The strongest winger

Chapter 1064
The Chinese team defeated the local Confederations Cup favorite Brazil in the first round of the group stage, which increased the confidence of many players in the team. They began to look forward to the second round of the group stage against last year's European Cup runner-up Italy.

But at this moment, captain Ai Luo poured cold water on those teammates who were a little bit overconfident.

The day before preparing for the Italian game, he called his teammates to the hotel where the national team stayed for an ideological education class, because he felt that some players were neglected in training during training, and they did not participate in the Brazil World Cup Asian qualifiers.

Of course, Ai Luo did not choose to directly use a sharp method to deal with the changes in the mentality of his teammates. He just expressed his thoughts in a tactful manner, because the teammates present here are all prominent players, and tit for tat is not suitable for the current Chinese team.

Times are changing and so should methods.

Ai Luo's efforts were immediate. Guardiola keenly felt that the players' training attitude was much better than that of the previous two days during the recovery training on the day of the game. Originally, he planned to call the players to attend a psychological class after the game. It seems... now it can be avoided.

In addition, it is worth mentioning that before the second round of the group match between the Chinese team and Italy, Balotelli, who scored a goal for Italy in the first round of the group match against Mexico, spoke amazingly. When he was interviewed by ESPN reporters at the hotel where he was staying on the morning of the game, he entered the reporter normally and set up a trap.

Therefore, he said in a very high-profile way: "What does it mean for the Chinese team to beat Brazil by a big score? If we face Brazil in the first game, we Italy can still beat the opponent! So the team that will win the next group match will still be us! And... I will score a goal, a key goal!"

Balotelli's remarks fully reflect his unique characteristics of brainlessness, but no reporter kindly reminded him, because his arrogant remarks happened to trigger a war of words between the two sides of the game.

Soon, the players of the Chinese team in another hotel heard Balotelli’s remarks. The hot-tempered Zhao Xuri immediately used the media platform to sneer at Balotelli: “Beat us? Want to score a goal? Do you underestimate our Chinese team? By the way…Super Mario, who likes to ‘think about life’ on the football field, is sure it’s not the one who scored the key goal or scored the goal?”

Zhao Xuri’s remarks hit the nail on the head. For Balotelli, it’s really a matter of choice. In early 2013, he transferred from Manchester City to AC Milan and scored a “key goal” in the Milan derby. This key goal was precisely his own goal, which led to his club AC Milan’s 2:3 home defeat to Inter Milan...

As time goes by, social platforms are also evolving. Zhao Xuri's relevant words quickly reached Balotelli's ears, so he immediately satirized Zhao Xuri, thinking that he can do nothing but defend, so he sat on the bench...

No one thought that Zhao Xuri and Balotelli would have a spat fight before the start of the game, which made many people unexpected.

※※※

It is worth mentioning that in the first match of Group A of the Confederations Cup that afternoon, Zhao Xuri and Balotelli both started the match between the Chinese team and Italy.

And from the first minute of the game, Zhao Xuri and Balotelli 'pinched' up.

At that time, Balotelli let go of Zhao Xuri after he got the ball. He used his excellent foot skills to kick the ball between Zhao Xuri's legs. Of course, Zhao Xuri with excellent defensive awareness would not let Balotelli pass easily.

Balotelli never thought that Zhao Xuri would choose to foul, so he didn't evade immediately, so his right ankle was kicked solidly, but fortunately, no injury was caused.

But Balotelli is notorious for not playing cards according to common sense. When he got up, he didn't trouble Zhao Xuri, but deliberately knocked Zhao Xuri down in the next frontcourt counterattack.

So... the two came and went, and finally a conflict broke out in the 7th minute.

Fortunately, the captains of the two teams, Ai Luo and Pirlo, responded in a timely manner and pulled them away from the scene of the incident as soon as possible. Otherwise, the two may have a real fight on the field.

Of course, the two also each received a yellow card.

The two who received the yellow cards realized that the game is the most important thing, especially Zhao Xuri. He was able to replace Huang Bowen's partner Wu Xi in the starting game in this game. It was through his own efforts in training that he impressed Guardiola. If he was sent off because of Balotelli, he would most likely be blacklisted by the head coach Guardiola, which is not worth it...

As the saying goes, ten years is not too late for a gentleman to take revenge.

In addition, the grievances on the football field can be resolved through the score. As long as you help the Chinese team beat Italy to win the game, you can use the palm of the media to slap the brainless Balotelli after the game.

Gradually returning to normal, Zhao Xuri really helped the team make contributions in the next game. He took the initiative to steal the ball from Pirlo to Balotelli in the No. 208 minute, and then passed the ball directly to Wu Xi, who got the ball and launched a counterattack.

Aiello's speed was fully displayed. Facing the old Italian defense, he used his speed to eat Chiellini and De Sciglio raw, and then attracted enough attention to pass the ball to the unguarded Hao Junmin on the other side.

Hao Junmin did not waste Ai Luo's wonderful pass, he brought the ball into the penalty area, faced Buffon's calm push and succeeded, helping the Chinese team open the scoring.

Four minutes later, it was Zhao Xuri again. He caught the ball from Ai Luo in the 4-meter area and made some adjustments.

Although Buffon subconsciously made a save, he had no choice but to declare that Zhao Yi kicked the football at a tricky angle, so he could only declare that he was beyond his reach and the city gate fell.

In this regard, Italy fell behind the Chinese team 2:0.

Balotelli was very upset when he saw Zhao Xuri's sudden outburst and successive outstanding achievements for the Chinese team, so he really wanted to help the Italian team equalize the score, or even overtake the score.

But in many cases, the eagerness is counterproductive. Balotelli's enthusiasm has become a burden for Italy, frequently squandering opportunities, so he was replaced by coach Prandelli at the end of halftime.

In the end, the Chinese team defeated Italy 3:1 and won two consecutive victories in the group. Zhao Xuri was even named the best player on the spot and successfully beat Balotelli in the face.

In another match in the same group that followed, Brazil defeated Mexico 2-0. The Chinese team was able to qualify ahead of the group stage because they won against Brazil and Italy, which scored points in the group.

(End of this chapter)