Chapter 119: Roma's ill intentions
"Lin, wake up, it's time to get up and go to training!"
Zanetti was carrying a green plastic basin and a towel over his shoulders, preparing to go to the bathroom to wash up.
Passing by Lin Feng's bed, he saw that he hadn't gotten up yet, so he called out to him.
"Well!"
Lin Feng vaguely felt someone calling him. He responded subconsciously, turned over and continued to sleep soundly.
Zanetti didn't know whether to laugh or cry when he saw this.
This guy refused to sleep last night and couldn't be woken up in the morning.
It’s good to be young, you can fall asleep as soon as you lie down!
If it were an ordinary person, he would definitely abandon Lin Feng at this time.
Whether my teammates are late or not is none of my business, as long as I am not late, isn’t that enough?
But Zanetti is the captain of Inter Milan and his sense of responsibility does not allow him to do so.
Thanks to Zanetti's diligent and responsible efforts, Lin Feng was finally awakened.
Lin Feng sleepily rubbed his hair that was almost becoming a mess, and subconsciously checked the time.
Oh my god, it’s almost nine o’clock!
Damn it, I'm going to be late!
The two of them hurried to the bathroom to quickly wash up, changed into training clothes, and went straight to the training ground.
On the training ground, the assistant coach in charge of training is calling the roll.
Lin Feng and Zanetti both breathed a sigh of relief, tiptoed into the stadium from the side, stood behind the team, and then they breathed a sigh of relief.
Mancini didn't seem to notice the two guys who were almost late. After calling the roll, he said:
"Our next opponent is Roma. Even though their current record is not very good, we cannot underestimate this team because it is a team with a profound foundation!"
Although Roma is not a wealthy club, the team has a long history and has always been in the upper middle of the league in Serie A. It is a strong team that cannot be underestimated.
Roma's poor record this season is mainly because they have just changed their head coach and the team is still in the running-in stage.
But the striker-less tactics that Luciano Spalletti created for Roma has slowly shown its power in the league.
Inter Milan has never lost a home game this season, and even conceded 0 goals.
Mancini does not want this record to be broken by his opponents, especially he does not want to lose to Spalletti, because the opponent is Inter Milan's former head coach.
If I lead my team and lose to him, wouldn't it prove that I am not even as good as him?
So, this game must be won.
In order to prepare well for this game, Mancini has increased the amount of training in the past few days and is preparing to practice some new tactics.
But as he practiced, he found something was wrong.
The players' mental state didn't seem to be very good. They yawned a lot the whole morning. Even Lin Feng, the training maniac, didn't seem as energetic as usual.
"what happened?"
Mancini found the player and asked with a serious expression.
The player yawned and complained to him:
"Our team's dormitory is terrible. Not only is the space small and the lighting poor, but even the air conditioner is broken. The whole night is filled with the stench of teammates' feet and thunderous snoring..."
Mancini's mouth twitched when he heard this. If what the player said was true, it would be impossible for anyone to be in a good mental state after being subjected to magic and mental attacks for a whole night.
Mancini has never played for Inter Milan and has never been inside Inter Milan’s dormitory, so he has no idea what is going on inside.
Now that I hear the players say this, I realize that Inter Milan’s supporting facilities are so backward.
Before he took over Inter Milan, the Nerazzurri's habit was to let the players sleep in the player dormitory at the Pinetina base before home games.
This requirement is the same as that of AC Milan next door. The main purpose is to reduce external interference and physical energy consumption.
It can also facilitate closed training before the game to avoid leaking tactical information.
However, Inter Milan's training base was built too early, and the issue of player accommodation was not considered at all during the early stages of construction, resulting in very small reserved space and extremely poor supporting facilities.
This problem is not unique to Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus also have this problem.
But AC Milan chose to renovate its training base and significantly upgrade the players' dormitories, making its training base comparable to a five-star hotel and extremely luxurious.
Juventus was even more simple and crude, letting the players sleep directly in the hotel.
Only Inter Milan is still living miserably in this hellish dormitory!
Inter Milan has lost so many big-name stars over the years, it's hard to say that this has nothing to do with it.
The club spends so much money on buying players, but is reluctant to spend money on the team's most important training base.
This attitude doesn't look professional at all.
Considering that Inter Milan has not won a championship for many years, the stars subconsciously feel that the team is unreliable and naturally have the idea of leaving.
Mancini is a very serious person. After listening to the players' description, he immediately decided to go to the players' dormitory and investigate the situation on the spot.
Although the player's words made sense, he believed his own eyes more.
However, after the inspection, Mancini had no doubts about the facts described by the players.
In fact, he felt that the situation here was even worse than what the players said.
Thinking of this, Mancini announced publicly: In the future, for Inter Milan’s home games, the team will stay in qualified guesthouses and hotels the day before the game, and no longer have to suffer in the dormitories in the training base.
"Long live the coach!"
"Long live the boss!"
"You are our savior!"
The players all fully agreed with Mancini's decision.
They had long been fed up with the unreasonable and even rudimentary facilities in the rooms at the Pinetina base.
If the team didn't have rules, who the hell would be willing to suffer here!
This incident won Mancini a lot of favor and support from the players.
Mancini was very happy about this, but the team's owner Moratti was not happy.
Because Mancini asked him: spend money to renovate the Pinetina training base.
"How dare Mancini ask me for money? He lost to Juventus. Can we still win the championship this year? He didn't bring me a single league title, but he only knows how to ask for money!"
Moratti is not a stingy person, he is just dissatisfied with the team's current record. In addition, the team's investment in recent years is too huge, but the return is very bleak, which makes him a little annoyed.
What's more, the team's training base has been used for decades. So many top stars such as Ronaldo, Roberto Baggio, Matthäus and others have used it. Why haven't they complained?
The cost of renovating the training base is not a small amount of money, so it is normal for Moratti to be hesitant.
But Mancini did not give up and still insisted on applying to his boss.
The reason he gave was also very reasonable: not providing the players with good accommodation would inevitably affect the players' performance on the field, which in turn would affect Inter Milan's record, and ultimately lead to Inter Milan missing the championship.
Moratti was finally persuaded and forced to spend a large sum of money to renovate the team's training base.
Mancini breathed a sigh of relief after finally getting the matter done.
However, until the renovation of the players' dormitories is completed, they can only live in the hotel during this period.
The hotel's accommodation conditions are better, but because it is open, it is easier to contact with the outside world. For some players in the team who can't resist the temptation, this is more conducive for them to go out and fool around.
Thinking of this, Mancini glared at Adriano.
During this time, he will keep an eye on this kid. If he dares to sneak out and fool around, Mancini will not let him have a good time!
Adriano, who was training, couldn't help but shiver. Why did he feel a chill on the back of his neck?
……
October 10, the ninth round of Serie A.
Inter Milan VS Roma.
Before the game started, both teams announced their starting lineups and formations.
Compared with the previous game against Udinese, Mancini still used his usual 442 formation.
But some adjustments were made to the starting lineup, with Favalli replacing Vorm and Samuel replacing Materazzi.
Adriano, who had just returned from injury, still sat on the bench in this game, and super substitute Cruz continued to start.
Although Adriano was very dissatisfied with Mancini's decision, he did not dare to say much.
Who told him to go out and fool around last night and get caught by the head coach again!
Mancini is really disappointed with his player!
If this kid had half the seriousness of Lin Feng, and put his mind away from women's bellies and focused on football, he would become a top striker feared by everyone in Serie A.
But I am not ambitious enough and I am wasting my talent like this.
After the start of the game, Roma played very actively.
Less than a minute into the game, Montella made a cross from the bottom of the wing, and De Rossi fell to the ground when he was making a run in front of the goal, but the referee did not make any comment.
However, from the slow motion, it can be seen that Samuel did have a pulling motion with his hand. If the ball had been blown more strictly, Roma should have been awarded a penalty.
Unfortunately, there is no VAR video assistant yet. If the referee himself does not see it and no other referee reminds him, it is easy to miss a call.
After the Romans protested to the referee to no avail, they could only run to take a corner kick cursing.
The corner kick was taken and was cleared by Inter Milan players at the first point. Roma defender Cufre's long shot from a small angle on the left went over the crossbar.
On the sidelines, Mancini was already getting a little restless.
He couldn't help but glance at Spalletti next to him, who was sitting calmly in the coaching seat, looking confident.
What on earth does this old guy want to do?
They attacked so fiercely at the start, did they want to go head-on with Inter Milan at the Meazza?
As if to confirm his idea, Roma launched wave after wave of attacks.
In the 11th minute, Totti's free kick from 32 meters in front of the goal went over the goal frame.
One minute later, Cruz fouled De Rossi near the center circle. De Rossi got up from the ground and quickly took a free kick. Roma's long pass from the left went over Cordoba's head.
After a beautiful stop, Taddei dribbled into the penalty area and made a low pass.
Montella in the middle got ahead of Samuel and goalkeeper Cesar and scored with his left foot from 6 meters in front of the goal.
The score became 0:1!
Shortly after the start of the game, Inter Milan fell behind in their home court!
(End of this chapter)
