Chapter 187: Chinese Derby? Champions League Semi-Final Draw
Although the game was won, the process was so thrilling that many Inter Milan fans felt like they had survived a disaster after the game.
"It turns out that we shouldn't be too happy too soon. The more optimistic we are, the more likely it is that something bad will happen!"
"Yes, although the opponent is known as the weakest among the top eight, how can they be a weak team if they can make it to the quarterfinals of the Champions League? There will be a price to pay for underestimating the opponent!"
Before the game, Inter Milan fans were generally optimistic about the team's advancement, but after experiencing such an ups and downs game, they no longer dared to do so.
"Haha, we have become the weakest team among the top four. No matter which opponent we face next time, it will be difficult for us to play!"
"Yes, Arsenal, Barcelona, AC Milan, these three teams have a high probability of advancing to the semi-finals. To be honest, AC Milan next door is probably a little easier to play against, after all, everyone knows each other well, and it saves the trouble of traveling back and forth on the road, so all energy can be focused on the game."
Having said that, Inter Milan's record against AC Milan in the Champions League is somewhat dismal, having lost to their city rivals in the previous two seasons.
AC Milan is a bit weird. In the league, it seems that AC Milan can still compete with them, but in the Champions League, they are no match at all. It seems that the opponent has been sublimated as soon as they entered the Champions League!
"Why think so much? Just play for whichever team you're drawn to!"
Some fans are just throwing in the towel, thinking that among the top four, Chinese Milan is the weakest and has the least hope of advancing to the final. In this case, the result will be the same no matter who they are drawn.
Inter Milan's coaching staff also thought so. After the away game, Mancini praised the players in a very restrained manner and did not throw out any Champions League goals or the like.
Inter Milan is not yet ready to compete for the Champions League, and does not have the strength to do so for the time being.
Their lineup and tactics still need to be fine-tuned. After a few years of fine-tuning, when their combat effectiveness is further enhanced and they have demonstrated dominance in the league, they can consider the more advanced goal of the Champions League.
Now, let’s think more about how to win the team’s first league championship in 17 years!
……
If Inter Milan recognized its own strength, abandoned unrealistic fantasies, and made the league championship its first goal, then Juventus passively gave up the dream of pursuing the Champions League.
In the second leg of the quarter-finals, Juventus, playing at home, was defeated cleanly by Arsenal 2:0, and this time Juventus received a red card again. After two games, they had three players sent off.
It is said that the Premier League's style of play is wild and there are many fouls, but after two rounds of competition, Juventus was far ahead in the number of fouls and cards, while Arsenal from the Premier League played in a more civilized, more gorgeous and beautiful way.
This made Juventus fans break down. Not only did they lose the game, but they also lost face. No one could hold back!
After being eliminated by Arsenal, Juventus only has one goal left to pursue this season - the Serie A championship!
It's just that the Old Lady is now affected by the phone-gate incident, and with the disastrous defeat and elimination from the Champions League, the morale within the team is shaky. Whether they can adjust their form in the shortest possible time, hold on to the points, and prevent Inter Milan from widening the gap is a big question.
In the other two Champions League matches, AC Milan eliminated the French Ligue 3 champions 1:2 at home, and Barcelona also defeated Benfica 0: at home, both of which successfully got tickets to the semi-finals.
At this point, the list of the top four teams in the 05-06 Champions League has been released. They are the two Milan clubs from Serie A, Arsenal from the Premier League and Barcelona from La Liga.
Among these four teams, AC Milan and Barcelona, where the Ballon d'Or winner is, have the highest chances of winning the championship.
Arsenal, which reached the Champions League semi-finals for the first time in history, was actually not that popular.
As for Inter Milan, after watching their game with Villarreal, almost no one is optimistic about them anymore.
It’s so difficult to beat an ordinary La Liga team. If they really meet these top giants, they don’t know how Inter Milan will win?
After the list of the top four teams in the Champions League was announced, Serie A fans were very happy, and Chinese fans thousands of miles away were also very happy.
The reason why Serie A fans are happy is that Serie A teams occupy two of the top four seats in the Champions League, far exceeding the other five major leagues.
This further proves that Serie A is the real first league!
“There are always people who say that Serie A is declining, no longer as prosperous as it was in the days of the Little World Cup, and is not worthy of the title of the best league.
However, the performance of Serie A teams in European competitions in the past few seasons has repeatedly slapped those who hold this view in the face.
Facts have proved that even if some stars leave Serie A and even if Serie A is not as influential as it used to be, it is still the undisputed number one among the five major leagues! "
The decline of Serie A is obvious to all. In the past, Serie A was known as the Little World Cup. At that time, Serie A really had countless stars, and each of them was very powerful.
Compared to that time, there are fewer big clubs in Serie A now, the intensity of the league has decreased, and the number of star players and international influence have also decreased significantly.
In particular, Real Madrid's practice of creating a galaxy battleship and recruiting top superstars from all over the world has directly poached many big-name stars from Serie A.
But even so, a lean camel is still bigger than a horse, and Serie A is still the number one among the top five leagues!
As for Chinese fans, they don’t care who is the No. 1 league, as long as it’s not the Chinese Super League’s turn.
There is only one thing that makes Chinese fans happy, that is, two Chinese players have reached the semi-finals of the Champions League this year!
And these two people also have the opportunity to have a Chinese derby in the Champions League!
"I want to watch it, I love to watch it, UEFA, have you seen it? Make arrangements quickly and draw Barcelona and Inter Milan together!"
“Hahaha, although I also want to see the Chinese derby in the Champions League semi-finals, if Inter Milan and Barcelona are really drawn together, wouldn’t it be a bit too cruel for Inter Milan and Lin Feng? It seems that their chances of winning against Barcelona are slim!”
"It may be an exaggeration to say that the odds are 90-10, but it is definitely not an exaggeration. This Inter Milan team is much worse than Barcelona!"
"If Adriano can get back to his peak form, I think Inter's winning rate can be raised a little bit, 73% or even 64% is possible, but considering Adriano's current form, 82% is quite reasonable in my opinion!"
"Yeah, if Inter Milan didn't have Lin Feng in the team, it would really be a 91-1 game!"
The mentality of domestic fans is quite conflicted. Everyone wants to see the Chinese derby in the Champions League semi-finals, but they don’t want to see Lin Feng’s team being eliminated.
Although both teams have Chinese players, no matter who wins, Chinese players and even Asian players will appear in the Champions League final for the first time!
This is enough to make history!
But compared to Feng Xiaoting, whose playing time is unstable, fans have watched more games of Lin Feng and have deeper feelings for him.
Because of their preference for Lin Feng, everyone hopes that he can go further.
But Chinese fans will soon no longer have to worry about this.
A day later, the results of the Champions League draw were announced.
Inter Milan neither drew their city rivals AC Milan nor Barcelona where Feng Xiaoting is.
Their opponent is the Premier League giants - Arsenal!
There was a small incident during the draw ceremony. When the draw guest drew AC Milan and Barcelona together, the club managers of both teams were livid and had serious expressions.
Judging from the pre-match support and the championship odds given by bookmakers, these two teams are the teams with the highest support and the highest odds.
They were supposed to meet in the finals, but unexpectedly they met in the semifinals.
This also means that this match is destined to be an extremely fierce battle between dragons and tigers!
As for the other side, neither Arsenal nor Inter Milan were favored by the public. Their encounter was a perfect match, right? "Well, it seems that the draw results for both teams are not bad? Even for Inter Milan, where Lin Feng is, this seems to be the best draw, right?"
"The best draw would be AC Milan, as they can play right at home without having to go anywhere else. The two teams know each other well, so Inter Milan has a good chance of winning."
"Yes, Arsenal is actually more difficult to play against than AC Milan, as we can see from the game where they eliminated Juventus!"
"But no matter what, even if we can avoid Barcelona, we can't play against Barcelona. Barcelona's midfield is too strong!"
"Yes, Ronaldinho, Xavi, Deco, especially Ronaldinho, don't know how to limit him, as if any defense is useless in front of him!"
"Yes, Ronaldinho has been so strong in the past few seasons, so this draw is actually quite good. If we are lucky, maybe Lin Feng and Feng Xiaoting will meet in the final and stage a Chinese derby in the Champions League final. Isn't this more exciting than the semi-finals?"
"But it is also possible that both teams will be eliminated and neither of them will make it to the final..."
……
The draw ceremony had little impact on Inter Milan. Although they knew that their opponent in the semi-final was Arsenal, Mancini did not waste too much time on Arsenal except for sending assistants to the Premier League to collect intelligence on Arsenal.
On the other hand, the upcoming 33rd round of Serie A is much more important than the Champions League semi-final ten days later!
“I know everyone is tired, but the next two games are very important for us and we cannot afford to lose.
If we win this league game, we will be able to widen the points gap with Juventus and firmly secure the top spot.
If we win the other cup match, we will be able to successfully advance to the Italian Cup final, which will bring us one step closer to defending our title in the cup competition!"
In the locker room before the game, Mancini was working hard to mobilize the team before the game.
But judging from the results, it doesn’t seem to be very good?
Inter Milan's players looked very tired. They had just returned from Spain and had not had enough rest yet, but they had to go into the away game for the next game.
The intensive schedule is a bit too much for the players, especially after going through most of the season, the players are already at the end of their strength.
Since entering April, the five major leagues have entered the final stages, and the cup competitions have also reached their final moments.
For a team that specializes in one of the competitions, it is not easy to cope with the fatigue accumulated over half a season, not to mention a team like Inter Milan that needs to fight on three fronts.
How busy is Inter Milan in April?
They have as many as 9 games to play throughout April!
仅仅在上半个月，从4月2号到4月14号，短短12天内，国米就有足足有5场比赛。
There is almost a game every two days, and the schedule is so tight that it would make anyone's scalp tingle.
Such a busy schedule leaves almost no rest time for Inter Milan's players.
In this situation, it is obviously not enough to just pump up your enthusiasm, and giving speeches is even more useless.
Mancini can only try his best to use rotation tactics to let the players rest as much as possible.
But at the end of every season, the team's accumulated injuries will be very serious, especially in such a dense schedule and multi-line battle, the team may be full of injuries if they are not careful.
In fact, Inter Milan is showing this trend now.
Central defender Samuel, full-back Burdisso, and main defensive midfielder Cambiasso have all been injured recently.
In addition, there are players such as Ze Maria, Favalli, Andreoli and others who were injured before.
Inter Milan’s injured squad makes up almost half of the team!
The more injuries there are, the more difficult it is to rotate the team.
As a last resort, Mancini could only promote young people from the youth team to fill the gaps.
Due to the large number of injuries in the defense line, even the bench was almost full, Mancini promoted a large number of young defenders at once.
Even a newcomer like Zhang Linpeng, who had just joined the team, was promoted to the first team by Mancini to experience the atmosphere of the game.
Zhang Linpeng will only turn 17 next month. He certainly cannot play for Inter Milan now. Firstly, it is not his turn, and secondly, he is too young and lacks strength to be of great use.
But Mancini is willing to bring him to the scene to feel the atmosphere of the game, which in itself is sending a signal to the outside world:
Inter Milan’s head coach is optimistic about this Chinese kid!
Zhang Linpeng himself knew that he had almost no chance to play, but being able to sit on the bench with big brother Lin Feng made him so happy that he couldn't stop smiling!
When seeing two Asian players sitting on Inter Milan's bench, many Chinese fans who did not know Zhang Linpeng were a little confused.
"Who is this person? Why is he chatting and laughing with Lin Feng? Could he be Chinese?"
"Brother, you haven't paid attention to Inter Milan's youth team, right? This little guy is called Zhang Linpeng. He came from the Genbao Football Base and joined Inter Milan in November last year. He is currently playing for Inter Milan's youth team. It is said that he is very favored by Inter Milan's coach!"
"Awesome, is it that amazing? I didn't expect that the number of Chinese football players studying abroad has expanded to the youth team stage under the age of 18!"
"Yes, I heard that there is also a kid named Wang Chu in Ligue 15. He is younger than Zhang Linpeng and is only years old this year. He is also doing well in Metz. I heard that he has a good chance of being selected for the next national youth team!"
"Great, great! It's great. It is said that a strong youth means a strong country. There are so many young talents in this batch. The future of Chinese football will definitely be brighter!"
Other fans echoed and expressed their approval of this point of view.
Last year, the trend of the national youth team studying abroad really activated the enthusiasm of domestic players to study abroad, and led a large number of national team players to go abroad and venture into overseas leagues.
And it's not just the adult players who are inspired, even some underage players are affected and start going abroad.
However, what most fans don’t know is that in the original real time and space, the collapse of youth training caused by the Hongshankou Conference affected Chinese football for more than ten years.
That was also the beginning of Chinese football's journey into darkness!
PS: I was so happy about our victory yesterday. If I want to update more, I will do so tomorrow, the weekend. I really don’t have time today.
This plot only exists in novels, but I never expected that it would actually happen to the Chinese national football team one day!
The last few minutes of yesterday were so exciting, a double reversal!
To be honest, the Chinese national football team really tried their best in this game, and it was not easy to win!
In fact, the old fans who have been following the Chinese national football team should know very well that from 93 to 05, the quality of China's youth training took a sharp turn for the worse, and almost no eye-catching players were produced.
Affected by this, the current national team is the weakest national team in the history of Chinese football, without a doubt.
But this team relied on its tenacious fighting spirit and selfless defense to win two games. There is really nothing to criticize.
Although this group of players do not have good footwork, they cannot hold the ball and cannot pass the ball well.
But their fighting spirit on the field is really beyond reproach. Well done, Chinese team!
(End of this chapter)
