After Fiorentina was tied 0-0 at home by Sampdoria in the first leg, many Italian media and experts began to declare that they were more optimistic about Sampdoria's championship:

"It's a fantasy to win at Feraris Stadium (Sampdoria's home court)."

"This Fiorentina is still too young. The oldest in the main lineup is 29-year-old Kripa, and there are 7 players under the age of 25! Faced with the experienced Sampdoria, these young people in Fiorentina still need to exercise."

"Almost all of these players in Sampdoria have experienced the baptism of the competition, and these little guys in Florence are still young!"

For a time, calls for Sampdoria to win the championship were rampant.

After the start of the second round, the performance of both sides seemed to confirm the views of the media and many public opinion before the game. The midfielder of Sampdoria, composed of Lombardo, Gulit, Catanic, Evani and Prat, completely suppressed the opponent's opponent's opponent, while Mancini ran back and forth in the gaps in the defense line of Fiorentina, looking for an opportunity to launch a fatal blow. Ranieri seemed to want to use the players' high-intensity fighting to disrupt Sampdoria's rhythm and consume the opponent's physical strength. However, from the scene, the players were running around on the football field like headless flies. Zhuang Mingge sat in the box, frowned and looked at the chaotic scene.

I have to say that Zhuang Mingge felt that Ranieri's tactics had made a big mistake. If Fiorentina used this high-tempo confrontation tactic in the last game, it might have won a big victory, because the Serie A had just ended for 3 days at that time, and Sampdoria's veterans had not recovered and consumed a season of physical fitness.

But now, these Samp players have been resting for a week. Fiorentina uses this tactic and faces a physically fit opponent. The effect they can receive will naturally be greatly reduced. Instead, the players will lose their defense due to excessive snatch...

The game was already in the 28th minute. Gulit cleverly avoided the robbery of Kripa and Dibiagio, and then used this abrupt pass to pass the ball directly. The ball directly penetrated the defense line between Juliano and Pesotto. Lombardo inserted from the right and received the pass and entered the penalty area. After attracting Toldo's attention, he cleverly divided the ball into the middle, and just hit the small penalty area. Mancini scored an empty goal, scoring one-to-zero.

Sampdoria's goal seemed to calm down some of the Fiorentine players who only knew how to fight. In the rest of the first half, Kripa, Effenberg and Djokav, several experienced players, well restrained the young players on the court who were eager to counterattack the score. The three used their skillful skills to pass the ball to each other without being impatient and suppressed the rhythm of the game.

Under the dispatch of several "old" players, Pesotto and others finally got out of their passionate state and stayed honestly in their own half to focus on defense. The Samp players on the court were also too old, so they were not very active in Fiorentina's backcourt pressing. Fiorentina gradually came out of the chaos at the opening.

So, for nearly twenty minutes of the first half, Fiorentina and Sampdoria spent such a stalemate. With the end of the injury stoppage time in the first half, the referee whistled and the game was halftime. Zi Lily fell behind and entered the second half.

Zhuang Mingge, who had been watching the competition in the private room, couldn't sit still anymore. He wanted to go to the locker room to see the situation, but he didn't expect that as soon as he got up, he was stopped by Karin who was sitting beside him.

"Tony, I know you are also worried about Fiorentina's performance. To be honest, I'm very anxious." Karin's tone was not as gentle as before, but with a hint of warning. "Maybe Claudio (Ranieli) is not an excellent head coach, but one thing you have to remember is that the team's locker room is the most taboo area for people outside of the coach and players to enter."

After listening to Karin's words, Zhuang Mingge also felt that his actions had been a bit rash, so he obediently sat back in his seat and waited for the start of the second half of the game.

*******

At this time, the atmosphere in the Fiorentine locker room was very depressing. Older players such as Kripa were helping the team's masseurs to recover the physical energy consumed in the first half of the game. Young players such as Inzagi and Dibiagio were silent, either drinking functional drinks in big mouthfuls or wearing a towel on their heads.

Claudio Ranieli walked into the locker room at this time and felt the heavy atmosphere in the room. He thought that the players the boss dug up were really good. No one had the idea of ​​a negative game even though he had been suppressed on the court.

After clapping his hands and focusing the players' attention on themselves, Ranieri took the lead in criticizing himself: "What happened in the first half, I admit that my tactical arrangement was wrong, and I didn't consider that when you were too much to grab, the opponent would be caught in the empty score..."

The players in Fiorentina have never seen the head coach who would actually make self-examination. They were all stunned for a moment, no one interrupted, and they all stayed there and listened quietly to Ranieri.

"...I've thought about it. Since the Chairman said that to make Florence a top-notch family, I think Florence must have its own consistent technical and tactical style. What will our style look like after the reconstruction of Florence? Who can tell me?" As he said that, Ranieri's eyes glanced at everyone in the locker room.

Effenberg took the lead in expressing his opinion: "In terms of defense, it is chain defense and area marking. Players must immediately counterattack after losing the ball, and there is also a high-level compression pressing."

"Sterfan is right." Ranieri nodded in approval, suddenly changed his tone and became stern, "Since you all know the team's tactics, I just emphasized the need to strengthen the pressing of opponents before the game today, but how did you do it? They only know how to chase the ball and run around! This is the result of your training together over the past year?"

Many people lowered their heads in shame. They had never had any experience of fighting opponents of Sampdoria. Coupled with the tension in the finals and the strong sense of oppression given by their opponents, they unconsciously forgot a lot of things they usually train. However, the many games with Sampdoria made them learn a lot and gradually adapt to the rhythm of the game of the strong Serie A team. For example, Inzaghi, he almost used Paliuka to stand in front and scored in the last few minutes of the first half.

"Our opponent Sampdoria is different from Inter Milan I met before. After leaving the 'Trojans', Inter Milan lacks a domineering and oppressive force. Therefore, in my opinion, your performance is normal in the previous game against Sampdoria, because Sampdoria's team that reached the Champions League finals were still there. The pressure they unconsciously released during the game was enough to make many teams surrender because they could not bear the pressure when they were halfway through the game. But what makes me happy is that no one in the team has the idea of ​​surrendering in advance." Ranieri's eyes patrolled the entire locker room and found that the players' eyes began to become calm and firm, and it seems that they have basically adapted to the pressure of fighting with top teams in the previous and a half games. "Let me talk about the arrangement of the second half..."

*******

At the beginning of the second half, neither side made a substitution. Zhuang Mingge in the box was surprised to find that the Fiorentine players seemed to have completely returned to normal, and he kicked his most familiar tactics with a stern look.

Effenberg passed the ball to the left, Pesotto dribbled through, and passed the ball to Djokav who was receiving it before Katanic arrived, instead of just rushing forward like in the first half;

Dibiagio and Kripa temporarily replaced each other and took advantage of Evani's chance to observe Fiorentina's half-time opportunity to intercept the ball, but there was no defensive loss;

Instead of making a rash shovel like before, Bilindley almost stuck to Gulit, and refused to let him dribble through smoothly;

Mancini was completely submerged in the sea of ​​Fiorentina. As a second striker, he could not catch the ball in the dense crowd.

The situation of the game was gradually reversed by the tenacious Fiorentian players. Under the Fiorentian defense, veterans such as Gulit had already suffered from insufficient physical fitness. Once when the ball was dead, Catanic even held his knees with both hands and gasped heavily.

"The most loss-making deal for Sampdoria was to sell Viali. Without Viali, the high center forward, attracting firepower, Mancini almost lost half of it." Zhuang Mingge told Karin in the box. At the same time, his later experience also verified this point. In the few seasons that Mancini played his best, he always had a strong center around him. "Although Mancini broke out alone and replaced the offense with Lombardo and Gulit, the lack of positional warfare cannot be compensated by this level of tactics."

Although the score is behind, the momentum of Florence on the court has gradually increased. They are brewing a Jedi counterattack!
Chapter completed!