Even in the end, Chang Sheng did not fall into the pit dug by the media.
He insisted on not commenting on the referee's approach.
This frustrated those who were waiting to teach him a lesson.
I thought to myself, how come Chang Sheng, who usually talks carefreely and has a bad mouth, suddenly changed his gender?
After losing the game against Chievo, Chang Sheng actually didn’t take it too seriously.
Undefeated in the first season, which is something I don't even dare to think about winning for a long time. There is always a loss, and the players' performance is not stable enough, especially after the UEFA Cup knockout rounds began.
Since he has decided to win the UEFA Cup, the top four in the league will be enough.
Chang Sheng decided to focus on the UEFA Cup.
In a few years, the UEFA Cup will be gone, and he won’t be able to win this championship even if he wants it.
Just like collecting things, out-of-print things always have the highest value.
If the UEFA Cup is not out of print, it is far inferior to the Champions League. But once it is out of print, Chang Sheng will just collect them and put them away.
Lazio welcome their UEFA Cup quarter-final opponents Zenit St. Petersburg in midweek.
Chang Sheng knows how difficult it is for Zenit St. Petersburg to play away games when the weather is cold.
It can still feel a little cold in Italy in early March, not to mention St. Petersburg further north.
So what the team needs to do to win is to try to win as many goals as possible in the first round at home.
It's not a question of winning or not, but how many.
If the score is just 1:0 or 2:1, then Lazio will have to prepare to fight hard when they go to the away game.
The impact on the entire following season will be profound.
Chang Sheng was unwilling to do this.
He wanted to ensure a big score victory in this game.
※※※
At their home court, Lazio increased the speed to the highest level from the beginning of the game, without considering whether they could last to the end of the game at this pace.
Even the commentators doubted whether Lazio, who played like this, could maintain this rhythm throughout the game.
The only requirement for a team to win consistently is to score goals as quickly as possible and as many goals as possible.
In the first ten minutes of the game, Lazio took the lead.
Pandev opened the scoring for the team.
Five minutes later, Lazio scored another goal. This time it was Jose Passarella who expanded the score with a header from a corner kick.
Next, Zenit St. Petersburg began to recycle their formation. They realized what Lazio was going to do - they were going to kill the suspense of the two-leg match at home!
Zenit St. Petersburg naturally cannot let them succeed.
So Advocaat no longer cared about the situation and asked the entire team to return to defense to compress Lazio's space and time.
But at this time, Zenit St. Petersburg had fallen into Lazio's rhythm. They were not used to the fast pace and were led by Lazio in a disorganized manner.
Before the end of the first half, another goal was conceded.
During the halftime break, the players were allowed to eat and regain their strength and rest for fifteen minutes. The high rhythm continued in the second half.
When Chang Sheng found out that a player couldn't hold on, he would make a decisive substitution.
Ensure that the team's speed does not slow down due to the physical decline of one player.
In the 75th minute, Chang Sheng had already used all three substitutions, and then he began to slow down the pace, start to control the ball, and use the ball to defend.
At this time, the score of the game was already 4:0, and Lazio almost killed the suspense of the second round.
The fast-paced and high-confrontation style of play that always wins makes Zenit St. Petersburg helpless and helpless.
The next time becomes garbage time.
Zenit St. Petersburg was beaten to the point of losing their spirits, and they didn't do much fighting.
Until the end of the game, the score never changed.
Lazio beat Zenit St. Petersburg 4-0 at home.
Reporters all believed that Lazio had advanced to the quarterfinals ahead of schedule.
But Chang Sheng doesn’t see it that way.
"4:0? They still have a chance when they return home. I don't think we can start celebrating now."
Chang Sheng said this at the post-match press conference.
Advocaat looked very frustrated: "We lost, I don't want to lie, in fact Lazio performed very well, their football is like coming from an alien planet, not from the same planet as ours... Second round? Me
have no idea……"
Since then, the ever-victorious Lazio has earned a nickname.
"Team Space"!
When Chang Sheng saw such a title in the media, he almost spit out the milk in his mouth while drinking milk.
Team Space?
Isn’t that Barcelona’s dream team?
As fans back then, everyone teased each other on the forum. When talking about Barcelona, they would use the nickname Cosmos. This title was not always complimentary.
Unexpectedly, my team has replaced Barcelona and become the Cosmos team...
Chang Sheng wonders what kind of mentality everyone in Chinese forums will have when they call Lazio Team Cosmos...
"Cosmos Team" Lazio defeated Reggina 3:1 in the next league, while Juventus was tied 0:0 by AC Milan at home. The point difference between the two sides narrowed from three points to one point. Juventus
We are in a very dangerous situation again.
Chang Sheng openly mocked Juventus for not living up to expectations at the post-match press conference.
In the UEFA Cup away game in midweek, Lazio lost 0:2 in the ice, snow and howling wind of St. Petersburg. However, they still advanced to the quarterfinals with a total score of 4:2.
Chang Sheng is getting closer to one of his goals this season - the UEFA Cup championship!
※※※
Lazio got a good draw in the UEFA Cup.
Their opponent in the quarter-finals is Sevilla.
A Spanish team.
As soon as I play a Spanish team, I feel very relaxed and relaxed when I win.
Because he is very familiar with the Spanish team.
Sevilla has gradually grown up in La Liga in the past two years. Without the suppression of Valencia, many teams in La Liga have emerged, and they are expected to compete with the traditional duo.
This Sevilla team is very different from the Sevilla team that Chang Sheng first came into contact with. There are many powerful stars in the team.
But they are all old acquaintances of Chang Sheng.
Their main goalkeeper is Palop. Yes, it is the same Palop who came as a substitute for Canizares in the ever-victorious Valencia. After Chang-Sheng left Valencia, he was also eager to find a new world, so he applied
Leave. Soler, who was troubled by debt problems, sold him to Sevilla without saying a word.
In addition, Sevilla also had Daniel Alves, who later became Barcelona's main right back, Saviola, a forward who was loaned from Barcelona, and Luis Fabi, who later became the main forward of the Brazilian national team in the World Cup in South Africa.
Arnold, the star of hope in the Brazilian midfield, Renato, the famous high center forward Kanoute, Spain's outstanding winger Jesus Navas, and Puerta, who later died young due to heart disease, is still there.
Still alive.
It is no wonder that such a team will win two UEFA Cup championships in a row in the next two years. Under the leadership of Juande Ramos, it will beat giants such as Real Madrid and Barcelona to become the best team of the year.
But Chang Sheng is not afraid of them.
He is very familiar with Spanish football and Spanish teams, and he knows how to deal with Sevilla.
And looking at the other three groups of opponents, their strength is not that great.
Maybe only one Schalke 04 has some ability.
Sofia Levski was defeated by Lazio in the group stage.
Rapid Bucharest and Steaua Bucharest are both Romanian teams. Although Steaua Bucharest is a giant in the Romanian league, in the European arena, they have long lost their threat.
Basel and Middlesbrough from Switzerland are similar in strength, but they do not pose a threat to regular wins.
As long as Lazio defeats Sevilla, it will basically clear the obstacle to winning the championship.
Playing in the UEFA Cup will obviously lead to faster results than playing in the league.
The UEFA Cup quarter-finals begin at the end of March, which is only a week and a half away, with two league games in between.
There is not much time left to prepare for victory.
In order to prepare for the UEFA Cup, Chang Sheng gave up the league.
In the 30th round of the league, they challenged Inter Milan away from home.
In the first half of the season, in order to win, Chang Sheng did whatever it took to insult Mancini, angered him, and allowed the team to win the game.
Now Chang Sheng is not interested in the outcome of the game, so he seems calm and quiet before the game. He doesn't care whether he wins or loses. His heart is already in the UEFA Cup.
As a result, Lazio lost to Inter Milan 1:2 in an away game and lost their second game of the season.
After the game, in response to a reporter's question about "Does losing two games mean that Lazio has begun to decline?" Chang Sheng replied: "Juventus lost earlier than us. Are they going downhill?"
The reporter was speechless when asked the question.
Chang Sheng took advantage of the victory and pursued it: "In the future, you should stop asking stupid questions like this. When Lazio loses ten games in a row, you can ask. But is it really going to happen one day?"
In his coaching career where he lost ten games in a row and always won, whether in Getafe or Valencia, even in Roma, which was the lowest point in his personal coaching career, he never lost ten games in a row...
So, this day may never come.
※※※
Lazio lost again, while Juventus won again, and the points gap between the two sides widened again to four points.
But with eight rounds left in the league, Juventus does not feel safe at all.
Lazio's performance this season has shown that it is normal and possible for them to create any miracles.
In order to ensure a greater lead, they must go all out.
Juventus are right to have this idea.
Because in the next thirty-one round, Lazio defeated Sampdoria 2:0 at home, while Juventus was tied 1:1 at home by Roma.
The point difference between the two sides narrowed to two points again.
Although Roma and Lazio are mortal enemies in the same city, Roma are also mortal enemies with Juventus. Maybe their defeat or draw with Juventus will give Lazio an advantage, but it is absolutely impossible for them to surrender in the face of death.
So Roma objectively helped Lazio...
At least they didn’t deliberately lose to Barcelona by a huge score in order to disgust their city rival Real Madrid like Atletico Madrid did. Roma is still somewhat moral... (To be continued. Please search Piaotian Literature, the novel will be better and updated faster!)