Chapter 1 The Beginning

AC Milan's head coach, Marco van Basten, had been feeling rather gloomy lately.

The team was in good form, achieving consecutive victories in both the Champions League and the league. Moreover, to ensure success in both competitions, he had deliberately sacrificed the Italian Cup.

The club had also extended his contract until 2014. Logically, he should have had nothing to be depressed about.

However, in the last league match, the Milan derby, what should have been his best opportunity to overtake Inter Milan unfortunately ended in a draw. It also failed to widen the gap between them and Fiorentina.

Now, they were about to play Fiorentina. Although they were at home, and Fiorentina's stamina had supposedly waned recently, he wasn't foolish enough to believe everything the media said.

He believed that Fiorentina was still a highly dangerous enemy because he could never figure them out, from the coach to the players. Even Zhang Jun, whom he once thought he knew well, was now unreadable.

He could analyze Inter Milan's strengths, and he could understand Juventus' steadiness. But when it came to playing Fiorentina, he felt like he was lost in a thick fog.

Kaka sighed softly below, "Oh, the coach is daydreaming again."

Yang Pan nodded, "He's always like this before playing Fiorentina."

"I bet, even if he wins every championship in the world, he'll still regret not being able to recruit Zhang Jun."

"No need to bet, everyone knows that."

"Honestly, when he left Milan, I never thought he'd achieve such success in Fiorentina. Serie A top scorer for two consecutive seasons, last year's Serie A title... Hey, Yang Pan, do you regret it now?" Kaka nudged Yang Pan. Taking advantage of the head coach's absent-mindedness during the tactics lesson, the two whispered to each other below. It was just like being back in high school, secretly chatting in class.

"Regret what?"

"Regret not going to Fiorentina with him?"

If a journalist asked that question, Yang Pan would probably have flipped out on the spot, suspecting malicious intent. But coming from Kaka, Yang Pan just smiled, "There's nothing to regret. I like AC Milan, and coming here was my own choice. Friends are friends, feelings are feelings, and since I'm getting paid by Milan, I'll play my heart out for Milan. Unless Milan kicks me out, I want to stay here until I retire."

Kaka glanced at Yang Pan, "I never thought someone as cold-blooded as you would say something like that..."

"Damn it! Looking for a fight!"

Kaka tilted his head, dodging Yang Pan's raised hand. "But... I also plan to retire here. Milan was the first team I played for in Europe after all, so I've developed feelings for it, and I want it to be the only European team I ever play for."

Yang Pan smiled wryly, "Zhang Jun has said more than once that he wants to retire in Fiorentina. I don't think you'll ever have the chance to play on the same team as him."

Those words touched the deepest pain in Kaka's heart. He lowered his head and fell silent, just like van Basten, lost in his thoughts.

***

Gasbarroni frowned, looking like he'd just lost his mother. He looked at the porcelain bowl in his hand, then looked up at the team doctor, Feng Qing.

"Do I have to drink it?" he asked in a trembling voice.

Feng Qing shook his head without any sympathy.

"Then... can I add more sugar?"

Feng Qing still shook his head mercilessly.

"If I can't add sugar, then maybe some milk or something... Uh, I know that's probably not allowed either." Gasbarroni immediately changed his tone when he saw Feng Qing's expression change.

But he still looked worried as he stared at the contents of the bowl. He wasn't the only one with that expression. In the team doctor's office, the whole team had a bowl in their hands, and they were looking at the contents with grimaces, bared teeth, and a reluctance to try it.

Because the dark brown liquid in their bowls was the famous "Chinese medicine soup." To be honest, even Zhang Jun, as a Chinese person who had drunk Chinese medicine before, found this bowl of stuff excessively bitter. Just smelling it made him lose all motivation to drink it. Not to mention those foreigners who were experiencing it for the first time.

At first, that idiot Pazzini thought the bowl contained Coca-Cola. While saying that professional players shouldn't drink carbonated drinks, he gulped down the contents of the bowl in one go, as if afraid someone would steal it from him. Feng Qing looked at him with a very admiring gaze.

Sure enough, after that warm liquid entered his throat, Pazzini regretted it. He wanted to spit it out, but the medicine had already slid down his throat and into his stomach. He jumped up and down, sticking out his tongue and yelling "Bitter!" repeatedly.

Seeing Pazzini's miserable state, the others didn't dare to drink it anymore.

This was a specially prepared Chinese medicinal nutrition soup that Ren Yudi had instructed Feng Qing to concoct. Its purpose was to quickly restore the players' stamina and maintain their physical vitality—of course, this was not a banned substance. Chinese medicine focused on self-regulation and absorption, with sustained effects and no side effects on the body. It wasn't like injecting chemical substances that were only effective for a short time and could cause significant harm to the body.

Finally, Zhang Jun, as the captain, had to set an example. He frowned and drank the medicinal soup in one gulp, not even daring to let the liquid linger in his throat. It was just too bitter...

Xiang Tao was even more extreme. He pinched his nose, picked up the bowl, and tossed it back.

The others followed Xiang Tao's example, tilting their heads back, pinching their noses, and gulping down the medicinal soup.

Of course, after they finished, they all stuck out their tongues and yelled, "It's so bitter!! Oh my god! Is there anything in the world more bitter than this?"

"I never want to drink Chinese medicine again in my life!"

"So this is how painful it is to get sick in China..." Gasbarroni murmured, tears in his eyes.

Everyone thought they had finally survived an ordeal, but Feng Qing's next words left everyone without the strength to even leave.

"The chairman specifically instructed that the team must come here to drink medicine after every training session from now on."

"Merciful God! Please save your servants!"

"Shit! I'd rather play against all the strongest teams in the world every day than drink this stuff again!"

"You should say you'd rather sleep with the ugliest woman in the world ten times every night than drink this stuff again."

"Xiang! You pervert!"

"Wahahaha! Your expression is so lewd!"

Xiang Tao's antics immediately dispelled the players' depressed mood. No wonder Sabato appreciated this Chinese left-back so much. With him around, the team atmosphere was never a problem. Often, he was willing to be a clown for everyone to laugh at, just to ease everyone's emotions and divert their attention.

This kind of person was truly worthy of respect, and often wasn't as stupid as he appeared to be.

***

Strengthening physical training, increasing training volume, and supplementing it with the restorative effects of Chinese medicine effectively helped Fiorentina to quickly recover their stamina and get through the most difficult part of the marathon.

Of course, Feng Qing's Chinese medicine treatment was classified as confidential by the club, and no one was allowed to leak it in any form. Because Sabato was still hoping to catch their opponents off guard with it.

AC Milan and Chelsea must still think that Fiorentina's stamina was depleted, and that they were all weak and listless.

Sabato was an incredibly dark person inside, and very cunning. So he wanted to let his opponents continue to believe that. He liked seeing their surprised expressions, seeing their pain caused by miscalculations.

He liked this feeling of manipulating others, but of course, he couldn't overdo it.

The team's physical condition was gradually improving, and his mood was also improving. For a while, others were playing him, but now it was his turn to play others.

AC Milan, Fiorentina is coming!

***

Zhang Jun couldn't remember how many times he had played at the San Siro as an opponent of Milan. He didn't want to remember at all, because it was meaningless. But the media always tirelessly asked him, "How many times have you been to the San Siro?" Then some media outlets would authoritatively compile statistics on how many times Zhang Jun had been a guest at the San Siro, how many goals he had scored, and what Fiorentina's win rate was... and so on.

All of this was just to build momentum for Milan vs. Fiorentina.

The media had already chewed over his grievances with Milan countless times, making them known to everyone. Every year when he came to the San Siro as a guest, they had to chew them over again. Zhang Jun seriously doubted the media's lack of imagination.

In reality, he had long forgotten his initial grudges. After all, Ancelotti had already been dismissed, and the current Milan had already replaced the old with the new, and he hardly recognized anyone anymore. Any grudges with anyone were gone.

If he had to say what he still looked forward to in playing against Milan, it was because Milan had two good friends of his—Yang Pan and Kaka—and he was very much looking forward to playing against these two.

The current AC Milan had changed so much since Zhang Jun left. Inzaghi had retired, and Shevchenko was in semi-retirement. At thirty-four years old, he couldn't consistently maintain his best form anymore, and Milan had brought in Fabiano from Brazil to partner with Gilardino as their forward duo.

Pirlo, who had once played against Yang Pan in the Athens Olympics, was now thirty-one years old. Gattuso was thirty-two years old, and Ambrosini was thirty-three years old. Not to mention Milan's defense line, which had a tradition of taking care of veterans—Nesta was already thirty-four years old. Of course, they had also promoted many young players from the second team and bought players they needed from other places.

It was just that those aging faces made Zhang Jun feel the passage of time every time he saw them... too fast. In the blink of an eye, everyone had become thirty-year-olds, and he himself was gradually approaching that milestone.

At twenty-eight years old, he was at the golden age of his career. If he didn't achieve something earth-shattering, then all these years of hard work would really be in vain.

If he wanted to achieve the great cause of the treble, then he had to start by taking down AC Milan.

Even if he was facing his friends, he wouldn't hold back, because the current Zhang Jun was a professional player.

"Hey, Yang Pan, Kaka. Get ready to lose and treat me to dinner!" Zhang Jun said confidently to the two in the player tunnel.

***

Before the game, Van Basten believed that Fiorentina's recent poor physical condition was definitely not a deliberate act by Sabato, so AC Milan could take advantage of their home field to face the tired Fiorentina team with ease.

So he didn't demand so much from the team's pressing—he had to consider his own team's stamina.

But just seventeen minutes into the game, he realized that he was completely wrong.

He still hadn't figured out Sabato.

Kulu raised his hands high, standing still, and then Zhang Jun rushed over and lifted him high. The Fiorentina fans who had traveled a long way cheered wildly, celebrating their first goal at the San Siro!

"Ahahaha..." The Sky TV commentator kept laughing, because this goal was too dramatic.

First, Zhang Jun's shot was blocked by the young center-back Ponte, and then it bounced to Kulu's feet. Then Kulu's shot hit the post. Everyone thought that was the end of it, but Abbiati, who had just landed, stuck his butt out, and the rebounding ball just happened to go into the goal.

Strictly speaking, this was an own goal and wouldn't be credited to Kulu. But Abbiati would rather this goal be credited to Kulu, because he didn't want to be labeled with an "own goal," especially since he scored it with his butt... it was extremely embarrassing!

"Unlucky Abbiati, unlucky AC Milan! Haha..." The commentator was still laughing, and those Milan fans must have started to resent him.

Van Basten angrily threw down the water bottle in his hand, his emotions running high. His plan was originally designed to specifically suppress Fiorentina's offense, but the first goal conceded turned his plan into a mere illusion. Van Basten looked up at the sky outside the San Siro roof, illusions...

Damn it! What am I thinking!?

Van Basten rushed to the sidelines and waved his arms at Ambrosini. Ambrosini was the team's captain now, and he would relay everything to the other players on the field.

"No choice, abandon the previous tactics, we attack!"

Sabato saw Van Basten's gesture from the side. He naturally knew what it meant. Van Basten wasn't him, but Sabato had studied him thoroughly. He knew Van Basten wanted to attack, which was exactly what he wanted. Fiorentina wasn't afraid of any team in an all-out attack.

It had to be said that Sabato's luck was really good. Playing AC Milan away from home, he was still able to take the lead, and it was also the most demoralizing own goal for the opponent.

After conceding the goal, AC Milan launched a frantic counterattack. Their attack was like a tide, almost submerging Fiorentina's penalty area.

Yang Pan took the lead on the edge of the penalty area with a powerful shot that Frey punched out with both fists. Of course, the price he paid was falling directly backwards.

Although there was no goal, Yang Pan's subsequent waving of his arms made the San Siro explode. Everyone roared with him, vowing to completely suppress Fiorentina's arrogance.

Zhang Jun watched his actions from the side, thinking, "He really is a qualified Milan player. Once he's on the field, he doesn't care about brotherly feelings..."

Then Kaka showed his power. He dribbled the ball from behind the center circle, relying on the perfect combination of speed and skill, easily tearing through Fiorentina's central defense. But he didn't shoot directly like Yang Pan. Instead, he faked a shot and passed the ball to Gilardino, who was cutting in diagonally from the other side.

Gilardino pulled up smoothly, suddenly entered the penalty area, and then shot. At this moment, Xiang Tao appeared beside him. He only lifted his foot to shoot after seeing Xiang Tao make a sliding tackle. Then he fell to the ground, waiting for the referee to blow the whistle for a penalty.

Because his mind wasn't on the shot, the ball went wide. He heard the whistle, but it wasn't for Xiang Tao's foul, but for a warning for diving.

Gilardino stood up and spread his hands innocently, looking incredulous. But Xiang Tao roared in his ear, "Stop pretending! You don't have the talent for acting!"

Gilardino's expression changed, and he wanted to push Xiang Tao away. But in that moment of impulse, he remembered the Fiorentina team that the coach had analyzed for them:

A despicable and shameless team that would resort to any means to win. From the head coach to the players, they all had rogue-like styles. Kulu's petty tricks aside, this Xiang Tao wasn't a good guy either. When it came to acting, he was really more talented than him. If he impulsively made a move, even if he just lightly touched the other person, he would probably cover his face and fall to the ground in pain, then roll around non-stop. Then, that group of Fiorentina rogues would rush up and create a scene. Then he would just wait to get a card.

Thinking of this, Gilardino calmed down. He waved his hand, ignored Xiang Tao, and ran straight away.

But the Milan fans wouldn't let it go. The boos never stopped. As long as Xiang Tao got the ball, it was... deafening boos.

"God bless Fiorentina!" Di Livio sat in his seat, murmuring a prayer amidst the huge boos at the San Siro.

Sabato then pulled Di Livio up, "Angelo, now is not the time for worship. Open your eyes and watch. The gates of hell have already opened before us."

The boos and roars from the AC Milan fans in the stands of the San Siro almost drowned out everything else. They were angry because the arrogant Fiorentina was actually leading Milan at the San Siro and had escaped a penalty.

"This is the first game in April, welcome to hell." Sabato stood under the huge San Siro stands, spreading his arms and smiling.

Hearing this, Di Livio felt that the back of him in front looked even more like a demon with black wings spread, from hell, wantonly mocking those who cursed him because of fear.

Hell in April, whose hell will it be?

***

Zhang Jun was dribbling the ball down the wing, intending to pass the ball to the right, but just as he swung his foot, Yang Pan suddenly stole the ball from behind, causing him to stagger and almost fall to the ground. "I don't want to treat you to dinner anymore," Yang Pan said to Zhang Jun, looking back.

Zhang Jun steadied himself, then spat at Yang Pan's back, "Damn it! I'm going to eat you guys for sure today!"

"Zhang Jun suddenly takes a long shot from twenty-five meters! The ball is shot very cunningly! Ah! Beautiful! Abbiati leaps and tips the ball over the crossbar! Zhang Jun is a forward, but because his goals are mostly in the penalty area, many people think he's not good at long shots, but this shot shows us that as a forward, Zhang Jun can shoot from any position, any angle, any situation, and it's quite threatening!"

As the game progressed, the commentators and many discerning fans saw that the current Fiorentina had no stamina problems at all. They were running all over the field, actively fighting for the ball, making the AC Milan players suffer.

What exactly was going on?

"Have them all tested for drugs after the game!!" some dissatisfied Milan fans shouted.

Immediately, Fiorentina fans responded loudly, "Go to hell!!"

Sabato crossed his legs and sat on the coach's bench, watching the development of the situation on the field with satisfaction. Van Basten paced anxiously on the sidelines, occasionally glancing towards the Fiorentina coach's bench.

He must be feeling cheated now.

Could it be that Fiorentina's poor performance in the previous games was all an act? They didn't have any stamina problems at all?

Van Basten felt a chill, he thought this idea was too bold, too incredible.

It was impossible for any coach in the world to do something so crazy, deliberately losing games to trick him!

He felt that it was impossible. Fiorentina's early stamina loss was indeed a fact, and now their sudden improvement in stamina was also a fact. So there must be some mystery in it.

Van Basten didn't think about performance-enhancing drugs, although he knew a lot about these things. For example, the early Juventus incident and the Zeman incident clearly showed the world how dirty the Serie A league was. Today's professional leagues are becoming more and more intensive, with more and more games. If players don't rely on some drugs to help, they simply can't complete a full season. Those big players who dominated football in the late last century all admitted to taking performance-enhancing drugs, but they said they didn't know it was performance-enhancing drugs at the time.

Van Basten wasn't touching these things for the first time, but he still didn't think about that aspect, because even if his evaluation of Sabato was low and he didn't know him well, he knew that Sabato, a proud person, wouldn't use performance-enhancing drugs to help the team win. In addition, it was also out of his trust in Zhang Jun. A player who couldn't even fake a fall had no reason to use performance-enhancing drugs.

The media had reported that Fiorentina had been strengthening their physical training and increasing the amount of training during this period, so maybe these training sessions were now producing results.

But these results were coming out too quickly, right?

He remembered the match between Barcelona and Fiorentina, where they were miserably defeated because they pressed too hard and were then counter-attacked by Fiorentina.

He rushed to the sidelines and shouted loudly to the players on the field, "Settle down! Don't rush to press up! There's still a lot of time!"

Fiorentina's victory over Barcelona with counter-attacks had also caused quite a shock to the Italians. If Fiorentina's physical condition was okay, many teams would have to guard against their fast counter-attacks.

AC Milan heard Van Basten's instructions and withdrew their formation, giving Fiorentina a chance to breathe, but at the same time, it also gave themselves a chance to breathe. Several times just now, Fiorentina's counter-attacks had already posed a great threat. If Van Basten hadn't adjusted his tactics in time, AC Milan would really have been defeated by Fiorentina's counter-attacks.

***

At the same time as this match, Inter Milan was playing against Roma away from home. Mancini's ideal result was that they would win this match, and Fiorentina and AC Milan would draw, so that the gap would be widened again. He didn't see the situation on the field, but he heard the score. Fiorentina was leading AC Milan 1:0, which gave him a bad feeling. But soon his assistant told him that the goal was Milan's own goal, and he felt a little relieved.

What he was worried about at first was whether Fiorentina was leading AC Milan so quickly because their own strength had become so strong.

When he learned that Fiorentina was leading because of Milan's own goal, he felt relieved, only saying that it was because Fiorentina was lucky.

So now he could temporarily concentrate on dealing with the opponent in front of him.

The scoreboard still showed 0:0, but he believed that breaking the deadlock was only a matter of time. Adriano and Li Yongle were both in very good form, and the team's morale was high after winning first place. And although Roma was the home team and had recently won an important victory—they beat Fiorentina—the gap in strength between the two sides was still very obvious.

Inter Milan had been eliminated from the Champions League, and now they had plenty of stamina to deal with the domestic league. They weren't Fiorentina. The current Inter Milan wanted the league title more than the Champions League title.

***

At halftime, the scores on both fields had not changed. AC Milan was behind Fiorentina 0:1 at home, and Inter Milan was tied with Roma 0:0 away.

During the halftime break, Van Basten criticized the players for not concentrating and demanded that everyone launch a full-court press against Fiorentina in the second half. Now that Fiorentina had shown their strength, now was not the time for AC Milan to hold back. They needed to win the championship, and Fiorentina was no easier than them—besides the Champions League, there was also the Italian Cup.

Now was the time to see who could persist. Fiorentina's momentum was like a rainbow, and Milan wasn't a team that would drop the ball at a critical moment.

In addition to stabilizing their defense and preventing the opponent from counter-attacking, Van Basten still insisted on his Dutch-style all-out attack and defense tactics. The arrangement of three forwards made Milan extremely offensive, and at the same time, because the team retreated quickly and many people participated in the defense, there weren't many flaws.

On the other side, Sabato naturally praised his players well, giving him face at the San Siro. Then he warned everyone not to be complacent because of a one-goal lead. They had to know that this goal wasn't scored by them, but was a gift from the other side.

"If AC Milan attacks in the second half, we'll counter-attack. If they defend steadily, we'll deal with them. Anyway, we're leading. Anyway, we have the capital to sit back and watch the changes, and then see what tricks they come up with."

This was the advantage of leading, although it was luck, but if you wanted to win the championship, it would undoubtedly be a fool's dream without luck.

***

During Inter Milan's halftime break, the players were most concerned about not their own game, but the game held at the Meazza, the match between AC Milan and Fiorentina—this was also the highlight of this round of Serie A, a game broadcast to the world.

When they heard that Fiorentina was leading AC Milan away from home, everyone frowned. And Li Yongle and Adriano were more concerned about who scored the goal. When they heard that it was an own goal, the two breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.

Then the two looked at each other and smiled when they heard each other sigh.

***

The San Siro was still noisy in the second half. The home fans sang the classic "Milan, Milan." All of this was to give the home team confidence and encourage them to defeat Fiorentina.

Sabato yawned on the coach's bench in a very unseemly manner, "Still doing this... it's... ah... ha... useless! A football match isn't a choir performance." he said disdainfully, "Even if 100,000 people sing together, we'll still win the game we should win!"

Although what Sabato said was unpleasant, his reasoning was correct. The fans' influence was certainly great, but for a team with a stable psychological quality—or rather, a psychological quality that was rogue to the point of ignoring other interferences—being able to treat an away game as a home game meant that there was no game they couldn't win, unless God was standing on their opposite side.

What was the saying? The words are rough, but the principle is correct.

AC Milan's performance didn't exceed Sabato's expectations. Van Basten used an aggressive formation on the basis of a solid defense. Yang Pan was promoted from the position of right midfielder to right winger. His speed made Xiang Tao's side dangerous.

"Three forwards, three midfielders... all-out attack and defense." Sabato muttered to himself, stroking his chin.

Xiang Tao lowered his waist quite a bit, while constantly retreating with small steps. The person who could make Xiang Tao, a person who was not afraid of anything, make such a performance was naturally his captain in the national team, AC Milan's right winger, Yang Pan. At the beginning of the second half, when Yang Pan had just been promoted to right winger, Xiang Tao didn't take him seriously, and as a result, Yang Pan gave him a clean break with a forceful breakthrough. At that time, Sabato was shouting below to replace him, scaring Xiang Tao into not daring to slack off in the slightest.

In contrast to Xiang Tao's defensive stance, Yang Pan dribbled the ball slowly forward with his back straight.

"Hey, what are you doing with your butt sticking out?" Yang Pan still had the heart to provoke Xiang Tao.

"Of course, I'm paying tribute to your goalkeeper's performance in the first half..." Xiang Tao was not a pushover either, and immediately returned the favor.

Yang Pan wanted to dampen the other party's arrogance verbally, but he was bounced back. He stopped talking nonsense, and his upper body suddenly faked a move. Xiang Tao saw Yang Pan's body move, and knew that he was definitely going to break through. But as for whether he would cut to the inside or force his way around the outside, he had no idea.

Yang Pan jumped up, his right foot hovering over the football on the outside, but his body leaned to the inside. In this posture, he could easily bring the football to the inside, and then his body would accelerate past. But it couldn't be ruled out that there were other ways for him to break through. Xiang Tao couldn't see through Yang Pan's thoughts and his body didn't dare to move. He still just lowered his center of gravity and stared at the football.

Just as Yang Pan feinted with his right foot for the third time, he suddenly pushed the football from the outside, and then accelerated past Xiang Tao's left side!

Damn! A clean nutmeg! Xiang Tao only felt a gust of wind, and then he was cleanly broken through by Yang Pan.

As expected of AC Milan's main right-back. Being able to sit firmly as the main player in a world-class team, his strength was definitely not fake.

Yang Pan, who broke through Xiang Tao, didn't look at the penalty area, and lifted his foot for a cross.

Zhang Jun must be familiar with this kind of cross, because he didn't know how many times he had received this kind of ball before. But now this ball was not passed to him, but to the team's number one striker, Gilardino.

Crossing after a breakthrough was different from a fixed-point cross. In the case of a fixed-point cross, the crosser has plenty of time to adjust, so the success rate will be very high. But crossing after a breakthrough was really about not stopping the ball while running, but just adjusting one's running route, and then crossing directly. It was more difficult, but the threat was also higher. Because in a fixed-point cross, you have time to prepare the cross, and the opponent also has time to prepare the defense. But in a breakthrough cross, the crosser is running, and the defensive players are also running, so there are more gaps in the defense.

When it comes to today's football world, being able to break through the opponent's defense at high speed and then cross directly without stopping the ball. Yang Pan could undoubtedly rank in the top three.

This ball was passed very comfortably. The Fiorentina center-backs originally wanted to head the ball out first, but they didn't expect Gilardino to抢在them,冲抢the前点, and then a狮子甩头! (diving header).

In a football match, the most important point in defending against a cross is not to give up the front point defense, but the Fiorentina defenders made this mistake...

The football hit the net with a swoosh, and Frey was still stunned in place.

"goooooooooooal!!! AC Milan!! Gilardino! They tied the score!"

Yang Pan saluted Xiang Tao, who had just returned, with an American military salute: "Respect!" He finally vented his anger. Then he spread his arms and ran towards Gilardino to celebrate their goal.

Ujfalusi raised his hands helplessly. He didn't mark him closely enough, leading to the goal.

The San Siro suddenly resounded with huge cheers, while Sabato angrily kicked away the water bottle in front of him.

***

Rome Olympic Stadium.

"Tied?" Mancini turned his head to look at his assistant, who nodded with a walkie-talkie. The news was transmitted down from the stands via walkie-talkie.

"Who scored? How did they score?"

"Gilardino, Yang Pan's cross, he headed in at the near post." The assistant answered simply and clearly.

Mancini fell into deep thought, he didn't speak for a long time. Then he nodded, "It's good that it's tied, it's good that it's tied..." Now he could devote his energy back to the match in front of him.

Inter Milan and Roma hadn't scored until the fourteenth minute of the second half. He had to collect himself, otherwise if the game there ended in a tie, and his side also ended in a tie, then the great situation would be lost.

***

Sabato was shouting and cursing loudly on the sidelines, and his voice spread throughout the world through the developed television broadcast technology: "What the hell! Are you all eating shit?! You can't even keep an eye on such an obvious header at the near post! I said it all for nothing during halftime! I don't care what reasons you have! Get it back for me! Get it back! If they score one, we score one too! If we don't win this game, you all run back to Florence!!"

This scolding left the commentators speechless, not knowing what to say for a long time, because Sabato's cursing was too shocking.

After a long time, the guest commentator said with some embarrassment, "Maybe... we should ask the director to put a mosaic on this sound?"

Then the commentator next to him immediately said, "Don't worry, not everyone can understand Italian..."

The two laughed, and the matter passed. They couldn't dwell on this, the game wasn't over yet.

Sabato's roar really worked, because Fiorentina miraculously took the lead again three minutes after Milan scored.

This time, the goal was scored by Zhang Jun.

Kulu didn't break through from the center, but switched to the left. His sudden switch of position made Milan's defense a little chaotic, and then he took advantage of this chaos to break into the penalty area again from the left. Then, facing the defending Nesta and Abbiati who blocked the near corner, he didn't shoot, but crossed the football to Zhang Jun, who was following up in the middle without anyone marking him.

Facing the empty goal, Zhang Jun easily pushed the ball in.

"Goal! No suspense! Extremely easy! Zhang Jun scored his twenty-ninth league goal of the season! Now he is only one goal away from thirty goals! Soon he will fulfill his promise to treat the whole team to dinner."

After scoring, Zhang Jun ran towards Sabato and hugged him. Sabato also seemed to have completely forgotten how harshly he had cursed just now, and shouted to the players who rushed up to celebrate, "Haha! I knew you could do it!" He patted this one and patted that one.

And Van Basten had a gloomy face and didn't say a word. The Milan players had a similar expression to him.

Just having tied the score for less than three minutes, they gave this advantage away. How could they not be discouraged? How could they not be anxious?

So AC Milan's performance that followed made the commentators shake their heads and sigh continuously. Van Basten also seemed to have been angered by Sabato's jumping around on the sidelines, and didn't make timely instructions to save the defeat.

Milan's active mistakes increased, and Fiorentina became more and more relaxed. Kulu still humiliated the opponent in their own stadium again. This was a very annoying behavior, but Kulu enjoyed it, only proving that he was a complete bastard.

***

Due to the unsatisfactory results in recent seasons, coupled with the "economic problems" that the club's management occasionally reported, Roma, after selling many first-line stars, was no longer the powerful contender for the Serie A title, but had been reduced to a thorough second-rate team. Their goal every season now was to enter the European arena.

In today's Serie A, no one pays attention to them anymore. Cassano left, Chivu left, Mexes left, and Mancini Jr. also left... If Totti wasn't too old and no one wanted him, he would probably have left as well. Now it's good, staying in Rome has achieved the name of "loyalty."

The competition for the Serie A league title this season was thought to be between the northern three and Fiorentina again. Roma was a small team, no one paid attention.

However, it was often not the so-called heroes who changed history, but the unknown little people. And the ones who completely changed this Serie A season were not AC Milan, not Inter Milan, not Juventus, and not Fiorentina. It was precisely Roma, who were now considered to have declined.

After defeating Fiorentina, Roma had won three consecutive victories. The current Roma had no superstars. They relied entirely on a group of youngsters promoted from the youth team to fight the world, but they didn't expect the effect to be surprisingly good. Roma striker Cerci, who won the Serie A Best Newcomer Award in the past, was now Roma's main striker and top scorer. And his partner Simonetta also cooperated with him very well.

Even if they were facing the powerful Inter Milan in this round, the Roma youngsters didn't think they would lose. On the contrary, they thought they could win.

"What? Another goal?" Mancini felt that his mind was not enough.

The assistant nodded regretfully: "Sixty-fourth minute, Zhang Jun, scored to take the lead again."

"Damn it!" Mancini cursed in a low voice, but at the same time, he heard the shouts from the Olympic Stadium suddenly increase.

"What's going on?" He quickly turned his head to look at the field. He happened to see Roma's number 9 Cerci one-on-one with his goalkeeper Cesar. He swung his foot, Cesar fell down, he took his foot out, but the football skillfully passed over Cesar's body and fell into the