On January 10th, after more than 20 days of winter break, the Serie A league resumed.
In the opening game, Genoa delivered an impressive 3-0 victory over Torino at home, showg excellent form.
That evening, the seatch of the round took pce, with Inter Min hosting Cagliari at the Meazza Stadium.
Despite Cagliari sg the opening goal, Inter Min mao equalize through Ibrahimovic. However, they failed to secure a wiling for a 1-1 draw at home.
Meanwhile, Juventus narrowly defeated Siena 1-0, thanks to Alessandro Del Piero's crucial goal.
Napoli pyed at home and managed only a 2-2 draw against Roma.
Mirko Vuic scored twice for Roma on the teratta the 22nd and 72nd minutes, capitalizing on Napoli's high defensive lihe assists came from Aquini and Totti.
Napoli's two goals were both scored by Edinson i. Within five minutes of the sed half, after Gao Shen adjusted the team's tactics, i found the back of the wice. However, Napoli's overall performance remained unsatisfactory.
At the post-match press ference, Gao Shen expressed no surprise at the home draw against Roma.
"I think this is a normal result because we are building momentum and making adjustments for the uping matches," he expined.
He was referring to the small wiraining camp anized by Bueura and Pintus during the break.
The camp had yielded excelles st season, and Gao Shen believed the team could maintain that momentum this year.
Moreover, Napoli's overall trajectory still looked promising.
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Perhaps it was a ce, or perhaps both teams felt their lead in the league was secure, but the sed round of matches after the winter break brought surprisis once again.
Inter Min suffered a 2-1 defeat away at Atanta.
Napoli, oher hand, lost 1-0 to Chievo in Verona.
This marked Napoli's first defeat of the season.
After two matches following the winter break, the top two teams in Serie A—Napoli and Inter Min—had both recorded one draw and one loss.
In his n, legendary Italian coach Arrigo Sacchi analyzed the situatioed that while both teams had used the winter break to adjust their physical fitness and form, the underlying issues were worth examining.
Sacchi specuted that in Napoli's 2-2 draw against Roma, Gao Shen had attempted to widen the gap at the top of the table by making tactical adjustments in the sed half. Napoli briefly overturhe scorelio lead 2-1 before settling for a draw.
"But Napoli's form in that match was far from ideal," Sacchi observed. "This is clearly a residual effect of the wiraining camp."
In the following round, Napoli faced Chievo and shogly lost 0-1 away from home.
Chievo, ranked 19th in Serie A and a clear relegation didate, mao pull off the upset.
Meanwhile, Mourinho, seeing an opportunity to close the gap, fielded his stro lineup against Atanta. Inter unched a ferocious offe ultimately lost 2-1.
"Inter Min not only struggled with form but, more importantly, Mourinho has yet to resolve the team's offensive issues. Against a side like Atanta, they simply didn't have a viable solution," Sacchi analyzed.
While both Napoli and Inter Min had one draw and one loss, Sacchi believed their problems were different in nature.
However, La Gazzetta dello Sport published an article tering Sacchi's cims, acg him of bias aling Inter Min.
"That's uandable," the article quipped. "He's the best braggart in the business!"
What her Sacor the media emphasized, however, was the looming quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia, just three days away.
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In the Coppa Italia quarter-finals, Inter Min faced Roma, while Napoli traveled to Turin to face Juventus.
Inter had the advantage of pying at home, while Napoli pyed their match away.
Iingly, Mourinho deployed a 4-3-1-2 formation against Roma the same lineup he had used in Inter's ret draw against Napoli. Ibrahimovid Adriano started as the twin strikers.
This time, however, Inter's double forwards, who had struggled against Napoli, tore apart Roma's defense.
Both Adriano and Ibrahimovic found the , leading Io a 2-1 victory over Roma and a spot in the semi-finals.
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Napoli's quarter-final match against Juventus, oher hand, was a grueling battle.
Cudio Ranieri, coag at home, opted for a defensive 4-3-3 formation with three defensive midfielders, including Paulsen and Sissoko.
Ranieri's tactic—fortifying his midfield and defending his home ground with discipline, was clearly inspired by previous matches. He had seen how Mourinho's defeactiearly secured a draw against Napoli and how Chievo and Roma had relied on tight defenses and terattacks.
The match between Juventus and Napoli was dull and deadlocked, with her side able to break through.
After 90 minutes of hard-fought py, the game ended in a goalless draw, sending it ira time.
Ira time, Napoli's substitutes Dani Parejo aens became the key pyers. Parejo delivered a brilliant pass, aens, in a moment of individual brilliance, trolled the ball in the penalty area, dribbled past a defender, and struck a low shot into the .
With Mertens' goal, Napoli defeated Juventus 1-0 ira time and advao the semi-finals.
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The semi-finals featured Napoli, Lazio, Inter Min, and Sampdoria.
Following the draoli aired with Lazio, while Inter Min would face Sampdoria.
U season, this year's Coppa Italia semi-finals had adopted a two-legged elimination format, while the final would still be decided in a sich.
The Italian Football Association's decision to adjust the schedule drew criticism, with many paring it to the chaotic deaking of the ese Football Association.
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After the Italian Cup, Gao Shen hahe team over to Carlo, who led the squad directly south from Turin back to Naples.
Gao Shen himself, along with i, Hamsik, Bonucci, and a few other pyers, separated from the main group and headed to Min to attend the Serie A Oscar Awards Ceremony, which was held the following day.
This is an annual event in Italian football.
Unlike FIFA's World Pyer of the Year or France Football's Ballon d'Or, which are global in scope, the Serie A Oscars focus exclusively on the previous Serie A season.
The sele process for the Serie A Oscars follows a u of rules.
Founded by the Italian Football Association in 1997, it is sidered the most authoritative official reition in Italian football.
The awards are limited to pyers, coaches, and referees in Serie A, and only performances from the previous season are sidered. Voting is ducted by the Italian Pyers Association, and every pyer in Serie A has the right to vote.
This gives the Serie A Oscars the distin of being an award selected by the pyers themselves—reition from their peers.
There are several awards, includi Goalkeeper, Best Defender, Best Newer, Best Local Pyer, Best Fn Pyer, Best Pyer, Best Coach, a Referee.
What's particurly iing is that while there are awards foalkeepers and defenders, there are no separate categories for midfielders or forwards. Perhaps this reflects Italy's historical emphasis on defense or the reality that star pyers in midfield and attack often domihe Best Pyer category.
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For Best Goalkeeper, the nominees were Buffon (Juventus), Julio Cesar (Inter Min), and Handanoviapoli).
For Best Defehe tenders were Chiellini (Juventus), a (A), and Bonucapoli).
The Best Newer shortlist included Giovinco (Juventus/Empoli), Balotelli (Inter Min), and Hamsik (Napoli).
Napoli had no nominees for Best Local Pyer, which was tested by Del Piero, De Rossi, and Pirlo.
For Best Fn Pyer, i was shortlisted, alongside Ibrahimovid Kaka.
In trast to st season, when Inter Min manager Mani was widely mocked for winning the Serie A title but failing to make the shortlist for Best Coach, Gao Shen avoided su embarrassment.
This time, Gao Shen was nominated for the Golden Chair Award (Best Coach), alongside Ai (A) and Prandelli (Fiorentina).
Before the ceremony, some media outlets analyzed the nominations and cluded that Napoli was the most iial team on the list, with five pyers nomihis not only highlighted the team's strength but also underscao Shen's ability as a coach.
After all, every one of Napoli's nominees ersonally scouted, signed, and developed by Gao Shen.
Napoli's five nominations topped Juventus and A, who each had four. Inter Min had three nominees, while Roma had just one.
As for Mani, st season's Serie A runner-up, he was once agai out of the shortlist.
This wasn't surprising.
If winning the league wasn't enough to earn him a nomination st year, why would finishing sed qualify him this time?
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Mani, who was currently unemployed, chose not to attend the ceremony at the South City cert Hall in Min.
Gao Shen sympathized with him.
"If you're not receiving an award, why show up just to watch others take the stage?"
There was some debate surrounding Ai's nomination for Best Coach.
While it was true that A struggled with their squad st season, pyers like a (nominated for Best Defender), Pirlo (nominated for Best Local Pyer), and Kaka (nominated for Best Fn Pyer) all performed well, which made Ai's nomination seem reasonable.
For Best Defender, Gao Shen had his own opinion. If he had to choose one defender from Napoli, he would have picked David Luiz over Bonucci.
In fact, between Chiellini, Bonucci, aa, Gao Shen believed David Luiz was fully deserving of being nominated. He might even have outshone Chiellini or a.
But this was an Italian award. Gao Shen knew he had to accept these biases.
Simirly, for Best Newer, Gao She pyers like Di Maria, Sanchez, Rakitid even i were more deserving than Hamsik.
Rakitic, Di Maria, and Sanchez, in particur, had been sistently outstanding, yet it was Hamsik who received the nod.
As for i, he was nominated for Best Fn Pyer but not for Best Newer. Gao Shen thought this was logical given i's age.
Before stepping into the South City cert Hall, Gao Shen gave his pyers some advice:
"Don't take these awards too seriously. It's just the Serie A Oscars, not the real Oscars!"
With a smile, he added:
" seaso's aim for UEFA's Oscars!"
