Mister Legend

Chapter 387 The Bull and the Zebra

Before this weekend's game, Li Mudi was actually in a bad mood. Originally, this Spring Festival was accompanied by many family members, so it can be said to be very comfortable, and everything is going well for the team. Apart from preparing for the Derby, there is nothing else to worry about. thing.However, after the short-track speed skating team encountered all kinds of scandals at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in the past two days, there was another wave of boycott of Kimchi Nation on the domestic Internet, which attracted the attention and support of many people.Because of his girlfriend, the Turin coach was also put on the stage and became the target of many netizens' attacks.

Lin Yuner, who originally planned to return to China to watch the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics, immediately changed her itinerary after learning about the situation, so as not to touch the nerves of the Chinese people at this sensitive moment, and also did not want to cause more trouble for herself and her boyfriend .But because she was innocently involved in this matter that had nothing to do with her, Lin Yun'er, who had always regarded herself as the daughter-in-law of the Celestial Dynasty, was still hit hard.Although she would inevitably suffer various criticisms and censures when she was active in the entertainment industry as an idol, the feeling of being rejected by her "in-law's family" still made her feel embarrassed and depressed, even if she tried her best to pretend nothing in front of her boyfriend's family He looked concerned, but the smile on his face obviously faded.

Mother Li felt distressed after seeing this scene. In order to help her daughter-in-law get back in a good mood, the old man decided to take the whole family to Switzerland for a trip, except for the Turin coach of course.Although Li Mudi was very reluctant to let his family members leave him like this, but for his girlfriend, he could only pretend to be generous to persuade Lin Yuner who was not willing to bother everyone, and in the end it was still in New Year's Eve On the second day of junior high school, I "happily" sent everyone on the flight to the neighboring country, leaving me alone to return to the empty home. It was really deserted!
The news from Germany also made the Turin coach extremely regretful. The Belgian center Batshuayi, whom he was very optimistic about before, changed almost immediately after being loaned to Dortmund.In the first half of the season, he could only get the opportunity to play in the domestic cup for Chelsea. In his debut for the Hornets, he performed like a god. The highlight of European football that week.After returning to the home court, he scored his first goal at the Westfalenstadion, helping Dortmund, who had won two consecutive victories, reach the top three in the Bundesliga standings.

On the night of New Year's Eve, Batshuayi scored his second brace in the first round of the Europa League [-]/[-] knockout match against Atlanta, which was the biggest contributor to the team's home victory.Scoring five goals in three games and one assist, this kind of performance directly swollen the face of the Blues coach Conte, who looked down on him, and made the Torino coach who missed the center feel very regret.If the Belgian, who is similar in technical characteristics to Belotti, can be loaned, the thickness of the Red Bull's front line can fully cope with the full-scale attack of the three fronts. Unfortunately, there is no such thing in the real world.

The last thing that affected Li Moody's mood was the list of referees announced by the Football Association in the middle of the week who would officiate the Turin Derby. The referee's name was impressively written as Daniel Orsato.The 42-year-old judge in black can be said to be one of the sufferers of the Red Bulls. Since his debut in the First Division in 2006, he has whistled 16 games against Turin, and his results are 2 wins, 5 draws and 9 Negative, the scoring rate is pitiful.In the No.12 round of this season, Inter Milan drew 1-1 with the Red Bulls at home. He was the one who took the law. trouble.And before that, in the games he whistled, the Turin team had lost four games in a row, and they were all disastrous defeats with relatively large scores.

The Turin team is obviously very dissatisfied with such a referee with a halo of suppressing the red bull, but they can't question the arrangement of the Football Association, so they can only swallow this cup of bitter wine.While having dinner with Valentino Cairo at night, Li Moody asked in vague words whether Juventus had influenced the referee committee of the Football Association, which made the referee of the weekend derby match Orsato.But these are just private complaints. Although the rumor that the old woman has the ability to designate referees has always been one of the many unspoken rules in European football, no one except Telephone has been able to grasp the relevant evidence again, so this kind of It's better to say less, so as not to suffer a lawsuit of defamation and rumors.

On Saturday night, No.20 played three games first in the five rounds of Serie A. Inter Milan, which ended the vicious circle in the last round, once again had a big upset in this round. They were defeated by the big team Genoa 2-0 in the away game. The distance from the Champions League qualification is It's getting farther and farther away.Two hours later, Roma beat Udinese with two goals in an away game, tying the Nerazzurri coached by the former coach in points. The Red Wolves executives must finally be able to laugh at this time.Because of Inter Milan's excellent results, the Roma club has been forced to leave the country's best coach by external criticism. The pressure is quite great!In the last duel, Chievo beat Cagliari 2-1 at home, taking a solid step on the road to relegation.

The teams currently ranked fourth and fifth are Inter Milan and Roma, who have the same 48 points. Although the former has one less goal difference, it still overwhelms the opponent by virtue of the advantage of the direct confrontation record between the two sides.But since they are already seven points away from the Turin team, which has one game less, it doesn't make much sense who ranks in the front or back, because they can only participate in the European League next season.For these two teams that set their goals at the beginning of the season to compete for the championship, they must seize every opportunity to start grabbing points, otherwise they can really only hope for the coming year.

Sunday, February 2th, the third day of the Lunar New Year, today’s first Serie A game is the much-anticipated Turin Derby. As a global live broadcast, in order to take care of the viewing habits of Chinese fans, the kick-off time is set in the local area The time is 18:12 in the afternoon.Playing during this time period, the home team will obviously be more adaptable, because they have experienced it many times before.Juventus is more used to appearing in the evening, which can be regarded as giving the Turin team a little advantage. The Italian Football Association obviously hopes that this game will not turn into a one-sided situation when the two sides met for the first time in the first half. .The closer the strengths of the two teams are, the more conducive it is to enhance the influence of Serie A in the world. If the Red Bull can win, it can also be used as a Spring Festival gift to the people of the Celestial Dynasty. No matter how you look at it, it is not a loss.

At ten o'clock in the morning, the two sides submitted the starting list according to the final stipulated time.Although it was a home game, Li Moody, who believed that the chances of winning were slightly inferior to the opponent, still sent out a 4-1-4-1 formation that focused on solid defense, instead of the usual three-back play this season.The goalkeeper position is the least suspenseful. Iker Casillas, who has always maintained a good state, is of course the first choice; the four backs are played by Silvestri, Ranocchia, Diego Llorente and Barreca. It is the strongest defensive combination that the Turin coach can come up with; the single midfielder is the Argentine Muses, standing in front of him is Falk, Baselli, Benassi and Boyer; the top is the single striker Immobile.

Belotti did not appear in the starting list because he played all the games in the European competition in the middle of the week, and in the defensive counterattack strategy, Immobile, who has more advantages in speed and technology, is also more suitable.But this also disappointed the fans who were expecting the Torino team to play a double striker. After all, the old lady's game always seemed lifeless. If the Red Bulls didn't use more active tactics, the game would be very exciting. Hard to get guaranteed.

However, the list submitted by Allegri is even more chilling. He actually let Buffon sit on the bench, making the classic battle that is likely to be the last time the two legendary goalkeepers met before it even started. re-existed.Although he suffered a muscle injury at the end of last year, the great goalkeeper who can be ranked in the top five or even the top three in football history has maintained a very good performance after his 40th birthday just last month. state.In addition to being scored two goals by Tottenham in the middle of the week, Buffon scored zero opponents in the three games he participated in in 2018, which can be said to be the best example of longevity.But I don't know what the head of the Juventus coach is thinking, but today he chose to let the Polish national goalkeeper Szczesny play in rotation, which is really a shame.

In addition, Juventus' current lineup is not very complete. Although Dybala has returned from injury, veterans such as Hewedes, Lichtsteiner and Barzagli have also recovered to the extent that they can enter the squad for the game, but Mandzukic However, he was unable to participate in the game because of a fever, and winger Cuadrado and midfielder Matuidi were still absent due to injuries.Facing the unfavorable situation of a slight shortage of manpower, Allegri also had to use some strange tricks. He asked the Ghanaian midfielder Asamoah to play as a left back, and then mentioned the Brazilian Sandro to the position of the left forward. .Douglas Costa, who played the main role here, appeared on the right, while the pure right winger Bernardeschi was squeezed to the bench. This trick is really incomprehensible.

However, no matter whether the opponent is playing with all the main players or has carried out some rotations on the lineup, the Turin team, which is already weak in strength, is not qualified to dictate.Bearing the pressure of a three-goal defeat in the first meeting, the Red Bulls must use 120% of their energy to deal with this rival in the same city, and their head coach also needs to consider not adding to the situation of compatriots who are celebrating the Chinese New Year , the burden is unimaginable to outsiders.

Before the start of the game, the fans of both sides in the stands of the Olympic Stadium had a fierce confrontation. The home team released a kite with the words "Forza Toro", which immediately attracted the attention of the broadcast camera.The fans of the visiting team, who are more confident, aggressively took out their most commonly used Tifo in the derby (the superstar puzzles or banners covered on the stands and fans' heads in the stadium were mostly used in games where the relationship between the two sides was very tense. , but can be seen in almost every game now), with a picture of a player wearing a zebra striped shirt, and below it is written in Italian: "Champion wins, loser complains", to satirize the recent An opponent who has been at a disadvantage in the two sides for 30 or [-] years, but is still stubborn after losing.

Cassie, who was wearing the captain's armband, guessed the coin, so he chose the half where his teammates were warming up. The kick-off was won by Chiellini, who replaced Buffon as the captain of the game.And Juventus's first offensive after the referee whistled almost created a threat, but Khedira, who played the role of central midfielder, did not form a tacit understanding with Costa in front of him. The latter started a little earlier, Falling into the offside trap of the home team, the through ball that made the German international have a flash of inspiration was wasted.

Then the home team wanted to take the lead in opening a breakthrough from the side. Falk succeeded in overpowering Asamoah with the cooperation of his teammates, but he couldn't get past Chiellini who came from the defense and was intercepted by Juventus with the ball. On the left side of the penalty area, the visiting team who got the ball immediately completed a quick attack and also entered the penalty area of ​​the Turin team, but the result had to make everyone lament the tricks of fate.

In the 3rd minute, Higuain, who served as the starting center, went outside the penalty area of ​​the home team after receiving a pass from Sturaro.Because the two sides gathered too many troops in this area, he temporarily adjusted the direction of the ball in order to avoid being intercepted, so that Pjanic, who was plugging in at a high speed in the middle, even ran past.However, the ball hit the feet of Baselli, who was rushing back to defend, and flew into the penalty area of ​​the home team. This change was beyond everyone's expectations, and Musis, who was standing in the penalty area, had no time to think about it, but just subconsciously Di blocked the trajectory of the ball with his right leg, as if he had completed a hit-the-wall coordination, but the person who passed it was the opposing player.

Pjanic, who missed the point of his teammate's pass just now, just intercepted the ball that was passed to him at the top of the penalty area. Taking advantage of the opportunity of Turin's defensive players who were a little flustered, the Bosnia and Herzegovina midfielder sent out a scalpel. Such a sharp pass made Higuain on the right enter the penalty area and was about to form a single-handed situation.

Casillas chose to abandon the goal after realizing that the situation was not good, and he was the first to save the ball near the sideline of the small penalty area, but he also knocked the Juventus forward who was flying to the ground.Since the bottom line referee was standing four meters away, he could see very clearly that this was an excellent defense, so the game was not stopped, but Higuain, who fell off the bottom line, had a very painful expression, lying on the turf and covering his hands With his left ankle, he couldn't get up for a long time.

Seeing this situation, the Juventus coaching staff hurriedly let Dybala and Bernardeschi on the bench start warming up, and after the ball was dead, they carried the small smoking gun to the field for emergency treatment, and then let them go after 2 minutes The Argentine, who was still limping along the way, returned to the field.However, judging from the performance in the following period of time, Higuain still failed to recover after all, and could only be replaced early. The Bianconeri lost the number one general who attacked the city shortly after the start of the game. Somewhat bad.

(End of this chapter)