green shooter

Chapter 183 Returning to the League
"Zhu Hantao, you stop here. Do you have anything to say about such a result?"

Facing the bitter fruit of failure, Zhu Hantao originally had nothing to say, but the reporter couldn't let him go easily, there was no other way.

"We all tried our best, today's opponent Manchester United is a very good team, Cristiano Ronaldo is a very good player, he scored two key goals in today's game.

This result is of course a bitter result for us, but I think in the next time, our team can focus on Serie A, we will do our best to win and never let the championship fall by the wayside. "

It is true that the Inter Milan League Championship is basically stable, so there is nothing wrong with boasting.

"In the two rounds, Inter Milan was the only one who scored a goal. Do you feel that your teammates are not very good?"

"Well, I can't say that, my teammates are all very good players, and I can't score goals without their support.

Just because they didn’t score a goal doesn’t negate the role they played in the game. Our game is one person and one whole. Winning is not due to one person, and losing must be everyone’s responsibility.

And tonight's luck is not on our side, such as Zlatan, and Mario, they both hit the post, if they can score one more goal, the result will be different. Unfortunately, the goddess of fate is on the side of Manchester United. "

"This season's Champions League journey has come to an end, do you regret it?"

"I, like everyone else in the team, really want to win this trophy, it's an important goal for us this season.

Before the game, I thought I must play my best level. We came to Manchester full of confidence, we were full of enthusiasm for this game, and we all did our best to win it.

It's a pity that the final result is not what we wanted. There must be regrets, but since there is no way to change it, let's look forward. I believe we are thinking about a good direction for development.

Under the leadership of coach Mourinho, even if we fail this time, we will succeed next time. "

"Zhu Hantao, are you satisfied with your performance in your first Champions League trip? How would you rate yourself out of [-]? Is there anything else you want to say?"

"It's not a problem for you, hahaha.

How should I put it, this is my first time playing in the Champions League, the Champions League is completely different from the league.

In the Champions League, we have to fight against strong teams from various European countries, some of them are far away and go to an unfamiliar country, so the away game will always be very difficult.

I enjoyed the UEFA Champions League very much, and enjoyed playing and competing with some stars who can only be seen on TV.

As for my performance, let me give myself seven points. I still have a lot of room for improvement. I hope I can help the team beat their opponents and make a bigger breakthrough in the Champions League next time. "

"Okay, thanks for your answer."

"Thank you."

Mourinho's team was eliminated from the Champions League, and the much-anticipated Serie A champions Inter Milan did not go further in the European arena, which also allowed the Italian media to seize the talk.

Countless reporters who pointed at Mourinho's meal went back and wrote overnight, writing vivid and interesting reports, with praise and criticism, so that the fans did not know who to believe.

An article titled "Inter Milan stopped the Champions League quarter-finals again, the same ending process" said:

Inter Milan once again stopped in the quarter-finals of the European Champions Cup, but this time, there is an essential difference from the previous eliminations. Some positive things that Mourinho brought to this Inter Milan have begun to appear.

Compared with the previous three times, this time Inter Milan let people see their hard work and determination. Even as a guest at Old Trafford, in the game, they faced Manchester United's main defense and created several good opportunities, and the players continued to fight until the last moment of the game.

At the last moment, Ibrahimovic's movements have been deformed under the non-stop running of the audience. This is extremely rare in past games. At least this time, Inter Milan really tried their best.

Another difference between this exit and the previous ones is that at least in the previous two exits, Inter Milan was considered to have drawn a "good lottery", but this time it was drawn by one of the two teams recognized as the strongest.

This is the difference brought by Mourinho, "I have passed on the joy of the idea of ​​​​eliminating the defending champion at Old Trafford to the players."

When Manchester United was drawn by lottery, Mourinho said that "I am happy to be able to draw the strongest team". He passed his confidence to the team in this way. Today we see Inter Milan in the knockout round of the Champions League, at least it is no longer the "mental patient" a few years ago.

And the other article "Out Again, Mourinho Can't Recover" directly pointed out that Mourinho's team was beaten by Ferguson's Manchester United without temper, and stopped in the top [-] just like last year. It does not appear that Mourinho has brought any changes to Inter Milan.

In order to allow Inter Milan to make a breakthrough in the Champions League, Moratti invited Mourinho with a high salary, and at the same time signed a lot of money, but it seemed to have little effect.

Also based on the entire Serie A review article, the author "Serie A Creates the Worst Champions League Results" expresses his own views on the performance of the Serie A team in the Champions League this season:

As Arsenal eliminated Roma in a penalty shootout, the top three in Serie A finally stopped in the Champions League quarter-finals.

Although the exit methods of the three Serie A teams are quite tragic, one fact that cannot be concealed is that for the first time since the 2001-02 season, no Serie A team has entered the top 8 of the Champions League.The Serie A, which has continued to decline, has fallen to the bottom.

In the 2001-02 season, Serie A was at a low ebb, Parma was eliminated in the qualifying stage, and only 3 Serie A teams participated in the group stage.

In the first stage of the group stage, Lazio was eliminated at the bottom of the group, and only Roma and Juventus advanced to the top 16.

At that time, the UEFA Champions League also adopted a group round-robin system in the round of 16. As a result, Juventus was at the bottom of the group, and Rome was squeezed out of the top 8 by Liverpool because of the outcome.That was the last time before this season that Serie A did not have a team in the Champions League quarterfinals.

But since then, the record of at least one Serie A team advancing to the top 6 for 8 consecutive seasons has finally come to an end this season.

From the trend point of view, in the past 6 years, Serie A as a whole has also shown a downward trend year by year: the 02-03 season is the peak period of Serie A: 3 teams entered the semi-finals, and AC Milan and Juventus met in the final;
The 03-04 season experienced a small twists and turns, only Milan entered the top 8;
However, in the 04-05 season, it rebounded again, 3 teams reached the top 8, and Milan entered the final;

In the 05-06 season, the top three ranked among the top 8;
In the 06-07 season, Milan and Roma advanced to the top 8, and AC Milan won the championship;

In the 07-08 season, only Rome reached the quarter-finals...

This trend also truly reflects the changes in the overall strength of Serie A in recent years.Before Calciopoli, AC Milan and Juventus were in their heyday. The two strong players who have fought in the Champions League all the year round have both experience and strength, so they can guarantee the competitiveness of Serie A in the Champions League.

Behind Telephone, Juventus was in a slump, and AC Milan focused on the Champions League with no hope of winning the league championship. Therefore, it created a miracle in 07. However, the upstarts in Serie A relying on Teleport, such as Chievo and Fiorentina, obviously lacked experience and quality in the Champions League.

As AC Milan suffered from financial problems and suffered a great loss of strength, Serie A lost the last expert in the Champions League, which eventually led to Serie A's performance in the Champions League falling to the lowest point in history.

This can also be linked to the level of the league. The overall level of Serie A is indeed low. On the one hand, this has allowed some teams that are not competitive enough, such as Chievo in the 06-07 season, to enter the Champions League.

Lacking enough tests in the league, the Nerazzurri, who always win the championship easily, appear at a loss once they encounter difficulties in the Champions League. Inter Milan has suffered from this problem in the Champions League in recent seasons.

Therefore, there are only top European lineups, but they always stop outside the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Although Inter Milan has made great efforts to make a breakthrough in the Champions League, Moratti's investment can only buy better players and coaches, but it cannot solve the team's psychological problem of being at a loss when facing difficult situations, because it is a matter of experience and can only be adapted by experiencing similar situations more often, which requires the "help" of other Serie A teams.

Of course, Serie A teams all stopped outside the top 8 this season. Strictly speaking, there is a certain element of luck, and it is also due to the inertia of the decline in the past few seasons.

Judging from the structure of the Serie A this season alone, the former "Little World Cup" is showing signs of recovery.Although AC Milan and Roma have declined in strength due to financial problems, Juventus has recovered from the blow of relegation, and several mid-range teams such as Genoa, Naples, and Fiorentina have high investment enthusiasm.

Although these teams are not yet able to pose a threat to Inter Milan, given time, they may become new members of the "Seven Sisters".

And when AC Milan and Juventus can re-form a triangle with Inter Milan in the league, and the mid-range teams can also participate in the hegemony, that is the day when Serie A regains its lost ground in the Champions League.Being able to aspire to the top in the most difficult league will naturally not be afraid of the test of the Champions Cup.

How much time does this take?Now no one can tell.However, after the bleak season of 01-02, Serie A bottomed out and rebounded in the second year. The top three entered the semi-finals, and the two heroes met in the final. This is a good history for the Italians.

Inter Milan, which lost in the European competition, returned to Italy in a very low-key manner, and the team devoted itself to the normal training of the past.

There are two tasks left for Mourinho's team, one is to ensure the successful defense of the league title, and the other is to continue to advance in the Coppa Italia.

Although Inter Milan lost to Sampdoria [-]-[-] in the first round due to various reasons such as tight schedule and lack of personnel, the Nerazzurri believe that as long as they go all out in the second round, it is not impossible to advance to the next round.

Of course, the Nerazzurri will have to wait until next month to return to their home court in the second round, and what awaits them this weekend is a contest with Viola Fiorentina.

In the eighth round of League No.20, Inter Milan sits at Meazza and is about to face the challenge of Fiorentina.

After Saturday morning's training session, Inter coach Jose Mourinho walked into the press room to hold his pre-match press conference ahead of Cesare Prandelli's Viola visit the following day.

"Fiorentina ranks very high in the league and currently has 27 points from 45 games. Do you think this game against Fiorentina will be an easy game?"

"Fiorentina are playing very well and they are in the Champions League fight because they are a quality team, they have a good manager, they are organized in attack. And they have these talented players."

"I think at this moment it is the perfect game for Inter because we know we are going to face a team that will cause us problems," Mourinho said.

And that's what we need at this point, a difficult game against a quality team. "

"Burdisso, Cordoba, Materazzi and Gimenez who are on the injured list will miss Inter Milan's game against Fiorentina due to injury, while Kroos, Obinna and Paviela were excluded from your squad for what reason?
Was the Frenchman dropped because he didn't satisfy you with his performance against Manchester United? "

Mourinho explained: "I want to reiterate that I am very satisfied with my team's performance at Old Trafford, I will not analyze individual performances of each player.

However, I would point out that Vidic is one of the best players in the world in set pieces and I gave Patrick the very difficult task of marking him. "

"After the Manchester United game, the British media said that you will leave Italy at the end of the season. Is that true?"

"Mourinho helped them sell a lot of newspapers." Mourinho paused, "Alex Ferguson is a manager with a great personality.

Personally, I've never heard him talk about his team's luck while commenting on a game.If he did what he did on Wednesday, there must be a reason.

In any case, now we have to win the league, against Juventus who have not given up.

To strive for a historic Serie A championship, because Inter Milan will win the same 17 championships as AC Milan.

And thinking about the future, I'm researching, I'm writing, I'm preparing a report for the club, it's not something I started doing one night not too long ago.

Then I will have an exchange of views with the Chairman, Branca and Oriali. "

At the end of today's press conference, Mourinho said loudly and clearly: "A coach can lose everything, except the dignity of his profession. I will not lose mine. Two words are enough for a wise man to understand, and I said nine. It's up to you..."

(End of this chapter)