Football: The butcher in the midfield at the start, the magic bird stunned

Chapter 219 April, Every Game Is a Battle of Life and Death
When parting, Heathfield made two suggestions to Chen Xiaoliang.

On the one hand, he feels that Chen Xiaoliang's ability in Rome is obviously better than other players. If he wants to continue to challenge and continue to increase his goals, it is imperative to transfer to a giant.

Some skills and abilities can be accumulated through training and time, but the understanding of football concepts can only be improved by competing with stronger opponents.

Just like a state, after reaching a level, it is difficult to improve without new challenges.

At the same time, the current Chen Xiaoliang is responsible for a lot of defensive and backcourt tasks in the team, but except for a few players who cooperate with him tacitly, the rest of the time plays more like an individual, not in the same rhythm as his teammates superior.

However, because Chen Xiaoliang's position is usually not too far ahead, there are very few opportunities to end the attack, so this is not obvious.

But from the fact that the conversion rate of assists he sent to Cesko is significantly higher than that of others, this can be confirmed from the side.

Heathfield suggested that Chen Xiaoliang not only let his teammates integrate into his football, but also adjust his rhythm according to his teammates' abilities and habits.

The speed, path and way of catching the ball to Cesco may not be suitable for others.

On the other hand, Heathfield suggested that Chen Xiaoliang could get acquainted with more celebrities and legends in football, especially those legendary coaches.

There are many such figures in Italy, Trapattoni, Capello, Lippi, each of whom was once a master of vertical and horizontal football.

For improving football concepts, communicating and discussing with them is much better than simply sitting at home watching videos and watching opponents analyze.

When parting at night, Chen Xiaoliang shyly took out the signed jerseys that he was going to give to "grandpa", but this link also turned into asking Heathfield for his signature and keeping it as a treasure...

After two days of rest, Chen Xiaoliang received a notice from Mourinho to stay in Rome to train alone and not go to Genoa with the team to challenge Sampdoria, which is ranked 15th in the league.

Mourinho accepted the suggestion of the team doctor and hoped that Chen Xiaoliang could heal the injury on his face completely.

On April 4, at the Ferraris Stadium, which can accommodate 2 people, Roma scored 36348 points with a small victory with one goal.

This game was described by the media as "the most ugly game in Serie A this season". Both teams had only 4 shots, and the winning Roma only had 1 shot on target.

In the 27th minute, after Abraham received a cross from Zalewski's small penalty area to grab a shot and was blocked by the defender, Mkhitaryan made a supplementary shot in front of the goal and scored the only goal.

In this round, Naples defeated Atlanta 1-3 away, Juventus shook hands with Inter Milan 1-1 at home, and AC Milan defeated Bologna with 1 goal.

积分榜上前五名的顺序也没有发生变化，AC米兰71分继续排名第1，罗马66分第2，那不勒斯62分、尤文图斯60分、国际米兰58分分列3-5位。

After the team rushed back to Rome, Chen Xiaoliang joined the big team and flew non-stop to Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece 900 kilometers away, to challenge the PAOK team.

PAOK (PAOK) is actually the abbreviation of the combination of the initials of many words in the club's full name, and its full name is "Pan Thessaloniki Constantinople Athletic Club".

This kind of title is more common among Greek teams. A typical case is AEK Athens, which is more known to fans because of participating in the Champions League and playing against strong teams.

Paok won the third place in the Greek Super League last season, so he entered the newly held European Cup. This season, he is currently ranked second in the league. .

After the lottery results came out, Chen Xiaoliang also heard about this team for the first time, and studied it carefully.

Roma's coaching staff didn't underestimate the enemy at all. In the tactical meeting, they carefully explained the characteristics of each opponent's players.

To Chen Xiaoliang's surprise, even though it is only a strong team in the third-tier European league, the starting 11 players are also full of transferred players from all over the world, and there are only 3 local Greek players.

The more famous ones here are Cesco’s national team teammate, Slovenian international Kurtic, the main central defender Ingesen who represented Iceland in the 2018 World Cup, and the left back Vierrinia who represented Portugal in the 2018 World Cup .

There is even Serbian international Zivkovic who has been selected for the 2022 World Cup.

Although already a core player of a well-known team in the five major leagues, Chen Xiaoliang was shocked by the high degree of professionalization of European football.

Such a little-known team can still have several international players who have participated in the World Cup. This shows the number of professional players in European countries, the number of employees, and the degree of competition among professional players.

During the game, Paok really wanted to make a difference, and the fans at home also made a deep impression on the Roma team.

Chen Xiaoliang, who has been to the Bernabeu, San Siro, Old Trafford, and the Allianz Arena in Turin, and played many games at the Olympic Stadium in Rome under the cheers of more than 7 people, once doubted that the fans at PAOK's home stadium had a throat in his throat after the game. Will you cough up blood?

They give people the feeling that they are shouting at the cost of their lives, it should be roaring.

The home team played well in this game, the offense was crisp and neat, they shot when they got the opportunity, and they were far ahead of Roma in the number of shots.

Center Chuba Akem, 27, has been bought by the Championship team Middlesbrough and will return to England next season.

Worth 280 million euros, he worked extraordinarily hard in this game, blasting long-range shots from various angles, making Abraham on the opposite side appear to be doing nothing.

But even so, the difference in strength is still that Rome is calmly kicking the defensive counterattack that he is good at.

In the 36th minute of the first half, Mkhitaryan took a corner kick. Kumbra, who got the chance to start in this field, was blocked by the Greek goalkeeper Perth Charakis. Then there was chaos in front of the goal and the ball went wrong. Yang Cuo came to Abraham's feet.

How can you not pick up the wallet you got?Abraham poked with his left foot, and Rome finally got a three-pointer.

In the second half, Mourinho replaced Chen Xiaoliang, Pellegrini and other main players with confidence, and replaced Wu Lei, Carles Perez and other five substitutes in one go, and one of them was specially brought to participate in this game. The 5-year-old Greek central defender Kramisis of the game.

After the game, Chen Xiaoliang gained 14 skill points.

Skill value 16→30
After finishing the game on April 4, he returned to Rome immediately on April 7.

Due to the low consumption of this game, Mourinho did not let the main players rest, but participated in training as usual.

The devil's schedule in early April will last for 4 games, plus Sampdoria and PAOK that have already played, the team will soon usher in Salernitana on April 6, and then on April 4. On April 10th, they will play the key game against Naples away, and then they will go to Milan to challenge Inter Milan away on April 4rd.

The last game in April is the semi-final of the European Cup. As for who the opponent is, it is still unknown.

The two teams in the same half of the zone as Roma, Leicester City had a goalless draw with PSV at home, and the two teams are destined to move to the Netherlands for a bloody battle in the second round.

Just looking at this schedule, we can tell that Mourinho dare not slacken half a point.

Especially the results of playing against Naples and Inter Milan in the league will directly determine whether the team can stay in the top four, and Eindhoven and Leicester City are not easy opponents to deal with.

At the same time, in the second round of another semi-final of the Coppa Italia, the winner was also decided.

AC Milan finally eliminated Inter Milan with a total score of 3 to 2, and will compete with Rome for the final championship on May 5.

For the Roma team, which aims to make a difference in the third line, everything will come to the result in May, but April is the critical moment to decide whether to see the result.

For some clubs that are unwilling to fight on multiple fronts, they will be out of certain games early. For example, Tottenham voluntarily gave up the European Cup, and Naples did not play the main force in the Coppa Italia. You can concentrate your strength and go all out.

For the final glory, club owner Dan Friedkin personally participated in the players' tactical meeting to mobilize, and briefly introduced the club's financial situation and the team's summer transfer window budget to the players.

Tell the players clearly that if they can win the trophy this year, it will be a major change for Roma after many years without a championship. It will greatly enhance the team's prestige and image, and at the same time attract more sponsors, thereby improving the club's book profit and loss.

In this way, the board of directors can inject more funds into the summer window to meet the needs of the team while complying with the Financial Fair Play Act, and can also spend more money to give players championship bonuses.

The words of the American boss are very direct and effective.

Professional players need to be more spiritual than material.

It is not enough to only talk about material things. Over time, players will become walking dead who only know how to dawdle, do not work hard, and even get injured at every turn, not to mention self-discipline and professionalism.

It’s not enough to just talk about spirit, after all, they all come out to work. It’s okay to rely on spirit to encourage a wave of chicken blood in important games occasionally, but always only talk about doctrine and not salary. Talented players will sooner or later be poached by other teams Walk.

As a successful entrepreneur, Dan Friedkin naturally understands this.

Under the gaze of him and Mourinho, Chen Xiaoliang signed his name on the new contract with Pinto, and Sesco also signed the new contract.

The club also announced the news immediately.

The boss's material rewards, Mourinho's spiritual mobilization, and the renewal of the main players' contracts have created a positive atmosphere for the club.

On the evening of April 4th against Salernitana, although in the 10nd minute of the opening, the French veteran Ribery assisted the central defender Radovanovic and scored a wonderful 22-meter long shot, Salernitana Taking the lead, but under the overall suppression and perseverance of Roma, they finally scored two consecutive goals and scored three points before the end of the game.

In the 81st minute, Chen Xiaoliang pretended to make a cross from the left, attracting the opponent to go up and cross the middle to the substitute Mkhitaryan. After the block, it was passed to Carles Perez who had been waiting for a long time in front of the right.

Carles Perez, who also came off the bench, took a shot with his left foot, and the ball drew a very beautiful arc and turned into the upper left corner of the goal.

In the 85th minute, Roma got a chance to set the ball in the frontcourt. After Weiletu dropped the ball into the penalty area, Chen Xiaoliang and Sesco took off in the middle one after another, attracting almost all the defensive attention. The ball flew over their heads and flew back At the point, Smalling grabbed the point and pushed with no one to defend, 2 to 1, Roma finally completed the overtake.

After the game, Chen Xiaoliang wanted to exchange jerseys with the 38-year-old veteran Franck Ribery who will retire next season, but his fellow Frenchman Villetu rushed ahead, and finally the two found another way and exchanged sneakers.

You must know that sneakers are not like jerseys. There is no difference between new and old ones. The sneakers of professional players are not changed frequently, especially in games, they rarely wear new shoes.

New shoes that have not been worn out will not fit as well as old shoes on the feet, and it will also affect the performance of the game.

After getting the new shoes, I will wear them for a while in training, and only use them in the game after they are worn to fit.

Manchester City's Grealish and Real Madrid's Toni Kroos are famous cases where a pair of shoes can last for several years.

Therefore, the exchange of sneakers between the two is enough to show that the two sides recognize and value each other, and it has become a good story among fans.

第32轮比赛全部结束后，6-20名的排名几乎没有任何变化，但连胜多场的AC米兰在客场与都灵0比0战平，积72分仍然排在第1，对于69分的罗马的领先优势也从5分减少为3分。

Juventus and Inter Milan defeated Cagliari and Verona respectively, but Naples unexpectedly lost 2-3 at home to Fiorentina.

积63分的尤文图斯再进一步，排到了第3，那不勒斯62分第4，国际米兰61分排在第5。

In this game, Chen Xiaoliang once again played the whole game. Although he had no direct assists and goals, he won the game with 7 points by virtue of 4 steals, 72 interceptions, 2 successful passes and 8.8 goals. best player.

He got 8 training points and 1 physical recovery card, but he also used 1 physical recovery card in the game.

Coupled with the 9 hours of training and 27 hours of extra training in the last 9 days, another 36 training points have been accumulated.

Training value 19 → 63
Heathfield's advice was still in my ears, and Chen Xiaoliang, who was planning to fill in the vacancy at the end of the season, spent 60 training points on dribbling.

Dribble 10→13
Training value 63 → 3
He moved slightly closer to the hexagonal warrior.

The continuous schedule and victories make the players extremely focused. The day-to-day cycle is not boring at all, only full-hearted devotion.

Four days later, on April 4, the team played against PAOK at home in the second round of the European Cup quarter-finals.

The starting lineup led by Chen Xiaoliang, half of the main force and half of the rotation also showed Mourinho's attitude-to ensure promotion at a relatively small price.

There is no suspense about the progress of the game.

In the 11th minute, Zaniolo broke into the penalty area and was tripped by the opponent's central defender Crespo. The referee immediately awarded a penalty kick.

Zaniolo personally took the penalty and made a steady hit, giving Roma a 1-0 lead.

In the 55th minute, Spinazzola, who came off the bench in the second half, played consecutive two-on-one cooperation with Chen Xiaoliang and Volpato on the left. After breaking into the penalty area, he passed back in an inverted triangle. Mkhitaryan followed up and shot, but the goalkeeper did not respond. , Rome 2-0.

After scoring the goal, the players surrounded Spinazzola and hugged happily to celebrate.

The assist represented a strong comeback for the Italy international after almost nine months away from the pitch.

Subsequently, Wu Lei and teenager Ji An also got the chance to play.

In the 73rd minute, Wellertu took a corner kick. Abraham headed the goal but missed the goal. The ball flew to the back post like a pass or a shot. Kumbra, who started the game, stood on the spot and shook his head. .

Three minutes later, Chen Xiaoliang made a direct long pass from the backcourt to Wu Lei, who successfully countered offside. Wu Lei dribbled the ball to the penalty area, facing the attacking goalkeeper, and selflessly crossed to Abraham, who was following up. The England striker shot an empty goal and scored the game last ball.

Roma won 4-0, double-killed PAOK, and successfully entered the semi-finals of the European Cup.

A day later, after the team arrived in Naples and checked into the hotel, Mourinho convened the whole team to watch the game between PSV and Leicester City in the hotel conference room.

The intensity of the game surprised the Roma players. The two sides seemed to be defenseless, seizing every opportunity to charge the opponent's hinterland.

Although Leicester City's possession rate is higher, the actual threat opportunities created by the two sides are evenly matched.

Leicester City's top card Vardy did not play due to injury, while Eindhoven played a traditional 4-3-3 in the Netherlands. Zahavi, who has won the Red Super League top scorer twice, played as a center forward. On his left is Jakebo, whom Cesko pays the most attention to.

The midfield position is former Bayern and Dortmund star Gotze.

The final score was fixed at 2 to 1. Eindhoven won the home game. The two goals were Zahavi's use of Leicester's defense to steal the ball from the far corner and Gakpo from outside the penalty area. After the cut, he shot the goal.

This victory also means that in the first game of the semi-finals at the end of April, Rome's destination will be the Netherlands.

The Dutch's desire for offense in their bones and their head coach German Roger Schmidt's persistence in high-position pressing made the entire Roma team feel that this opponent was difficult to deal with.

And not only Zahavi has played in the Red Super League for many years, Roger Schmidt is also inextricably linked with Red Football.

As a former engineer who learned football knowledge as an amateur and became a coach, he was favored by Rangnick, then the football director of the Red Bull department and the current temporary head coach of Manchester United, and invited him to be the head coach of the Salzburg Red Bull.

This team is also the Austrian team that Cesco and Harland once played for.

In the second year of coaching, Salzburg Red Bull, who fully understood Roger Schmidt's wild football, played football that shocked Europe.

13/14赛季，名不见经传的他以一套4-4-2阵型，带着他的高位压迫打出了联赛33轮不败，单赛季联赛狂轰110球的成绩。

手下双前锋索里亚诺28次出场打进31球，阿兰出场29次打进26球，边前卫马内和坎普尔出场33次分别攻入13球和9球。

Mane later went to Liverpool and became the "flaming King Kong, smoky Tai Sui" among the fans, while Kampl later followed Roger Schmidt to Leverkusen.

As for this Alan, yes, it is the Alan you thought of. He was bought by Guangzhou Evergrande and later became a native of the Red Kingdom.

With his outstanding results, Roger Schmidt later went to Leverkusen. His performance in the Bundesliga was also excellent, and Guardiola, who coached Bayern Munich at the time, repeatedly praised him as "incredible".

At the end of the Red Country Jinyuan football, Roger Schmidt coached Guoan for 2 seasons.

But his high-position pressing, which requires tenacious perseverance, high concentration and super physical strength, is difficult to fully develop on the soil of Red Country football.

After more than 2 years of red national tour, leaving behind a FA Cup champion, Roger Schmidt returned to Europe to coach Eindhoven.

He excavated and cultivated Gakpo, and at the same time re-blown his own whirlwind in the Eredivisie. This season, he is only 2 points behind the leader Ajax in the league. He has defeated Ajax 2-1 in the final of the Dutch Cup. Jax won his first title back in Europe.

Through watching the game and giving a detailed background introduction, Mourinho made the players fully aware of the difficulty of the next game.

However, before that, they still have two away games, two big mountains.

On the night of April 2022, 4, at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium, which can hold 18, in this Naples home stadium renamed in honor of the king, Roma players walked out of the player channel.

Before the game, Spalletti had already said that in the last 6 rounds of the league, Naples will do their best to fight for the Champions League seat.

Any dropped points would see them left behind by Juventus and Inter Milan.

Naples does not accept the fifth place in the league. Although the fourth and fifth place seem to be only one place apart, it is the difference between heaven and hell.

Except for captain Di Lorenzo's absence due to injury, the team has no injuries.

Rome also sent all the main forces.

In the last round of the European Cup, all the main players who took a break against PAOK played.

Although the team is ranked 2nd, 3 points ahead of Juventus, which is 6rd, has far exceeded the plan made before the season, but Mourinho is not satisfied with this, he also wants to catch up with the current 6 points ahead of himself in one more game AC Milan.

In this round of the league, AC Milan's opponent at home is the penultimate Genoa, and the score of 2 to 2 is fully in line with expectations.

If Roma still wants to compete for the Serie A championship, there will be no mistakes in this game.

With different season goals, but with the same belief in victory, a decisive battle that is not a decisive battle begins!

　Thanks to the senior director of the club [Grand Love Death] for the monthly pass!

　　Thanks to the senior director of the club [Kanhai Happy Chest Trumpet] for the monthly pass!

　　Thanks to the senior directors of the club [to be continued. ] monthly pass!

　　Thanks to the senior director of the club [Tiramisu KoKo] for the monthly pass!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)