Chapter 30: The fierce battle at Meazza (1)
After getting Carnevale done, Zhuang Mingge continued to take Karin around Italy to see if he could find some "stars" and persuade them to play football in Qatar.
Under Zhuang Mingge's lobbying, Paul Rossi, the double winner of the 1982 World Cup Golden Boot and Golden Globe Awards, announced that he would join the Qatar Al-Arabi Club to promote the "football development" in the region;
Flvio Collovati, the main central defender of the 1982 World Cup champion team, also joined Al Arabi with Paul Rossi, who received a two-year $2 million contract.
Time always passes quickly. When the Italian players are working hard, it is the day when the second leg of the Italian Cup quarter-finals starts. The entire Fiorentina team is about to head north to challenge the traditional Italian giants Inter Milan at the Meazza Stadium.
In the previous first leg, Fiorentina defeated Inter Milan one-to-zero with a cheer from 45,000 fans at home with a supplementary shot from Philip Inzaghi.
Before this game started, Inter Milan was in poor form in Serie A, had lost four consecutive games and their rankings continued to decline. Inter Milan's head coach Osvaldo Banogli was anxious. Fortunately, the team performed well in the League Cup, which barely retained his coach position.
Since this game was related to whether Fiorentina could advance to the next round, Zhuang Mingge also put down his affairs and took Karin to the VIP room at the booked Meacha Stadium.
The Meacha Stadium was built on August 1, 1925 and completed on September 15, 1926. It has undergone three expansions. The last expansion was carried out to host the 1990 World Cup, expanding the stadium capacity to 85,000 people.
The Meazza Stadium is a stadium jointly owned by AC Milan and Inter Milan. The name of the stadium is to commemorate the legendary Italian scorer Giuseppe Meazza. However, due to the opposition between the two Milan heroes and the "identity" of Inter Milan, AC Milan fans usually call the previous name of the stadium - San Siro.
"Hello, Chairman Corleon." Zhuang Mingge had just stepped into the VIP box when he heard an old man's voice, and his tone seemed quite arrogant.
"Hello, Chairman Pellegrini." Zhuang Mingge nodded to the old man sitting in the private room, and pulled Kalin with a "signature smile" on his face to sit on the other side of the VIP private room.
But Pellegrini obviously doesn't want to let Zhuang Mingge go so easily: "Fiorentina played really well this season. After a large-scale reconstruction, it can actually rank first in the second division... By the way, Chairman Corleone, which team do you think will have a greater chance of winning in this game?"
When Zhuang Mingge heard this, he just smiled and didn't say anything, but he couldn't help but curse in his heart: Pellegrini, do you still want me to say that my team will lose?
Seeing Zhuang Mingge silent, Pellegrini seemed even more proud and chattered to himself: "Zeng Jia is the holder of the World Cup goal record. Tordo is too young and not stable enough; the defense line formed by Bergomi and others is also first-class in Serie A. By the way, Fiorentina's back line is also first-class, but at the Serie B level..." In short, the meaning is how strong the various positions of Inter Milan are. Fiorentina is no match for this Inter Milan at all.
Zhuang Mingge sneered in his heart: If it weren't for the fact that your Inter Milan eliminated the Premier League team Norwich entered the quarterfinals of the League Cup in the middle of last week, Inter Milan's current four consecutive rounds of victory in the Serie A league would be enough to make you upset. Wait and see, I remember very clearly that in the Serie A, Inter Milan only won two games from the 21st round of this season until the end of the 93-94 season, and the final points were only one point higher than the relegation line... If I don't know when I accidentally flapped my wings and let your Inter Milan lose one more game, then you can find someone to take the Nerazzurri to play in the second division next season.
Zhuang Mingge, who calmed down for a moment, decided to ignore the smug "Mr. Chairman" and signaled Karin to turn on the TV in front of her to watch the performance of the players on the field up close. Then the two brought their headphones together to listen to the commentary.
"Good afternoon, everyone, this is Italian National Television. I am the commentator of this game, Rao. Next, I will explain the second leg of the Italian Cup, from Fiorentina, who was unfortunately relegated last season, to challenge Inter Milan away."
"Since Inter Milan only lost one goal in the first leg, I think Banogli didn't want to admit defeat early in this game... Oh, Banogli formed a four-four-two formation: the goalkeeper was the strong Walter Zenga, and the defenders were Antonio Paganen, Ricardo Ferry, Sergio Batistini and Bergomi from left to right; in the midfield, Nikola Berti and Alessandro Bianchi were separated, Manicone and Vim Jonk partnered in the middle; the forward line consisted of "Ice Prince" Dennis Bergkamp and "Spirit Cats" Ruben Sosa.
Let's take a look at the lineup of Fiorentina in this game: the goalkeeper is Francisco Toldo, left back Jaluca Pesotto, right back Alessandro Bilindli, and the central defender combination is Aldo Filicano and Mark Uliano; Luigi Dibiagio, Stefan Effenberg, and Massimo Kripa start together, among which Dibiagio's position is a little further back, and should be a midfielder... Fiorentina still insists on the habit of not having a full-time full-time forward since the start of this season; Gabriel Batistuta serves as the forward center on the front line, and young player Philip Inzagi is cruising behind Bati and needs to find a chance to score. Yuri Djokaf, who is dragged in the end, is responsible for connecting the midfield. After joining Fiorentina, the Frenchman's position has retreated to the front midfield..."
"Both sides can be regarded as the main force in this game. It seems that the two coaches, Banogli and Ranieri, attached great importance to this game. Let me briefly introduce the recent performance of both sides. Fiorentina has so far led the Serie B so far. They have achieved 18 wins, 3 draws, 4 losses and 39 points in the 25 league games that have been played, and have maintained a record of 19 consecutive unbeaten games in the second division.
The home team Inter Milan is in poor condition recently. Although they eliminated Premier League team Norwich in the League Cup last week and advanced to the quarterfinals, Inter Milan has lost four consecutive rounds in Serie A, and Borgkamp's performance in the league is also disappointing..."
At this time, the on-site commentator of Meacha Stadium also began to introduce the list of players from both sides. Zhuang Mingge heard more of the fans' tsunami-like responses... The decisive battle on the stadium is finally about to begin!
Chapter completed!