Chapter 199 Wenger: Well said, don’t say it again next time! As Inter Milan also lost away from home, after two semi-finals, both Milan giants were defeated. This caused the Italian media to wail. How optimistic they were before the game, how pessimistic they are now. Although both lost a goal, relatively speaking, the situation on Inter Milan's side is slightly more optimistic, while it will be more difficult for AC Milan to advance. One reason is because of the schedule. Inter Milan will play away first and then at home, while AC Milan will play at home first and then away. Although Inter Milan lost the game, they scored an away goal. In the second leg at home, with the home advantage, they still have a great hope of defeating their opponents. Therefore, more optimistic fans even think that Inter Milan is the dominant side. But AC Milan is completely different. After losing at home, their chances of winning the second leg away will only be lower. But if we analyze the situation based on the actual situation of the two teams, as well as the current lineups and the status of the players, the situation is different. Although AC Milan lost at home, that was because of the huge consumption of the Milan derby before the game. As long as they are well prepared for the next round and let the players reserve sufficient physical strength in advance, it is entirely possible for AC Milan to create a miracle away from home with its strength. After all, they were not trailing by much, only one goal. But Inter Milan is not optimistic because their schedule is too tight and they have no room to breathe before the second leg of the Champions League semi-final.
What's worse is that Inter Milan is full of injuries and its lineup is incomplete. This shortcoming may not be reversed before the start of the second leg. Therefore, on the surface, Inter Milan's current score seems to be slightly more optimistic than AC Milan, but in fact their situation is more difficult. But in general, no matter who the two Milan giants are, it will be very difficult to advance to the final. …… Inter Milan has no time to think so much at this time. On April 4, after finishing the game with Arsenal, the Inter Milan team chartered a flight overnight from London back to Milan. They were given almost no time to breathe, as the 4th round of Serie A kicked off on April 22. The good news is that Inter Milan will be at home this round and will not have to travel to away games. The bad news is that Inter Milan encountered relegation team Reggiana. The latter is currently only 4 points ahead of the relegation zone and is still in danger of relegation. So even when facing a title favorite like Inter Milan, Reggina still played very tenaciously, vowing to take points away from the Meazza Stadium. Inter Milan, who had just experienced the exhaustion of the Champions League and had not yet recovered, had a very difficult time playing on the field. The players' faces were filled with fatigue, their legs felt like they were filled with lead and they couldn't run at all. Faced with the stubborn resistance of the opponent, Inter Milan was unable to break through for a long time and was finally forced to accept the result of a 0:0 draw. Inter Milan fans were quite worried as they failed to beat their opponent at home. If Juventus takes the opportunity to narrow the score, Inter Milan's advantage will be greatly reduced, and the league championship that was about to lose suspense will be full of changes again. However, Juventus did not disappoint. When Inter Milan's game ended, the final whistle of the Alpi Stadium, which started at the same time, also sounded. Facing Lazio, which had one player sent off with a red card, the demoralized Juventus failed to seize this excellent opportunity to catch up, and also ended up drawing with their opponents at home. As a result, the gap between Inter Milan and Juventus is still 4 points, and at this time, there are only 3 rounds left until the end of the league.
After an absence of 17 years, the Serie A championship is once again waving to Inter Milan! …… "Ah, what's wrong with Juventus? They've tied five games in a row. Can the team still do well?" "To be honest, I've been a fan of the Zebras for many years, and it's really painful to see the team like this. Give me a straight answer whether it's dead or alive, and don't torture me like this!" "Yeah, watching them play, I feel bad for them. It's like everyone in the team has lost their eyes, and almost everyone's mind is not on the field!" Juventus's poor performance has caused many people to sigh. After all, this is a top club that has dominated the football world for many years. Who could have expected that one day they would end up in such a situation? As the phone-gate scandal continued to ferment, the tone from the judicial department became increasingly unfavorable to Juventus. There are rumors that Juventus will be ordered to be relegated, and even relegated twice. There are also rumors that Juventus will not be relegated, but will be fined and penalized and have the honors of the past few years revoked! Some even claimed that Juventus would be ordered to disband and there would be no more Zebras from then on. Since the results of the investigation into the phone-gate incident have not yet been released, the final punishment has not yet been determined. This made all Juventus players and fans feel extremely nervous, and they felt helpless and confused that their own destiny was not in their own hands. For Juventus, among these three results, the second one has the lightest punishment. Even if it is a fine and penalty points, as long as Juventus can continue to stay in the top league, it will keep the hope of these top players in the team. But once they are really relegated or even disbanded, so many top stars will definitely not be able to stay. If the team is really relegated and loses the exposure of the top league and the Champions League, I'm afraid half of the big-name stars in the team will be lost. Juventus' current lineup is not young. If these big-name stars really leave, Juventus will immediately face the problem of demolition and reconstruction. Even if they can quickly be promoted from the second-tier league to Serie A, it will probably take a long time to rebuild the team if they want to get back to the top. If during this period, other teams such as old giants like Inter Milan establish their dominance, the suppressed Juventus may never be able to recover. As April draws to a close, the five major leagues have also reached their final stages, and the championship and relegation situations in each league have begun to become clear. In the Premier League, as Manchester United was tied by Milstead, the Blues, who had one game less, were declared the champion three rounds in advance and successfully defended the Premier League title. In La Liga, although Barcelona lost 2:3 to Sevilla away, their lead is still huge. Unless Barcelona keeps losing, it is only a matter of time before they win the championship. In the Bundesliga, although Bayern was unexpectedly tied by Mainz, a team at the bottom of the league, in an away game, Bayern's advantage in the standings has actually widened as Hamburg and Werder Bremen suffered successive defeats. There are only three games left in the Bundesliga. Bayern is 5 points ahead of Hamburg and has a very good chance of winning the championship. In Ligue 14, although Lyon was eliminated early in the Champions League, its dominance in the league is still unparalleled. After defeating Paris Saint-Germain away, Lyon won the championship three rounds in advance with a huge advantage of points over its opponent. The overall situation in the major leagues has not changed much, and the old faces are still able to compete for the championship. …… Being tied by a relegation team at home has made many Inter Milan fans interested in the relegation team. With Juventus's poor performance, there is little suspense about this season's Serie A championship. But the suspense of relegation remains.
Treviso, the second-to-last team, has only 35 points in 17 rounds and has been relegated 4 rounds in advance. Lecce, second from the bottom, has 10 points less than Cagliari, fourth from the bottom. After this round, it will be relegated three rounds in advance. There is currently one relegation spot left in Serie A, and everyone is concerned about who will get this last spot? At the moment, it seems that Messina, third from the bottom, is most likely to be relegated. They currently have only 31 points, 4 points less than the fourth from the bottom. But because there are still three rounds of the league, theoretically, starting from Sampdoria, which is ranked 11th, all the remaining teams have the possibility of being relegated. Compared to the other two teams that had already secured relegation spots, Messina felt that he could still make a comeback and had a strong desire to survive. In this round of the league, they faced AC Milan at home and tried their best to get points from their opponents. But the entire AC Milan team, which had just lost to Barcelona, was full of anger. When they met Messina, who not only refused to surrender but also dared to fight back, they vented all their anger on him. This game was unprecedentedly brutal, with a total of 4 red cards from both sides! When encountering some referees with loose enforcement standards, it is not easy to get four yellow cards in a game, let alone four red cards. Of the four red cards, the home team Messina received three and the visiting team AC Milan also received one. But the final score was reversed, with AC Milan scoring three goals and Messina only scoring one goal. For Messina, who was aiming to avoid relegation, this game was a loss of both football and face. Having three people sent off at once is a heavy loss for them as they will be playing away against their relegation rivals Reggiana in the next game. Injuries and the suspension of several main players, coupled with the fact that they are too far behind their opponents in points, have made the outside world not optimistic about them. Perhaps, after the next round, they will have secured the third relegation spot. Maybe this is life! There is no time to lament for these relegation teams. Inter Milan, which just finished the league, will soon face Arsenal in the second round. Arsenal attached great importance to this game. After finishing the North London derby with Tottenham, they packed up overnight and rushed to the away game to prepare for the game against Inter Milan four days in advance. Wenger and his team know very well how Inter Milan was defeated at Highbury in the last round. This time, they must not make the same mistake again. The arrival of Arsenal made Inter Milan, which was already preparing for the game, even more nervous. "How did it come so fast?" “They seem to take this game very seriously!” "Of course, as long as they draw they can advance, so of course they take it seriously!" "By the way, didn't they just fight a bloody battle with Tottenham yesterday? They must have consumed a lot of energy. This time we are well rested, so we should have a slight advantage in terms of physical strength, right?" Upon learning that Arsenal had just finished a derby in the same city, Inter Milan players suddenly felt a sense of gloating. Fate seems to be fair. Before they went away last time, they had just completed a city derby, and now it is Arsenal's turn to experience this feeling. “Don’t be happy too soon. Although Arsenal has consumed a lot of energy, their recent schedule is not as intensive as ours. In addition, Tottenham is much weaker than AC Milan. Even if they have consumed a lot of energy, it will not reach our original level. In addition, Arsenal does not have as many injuries as us, so we can’t take the next game lightly!”
The players are no longer optimistic when they think about the injuries in the team. Although there has been good news in the past two days, the team's main midfielder Cambiasso is about to return and is currently training with the team. He may be able to play for Inter Milan in the next game. But the injury situation of other players is still not optimistic. If they can make it to the final, these people may be able to catch up, but they will definitely not be able to catch up with the semi-finals four days later. The game has not started yet, but supporters of both teams have already started to build momentum for their respective teams. On the Inter Milan side, midfielder Mazzola, who once led his teammates to create the Inter Milan era, gave Mancini some advice: "Just limit the opponent's No. 15. This kid's skills are indeed good, but his style of play is soft. Go up and fight with him physically. Don't let him play comfortably, which will greatly limit his performance!" The No. 15 mentioned by Mazzola is obviously referring to Arsenal's midfield core Fabregas. The reason why his playing style is said to be soft is mainly because compared with his predecessors, Fabregas is indeed not tough enough on the court. After all, before him, the core of Arsenal's midfield was Vieira! After Mazzola, Bergomi, Inter Milan's record holder for appearances, who has only played for Inter Milan in his life and is known as a living legend, also stood up to give advice to the team: "Arsenal's wing attack is very distinctive, and Henry's cut-in shot is very threatening. I think we can consider playing with two defensive midfielders in the next game. Lin Feng proved in the last game that he can also play well in the defensive midfielder position. I think we should continue to maintain this style of play!" Some people give advice to Inter Milan, and naturally some people also give advice to Arsenal. Everton manager Moyes, who is also coaching in the Premier League, proposed to the professor in an interview with the media: "I think as long as we restrict Inter Milan's No. 8, we can stop the opponent's counterattack!" Although Moyes is not coaching a top club, Everton has achieved outstanding results in the past few seasons under his leadership. Therefore, there were rumors that Ferguson wanted to make him the successor to Manchester United after his retirement. The coaches in the Premier League seem to be sticking together. After Moyes made his statement, Benítez, who is coaching Liverpool, also made suggestions: "Wenger's 541 tactics in the last game were a bit conservative. Changing to 433 might be better. Serie A teams tend to play conservatively. Arsenal might be able to play more proactively!" You may not have to listen to other people's advice, but it's different for Benítez. This guy led Liverpool to perform a miracle in Istanbul last year and reversed the Serie A giants AC Milan! Playing for Serie A teams, he is a professional! However, Professor Wenger said, you said it very well, don't say it again next time. He did not accept any suggestions from the outside world and still deployed the same 541 formation as in the previous game. We are all ahead, so what's wrong with being a little conservative? We can advance if we draw, so why do we have to attack? (End of this chapter)