Chapter 204 The last two games, two championship trophies!
The first match to kick off was the first leg of the Italian Cup semi-final.
Unlike other league cup competitions, the Italian Cup final is also a two-legged match.
This competition system was not cancelled until the 07-08 season. The reason for its cancellation was that in a cup competition with a lot of randomness, holding a two-round home and away game would obviously be more advantageous to the strong teams and disadvantageous to the weak teams.
If the game is decided in one game, the weaker team still has the possibility of an upset, but with a two-round system, the chance of randomness is greatly reduced, and it becomes suddenly more difficult for them to win.
This tournament is the only way for the mid- and lower-level teams to hope to win the trophy, so the mid- and lower-level teams strongly oppose this competition system.
What’s even more outrageous is that the top-ranked teams are not grateful and also oppose this competition system.
For the strong teams, their schedules are already full with multiple fronts to fight, and the fact that the cup finals are divided into two games will only increase their burden.
Just like Inter Milan this season, the two-legged final of the Italian Cup happened to be stuck before and after the last two rounds of the league, which undoubtedly added a huge burden to them who were striving for the league championship.
But this year, at least in the current situation, Inter Milan or Mancini himself is still quite grateful for the strange competition system of the Italian Cup.
"The first round is an away game, and we don't have a complete lineup. We can give up strategically. As long as we don't lose too badly, we can accept it!"
The first leg of the final is scheduled for May 5, but the penultimate round of Serie A will be held three days later.
This game is very important to Inter Milan. If they lose again, their initiative to win the championship may be gone.
So to be on the safe side, Mancini hopes to preserve his strength and go all out to win the penultimate round of the league.
As for what to do with the Italian Cup, we will have to sacrifice it for now.
Compared to Inter Milan, Roma is determined to win this game.
“Inter Milan has been in poor form recently. Many of their core players are out due to injuries, and they also have to take into account the last two rounds of the league. They will definitely not be able to fight us with all their strength in the cup, so this game is an opportunity. We must win it. It would be best to end the battle in one round and kill the suspense of the game!”
Since Spalletti took over the team last summer, Roma's record has improved significantly this season.
Not only did the team gain 20 more league points than last season, but it also ranked fifth in the league, and there was even hope of making a run for fourth place.
If they can really make it into the top four, Roma will qualify for the Champions League play-offs. Once they advance, they will be able to play in the Champions League next season.
He achieved such results in his first season as coach and even tailored a strikerless formation for Roma that was very suitable for their lineup. The entire Roma team trusted the new coach very much and obeyed his words.
And last season in the Italian Cup final, Roma finally lost to Inter Milan.
When enemies meet, they are extremely jealous of each other. There is no need for Spalletti to mobilize the team. The entire Roma team has already united against the common enemy.
No doubt about it, just defeat Inter Milan and that’s it!
On May 5, the first leg of the Italian Cup final kicked off.
Roma will host defending champions Inter Milan at home!
In this match, Roma did not hold back at all and sent out all their main players in an effort to defeat their opponent at home.
Compared with them, Inter Milan's lineup is much inferior.
The lineup Mancini sent out was mixed with a large number of substitutes and rotation players, with less than half of them being real main players.
As soon as the game started, Roma launched a fierce attack on Inter Milan amid the cheers of tens of thousands of fans on the scene.
Inter Milan also consciously contracted its formation and launched a defensive counterattack.
No, this can't even be considered a defensive counterattack, this is simply parking the bus!
In fact, Inter Milan is more conservative than imagined.
Among the 11 players on the field in this game, except for a speed forward who was in the front for counterattack, the other players hardly even went out of their own half, and focused on staying at home and defending.
Their offensive method is very simple and crude. After getting the ball, they will make a long pass to the forward. If the forward can get the ball, he will shoot. If he can't get the ball, the others will continue to squat and defend.
It is impossible to let them attack in large numbers!
"Inter Milan is so shameless. As one of the top clubs in Italy, they are imitating the weaker teams to park the bus!"
"This is not parking the bus, this is clearly welding the bus to the door frame, how shameless!"
"Mancini really didn't care about his reputation in order to win!"
Seeing the visiting team play so conservatively, the home team's fans burst into curses.
The more they cursed, the more proud Mancini felt.
If the enemy objects, it proves that I am doing the right thing!
The more fiercely the enemy opposes, the better I am doing!
Spalletti was disgusted. The opponent's style of play was not aimed at winning the game, but was completely meant to disgust him.
Because Inter Milan's defensive players were too dense in the backcourt, Roma's offensive tactics were difficult to work.
Whether it was the two wings flying together to attack from the flanks, or the short passes to penetrate into the empty spaces on the flanks and in front of the penalty area, they were all blocked by the dense human wall.
In the first half, Roma completed a total of 9 shots, but only 1 hit the goal frame.
Inter Milan was even more outrageous, not even having a single shot on goal in the entire first half.
Spalletti realized that this was not going to work, so he decisively adjusted his tactics. In the second half, he began to increase the number of players breaking through the front of Inter Milan's penalty area, trying to actively look for fouls and use set-piece tactics to deal with Inter Milan.
This tactic was quite useful. Inter Milan players played rather roughly to begin with, with quite a few fouls committed in the first half. They did not restrain themselves in the second half, which gave Roma quite a few opportunities for set pieces.
However, Inter Milan put a lot of effort into defending set pieces today. As long as Roma's set pieces are not direct shots at the goal, other ones will be difficult to be effective.
Unfortunately, the Wolf King Totti was in poor form today. He tried to attack the goal directly from free kicks several times, but failed.
Either it was blocked by the human wall or the shot went wide.
His signature free kick that goes through the wall and into the blind corner has never been seen today.
This made many Roma fans start to miss the Brazilian Assuncao who has gone to La Liga. If this guy was still there, even if Totti was in poor form, Roma's set pieces would not be so bad thanks to his excellent free kick skills.
Although the set-piece tactics did not achieve direct results, it indirectly achieved unexpected effects.
In this game, Roma's attack was very fierce, while Inter Milan's defense was a bit rough, resulting in a lot of fouls.
Most of them received verbal warnings from the referee, but for some players who committed fouls again and again, the referee could no longer tolerate it and would show them yellow cards to seriously warn them. Inter Milan already had a lot of players who received cards, and under Roma's tactic of actively looking for fouls, the number of cards they received increased further.
By the 70th minute of the second half, six Inter players had received yellow cards.
Players with yellow cards are afraid of being sent off if they receive another card, so they will be hesitant when defending, and this concern may become a fatal hidden danger at a critical moment.
In the 77th minute of the second half, Totti took advantage of Inter Milan's midfielder's fear of getting a card, forced a breakthrough, and dribbled the ball into the penalty area himself.
Although the penalty area was full of defensive players, he couldn't find a good shooting angle.
But his charge disrupted Inter Milan's defense, and almost everyone's attention was focused on him.
Seeing that he had no chance to shoot, Totti quickly changed his strategy, used himself as a fulcrum, turned around and passed the ball back to De Rossi who was following up. De Rossi made a diagonal pass to the other side, assisting Mancini who cut inside to score.
Inter Milan’s goal, which they defended for most of the game, was finally broken!
The home team fans were overjoyed, as if they had won a great victory.
However, to their surprise, the away fans did not seem frustrated at all, and even praised the performance of Inter Milan's head coach:
"I told you that Mancini is a capable coach, but you didn't believe me. Do you believe me now?"
"I believe it. This rotten lineup can last for 80 minutes. Mancini really has something!"
"Haha, if he can score a goal, I will respectfully call him Master Man!"
"What are you thinking? Our lineup is full of engineers, with only one offensive player. He is neither Lin Feng nor Ade. He doesn't have such strong individual combat capabilities. How can he score a goal?"
A small loss is considered a win. After seeing the team's starting lineup, Inter Milan fans already assumed that the game was lost.
So they certainly won't feel frustrated about the current result. In fact, if the final score is 1:0, they will even be happy.
They were only one goal behind, and they lost away from home. With such a small gap, they will definitely be able to catch up in their home court when Lin Feng recovers from his injury in the next round.
So they are not in a hurry at all, it is Roma who should be anxious!
Spalletti was indeed very anxious. After Mancini Jr. scored, he immediately shouted to the players on the field, asking them to continue attacking and try to use the last bit of time to expand their lead.
However, Mancini did not give him such an opportunity. After realizing that the player in a key position of his team might not be resolute and decisive enough in defense because of the yellow card, he immediately made a substitution.
These substituted players may not be stronger than the previous starters, but they have no cards on them and are in the best physical condition. After they come on, they can run, steal, and dare to commit fouls. The improvement they bring to the team's overall defense is visible to the naked eye.
Seeing that the opponent used all the last substitutions to strengthen the defense, Spalletti almost vomited blood.
Where can you play like this?
Normally, shouldn't the lagging team replace offensive players to fight for their lives?
Why are you doing it the other way around?
Seeing Mancini's calm expression, Spalletti immediately understood the other party's calculations:
This is to plan to put the real decisive battle in the next round!
Thinking of this, Spalletti hated this damn competition system!
If the Italian Cup was also decided by one game like other leagues, then the championship trophy would already be theirs!
Ten minutes later, the referee blew the whistle to end the game.
Although Roma tried their best, they still failed to expand the score.
The score remained 1:0 until the end of the game!
Although they won the game, no one in Roma was happy.
Especially the players who had worked hard for the entire game, they were all disgusted!
When they thought about having to play another similar match with their opponents in a few days, they suddenly felt a resistance in their hearts.
Three days later, the 37th round of Serie A kicked off.
Since this game is likely to decide the Serie A champion of this season, the league officials sent someone to the Meazza Stadium with the championship trophy.
If Inter Milan wins and Juventus fails to defeat their opponent, Inter Milan will lock in the Serie A championship this season, and they will also present awards to the new champion here.
As a result, the game attracted a large number of fans and media reporters to watch and report.
The Meazza, which can accommodate more than 80,000 people, was once again packed, and a huge TIFO appeared on the north stand again.
The captain of Inter Milan on the TIFO defeated his opponent, stepped on the pirate with the Juventus logo, and snatched the golden treasure, which was the Serie A championship trophy.
On the floor next to Inter Milan's captain was AC Milan's body!
……
Inter Milan's opponent in this round is again a relegation team, but Inter Milan, who had preserved their strength in the cup competition, played much more smoothly than last time when facing the relegation team again.
In the first half, Cruz and Figo helped the team take the lead early, and in the second half, Recoba scored again to help the team secure the victory.
At this time, the stands of the Meazza had turned into a sea of joy, with fans waving Inter Milan's team flags and posters of their respective players to express their love for the team and players.
This was Inter Milan's last league game at Meazza this season, but the only drawback was that Juventus on the other side also won.
When Inter Milan was leading by two goals, Juventus was also leading Palermo by two goals at home.
But when Inter Milan scored the third goal in the second half, Palermo fought back and scored a goal.
This gave the Inter Milan fans present a glimmer of hope, but Juventus withstood the pressure and maintained the score of 2:1 until the end of the game.
This made the more than 80,000 Inter Milan fans who came to the scene feel a little regretful that they were unable to win the trophy at home, which meant that their coronation could only wait until the last round away game.
Although many people felt sorry for not seeing the team crowned at home, they still have a chance to win the trophy at home.
That is the second round of the Italian Cup final in four days!
As long as they can beat Roma by more than two goals at home, they will be able to successfully defend the Italian Cup title.
If it were Inter Milan a week ago, even at home, they would probably have little hope of winning against Roma by more than two goals.
But in this game, Inter Milan's core player Lin Feng came on as a substitute in the 77th minute of the second half and provided an assist to Recoba who also came on as a substitute. His performance gave many fans peace of mind!
Inter Milan has only two games left this season, and these two games will determine who will win the two championship trophies.
With Lin Feng's comeback, their chances of winning the double championship have increased!
(End of this chapter)
