Mister Legend

Chapter 493 Ewing's Nemesis and Its Subsequent Impact
Due to the arrangement of the Italian Super Cup, this round of the league between the Turin duo was held in advance. Although it was in the afternoon of Christmas Eve, at least these players could enjoy their holiday life that night and the next day.Unlike other teams who have to play games on the second day of Christmas, they cannot rest peacefully.

However, this is just a different choice of sweet first and then bitter or first bitter and sweet. When the rest of the teams can stay in the Apennine Peninsula to prepare for the last round of the league before the winter break, the two teams from Turin City On the evening of the 26th, I had to set off for the remote Far East. This was a 17-hour long-distance journey, which sounded like a tough one.

Fortunately, on the evening of the 27th local time, when the members of the Turin club who arrived at Baiyun International Airport by chartered plane stepped out of the hatch, they immediately felt the warm welcome of the Chinese fans, which somewhat relieved their fatigue.

In order to hold this Italian Super Cup well, Yangcheng ZF has made some preparations, whether it is reception, catering, or training venues and security, they have given the highest level of care, leaving a very good impression on the two Italian teams. impression.

Compared with the civilianization of the Turin Club, Juventus is full of rich and powerful. The Bianconeri flew to Tianchao on their own special plane, which saved about an hour and a half compared with his rivals in the same city. It is also more flexible.So they arrived in Yangcheng at a later time, which is convenient for the players to overcome jet lag.

During the last weekend of 2018, the entire city of Yangcheng and even southern Guangdong Province became fanatical because of football.

Here already has a profound football culture tradition, and it is the most developed area of ​​Chinese football. In addition, there will be the world's top club Juventus, the quasi-ball champion Ronaldo, and Li Moody, the pride of the country in the world football. Attendance, and catching up with the time is almost New Year's Eve. These have made the attention of this Italian Super Cup reach the highest level in history. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a football carnival.

If you want to elaborate on how popular the two teams are in Yangcheng, you don’t need to mention other aspects. Just look at the fact that each of their training sessions can attract at least 5000 people to buy tickets to watch, and everyone can understand it.

Under such an atmosphere where everyone is a fan, on the evening of December 12, the Yangcheng Olympic Stadium, which can accommodate 30 spectators, was packed, making the temperature of only about 18 degrees Celsius burst into the feeling of midsummer.

And the next very exciting and intense enough game did not live up to everyone's previous expectations, at least it was worth the ticket price.

Although Ronaldo's popularity in Chinese football is unrivaled, Juventus has also gained a large number of Chinese fans by virtue of their accumulated achievements over the years and the influence of Serie A in the Far East. Everything in front of Li Modi could not produce absolute suppression.

This day's Coppa Italia final was one of the few games in which the Turin team won at least half of their supporters when they were not playing at home. Generally speaking, the number of crimson jerseys and Tifos was basically the same as that of black and white. It made the Turin club chairman Urbano Cairo and other senior executives who came to Yangcheng with the team very excited.

It's a pity that Li Mudi has already decided to leave the Red Bulls after the contract expires in the summer, and such a scene may be interesting to reappear in the future.

However, it has been proved afterwards that the loyalty of Chinese fans is still relatively high.Similar to the NBA's Houston Rockets, even though Li Moody no longer coached, the Turin team still relied on the performance of the previous three years to gather a lot of diehard Chinese loyalists, allowing the club to enjoy high support for many years later. It brought a lot of surprises to the red bull.

Of course, these are things for later, let us turn the time back to the 2018 Coppa Italia final scene.

At 30:22 on the evening of the 15th, when Immobile kicked a penalty kick into the goal guarded by Palin with a thunderous violent volley, the entire Yangcheng Olympic Stadium was like a glass of water being poured into a boiling oil pan Like, completely boiling.

The Turin team defeated Juventus, which had entered the final of the tournament for seven consecutive times, 5-4 (1-1) through a penalty shootout, and won the first Italian Super Cup championship in club history.

Although this trophy is a bit tasteless and far less important than the domestic league and the Coppa Italia, it is still an honor worth showing off for the Red Bulls who have not won a national championship for a long time.

More importantly, in the past 20 years, the Turin team, which has always been at an absolute disadvantage in the history of the same city derby, has defeated the old woman who had been bullying him for the second time in a row this season. Yes, this is definitely a great achievement for all their members and supporters.

Moreover, this victory will also give the Turin players who felt a lot of pressure in the Serie A championship battle a strong psychological comfort, so that they will unconsciously have the ability to defeat the opponent when they face Juventus in the future. In Li Modi's opinion, this is the most precious gain from this trip to the Celestial Dynasty.

至于比赛的细节还是有一些值得介绍的。都灵主帅出人意料地推翻了半个月前战胜这个强敌的战术安排，而是在这场决赛中使用了4-3-3和4-5-1来回切换的站位，重点强调要尽可能地掌控球权。

As mentioned many times before, because of the influence of Real Madrid's fast attacking style, coupled with the excellent performances of the French and Belgian national teams that used similar tactics in the World Cup in Russia, Li Moody has been pursuing more in this season. Moving forward firmly on the road of speed and more counterattack points.

However, this does not mean that in all games, the Turin team will hide their defense and focus on counterattacks.When the opponent takes the initiative to set the bus, or when the strength is quite different from his own side, Li Moody will still use a more active attacking method. The more ball-possessing style of play is not good for a team that has introduced two Portuguese internationals. Something too hard to do.

It's just that this strategy was rarely used against strong teams before, so the impression it left on the outside world was not deep, and it was rarely paid attention to.However, this also well concealed the tactical intention of the Turin coach, which caught Allegri by surprise.

Left-winger Boyer and Dickmann, who sprinted up and down the right, helped Torino outnumber them in midfield, giving Baselli and Andre Gomez two central midfielders more depth. reception point.Askaciwal, who got the starting position unexpectedly, has played a top level in the position of defensive midfielder. Although he has little contribution in the offense, at least in terms of interception and steals, he is very similar to today's world football The No. [-] midfielder Kanter is impressive.

This style of play seldom creates too many decent opportunities under the solid defense of Juventus players, but under Li Moody's emphasis on stability, it also makes it difficult for the opponent's defensive counterattack to be played. It was almost a 180-degree reversal from the previous league matchup.

But how can the overlord of Serie A be a team that follows the rhythm of the opponent throughout the game?After the depression in the first half, Uncle Jiong quickly made adjustments after the rematch. After strengthening the midfielder, Juventus began to fight frantically for the possession of the ball. Take the situation into your own hands.

It's just that the defensive ability of the Turin team is not what it used to be. After making sufficient preparations, they have unknowingly established a top-notch defense line in Serie A, leading the entire league with only 14 goals conceded in the half-time league. alliance.Moreover, on the premise of not excessively pursuing counterattack speed, it is still not small for Juventus players to regain possession of the ball after an offensive is resolved.

In this way, the final was under Li Modi's deliberate control, and the rhythm always made the old lady feel very awkward, and it was difficult to show [-]% of her strength.Moreover, in the face of Belotti's infrequent but extremely threatening outflanking, the old Chiellini and Benatia, who has not been in a stable state, have made mistakes twice, although they have not conceded a goal. , but it is also a big hidden danger.Trapped by the downturn of the two central defenders, Juventus did not dare to invest too much force in the frontcourt, resulting in insufficient support for the striker.

However, just as the game was going on according to the Turin coach's script, the superstar's flash of inspiration almost wiped out the former's long-planned strategy.

No.701 minutes, Ronaldo scored a perfect direct free kick in the middle about 27 meters away from the goal. Facing this super attack with obvious elevator ball characteristics and going straight to the theoretical dead end The door, Casillas is really helpless.

However, the Juventus general and his supporters were not happy for too long. Immobile and Bruno Fernandez were replaced immediately after conceding the goal, and the Turin team, which changed the formation back to 3-4-1-2, will soon be replaced. The score was tied. No. In the 705th minute, Benatia made a mistake on the roof, allowing Immobile, who was ambushing behind him, to stop the ball without being marked within three meters of him.After Turin No. 10 attracted Chiellini's supplementary defense, he knocked the ball across to the middle, and Belotti easily pushed and succeeded. This time, it was Palin who raised his hand and surrendered.

After that, both sides got some chances in the offense, but they all passed them by coincidentally, and the game was dragged into three 10-minute overtime.

As a result, the players who had traveled a long distance failed to gain anything in the extra time due to physical reasons. The sixth penalty shootout in the history of the Italian Super Cup final was officially staged.

Lady Luck stood on the side of the Red Bull today, although Baselli, who played second, fired an anti-aircraft gun, which almost wiped out the whole team's efforts.

But in the next two rounds, it was the extremely experienced Casey who stood up and saved the team.He first tried his best to block Pjanic's kick to the right corner, and then used his keen judgment to force Mandzukic to temporarily change his foot shape, causing the ball to fly out of the range of the goal frame. The force brought the Turin team back to heaven from hell in an instant.

Although Sandro and Ronaldo, who played next, scored penalties steadily, keeping the suspense of the game alive, but Immobile, who stood 12 yards in front of the last in the regular round, still did not let The opponent's fantasy came true, and he beat his national team teammate and former Genoa goalkeeper Palin with a powerful volley, leaving the trophy representing victory in the hands of his team.

It is worth mentioning that this is the third time in a row that Juventus have lost a penalty shootout in the final of the Italian Super Cup. They were defeated by Naples and AC Milan in the same way in 2014 and 2016 respectively. , which seems to be a curse of even-numbered years.

The award ceremony after the game was also very grand, comparable to the world's top events.Ren Zhengfei, President of Warwick Group, the main sponsor of the event and also the brand endorsed by Li Moody, took the stage to present gold medals to the champion team in person.The picture of the intimate conversation between Ren and Li spread to every corner of the world along with the broadcast signal. The gorgeous awards stage behind them and the hot atmosphere in the stadium let the outside world see China's super strong rise in the two fields of business and football market. Potential, it can be regarded as playing a role in publicity.

The player of the match was not awarded to Iker Casillas, but Ascarcibar. Although the Argentine midfielder was substituted at the last minute of extra time, he contributed [-] times in the game Stealing also greatly restricted Dybala's performance, and was the main contributor to the Turin team's ability to drag the game into a penalty shootout.

And his excellent performance today and his excellent performance when he replaced the injured Musis before, directly made his status in Li Moody's mind soar, and finally occupied the main position of the team, which led to the closure of the winter transfer window There was a transfer deal that was not originally planned by the Turin team.

On the other hand, Juventus, who lost this game, also had a series of chain reactions because they were stepped on by their rivals in the same city for the second time in a row.In the summer, the old woman almost welcomed back the former main central defender Bonucci, just because she had not been able to negotiate a good deal with AC Milan, and the personal relationship between the Italian iron guard and his former teammates and even the former coach was more difficult. It wasn't too harmonious, so the deal didn't happen in the end.

However, after the start of the season, Juventus had previously been able to dominate the domestic league's biggest barrier-defensive ability, but there have been major problems. The 34-year-old Chiellini has frequent injuries, and Benatia is always doing an infinite cycle between reliable and unreliable. Rugani, who almost left the team in the summer window, has also been absent due to various reasons. Being able to come up with a stable state has made the team's defensive ability take a big step back.

The average of 0.9 goals conceded in the league is their highest value in the last seven seasons, which is one of the biggest reasons why Juventus is currently behind Torino.

So after losing the Italian Super Cup, the Bianconeri immediately reopened the negotiations with AC Milan, and in just four days, they officially announced the signing back and still have the strength to rank among the top ten central defenders in today's world football. Bonucci has laid a good foundation for the outbreak in the second half of the season.

(End of this chapter)