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

Chapter 217 The Fish and the Bear's Paw
After the game, the team returned to the hotel to pack their things and went directly to the airport to catch the last flight from Barcelona back to Udine.

This is also the team's practice in away games.

After the game, everyone was still very excited and couldn't sleep even if they stayed in Barcelona. It was better to take this opportunity to fly back to Udine, rest and conduct recovery training tomorrow morning.

Udinese has been very busy recently. The Champions League semi-finals with Barcelona are on Wednesday night. Udinese will usher in the 35th round of Serie A on Saturday night, and then they will face Barcelona at home next Tuesday night.

Playing three games in one week is simply a nightmare for the players!
Under such circumstances, restorative training after the game is very critical, which allows players to recover to the maximum extent and avoid injuries caused by excessive fatigue.

Although they lost, the atmosphere in the team was pretty good. The players were all sitting in their respective positions, talking in twos and threes. Many people were obviously looking forward to the home game a week later, but there were also many people who were more excited. Worry.

This is quite normal.After all, different personalities, different perspectives on problems, different levels of understanding of football, and naturally different ideas.

Bruno is cautious and rational. He believes that the team has a chance to fight, but this requires the team to score first.

As long as Udinese scores first, Barcelona will have to press out and play, then there will be a chance.

If, on the other hand, Barcelona scores first, then Udinese will basically be in despair.

………………

Early the next morning, the media and fans all over the world were boiling again.

Barcelona 3:1 Udinese.

Messi and Bruno, the two top scorers in the Champions League, both scored.

Bruno's goals brought his tally to 16 goals in the Champions League this season, including 14 goals in the main game, continuing to dominate the Champions League scorer list this season.

Messi even scored twice, raising his number of goals in the Champions League this season to double digits, and even surpassed Cristiano Ronaldo on the historical scorer list to regain the top spot.

Even Messi still has hope of competing for the Champions League top scorer this season.After all, judging from the first round of the game, Messi was in very good condition.If he scores again in the second round and Barcelona reaches the final, it is not impossible to overtake Bruno and become the Champions League golden boot this season.

For this game, many people believed that Barcelona was able to win with a two-goal advantage, largely due to good luck.Tactically, Enrique's team was completely restrained by their opponents.

Major media outlets around the world have also reported on this game, saying that after Udinese returns to home, if they can continue to show the state of the first round, they are fully capable of overturning Barcelona.

Even "World Sports News" believed that Barcelona's performance in this game was indeed a bit disappointing, especially in the second half.

"That's definitely not the Barcelona we all know!"

………………

Many media have said that the second round will be full of suspense, especially when Udinese has a top scorer like Bruno.

Bruno's back-to-back goals against Real Madrid in the Champions League group stage made Bruno famous all over the world.

This time he scored another goal at Camp Nou, which once again attracted the attention of media and fans around the world.

Everyone has realized what an important role Bruno played in Udinese's ability to enter the semi-finals.

Of course, data doesn’t lie.

So far, Bruno has scored 11 goals and provided 14 assists in 7 Champions League games, ranking first in the goals and assists list.

In Udinese's 11 games, Udinese scored a total of 27 goals, and Bruno directly produced 21 of them!
The day before the match between Udinese and Barcelona, ​​the result of another semi-final was also decided. Juventus defeated Real Madrid 2:1 at home and took the lead in the two-leg knockout round.

Looking at the two first-leg matches of the Champions League semi-finals, the results are still confusing, and the suspense is left to the second round.

Among them, the most eye-catching one is the showdown between Udinese and Barcelona.

Sitting on the top two killers in the Champions League scorer list, the team scored the biggest score in the official Champions League game this season, and everyone is also full of expectations for the second round of the game.

Udinese or Barcelona, ​​who will win?

Is this year's Champions League final a civil war in Serie A or La Liga?Or is it evenly divided?

………………

On Saturday afternoon, the 35th round of Serie A started with one game, Juventus faced Cagliari at the Allianz Stadium in Turin.

Next week's key Champions League game will be a visit to Madrid. Allegri will undergo a super rotation, with only Marchisio playing as the main player.

With only 4 rounds left in the league, they were 8 points behind Udinese and had no hope of winning the championship. Coupled with winning the first leg of the Champions League at home, Juventus finally made a choice between the league and the Champions League.

However, Pogba, who was absent for 6 weeks, entered the starting lineup directly, and Romulo, who was injured in November last year, also announced his return. The thickness of the bench means that the strength of Juventus's lineup should not be underestimated.

Cagliari has recovered under the leadership of new coach Festa and has won 3 of the past 2 rounds. However, there is still a 4-point gap with Atalanta, which is fourth from the bottom, and the pressure to avoid relegation is very high.The recent long-term injuries have made the distance between Pogba and Bruno wider and wider, but he did not want to admit that he was inferior to Bruno, so he naturally vented his anger on Cagliari.

After the game started, Pogba was the most active player of Juventus. As soon as the game started, Pogba took a powerful free kick and missed it slightly.

At the last moment of the first half, the French midfielder scored to help Juventus take the lead.

In the 45th minute, Padoin passed the ball from the left. Pogba turned and volleyed 20 meters away from the goal, but Chepitelli stretched his leg to block and change the line into the near corner, 1:0.

Pogba scored 86 goals in 20 Serie A games and scored 5 goals outside the Serie A penalty area this season, second only to Bruno.

But Cagliari once again proved to the world that the survival desire of the relegation team will be a headache even for the Serie A hegemon.

Although Juventus pressed Cagliari to attack in the second half, they were unable to break their goal. On the contrary, Juventus, who was pressing hard, was scored by Cagliari's set-piece attack.

In the 85th minute, Avelar took a free kick from the left. Rossettini's header 7 meters from the goal hit the inside of the left goal post and bounced back. Then he followed up on the right and pushed into the empty goal, 1:1.

In fact, Cagliari are even expected to take away 3 points from the Allianz Stadium in Turin.

In the 2nd minute of stoppage time, Ekdal made a pass from the edge of the penalty area. Sauu missed the winner by hitting the ball 7 meters in front of the goal. He regretfully covered his head with his jersey.

………………

Unable to score 3 points at home, Juventus is still 3 points behind Udinese with only 7 rounds left in the league.

Even if Udinese defeats Sampdoria in the subsequent game, they will win this season's Serie A championship three rounds in advance.

However, facing the temptation of the league championship, Guidolin still chose to play with a rotating lineup.

Obviously, the 1:3 loss in the first round at Camp Nou did not completely end Guidolin's hope of advancing to the Champions League final.

Another factor is that Udinese's main players, who played against Barcelona for 90 minutes just three days ago, have not really recovered yet.

Rather than letting them exhaust their energy in the game against Sampdoria and not necessarily winning, it is better to give the substitute players a chance to fight, and at the same time let the main lineup take a good rest.

However, Bruno still started.

Sampdoria currently ranks sixth in Serie A and still retains hope of qualifying for the Europa League.This made them very eager to fight in the away game. They mainly turned against the away team and attacked Udinese who played as a substitute at the Friuli Stadium.

In the 26th minute, Versovek passed the ball back and Soriano scored with a push.

In the 62nd minute, Djordjevic's shot was saved, and Soriano scored twice with a complementary shot.

In the 79th minute, Akwa succeeded in counterattack, 3:0.

Udinese scored a face-saving goal from Bruno through a penalty kick in the 84th minute of the game.

This is Bruno's 22nd Serie A goal this season. He also tied Di Natale on the Serie A scorer list. The two jointly lead the Serie A scorer list.

Towards the end of the game, Duncan scored another goal from offside, locking the score at 1:4!

………………

Despite the 1:4 defeat at home, the Udinese people did not pay too much attention. All their attention at the moment was on the upcoming second leg of the Champions League semi-finals.

Of course, this is also directly related to their current huge 7-point advantage in the standings.

They only need to win one of the remaining three Serie A games to lock in the Serie A championship this season.

Their remaining three opponents in Serie A are Roma, Sassuolo and Cagliari.

Of these three teams, Udinese may not be able to defeat Roma, but it is not a problem to get 3 points from Sassuolo or Cagliari.

At this time, no one will doubt that Udinese cannot win the Serie A championship this season.

In this regard, Bruno said in an interview with the media after the game: "It is sad that the team cannot win the league championship early due to the loss, but now we cannot think too much about this matter. The most important thing is the Champions League half-time match on Tuesday night. The final. I know it’s going to be a tough game, but we’re all ready for it.”

Regarding winning the league title early and advancing to the Champions League final, Bruno said he wanted both.

"I know it is difficult, but I am willing to work hard for it. Of course, if I can only choose one of the two, then I hope to advance to the Champions League final."

Bruno's words were also recognized and responded to by many Udinese stars, including Di Natale. Everyone said that they were fully prepared.

Even Maguire, who had a poor performance in the last game, said in an interview with the media that he was absent from the league and adjusted his condition. He is very energetic and can compete in the Champions League game in midweek.

(End of this chapter)