Mister Legend

Chapter 492 The pressure of the leader
According to statistics afterwards, the live broadcast of this Turin Derby attracted the attention of about 3000 million fans from all over the world, of which China contributed more than half of it.According to the data provided by CCTV Sports Channel, the ratings of this game in China are as high as 6.91%, second only to the 7.17% of the World Cup final in Russia, and it is the second most popular live event on this channel in 2018.

In the two countries of God's Will, among the newspapers with sports pages published in the next two days, the proportion of Turin Derby-related content in important positions is naturally [-]%.In addition to these two countries, other major European football countries and Asian countries such as Japan have also carried out key reports on the match situation of the Red Bulls defeating the Zebra Troupe.The British BBC TV even produced a special program, inviting many former Premier League stars to sit together and carefully analyze the various details of the game.

All this can explain the importance that world football attaches to this Turin Derby.

Among them is the unexpected defeat of Juventus, which has dominated Serie A for many years, but what is more eye-catching is the strong rise of the Turin team this season.

Leading the standings independently, and maintaining the point difference with No.2 Inter Milan at 6 points (after the Nerazzurri won this round, they overtook the defeated Juventus), this gap is the only one in the current five major leagues In terms of points, other leaders such as La Liga and Ligue 5 have obvious leads, but they are only [-] points.

As a result, the outside world praised Li Moody and his team based on the record achieved by the Turin team in nearly half a season, and the momentum they showed when they confronted Juventus, AC Milan, Schalke 04 and other strong opponents. , Not only did the fans of the Red Bulls exult, even the players couldn't help but feel ecstatic, which directly led to a decrease in the training effect in the next few days.

This situation caused a headache for the team's coaching staff, but everyone's professionalism still played a key role in time, and did not let the overly optimistic mentality continue to spread, but it was enough to cause certain damage to the No.18 league round on Friday. influence.

According to the plans previously formulated by Italian football and Serie A, around Christmas this year, the league will also usher in a relatively intensive schedule.In order to attract more fans to the scene to watch the game, the teams that have enjoyed vacations during this period for many years have to bow their heads to commercial development. After all, money is the best earned during holidays.

Therefore, before the winter break, three rounds of the league will be held within nine days of the 22nd, 26th and 30th. Although it seems easier than the usual one-week double match, considering that there is a European competition during the period Saying that Christmas is the most important of the whole year, so it is still not easy to deal with.

However, since the Italian Super Cup was also scheduled for December 12th, and the Turin duo had to fly to Yangcheng in advance for various preparatory activities, their No.30 league round was postponed. And the dates of the previous two games have also been moved up.

On the evening of the 21st, the Red Bulls took the lead in the game. They played away at the Dallara Stadium and challenged Bologna, which is temporarily No. 11 in the standings.As a result, this game, which was considered by the outside world to be without much suspense before the game, was a bit surprising in the final result. If it hadn't been for Andre Gomes scoring a world goal in the 3rd minute of stoppage time in the second half With a long shot, the Serie A leaders almost suffered their second league defeat of the season in the capital of Emilia-Romagna.

Throughout the game, the Bologna team, led by the famous former Italian striker Philip Inzaghi, always occupied the initiative on the field. Although there were also reasons for the tactical style of the Turin team, at least until the last moment. The home team's defense was almost perfect, leaving no opportunity for Belotti and Immobile, who came off the bench later.

At the same time, on the offensive end, "Jiu Ye" also passed on his unique sense of grabbing points to his disciples - the team's striker core Mattia Destro, who played No. 304 in the first half. In the [-]th minute, he used a stealthy outflanking from the back row to deceive the young player Issa Diop who became the focus of media attention five days ago because he restricted Ronaldo five days ago, and broke through Casey's ten-finger barrier , almost helped the team steal a victory, but unfortunately it fell short in the end.

However, being able to score a point on the Torino team, which has risen strongly this season, can already satisfy the club and its supporters.

And the one who is more happy about this result is undoubtedly Juventus, who will appear later.After losing the Derby, although the soldiers of the Bianconeri did not give up their hope of winning the eighth consecutive league championship, they still inevitably suffered a lot in terms of morale.Fortunately, the team is full of world-class stars, and the level of perseverance in character is not comparable to that of ordinary people. In such a difficult situation, they are still able to unswervingly follow the established plan. It can be said to be very scary .

Maybe it’s also God’s help for the self-help. After losing perhaps the most important game in the first half, they ushered in a turning point in less than five days.The unexpected loss of the Turin team allowed Allegri and his disciples to face the next opponent with a very good attitude.

As a result, a 7-0 victory not only helped them narrow the gap with their rivals in the same city to 6 points, but also vented their depression accumulated for many days.It's just that the poor Empoli players almost left the Allianz Stadium crying because they were kicked into the relegation circle because of their goal difference disadvantage.

After the game, Allegri, who has always been regarded as not good at verbal pressure in the eyes of the outside world, even began to try Mourinho's usual "talk tactics".When interviewed by reporters, Uncle Jiong said that he firmly believes that Juventus is still the most powerful team in Italy and even in the entire European football. Although the current situation in the league is not very ideal, everyone always believes that the final Victory must belong to the Bianconeri.

As for the Turin team currently leading the standings, the Juventus coach recognizes their strength, but also believes that this opponent still lacks the real temperament to become a champion.Just like Naples last season, even if they can occupy the top position for a long time, they will always make mistakes at critical moments, and finally fulfill the supreme honor of the Serie A hegemony.

Football is the same as other sports events and even most industries in the world. There is a situation where the leading party is more pressured.If you are a chaser, even though you are behind the leader in front, you will be very focused during the pursuit, because the goal is very clear, that is, to complete the surpass.But once you are in the role of a leader, you will inevitably have the burden of wanting to win and fear of losing in your heart. You will unconsciously care about the current state of other contestants, and you will naturally be distracted on the way forward, making it difficult to perform [-]%. strength.

The current Turin team encountered such a situation.

At the beginning of the season, they fought every opponent with the mentality of challenging Juventus’ Serie A supremacy. The combination of the super lineup and the spirit of united and striving to win helped the team all the way to the top of the league. Sheep position.

And because the rivals in the same city are extremely powerful, they dare not have the slightest carelessness when leading the opponent by 3 or 4 points, and can still maintain a sufficiently focused attitude.

But after defeating the opponent who has always been the most powerful Boss image in their minds in the first round of the derby this season, the Turin players could not help but feel relaxed, and the result was a winner The trap set by the media and Juventus hiding behind it lost two points that were originally planned.

The moment they almost missed Jingzhou at the Dallala Stadium, the players' self-confidence, which seemed to be under control before, suffered a big blow.Then he was hit by a big victory of Juventus and Allegri's "Turin team will collapse" remarks, and the mentality will naturally no longer maintain a good state.

Although they knew that this was a conspiracy and trick by their competitors, it was inevitable that the effect that the opponent wanted to achieve appeared. Except for a few strong-willed people who can maintain normal, most of the Turin players showed In order to feel the state of great pressure, the sky above the club was shrouded in a cloud.

Faced with the second extreme emotion that appeared in a short period of time, Li Mudi almost didn't hold back his confidence. Although his team leadership was excellent, his experience was still not rich enough, and he rarely experienced such ups and downs.

Fortunately, there are guys like Scholes and Puyol in the coaching staff who are well-informed in the player era. With the assistance of these former football superstars, the Turin coach quickly escaped from the trap of Juventus. Jumped out, and then used their brains to find ways to encourage everyone to return to the normal rhythm.

In the end, thanks to the 6-point gap that still exists and everyone's mental attributes above the average level, the team finally reduced the influence from this pressure to a minimum, and there is no sign of collapse as the old lady hoped. .

However, in the afternoon of Christmas Eve, when they played at home against the underdog Spal, who had just escaped the relegation circle, the Serbian goalkeeper Milinkovic Savic, who played in rotation, made a huge, huge, super, super, low-level error. (From the classic quotation of Mr. Zhan Jun, O(∩_∩)O), gave the opponent a goal, and made the team, which was already facing the problem of iron bucket formation, fall into a more passive state.

This is a mistake enough to be selected into the top ten of the year in world football. The visiting team's highest value (the valuation in the "Transfer Market" is only 850 million euros, and it is still on loan from Atlanta) Italian center Petania, In a counterattack that hardly caused any threat, he was forced to a deep area on the right by Turin's defenders, and the only teammate in the center who caught up with the Slovenian international Kultic was still ten meters outside the arc of the penalty area At the same time, there is no way to bring any help to the former.

Seeing that the ball under his feet was about to be cut off under the reinforcement of Dimarco and Muses, the visiting team forward had no choice but to choose to kick a mindless cross. Anyway, he lost the ball, so it might as well He tried his luck with a blindfold, but unexpectedly, the goddess of luck really favored him once.

Because it was a forced kick, the flight trajectory of the ball was particularly weird. Not only did it not fly to the middle of the penalty area as smoothly as normal, but it was more like a hanging goal, and the ball was not very fast. The speed flew above the back point of the goal.

For Savage, who is [-] meters tall, this ball is extremely easy to handle, so he may not have put all his attention on the ball flying towards him, but has already I began to think about how to launch the throwing ball and pass it to Barrera who came back to respond.

As a result, he was distracted for a moment, which made him not completely successful in raising his arms to catch the ball in the air. The timing of closing his hands was a little late, about a few tenths of a second, and then a hilarious tragedy was staged.

Realizing that he had missed the best opportunity to catch the ball, the No. [-] goalkeeper of Turin immediately mobilized the adrenaline that was generated instantly in his body, wanting to make a rescue before he became a laughing stock.But he forgot that the position he was in before was not much away from the back post, and his leaning back caused his right hand, which was trying to hold the ball steady, to hit the inside of the post not far below the crossbar, causing the ball to completely escape from him. After falling, he was touched by the heel of his right foot that subconsciously withdrew to the rear again, and was directly smashed into the net.Although before his wonderful "heel attack", the whole body of the ball has already crossed the goal line.

What a wonderful oolong gift!Even the experienced commentator on Italian national TV laughed and claimed that this was one of the funniest goalkeeper own goals he had ever seen.

What's more interesting is that in the summer transfer window, Spal once hoped to loan out Savage Jr., allowing him to compete with Senegal international Gomis, who was introduced from Turin in the last century, for the position of the main goalkeeper. In the end, it failed due to Li Moody's refusal.But after this own goal, I don't know if the Turin coach will regret his original decision.

However, this ball did not help Spal to win a lucky victory in the end. The huge gap in overall strength between the two sides still became a key factor in determining the outcome of the game.

Before the end of the first half, Musis left the field early due to an injury in the scrambling. The Argentine teenager Santiago Ascacibal, who came on as his substitute, blasted away the visiting team with a long-range shot after a set ball was ejected. The goal gave the Turin fans a reassurance.

At No. 601 minutes in the second half, the two yellows of the visiting team's central defender turned into one red, which completely announced that the balance of the game had begun to tilt seriously.In the end, after Belotti and DiMarco scored 3% in a row, the Red Bulls won the necessary three points with a surprise 1-[-].While Juventus also won, they maintained the point difference between the two sides at the distance of two games, which can be regarded as keeping this psychological bottom line.

(End of this chapter)