Chapter 365 Juventus

Arsenal and Juventus didn't have any feud.

The two teams' past encounters, dating back to 1979, 2002, and 2006, held no reference value for the present year of 2017.

The Champions League semi-final was imminent.

The English and Italian media engaged in a war of words without bloodshed.

The Sun enjoyed satirizing Juventus the most.

Its front-page headline was a cartoon: Tall and mighty red and white warriors wielding muskets and firing cannons, blasting the walls bearing the Juventus flag into rubble!

Tuttosport's counterattack was gentler:

The front-page headline was also a cartoon: The two-year-old mascot, the zebra "j," was angrily chasing away a crying black-haired boy wearing an Arsenal number 10 jersey.

The animal leaping high in the Juventus logo is not a zebra, but a bull, one of the background cultures of the city of Turin.

However, in September 2015, the club officially launched a mascot - the zebra "j."

Interestingly, various parties were also speculating about the outcome of the first leg between the two teams.

In his program "Teach You How to Become a Ceremonial Midfielder," Kroos inserted a five-minute bonus segment:

"First, the conclusion, I think this game will be a draw."

"We can carefully review Morata's activity heatmap throughout the season at Arsenal."

"He tends to attack on the left side more often during the game. Arsenal doesn't have the midfield strength of the Spanish national team. They have to put Giroud on the field to threaten Juventus' goal during the autonomous attacking phase, thereby completing the attack."

"But if Giroud is on the field, Arsenal won't have the advantage in midfield numbers. Li will easily have his ball-releasing speed disrupted by the opponent's localized numbers, yes, disrupted."

"Looking at Juventus, they have a fatal flaw: They are too slow overall compared to Arsenal, and their efficiency in converting attacks is low."

"If they put Cuadrado, who has slightly stronger explosive speed, on the field, Juventus' preemptive attack will hardly pose a threat to Arsenal's low defensive line."

"Spear and shield, the natural flaws of both, will create a draw."

Comment section.

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[Teacher Tony doesn't understand football, confirmed, if I don't win Juventus first leg with the money I saved for the bride price!]

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[Bro, what era is this? Allegri really doesn't like playing the chain defense, the Juventus he leads is very aggressive.]

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[The tactical evolution of Serie A is also very fast, and the functions of the defenders are becoming more and more abundant, but the individual combat power feels not as good as the previous generation.]

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[Has Buffon ever won the Champions League?]

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[What to do? I put all my money on Arsenal winning the first leg!]

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[Silly, I bet everything on Arsenal advancing.]

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[Kroos is just predicting, football is round, anything can happen.]

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[But he predicted Paris Saint-Germain 1-1 Chelsea last season.]

Arsenal's legendary stars also expressed their views.

Henry believes that even if Arsenal has a large-scale rotation, they should pay attention to preventing player injuries and not lose the Premier League title and FA Cup title because of the Champions League.

Bergkamp said: Arsenal will win the treble.

On the other side.

Juventus legends seemed not to care about the outcome.

Platini said in an interview: "If Li can defeat the Bianconeri (Juventus), he is likely to win the Champions League top scorer in a single season as a midfielder like I did."

"The club must do a good job in stadium security. The Heysel Stadium disaster is a nightmare I can't escape for the rest of my life."

Piero's view was a bit vague: "Juventus is always a little short of the Champions League title. If they can find the Zebra Prince of this era, they will return to the top of Europe."

The days leading up to the Champions League semi-final were still ample.

North London, drizzling.

Puma exhibition booths were set up outside the Emirates Stadium, and the players' jerseys swayed in the wind and rain.

After the addition of Li Kang, Xhaka, Morata and others, Arsenal's global jersey sales ranked fourth!

The top of the list was not Barcelona, ​​nor Real Madrid, but Manchester United, which had the most mature level of commercialization.

During this historical period, Manchester United had a very large fan base worldwide. Fans who had witnessed the Red Devils' glory as children grew up and became the main consumer group.

There was still some time before the autograph session officially started.

Morata was being interviewed by reporters.

"Juventus fans were very good to me, even when I was in a long goal drought, they kept encouraging me, unlike the Bernabéu."

"Llorente would drive me to the training base every day, and my fiancée and I met in Turin, online dating."

"Yes, after I came to Arsenal, I met all the coaches who had coached me before, Mourinho, Ancelotti, Allegri."

"Juventus bought Higuain at the time, and my style was not very compatible with Allegri's rebuilding framework, but sporting director Paratici wanted to keep me, it was too chaotic, so I chose Li. Arsenal is the team I dreamed of joining as a child."

Half an hour later.

The autograph event was about to begin.

Li Kang's handwriting was slightly better, he worked very seriously, after all, Puma and Arsenal gave him a very high share of jersey sales.

When he encountered beautiful female fans or crossover stars, his little assistant would lean in and remind him in time: Take a symbolic photo.

The fans on site came from all over the world, but there were no strange customs.

Li Kang easily spent a pleasant afternoon.

As the event was coming to an end.

He saw a familiar Asian teenage face.

Yu Zhen.

The Asian girl who was almost never absent from every Arsenal home game and event.

She was 18 years old this year.

Like a honey peach gradually fading its greenness, becoming more and more rosy and ripe.

The Arsenal team badge on her chest was bulging high.

Her long black hair was covered in raindrops.

Li Kang smiled politely. Every time he saw her, he would think of Van Gaal, Pellegrini, and Ms. Skaya on his trip to South Korea that year.

Feeling the faint fragrance, he signed his name as usual.

Yu Zhen didn't say anything. She happily raised the signed jersey and handed Arsenal's number 10 a note when she left.

It was still not a phone number.

But some words of blessing for the Champions League.

As she grew older and her thoughts matured, her "star-chasing" mentality was not as fanatical as before, and she gradually fell in love with Arsenal as a club.

The expectations of Gunners fans around the world were consistent: They hoped that Arsenal would create history, win the Champions League title, and that Wenger and Li Kang would climb to the top of Europe together and lift the big-eared cup.

Wenger smiled wryly.

It wasn't all about worrying about how to deal with Juventus.

The professor's preemptive layout couldn't restrain coaches of the Conte, Guardiola, and Mourinho style, but it still had advantages against Allegri, who had the "anti-positional attack philosophy."

He worried: "Li is about to take the exam."

Bould twitched the corner of his mouth and muttered in a low voice: "Does a 200 million man still have to go to school?"

(End of this chapter)