Chapter 665 Italian Cup Final

While Mendes is having a headache over Gao Xiaodong's transfer, Gao Xiaodong and Inter Milan are preparing nervously for their second championship this season.

The Coppa Italia is a knockout football competition hosted by the Italian Football Federation. Players from the three Italian groups A, B, and C can participate, but only one team from the same club can participate. It is the highest level in Italy. In the Football Cup, the final adopts a single-game decider system. A tie at 90 minutes requires 30 minutes of overtime. If the tie is still tied after overtime, a penalty kick will be used.

Like other leagues, the cup competition can only be regarded as useless for giants like Milan and Juventus. Therefore, in the 78-year history of the Italian Cup, Inter Milan has only won 5 championships, not even a fraction of the league championship.

Even this season, Inter Milan does not take the Italian Cup very seriously. They basically fight with a mixed lineup of substitutes and main players. However, Sneijder performed very well in the Italian Cup and even led Inter Milan to the final. .

Today, after Inter Milan won the league title and reached the Champions League final, this useless event suddenly took on important significance.

In world football, the mainstream media refers to the three championships of "league championship + Champions League championship + domestic top cup championship" as the Triple Crown. Some other cup competitions, such as the Domestic Super Cup, European Super Cup, Europa League, etc., do not count. Winning the Triple Crown is equivalent to winning the Grand Slam of football events.

In the century-old history of Serie A, there has never been a team that won the Serie A, Italian Cup and Champions League titles at the same time in one season. Even in the great "International Era", Inter Milan failed to do this. In the 1964-65 season, Inter Milan won the Champions League and the league, but lost to Juventus in the cup and only finished second. Among other Serie A teams, the closest to this honor is AC Milan. The Rossoneri won the league and Champions League in the 1993-94 season, but missed the final of the Italian Cup.

In fact, it is normal for Serie A not to have a Triple Crown. Looking at the whole of Europe, there are only 5 teams and three leagues that can win the Triple Crown. Among the five major leagues, only Manchester United and Barcelona have won the Triple Crown.

In 1967, Scotland's Celtic were the first to win the Triple Crown, in 1972, Ajax won the second, and in 1988, PSV won the third. However, due to the Dutch and Scottish leagues There is relatively little pressure in domestic competitions, and their Triple Crown is not convincing enough. No team in the five major European leagues has won the Triple Crown.

It was not until 10 years later, in the 1998-99 season, that Ferguson led the Red Devils and Manchester United to win the Premier League, FA Cup, and Champions League titles to become the true Triple Crown. Then another 10 years later, last season, Barcelona won La Liga. , King's Cup, Champions League three championships, and later won the Spanish Super Cup, European Super Cup and Club World Cup, becoming a true Grand Slam team.

For Inter Milan, they are far away from winning the first treble in Serie A history.

There are only 2 games and two championships left. Defeating Roma in the Coppa Italia final and defeating Manchester United in the Champions League final. If they win these last two games, Inter Milan will create an unprecedented record.

For Mourinho, even if he does not leave Inter Milan next season, he still hopes to win the first Triple Crown in the century-old history of Serie A and surpass the "Grand International" era.

Therefore, this Coppa Italia final against Roma has become a game that Inter Milan must win.

However, it is not easy for Inter Milan to win the Italian Cup because their opponent is Roma.

In the league, Roma came from behind and created a 20-game unbeaten streak, but unfortunately they were unable to reverse Inter Milan. This made Roma's firefighting coach tinker Ranieri very regretful.

Now Roma finally has a chance for revenge in the Coppa Italia. Ranieri, who has always had a feud with Mourinho, absolutely does not want Mourinho to become the first Serie A treble winner.

After the "Calciopoli" scandal came to light, Italian football has always been dominated by Roma and Inter Milan. Roma always loses in the league, and Roma mostly wins in the Italian Cup. Now Roma is the team that has won the most Italian Cups in Italy. , they have won a total of 9 championships. According to the regulations of the Italian football industry, winning 10 Serie A games can sew a gold star on the chest, and winning 10 Italian Cups can sew a silver star on the chest. Roma are desperate to become the first Italian team to have a silver star on their chest.

Although the Coppa Italia is not very important, Roma is now out of the league and the Europa League. The Coppa Italia has become the only championship they can compete for. Whether it is from the perspective of preventing Inter Milan from becoming the Triple Crown winner or from the perspective of its own interests, Roma is against This game is a must-win.

Tinker Ranieri said before the game: "For us now, winning the Coppa Italia is a very good reward for the players who have been fighting for a season. I can't predict the final winner of the Champions League. I can't predict who will win the Champions League." I don’t care whether Inter Milan can become the treble winner. I only know that we must go all out in this game. Everyone knows the strength of Inter Milan, but Roma is not bad either. The game is 50-50, and I think we can do it within 90 minutes. It was a winner, even though we were ready to take penalties."

Roma captain Totti declared war on Inter Milan: "This is not a game, this is a battle. Every Roma fan should come and support us. We will make the Olympic Stadium in Rome a hell for our opponents."

Roma deputy De Rossi also vowed to defeat Inter Milan: "The league defeat makes me very sad. Originally we had hope to win the championship. My only hope now is to defeat Inter Milan in the Italian Cup. I swear to the Roma fans that we will win the championship." Definitely beat Inter Milan."

Although Inter Milan is stronger and will never give up on the Coppa Italia, many media and fans are still optimistic about Roma's upset before the game. In addition to Roma playing at home, it is also because Inter Milan's military morale has been unstable recently.

After Inter Milan defeated Barcelona and entered the Champions League final, the media continued to break the news that Mourinho will coach Real Madrid next season, and Gao Xiaodong may also go to Real Madrid with Mourinho.

Before the Coppa Italia final, "Gazzetta dello Sport" had just reported that Moratti had offered Mourinho a contract with an annual salary of 13 million euros. "Gazzetta dello Sport" immediately broke the news that "madman" Mourinho was not There is news that he is willing to stay in the "Nerazzurri" and is even willing to cut his salary in order to join the Bernabeu.

Although this news is still a hot topic, the Roma media emphasized the salary cut this time, as if Mourinho wanted to escape from Inter Milan, which made everyone at Inter Milan very angry.

Inter Milan sports manager Branca held a press conference to reassure players and fans, "This is old news that spread all over the world last year. Some reporters wrote it without conscience for the sake of sales, which made us very angry. We are very satisfied with Mourinho." , Mourinho is also very comfortable staying at Inter Milan. If he does not coach Inter Milan next season, anyone will find it unimaginable."

Inter Milan players have also come out to support Mourinho. They all expressed their belief that Mourinho will not leave them and will not give up on a team that may win the Triple Crown.

However, because neither Moratti nor Mourinho spoke, Inter Milan fans were still worried, not knowing whether the news was true or false.

The opponent was very strong and the game was at home. Mourinho was also worried that it would cause moral turmoil in the military. The day before the game, he finally spoke and told the media and fans, "Any coach wants to coach a team like Real Madrid. Of course I am no exception, but this does not mean that I want to go to Real Madrid right away. Maybe I will coach Real Madrid in the future. At least now I am very happy at Inter Milan and have not considered leaving Inter Milan for the time being. We should not spend all our energy now Putting all these rumors aside, we are now fighting for the first Triple Crown in Serie A history. I hope everyone will put all their energy into the Italian Cup and take a solid second step towards making history."

Mourinho said that he might coach Real Madrid in the future. He is very happy at Inter Milan and is not considering leaving for the time being. Inter Milan fans and players are finally at ease. They no longer care about the news outside the field and focus on Tomorrow's Italian Cup final.