Chapter 103 Everyone Wants to Fall Bruno (Third Update, Please Subscribe)
Although the entire Udinese team has the same goal of impacting the Europa League, this does not mean that the team will completely give up the league. Even if Udinese now abandons all the remaining 12 league games, it will not be relegated.
After 26 league games, Udinese ranked third, 2 points ahead of Naples behind, and there is hope to qualify for the Champions League next season.
Therefore, in the 27th round of Serie A on the afternoon of March 8, Udinese played against AC Milan at home. Guidolin only made appropriate rotations, but Bruno, the offensive core, still started, and Di Natale, who returned from injury, was also included in the game list. According to Guidolin's plan, he will arrange Di Natale to come on as a substitute in the second half to find the game state.
The Rossoneri's performance this season is very sluggish. They lost at home in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, and the probability of being eliminated is very high; they were eliminated by Udinese in the Italian Cup early, and the league is currently ranked only twelfth. It is almost destined to usher in another season of nothing.
In the first round of the match between the two sides at San Siro Stadium, Udinese defeated the opponent 2:1 away. Now that they meet again at home, Udinese has no intention of showing mercy.
In the first half of the game, both sides drew.
Soon after the start of the second half, the two teams, unwilling to settle for a draw, made substitutions one after another. AC Milan replaced Bielsa, who was in a very bad state, with Essien, and replaced Robinho with Balotelli; Udinese replaced Muriel with Di Natale.
In the 67th minute, Udinese played a wonderful fast break. Bruno ran 40 meters long and cooperated with his teammates to pass the ball from the left side of the penalty area. Di Natale pushed the ball into the lower right corner of the goal from 10 meters away!
1:0, Udine took the lead.
This was the 12th time that Di Natale knocked on the door of AC Milan in Serie A.
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In the end, Udinese defeated AC Milan 1:0 at home, achieving a season triple kill against the Rossoneri and a double kill in the league.
However, after the game, an unexpected statement appeared in the Italian media: Bruno has fallen!
This report published in "Torino Sports Daily" entitled "Another European Golden Boy Who Fell Early" wrote: Bruno has not scored in six consecutive games, and in Serie A, he has not scored in four consecutive rounds. This is an extremely rare phenomenon for Bruno, who has scored 14 league goals and 21 goals in all competitions.
It can even be said that Bruno has fallen into a slump since entering 2014, scoring only 2 goals in 15 games. It is in sharp contrast to the previous hot performance of scoring 19 goals in 25 games.
"Torino Sports Daily" also stated that Bruno's slump can actually be traced back to December last year.
After winning the European Golden Boy Award, Bruno only performed well in Udinese's 4:3 away victory over Naples, scoring twice. Then there was a slump of 6 games without scoring, and it was not until the match against Lazio on January 19 that he broke the goal drought.
The reporter of "Torino Sports Daily" said that Bruno is likely to be another Anderson-like figure, who quickly fell after winning the European Golden Boy Award.
And with Bruno's fall, Udinese's record has also declined.
In the first half, Udinese was a Serie A championship team that fought hard with Juventus; but now Udinese has been left behind by Juventus by 15 points and has no hope of winning the championship.
The reporter also said that "Torino Sports Daily" made a mistake in the selection of the European Golden Boy Award in 2013, and Juventus's Pogba has more reason to become the Golden Boy.
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The claim that Bruno has fallen has caused a lot of repercussions in Italy. In particular, Bruno's goal data greatly supports this claim.
However, Udinese coach Guidolin refuted this statement, and he also produced convincing evidence: Bruno has indeed only scored 2 goals in Udinese's last 18 games, but he has contributed 14 assists!
If a player who has created 16 goals in 18 games is said to be decadent, then how many players in this world are pursuing progress?
Guidolin also said that Bruno's main task in Udinese is not to score goals, he is the team's organizational core, not a striker.
Compared with Bruno who scored 19 goals in the first 22 games of the season, he would rather see Bruno who has 14 assists in the last 18 games.
After a verbal battle, a brand new image of Bruno appeared in the eyes of the fans: just entering March, Bruno has played 40 games for Udinese in Serie A, Italian Cup and Europa League, scored 21 goals, and also sent 24 assists!
With more than two months left in the season, he has achieved "goals + assists" double 20+, and some people say that such a player is decadent?
This is not the way to discredit someone, right?
Udinese fans said that if this is called degeneration, then let Udinese have a few more "degenerate" players like this!
Fans of other Italian teams also said that they also want a "degenerate" player like Bruno, it's really great!
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Bruno didn't care too much about someone discrediting him.
If you are not envied, you are mediocre. As you become more and more outstanding and your influence grows, more and more people will discredit you.
For those professional haters, the more you refute them, the more excited they are. After all, they make a living by smearing people. If you argue with them, they will get attention and traffic.
For these professional haters, the best way is to remain calm on the surface, not to argue with them or make trouble with them, and then slap them in the face with irrefutable facts on the court.
Of course, this still cannot prevent the emergence of such people. After all, these people are like the dark side of the world. As long as the world exists, they also exist.
However, slapping these people in the face can at least make you feel good.
Especially the next game is exactly the strategic goal set by Udinese: the first round of the Europa League quarter-finals!
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At 9 pm on March 13, there were only five minutes left before Udinese played against Anzhi at home.
The starting lineups of both sides today have been shown on the big screen of the stadium.
Udinese:
Goalkeeper: Scuffet;
Defense: Cancelo, Erto, Danilo, Silva;
Midfield: Kante, Basta, Mahrez, Bruno, Maxuel;
Forward: Di Natale.
Anzhi:
Goalkeeper: Kerzakov;
Defense: Angeboa, Yesuluyan, Grie, Gazibekov;
Midfield: Eprianu, Amedov, Smolov, Mkhitaryan, Aliyev;
Forward: Bukharov.
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The game had already started for five or six minutes, and the visiting team Anzhi took the lead and attacked Udinese's goal right away.
After the boss was unwilling to continue investing money, Anzhi continued to sell the main players in the winter window. Ivorian striker Traore joined Monaco for 10 million euros, and Brazilian midfielder Susil joined Al Jazira of the United Arab Emirates for 6 million euros.
However, after the training, Anzhi played at a high level. In addition to advancing to the round of 16 of the Europa League, the team also won a 1-0 victory in the Russian Premier League last weekend, realizing the season's opening.
In today's game, Anzhi also played very actively away from home, and was not afraid of Udinese, which ranked third in Serie A.
Anzhi's left back, Yeshurunjan Czanko, who wore the No. 2 jersey, was very active and frequently inserted assists.
The young Cancelo looked a little embarrassed in the face of the experienced and technically sophisticated Yeshurunjan.
However, Cancelo is young and fast. Yeshurunjan passed Cancelo twice, but the latter chased back very quickly and soon caught up again.
Anzhi's head coach sat in the coaching seat with a relaxed look. He was satisfied with the current situation. The right back of Udinese was a rookie, inexperienced, and average in defense. Now it is only a matter of time for the team to open a breakthrough on the left.
Guidolin sat in the coaching booth, crossed his legs, and looked relaxed, but his clenched fists betrayed his inner emotions.
After deciding to go all out in the Europa League, Guidolin was worried that his team would not start well.
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This time, Yeshuluyan and the team's midfielder Eprianu collided with a wall-to-wall match, and then a dunk at his feet deceived Cancelo, and then he just wanted to speed up when he saw Udinese's central defender Danilo rushing up.
The Brazilian veteran rushed up at the right time, and Yeshuluyan was startled and quickly passed the ball.
"Break the ball!" The commentator of Sky Italia shouted.
Yeshuluyan's pass to his teammate was intercepted by the quick-reacting Cancelo.
"This was premeditated. Danilo came to fill in the position, and Cancelo, who had just been passed, was ready to steal and intercept!"
After Cancelo stole the ball, he quickly passed the ball to Kante who came to respond. The latter immediately passed the ball to Basta, who organized the attack.
This was Guidolin's tactical requirement. In this game, Udinese's two defensive midfielders, Kante was responsible for protection, and Basta was responsible for organizing the attack.
At this time, Cancelo had already spread his feet and ran forward.
Almost at the same time as Basta received the ball, Anzhi defensive midfielder Amedov moved and rushed to Basta who received the ball.
Amedov's timing for stealing was also calculated very well. He planned to steal the ball while Basta received the ball. At that time, Basta was not stable, which was a good opportunity.
"Amedov stepped forward to press Basta... beautiful!" The commentator of Sky Italia shouted excitedly.
Facing the big man rushing towards him, Basta leaned forward slightly, resisting the opponent's momentum, but deftly used his heel to knock the ball to Erto behind him.
Amedov missed!
"Open space! Opportunity!" Guidolin suddenly stood up from the coaching seat.