Chapter 247 The new prince of Rome
The news that Batistuta won the European Golden Ball Award quickly caused a big sensation in Fiorentina and even the entire Europe. After all, as the first non-European player to win this honor, it naturally attracted widespread attention from fans around the world. And Batistuta's Fiorentina played for naturally took advantage of this momentum to show off her face in front of fans around the world, letting people know that Italy is not only the top three in the Northern Three and Naples, but also a team named Florence that can suppress them to top the Serie A.
With the efforts of Manager Kenion, who is responsible for the club market operation, and especially with the help of Adidas, the vast platform, Bati and Florence have seen a significant increase in popularity around the world.
At the same time, Barty's award this time declared the world the undeserved dominance of the Serie A. After all, no country's top league can be as domineering as the Serie A. It can give birth to the eleven-player "European Footballer" in fourteen years.
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After a short Christmas holiday, the Fiorentine players who had eliminated the fatigue accumulated in the first half of the game gathered at the training base on time on the third day after the New Year to start preparing for the next game.
After all, on January 7, Fiorentina will usher in its first game after the New Year. The entire Purple Lily team will go south to challenge the "Red Wolf" Rome that day.
Before the game, the media agreed that Fiorentina, which had won five consecutive league wins before the winter break, would win easily in this round. After all, from the card, Purple Lily's lineup is much stronger than its opponent Roma. At this time, Roma is not the top team with countless famous players at the turn of the century. Florence has grown into a strong team that has attracted the attention of European giants.
Ranieli was obviously confident in winning this game. He was the first to announce the starting lineup against Roma the day before the match against Roma. However, in the arrangement of the troops, it can be seen that Ranieli did not have any pride and underestimation of the enemy. Apart from Kripa, who was unable to play due to a cold and Lanna, who was suspended from accumulating yellow cards, all the main players of Fiorentina played. Obviously, the pot-making maker planned to use a victory to welcome the new year in the first game after the winter break.
The trend of the game was indeed as expected by the media before the game. From the beginning of the game, Fiorentina suppressed Roma, which had a home advantage in all aspects. Purple Lily, who was heading away, won the first goal of the club in 1996 six minutes after the opening whistle. Batistuta, who had just won the European Golden Ball Award, received Fortunato's cross from the left, beat Ardale to score a header, 1-0;
Roma, who was behind in the score, was unwilling to be swallowed by the bitter fruit of the defeat. After the kick-off, they immediately launched a counterattack.
The offensive combination of Jainini and Balbo was indeed a top-notch frontcourt configuration a few years ago. The 32-year-old prince is obviously unable to do it. Although his physical fitness has declined significantly, although his skills and consciousness are still as outstanding as ever, under the care of the young and strong Davis and Dibiagio, it is difficult for the old prince to use normal technical movements, let alone provide pass support for Balbo on the front line.
In this way, when Roma's offense was unable to open the situation, Fiorentina, who played away, expanded its lead in the 28th minute of the game. Gianni dribbled the ball and was intercepted by Davis. Rui Costa, who received the ball, turned half and sent a 40-meter long pass directly through the entire defense of Roma's team. Robert Baggio, who successfully counter-offside, easily drifted past the Roma goalkeeper who attacked and scored, and the score became 2-0! Although Fiorentina had many opportunities since then, it was unable to convert it into a goal, and the score remained until the end of the first half.
When the referee blew the whistle to the end of the game in the first half, thousands of Fiorentine fans who came from afar were rejoicing - they celebrated their outstanding performance in the first half.
However, facing the unfavorable situation where he was suppressed by Fiorentina and scored one goal in the first half by Bati and Baggio, Roma head coach Mazoni responded calmly and replaced the poor "Prince of Rome" Giuseppe Gianini during the break with the young player Francisco Toti, who has made rapid progress this season, and handed over the team's offensive organization's heavy responsibility to the young player under the age of 20.
As a result, Mazoni's substitution became the turning point of the game. Toti, who came on the bench, showed no sign of stage fright. He relied on his skills and dribbling ability to deal with the entire defensive system of Fiorentina, and at the same time used unremitting running to connect players in every position of the team.
Under Totti's command, the Roman players who were defeated by Fiorentina in the first half were reorganized and fought several sharp counterattacks.
In the 62nd minute, Davis passed the ball to Effenberg in the middle and was intercepted by Totti who suddenly robbed. The latter dribbled the ball and passed it over to Davis who was chasing him and Dibiagio in the front. Facing the defense of his friend Nesta, he calmly passed the ball to the unguarded Balbo. This Bati's compatriot did not disappoint Totti's expectations and scored a strong shot for Roma, and the score became one-to-two.
The Red Wolves players who saw hope of equalizing the score rekindled their fighting spirit in the following time. Roma, who increased the offensive strength, scored another goal in the 78th minute of the game. Toti and Balbo made two consecutive passes and one-on-one cooperation in the frontcourt to the front of the Fiorentine penalty area. Finally, the Argentinian successfully passed the ball to Toti under Ferrara's defense, and Toti directly shot with his right foot on the penalty area line!
In this way, with more than ten minutes left in the game, Roma, who was two goals in the first half, magically tied the score to two-to-two!
The lead was tied by the opponent, and Fiorentina was naturally unwilling to be so frustrated. Therefore, in the following time, the players of Purple Lily launched a tide attack on the goal of Roma. However, this time, the Roma defense line led by Brazilian central defender Ardell. Fiorentina's several extremely threatening shots were blocked by the Roma defenders, leaving Purple Lily back in vain. Especially in the injury stoppage time of the game, Costa took a corner kick, and Inzagi, who replaced Baggio, fell to the ground and kicked five meters in front of the goal. The goalkeeper of Roma was beyond the reach, but the ball was blocked by the Brazilian on the goal line and cleared the penalty area.
Chapter completed!