The impact of taking the Coppa Italia as a key combat goal is that Sampdoria often has to play double matches a week when they don't need to play in the Champions League.

For example, the Sampdoria will face Genoa in the next league. After Genoa, it will be the first round of the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia.

These two games are very important for Sampdoria, so they now have to face the situation of continuous high-intensity fighting within three days.

This is exactly what they asked for, they could have given up the Coppa Italia altogether, and now they can concentrate on dealing with Genoa.

But the Sampdoria players didn't find it difficult.

For qualified professional players, facing challenges is something they deal with.

And for this young team, getting into trouble is better than doing nothing. Without the stimulation of the Coppa Italia, their mental state during this period would be completely different.

Although the game is intensive and the team is inevitably tired, the team's results are not bad.

The league has been stable at seventh place, and the Coppa Italia has also reached the semi-finals.

Even if they had to fight two consecutive tough battles within three days, they were confident of winning.

The "Lighthouse Derby" with Genoa is one of the most important games of the season and cannot be lost. The first round of the semi-final with Naples is also related to whether the team can successfully advance to the Coppa Italia final.

Genoa is quite happy that Sampdoria is facing such an intensive event and two important games next to each other. Doesn't this mean that they have a chance to take advantage of it?

Since Gao Zheng played in the first team of Sampdoria, Genoa has not taken any advantage in the "Lighthouse Derby".

And this time is the best opportunity.

Genoa got off to a bad start this season, but after a change of head coach, their results turned for the better. The highest ranking in the league has reached seventh place. Then fell back and is now ranked 11th in the league with 24 points. The relegation situation is still pretty good.

This "Lighthouse Derby" is very early, and it will not affect Genoa's relegation cause. However, Genoa can influence Sampdoria's Coppa Italia semi-final through this pizza.

They hope to hold Sampdoria in the "Lighthouse Derby" and let Sampdoria consume too much energy in this game,

In this way, the Coppa Italia semi-final against Naples will be powerless.

It would be even better if Sampdoria can lose consecutive Lighthouse Derby and Coppa Italia semi-finals.

However, this "Lighthouse Derby" did not proceed as Genoa fans hoped.

Sampdoria, who played away, broke the deadlock in the 24th minute of the game.

It was Gao Zheng who scored the goal for the team.

The leading Sampdoria then contracted to play their good defensive counterattack.

In the face of Genoa's continuous attack, Sampdoria seemed to be able to do a job with ease, as if there was no pressure.

I have to say that Sampdoria, who participated in the Champions League and reached the knockout stage in the Champions League, eliminated Roma and Juventus all the way in the Coppa Italia, and reached the semi-finals, is not what it used to be, not Genoa. The teams in relegation can be compared now.

Although it is a "Lighthouse Derby", the strength of the two teams is very different, which compromises the excitement of the game.

In the end, Sampdoria defeated Genoa 1-0 in the away game relying on Gao Zheng's goal.

With more than ten minutes left in the game, Di Francesco began to make substitutions in preparation for the next Coppa Italia semi-final against Naples.

This approach seems to have completely ignored Genoa.

But in the face of Sampdoria's arrogant adjustment method, Genoa was helpless. They were only one goal away, but they couldn't score.

They couldn't put all their strength into the offense, because Di Francesco used up and replaced three people, but Gao Zheng was not replaced.

With Gao Zheng on the court, Genoa would not dare to overpower the offense even if he could not get a few requests.

In the end, Gao Zheng's suppression made Genoa's attack come back to nothing, and they could only accept the result aggrievedly.

Not only did they fail to beat Sampdoria in the last "Lighthouse Derby" of the season, they also did not use this city derby to consume Sampdoria's more energy. At the end of the game, anyone could see that Sampdoria Pudulia still has spare power.

This is what upsets the Genoa fans more than losing the game. We all worked so hard, but you dismissed us so lightly. How decent is it? !

But no matter how upset the Genoa fans are, they can only accept this result now, watching Sampdoria wave their hands without taking away a cloud, and turn around to play the Coppa Italia semi-final with Naples.

※※※

In the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia, Sampdoria played first away and second, which is not a good arrangement in terms of the schedule. After all, whoever plays at home later will have more initiative. In the two rounds of the game, it is difficult to end the suspense of the game in the first round.

If Sampdoria does not get a good result in the first round and goes to the home court of Naples in the second round, it will be a disaster.

And the cup has reached this level, in any case, there is no situation where the opponent does not take them seriously, and does not take the Italian Cup at heart.

So it is impossible to meet the lineup of Roma and Juventus.

Moreover, judging from the performance of Sampdoria's top two leagues, Juventus and Roma, Naples, who is third in the league, dare not neglect.

Starting from this semi-final, what is before Sampdoria is a head-to-head game, and there is no opportunity for opportunism.

Many analysts before the game also believed that although Sampdoria performed well in the Coppa Italia, their trip to the Coppa Italia should come to an end.

Although Naples will participate in the Europa League in the second half of the season, there is no conflict in the schedule. After all, the Europa League starts later than the Champions League...

Sampdoria and Naples have played against each other once in the league this season. Just in the past January, Sampdoria lost 0:2 away to Naples.

This is one of the reasons why everyone is not optimistic about Sampdoria.

Sampdoria, who are away first and then host, unless they can win Naples by three goals at home, the second round will become difficult to play.

※※※

On February 4, 2014, the Coppa Italia semi-final was played first, and Udinese defeated Fiorentina 2:1 at home.

Although they won the ball, everyone is still not optimistic about Udinese. They have the same problem as Sampdoria, first host and then away.

Only won one goal at home, and also allowed Fiorentina to score an away goal in the away game.

In this kind of competition where the advantage of away goals is calculated, this 2:1 score is almost equal to Udinese losing.

Udinese's game is like a bad start for Naples, with ominous omens.

In an interview before the game, Gao Zheng expressed his opinion on the impact of this schedule: "I don't think there is any difference between host and guest first and guest before host, and I don't think it is necessarily more disadvantageous to host first and then guest. Because whether it is one game or two games, we only pursue victory, whether it is an away game or a home game, winning can ensure that we will advance to the final, so there is no difference, as long as we win."

He shrugged.

"It is true to say so, but it is not easy to win..." A reporter reminded him.

"Of course it's not easy. How can there be a game in this world that can be easily won?" Gao Zheng asked back, leaving the reporter speechless. "But you can't give up because it's hard to win. We respect Naples very much, so we will go all out to win."

( = )

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