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

Chapter 122 Entering the Finals

For the loss at the Friuli Stadium, Juventus was very unconvinced.They believed that the referee's penalty call was too harsh.

If it hadn't been for the penalty kick, the result of the game would have been hard to say. Even if Juventus couldn't win on the road, it was still possible to get a draw.

Udinese didn't pay too much attention to Juventus's stubbornness. It was just a dog's bark.

In the 35th round of Serie A with Turin over the weekend, Guidolin did not hesitate to rotate the team's lineup.Unsurprisingly, Udinese, who came on as a substitute, lost 0:2 to Turin away from home.

However, due to Naples' draw with Inter Milan at the Meazza Stadium, Udinese still leads Naples by 4 points and ranks third in the Serie A standings.

On May 5st at the Allianz Stadium in Turin, Udinese once again fought with Juventus.

In this game, Guidolin set up the iron barrel formation without any surprise, and at the same time gave the team captain Di Natale a rest.

With a 3:1 lead at home, and less than 48 hours after the end of the game, Udinese was about to usher in the Coppa Italia final of this season, Guidolin chose to stay without hesitation.

In the miserable wind and rain in Turin, Juventus tried their best to score 120 points, but could not tolerate Udinese's "bus tactics". After 90 minutes of hard work, the score was still settled at 0:0, and the Bianconeri missed out. The best chance to win the Europa League this season at home, the final battleground is just to marry someone else.

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More than 2000 Udinese fans who came to the away game gathered in the stands and chanted the slogan "Turin! Turin!"

The Udinese players did not rush back to the locker room. Instead, led by captain Bruno, they went to the bottom of the stands where the Udinese fans were sitting to celebrate this historic moment with the fans. .

Of course, the media are also indispensable to add to the fun, and they have caught Udinese players for interviews.

Bruno is the most talked about Udinese player.

"Let's talk about the game? Before the game, did you think you could advance to the finals?"

"We have always had the belief that we must win, no matter who the opponent is."

"Looking ahead to the finals, what kind of result do you hope to achieve?"

"champion."

"So sure?"

"This is not certainty, but confidence. If you don't even have the confidence to win the championship and don't even dare to think about it, don't even enter the finals. If you don't want to win the championship after entering the finals, why are you still aiming for the runner-up place?"

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The Udinese players, who had celebrated in the field, returned to the locker room and planned to continue celebrating, but they saw the head coach's serious face.

"The time for celebration is over, boys," Guidolin said. "Calm down now... put the champagne aside, Antonio."

Di Natale put down the champagne in his hand with some embarrassment.

"If we celebrate like this after reaching the final, how will we celebrate after winning the championship? Save your energy until then. Don't think that reaching the final is the final victory. Have you forgotten, our goal is not just to reach the Europa League final It’s so simple, but win the championship!”

Everyone's expressions became serious as they spoke.

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"Don't let me go astray in the last step. Persevere until the end, and it's never too late to laugh. Now go back to the hotel and rest. Training as usual tomorrow!"

In the past, after winning the knockout rounds of the Europa League, Guidolin would always give the team a day off and let them have a good rest as a reward, regardless of whether the league was next.But this time, he didn't do that.He wants the players to know it's not time to celebrate and relax yet.In less than 48 hours, Udinese will usher in this season's Coppa Italia final at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. It will be the second time in Udinese's history that it will participate in the Coppa Italia final. Guidolin also hopes that This will be the game where Udinese wins its first major championship in team history!

After telling the players to pack their things and prepare to return to the hotel, Guidolin took Bruno with him to attend the post-match press conference.This is what the head coach has to do after every game.

When Guidolin arrived at the press conference, the reporters at the scene all turned their attention to him.

The media naturally pays great attention to Guidolin. After all, he is a key figure in the rise of Udinese in recent seasons. It was he who created the Udinese team that has reached the Europa League final.

As Guidolin took his seat, reporters rained questions on him.

"I'm very satisfied with the team's performance. Every one of them is outstanding. I've known this for a long time. My players are the best!"

"Final? Of course we hope to win the championship. Reaching the final is not the ultimate goal, the championship is."

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After leading Udinese to create history, Guidolin was also full of pride and said all kinds of harsh words.

This makes the media very happy, these are the most eye-catching things!

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At the same time, as the coach of Juventus on the losing side, Conte once again targeted the referee.

"It has to be said that it is a shame. The referee Clattenberg allowed the opponent to continue to delay time. The game became piecemeal. In the last 10 minutes, Udinese players had 6 minutes to lie on the ground. Delaying time, the referee did not make any sign. He kept signaling for a single frame to come up to lift people, but basically they fell to the ground without a particularly violent collision, and there would not be any injuries at all, but the referee But there is no basic judgment on this, which is very regrettable. This is simply incredible. Everyone can see that Udinese is stalling for time, but only the referee does not see it. I am really disappointed. ”

"This is Clattenberg's connivance to Udinese to continue to use such tactics. If he could have shown a yellow card when Bruno fell to the ground, maybe they would not have done so later, but he did not do it at all. Without a little prestige, the game didn't feel like a game, they made the game become a show. Also, during the game, the referee missed one of our penalty kicks, which was terrible, and in the first round Among them, the opponent's penalty kick did not exist, and we were very unlucky at this point."

Although he was eliminated by Udinese, Conte was still unconvinced. He told reporters: "You can look at the 180 minutes of the two rounds. We have most of the advantages. You can go and take a look. The technical statistics of these two games, I think we just lacked some luck. We deserved to be in the finals more than Udinese, they did not deserve to be in the finals. We have gone through a difficult season and we want to compete in the league and Europe. We have won the championship in the Federation Cup, but some objective factors have hindered us. My players have given everything they have. I can't ask for more from them. They have given everything. We have given everything from the first minute to the first minute. For 1 minutes, it was exciting to maintain our desire for victory, but we lacked lucky moments. We tried our best, but were unable to score, and in the end our opponents began to delay the game. It was interrupted several times, and from that point of view, the opponent was very lucky."

After blasting the referee, Conte shifted the topic to the game: "We played very patiently and kept putting pressure on our opponents. After the opponent was sent off in the second half, they started to defend, near the penalty area. , they hoarded all 9 players, which gave us no space to attack at all, it was not like a football game, they showed a lot of experience, including delaying time, we were unlucky, I am really disappointed, It was the referee who allowed them to succeed."

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Udinese eliminated Juventus and entered the European finals for the first time in history. This can be regarded as a minor upset.

Most Italian media were surprised by this result.Fortunately, the one that defeated Juventus was also an Italian team, which made them feel a little relieved.

As the local media in Turin, "Torino Sport" had a headline full of disappointment and regret: "What a disappointing result, Juventus scored 0:0, and 10-man Udinese advanced to the final. . We were not able to score a goal. Although Juventus made us feel very strong, we did not score a goal and lost the opportunity to advance."

"Gazzetta dello Sport" also expressed regret: "Without doing anything, for Juventus, the Europa League final in Turin is still a dream. When the result of the game was fixed at 0:0, the entire Allianz Stadium was incomparable Silence. But in Udine, tens of thousands of Udinese fans gathered at the Friuli Stadium to celebrate the team's first European final in its history!"

"Italian Football" ran the headline "Udinese ruins Juventus' dream" and wrote: "Juventus can't play in the Europa League final, even though they controlled Udinese who played with 10 men. , but failed to find a way to score. Udinese made good use of their home court and eliminated the powerful Juventus with a total score of 3:1, reaching the European finals for the first time in history. .”

The title of "Slow Motion" is "Juventus bids farewell to the Europa League, Udinese reaches the final."

"Slow Motion" said: "Conte's team did not use the numerical advantage to win, and the final score was fixed at 0:0. Juventus failed to complete the comeback after losing 1:3 in the first round. It’s a shame to wave goodbye just one step away from the final. Although Conte’s team continues to remain unbeaten at home this season, it does not mean anything for the Europa League.”

The headline of "Corriere dello Sport" is very simple: "Juventus bids farewell to the Europa League, Udinese advances to the final."

The local newspaper in Udinese was very excited about the team's first Europa League final in its history. From the head coach Guidolin to the following players, everyone praised it.But it was Bruno who appeared on the front page.

(End of this chapter)