Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 90 Opportunists?
After the start of the second half, Papasinecos seemed to regain the energy they had at the beginning of the first half, launching a fierce attack on Roma from the outset.

Their offensive quickly paid off. In the 58th minute, Papasinekos capitalized on a corner kick opportunity, with Cissé heading the ball into the Roma goal, pulling one back for Roma.

The Olympic Stadium erupted after the goal, with the home fans instantly energized and shouting wildly.

With the support of their home fans, Papašinnaikos played even more aggressively. Their physical style of play made Roma struggle, and they were once again dominated, just like at the start of the first half.

However, Papasinecos' finishing ability in front of goal was really poor. After attacking for a while, they couldn't keep up with their stamina and gradually Roma took control of the situation again, and Roma's attack gradually picked up.

De Rossi, in particular, was very active in this match.

De Rossi has excellent technique and overall vision, and his physical strength is also much better than Pizarro's. Moreover, he is currently at his peak.

De Rossi's constant forward runs also drew the attention of Papasinecos.

This time, Vucinic's pass found De Rossi outside the penalty area.

De Rossi took a step forward and was about to shoot when the opposing defender, in a moment of panic, stretched out his leg from behind and tackled De Rossi to the ground.

Shan Yongzhuo, who was closest, was the first to run to her side and hurriedly asked, "How are you? Are you hurt?"

De Rossi fell to the ground, and the situation looked a bit bad. The referee immediately showed a yellow card to the opposing defender, but De Rossi could not continue and had to leave the field to rest.

Spalletti on the sidelines was furious. De Rossi is Roma's top midfielder, and his importance to the team is no less than that of Shan Yongzhuo. If he gets injured, Roma's subsequent league matches will likely be difficult.

Fortunately, after a quick treatment by the team doctor, there was nothing seriously wrong, and he was able to recover after two weeks of rest, which relieved Spalletti.

Shan Yongzhuo stood in front of the football, took a deep breath, and prepared to take the set piece.

After the referee blew his whistle, Shan Yongzhuo took two or three steps back and then cleverly poked the ball with his toe.

With a muffled thud, the football instantly flew over the wall of players and continued soaring into the sky.

The Papashinkos goalkeeper watched the ball and breathed a sigh of relief. However, the next moment, the ball reached a high altitude, its speed suddenly slowed down, and it drifted left and right erratically. After reaching its highest point, it suddenly plunged downwards.

"Danger! That's a knuckleball!"

The ball flew straight into the top right corner of the goal. Tzovas, a substitute goalkeeper for the Greek national team, had limited ability and failed to react effectively to the ball.

The football fell from the air and landed directly in the upper right corner.

"Goal!" the Italian commentator exclaimed. "Shan Yongzhuo's direct free kick, a brilliant dipping shot, goalkeeper Tzovas couldn't save it."

The Papašinnaikos players were also frustrated. They were well aware of the gap in strength between themselves and Roma, but the team had high hopes for the home game.

However, they are now down by two goals, and the opponent has scored three away goals. This advantage means they have one foot in the round of 16.

After the game restarted, the Papashinnaikos players even seemed to have lost their spirit.

Then, Roma's attack became more and more effective, and in the 75th minute, Totti also scored a beautiful goal, making the score 4-1.

The game became completely one-sided.

Shan Yongzhuo still had two skills left to use, and he felt he could score at least one more goal. However, just as he was about to exert himself, he was substituted off the field by Spalletti.

"That damn bald guy."

Dan Yongzhuo mentally grumbled, but could only helplessly leave the field. However, scoring three goals was still satisfactory.

With Shan Yongzhuo off the field, Gao Hongbo in the stands naturally lost interest in the match as well, but his gaze toward Shan Yongzhuo became even more complicated.

However, he also had his own judgment.

Could this be an opportunistic striker?
Gao Hongbo doesn't particularly like this type of striker. In his view, such opportunists might score goals, but that's about all they can do for the team. They can't form good partnerships with the opposing team, nor can they rely on their individual attacking power to constantly break through the opponent's defense.

However, on second thought, he felt that he should still recruit Shan Yongzhuo into the national team.

"Perhaps we could let him integrate with the team first, and then use friendly matches to practice their teamwork, maybe..."

This is Gao Hongbo's idea.

Let's not worry about that for now, as long as he can score, that's all that matters. After all, domestic strikers can't score anyway.

What if Shan Yongzhuo actually works in the end?

Gao Hongbo's assessment of Shan Yongzhuo was the same as Spalletti's initial assessment. At that time, Spalletti also felt that Shan Yongzhuo was a player who could seize opportunities by using his footwork.

Now, things are completely different.

Spalletti had personally witnessed Shan Yongzhuo's incredible, even unbelievable, dribbling skills time and time again. Although he didn't do many dribbles in each game, he scored a goal almost every time.

Would such a player be an opportunist?
This doesn't prove anything at all.

Of course, Spalletti still feels that he has not fully understood Shan Yongzhuo, but he has given up trying to understand him.

Spalletti is quite confident in his football skills. He believes that if even he can't understand it, then other head coaches certainly can't either, even top coaches like Ancelotti and Lippi.

So, if you don't understand it, so be it. In the long history of football, there will always be some players who are hard to understand. Just let them play and be a free-roaming forward.

Then, he decided to replace Shan Yongzhuo.

The outcome of this match is already decided; in fact, it could be said that Roma has already advanced to the round of 16 thanks to this game, so there's no need to waste Shan Yongzhuo's energy any further.

As Spalletti had predicted, the match ended uneventfully after a few exchanges of attacks between the two sides.

After the match, the Italian media were very excited.

Roma won 1-4 away from home, a score that was extremely favorable.

With a 3-goal lead and 4 away goals, they only need to avoid losing by 4 goals in the home game to advance to the round of 16.

Roma lost to Papastathopoulos by 4 goals?

Nobody thought it would happen, not even the most rabid Greek fans; they all felt there was no hope.

After the match, Shan Yongzhuo was interviewed by the media, but he only said a few words and left.

Before returning to Rome, he met Gao Hongbo at the airport, and the two had a brief chat.

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(End of this chapter)