Chapter 102 Unified Goal (Second Update Please Subscribe)

Udinese drew 2:2 away from home and entered the Europa League last sixteen after a year.

This season, the performance of Serie A teams in the European competition has been significantly improved compared to the previous two seasons. All six teams participating in the European competition have entered the knockout rounds, although two teams were eliminated from the Champions League to the Europa League. But not out after all.

After the knockout rounds began, apart from AC Milan, which competed in the Champions League, lost 0:1 at home to Atletico Madrid and was very likely to be eliminated, four of the five Serie A teams in the Europa League advanced to the 16th round. Strong, only Lazio was eliminated by Ludogorets.

In the quarter-finals, the Serie A teams ushered in a civil war, and Juventus and Fiorentina were drawn together. Naples also encountered a strong opponent and was drawn with Porto, the top team in the Portuguese Super League. Only Udinese was lucky enough to draw Anzhi from the Russian Super League.

In early 2011, Anzhi was bought by billionaire metals tycoon Suleiman Kerimov. Stimulated by Jin Yuan, the team, which was founded only 20 years ago, began to rise and qualified for the European competition for two consecutive seasons.

However, the limitations of Jinyuan Football are also obvious. Anzhi, who does not have a deep football background, has been brought back to his original shape this season after lacking a large amount of capital injection.

Before the winter break, Anzhi had 8 draws and 11 losses without a win after 19 rounds of the Russian Super League. It was at the bottom of the Russian Super League standings and had almost locked in a relegation spot.

Under such circumstances, everyone believed that Udinese got a good draw. Because of Anzhi's strength and current situation, they are destined not to pose a threat to Udinese.

The only thing that may cause trouble for Udinese is the long journey and the cold weather in Russia.

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After returning to Italy, Udinese soon ushered in the 26th round of Serie A. They will fly to Sardinia in the Mediterranean Sea and visit the Sant'Elia Stadium to challenge Cagliari.

Cagliari is a typical mid-table team in Serie A. Since being promoted to Serie A in the summer of 2004, their best ranking in the league was only 9th in the 2008-2009 season, and they were ranked behind 10th in the rest of the seasons. Even hovering on the edge of the relegation zone.

This season, Cagliari has scored 25 points with 5 wins, 10 draws and 10 losses after 25 league rounds, ranking 15th in Serie A, only 5 points above the relegation zone.

Cagliari has limited strength, so it should be relatively easy for Udinese to face them. When the two sides met in the first round at the Friuli Stadium, Udinese defeated their opponent with a score of 2:0.

But in this game, Udinese lost to Cagliari away from home, with a score of 0:3.

Udinese suffered its second game this season with a net loss of three goals!

This can be called the biggest upset of this round!

Fortunately, most of the other teams at the top of the standings this round also performed poorly. Napoli drew 1:1 with Novara away from home, while Fiorentina lost 0:1 at home to Lazio.

Roma and Inter Milan, two teams not participating in the European competition, drew a goalless draw at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

Therefore, after this round of games, Udinese continued to maintain its third place in the league.

However, the point difference between them and Juventus at the top of the table has widened further.

After defeating AC Milan 2:0 at the San Siro Stadium, Juventus achieved 22 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses in the first 26 rounds. With 68 points, Juventus topped the Serie A standings, leaving behind second-placed Roma by 10 points. Dines is 15 points behind the Bianconeri.

It can be said that this season's Serie A championship battle has no suspense at this time.

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The current situation makes Guidolin admire Bruno's foresight. Compared with other Serie A teams, Juventus's lineup thickness advantage is too obvious. Not only did they defeat the Turkish Super League team Trabzonspor with two 2-0 doubles in the Europa League, but they also made unstoppable progress in the league.

With Udinese's team, it is really a desperate fact to compete with Juventus in the long Serie A season.

There is definitely no hope in Serie A, but in the Europa League, Udinese is in pretty good shape. Meeting Anzhi in the quarter-finals, Udinese will almost certainly enter the quarterfinals.

Subsequently, Udinese only needs to play 5 games to win the Europa League championship.

At this time, he had to make a choice. After all, the Europa League has entered the knockout stage, and a moment of negligence may bring tragedy to the season. They must concentrate on the Europa League unless they give up this event early.

But who is willing to give up the UEFA Cup so easily? Although this cup is not as famous as the Champions League in terms of reputation and level, it is still a European competition. After the Cup Winners' Cup was cancelled, it is the second highest level competition in Europe.

What about in the league?

Although Udinese is currently ranked third and still has the qualifications to participate in next season's Champions League qualifiers, who knows whether the team can maintain its current position as the season progresses, players' physical fitness declines, and injuries increase. Woolen cloth?

Maybe, maybe not, Guidolin is not a wizard who predicts the future. He must make a decision before then.

With Udinese's lineup, it is absolutely impossible to fight on two fronts. The only consequence of fighting on two fronts is that the team collapses on both fronts at the end of the season.

This was not what Guidolin wanted to see.

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Guidolin has been thinking about this issue since he returned to Udine from the Netherlands and then after Udinese played the game against Cagliari.

In the end, Udinese's loss to Cagliari made him determined to focus on the Europa League and make a desperate move in this event!

Anyway, there is no worry about relegation in the league and no hope of winning the championship, so it remains in the top ten.

If he can win a Europa League, it will be good for him and the team.

Moreover, Udinese has also reached the final of the Italian Cup and is expected to win the first Italian Cup championship in team history.

Udinese's opponent in the Italian Cup final was Napoli. Although the Lightning Army was also very strong, Udinese was not afraid of the opponent.

If Udinese can win the Italian Cup and Europa League this season, it will definitely be the most successful season in the team's century-old history.

Who doesn't pursue honor when playing football?

If possible, who wants to spend a season doing nothing and leaving empty-handed?

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Now that the goal has been determined, the team's training must be adjusted accordingly and more rotations should be made in the league to ensure that it can play with the strongest lineup in the UEFA Cup.

During Monday's training, Guidolin gathered his players together and announced his decision.

"Watching the last two games gave me an idea, but before I announce it, I think lads, what do you think? Europa League or league, which one do you choose?"

Some of the players were smart and already knew what the head coach was planning, while others looked at each other in confusion, as if they still didn't understand why the head coach would ask this. They are generally relatively slow people.

Mahrez was definitely a smart guy. He raised his hands and shouted: "I choose the champion, sir!"

This is really a great answer. Whether it is the league or the Europa League, the championship is the ultimate goal of a professional player.

So as long as you can win the championship, it doesn't matter which one you choose.

So which one has a higher chance of winning the championship? To win the Europa League is easy, just make sure your team wins one game after another.

Winning the championship in the league is much more difficult, because even if you can defeat direct competitor Juventus once, defeating it twice more is already the limit, because Udinese will only play Juventus twice in a season. Second-rate.

You can't control the scores of games between Juventus and other teams. Even if Juventus lost to Udinese twice, they found it back against other opponents. With the current point difference between the two teams, they want to reverse and win the championship. It's also impossible.

Mahrez started, and others started shouting: "I think the Europa League is more exciting!"

"Yes, yes, we are not familiar with the opponents in the Europa League, and it is very exciting to play. Compared with this, the league has lost its freshness for me..."

"As long as the league is not relegated, it will be fine. We have finally made it to the Europa League top 16. Why not work harder and strive for good results?"

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Bruno was a little surprised that Guidolin announced the goal and all the players.

After all, the team boss Mr. Pozzo had only summoned Guidolin, Giaretta, Di Natale and him to hold a small-scale meeting of five people to determine the strategic direction for the team's season goals.

Moreover, although Bruno made a proposal to shift his goal to the Europa League at that time, and it was agreed by Mr. Pozzo, but it was still a secret, only a secret known to Bruno and the five of them.

However, since Guidolin chose to be honest with all the players, Bruno will naturally support him. Anyway, this is the result he hopes to see.

Therefore, Bruno quickly stood up and said: "I think we have a greater hope in the Europa League."

Seeing that everyone almost unanimously chose the Europa League, Guidolin knew that at least he had the support base of the players for his choice this time. Now he no longer has to worry about the team's motivation in the Europa League.

Although the previous "five-person small meeting" has decided Udinese's season strategy, it did not get the support of all players after all, and sometimes players may lack fighting spirit.

It's different now. After the players' meeting, the whole team has unified its goals.

So, Guidolin clapped his hands and said: "It seems that you like the Europa League very much, then I declare that the team's next goal is to make a difference in the Europa League!"

Guidolin made his decision known, and no one in the team was surprised, because that was exactly what they had hoped for.

What does it mean to "make a difference"?

In the football world, except for champions, everyone else is considered a loser. Losers can't be called "making a difference", right?

Therefore, Udinese is going to win the Europa League!