I Want to Be the King of Football

A tough away win over Besiktas has cheered the whole of Lisbon.

After returning to Portugal, Sporting Lisbon went non-stop to challenge Morelense away.

This newly-promoted team has performed very well this season, and relegation is not a problem.

Boloni rotated the team's lineup. In the opening eleven minutes, Sporting Lisbon took the lead in scoring, and Rui Bento opened the scoring for Sporting Lisbon.

But in the 30th minute, Tonito was sent off with a direct red card because of his anger and a malicious foul.

Sporting Lisbon, who were one player short, struggled on the scene, while Morelense attacked from the start of the second half and equalised in the 51st minute.

In the 65th minute, Boloni finally made a substitution and replaced Nikulei, who was mediocre in the audience, with Su Dong.

No one remembers, this is the first such substitution.

After coming off the bench, Su Dong was active, and in the 73rd minute, he received a pass from Joao Pinto to break the goal of Morelense and once again exceeded the score for Sporting Lisbon.

Subsequently, the score also maintained until the end of the game.

Two to one, Sporting Lisbon narrowly beat Morelense away.

...

In the same round, Porto defeated Beiramar 3-0 at home and continued to maintain a four-point lead.

Everyone is also clearly aware that it is difficult for Sporting Lisbon with a thin lineup to maintain a two-line battle, especially when there is a Portuguese Cup next.

Sure enough, in the knockout round of the Portuguese Cup in midweek, Sporting Lisbon played away to Navarre.

Boloni played in a half-main and half-substance lineup, but he hid the continuous fighting Su Dong, and continued to trust Nikulei.

As a result, in the away game, Sporting Lisbon was unable to attack for a long time, but in the 85th minute, the opponent scored a goal.

In the end, they lost 0-1 away and were unfortunately eliminated from the Portuguese Cup.

After the game, the media was not surprised that Sporting Lisbon was eliminated from the Portuguese Cup by a lower league team.

The Morning Post believes that with Sporting Lisbon’s lineup configuration and forcibly insisting on the three fronts, the final result may be that it is difficult to support all three fronts. Even in the Portuguese Super League, Porto’s performance can be described as quite stable.

Mourinho's team is horribly stable, it's like they never make mistakes!

The Morning Post said Sporting Lisbon should make choices on the main battlefield, such as focusing on the UEFA Cup.

But sometimes things are so weird.

When more and more people suggested that Sporting Lisbon should consider focusing on the UEFA Cup, in the UEFA Cup quarter-finals, the Green Lions actually drew the strongest of the eight teams, Lazio from Serie A.

This suddenly made the whole of Portugal mourned.

News Daily even stated that Sporting Lisbon was the worst luck among the three teams in the Portuguese Super League.

In the knockout rounds, they encountered teams from Greece and Turkey in succession. Every away game was going back and forth, not to mention thousands of kilometers. After entering the quarter-finals, they even got the strongest Lazio.

This luck is indeed no one!

On the other hand, Boavista has drawn La Liga's Malaga, which is currently ranked 14th in the La Liga standings.

Porto's luck is as good as ever. Although they have drawn Greece's Panathinaikos, they are at home in the first round.

As we all know, the best schedule for the knockout stage is the first guest, but this is relatively speaking.

For a powerful team like Porto, if they want to fight on multiple lines, the best result is to directly win the opponent in the first round, so that the second round will lose the suspense.

What's interesting is that, except for the second-round knockout of Porto this season, all games in the UEFA Cup are first home and then away.

more importantly,

Opponents are not strong.

For them who are fighting on two fronts, the schedule is too favorable.

After grabbing enough goals in the first round, the second round directly guarded against the dead.

Of course, Porto's strategy is based on the overall strength of the team.

In addition, Mourinho's team has come all the way, and it is true that they have not encountered a strong team.

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In the twenty-fifth round of the Portuguese Super League, Sporting Lisbon played at home against Boavista.

This team, which competed with Sporting Lisbon for the league title last season, had a great time, but this season has been completely slumped.

After selling a number of leading stars, Boavista is currently ranked only in the middle, and his strength has dropped a lot from last season.

Su Dong opened the scoring for Sporting Lisbon in just five minutes.

In the 20th minute, center defender Tula fouled in the penalty area while defending Ronnie and was sentenced to death by the referee.

Albertini personally took the penalty kick to expand the score for Sporting Lisbon.

Subsequently, Sporting Lisbon deliberately slowed down the pace.

Especially in the 35th minute, Tula fouled again, got another yellow card and was sent off with a red card.

Since then, Boavista has been completely guarded, and Sporting Lisbon has not increased its attack.

Su Dong played for 60 minutes and was replaced by Nikulei early.

He's going to keep his strength and play the UEFA Cup in midweek.

But no one seems to be optimistic about Sporting Lisbon's first-leg away trip.

So far, Sporting Lisbon's European away games have been unsatisfactory. Now that they meet the powerful Lazio, the prospects are even less optimistic.

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Is Serie A strong?

Strong, and infinitely strong.

The nickname of the Little World Cup proves that Serie A, as the world's first league, is universally recognized.

There are the most and strongest superstars in the world gathered here, and the competition is also the fiercest in the world.

Are Lazio strong in Serie A?

There is no doubt about that.

From the late 1990s to the turn of the century, after a round of crazy capital investment, Lazio's overall strength has been amazingly improved, creating a very powerful lineup.

Recently, Lazio's finances are not well-off, but the team is still full of stars.

Former Italian legendary goalkeeper Peruzzi, Yap Stam, known as the world's top central defender, veteran central defender Mihajnovic, Italian international left back Favalli, and Italian international right back Pancaro.

In such a defensive line, Argentina international Sorin and Italian right-back Oddo can only relegated to the bench and rotation roles.

The midfield is convenient, Dino Baggio, Diego Simeone, Gazi, Stankovic, Fiore... All of them are famous players in Europe and even world football.

Not to mention the striker, Argentine star Lopez, Italian strikers Corradi and Simone Inzaghi, Serie A ace scorer Chiesa, these make Lazio's striker star-studded.

And you know, this is the lineup after Lazio sold the captain's defender Nesta, the Argentine center Crespo and the Spanish midfielders Mendieta and De La Pena.

The head coach of this team is also very famous, Robert Mancini.

Last season, Lazio experienced turbulence. Neither Zoff nor Zaccheroni could bring stability to the team. This season, under the coaching of Mancini, Lazio ranked in the top four in Serie A and could basically guarantee qualification for the Champions League.

Under the circumstances that the pressure of the league is not too great and the team has reached the quarterfinals, Lazio may not have the idea of ​​wanting to compete for this honor.

All of these have made Sporting Lisbon under a lot of pressure from the very beginning of the draw.

The outside media are also not optimistic about the Green Lions, thinking that in front of the powerful Lazio, this team from the Portuguese Super League is not worth mentioning.

The Italian newspaper La Repubblica even gave harsh words before the game, predicting that Lazio would completely end the battle in the first round.

Mancini will not want the team to drag the suspense into the second leg!

In fact, Sporting Lisbon is also not optimistic.

...

The team arrived in Rome, Italy one day in advance and checked into a hotel booked in advance.

But on the eve of the game, Su Dong, Ronnie, Quaresma, Albertini and others gathered in the room, or slumped on the bed, or leaned on the sofa, and Pepe even sat directly on the carpet.

Everyone's face was filled with two emotions, apprehension and worry.

Unlike all the teams we have met before, Lazio is really strong, and it is the kind of real strong. There are strong players in the three lines, and there will be no fancy.

Albertini was born in Serie A and almost joined Lazio before, and is very familiar with this team.

I don't believe that there is really no chance. Su Dong said.

There is definitely a chance. Albertini nodded, but to be honest, you have to be able to grasp the opportunity.

After a pause, the former deputy captain of Milan analyzed: For example, Yap Stam, 30 years old, 1.91 meters tall, this Dutch central defender is perfect. He has the speed and the body, he is never afraid of anyone, including Vieri, and defends frontally, in my impression, very few people can break through him.

His only flaw should be the reason why Ferguson gave up on him, turning around slowly, and after the serious injury at Manchester United, his strength and form have indeed declined a lot, but even so, he is still in this world. One of the strongest central defenders in the world.

Then try to hit the back more...

Before Su Dong could finish speaking, Albertini shook his head in veto.

You're wrong, Lazio are the team with the most draws in Serie A so far this season, as you can imagine, they have even more draws than those in the middle and lower reaches, so they have the fewest losses in Serie A and the defense is also The best, second only to Juventus and AC Milan.

When Albertini said this, he sighed softly, You must know that compared with Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan, which are rich and powerful, Lazio this season can be said to be in deep financial quagmire, the team even The salary can no longer be paid, but such a team can still be brought to the fourth place in the league. Facing the top three teams in the league, his report card is one win and five draws in six games, and the one that won is still in Juventus' Alp Stadium.

Faced with such an opponent, with our strength, I can't think of any way except to die.

In other words, Albertini believes that Sporting Lisbon's previous advantages against all teams have been wiped out against Lazio.

Even veterans Albertini and Andre Cruz are pessimistic, and it is conceivable how bad the team's morale is.

Is it really so?

Su Dong didn't believe it.