Strictly speaking, the Coppa Italia doesn't hold much allure for a team like Roma.

  This was evident in their home attendance...

  The Stadio Olimpico, with a capacity of 80,000, only had a little over 17,000 people in attendance.

  But even so, those 17,000 fans still geed an impressive amount of noise and atmosphere.

  Especially after Roma took the lead ich.

  ...

  In Roma's lineup: Doni was in goal, with a bae of Too, Chivu, Mexes, and Panucci. De Rossi anchored the midfield, supported by Mani, Pizarro, Perrotta, and Taddei. Up front, their main striker was Totti.

  This was Roma's regur starting lineup for the season, which clearly showed Spalletti's i.

  Napoli stuck to their usual 4-2-3-1 formation.

  Handanovic was in goal, with a bae of Vargas, avaro Jr., David Luiz, and Garics. The double pivots in midfield were Biglia and Dabona, with Gervinho, Hamsik, and Sánchez pying ahead of them, and i up top as the loriker.

  Rakitic, who had picked up a yellow card against Parma and was suspended, was repced by Dabona iarting lineup.

  Pying away against another Serie A powerhouse, Napoli approached the game cautiously and avoided taking too many risks early on.

  Gao Shen's strategy focused on maintaining stability, trolling possession and the tempo, aing Roma make their moves. Napoli's pn was to quickly unch sharp terattacks after winning the ball.

  The pyers followed Gao Shen's tactical instrus well, but mistakes still happened.

  The first error came ih minute.

  Daboated too long with the ball, allowita to press him and win the ball.

  After stealing it, Roma swiftly unched a terattack, sending a through ball behind David Luiz. Mani left Gari his dust, making a diagonal run, colleg the ball, and sg the opener for Roma with a cool finish.

  After g, Gao Shen immediately made adjustments, trying to stabilize the situatiohe end of the first half, Napoli mao create a few promising ces but failed to find the back of the .

  When the sed half began, Napoli came out with a mgressive approach, pressing Roma for a while. However, their attacks cked anization, and they couldn't vert their ces. Instead, ih minute, Roma struck again on the ter.

  Mani once again found himself one-oh Gari the left fnk. This time, he dribbled past the Napht-back, cut diagonally into the penalty area, a up Totti to score Roma's sed goal.

  2-0!

  Roma were in trol at home.

  Spalletti even raised his fists in triumph ooue, fident that his side had the mat the bag.

  The eadio Olimpico roared with cheers from the Roma supporters.

  ...

  Gao Shen stood still in front of Napoli's teical area, motionless.

  Behind him, the abuse and taunts from Roma fans echoed tinuously.

  "Kid, have you stopped nursi?"

  "Are you going to cry for your mama?"

  "Remember, you're just a bunch of newly-promoted Serie B pyers!"

  "Cry if you want, we're all watg!"

  Gao Shen uood every word. Some were more vicious than others, and a few even crossed the lio racial discrimination.

  But this was the norm in Italy, especially in a city like Rome.

  Gao Shen wasn't the only target; Napoli's pyers often faced simir treatment when pying away from home. Gervinho, for instance, had also endured his share of abuse.

  That was just the enviro in Italian football.

  What really bao Shen, though, was the match itself.

  Napoli weren't pying badly. The tactics the coag staff had id out were executed, but the end product was g.

  And the team's right fnk had been pletely exposed by Roma.

  "Garics is having a rough night," Carlo sighed, shaking his head.

  Gao Shen nodded in agreement.

  It's normal for pyers to have ups and downs, but Garics was making far too many mistakes tonight, and they were costly.

  Take the sed goal, for instance. He shouldn't have lunged in on Mani; instead, he should have tried to force him wide. He had a positional advantage, but he made a reckless decision, allowing Mani to blow past him.

  Mani is right-footed, s him onto his left foot would have severely limited his options.

  Sometimes, it's these small mental pses from pyers that make all the difference, and as a coach, there's only so much you do.

  "The fans in Rome have probably been holding in their frustration for a while," Carlo said, hearing the crowd's jeers.

  Gao Shen chuckled, "You should say Italian fans in general have been holding it in."

  Carlo paused, then couldn't help but smile in agreement.

  Who could deny it?

  Despite the Calciopoli sdal, Italy had just won the World Cup, and their fans were still proud of their try's football, especially their tactical prowess.

  Isn't there a saying that Italian coaches are all tactis?

  Italy is sidered the nd of tactics.

  But suddenly, someone es along, uheir fws, and decres that Italian football is actually behind the times even their beloved tactics are outdated.

  What do you think happe?

  It's obvious: the person who exposes these weaknesses will be torn apart by the furious masses.

  That was the situation Gao Shen found himself in.

  Outside of Napoli's fahere were probably few Italians who actually liked Gao Shen or respected him.

  He was too young, and he challehe traditional image of what a head coach should be in Italy.

  More importantly, ever since arriving in Naples, Gao Shen had barely entered any opposition he couldn't overe.

  Deschamps' Juventus had lost twi—one of those a 5-0 humiliation. Ulivieri, highly respected in Italian coag circles, had also lost badly to him. Pioli? He not only lost but got sacked afterward...

  In shao Shen came to Italy and swept aside some of the try's most respected teams and coaches, leaving them powerless against him.

  Even Sacchi had gone on record saying Italian football should learn from Gao Shen.

  But why?

  Why should the reigning World Cup champions have to learn from a young coach from a footballing backwater, a try that couldn't even qualify for the World Cup?

  The Italian coaches didn't like him this was a matter of professional pride.

  And after the media covered the drama from the Roma coag summit and stirred up the story, it created an even bigger uproar across Italy.

  Italian fans had had enough.

  Spalletti defeating Gao Shen? Naturally, that would earn him praise from Roma fans.

  Like what was happening right now.

  ...

  "What now?" Carlo asked, feeling a bit lost.

  Down 0-2, Napoli weren't pying well and didn't have much fight left in them.

  After a brief moment of thought, Gao Shen made a decision. "Tell Vidal to warm up."

  Carlo was surprised but nodded heless.

  Soon, Vidal finished warming up and approached Gao Shen.

  "Boss?"

  Gao Shen motioned for him to e closer. Once Vidal was near, Gao Shen poioward the pitch.

  "See that number 20?"

  Vidal nodded. "Perrotta."

  "And number 16?"

  "De Rossi."

  "They both have yellow cards. Your job is to make sure one of them picks up another."

  Vidal didn't hesitate or ask questions. He nodded fidently. "Got it. Leave it to me."

  ...

  Gao Shehe game was slipping out of Napoli's hands.

  The best he could hope for was to score an away goal or prepare for the sed leg.

  Perrotta had picked up a yellow card in the previous round. Uhe Coppa Italia rules, accumuting two yellow cards would result in a suspension.

  avaro had faced that situation earlier, and tonight, Rakitic was missing because of the same rule.

  So, Gao Shen's pn was simple: get either Perrotta or De Rossi suspended.

  Of course, Totti would have been the ideal target, but that was unrealistic.

  It was likely that only one of the two could be taken out. Spalletti wasn't a fool. One of them got another card, he'd undoubtedly sub the other out immediately. At that point, Napoli could mount a more atad aim for an away goal.

  Sneaky, right?

  But that's professional football!

  ...

  Vidal came on to repce Dabona.

  Dabona's performance had been ckluster, but Gao Shehe pyer had done his best.

  In fact, many of Napoli's pyers who had remained with the club si summer found it difficult to meet Gao Shen's demands.

  All of them had improved signifitly under his training, with eveerans seeing noticeable improvements in their fitness levels.

  But still, some of them simply didn't meet Gao Shen's standards.

  Take the team captain, Montervino, for example. He barely got any pying time.

  There was just a gap in quality.

  Vidal, oher hand, despite inally being a ter-back, had an aggressive pying style. But as a South Ameri, he also knew how to be sneaky with his fouls, often making clever, subtle moves.

  Within ten minutes of being on the field, Vidal got involved in a ter-pressing situation after Napoli lost possession. He went in hard ota, winning the ball but also sliding into the Roma midfielder and sending him to the ground.

  The a wasn't dirty, nor was there any io injure anyone, but it effectively destroyed a Roma terattack.

  Vidal walked over to help the pyer up, but after Perrotta stood up, he gave Vidal a light push to the chest, trying to get him to back off.

  Uedly, Vidal stumbled backward a couple of steps and fell straight to the ground.

  Referee Luca Banti immediately blew his whistle, ran over, and showed Perrotta a yellow card.

  The Roma midfielder was visibly frustrated, pining that Vidal's challenge had been a bit rough, but the referee sighat it hadn't been a foul.

  Roma's head coach, Luo Spalletti, standing on the sidelines, looked out at the field, then gnced over at Gao Shen in front of the visiting team's dugout. He seemed to be w if there was some e betweewo.

  Why did it seem like Vidal's attempt to pull someone up looked like a clever dive?

  But when he looked at Gao Shen again, he saw that the coach's face was calm her surprised nor pleased as if he didn't care much about the yellow card. Spalletti was once again fused by Gao Shen's posed alemanly demeanor.

  Did I misuand him?

  Was this really just a ce?

  After thinking it over, Spalletti decided to make a substitution.

  He repced De Rossi with the young Aquini.

  This was a tactical substitution.

  The main reason was that De Rossi had already received a yellow card earlier ich, and if he picked up another, he'd be suspended.

  This Coppa Italia rule of suspension after two yellow cards is really absurd.

  In front of the visiting team's dugout, after seeing Roma make a substitution, Gao Shen decided to follow suit.