Chapter 203: Inter Milan cannot live without Lin Feng, just like the West cannot lose Jerusalem
As the saying goes, good fortune never comes alone, and misfortune never comes alone. For Milan fans, these two days are definitely the darkest moments.
In just 24 hours, Milan fans received two pieces of bad news.
On April 4, Inter Milan lost to Arsenal at home and was unfortunately eliminated.
On April 4, AC Milan drew with Barcelona at Camp Nou and was eliminated with a total score of 27:0.
At this point, the two Milan giants were eliminated in the semi-finals and missed the final.
If Inter Milan's elimination was still expected, then AC Milan's elimination seemed a bit hard to accept for their fans.
AC Milan is much stronger than Inter Milan next door in terms of lineup, strength and Champions League experience.
In addition, they had already reached the Champions League final last season, so their goal from the beginning of this season was to win the championship.
They are also one of the favorites to win the Champions League this season. Before their match with Barcelona, the outside world was even more optimistic about their advancement.
However, the final result was full of regrets, as AC Milan failed to achieve its goal.
All this can be attributed to the home defeat in the first round.
The main culprit for their home defeat was the Milan derby, which was a lose-lose situation for the two Milan giants.
Looking back at the game from a hindsight perspective, the most sensible thing for both sides to do was to give up the derby at the same time, each sending out a substitute lineup to preserve their strength as much as possible and avoid injuries.
But because this is the Milan derby, this cannot happen.
Even though both sides knew that doing so would be costly, they still had no choice.
This season AC Milan put most of its energy into the Champions League, but in the end it got nothing.
After being eliminated from the Champions League, Milan failed to win any titles in the league, cup and Champions League.
In this respect, they are not even as good as Inter Milan next door.
Although Inter Milan was eliminated from the Champions League, the league title is almost within their grasp, and the cup title is also within reach.
If they are lucky, they have a good chance of winning the double championship.
……
"Don't worry, I'm fine. It's just a loss. It's not like I haven't lost before. At worst, I can start over again next year!"
After being eliminated from the Champions League, many friends called him, expressing their concern for Lin Feng's injury and comforting him about Inter Milan's elimination in the Champions League semi-finals.
This made Lin Feng speechless. Am I that fragile?
Each and every one of them makes me seem like a weakling who can't even handle a small blow?
Although he was indeed a little depressed in the first few hours after the game.
No one likes to fail, and losing certainly doesn’t feel good.
But in competitive sports, there are winners and losers, and victory and defeat are common in the military.
With Inter Milan's current lineup, it's already a miracle for them to reach the semi-finals. Do they still expect to reach the final and win the championship?
After thinking this through, Lin Feng calmed down a lot.
Faced with calls from friends who expressed concern, he acted quite open-minded, as if he didn't take the matter to heart at all.
"Haha, you're right to think so. After all, our national team is not as strong as the club. We lose more than we win in international competitions. If you care too much about winning or losing, you'll be devastated!"
On the other end of the phone, Shao Jiayi felt relieved when he heard Lin Feng say this.
At the club side, you can spend money in the transfer market to buy good players and enhance the team's configuration, but at the national team side, you don't have this treatment.
Not to mention the Chinese national team, even for the world's top teams, such as the Brazilian team, is there no problem with their personnel configuration?
Brazil's frontcourt is first-rate and luxurious, but the strength of the midfield and backcourt is not as terrifying as the frontcourt.
Another example is the Spanish team a few years later. The midfield position was incredibly luxurious. The Spanish midfielders who could not make the roster could become the core in other national teams.
But it is really hard to describe Spain's forward line. With such a luxurious midfield configuration, the number of goals scored is pitifully small, and it seems that every game is extremely difficult to win.
Compared with these football powerhouses, the Chinese national team has obviously bigger problems.
Because there are fewer registered players in China, and even fewer outstanding players among them.
The national team has a limited selection pool, and each position is basically the result of selecting the best of the best, but it still cannot be compared with other strong teams.
It’s not so difficult to compete within Asia, after all, everyone is a bad chess player.
But once entering an international competition like the World Cup and facing top-ranked strong teams, the Chinese national football team's record naturally becomes a mess.
The reason why Shao Jiayi said this was mainly because he wanted to give Lin Feng a shot of prevention in advance.
The World Cup is about to begin. Although the Chinese team did not enter the finals of the World Cup, they have scheduled several friendly matches before the World Cup.
The opponents in these friendly matches are all very strong, including the last World Cup champion Brazil and the previous World Cup champion France.
With the lineup and strength of the Chinese national football team, the hope of winning against these two teams is very slim. Losing is a high probability event. If they are unlucky, they may even be beaten by the opponent with an exaggerated score.
The veteran players in the national football team have experienced this kind of thing to a greater or lesser extent, but for young players like Lin Feng who have just joined the national football team not long ago, it is an unprecedented experience.
Especially Lin Feng, he has been playing smoothly in the club and has always lost less and won more.
Even after joining the national team, his performance in the national team was very impressive, including highlights such as defeating Germany 3:1 away from home.
But this can only be considered an accident. If the Chinese team really plays against the German team again, the Chinese national team will most likely lose.
Therefore, he must be mentally prepared in advance, so that he will not be under too much psychological pressure when the Chinese national football team suffers a series of defeats.
After learning about Shao Jiayi's worries, Lin Feng was speechless.
As a reborn person, doesn’t he know what kind of character the Chinese national football team has?
Not to mention losing to top teams like France and Brazil, he has even experienced a crushing defeat to Thailand at home and a loss to Vietnam on New Year's Day, which caused frustration for the people of the whole country. His heart has long been tempered and he can no longer cause any waves.
The reason why he gave up the opportunity to join the German team, a football powerhouse, and joined the weak Chinese national team without hesitation.
It’s not because I like being abused, but because I love this country and want to contribute a little to its football career.
……
With only four days left until the Champions League semi-finals, a new round of Serie A begins again.
In this round of the game, Inter Milan will travel to challenge Empoli, the third-to-last opponent in the league.
The opponent is currently ranked 14th in the league and is theoretically at risk of relegation, so they played quite actively in this game and showed the momentum of a relegation team.
Inter Milan had just suffered a defeat in the Champions League and lost its key player Lin Feng. The team's lineup was even more incomplete and morale was slightly low. They played terribly in the first half, with frequent problems not only on the offensive end but also very poor performance on the defensive end.
In the 39th minute of the first half, the home team took advantage of a set-piece opportunity to score a goal, making Inter Milan's situation even more difficult.
Mancini sat on the bench anxiously, frowning. What a mess!
He doesn't even know what the players are doing on the field!
"Alas, without Lin Feng on the field, it always feels like the team is missing its soul. The players are playing very uncomfortably. After getting the ball, they always subconsciously look for Lin Feng, as if they have lost their own opinions!"
The team was behind and its tactical play was a mess, which made the Inter fans watching the game worried.
"Are we going to lose this game?"
"It's very likely. By the way, what's the score over at Juventus next door?"
"0:2, Juventus have scored two goals, one by Nedved and one by Ibrahimovic"
"It's not good. If we lose this game and Juventus wins, our lead will only be 1 point!"
"There are only two rounds left in the league, and a 1-point lead is too thrilling. Moreover, we don't know the severity of Lin Feng's injury and how long he will be able to play. If he is absent all the time, Inter Milan may not be able to win the last two games!"
Inter Milan fans, who were already in a bad mood, felt even worse when they heard that Juventus was leading by 2 goals away from home.
Juventus had drawn five games in a row before, but this time it was like the sun rising from the west, and they were going to win?
Less than 5 minutes into the second half, bad news came from next door. Juventus scored again. The goal was scored by Zebra Prince Piero who came on as a substitute.
Now, the game against Juventus has completely lost its suspense. They have got 3 points, and now it depends on whether Inter Milan can turn the tide.
During the half-time break, Inter Milan players already knew the score of the other game.
This put more pressure on them. The players wanted to equalize the score quickly, so they played more anxiously.
But sometimes, the more anxious you are, the harder it is to score, and you may even be ambushed by the opponent because your formation is too forward.
In the 65th minute of the second half, the opponent intercepted the ball in the backcourt and made a long pass to find their winger. Fortunately, the opponent's one-on-one shot was blocked by Cesar, otherwise the score would have been rewritten to 2:0.
As time passed by, the end of the game was getting closer and closer.
All the fans who were watching this game became nervous!
Empoli fans were afraid that something unexpected would happen at the last minute and the three points would be lost.
Inter Milan fans hope that someone can step up to save the team. At this time, let alone three points, even one point would be acceptable.
Juventus fans, who were also paying attention to the game, were cheering for the home team desperately, hoping that they could beat Inter Milan and let Juventus see hope of winning the championship again.
This game, which was not a focus, actually attracted the attention of countless fans at this moment.
The 90 minutes of regular time ended quickly and the referee gave 5 minutes of injury time.
In the 3rd minute of injury time, Inter Milan got a corner kick opportunity.
At this time, Inter Milan had completely given it their all, and even the goalkeeper rushed into the opponent's penalty area, ready to compete for the header.
Figo was breathing heavily, standing in the corner area. After taking a look at the positions of the players from both sides in the penalty area, he thought of the tactics that Lin Feng had practiced with them during team training, and he made a tactical gesture.
Seeing this, the Inter Milan players in the penalty area quickly took action.
Some people pulled, some people made detours, some people went around from behind, and some people advanced.
The moment Figo kicked off, Inter Milan's formation exploded like flowers scattered from the sky.
Empoli's players were disturbed by the opponent's messy movement, and many players lost their targets.
Lying in ambush at the front point, the Inter Milan goalkeeper Cesar jumped hard and grabbed the first point.
But he did not attack the goal directly. Instead, he passed the ball to the back post and assisted Recoba who made a forward run to head the ball into the goal.
The score was changed and Inter Milan equalized the score with great difficulty in the final moments of the game.
The home team's fans were extremely disappointed. If they had held on for just over a minute longer, they would have gotten 1 points.
Juventus fans were also very disappointed. After Inter Milan got this point, their lead over them was still 2 points.
Compared with 1 point, 2 points has a significantly higher tolerance rate.
In the next two games, Inter Milan can secure the championship with one win and one draw.
Even if Juventus wins both games, it will be difficult for them to snatch the championship from Inter Milan because their goal difference disadvantage is too big, unless they can score 13 goals in the last two rounds, but is this possible?
Rather than hoping to tie the opponent by goal difference, it is better to bet that the opponent will be in a slump and continue to lose the game!
Probably the only one who is satisfied with this result is Inter Milan themselves!
Although their goal before the game was three points, they only took away 1 point in the end.
But it was already very difficult to be lucky enough to take away one point after being behind for almost the entire game.
Although their lead has shrunk, the initiative to win the championship is still in their hands.
As long as they don’t make any mistakes in the next two rounds, no one can take the championship away from them!
But now there is a problem facing the team, that is, the Italian Cup final is about to begin.
The time of the final is very close to the penultimate round of the league. With the team full of injuries, how to choose between these two games has become the biggest problem facing Mancini.
"How serious is Lin Feng's injury? How long will it take for him to recover?"
Faced with the current dilemma, the first person Mancini thought of was Lin Feng.
Just like Manchester City without Rodri, Inter Milan was also greatly affected without Lin Feng.
The process and result of today's game fully proved Lin Feng's value to the team.
It may not be noticeable when he is on the field on weekdays, but without him, the team's tactical system is like an old, rusty machine and it is no longer possible to run smoothly.
If he cannot return from injury before the start of these two games, Inter Milan's situation will probably be very difficult.
"His injury is not too serious. He should be able to recover after a week of rest, but to be on the safe side, it is best to rest for a while. After all, the ankle is too important for a player!"
The team doctor didn't dare to guarantee Mancini. After all, for the sake of the players' health, it is better to be conservative about such things.
Mancini only heard the first part of the team doctor's words and automatically ignored the rest of the words he didn't want to hear.
Hearing that Lin Feng would recover in a week, Mancini began to count the time on his fingers.
意大利杯决赛的时间是5月4日，联赛第37轮是5月7日。
If we calculate based on one week's time, Lin Feng can barely make it to the final on May 5th. According to the team doctor, forcing him to play is very risky.
But if we wait another three days, until the penultimate round of the league, and let him play, the risk might be much smaller. Even if he can't start, it should be fine for him to come on as a substitute, right?
Thinking of this, Mancini immediately made a decision in his heart!
(End of this chapter)
