Chapter 178: What level are you at? Do you think you can break my record?
After the FIFA match day, Inter Milan returned to the busy schedule of fighting on both the league and the Champions League fronts.
"Ajax doesn't want to postpone the game?"
On March 5, when Inter Milan was actively preparing for the next round of the league, Mancini received bad news - Ajax rejected their application to UEFA to postpone the second round of the knockout match for one week.
"Yes, Ajax obviously knows that we are competing fiercely with Juventus for the league championship. At this stage, they will never give up the league easily, so they don't intend to give us any breathing time!"
Mancini frowned. There was nothing wrong with Ajax's actions.
If it were him, when the score was unfavorable and the opponent had such a weakness that could be exploited, he would of course seize the opportunity and beat the opponent to death.
But for Inter Milan, the situation became a bit unfavorable after Ajax rejected their application.
On March 3, Inter Milan will travel to challenge Roma, who is currently ranked fourth in the league.
The opponent is very strong. In the last match, Roma scored three goals against Inter Milan at the Meazza and almost defeated Inter Milan.
It was also affected by that game that Inter Milan was tied by their opponents in the following rounds and was left far behind by Juventus.
Compared to half a year ago, the current Roma team is even stronger.
As of this round of matches, Roma has won 11 consecutive games in the league.
Only two games away from breaking Inter Milan’s Serie A record of 12 consecutive wins set not long ago!
The current Roma team can be said to be invincible.
Facing Roma again, and playing away, even if all the main players are out, it will probably be difficult to escape unscathed.
If Inter Milan fights too hard on the road, they will definitely suffer in terms of physical strength in the Champions League match two days later.
If we fail to win the league and lose the Champions League, it would be a complete loss!
"The league and the Champions League are only two days apart, which is too close, and both games are tough battles. The players have no time to recover."
"Yes, and this kind of game is often very intense. If a player gets injured during the game, it will probably affect all the subsequent games!"
"So let's give up the league. Roma is too strong right now and we need to stay out of the spotlight!"
"But we are only 4 points behind Juventus. If we give up this game, the gap between us will probably be widened to 7 points. There are only 10 rounds left in the league. It is almost impossible to catch up with this 7-point gap!"
"But the Champions League has always been Mr. Moratti's lifelong pursuit. If we give up the Champions League easily, who knows if he will fire us all in anger!"
The assistant coaches were divided, but almost everyone felt that a trade-off should be made.
No one would be so arrogant as to want both, because it is simply unrealistic!
"How about we go and ask the boss for instructions and see what he thinks?"
Finally everyone looked at Mancini, urging him to ask Moratti directly for instructions.
Mancini refused without even thinking about it. What a joke! Chairman Moratti had a bad impression of me to begin with, and he was even clamoring to fire me a few months ago.
I finally managed to improve my impression of him a little, but now I'm asking this kind of question, isn't that courting death?
"Thanks to the boss's spending, we have a good squad depth. I think we can use our advantages reasonably and focus our strategy on the Champions League, but we can't completely give up the league."
……
On March 3, the 5th round of Serie A kicked off.
AC Milan and Juventus' matches were arranged relatively early, and the two teams defeated their opponents 3:0 and 1:0 respectively.
All the pressure is on Inter Milan!
The outside world obviously also knows the difficulties Inter Milan is facing, so before the game everyone was very curious about what choice Inter Milan would make!
"Inter Milan's starting lineup today is very different from the past!"
"Yes, in many positions, they used rotation players, but there were also several main players on the field, such as Lin Feng, Adriano, Zanetti and others."
"It seems that Inter Milan is still unwilling to give up the league and has ideas about this game!"
In the CCTV studio, the two commentators were both surprised by Inter Milan's lineup today.
Large-scale rotation often means strategic abandonment.
But Mancini sent out five or six main players again, which seemed to indicate that he still had some ideas about the game and had not given up so completely!
There is an old Chinese saying, look ahead and look back.
Both commentators are not optimistic about Inter Milan's prospects in this game, especially since the opponent has been playing like crazy recently. If Inter Milan uses this lineup to face the opponent, they are likely to suffer a terrible defeat!
However, after the start of the game, Inter Milan took the initiative and launched a fierce attack on Roma immediately after the opening.
In the 4th minute of the game, Inter Milan got the first chance. Recoba broke through on the right and cut inside, shooting with his left foot from 30 meters away from the goal.
Roma goalkeeper Doni fell to the ground and missed the ball, but Inter Milan's forward line failed to keep up the pace and there was no one in front of the goal, so they missed this excellent chance to score.
This attack made the fans of the home team feel cold all over and they were all shocked.
As the team that broke the Serie A winning streak record, Inter Milan should not be underestimated!
However, Inter's attack did not last long.
The game quickly entered into Roma's offensive rhythm!
In the 8th minute of the first half, Taddei took the free kick with his right foot from 31 meters away on the left side of the goal and shot directly into the near corner. Toldo bravely rushed to the right to block it.
But one minute later, Roma launched a long pass from the backcourt. Dacot stopped the ball with his back and made a beautiful lob pass with his right foot, sending the ball into the left side of the penalty area.
Mancini took advantage of the situation to unload the ball, turned around and dribbled past Materazzi who was trying to steal the ball. After breaking through to the baseline, he used his right foot to knock the ball back in front of the goal.
The ball passed through Worm's crotch, and Taddei, who was behind, shot the ball into the near corner with his right foot from 5 meters in front of the goal!
Roma leads 1-0!
The goal came very suddenly, catching Inter Milan off guard.
After all, the Inter Milan players on the field are not the main players, and they are not very adaptable to Roma's style of play. It is unrealistic to expect them to stop Roma's attack.
On the sidelines, Mancini was already sweating profusely.
He sent out a lineup of half main players and half substitutes, hoping to rely on the speed advantage of Lin Feng and Ade to score a goal after the start, and then retreat to play a defensive counterattack.
Unexpectedly, he ended up losing more than he gained. Not only did he fail to get the ball, but he also let the other team score an early goal.
It was all over now. His lineup was simply incapable of fighting a positional battle, and when the score was behind, there was no way to talk about defensive counterattacks.
Mancini stood on the sidelines, thinking hard, trying to find a remedy.
On the field, Roma has begun to launch round after round of fierce attacks on Inter Milan's goal!
In the 18th minute, Roma launched a quick counterattack, but Materazzi made up for his mistake by blocking Perrotta's shot from 20 meters in front of the goal.
In the 21st minute, Cambiasso committed a handball foul and Roma quickly took a free kick. Fortunately, Inter Milan's young player Bonucci made a key tackle and disrupted the opponent's attack.
But during this period, Inter Milan's offense has not improved, and they can't even organize an effective attack.
Stankovic was hit in the right thigh by his opponent during a fight, forcing Mancini to use a substitution early.
It’s chaos, it’s all chaos!
He plans to reserve these three precious substitution spots for the three main players on the field!
Mancini did have a little bit of luck in this game, but if things were really irreversible, he would not insist on holding on, but would replace three main players in advance during the halftime break to prepare for the Champions League game two days later.
But now, Stankovic's injury has made him lose a substitution spot, which means that one of the main players on the field must stay and play the whole game!
Roma will not care about Mancini's little tricks.
Taking advantage of Inter Milan's chaos, they launched a more fierce attack.
In the 36th minute, Taddei made a diagonal pass to the far post from the right, and Mancini Jr. stopped the ball 9 meters in front of the goal and volleyed it with the outside of his right foot.
In the 38th minute, Totti broke through the left rib and shot with his left foot from the corner of the penalty area, but the shot went wide of the far post.
In the 40th minute, Cambiasso fouled Taddei, and Zidane's left-footed free kick from 28 meters away from the goal on the right was confiscated by Toldo.
During this period, Roma almost formed a siege on Inter Milan's goal, and the game had turned into a half-time offense and defense drill!
The outstanding performance of the Roma team further stimulated the fans of Roma, who cheered desperately, creating an extremely terrifying wave of sound.
Roma's home stadium can accommodate spectators, making it the largest home stadium among the 20 Serie A teams!
Roma's recent crazy streak of 11 consecutive wins has made their market extremely hot.
This focus battle attracted the attention of countless fans. The 10 seats at the home stadium were all packed. Except for a very small number of visiting team and neutral fans, the vast majority were Roma fans.
The noise created by a hundred thousand people is terrifying to think about.
As a player, I feel my head buzzing.
If you encounter a player with slightly weaker psychological quality, he may not be able to hold on under the opponent's noise attack.
Fans are the 12th man of the team, and this statement is not just talk.
……
At the end of the first half, Zanetti fouled Rossi and received a yellow card, which means he will miss the next home game against Sampdoria.
In addition to Zanetti, Cambiasso and others all received yellow cards.
Under the fierce attack of the opponent, the defensive players are under great pressure. Many times they are forced to use tactical fouls to stop the opponent's attack and have to receive cards.
Fortunately, Inter Milan finally withstood the opponent's offensive and did not allow the opponent to expand the score advantage.
During the half-time break, Mancini was very conflicted.
Although he knew in his heart that there was little hope of winning the game.
But the team is only one goal behind, and if they are lucky, it is possible to get a point away from home.
Although getting one point will still allow Juventus to further widen the gap, it is already very good to get one point at this time.
But the fear is that the main players’ energy will be wasted and in the end, they won’t even get that one point.
So he was very conflicted, not knowing whether to replace people as originally planned!
Mancini finally gritted his teeth and made the decision to make a substitution!
He originally planned to use the last two substitutions and directly replace Adriano and Lin Feng.
But if this happens, all his three substitutions will be used up, and if something unexpected happens on the field, he will have no room for adjustment.
So after much hesitation, Mancini decided to replace Lin Feng.
Adriano has a substitute, so it doesn't matter if he is useless in this game, just let Cruz play in the next game.
But Lin Feng can't do that. If he gets injured, no one can count on him for the next game.
As soon as the half-time break was over, everyone noticed Inter Milan's substitutions.
"Is Mancini planning to give up this game?"
"Even Lin Feng has been replaced. It looks like they are really giving up!"
"Actually, it's better this way. Inter Milan's backcourt is under too much pressure, and Lin Feng can't find any opportunities on the field. He is just wasting his energy. It's better to let him have a good rest on the bench and prepare for the next more important Champions League game!"
In the minds of the two commentators, they had already assumed that Inter Milan would lose the game.
After all, even Lin Feng, the person most likely to help Inter Milan score goals, was replaced. What else can Inter Milan use to break through the opponent's goal?
Not only do they think so, the Roma players on the field and all the Roma fans in the stands seem to have already determined that they will win the game!
"If we win one more game, we can break Inter's record and create a new Serie A record!"
"Woo woo woo, this is not easy, I finally have a day to turn things around!"
"Brothers, if we continue to win like this, do you think we can win the championship this year?"
"Hey, this is impossible, right? We are almost 20 points behind Juventus, and there are only 10 rounds left in the league. How can we catch up?"
"Just because there is no hope this season doesn't mean there is no hope next season. I think Juventus and Inter Milan are nothing but dead bones in a grave. They are nothing but chickens and dogs in front of our great Roma!"
Roma fans have already begun looking forward to winning the league title next season.
However, under Roma's crazy attack, Inter Milan's shaky defense did not collapse. Relying on luck and strength, they tenaciously held the score and prevented Roma from further expanding their advantage.
In the 68th minute, Materazzi tackled Perrotta and was given a yellow card. This was the fourth yellow card Inter Milan received in this game.
This yellow card also caused Materazzi to miss the next round against Sampdoria.
In the 73rd minute, Mex volleyed with his left foot from 20 meters in front of the goal, but the ball hit the defender and changed direction and was caught by Toldo.
Inter Milan fans broke out in a cold sweat as this was the opponent's most threatening attack in the second half.
Although Mexes' shot does not pose much threat, the threat of changing direction after hitting someone is huge.
Fortunately, Toldo performed bravely and saved his team!
In the 79th minute, Roma's attack returned.
Totti took a corner kick from the right side, but Inter goalkeeper Toldo's save failed to kick the ball far away, and in the chaos Roma's De Rossi grabbed the ball.
He headed the ball hard, but the ball was headed out by Bonucci on the goal line!
There were sighs in the stands, and Roma fans were gnashing their teeth in hatred towards Inter Milan's 19-year-old youth player.
Some scouts were impressed by Bonucci's performance. Bonucci played very well in this game and impressed many scouts.
Although they failed to expand their lead, Roma at least maintained the lead in the score.
Even if they don't score a goal and maintain this score until the end of the game, they can still extend their winning streak to 12 games!
Just as Roma was about to extend its team record of winning streak to 12 games, Inter Milan got a valuable corner kick opportunity in the 89th minute.
Although Lin Feng was not on the field, the corner kick tactics he left behind were still showing their power.
Inter Milan took a tactical corner kick, Recoba made a cross with his right foot, Materazzi got in front of Panucci and headed the ball into the lower left corner from 5 meters in front of the goal!
The score became 1 to 1!
Inter Milan equalized the opponent in the final moments, ending Roma's 11-game winning streak!
What level are you? You actually want to share the Serie A winning streak with Inter Milan?
(End of this chapter)
