Football career: From winning the championship to becoming a legend

Before Pirlo made the final assist, the referee had already wanted to blow the whistle for a foul, but seeing that Maresca had the golden opportunity in the end, he naturally raised his hands to indicate that the attack was advantageous.

As for why Maresca cut into the penalty area with no one guarding him, on the one hand, it was due to Maresca's smart positioning, which was not offside and was very concealed. On the other hand, it was due to Li Qi's dominant performance in this game and his overly realistic fake moves.

When Li Qi was preparing to fake a shot in the middle, the Lithuanian defense line all thought that if they couldn't stop him, Li Qi would definitely get a hat-trick. So the two central defenders once again used a shovel to block Li Qi, and even Klimavichus, who had been chasing Maresca, abandoned Maresca who was only a short distance away from the penalty area and used a flying shovel to intercept Li Qi's shot...

So although Li Qi let the ball pass, six big feet flew towards him one after another, leaving Li Qi with no way to avoid them, and he was knocked down directly in front of the penalty area.

Li Qi, who was being treated by the team doctor, knew that he was not seriously injured. After missing the ball, Li Qi, who had triggered the explosive point, still had a little space to jump and avoid the most dangerous feet. However, when he was in the air, Klimavichus's unsportsmanlike oblique header from the side and back scratched his ankle.

It hurts, but it should be a hard injury...

But Donadoni would certainly not take risks with Italy's future hopes, and the score was already 5-0. While the team doctor was spraying Li Qi with the magic spray, Donadoni also made the final substitution. With about 15 minutes left in the game, he replaced Li Qi, who had been booked as the best player of the game, with Del Piero.

When Li Qi was carried off the field on a stretcher, he won unanimous applause and praise from the fans; Li Qi could only sit on the stretcher and applaud and thank the fans, which added to the burden and resentment of the boys carrying the stretcher.

Indeed, Li Qi made no mistakes in this game, and played a god-like crushing performance with two goals, two assists and a magical leak. In the first half, he activated Italy's offense and sent two key assists. In the second half, he was directly involved in the finishing, torturing Lithuania's defense...

The referee gave a yellow card to Klimavichius for the reckless kick. The latter immediately apologized to Li Qi, saying that he was stupid and impulsive. He would personally apologize after the game. He asked the adults not to remember his mistakes... Li Qi was confused. Was he so fierce? When did he develop the aura of a ball tyrant?

Moreover, the Lithuanian coach quickly replaced the absent-minded Klimavičius.

After Li Qi left the field, both teams seemed to lose interest in the game in an instant. Even Del Piero, who had just come on as a substitute, had no desire to perform. He just frequently took the ball to get some passing and long-range shot data.

So the game lasted the last 15 minutes with both teams cooperating to kill time.

In the end, Italy defeated Lithuania 5-0 away from home, achieved five consecutive victories in Group B of the European Cup qualifiers, and closely followed the leader France in the standings, firmly securing the second place in the group.

@

After the game, the 5-0 victory made the Italian media and fans very excited, both in terms of the process and the result. Many well-known veterans also came out to take advantage of the hype and started to speak out.

However, everyone from top to bottom gave praise unanimously. Even the most cautious, most venomous and most foul-mouthed commentators could not give any negative comments. They just implicitly pointed out that Li Qi had little experience in the team and might not be able to suppress the big brother in the team.

But isn't this nonsense? Isn't Li Qi, who just turned 21 on the day of the game, the core pillar of Italy in the next 10 years? When his peers can only play in U21 games, Li Qi was allowed to join the national team and even participate in the previous World Cup. Isn't it a precipitation to cultivate his qualifications?

But at the stage when he still needed training, Li Qi had already demonstrated extraordinary strength and was able to carry the banner of the national team. Isn't this a good thing?

At the post-match press conference, Donadoni seemed to be in high spirits and had enough confidence. He smiled and commented on the current national team's vigor and cohesion: "At least now there won't be so many discussions about who will be absent from the national team. Look at how many excellent players we have now..."

"Italy has always produced excellent young players and this will not stop in the future. We train young people in a reasonable way, and both the club and the national team will benefit from it."

"Li Qi is responsible for organizing the attack, Pirlo is responsible for delivering the shells, De Rossi is responsible for intercepting and sweeping, Cannavaro is responsible for assisting defense and protection, and Buffon is the last big gate. Oh, of course there are many heroes who can destroy the city, Quagliarella in this game, Inzaghi in the last game, and Luca Toni before, etc...."

"All we need is a little bit of patience... I think this team has proven themselves once again, they have formed a real team... Look at their unstoppable teamwork... There is no doubt that we will appear in the finals of the 08 European Cup."

Yes, although there were five goals in this game, each of them was brilliant, but what excited the media, fans and professional commentators the most was the fourth goal of the game scored by Maresca assisting Li Qi, which demonstrated the charm of team football and fantastic football skills.

In front of the background of the full process of Li Qi's second goal, Italian football legend Sandro Mazzola also commented with emotion on the difference between Italy in this game and the previous ones: "After watching the first half, I thought Li Qi was good enough. He danced like an elf among the defensive crowd and delivered sharp assists. We almost forgot about Totti and Pirlo."

"But when I saw his performance in the second half, I knew I was wrong. Although he was substituted less than 30 minutes into the second half, these 30 minutes made me completely his fan. Assists, dribbling, passing, scoring, is there anything he can't do? It's no exaggeration to say that he destroyed the Lithuanian team alone..."

"Yes, it's not that Quagliarella, who scored twice in the first half, is not good enough. His experience in lower-level leagues has cultivated his all-round abilities and strong adaptability. In this game, he had a tacit connection with the midfield and frontcourt, and his positional substitutions and insertions were very well done. In addition, he scored world-class goals with his left and right feet in the same game. Even the world's top strikers may not be able to do that. It's hard to tell that he is a newcomer who is starting for the national team for the first time."

"But Li Qi, who is three years younger than Quagliarella, performed amazingly in this game, even more amazing than Totti and Baggio back then."

"In the first half, he repeatedly and accurately broke through the opponent's defense in the tight defense of Lithuania and provided two key assists to Quagliarella. We already felt that Li Qi's talent was amazing."

"It was Li Qi who was pushed forward in the second half that truly showed the audience his football wisdom and superb and simple football skills that were far superior to those of ordinary players. Li Qi's two goals and an indirect assist by missing the ball were a team football art that was different from Ronaldinho's gorgeous individual skills. Li Qi's role in the midfield and frontcourt sublimated the entire Italian team..."

"But, my goodness, he just turned 21 on the day of the competition. His future is limitless!"

"In last year's World Cup, we didn't think he was so talented. A year later, after Donadoni made him the core of the attack, we were able to observe Li Qi's heroic spirit more comprehensively... In this year, it seems that his loan in Sevilla has also allowed him to achieve extraordinary growth..."

When talking about Sevilla, it seems that most of the media after the game forgot about the other half of the Italian twin stars from Sevilla, Maresca; although they were focusing on reporting and repeatedly playing the goal in which Maresca assisted Li Qi, they focused on Li Qi and ignored the key other half, which made Maresca resentful when he kept reading the comments of major football media after the game.

On the second day of the game, Gazzetta dello Sport published a classic commentary titled "Italy bids farewell to Totti's dependence", in which Maresca was only mentioned briefly.

"Donadoni's formation experiment is still going on in this game. He has used four formations in the first nine games. All formations except 9 have three forwards. However, the offensive combination in the midfield and frontcourt changes too frequently and lacks a basic framework."

"I thought that the 3-0 victory over Scotland had allowed Donadoni to finalize the Italian national team's Roman tactical style. At that time, the cooperation between Gattuso, De Rossi, Perrotta, Camoranesi and Li Qi was really good, but in the last two games, Pirlo was put back in the core position of midfield organization. Although Pirlo came on as a substitute in the second half of this game, he still contributed two wonderful assists..."

"Although Li Qi played for less than 75 minutes, his dominant performance of two goals, two assists and zero turnovers convinced everyone that he was beginning to enjoy an unshakable position as the offensive core of the national team."

"The national team is more like a hodgepodge of the core frameworks of Milan, Sevilla and Roma, but it is mainly based on the tactical framework of Milan and Sevilla, mainly because Pirlo and Li Qi's performance is too stable and amazing; on the contrary, De Rossi and Perrotta, who played longer in the two games, are more like engineers and assistants."

"But this is also the advantage of the national team, which can gather outstanding players from various clubs. And this national team has changed the tradition of all players from the Serie A local league. There are Italian twin stars from Sevilla in La Liga. The addition of Li Qi and Maresca has also added different elements and football styles to the national team..."

"In any case, although Donadoni's maze continues, whether it is the Milan team or the Roma team, or continuing to use a hodgepodge of the strengths of various teams, Li Qi's key position in the team should be unshakable, and the successful promotion of the younger Li Qi in the national team will also allow the Italian national team to completely get rid of its psychological dependence on Totti!"

……

The day after the game, Ricardo, who had nothing wrong with him after the medical examination, originally planned to return to the club with Maresca to participate in the La Liga, which still had two rounds of suspense.

Ricardo was just getting ready to make a good mockery on the plane about the embarrassment of having Marco's first assist and first goal for the national team ignored by the media. Haha, only his good brother helped him remember it, so he asked for a small cake for him on the plane to celebrate.

However, when Ricardo left the hospital and was about to go to the airport to meet Maresca, he received a call from his agent Raiola.

"Pronto! Uncle Mino..."

"Hmm? Did you change my flight? Fly directly back to Milan to recover?"

"But my injury is not serious. I should be fine in a day or two and should be able to catch up with the league in three days."

"That's the key battle for the championship. If we can't win it, we'll have no chance of winning the championship..."

"Yes, yes, if either Real Madrid or Barcelona wins, we won't have a chance, but in such a crucial game, the boss can let..."

"Oh, the club has agreed? So soon..."

"Okay, I'll go back to Milan and wait for the results of this round of games. Yes, yes, it's likely that I can report directly to the U21 Italian national team after the game."

"Oh, because of a comment about my speed during the last game, a world-renowned car company has taken notice of me?"

"Okay, thank you Uncle Mino, I'll follow your arrangements..."

After hanging up the phone, Ricardo first called Maresca, who had waited for him all night, and told him that his injury was still not ideal, and he had asked for leave from the club and would return to Milan to recuperate. He wished Maresca good luck, and that the celebration of his first assist and first goal for the national team would be on the next flight...

Before Maresca could even utter the second half of his uncivilized words, Ricardo decisively hung up the phone.

After hanging up the phone, Ricardo felt something was a little wrong. In such a crucial championship battle, even though he was injured, could he take a leave so easily? Why did it feel wrong? Was it because he was a loan player? It didn't make sense...

After the UEFA Cup final, Ricardo has missed two league games. If he misses this one, he will miss the last four crucial games. Judging from Ricardo's performance in the team at the end of the season, this shouldn't happen. In the two cup finals, Ricardo played the entire game as a core player.

As for the fact that the games are too intensive and Ricardo needs more rest in the league, but Ricardo is already the youngest and strongest player in Sevilla...

No wonder it is so difficult to win the treble. It seems that it is not just the competitive aspect, but also many other factors. It seems that it is hard to say whether Sevilla will win in the remaining two games. No, it may be revealed after this round of games. Let's wait and see the results at the weekend...

There are some things that I cannot intervene in at the moment, and I can only leave it to Raiola to negotiate and handle.

I hope Maresca, Alves and other Sevilla teammates who came from afar to help can just wish them good luck. What if a miracle happens?

Ricardo didn't think too much about it. He looked at the time and decided that there was no need to go to the airport so early. He could find a cafe to kill some time. It would be a good opportunity to reply to the birthday text message that I received yesterday. See if those cute grandchildren are itching to get their hands on me.

As for the birthday wishes from my girlfriends and family, I had already replied to them before the game. I received a lot of gifts in advance, including sneakers, shin guards, footballs, computers...

Even Emma, ​​whom I just met, got a gift, but it was Ricardo who specifically asked for it, which was the wizard robe that Emma wore when filming, and he specifically asked for the original one! (??_?)

@

After this international match day, the standings for Euro 2008 Qualifying Group B are as follows:

The French team ranked first with 7 wins and 6 loss in 1 games and 18 points;

排名第二的是意大利队，7战5胜1平1负，积16分；

Scotland ranked third with 7 wins and 5 losses in 2 games and 15 points;

Ukraine ranked fourth with 6 wins and 4 losses in 2 games and 12 points;

排名第五的是立陶宛，7战2胜1平4负，积7分；

Georgia ranked sixth with 8 wins and 2 losses in 6 games and 6 points;

The last place in the ranking is the Faroe Islands, which lost all 8 games and has 0 points...

@

As soon as Maresca returned to Sevilla, he immediately returned to the team and began to prepare intensively for the weekend's home game against Villarreal, because Sevilla suddenly fell into a wave of injuries. As if it was pre-arranged, the team's most powerful attacking lineup was almost wiped out...