej found an acceptable form.

After the game, Roma's head coach Spalletti was also relieved, you can imagine how much he was looking forward to this belated victory, and in the face of pressure, Spalletti chose to keep his feet on the ground.

Both Roma and AC Milan have had a poor start to the new season, and both have been heavily criticised by the media and fans, with both Roma and AC Milan winning their first Serie A games of the new season with big wins over their respective opponents.

Roma and AC Milan are starting to recover, while Inter Milan and Juventus are on a strong sprint after poor performances in the first round of the league, with some describing Inter's away win over Torino as "the birth of a great team".

Indeed, the result was a 3-1 match, without any suspense, with Ibrahimovic and McConn showing no mercy, and in the game, fans saw the continuous improvement of Mourinho's Nerazzurri.

Inter Milan were in control for most of the game, and although Torino did their best to save some face at the end of the game, it was to no avail.

As Torino coach Debiasi said after the game: "There really is nothing we can do against an opponent like this".

In Turin, Jose Mourinho faced an all-Italian opponent, with Derbiassi's side carefully defending, using the aura of the likes of Rossina to threaten Inter Milan, and Bianchi once had a chance to head home from Materazzi.

But after 20 minutes of composure, there was only one team on the pitch, and it was Inter Milan who were gradually finding their groove on the pitch.

The brilliant combination of Roberto Mancini, Adriano and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, combined pressure from the two Brazilians, led to an own goal from the former and then an own goal from Pisano.

It was only the 24th minute of the first half, and the Torino had not had time to think about how to react, and two minutes later, McCone scored on the counter-attack from the right.

Inter Milan's third goal came from a corner kick on the Torino side, a quick counterattack organized by McConn, Mancini Jr., Ibrahimovic, the cooperation between the three, a simple quick pass, Ibrahimovic scored in a one-on-one situation with Torino goalkeeper Sereni, once again showing the incomparable tacit understanding between Mancini Jr. and Ibrahimovic.

A great game, which brought Inter Milan fans a satisfying result and a lot of good news. Roberto Mancini, McCone and Ibrahimovic are in excellent form, and Adriano, who has regained his form, even knows to be involved in defence, with Patrick Vieira and Cambiasso being the sturdy midfielders. Julio. Cesar's performance was also outstanding, and after this round of matches, Inter Milan climbed strongly into the top of the standings.

If Ibrahimovic's ability and performance are outstanding, and Mancini Jr. is nothing more than a repeat of his performance at Roma, then Adriano does give people a refreshing feeling.

The Brazilian is still a little bit heavy on the pitch, but he has found his competitive form and is in very good spirits, and he has seen the game as a joy and even took the initiative to help his team-mates in central midfield.

This was also in stark contrast to the individualism of Balotelli and Quarema, who also praised Adriano after the game.

The highlight of the game was Inter's third goal, which flowed like a cloud, with only three one-kick passes between McCone's break at the back and Ibrahimovic's shot, all of which were perfect, and this was the most successful part of Inter's game, the perfect combination of wide attacks and quick counter-attacks.

Even Torino coach Debiasi had to admit after the game: "The technical gap between the two sides is too big, we only played a good game for 20 minutes in the opening game, and we were not lucky enough, but luck is not the deciding factor."

I've studied that if we play against Inter Milan, once we fall behind, we will be suppressed by the counter-attack, so we have to try not to concede a goal and try to score first. As a result, we conceded the ball first and ended up losing on a quick counter-attack. ”

Ibrasimovic's firepower is still the same, Adriano is gradually regaining his form, Inter Milan's form looks very good, but there is one person who feels lost in this good situation, and this person is Crespo.

In the first round against Sampdoria, after the Argentine came on as a substitute for 20 minutes, Crespo "disappeared" from the Inter Milan lineup, and in the game against Torino, Mourinho replaced Ibrahimovic at the last minute to rest, and chose Cruz instead of Crespo, and in the next round of Milan derby, Crespo's opportunity may still not come.

Crespo is obviously a little impatient with such a situation, compared to Cruise, who started off the bench and has no desire, Crespo, who was a star as soon as he debuted in River Plate, obviously will not let this situation last long.

'Why didn't I get the chance to play, I've been asking myself this lately, of course the coach's choice should be respected, I believe I still have the ability to play until the 2010 World Cup, let's wait until January.'

Crespo's January reference is to Europe's winter transfer window, and in fact, another disadvantage for Crespo compared to Cruise is that he has been left out of the team's Champions League squad, which proves that he has been ranked last among Inter Milan's forwards.

But from another point of view, not being in the Champions League squad is a "pass" for Crespo's winter transfer, because according to the rules, a player cannot represent two teams in the Champions League in a season, and he can represent a new team in the Champions Cup knockout stage starting in February if he does not play in the Champions Cup in the first half of the season, such as Roma, who have always hoped that he could join.

In fact, when many big teams prepare for the winter sale, they take the player out of the Champions Cup registration list, or deliberately do not let him play in the Champions Cup.

Crespo has set his sights on the 2010 World Cup, so it certainly can't continue like this, the current Argentina team has a poor record in qualifying, the lack of Crespo is a more and more obvious problem, Basile is not unwilling to call Crespo, but it is true that he has played too few games at Inter Milan.

On the other hand, Mourinho prefers a strong centre-forward with excellent individual combat ability, and Crespo is clearly not that type, and he cannot play as a winger.

Jose Mourinho has also said before: "Inter is too big for me, my tactics are suitable for a team of 20 men. ”

In the summer transfer period, Inter Milan could not satisfy Mourinho in terms of selling people, and it was certain that some people would be purged in the winter, and Burdisso, who had a purge crisis in the summer, has been more and more reused, and even entered the Champions Cup list, Crespo is probably the most "dangerous" in the winter, of course, if he leaves, it will also be a matter of wishful thinking.

Inter Milan won a thrilling victory, while Juventus also picked up their third win of the season against Cagliari, who led the first three rounds in the first half but were overturned in the second half to accumulate zero points and morale was low.

Juventus lost at home to Fiorentina in their first few games before beating Udinese and Genoa in quick succession, with the attacking duo of Piero and Trezeguet not starting, replaced by Amaury and Iaquinta.

The game was very dull, and the reason why it didn't seem so boring was because Cagliari bravely chose 4-3-3, and it was a real striker, losing three games in a row, and Cagliari's head coach Allegri insisted on attacking.

Juventus is the team that people are familiar with, and if you want to see a wonderful, pleasing to the eye, an acrobatic individual performance, you don't need to watch Juventus play, because this is not the old woman's specialty.

But if someone wants to see a team that is extremely practical, united, positive and resilient, then choosing the Banmo Army is the right decision.

Juventus didn't seem excited enough in the game, there were a lot of passing errors, and the midfield lost its playmaking role, which was the main reason why the team appeared passive.

But the performances of Iaquinta and Amaury stood out as they posed a huge threat every time the ball reached them, and Juventus' 'bench striker pairing' did not disappoint Ranieri and the fans.

Not only did Amaury and Iaquinta help each other, with Juventus' only goal and most of their chances coming from the effort of the two of them.

As strikers, Amaury and Iaquinta are not limited to the perimeter of the opposition penalty area, they have a large range of defence, actively reaching out to the midfield and seeking cooperation from their team-mates, and their performances have been praised by the Italian media.

Speaking about himself, Amaury said: "I'm not going to give up every opportunity to play, my place? The first and second strikers, depending on Ranieri's arrangement. Playing at Juventus is the most important opportunity of my life and I want to take it. I'm 28 years old, I came to Juventus at 28 and this is my last chance, I have a strong desire and Juve too, we all want to win something, that's why I fight for every ball. Scoring goals is important for all strikers, but I think it's not just about scoring goals, it's about holding the ball, helping the team press, and sometimes being able to control the ball and give the team some breathing time. ”

Ranieri also praised his protΓ©gΓ© after the game: "Amaury played a great game, like a devil, Trezeguet and Piero are the kind of strikers who score 20 goals a season, and now I know that Amaury is the same, we bought a very great striker, an efficient striker, and he can help the defence, which is exactly what Juventus need."

The winner was proud and praised by the media, but Fiorentina, who also won, was given a cold reception, what is the reason, the key is that Fiorentina's performance last season was too good, and the results like this are really difficult to accept.

There is also Digan, who has made too many enemies in Italy before, and now has failed to score a goal in three consecutive games, and those who have been humiliated by Digan will certainly not let go of this opportunity.

But what about Degan?

This time he was surprisingly quiet, he didn't score in the first game, he was still a little depressed, but he didn't score in the second game, and Degan didn't care.

Degan knew what his problem was, he was too tired after fighting continuously for a summer and not getting any chance to rest, and after this feeling of exhaustion suddenly hit, Degan's state had a low ebb, which was also normal.

So, in the Champions League group stage against Steaua Bucharest in midweek, Digan did not even travel to Romania with the big team, but stayed in Fiorentina.

In this game, Fiorentina finally won 2:1 with two goals from Mutu and Pazzini and made a good start to the Champions League.

But the process of the game was not satisfactory, people are used to it, Fiorentina under the leadership of Digan to achieve the kind of devastating victory, a small one-goal victory, obviously not to satisfy people's appetites.

At this time, Deegan finally stood up and spoke: "No one is qualified to comment on what my state is, those who think I can't do it, I just want to tell you one thing, this time, you really think too much!" ”