Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 98 Dense Schedule

The victory against AC Milan made the whole team very happy, but with a tight schedule, the team still cannot relax at all.

A few days later, Roma hosted the first leg of their Europa League Round of 16 match at home.

Shan Yongzhuo made his first start and scored two goals, leading Roma to a comfortable 3-1 victory over Standard Liege at home.

However, despite the victory, Spalletti was still very dissatisfied with conceding an away goal.

Two days later, the team traveled to Livorno for an away game. Shan Yongzhuo was not included in the squad. The team's attack was still impressive, but the defense made frequent mistakes. In the end, they drew 3-3 with their opponents away from home.

A draw isn't a big deal.

The season has progressed to this point, and we're almost at the final sprint. Roma is competing on three fronts, and the players are feeling extremely fatigued.

Spalletti did indeed have fewer capable men at his disposal, so at this point he could only hold on.

Roma were held to a draw, and their rivals Inter Milan were also in poor form, suffering a surprising defeat away to Catania, which brought a sigh of relief to the entire Roma team.

In fact, Inter Milan is also having a tough time right now.

They suffered some injuries, and they faced Chelsea in the Champions League Round of 16. Although they fought hard to eliminate Chelsea, it took a toll on the team.

As a result, the gap between them and Roma widened further in the league.

Mourinho is also in a dilemma. He can only wait for Roma to slip up. For Inter Milan, a Champions League title is much more important than a league title, so he can only focus on the Champions League.

Moreover, the Italian media showed a rare degree of leniency towards Inter Milan and Mourinho, as Inter Milan is now the only Serie A team in the Champions League.

So far in this season's Champions League, Juventus has been eliminated in the group stage, while AC Milan and Fiorentina have been eliminated in the knockout stage by Manchester United and Bayern Munich respectively. Only Inter Milan remains in the quarterfinals.

For the Italian media, all they can do is hope that Inter Milan can perform well.

Roma also hopes that Inter Milan can focus more on the Champions League, which would reduce the pressure on Roma in the league.

A few days later, the entire Roma team traveled to Belgium and narrowly defeated Standard Liège 1-0, eliminating their opponents 3-1 on aggregate to advance to the quarterfinals.

Spalletti breathed a sigh of relief and threw himself back into the league.

However, in the 29th round of matches, Roma hosted Udinese, and Shan Yongzhuo got the opportunity to start and scored 2 goals. But Udinese showed amazing fighting power, scoring 4 goals in the first and second halves and defeating Roma 4-3 away from home.

Inter Milan, however, managed a hard-fought victory against Palermo away from home, narrowing the gap between the two teams to just two points once again. This gap is very dangerous, as it could be widened in a single match.

Spalletti also felt immense pressure at this point, but there was nothing he could do. Roma relied too heavily on their key players, their bench strength was simply insufficient, and the key players were just too exhausted.

Even Tony, who was brought on loan in the winter, was injured by Spalletti, and now he can only continue to hold on.

Even Shan Yongzhuo felt physically exhausted at this point. After all, the continuous matches, including an away game against Belgium in between, had taken a heavy toll on the entire team.

Just three days after their match against Udinese, Roma traveled to Bologna for an away game.

Thanks to Toni's goal, Roma finally won 1-0 away from home, temporarily maintaining their points advantage.

Roma fielded almost their entire starting lineup, yet still managed to secure a victory, which relieved Spalletti.

Spalletti considers the next home game against Inter Milan to be a crucial match of the season.

With only eight rounds remaining in the league, and seven rounds left after the match against Inter Milan, Roma would need to secure a home victory to extend their lead to five points, a significant advantage in their title race.

Moreover, in the Europa League quarter-finals, Roma's opponent is Hamburger SV from the Bundesliga, a formidable opponent that they must put in considerable effort to overcome.

As for the second leg of the Italian Cup semi-final against Udinese, Spalletti is no longer giving it much thought. He believes that the 4-1 home victory in the first leg should be no problem.

In addition, Udinese is under considerable pressure to avoid relegation, so they may not devote much energy to the Italian Cup.

After much deliberation, Spalletti made his decision.

The match against Inter Milan is of utmost importance; we must do everything in our power to defeat them.

For the away game against Hamburg, it's acceptable to field some substitutes and suffer a narrow defeat.

The Italian Cup matches are the least important, and there are still two weeks to go, so there's no problem at all.

The training atmosphere in Rome was quite good, but Shan Yongzhuo was rather troubled.

These days, Elena's hints to herself have become increasingly obvious, almost to the point of being explicit.

Dan Yongzhuo was a little unsure of what to do. After politely declining, Elena was not disappointed, but instead became even more enthusiastic.

"I believe I will definitely win you over!"

Elena's words left Shan Yongzhu somewhat at a loss.

Being too charming can also be a problem!

Then, before the match against Inter Milan, Shan Yongzhuo was interviewed by a CTV reporter, and it was a live interview.

Shan Yongzhuo is now the most popular football player in China, with a huge number of fans. The CTV interview went smoothly, and the questions were all quite ordinary.

For example, competition, current condition, goals, and so on.

This interview further boosted Shan Yongzhuo's popularity in China.

Next up was the match against Inter Milan. Spalletti devised a tenacious defensive strategy for this game, which was unavoidable given Totti's injury, Pizarro's injury, and Vucinic's suspension. Roma's lineup was simply stretched thin.

Then, this highly anticipated match turned into a very dull game.

Inter Milan are eager to defeat their opponents, but they are also in a difficult situation. Milito is injured, Zanetti is injured, Sneijder has a fever, and their squad is incomplete.

Ultimately, the match ended in a 1-1 draw at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, with Shan Yongzhuo scoring a goal and Eto'o equalizing for Inter Milan.

This outcome seems acceptable to both sides.

The draw against Inter Milan was a relief for Roma, and they could accept the point.

Once back in training, Roma stopped talking about past matches and instead focused on the Europa League.

Europa League quarter-finals.

In the first leg, Roma will play away against Hamburg.

(End of this chapter)