On August 23rd, 2007, Inter Milan took a family photo for the new season at the Pininati Training Base.
Li Ang and the coaching staff sat in the front. Behind them were the star players of Inter Milan. In the photo, the Inter Milan manager had a faint confident smile on his face.
The Milan Gazzetta dello Sport published the Inter Milan family photo with the title "Li Ang's Inter Milan 3".
Inter Milan family photo for the 20072008 season.
Goalkeepers: 1 – Francesco Toldo; 12 – Júlio César; 22 – Paolo Orlandoni;
Defenders: 2 – Ivan Cordoba; 31 – Nicolás Andres Burdisso; 25 – Walter Samuels; 26 – Cristian Chivo; 23 – Marco Materazzi; 24 – Leonardo Bonucci; 4 – Javier Zanetti; 3 – Patrice Evra; 13 – Mai Kong; 17 – Andrade Maxwell;
Midfielders: 5 – Dejan Stankovic; 8 – Luca Modric; 6 – Juan Carlos; 18 – Claudio Marchisio; 7 – Juan Mata; 14 – David Silva; 20 – Soulé Montari;
Forwards: 10 – Adriano; 16 – Agüero; 22 – Diego Milito; 99 – Antonio Cassano;
Among them, the most eye-catching were Mata, Silva, and Modric. After Figo left, Mata wore the number seven jersey, while Modric wore the number eight jersey that belonged to Mata. David Silva wore the number fourteen jersey that Modric used to wear. The Italian media joked that the young players of Inter Milan seemed to be playing a relay game.
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On August 25th, 2007, the 20072008 Serie A season officially kicked off.
The opening match of the season was between the defending champions, Inter Milan and Udinese.
After Di Natale joined Udinese from Sporting de Gijón, the Udinese had performed well in the past two seasons. Last season, they were ranked tenth in the Serie A season. However, the difference between them and the sixth place was not much. They were only a little bit away from the European competition.
When the Italian media was predicting the prospects of the new Serie A season, they were generally optimistic about Udinese. They believed that this team could be called the surprise of the new season.
The morale of the Udinese team was also good. Udinese's players expressed their confidence in getting a good ranking in the new season.
However, in the first match of the season, they were unlucky to be matched against Li Ang's Inter Milan.
There were two highlights in this match. One was the match between Inter Milan's midfielder, Montari, and the other was the match between Udinese's number one star player, Di Natale, and his mentor, Li Ang.
After transferring to Udinese, Di Natale had maintained a good goalscoring form in the past two seasons. The Italian striker had repeatedly expressed his gratitude to Li Ang in interviews.
For this match, Li Ang used all his main players. The team vowed to get a good start in the new Serie A season.
The most eye-catching was the front line. Li Ang sent out the combination of Adriano and Agüero. After Ronaldo left the team, the media predicted that the combination of Adriano and Agüero would be Inter Milan's first choice in the front line.
In the pre-season friendlies, Li Ang practiced the most with the combination of Adriano, Agüero, and Diego Milito.
In the opening match of the new Serie A season, Li Ang finally chose the combination of Adriano and Agüero, who had a relatively good rapport in the past two seasons.
Agüero had speed and technique, while Adriano was in the right state and had a strong impact.
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Udinese had a hard time against Inter Milan's crazy offensive. Although they managed to keep the score of 0: 0 in the first half of the match, Adriano's header blew open the Udinese goal not long after the second half started.
Agüero then assisted Modric to score the second goal.
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In the end, Inter Milan defeated Udinese with a score of 2: 0 in the opening match of the new Serie A season and won their first match of the new season.
In the press conference after the end of the match, Li Ang declared that Inter Milan's goal was to defend the league title and achieve the great cause of three consecutive Serie A titles.
"I know that humility is a virtue, but lying and speaking insincerely are shameful. We are strong, we are still hungry, we are eager to defend the league title, and we believe that we can do it! This summer, all the teams have made additions and additions. Whether it is AC Milan or Roma, they have become stronger. The biggest difference is that Juventus has returned. They all have their own ambitions. But I still want to say that the league title this season is still ours! Because we have the strength. A team, a champion team, must have the courage to shout such a slogan and the courage to express their confidence! "
No one would have thought that after the end of the first round of the league, Li Ang would shout the slogan of defending the league title. Li Ang's words were not modest at all. They could even be said to be quite arrogant.
However, even in the face of Li Ang's arrogance, the media did not say that he was arrogant, other than criticizing him for his lack of respect for his main opponents in the league. This was because in the current Serie A arena, Li Ang's Inter Milan was indeed very strong. In the words of the Italian media, although Li Ang's words were very infuriating and arrogant, Inter Milan and Li Ang had the capital to be arrogant. Other teams, including AC Milan, Roma, and Juventus, needed to use all their strength to besiege Inter Milan in order to prevent the 20072008 Serie A season from becoming a one-man show for Inter Milan again!
Strong enough, enough capital to be arrogant!
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This was Li Ang's third season at Inter Milan.
In the first season, Li Ang led Inter Milan to win the Serie A title, the Coppa Italia title, and the UEFA Champions League title, achieving the Triple Crown!
In the second season, Inter Milan successfully defended the Serie A title and the Coppa Italia title, achieving the Double Crown.
Inter Milan's strength in the Serie A season was evident!
Now, his team's lineup was becoming more and more mature. Although Ronaldo had left and Diego Milito had arrived, Li Ang's favorite player at Sporting de Gijón had a thorough understanding of Li Ang's tactics and could almost seamlessly connect with the team. Therefore, Inter Milan's strength was not affected and the team's tactical cooperation was tacit. For such a team to say that they were going to defend the league title again, they had enough confidence.
If Li Ang hypocritically said that it would be difficult for Inter Milan to defend the title, the media and fans would feel sick and uncomfortable.
Of course, Li Ang's words would make some people unhappy, especially Inter Milan's nemesis in the same city, AC Milan. AC Milan was last season's UEFA Champions League champion and the king of Europe. They were now very arrogant. AC Milan's boss, Berlusconi, boasted that this season, AC Milan would recover their lost ground in the league.
Therefore, Berlusconi was very unhappy to hear Li Ang's arrogant words. In an interview with the media, the former Italian Prime Minister said that Li Ang was too arrogant and that AC Milan would teach Li Ang and Inter Milan a lesson. They would tell Inter Milan who was the greatest club in Italy and who was the king of Italy.
Li Ang did not respond to this at all. He now had enough pride and confidence. Everything depended on results.
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After the first round of the league, on August 30th, Li Ang went to Monaco to participate in the 20072008 UEFA Champions League draw ceremony.
Before the draw ceremony for the new UEFA Champions League group stage began, the 2007 UEFA Super Cup took the lead.
Li Ang watched the UEFA Super Cup between AC Milan, the defending UEFA Champions League champion, and Sevilla, the defending UEFA Europa League champion, in the stands.
Because of Puerta's unexpected death, although the date of the UEFA Super Cup was not changed, it was shrouded in a mourning atmosphere.
On the 25th, during Sevilla's 4: 1 victory over Getafe in the La Liga, Puerta suddenly had a heart attack and fainted on the field. After he was revived by emergency treatment, he went back to the lounge and fell unconscious. On the 27th, the 22-year-old Spanish national footballer, who had only played in one international game, was declared dead by the hospital.
AC Milan's Italian national footballer, Pirlo, said after the game that playing the game on the weekend of Puerta's death made everyone feel heavy.
Before the game, the whole stadium observed a minute of silence for Puerta. The players on both sides wore black cuffs and burned his name on their jerseys to show their remembrance.
In the stands where the Sevilla fans gathered, the fans raised banners saying "Puerta, you are with us" and "Puerta, we will not forget you". In the stands where the AC Milan fans gathered, there was a banner saying "Glory to Puerta", which was given to the Sevilla fans at halftime.
When the players on both sides warmed up, the fans rhythmically shouted Puerta's name, and the players on the field also applauded. The whole stadium was filled with a mournful and friendly atmosphere.
In the pinnacle of last season's UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League champions, the first to break the goal was Sevilla's Renato. In the 15th minute, after the header entered the net, the Sevilla players gathered together and raised their hands to the sky to comfort their former teammate's soul.
However, from the 10th minute of the second half onwards, AC Milan made a big comeback. First, Inzaghi equalized the score with a header in the 55th minute, and then Jankulovski and Kaka scored in the 62nd and 86th minutes respectively to seal the victory.
AC Milan won the UEFA Super Cup. After the game, AC Milan's vice-president, Adriano Galliani, was very proud. He even bragged that Inter Milan won the Supercoppa Italiana, but AC Milan won the UEFA Super Cup. This was the difference between the two sides.
Li Ang scoffed at this. In his view, the 2007 UEFA Champions League title was not a good thing for AC Milan. AC Milan's aging lineup could have been replaced early. However, the Champions League title gave AC Milan a shot of adrenaline. From the fans to the team to the club's senior management, they were suddenly immersed in the glory of the European champions and thought that they were still one of the strongest teams in Europe. As a result, the replacement of AC Milan suddenly stagnated.
Li Ang never thought that the defending Champions League champion, AC Milan, would be one of Inter Milan's opponents for the new Serie A league and the UEFA Champions League in the new season.
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After the end of the UEFA Super Cup, the draw for the 20072008 UEFA Champions League group stage was carried out.
The results of the draw for each group came out one after another, and the global media began to discuss it.
Group A: Liverpool, Porto, Marseille, Beşiktaş.
All the media thought that Liverpool had drawn the best draw this time and could easily qualify. Porto and Marseille would compete for the other qualifying spot. Marseille had a rough start to the league tournament after Ribéry left. They might focus on the league tournament. Of course, they might also give up the league tournament and attack the European competition alone. However, this was unlikely. After all, the French Ligue 1 overlord, Lyon, also had a major change of personnel this season. Marseille would certainly not let go of the opportunity to compete for the league title. Moreover, the Champions League was still too far away for Marseille. Therefore, Porto was likely to qualify.
Group B: Chelsea, Valencia, FC Schalke 04, Rosenberg.
This group had three teams competing for two spots. Chelsea should not have a problem qualifying. Valencia was wiped out 3 to 0 at the start of the La Liga season this year. But with its consistent performance in Europe, if they could get points from Chelsea, they should be able to surpass FC Schalke 04 and win the other qualifying spot.
Group C: Real Madrid, Werder Bremen, Lazio, Olympiacos.
Real Madrid would be letting down the audience if they could not qualify after the summer's bloodbath. Moreover, without Klose, Bremen and Lazio, who did not have the ability to fight on two fronts, should not be able to stop them. On the contrary, I think Olympiacos is likely to make an upset and qualify.
Group D: AC Milan, Benfica, Celtic, Shakhtar Donetsk.
The defending champions should be able to qualify easily. If the Celtic could compete with Benfica, who had lost Simao, they could win the other qualifying spot. The Shakhtar's strength was still a distance away.
Group E: Barcelona, Olympique Lyonnais, VfB Stuttgart, Glasgow Rangers.
The media generally believed that this group was the veritable group of death. Although Lyonnais had sold a lot of big names, they could still deal with it calmly from the start of the league tournament. The Bundesliga champion, VfB Stuttgart, and the Scottish powerhouse were not to be trifled with. After Barcelona continued to strengthen their strength, their ability to adapt well was the key factor in their success in qualifying.
Group F: Manchester United, Roma, Sporting Lisbon, Kyiv Dynamo.
Although Manchester United had a bad start to the league tournament and injured Wayne Rooney, the media believed that Roma and Sporting Lisbon could not stop them from qualifying. Roma, who was eager for revenge, should also be able to smoothly enter the top 16. They might even be first in the group.
Group G: Inter Milan, Eindhoven, CSKA Moscow, Fenerbahçe.
The media generally believed that Li Ang's team had drawn a good draw and that Inter Milan should not have to worry. Whether it was Eindhoven, the Russian team, or the Turkish team, they could not pose any threat or test to Li Ang's team.
Group H: Arsenal, Sevilla, AEK Athens, Steaua Bucharest, Slavia Prague.
The Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, had a smile on his face after the results of the draw came out. He thought that Arsenal was very confident of qualifying as the first in the group.
Li Ang saw the professor's smile on the television news and really wanted to tell the professor that Sevilla was a trap. Arsenal really did not have the confidence to face Sevilla.
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