Just as Zhuang Mingge and Karin were picking and choosing between a large number of offers, the day of the Champions League semi-final match between Fiorentina and Juventus had come before they knew it.

According to UEFA's schedule, the first leg of the match between the two sides will be played at Juve's home stadium, the Alp Stadium, which is quite good news for Fiorentina - in the knockout stages, a home-and-away schedule could give Fiorentina a certain advantage in the two legs of the semi-finals.

Last weekend's big win against AC Milan seems to have given Lippi and Juventus a lot of confidence, and in an interview with reporters before the game, many Juventus players said that they did not play their full part in the league this season for various reasons, and this Champions League semi-final is the best stage to prove the strength of the Bianconeri, and the Bianconeri will definitely beat Fiorentina with a full lineup!

And the Fiorentina players scoffed at Juventus' statement in private: You guys can't beat us in the league, thinking that you can turn around in the Champions League? Dream on!

……

"Haha, President Corleone, this is the first time we have played in the semi-finals of the Champions League for Juve in almost a decade, and we hope your team will show mercy." In the VIP box at the Alp Stadium, Moji was jockeying with Zhuang Mingge, "If I lose too badly, I'm afraid our fans will tie me to the cross and burn me to ashes." ”

Zhuang Mingge knew in his heart that this was just an old fox Mo showing weakness, of course he would not easily fall for this old fox, but on the surface, he had to be polite to him: "Oh, Manager Moji, where are you talking about, who doesn't know that Juventus is a well-known team in Italian football, and we are very content that Fiorentina can get out of here with our whole body." ”

"Hehe, Chairman Corleone, you think too highly of us Juventus." Although Moggie said this in his mouth, he slandered Zhuang Mingge's words in his heart: Who doesn't know that AC Milan's second bottle of 7-Up that you poured is at their own home stadium? You all dare to be so arrogant at the San Siro Stadium, do you have to change to the Alp Stadium and you Florence will die down? Who's a liar?!

After a polite exchange, Zhuang Mingge and Mo Ji sat in their seats respectively and did not try to talk again. Both of them knew very well in their hearts that they and each other actually had nothing to say. After all, Juventus and Fiorentina are true rivals in every sense of the word.

"The game started, and in this game, Juventus, who were playing at home, lined up a set of 442 formations: goalkeeper Peruzzi, and the four defenders were Pesoto, Blanc, Montero and Torricelli; In midfield, two Frenchmen, Didier Deschamps and Zinedine Zidane, supported the Bianconeri's midfield, with Di Livio and Yugoslav Jugovic supporting them on the pitch. Up front, Prince Pierrot of the Bianconeri and Croatian center Boksic started together, and Marcelo Lippi fielded all the main players available in this game! ”

Lippi looked at the players who were constantly running on the field, and he could be said to be quite satisfied, but there was one thing that still made the Silver Fox's heart a little uneasy, that is, Juve's current forward line.

It's so unstable! That's what the Silver Foxes say about the team's forwards. After the departure of Vialli and Ravanelli, it was obviously too dangerous to tie the team's attack to Pierrot alone. Although the Bianconeri's ability to attack the city is first-class in Europe, Boksic, Amoruso Jr. and others are not good at scoring, and Zidane is more regarded as a playmaker at this time, and his scoring potential has not been fully developed. Over-reliance on Pierrot for goals has been the main reason why Juve have fallen out in the league title race with Fiorentina this season – those in Serie A are clearly better at dealing with Juventus than their quarter-final rivals, Atletico Madrid.

On the Fiorentina side, the team's head coach Fabio Capello obviously led the team to the Alp Stadium with a defensive counterattack mentality, which can be seen from Fiorentina's starting lineup for this game.

Goalkeeper Toldo, Robert Carlos and Zambrotta were the starting wing-backs, with Stam and Nesta partnering in central defence, and the Dutchman's defence and Nesta versatility were enough to make Fiorentina's backline impregnable.

In front of Nesta and Stam are Di Biagio and Davies, who are responsible for protecting the backline from direct impact from the Juventus striker, while also sweeping the midfield; Redondo and Effenberg teamed up to organise Fiorentina's attack, and the onus of controlling the tempo of the game fell on their shoulders.

Up front, Ronaldo and Vieri became Capello's first choice, and Batistuta and Inzaghi were not selected. On the one hand, it is because these two played the whole game in the league against Inter Milan last weekend, and they are inevitably lacking in fitness and game form; On the other hand, Barty's defeat was also due to Capello's tactical considerations for this game, after all, Vieri was faster than the Argentine god of war in terms of speed.

Therefore, in other respects, Capello naturally chose to be more mobile and physically stronger.

And Barty and Inzaghi also expressed their understanding of Capello's arrangement, not that they really don't have ideas about their inability to start in the game, but under the influence of the club culture that Zhuang Mingge has vigorously built over the years, they have been unknowingly stained with a strong Fiorentina brand.

What is Florence special? Loyal! It was loyalty and dedication to the club that allowed Fiorentina to not make a fuss about their playing time despite having a large number of stars in the first team.

It has to be said that Capello had the right idea. Due to Boksic's drag, Juventus's attacking ability in the game is now quite weak, Fiorentina put such a defensive counterattack away from home Jiashi just hit the most important place for the Bianconeri - attack, Ronaldo's speed is not vegetarian, a counterattack is enough to make Juventus fall into a catastrophe; If he doesn't attack, to the extent that Capello is shameless, the gold medal coach is very likely to let his team shrink across the board, build an iron bucket formation in his own half, and directly defend a 0-0 to be done.

Faced with this dilemma, Lippi has no too much solution, after all, Capello has made it clear that he has seen Juventus's weaknesses to fight, what can he do?

The only thing the Silver Foxes can do is direct their players from the sidelines and prepare them to storm the Fiorentina defence, and without a win at home, the Bianconeri's second leg will be in jeopardy.

After all, the Stadio Frankie is also the home of Italy's famous devils.