Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 103 Hodgson Wants to Swear

Two days later, Serie A entered its 33rd round, with Roma hosting Atalanta.

The league has entered its final sprint, and not only is the pressure of competing for the league title immense, but playing against relegation-threatened teams like Atalanta is even more challenging.

Therefore, despite playing the full match in the second leg against Hamburg, Shan Yongzhuo was still included in the starting lineup.

At this point, Spalletti no longer cared about physical fitness. In the final stage of the league, every game was crucial, and his approach was to let the key players unleash their full fighting power.

This match was also very difficult. Atalanta was under great pressure to avoid relegation, and even against Roma, they had to give it their all.

Facing such an opponent is not a good thing. Although Shan Yongzhuo scored two goals, Atalanta equalized the score at the last moment, leaving Roma with only a disappointing draw.

However, Roma were not too disappointed. In an earlier match, Inter Milan were held to a draw by Fiorentina, which relieved some of the pressure on Roma.

Three days later, the second leg of the Italian Cup semi-final began, with Roma traveling to Udinese for the second leg.

Because of the resounding victory in the first leg, the pressure in this match was relatively low, and Spalletti gave the key players a rare rest.

Although the team lost the game 0-2, they still advanced to the final with a total score of 4-2.

The next day, the team had a day off, and Shan Yongzhuo also got a rare rest. He slept until after nine in the morning, ate breakfast in a daze, and then checked his system.

There aren't many competitions left in this world, but overall, Shan Yongzhuo is still quite satisfied.

He scored 50 goals in Serie A, 19 in the UEFA Cup, and 6 in the Italian Cup, which is a pretty good number of goals.

With the improvement of various attributes during training, Shan Yongzhuo felt that he had made great progress in this world.

Most importantly, the endurance rating has reached 13 points, which is quite good considering it's only been half a season.

Dan Yongzhuo calculated that he had 13 points in half a season, and he had decided to put all his points into endurance from now on.

That means that a season can bring at least 26 points of durability, so in just a few seasons I will be able to say goodbye to this eunuch's body for good!

At that point, should I just retire?
Playing football is very tiring. Once he regains his stamina, he'll be an absolute heartthrob, and his family won't be short of money. At that point, he should be enjoying life to the fullest.

But that's for later.

To achieve all this, the most important thing is to score goals!

Then, in the next league match, the Rome derby arrived once again.

However, in this derby, Lazio still acted like a wronged little wife, showing no temper whatsoever.

Lazio managed to avoid relegation with their points total, but they were still at the bottom of the league and couldn't compare to Roma at all.

The match was uneventful, with Shan Yongzhuo scoring a goal, and Toni, Vucinic and Totti also scoring. Roma won 4-2 away against Lazio, achieving a season double victory over their city rivals.

Another victory over Lazio is nothing special; Roma's focus is already on their next match: the first leg of their Europa League game against Fulham.

This Europa League is the first edition since the reorganization of the former UEFA Cup. Although it is not as good as the Champions League, it has reached the semi-finals and has received a lot of attention. At this stage, everyone wants to eliminate their opponents and enter the final.

Fulham are definitely the biggest dark horse of this tournament.

Although they had a bumpy ride in the group stage, ultimately qualifying as the second-place team in their group, Fulham displayed astonishing fighting spirit in the knockout stage, successively eliminating Shakhtar Donetsk, Juventus, and Wolfsburg. None of these three teams are easy opponents.

Shakhtar Donetsk are regulars in the Champions League and were the reigning UEFA Cup champions. Juventus are Italian giants and were the runners-up in Serie A last season. Wolfsburg were the reigning Bundesliga champions.

Fulham's ability to eliminate these three teams in a row truly makes them a dark horse.

And the person who created all of this is Roy Hodgson, the manager who is now very famous in England.

Before the match, the English media heavily promoted Fulham, claiming that although Fulham lost both of their group stage matches to Roma, Hodgson had found a way to deal with Shan Yongzhuo, and Fulham would definitely be able to defeat Roma and advance to the final.

The English media were also helpless, as the performance of Premier League teams in the Champions League this season was very dismal. Only Manchester United made it to the quarterfinals, but were subsequently eliminated by Bayern Munich. There was no Premier League team in the semifinals.

It wasn't until then that they discovered Liverpool and Fulham had actually made it to the Europa League semi-finals!

Although it's just the Europa League, these two teams have become England's last hope for European competition. They can only cheer on Liverpool and Fulham, hoping they can defend England's honor.

However, the hype from the English media infuriated Hodgson.

"I've found a way to deal with Shan Yongzhuo?"

"Those damn media outlets!"

Hodgson just wanted to curse; he felt an unbearable headache.

The two group stage matches against Roma had already made Hodgson realize how formidable this striker was; in fact, he felt he had absolutely no way to deal with him.

The opponent's shot was simply unreasonable, so accurate it was unbelievable.

Can Fulham's defense contain a striker like that?

Hodgson doesn't think so.

However, Hodgson also felt happy about some things.

In fact, he will leave Fulham next season and then take over as manager of Liverpool to succeed Benitez.

Being able to manage Liverpool would be a huge leap forward in Hodgson's coaching career, even though Liverpool is now a fallen giant, licking its wounds in the corner of the Premier League.

But even the most down-on-their-luck wealthy family is still a wealthy family, isn't it?
Fulham, a farm team, is simply incomparable.

What made Hodgson even happier was that Liverpool were pursuing Roma striker Shan Yongzhuo, a fact that was being discussed throughout Europe, and Liverpool's management had not denied their interest in Shan Yongzhuo.

So, when I take charge of Liverpool next season, there's a high chance that Shan Yongzhuo will be under my management?
Hodgson couldn't help but let his imagination run wild.

Could he lead Liverpool back to the ranks of the elite clubs by having a super striker who scores over fifty goals in a single Serie A season? And then be revered by Liverpool fans, rising to become a world-class manager?

However, such lofty ideals are irrelevant to the present; Hodgson now needs to find a way to effectively limit Shan Yongzhuo's performance.

If Fulham cannot stop his goals, their chances of eliminating Roma will be slim.

"We can only try having Hangeland mark them the whole game; let's hope God helps..."

(End of this chapter)