Therefore, when the final battle of Serie A started on May 14th, except for a few teams that had already wanted it (such as Fiorentina, former locked champion and runnerup, Juventus, former relegation and Empoli and treviso, who were relegated to Reggina in Europe, etc.), more than a dozen teams were making final efforts in their respective goals!
Every time I see this tragic scene, Mourinho will feel very lucky that the team won the championship in the previous round. Although Florence’s opponent Chievogen was not a strong team in the final round of the league, especially the Chievo track was greatly changed by Zhuang Ge in this world. This team nicknamed Flying Donkeys can struggle on the edge of the relegation line every season, but the more this team does, the more they can break out in the final stage.
This is exactly the team that Florence is going to play against Chievo, who is currently ranked fourth from the bottom in the standings. Chievo urgently needs a victory to make a lastditch effort for their relegation cause. If Chievo wants to play in Serie A again this season, they must strive to win this game and get out of the relegation zone, and make sure that this ranking can never be surpassed by other teams and fall to the third from the bottom!
For a Serie A club, especially those in the middle reaches, it is a very important lesson to keep the qualification to continue playing in Serie A at the end of the season, so don’t look at Chievo’s strength. If Florence is not careful, it may still be planning to fight for Chievo’s life.
It is for this reason that Mourinho is glad that the team has locked in the league title before. If Florence fails to win Reggina in the first round, Viola will probably have a lot of changes in winning the league title for no reason.
Now, for Florence, who has won the championship before, it doesn’t really matter whether they win or lose this game. All the players have to do is show their best to the fans who have supported them for a whole season in the last home game of the season.
Of course, that being said, Florence is not going to die with Chievo in this game. After all, they will go to Paris and Lazio for the Champions League final in four days. There is no need to fight with Chievo here. In case a few generals are accidentally injured and the team is affected in the Champions League final, Mourinho will have no place to cry.
The home team intends to stop, while the visiting team desperately wants to score three points in this stadium. The completely different attitudes of the two coaches determine the trend and final result of this game.
Although Chievo players are trying very hard to take away a victory from Frankie Stadium, the huge gap between them and Florence can be made up by simple efforts. Even if Chievo wants to scare his opponent savagely in the game and profit from it, it will be useless, because as soon as they act, the referee on duty warned Chievo not to try to engage in these crooked ways.
In the end, thanks to Pelicier’s last first lifesaving goal, Chievo narrowly grabbed a point from Florence, and finally kept the fourth place from the bottom of the standings. The substitute played in Florence and ended their Serie A competition in 56 seasons with a draw!
Chapter 143 Before the final
Although Florence successfully defended the league title and reached the final in the Champions League, it seems that the scenery is really better than the scenery, but this season is not easy for Florence players, because Florence is almost in a fierce competition with Juventus all season, and at the same time, it has to face the strong pressure of the thirdline war, which makes Florence players physically and mentally exhausted. At this stage, most players in the Florence team are quite tired, and even with the help of sports medicine experts and masseurs from the physiotherapy center, their competitive state has not recovered to the best level.
Of course, although Florence has affected its own combat effectiveness due to excessive consumption in the league battlefield, this is compared with the same period in history. It is much better to lead the Florence physiotherapy team in thomas carter to take good care of the physical condition of Florence players, if not the best in Europe, than their opponent Lazio in the Champions League final. You know, in another game at the same time, Lazio tried its best to fight with Parma for dozens of minutes.
Moreover, the championship battle with Juventus, which lasted for nearly a season, is also an excellent training for the young players in Florence. The young people such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Ribery and modric have exerted great pressure on the Bianconeri. The growth rate of the season is quite gratifying. The impetuous mind has become calm under this pressure, and the grasp of technical luck and competition timing has become an important force in Mourinho’s hands.
It is these young players who have grown rapidly, such as veteran Inzaghi, who suddenly broke out at the crucial moment that Florence’s season has to go hand in hand in the league and the Champions League, and has not been dragged down by the multiline war situation.
In this way, after a draw ended the final match with Chievo in Serie A and won the 56season Serie A championship trophy in the cheers of tens of thousands of fans present at Frankie Stadium, Florence did not celebrate in the dressing room, but dissolved on the spot after attending the postmatch press conference, because in four days, they will usher in the most important game of the seasonthe European Cup final with Lazio!
After a short day’s rest, Florence went north to Paris to prepare for the Champions League final scheduled for three days later. Mourinho intends to give the players more time to adapt to the venue and local climate so that the team can accumulate more invisible advantages before the final.
Compared with the fastmoving Florence, Lazio is much slower. When the Florence players finished the field adaptation training and conducted the final tactical drill at the Paris SaintGermain training base, the Biancocelesti players arrived at Charles de Gaulle International Airport by plane, and it was already the afternoon of May 17th.
Lippi is also quite resistant to this situation. It’s not that Silver Fox didn’t want the players to get used to the venue in Paris earlier, but that Florence moved too fast and said hello to Paris SaintGermain early, so that Lazio just wanted to take the same action and learned that their goal had been beat by Florence.
Although there is no Paris SaintGermain team in Paris, the training venues of other clubs really do not meet Lazio standards, but meet the requirements. Claire Fontaine is 50 kilometers away from downtown Paris … So Lippi allowed the players to practice their tactics in Rome and didn’t fly to Paris until the day before the game for venue adaptation training.
With the arrival of the two protagonists in the final of the Champions League, the warm atmosphere of football and the Champions League has spread in this romantic capital, and fans from all over the world have flocked to Paris to enjoy the top match between these two top teams at close range!
Yes, although Abu Qi Lazio still has no heavyweight championship trophy, Lazio will gradually be accepted by fans and listed as one of the top giants because the Biancocelesti has made a lot of money in the transfer market and its performance in the League and Champions League has become more stable and powerful, and the influence of cragnotti in the Jin and Yuan Dynasties has not dissipated.
Gee, turning the Champions League final into the same league team, that is, our Italian team can do this. It is natural that these Italian journalists attracted so much hatred before the final. Lazio and Florence successfully joined forces in the Champions League final, which made all Italian journalists and media proud.
Looking at these Italian journalists who are more triumphant than batting for punishment, although their colleagues from Britain, France and Germany are tickling their teeth in their hearts, they can’t say anything to refuteafter all, what the other party said is really true. Serie A teams occupied three of the four seats in the European Champions Cup last season, and one of them was also won by Villarreal, a dark horse, including Real Madrid, Barcelona, Arsenal and Bayern. At most, they got a strong seat. The reality that Manchester United, the Premier League overlord, didn’t even qualify for the group, gave Italian journalists enough confidence to show off and also made other countries
With the principle that the Champions League final should not be discredited or messed up, these journalists who are full of anger in Italy can vent their anger on those clubs that fail to live up to their expectations. They will all blacken their pens and brains, and at one time, four of the five major leagues in Europe have set off a storm of bloodshed, and many stars who play for the giants in the country have also fallen into a disaster to vent their grievances and sacrifice.
Maybe someone will ask why these journalists are so obedient and don’t bother Lazio and Florence after being disgusted by the Italians. This is mainly because UEFA’s deterrence is on the rise. No reporter wants to give beckenbauer and UEFA a hard time at this juncture of the Champions League final. If they accidentally hate each other and cause their own and even the whole company to be banned, then their jobs will be lost.
In this way, when the fans around the world are looking forward to it, they finally come to May 1st, and the final of the 256 season European Champions Cup will officially start in stade de france!
Chapter 144 Final
On May 1st, the packed atmosphere in stade de france was more lively than that of Lazio and Fiorentina fans, who systematically sang the official and folk songs of their respective teams in the stands, forming a unique landscape. However, those fans who didn’t buy tickets were full of regrets, but this did not affect their interest in watching the game. At this time, they also gathered in front of the TV to support their teams and cheer!
At the same time, the players of both sides have followed the referee group out of the player channel. Stahl and Cech are tossing coins at the referee’s place to determine their respective attack directions and lead the ball in the halfgame.
Now I’d like to introduce one or two teams to the starting lineup of Lazio. Although the Biancocelesti fought with Parma for 90 minutes at home four days ago to keep a ticket for the Champions League, Lippi decided to let the main players play continuously because the Champions League final was equally important.
Goalkeeper is Petr Cech, the Czech national who won people’s recognition quickly for his excellent goalkeeping skills and steady play after joining Lazio. Now he is recognized by the media and fans as the most promising goalkeeper to attack Buffon’s throne in the world. The four starting defenders in the back line are Maxwell, Dailey, Mexes and Oddo are not wellknown in Lazio’s defence except Mexes, but they are all powerful players in Serie A. It is very easy to lose their words, especially after the season was instructed by Lippi, a famous coach. Lazio finally built a set of defense bodies, which made the defense quality of the Biancocelesti greatly improved, and it was no longer possible to rely on the number of defenders in the backcourt to strengthen defense as in Mancini’s period.
In midfield, as Dutch veteran edgar davids retired to the second line due to his aging, he moved from Lyon to Lazio last summer at a skyhigh price of 35 million euros. Essien, Ghana’s Buffalo, became the new midfield iron gate of the Blue Eagle, while in front of Essien was the combination of Stankovic and Deco, both of whom were Lippi’s favorite diligent players, who were not only diligent in running, but also willing to do everything assigned by the head coach. At the same time, they were also good at organizing and scheduling. Therefore, when Silver Fox took over Mancini’s stall and picked up Lazio coach, they
The striker, Brazilian king Ronaldinho, is in the left Netherlands, Flash Luo is in the right, and Didier Drogba is from Ivory Coast. This offensive combination is topnotch in creativity, counterattack ability and attack ability. The only thing that makes Lippi not satisfied is that Ronaldinho and Ronaldinho don’t like to retreat in the game, and their defensive enthusiasm is quite common. There is often a situation where opponents can directly attack their own defense line from the side. Of course, the sticky ball attribute is another headache for Lippi, but compared with their poor defensive attitude, Silver Fox can still bear it.
To be honest, if Ronaldinho and Ronaldinho were not so talented in attack, they often played the role of single rider and savior, and there was a great defensive center Drogba to wipe their ass, Lippi would probably repeat the story of treating Roberto Baggio in Lazio and kick them out of Formelo (Lazio training base)
After talking about Lazio’s starting lineup, let’s take a look at Mourinho’s formation in this Champions League final. Because almost all the main players were hidden in the league final four days ago, Mourinho’s adjustment in this game is much bigger than Lippi’s.
Goalkeeper Buffon’s defence is composed of four players, Chivu, Lucio, Stesta and Zambrotta. Makelele, Pirlo and Ballack form the midfield, while the trident is the combination of Vincent, diego milito and Cristiano Ronaldo. Obviously Mourinho intends to use this strongest team to deal with some signs of being outplayed by Lazio and win the first Champions League title in his coaching career!
Although it is very urgent for Mourinho to hold the big ear cup in front of him, he is not in a hurry for success. He ordered the team to launch a storm after the team was present. Over the years, Mourinho has cultivated a rigorous and practical style. In addition, the Portuguese have been honed and grown up during the firstteam coaching period in Florence in the past two years. No matter how great the temptation is, they will get carried away.
The last team meeting before the game, Mourinho once again emphasized to the players his tactical arrangement in this game out of careful consideration. Everyone must remember that after the game, they must be slow and steady, and they must not be eager to achieve success or make meritorious deeds, so the longer the game drags on, the better the situation will be for us!
Although almost all Fiorentina players’ ears have been repeatedly played by Mourinho for several times, and all his arrangements for the game have been memorized by heart, none of them have come out to complain about the Portuguese nagging. After all, although they don’t say anything, the players are still very considerate of their head coach’s mood at this time and naturally won’t say anything that will spoil the atmosphere at this time.
So after the game, Florence won the first ball in the coin guessing session before the game. Instead of rushing to attack Lazio’s goal, Pirlo and Ballack organized the ball and running step by step to force and intercept Lazio players and firmly pressed the Biancocelesti to the half court!
Lippi’s face can’t help becoming dignified after seeing Florence’s steady performance. Silver Fox clearly realizes that Florence or Mourinho has seized the biggest weakness of Lazio at present!
Chapter 145 Lazio dilemma
In Lippi’s defense concept, the player’s personal defense ability is never the most important part, but it has quite high requirements for the player’s running ability. In other words, Lippi’s defense body is more about compressing the opponent’s attack and cutting off their ball route by running a lot of square players, so as to complete the defense and give their own quick counterattack opportunities.
It is precisely because of this reason that the defensive attitude of Roberto Baggio, Ronaldinho and Ronaldo is so unpopular with Lippithe most shameful thing about Silver Fox is that it is so talented but never willing to devote more energy to defending bigname players.
However, after being fired several times because of poor record, Lippi has learned a little less this time. This time, after picking up the Lazio coach, Lippi did not deal with Ronaldinho and Ronaldinho as he did with Baggio, but let other players share the responsibility of defending, in exchange for their dedication on the offensive end.
Judging from the current effect, Lippi’s move is quite successful. Lazio can successfully avenge AC Milan’s defeat of opponents in the Champions League final for the second consecutive year, which is the best evidence.
However, in this Champions League final, Lazio’s defense is not as tight as it was against AC Milan in the semifinal. Whether it is to compress the attack or cut off the ball route, the performance of the Biancocelesti players today can be said to be barely qualified. Lippi spent nearly a year building a defense body in this Champions League final, so in the first 20 minutes after the game, fans repeatedly saw that all the Lazio players were slow in defending, which made the Florence players easily create a picture of oneonone opportunities with the Biancocelesti defenders.
On the whole, the Lazio players’ lack of enthusiasm on the defensive end has given Florence a lot of offensive opportunities. If the Florence players were not quite obedient and did not tamper with Mourinho’s tactical arrangement before the game, they would never risk attacking if they were not sure enough. I am afraid Cech would be the busiest one in the halfgame.
Lazio will become so passive in this final, and the momentum of AC Milan in the semifinal of the Champions League is naturally not seen. Andrea (Pirlo) and their players are still not doing enough. The physical consumption of Lazio players has not reached my previous requirements at this time. Looking at the situation, Mourinho calmly analyzed in his mind, It seems that the general attack will be postponed for a while, otherwise it will be rushed to attack, but it is very likely that Lazio players with spare capacity will make a quick counterattack.
Although Florence is now in the ascendant, it is impossible for cautious Mourinho to be too careful in the face of Lippi, an old fox. He would rather be conservative and let the players continue to play and force Lazio players to run more on the field before launching a face attack when they can’t run completely!
After all, Lazio, which has two sharp weapons, Ronaldo and Drogba, is quite strong in counterattack. Although Mourinho has great confidence in the ability of these players, he plans to make Lazio consume more physical strength to be on the safe side, so that the team can’t worry about the defense when attacking on a large scale.
Speaking of which, some people may wonder, since both Lazio and Florence have reached the final of the European Cup, and Florence has also won the Serie A championship, according to the regulations, even the team that won the fifth place in Serie A can qualify for the European Cup. Why did Lazio, which is already in the top five in the standings, have to die with Parma in the final round, causing them to fall into a physical crisis in the final of the Champions League?
The reason is very simple. Although Lazio was still ranked fourth in the standings before the final round of the league, in fact, before the end of the league, the Biancocelesti were in front of them and behind AC Milan. The gap between Inter Milan and Rome was very small. From the third AC Milan to the sixth Rome in the standings, the difference was only three points, which means that once Lazio lost in the final round, the Biancocelesti would probably fall outside the Champions League!
Lazio got into this situation mainly because two absolute main players in the teamDidier Drogba and michael essienresponded to the call of the national team to participate in the African Cup of Nations in January this year, which led Lazio to face the cruel reality of losing their main center and midfielder in the middle of the season.
The absence of Didier Drogba and Michael Essien had a great impact on Lazio. When they left for the African Cup of Nations, the Biancocelesti suffered a series of defeats in the league, which was not only distanced by the leading group Juventus and Florence, but also successfully overtaken by the Milan duo and other teams behind them and entangled with them until the final round of the league.
This is why Lazio were able to beat AC Milan in the Champions League and reach the final, showing great strength, but they had to die against Parma in the final round in the league, because they couldn’t send the strongest matches for nearly two months this season!
So once they lose to Parma and the other three teams win, Lazio will fall to the sixth place in the standings and fight for Europe!
However, after leading Lazio to defeat the UEFA Cup qualification and fighting hard for Parma to get a ticket to the Champions League this season, Lippi and he suggested that Lazio players would face another dilemmathey had too much physical strength to cope with the upcoming Champions League final after spending too much time in Parma!
It is precisely because of Lazio’s excessive consumption in the league that Florence came off the bench in the final game that it has such a big advantage in this Champions League final and gave full play to their physical advantage according to Mourinho’s arrangement, pushing Lazio to the abyss of failure step by step!
Seeing Fiorentina players who are physically superior keep running and tearing at the defense line, making Lazio players tired on the court. Lippi clearly realized that if he couldn’t figure out a way to get the team out of the immediate predicament, they would have to explain the Champions League final completely!
Chapter 146 Silver Fox Decision
To be honest, although he is well aware of the team’s current weaknesses and weaknesses, Lippi still had a glimmer of hope in his heart before the final, praying that Mourinho would get carried away and not notice that Lazio was not well prepared physically. It is best to launch a storm at the beginning of the game so that they can get a chance to launch a quick counterattack.
In Lippi’s vision, if Lazio can seize the opportunity of a massive attack in Florence and make a quick counterattack when it is still full of physical strength, then the team can take the rhythm of the game into its own hands.
However, judging from the current situation, Lippi’s most worrying thing before the game happened unexpectedly. Mourinho, a realistic guy, is a man who can’t see the rabbit without spreading the eagle. Without dragging Lazio down first, he will never easily invest heavily in the attack, and he will not make the mistake of underestimating his opponent to get a chance to launch a counterattack.
Therefore, it is easy for Silver Fox to think about how to get the team out of the current predicament. After all, although it is really remarkable to lead the team to the Champions League final in the first season after picking up Lazio coach, Lippi also knows that if the team loses too badly in this final, Abramovich will definitely vent his anger on his head. Therefore, even if he wants to save his job, Lippi should think of some countermeasures as soon as possible to make the situation of the team not become so passive and ugly.