In the Champions Cup, there is always a saying: "La Liga team against Serie A, Serie A team against the Premier League." "For quite some time, this law has been in effect, but for the last two years, the problem has been completely different.

In the 2004-05 season, Liverpool defeated Juventus and AC Milan in succession to win the European Champions League that season. In the 2005-06 season, Juventus once again encountered a Premier League team, and the Arsenal team simply and neatly knocked down Juventus, which had set a number of Serie A records, and even forced the Bianconeri to "silence the news" for a time, and the enthusiasm of Torino City fans was minimized...... Inter were knocked out of La Liga for two consecutive seasons and did not officially face a Premier League side in Europe, but in this summer's rivalry, Roberto Mancini's side were forced to draw by Tottenham Hotspur II, with Sky Sports headlining the day: fourth in the Premier League and the Serie A champions.

Due to some well-known reasons, Serie A has fallen into a trough in recent years, and the Premier League is thriving, so the public opinion environment in the United Kingdom believes that the time has come for the Premier League to subvert the tradition of "Italian and English", and they have comprehensively surpassed Serie A. This argument was once supported by an excellent record, but today, Roma continued that tradition with an undisputed victory. The comment of the Milan Sport newspaper was: "Manchester United, the Apennine nightmare continues! ”

Statistics show that Manchester United have won 2 wins, 1 draw and 9 defeats in the past 12 away games in Italy, with a win rate of less than 75%. Roma, on the other hand, have played nine games against Premier League teams at home, with five wins, two draws and two defeats. Roma became the anti-British vanguard in Serie A. Even UEFA had to exclaim: "Roma's home stadium is now the most feared place for European teams!" ”

In terms of soldiers, strength and European experience, Rome naturally cannot be compared with the three northern powers. But why Inter, Juventus, Milan can't do it. Can Rome do it? You might as well look for the reason from the number jù and some key words in this battle.

Keyword 1: Rhythm!

As we all know, the Premier League is the fastest-paced league in the world, relatively speaking. Serie A, which focuses on technique, control and defensive blocking, has a slightly slower tempo. However, Roma is the one of the Serie A teams that emphasizes speed the most: counter-attacking speed, passing speed, switching speed and so on.

Compare the number of games played against Arsenal last season and Roma against Manchester United this season. In the Juventus match, the combined number of shots on goal was 15; In this game, the combined number of shots on goal for both sides is 30! The number of shots on goal in 3 minutes proves that the two sides are in a high-speed movement on the field. Manchester United are one of the fastest teams in the world to play a guò midfield, but Roma are not left behind!

Can fight against the high tempo of Premier League teams. This is one of the reasons why Rome was so good against the British.

Keyword 2: Sideways!

In recent years, a new strategy has become popular in Serie A. Inter Milan, for example, is accustomed to piling up three midfielders in the middle. With a formation of 4312, the attack is concentrated in the middle, and the wings are completely handed over to the inserted fullbacks; AC Milan's Christmas tree is the same; Last season's Juventus also used two midfielders with two attacking midfielders, and the attack was mostly based on the ribs.

But Roma are different, they have the best full-back in Serie A, Panucci. The best wingers, Tadei, Mancini Jr. The 4231 formation also has a special focus on opening up the width of the attack and looking for opportunities. The number of games shows that their 25 successful crosses are five times more than United's five; They took 9 corners and the opponent only had 3! Imagine that Manchester United have the world's top wing combination such as Heinze, Ryan Giggs and Ronaldo, but they were completely suppressed by the Romans in this game!

Keyword three: tactics!

Objectively speaking, fast pacing and strong wings are the common style of Premier League teams. The style of the Serie A team is more defensive. Particularly good at tactical switching. In this game, Manchester United's rhythm and wing advantages could not be played in front of the Roma. However, the special tactical energy of the Serie A team is vividly displayed in front of Manchester United. Throughout the game, Roma cut off the opponent's counter-attacking link, forcing the opponent to only 70% of the pass success rate, because Manchester United passed a total of 313 times, these 94 wrong passes were cut off by Roma, directly leading to Manchester United everywhere passive, tactical collapse.

Coincidentally, the rhythm, the flanks and the tactics are exactly where Rome is stronger than the northern three. Therefore, what Juventus and Milan failed to do, Roma did. This is Spalletti's success and Roma's biggest contribution to Serie A. Now the Italian media has hit back: "The way Roma beat Manchester United, who are unbeatable in the Premier League, once again proved the strength of Serie A!" ”

Ahead of the Roma vs Manchester United, the managers of both sides battled over the key players of the squad. Ferguson praised Ronaldo as "the best player in the world", and Spalletti replied: "I would never trade Totti for him. The Italian media also hyped the PK between Totti and Ronaldo before the game. After leading his side to a 2-1 win over Manchester United, Totti was undoubtedly the brighter player on the pitch.

Captain Totti, like his companions, ushered in a historic battle. Reaching the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League was a miracle for Roma, as their opponents Leon were the favourites in Ferguson's eyes to win the tournament after their quarter-final knockouts, but they were devoured by a pack of wolves led by Totti, making the old man exclaim that Roma were "not to be underestimated". Totti currently ranks third in Serie A's scorer list with 18 goals, and the 23 goals tally so far this season is a solid guarantee that Roma will be able to go toe-to-toe on both fronts.

But Ferguson's ignorance of Totti, after enumerating Mancini, Perrotta and others, annoyed the Roma captain, who claimed: "I'm going to show him who Totti is, I'm going to make him remember my name a little bit." After conceding a fourth-minute free-kick to Zivo, Totti sent a free-kick five minutes later straight at the back of the net to announce 'I'm coming' to Ferguson's United. This time the free-kick was too square, but he quickly found more space to maneuver, which left United's patchwork defence in discreet ways. "Milan Sport" praised it: "Look, this is Totti, who was enraged by Ferguson. ”

The cracks in United's defence were even tighter after Paul Scholes was ejected. And the initiator of this turning point was Totti. The Lyon coach said after the defeat to Roma: "Roma are good at switching from defense to attack. After United's attack was blocked, Totti took the ball and launched a Roma counter-attack, and Scholes realised the danger and had to block the Wolves. As a result, he was dyed red. According to the newspaper "Milan Sport", Scholes's departure was a watershed moment in the game, and although Totti did not score, he deserved a credit.

As the official UEFA website commented: "After sending Paul Scholes off, Totti has more space and time to deal with Manchester United. Tadei, who opened the scoring for Roma, had to thank Totti for a pass that was only converted by Roberto Mancini to score his own goal. Before that, Totti's clever back-heel pass set up a long-range opportunity for Tadei. After that, Totti and Perrotta combined almost twice for Taddai. "He's the drummer for the team, and he's been on the offensive for a long time." So says the comment on the official UEFA website.

The Roma captain, who is not an authentic goalscorer, hit a total of five shots on goal. Putting a lot of pressure on United's backline, his shot from outside the area came closest to opening the scoring in the 83rd minute, narrowly narrow. Totti's goal was accompanied by numerous chances for his team-mates, a shame that Spalletti lamented after the game that United had not been completely resolved. It is also the basis for Eurosport to give Totti the highest score in the team. Tgcom, which was full of praise for Totti, also noted: "Totti is once again the soul of the team. He instigated a number of key offensive moves during the game. ”

With just about an hour to go, Totti's threatening shot from the edge of the box finally angered United's key player Cristiano Ronaldo, and he immediately began to orchestrate Rooney's brilliant attack. However, the game ended in a victory for Roma, who had failed to win four Champions League matches against English sides, and this time Totti led the team to a breakthrough. Looking ahead to the second leg, Tgcom claims that "all eyes will be on him in the second leg, and Manchester United will face a strong challenge if they want to turn the tables around." "For Rome. With such a bannerman, it is not just a dream to continue to move forward in the Champions Cup. The Champions Cup semi-finals are by no means that far away.

In four days, the Stadio Olimpico welcomed two talents named Ronaldo, with Ronaldo leading AC Milan to end Roma's nine-game winning streak at home, while Ronaldo Jr. returned with Manchester United in the Italian capital.

However, the flaws are not hidden, Xiao Luo's appearance is better than that of Da Luo four days ago, he is undoubtedly Manchester United's best in the game, Rooney's goal he attributed to the great, "Milan Sport" is not without emotion: "Cristiano, another phenomenon. ”

It is known that "phenomenon" was an exclusive title given to Ronaldo by Brazilians and Italians, but now another Ronaldo is also beginning to grab power. How good is Manchester United's number seven xiàn? Unless it is a goalkeeper who saves a dangerous goal under a long-term siege, Sky Sports has rarely given high marks to the loser, but this time the Portuguese did not score a goal or provide a direct assist, and still scored a game-high 9 points.

Paul Scholes went off early, and Ronaldo almost single-handedly held United up, according to the newspaper Sport, "In 90 minutes, he didn't let Panucci and Cassetti play comfortably for two minutes, purely suffering". The two Italian veterans did everything to deal with the Portuguese, flying tackles, tripping horses, and even pulling and dragging, but they still couldn't stop Xiao Xiaoluo's galloping. Rooney's goal came from Ronaldo's training of three Roma defenders and giving it to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer before the opponent formed a pinch, and finally achieved a positive result. It was this crucial goal that kept Manchester United's hopes of a comeback next week alive.

Spalletti lamented after the game: "We have taken Ronaldo very seriously and made a lot of arrangements, but he can still launch a sharp counter-attack. We kept two players glued to him, but unfortunately it didn't work and he was still able to find a spot. ”

The inability to do anything is the sigh of the Stadio Olimpico for a superstar like Ronaldo, and the Romans seem to see another Ronaldo 10 years ago, who was also invincible and unable to defend.

At that time, Da Luo was really a monster from another planet, and he became the top star in his first season in Serie A (Serie A News, Serie A Say), with his followers everywhere, even his opponents. The veteran Sencini recalled: "It was almost impossible to defend him one-on-one, and you were left behind with a feint. Simeone, who used to coach Inter, also said: "The only way to stop him is to just put down the count." ”

Xiao Xiao Luo and Big Luo have different character types. "Milan Sport" pointed out that Xiao Xiaoluo is more cruising on the periphery and can also take on certain defensive tasks. But he hasn't reached the heights of Ronnie's time yet. Da Luo's strength lies in the power and precision of his shots. And "they have in common the ability to embarrass all defenders" and "have superb one-on-one escape ability".

Interestingly, despite the fact that the two are almost 10 years apart, Ronaldo admits that he admires the Brazilian talent of his namesake and that his goal from an early age was "to be a player as good as him." ”

"Ronaldo is one of the best players I've ever seen, I've watched him play since I was a kid and he's fantastic. I don't understand why a lot of people don't give him the respect he deserves. I want to be able to reach the level that he has ever achieved. I would be very satisfied if I could do that. ”

Also at the age of 17, he made a name for himself. is also famous in the early 20s, who can say that Xiao Xiaoluo's dream has not come true one day.

Manchester United was buzzing inside the stadium in Rome, and the fans were uneasy off the pitch. This was confirmed by the Italian police. Eighteen Red Devils fans were injured in the riot and taken to hospital by local police. There were many reasons for the riots, but the British side accused the Roman police of reacting too strongly, leading to the tragedy and the vicious development.

Perhaps it was the notorious England fans that the Continental police generally did not have a good opinion of them. even preconceived that the fans with the team were here to make trouble. This led to a major clash between British fans and local riot police. Manchester United's official website issued a statement: "The chaos at the Olympic Stadium has made everyone at Old Trafford shudder. From the club's point of view, this was an unfortunate overreaction caused by the indiscriminate use of force by the local police, who beat United fans indiscriminately."

UEFA has begun an in-depth investigation into the matter, and Manchester United officials are hoping to have eyewitnesses at the time to testify: "In such a situation, neither Manchester United nor AS Roma can trust the unilateral claims of the police. Therefore, we hope that the government will step in. It is also hoped that the statements of eyewitnesses at the time can be collected and submitted to the authorities for processing. ”

Naturally, the British media, which has always been mean, has no choice but to criticize the Italian police for their "violent acts" against their own fans. In their view, the 4,000 Manchester United fans on the expedition were thrown into a frying pan. Compared to targeting local fans in Rome, the police have "oversentenced" Red Devils fans. The Sun declared that "United supporters have been beaten flat by Italians" and said that the Italian police were "ruthless", using batons and tear gas to attack England fans.

Eighteen fans were admitted to hospital, a number released by the police, two of whom were seriously injured and placed in the hospital for overnight observation. "One policeman actually beat a fan with his baton a dozen times, and another policeman also violently assaulted innocent fans twice," said a military reporter from The Sun. The Guardian simply sarcastic: "Yes, the Roma police beat the Manchester United fans. ”

According to The Times, the Independent Supporters' Association also called for the collection of testimonies or photographs of fans present at the time to UEFA for investigation, according to the team leader: "The Italian police were stationed in the stands on our side at the time, and it felt like they wanted to protect the Roma fans, but in reality they were fighting with us. ”

However, Rome Inspector General Acheli Serra denied that there was any immorality in the police's handling of the riots, telling the BBC: "I think the police are doing the right thing about how they deal with the emergency, and if there is anything clearly inappropriate, the investigation report will reflect it." But so far, we haven't heard of any injured fans who were injured because they were beaten by the police, which is very important. ”

The new president of the Italian Football Federation, Giacalo Abate, also sided with his hometown and praised the work of the Roma police: "We are grateful to our law enforcers, I really don't believe that people who try to make the playing environment safer will be nailed to the gallows for doing something appropriate. I didn't go to the Stadio Olimpic, but I'll be watching it closely. ”

Yesterday's "riots in Rome", the image of Manchester United fans being injured by Italian riot police caused widespread discontent in the British media. Faced with doubts from the British media, a UEFA spokesman reluctantly said: "We can't control the police. ”

Manchester United travelled to Roma in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals yesterday.

At halfway through, fans on both sides of the fence clashed. The Italian riot police in the stadium immediately brandished batons and rushed at the United fans. Seen from the TV screen. Some fans were beaten by the police after being knocked to the ground, and a Manchester United fan was covered in blood.

BBC Radio interviewed UEFA spokesman Gaillard about this. The latter said UEFA could not control the actions of the police. "Italian law puts the police in charge of public order inside the stadium," he said. We certainly tend to use a milder approach to vigilance. But we also have to obey the law. We can't dictate how Italy or the rest of the country deploys its police. ”

In the face of brutal repression by the Italian police, Manchester United fans have taken up legal arms. On the 5th, a Manchester United fan formally accused the Italian police of snatching her digital camera and preventing her from filming the brutality of the police beating fans at the Olympic Stadium in Rome.

The fan's name is Rice and she is a woman. The 23-year-old Manchester United supporter followed more than 4,000 Red Devils fans from his hometown to Rome, and unfortunately not only did United fail to win, but what happened to her in Rome was also terrifying. Rice's wrist was injured when the police brutally snatched her camera. He is currently undergoing a detailed examination at the hospital.

She recalls that it was at the end of the first half of the game, as United were 1-0 down and sent off in the first half. Manchester United fans looked agitated. It was then that Roma fans in the stands next door began to provoke United fans, and the fence was quickly washed down and plastic bottles began to fly in the air. The riot police, who were in charge of the security of the stadium, immediately rushed to the stands. But their main target is Manchester United fans. Rice saw some police officers waving batons after United fans fell to the ground with their heads in their hands. Beat them to the ground with blood all over their faces. So she picked up the digital camera she had with her and wanted to record it, but was forcibly snatched by the police.

"Obviously, the police didn't want me to film the evil they were doing." Speaking to the British media, Rice said, "This qiē is horrible, even when I was doing simple treatment for injured fans, the attacks didn't stop. I saw a fan with blood on his face and another fan who was unconscious, but the police were still suppressing us. I screamed at them. I wanted them to stop, but they ignored me. They don't say anything, they just keep attacking us. ”

In the British media, as well as the "British chauvinist organization" (fanatical patriotic organization), in the early morning of the same day, the "Milan Sports Newspaper" revealed that the British Blair government officially issued a statement to the Italian government, asking the Italian side to make a "reasonable and objective explanation" for the riot between the Roma police and Manchester United fans, and accused the Italian police of "dealing with the situation in an excessively violent way", and the British government reserves the right to contact UEFA directly.

AFP commented that the formal involvement of the Blair government marks the rise of this incident to the diplomatic level.

There are very different analyses between the British and Italian media as to how exactly this incident should be characterized. The British newspaper "The Sun" believes that the Roma police violated the rights of British fans, and "hundreds" of British fans were injured by Italian riot police, which is a violation of the rights of British citizens. However, the Italian newspaper La Repubblica pointed out that a small number of football (football news, football talk) hooligans in the United Kingdom strictly threatened the safety of the fans of both teams in the stadium, and they even attacked the police in various ways, which forced the clashes to occur.

So far, relatively objective "AFP" and "Team Daily" have reported that 13 Manchester United fans have been sent to local hospitals for rescue. The on-site reporter of the "As" newspaper also pointed out: "Most of the British fans behaved in a more proper manner, but there were 200 fans who provoked the incident from beginning to end, and their attacks on the police directly led to the expansion of the situation." "Relatively speaking, the claims of the neutral media are more credible.

With all sorts of questions, the Italian media interviewed Serena, an official of the Rome Police Department. The latter gave the Italian side's official explanation: "At that time, when Roma scored the first goal in the 44th minute of the game, 200 drunken Manchester United fans tried to cross the fence and attack the area where the opposing fans were located. On the other side, Roma fans were enraged and the situation began to expand. By the time the police arrived, the Roma fans had already evacuated on their own, so there was no need for the police to interfere again. However, the police were caught up in clashes with British fans. ”

There's a tidbit. The British newspaper The Sun angrily denounced the indiscriminate use of violence by the Roman police: "They actually use batons! In an interview with the BBC, Stern, an inspector at the riot police department in London, England, said: "We don't allow our boys to use similar weapons against unarmed fans." (To be continued......)