Chapter 152: The thread in the hands of a loving mother, the clothes on the body of a wandering son "Thank you, brother. Xiao Peng is in your hands!" "Don't worry, I will hand him over to his family safely!" At the airport, Lin Feng said goodbye to his teammates on the national team and went their separate ways. The Chinese national team returned to BJ by plane after completing a two-week training camp in Spain. Lin Feng also wanted to take a plane, but his destination was Germany. Due to the influence of the World Cup, this year's winter break is very short, and the 18th round of Serie A will resume on January 1. This means that they will have to return to the team to prepare for the game before January 1, and now it is New Year's Day 5, and there is not much time left for Lin Feng to reunite with his family. After returning home, Lin Feng also cherished this time very much. He played chess and went fishing with his father, and helped his mother buy groceries and do housework. These ordinary and warm days seemed to have taken him back to the days before he started playing football.

But unfortunately, the good times did not last long. A few days passed in a flash, and Lin Feng had to pack up and prepare to return to Milan. "If I had known that being a player was so hard, I shouldn't have listened to your dad!" Over the past six months, Lin Feng looked thinner and darker. Her temperament has changed significantly, becoming more mature and stable. And he has grown a little taller. He was over meters tall before, and now he is estimated to be meters tall. "Haha, which job isn't hard? Ours is still pretty good. At least the salary is high. If you become famous, you can earn extra money. It's much better than an ordinary job!" Lin Feng only said nice things and never mentioned anything negative so as not to increase his parents' worries. "Humph, you're just saying nice things. Playing football is just like the college entrance exam. It's like a thousand troops trying to pass a single-plank bridge. Only a few can make it, and the majority are eliminated. If it's really as easy as you say, then why don't everyone play football and become a star?" Lin Feng was sweating profusely. His mother was really a smart person and it was not easy to fool her! He glanced at Lao Lin standing beside him, who made an innocent expression: That wasn't what he said. Before leaving, Lin's mother stuffed a lot of things into Lin Feng's suitcase. It was full of food and daily necessities, and she wanted to stuff everything she had prepared into it. "Mom, stop it, I'm going to be late for my flight!" "Remember to call us when you get there to let us know you're safe, so your dad and I don't have to worry about you!" "Okay, okay, I get it. I'm not a kid anymore!" Lin Feng dragged his suitcase and carried a backpack as he walked towards the boarding gate, waving goodbye to the two elders with his back turned. Looking at her son's receding back, Mother Lin felt a little sad and her nose felt a little sore. When a child is young, we always look forward to him growing up.

But when he really grew up, left me and started his own life, I felt empty in my heart, as if I had lost something. …… It was only ten days later when I returned to the club and saw my teammates. Lin Feng actually had a feeling that he didn't recognize her! "Ade? Is that you? Why are you so fat?" Lin Feng was very surprised to see Adriano had gained weight. How much has this kid indulged himself during this period? How could he be so fat? Looking at the other teammates, except for a few players like Zanetti and Mihajlovic, the rest are more or less out of shape. "Hey, isn't it because you didn't exercise after you went back home, and you didn't control your appetite, so you ate a little bit more. You didn't gain much weight, probably only about 10 to 20 pounds, right?" Adriano's tone was vague and lacked confidence, and it was obvious that even he himself didn't know his current weight. I don’t know whether I really don’t know or I dare not know. When Mancini arrived at the training base excitedly and was about to say hello to the players he had reunited with after a long time, he saw Adriano's chubby figure. The Italian was obviously stunned for a moment and rubbed his eyes subconsciously. After looking again, he was sure that he was not mistaken. What made him even angrier was that after taking a glance at the other players, he discovered that this was not an isolated case! "Today's first training session is cancelled. Anyone who has gained more than 5 kilograms will run 10 laps around the training ground. No, 20 laps!" In the end, the measurement results showed that a total of five players, including Adriano, had gained more weight than this number. But there are more than a dozen people whose weight changes, although not as much as five kilograms, were more than three kilograms. All we can say is that Mancini showed mercy in the end. If his standards had been a little stricter, the entire team would probably have been punished. For athletes, because of their high daily activities and high energy consumption, they generally eat a lot. Once they stop exercising and don't reduce their food intake, they will easily gain weight. This is also the reason why so many players lose their figure quickly after retiring. But maintaining an appropriate body fat percentage is crucial for athletes. Being too fat is obviously not conducive to their playing football. Adriano gained 10 kilograms this winter! The body fat percentage is almost over 20%! For this reason, in the 18th round of Serie A, Mancini ignored Adriano's pleading and excluded him from the starting lineup and replaced him with Cruz. Without Adriano as their sharp knife, and with the team having just returned from vacation, the players seemed to have not yet fully regained their game form. Inter Milan's performance in the away game against Jobsenna was so unbearable to watch. At the 87th minute, the score was still 0:0. The fans at the scene were already drowsy from the boring game. The game didn't score a single goal and the fans really couldn't muster up any enthusiasm.

However, just when everyone thought the game would end in a draw, Mihajlovic, who came on as a substitute, used his signature free kick to score into the dead corner, helping the team beat the opponent 1-0 away from home. This was Mihajlovic's second goal in the league for Inter Milan this season, and both goals were scored from free kicks. After the game, Mihajlovic publicly announced to the media that he would retire after the end of this season. A legendary generation finally came to an end. …… Although the victory was very difficult, Inter Milan managed to maintain its second place in the standings after winning the game and prevented its city rivals AC Milan from overtaking them. The three giants of Serie A all won this round of games, and their wins were all difficult. Juventus was led by Palermo for most of the away game. In the end, it was Mutu's two goals as a substitute that helped the team take away 3 points from the away game with great difficulty. As for AC Milan, they had a goal-scoring battle with Parma at home. In the first half, Dida made a mistake and conceded a goal to the opponent, but Parma captain Cardone then scored an own goal, and goals from Gilardino and Kaka extended the score to 3-1. In the second half, Shevchenko scored again, the score was 4:1, and AC Milan was on the verge of a big victory. However, Parma did not give up the game. Their attacking midfielder Marchionne scored twice near the end of the game, pushing AC Milan to the edge of the cliff. The opponent's consecutive goals even brought back sad memories for the Rossoneri fans, but fortunately history did not repeat itself in the end. With the united defense, AC Milan withstood the opponent's fierce attack and narrowly defeated the opponent at home, curling up 3 points. The Italian Serie A is about to enter the second half of the season, and the battle for the championship and relegation are becoming increasingly fierce. At this time, the top three teams in the standings are still Juventus, Inter Milan and AC Milan. Among them, Juventus has 49 points and ranks first with a huge advantage. After 12 rounds of unbeaten streak, Inter Milan is currently ranked second with 41 points. Ranked third is AC Milan, who have only 1 point less than Inter Milan. With 20 rounds left in the league, Inter Milan is currently 8 points behind Juventus. Considering that the two sides will have one more direct confrontation in the second half, the score difference is not so big that it cannot be recovered. At least it is much better than the situation in early December when the gap between the two sides was more than 12 points. …… Seeing that the Nerazzurri have come out of their previous slump, the team's morale is high and they are making great strides on all fronts. Rumors that Mancini might be sacked during the winter break also disappeared, and team owner Moratti even publicly praised Mancini in front of the media. This makes Mancini feel very encouraged. He ambitiously plans to launch a strong attack on three fronts: the league, cup and Champions League. The main point is that only children make choices, while adults say they want them all! However, just when Mancini was ambitious and ready to show his strength and make a big move, Inter Milan was tied 1:13 by Parma at home in the Italian Cup held on January 0. Inter Milan did have chances to score in this game, but the team was very unlucky and hit five goal frames. The heads of the fans at the scene and the coaches on the sidelines were buzzing, and they were unable to recover until the game was over.

What kind of incredible luck is this to be able to hit five goal frames in a row? After the game, Mancini frowned slightly, feeling that things were not simple. Could it be that this bad luck will continue? He guessed it right! On January 1, the 15th round of Serie A kicked off, with Inter Milan hosting relegation team Cagliari at home. One of the two teams ranks second in the league, and the other ranks second from the bottom. It can be seen from the rankings of the two sides in the standings that this is a game with a huge gap in strength. In theory, Inter Milan should be able to easily defeat such a weak opponent, and the trend in the first half seems to prove this! In the 9th minute of the game, Lin Feng assisted Martins to break the deadlock. Then in the 14th minute, he made a straight pass to Adriano in the penalty area, helping the latter score another goal. Such a smooth opening made the Inter Milan fans who came to the scene couldn't help but cheer. Many people think that the team will win a very easy victory! However, they all underestimated the relegation team's desire to survive. Facing the powerful Inter Milan, Cagliari, which was behind in the score, not only did not give up, but instead went all out and launched a desperate attack on the home team. But unfortunately, like the Chinese national team, they lack a fulcrum in the midfield and are simply unable to complete threatening passes, resulting in their attack being all talk and no action and posing no substantial threat. But sometimes, when people are unlucky, even drinking cold water will get stuck in their teeth. Towards the end of the first half, the opponent got a corner kick opportunity. The corner kick went into the penalty area, and Materazzi jumped high to grab the first point. However, he seemed unable to control the angle, and his header clearance turned into a direct shot. Cesar had no way to deal with this close header and could only watch the ball go into the net. The score became 2:1, and the opponent scored a goal thanks to an own goal. Although they lost a goal unexpectedly, no one in Inter Milan realized the seriousness of the matter at that time. Not long after the second half began, Inter Milan's other defender Samuel made a low-level mistake when defending the opponent's high ball. His header caused him to lose his defensive position and created a huge hole in Inter Milan's defense. The opponent's forward had already slowed down and was about to give up this opportunity, but he never expected that the ball would actually be passed to him. He was so excited that he accepted the gift and changed the score to 2:2. There was deathly silence at the Meazza Stadium. The fans widened their eyes in disbelief. Many of them even held their heads, their faces filled with shock. On the sidelines, Mancini was also dumbfounded. No way, is the bad luck from last time happening again? Otherwise, why would our defenders collectively fail and make such low-level mistakes one after another? When Inter Milan was tied, the latest news came from another match held at the same time: Juventus temporarily leads Reggina 1:0 at home. If the game ends with this score, Inter Milan will be 10 points behind the Old Lady again.

The 2 points that we had finally recovered were gone! "Attack! I must defeat my opponent today no matter what!" Mancini can accept being tied by the opponent in the cup, but he absolutely cannot accept being tied in the league. And they lost points in such an inexplicable way! They won the Italian Cup last year, but they haven't won the league title for more than a decade. So there is no doubt that the league championship is obviously more attractive. Cagliari is already satisfied with this result. It is not realistic to defeat the powerful Inter Milan away from home, and they are already satisfied with just one point. So after unexpectedly equalizing the score, they quickly chose to shrink their formation, retreat to their own half, and parked the bus in front of the goal. The second half of the game quickly turned into Inter Milan surrounding the opponent's goal and conducting half-court offense and defense drills. Inter Milan's attack was very determined. Lin Feng, Martins, Adriano, Figo and even the captain, the full-back Zanetti, all rushed up to participate in the attack. They surrounded the opponent's goal and completed one shot after another. For a while, there was panic in front of Cagliari's goal, and it looked like it might be crushed at any time. But the opponent's defense was unexpectedly tenacious. Every time it looked like it was about to be crushed, it always managed to grit its teeth and hold on. Inter Milan’s attacks were in vain! When the game reached the 80th minute, the score was still 2:2, and Inter Milan did not have much time left. (End of this chapter)