From the man behind the football king to the football king.

Chapter 898 Contradiction
The head coach of the Italian team is former Manchester City head coach Mancini.

As the European Cup final approaches, the famous Italian coach expressed his confidence that the Italian team will defeat Portugal and win the European Cup.

After Mancini said this, he kept waiting for the fight.

When Mancini coached Manchester City, it was the period when Manchester City was acquired by oil capital and began to rise in the Premier League. Manchester City, which is now a powerful force in the world football, won its first Premier League championship under Mancini's leadership and became familiar to the world.

During his three and a half years as Manchester City coach, Mancini's biggest rival was Manchester United's legendary coach Ferguson, and the two often battled wits and courage in games.

Although they are opponents, Mancini also admires Ferguson very much and has made great efforts to study Ferguson's psychological warfare.

This statement is based on this consideration.

However, Mancini waited and waited, but Santos did not respond, let alone scold him.

what happened?

Finally, when the match day arrived and everything was still calm, Mancini finally realized: he was being ignored.

This made Mancini both angry and helpless.

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When the two head coaches shook hands before the game, Santos shook Mancini's hand and praised Mancini's outstanding performance as coach of Italy.

After hearing these words, Mancini's inner confusion and unhappiness disappeared, and he was actually quite happy.

Then he calmed down, sighed, and realized that this was the difference in status between himself and Santos, and the two sides were completely unequal.

Although he has won the Premier League and Serie A titles and is considered a famous coach, he is undoubtedly far behind Santos, who has won the European Cup and the World Cup.

In this European Cup final, Portugal played with all its main players. The goalkeeper was Patricio. The central defenders were Ruben Dias and Pepe. The left back was Guerrero, the right back was Cancelo; the midfielders were Paline, William Carvalho and Bruno; the forwards were Jota, Ronaldo and Bernardo Silva.

Currently playing for Sporting CP, Palinha was a substitute at the beginning of the European Cup, but as the tournament progressed, his performance became better and better, and he even gradually replaced Danilo Pereira's starting position. Palinha showed his ability to steal, confront and get rid of the ball in the game, but there is still room for improvement on the offensive end. His concentration and high football IQ make him a reliable player, and he has a good sense of position and running ability.

For the Italian team, the goalkeeper is Donnarumma, the two full-backs are Emosson and Di Lorenzo, the central defenders are Chiellini and Bonucci, the midfielders are Verratti, Jorginho and Barella, and the forwards are Insigne, Immobile and Chiesa.

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The game had only been going on for five minutes.

"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLL!!!!!!!!"

Amid the commentator's roar, Portugal goalkeeper Patricio was seen half-kneeling in front of the goal, looking back at the ball in the goal, with his arms still outstretched to block the ball.

Portugal's central defender Ruben Dias was lying in front of the goal. He sat up, turned his head to look at the football in the net, with a depressed look on his face.

"Jorginho! Jorginho!! Jorginho!!! He scored the first goal for Italy, 1:0, Italy leads Portugal 1:0!"

"Ruben Dias must have been very frustrated because Jorginho's powerful shot hit Ruben Dias' shoulder and he fell to the ground, and the ball changed direction and flew into the goal."

As a defensive midfielder, Jorginho is not good at scoring, but he prefers long shots. Now in the European Cup final, he is naturally very excited to see his shot score a goal.

Especially in this game, his opponent was Bruno. Two months ago, that guy led Manchester United to beat Chelsea, which he led, in this stadium and won the FA Cup. Then he led Manchester United to beat Chelsea in the Champions League final, which hurt Jorginho very much.

But today, the Italy led by him was ahead of Bruno's Portugal in the world-renowned European Cup final, and he was the one who scored the goal. How could he not be ecstatic?
Jorginho rushed to the Italian fans' stand at the new Wembley Stadium and waved his arms to celebrate. Behind him, Italian fans surrounded him from all directions and cheered to celebrate the goal.

"Damn it!" Seeing Jorginho celebrating wildly, Bruno cursed in a low voice in dissatisfaction.

However, Bruno was also helpless. Who could he blame for the refraction? He could only blame his own bad luck.

………………

After taking a 1:0 lead, the Italian team did not shrink its defense, but instead stepped up its offensive.

Mancini's idea was very clear. He knew that he could not defend. When the opponent was Portugal, it was impossible to maintain a one-goal lead, even if he was leading the Italian team which was famous for its defense.

Bruno admired Mancini's courage. Under his leadership, Portugal did not hesitate to press forward and attack.

Bruno knows that although the Portuguese team's defense looks good, its overall defensive ability is not satisfactory. They lost 3 goals in 4 group matches, and 3 goals in 5 knockout matches. Including the one goal lost today, they lost a total of 10 goals, the most among the top four teams.

Of the other three teams in the semi-finals, Spain conceded 6 goals in 6 games, while England conceded 3 goals, all in the semi-final against Portugal; Italy has the best defense, having conceded only 2 goals so far, with one goal each in the quarter-finals and semi-finals.

So, it's pretty clear that defense is not Portugal's strong point.

In contrast, Portugal, which has Bruno and Ronaldo, two of the world's strongest attackers, is strong in attack. In the previous six games, Portugal has scored 20 goals, which is a huge lead among all 24 teams participating in the European Cup.

The other three semi-final teams, Spain, which is known for its offensive prowess, scored 11 goals, England scored 9 goals, and Italy scored 12 goals, which is already very good. But compared to Portugal's 20 goals, it is almost half.

Therefore, there is a saying about this year's European Cup final: the strongest spear Portugal versus the strongest shield Italy!

This is a battle between spear and shield!
Bruno was most worried that Italy would retreat after taking the lead and use their best defense to fight Portugal. If the opponent really wanted to fight Portugal, this would undoubtedly be what Portugal wanted to see the most.

………………

Sure enough, after the two sides attacked each other, Portugal quickly got the opportunity to equalize the score.

This was a chance for the Italian team, which was pressing hard, to seize when Portugal launched a counterattack.

Bruno passed the ball in the midfield and found Bernardo Silva on the right. Bernardo Silva immediately passed the ball behind him, and Ronaldo successfully made an offside and got a chance to score a goal.

Seeing this, Italian goalkeeper Donnarumma quickly left the goal and rushed out. Ronaldo did not choose to pass the goalkeeper, he swung his right leg.

Donnarumma immediately predicted the save. Based on his experience and what he saw, he knew it should be a volley.

Donnarumma threw his body weight out to catch the ball, but he didn't touch it. He saw that when Ronaldo's right foot touched the ball, his ankle changed from a volley to a lob!

The football drew a beautiful arc, flew over Donnarumma's head, drew a parabola, and fell directly into the goal.

"GOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLL!!!!!"

"Ronaldo! Ronaldo!! Ronaldo!!! Oh my god, Ronaldo hit a spoon against Donnarumma! It's incredible, he is so relaxed, this is Ronaldo! This is him!! Only he dares to do this in such a final!!!"

……

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Just as the Portuguese commentator said, Ronaldo is indeed too bold and daring!

If Donnarumma had not been fooled and stood still, he could have easily picked the football from the air. Then, Ronaldo's choice of this spoon shot would have become a joke, a classic joke in the history of the European Cup final, and he, Donnarumma, would have become the positive hero in this famous scene.

But the problem is that the daring Ronaldo succeeded. His spoon shot and the helpless Donnarumma made it an eternally famous scene in the history of the European Cup final.

Santos applauded the goal on the sidelines and turned to Ildio Val and said, "This guy is so brave!"

After scoring the goal with a spoon shot, Ronaldo quickly rushed to the corner flag area, made his own celebration move, turned his back to the fans, opened his arms, slightly raised his head, and greeted his teammates who came to celebrate from all directions. His expression seemed to say: Worship me, brothers!

The fans who watched this game in front of TV felt great, especially the neutral fans. They had no preference on who would win the championship. What mattered was that the game was exciting.

The game had only been going on for less than twenty minutes and there were two goals, including a classic shot by Cristiano Ronaldo, and the fans were very happy.

The game continued, and Portugal equalized the score so quickly, which was a blow to the morale of the Italian team.

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After the game resumed, Portugal's offensive intensity suddenly increased.

"Donnarumma! He made a world-class save!"

Jota used his heel to knock the ball to Guerrero, who came to receive the ball, and the latter hoisted the ball into the penalty area. Bruno jumped high in front of the goal and headed the ball. Donnarumma made a wonderful save and lifted the ball over the crossbar.

Portugal corner kick.

After the corner kick, Ronaldo's header was not strong enough and Donnarumma caught the ball in the air. Donnarumma then kicked the ball out of the goal, but the ball did not cross the half court and was headed back by Pepe.

After three passes, Portugal sent the ball into the penalty area again. Bruno half-turned and shot, but the ball was blocked by Chiellini and fell at Jota's feet.

Jota also took a long shot under Verratti's close defense, but the ball went slightly over the crossbar, making Italian fans break out in cold sweats.

Portugal completely suppressed Italy in the following period. For a while, Italy could not even pass the ball across half the field, let alone attack or counterattack.

Jorginho and Verratti also had no energy to attack. The job of these two Italian midfielders was to constantly grab the ball, grab the ball, and grab the ball again.

………………

The first half ended with a score of 1:1. Jorginho scored first for Italy, and Portugal soon equalized the score with an assist from Bernardo Silva and Ronaldo.

In the subsequent games, although the Italian team was in a passive position, they withstood the fierce bombardment of Portugal.

During the half-time break, Mancini was very excited. The 1:1 score in the first half gave him some confidence. He praised the performance of the Italian players and encouraged them to continue working hard in the second half to win the final championship.

After the second half started, the Italian team kicked off first. Taking advantage of the opportunity of kicking off first, they launched an attack on the Portuguese goal, and their offensive became more and more intense.

This unusual move caught Portugal off guard, and Santos was also surprised. What happened to the Italian players? Did they eat something?
However, Santos is also a famous coach who is used to all kinds of big scenes. Although Italy's approach surprised him a little, he was not panicked at all and was very calm.

Like Bruno, Santos is not afraid of Italy's attack, what he is afraid of is Italy's defensive retreat.

………………

In the 56th minute of the game, the Italian team played an amazing offensive combination in the frontcourt.

Insigne broke free from the interceptions of Bruno and Cancelo and made a reverse cross.

Immobile pretended to stop the ball at the top of the penalty area, but he rubbed the ball and it flew into the penalty area.

Chiesa rushed towards the ball, along with Ruben Dias and Guerrero, and then people saw Chiesa fall in the penalty area.

The whistle of the Dutch referee Kuipers sounded immediately, he pointed to the penalty spot and showed Guerrero a yellow card.

It all happened so suddenly that Guerrero hadn't even reacted yet when he heard the whistle and saw Kuipers pointing to the penalty spot and pointing at him, showing him a yellow card. He was completely stunned.

After a moment of confusion, the fans of the two teams in the stands also had two completely different reactions. The Italian fans cheered loudly, applauding the referee's keen observation. The Portuguese fans in the stands booed deafeningly.

"Penalty! Kuipers pointed to the penalty spot and showed Guerrero a yellow card at the same time. Let's see what happened?"

"Chiesa fell in the penalty area and the Dutch referee Kuipers believed that Guerrero fouled him!"

"Penalty plus yellow card, Portugal suffered a heavy blow!"

(End of this chapter)