From the man behind the football king to the football king.

Chapter 227 The battle to win the championship

Compared to Udinese, who are not someone who cannot afford to lose, the Roma team is a party that truly cannot afford to lose.

Before this game, the Red Wolves had scored 35 points in 61 league rounds, temporarily ranking third in the standings. However, they only have a 1-point advantage over Lazio and Fiorentina behind them, and may fall to fifth at any time.

Although Serie A has returned to third place in the European War standings and will have 4 Champions League seats next season, if Roma falls to fifth place, they will still miss the Champions League.

In particular, Lazio had defeated Sampdoria 1:0 in an away game a day ago. In the real-time standings, Roma has been squeezed to fourth place by its rivals in the same city.

Just one day later, Naples will face relegation team Cesena at home. With Naples' strength, it shouldn't be a surprise to score 3 points.

Therefore, if Roma loses to Udinese at home today, they will have been squeezed to fifth in the league after this round!

The prize money and influence of the Champions League are getting bigger and bigger, and the temptation for teams is also getting bigger and bigger.Roma, which has been participating in the Champions League in recent seasons, naturally knows the value of this and they do not want to lose their qualifications for the Champions League.

Under the huge temptation of the Champions League, the Romans broke out with huge fighting power.

In the 44th minute, Pjanic made an emergency stop from the bottom line on the right side of the penalty area. Totti passed the ball and Nainggolan volleyed into the top of the goal to equalize the score.

Shortly after the start of the second half, Udinese almost took the lead again, but Bruno's free kick went around the wall and hit the crossbar hard.

It is said that those who survive a disaster will be blessed later. Roma, who escaped the disaster, took the lead in the 65th minute of the game.

Udinese defender Erto failed to push out Nainggolan's pass. Vidmon made a clearance and kicked the ball empty. Torosidis succeeded in pushing the shot 4 meters in front of the goal, rewriting the score to 2:1. !

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This was the final score of the game. The Romans stubbornly blocked Udinese, making it impossible for the Udinese to lift the league championship this season at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

Although Udinese failed to lock the league championship in this round, the three relegation places this season were produced in advance in this round. Bankrupt Parma and Cesena, who have performed poorly this season, have already locked up two relegation places. Cagliari lost 0:1 at home to Palermo this round and is lagging behind with only 2 rounds left in the league. Atalanta had 8 points and were relegated two rounds ahead of schedule.

Although they missed the chance to win the championship two rounds in advance, the Udinese people did not care too much. With a 4-point lead over Juventus, they only need to defeat Barcelona in the next round of home games to hold a championship celebration at home.

Therefore, the eyes of all Italy are turned to the Friuli Stadium on May 5.

On the afternoon of May 5, a highlight match of the 23th round of Serie A was held at the Allianz Stadium in Turin, between Juventus and Naples.

For both Juventus and Napoli, this is a game they cannot afford to lose.

For Juventus, if they lose the game at home, it means that they will take the initiative to give the league title to Udinese.

For Naples, who are currently competing with Roma and Lazio for a Champions League spot, if they lose this game, they will definitely give up the initiative.

After a fierce battle, Juventus relied on goals from Pereira, Sturaro and Pepe to defeat Naples 3:1 and completed its mission.

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After Juventus defeated Naples at home, the eyes of all Italy and even the world turned to Udine, a small city in northeastern Italy.

In the thirty-seventh round of Serie A, Udinese faced Sassuolo at home. Udinese only needs to win this game to win the Serie A championship one game ahead of schedule!

Although this small team located in the northeastern border region of Italy has a long history of 119 years and has been in the Italian top league for a long time, it has never been a contender for the Serie A championship.

In Italy, you can say that Juventus is a contender for the Serie A championship, you can also say that AC Milan and Inter Milan are contenders for the Serie A championship, and even teams such as Roma and Naples may be contenders for the Serie A championship, but if If you say that Udinese is a contender for the Serie A championship, I'm afraid everyone will laugh at you for not having any knowledge of football!

Yes, although this Serie A veteran has been competing in Serie A for a long time, they have always been a little transparent in Serie A.

Although this small team has been steadily participating in European competitions since Guidolin took charge of Udinese in the summer of 2010, no one will regard them as a contender for the Serie A title.

However, in the 2014-2015 season, this small team, which had always played a small and transparent role in Serie A, was uncharacteristically strong and appeared to be very strong from the beginning of the season.

Especially since defeating Inter Milan at the Meazza Stadium in the 14th round of Serie A and reaching the top of the Serie A standings, Udinese has never given up its top position in the standings.

They even once led the standings with a double-digit advantage!

Until today, after a series of twists and turns, they finally stood in front of the championship trophy.

At this moment, the whole of Italy, the whole of Europe, no, to be precise, the global football world, fans and media around the world are paying attention to this game.

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The FIFA official website also paid attention to this game. They wrote: "On May 5, Udine, a small city in northeastern Italy, may create the most incredible miracle in the history of Italian football. Currently, Serie A The league leader Udinese is about to face a key game to win the championship, we will wait and see."

"After 119 years of waiting, there will be a result today." Tomori, the leader of Udinese fans, said into the reporter's microphone.

"How do you feel now?" the reporter asked.

"It's great!" Tomori shouted excitedly, "I'm more nervous and looking forward to it than the first time."

Then, a group of Udinese fans laughed in front of the camera.

The Italian Football Federation officially announced that they have transported the league championship trophy to Udine in advance and will be transported to the Friuli Stadium on match day.

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The whole world is talking about Udinese possibly winning the championship at the end of this round. However, Udinese's opponent today, Sassuolo, seems unwilling to be the background and a stepping stone to go down in history.

You know, if Udinese really wins this game, they Sassuolo will become part of this great miracle: an unsightly backdrop.

Sassuolo's offensive core, Dominic Berardi, expressed their determination and will to fight Udinese in this game at the pre-match press conference.

<divclass="contentadv"> "Udinese wants to win this game? They have to ask us first." Berardi said with a serious expression, "Although this game is just a game for us. An ordinary game, but unfortunately Udinese's celebrations will be postponed."

Bruno listened to what Berardi said with a polite smile on his face, but he was sneering in his heart.

To be honest, Bruno was really unhappy when Berardi spoke like this.But he didn't really care too much. Instead, he was a little happy, because he liked honest people with such straightforward personalities.

If they were some old foxes, they would have complimented them, congratulated Udinese for winning the championship, and then said jokingly that they faced the powerful Udinese today and it was almost impossible to score points, so they There is no pressure. Anyway, Sassuolo has no desires and demands now, and there is no need to compete with the powerful Udinese. Such words made Bruno and Udinese lose their vigilance, and then suddenly came to steal the peach with a monkey trick. That's when it's really dangerous.

There are many examples of overturning when one gets carried away.

And now, Berardi's aggressive statement is tantamount to reminding Bruno and Udinese that you should be careful, we will not succumb to your power!

In this way, Bruno and Udinese understand that they have to fight hard in this game and win the championship. They must kill Sassuolo first.

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Before the game started, when Guidolin and the coaching staff finished making pre-war arrangements and left the locker room, leaving time for the players, Bruno stood up and said: "Earlier, my old friend Dominic Berardi said his Sassuolo team was going to ruin our championship celebrations."

The Udinese players looked at Bruno in surprise. Of course they noticed Berardi's words before the game, but they didn't expect Bruno to talk about it at this time.

Bruno sneered: "Why does he have the guts to say such a thing? What a joke. A loser, a team ranked at the bottom of the standings, dares to brazenly prevent the league leader from winning the championship."

As he spoke, Bruno deliberately clicked his tongue.

The locker room burst into laughter.

Udinese players are certainly aware of the grudge between Bruno and Berardi.

Speaking of which, the feud between the two originated from Serie B.

In the 2012-2013 season, Sassuolo led the Serie B standings for a long time. Berardi, who is the core of Sassuolo's offense, has always been a popular candidate for the best player in Serie B.

However, with the rise of Bruno and Novara in the second half of the season, they hit a 21-game winning streak that created Serie B history and snatched the Serie B championship from Sassuolo. Bruno also relied on his more outstanding personal performance. Performance, snatched away Berardi's Serie B best player award.

In this way, the feud between the two was finally forged.

Since entering Serie A, Bruno and Berardi have played against each other frequently. It's just that Bruno is now a world-class star and is about to lead Udinese to the top of Serie A and Europe. Although Berardi performed well and is the core of Sassuolo's offense, his status is completely different from Bruno's. .

However, the Sassuolo winger has been in very good form recently. Especially in Sassuolo's match against AC Milan last weekend, Berardi scored a hat trick, helping Sassuolo defeat the Rossoneri 3:2.

With this hat trick, Berardi also raised his personal data to a double-double level of 12 goals + 11 assists. He is the second player in Serie A to achieve a double-double in a season after Bruno.

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Objectively speaking, after what Sassuolo said, the atmosphere in the Udinese team was a bit solemn. This game is at home, and the whole team is eager to win this game and celebrate at home. .

In this case, Sassuolo issued a tough statement, which will somewhat worry the Udinese players.

Some players will start to have random thoughts. Although Sassuolo's strength is average, this team is very magical, especially when facing strong teams, it will show extraordinary combat effectiveness. There have been consecutive draws with Juventus and Roma before.

This game of ours won’t really capsize in the gutter, right?

Originally, with Udinese's strength and ranking, playing against a mid-to-lower team this season, the players would not care at all, let alone be so worried about gains and losses. However, in a specific environment and under specific conditions, people will have random thoughts.

However, this worry and nervousness disappeared with Bruno's words, as if the virus was exposed to sunlight.

Di Natale did not start this game. During the pre-match physical examination, the Udinese captain once again experienced discomfort and was placed on the bench by Guidolin.

Obviously, as he grows older, the legendary player's body is getting worse day by day.

Di Natale was unable to play, so the captain's armband was naturally handed over to Bruno.

Bruno waved his arms and shouted with a slightly ferocious expression: "Guys, let's go out, kill Sassuolo, score goals, keep scoring goals, win! The championship! It's at your feet!"

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Sassuolo head coach Di Francesco is not a completely one-minded guy. Don't look at him and his players yelling at the pre-match press conference to stop Udinese, don't look at their slogans that shocked everyone. Tianxiang seemed to be gritting his teeth to kill Udinese, but after the game started, everyone understood what he was thinking: Sassuolo came to this game for a draw.

However, Di Francesco did not expect that his wishful thinking failed, and Udinese did not accept this at all.

Sassuolo's defense only lasted 21 minutes against Udinese's crazy attack.

"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!!"

"Bruno Fernandez! Bruno Fernandez!" Beautiful commentator Dilita Leota shouted excitedly, "The Portuguese once again opened the scoring for Udinese. His form is really outstanding. Look at this ball. A sudden long-range shot was taken in front of the penalty area, and the Sassuolo goalkeeper had no way to do anything about it."

"This is the Portuguese midfielder's 23rd goal in the league this season, once again surpassing his teammate, Udinese captain Di Natale, to lead the Serie A scorer list alone."

Guidolin applauded on the sidelines. With Bruno's goal, the rest of the game will be easier to play.

Facing this kind of opponent who only wants to maintain a tie, the first goal is very crucial.