On the high-speed train to Sassuolo, the Inter Milan players were in a very relaxed mood~
Berni even took off his headphones, pulled out his portable Bluetooth speaker, and started playing rock music.
peng——caca!——peng——caac!
"Hey! Pretty lady, dance with uncle!"
He even invited the blonde flight attendant to join in.
"Sassuolo and us, 7:0!"
Under Berni’s lead, the Inter players shouted their slogans in unison.
Uncle Berni still felt it wasn’t enough.
He pulled a large gold chain from his backpack and hung it around his neck, put on cool sunglasses, and swayed to the end of the train carriage clutching his radio.
As he passed by Icardi, his gold chain was yanked.
"Uncle Berni, why is your chain so light? Is it made of plastic? If you wear this chain swimming, will it float?"
The carriage erupted in laughter.
Berni pushed his sunglasses down his nose with his hand.
Two big, round blue eyes smiled mischievously at Icardi.
Then he suddenly raised his head, turned around, and shouted to his teammates behind him:
"Mauro said to me, if he scores a hat-trick in this match, he’ll buy me a real 24k gold chain! Did everyone hear that? You’re all my witnesses!"
Everyone knew that Icardi didn’t actually say that, but they joined Berni in making a fuss.
"We heard it, we all heard it, Mauro, you can’t go back on your word!"
Icardi was more than happy to play along.
"Fine, if I score a hat-trick, I’ll take you to the jewelry store after the match and buy you two chains."
"You’re a generous guy, no wonder you’re the top scorer, impressive." Berni’s thumb hovered in front of Icardi’s eyes.
Sitting in the front row, Mancini looked back at his players with a casual smile.
At this moment, he wasn’t even doing last-minute tactical thinking for the match.
Instead, he took out his phone and was on a video call with his daughter studying in Manchester.
The difficult matches over the past week had all been endured.
Against the weak Sassuolo opponents, Mancini really had nothing to worry about.
Inter Milan was so at ease heading to the away game.
But one hour before the match, Sassuolo’s locker room was exceptionally tense!
The more relaxed the atmosphere was for Inter Milan, the heavier the mood was for Sassuolo.
The locker room was silent; you could hear a pin drop.
"Humiliation, Holy Mary, utter humiliation!"
70-year-old Sassuolo chairman Carlo Rossi, holding a cane, shakily paced back and forth in the locker room.
Everyone held their breath, only hearing his silver cane thumping on the floor.
"We are Sassuolo, a small team, but we won’t let anyone trample us in Serie A!"
"Three straight defeats, we’ve lost three times in a row against Inter!"
"Two of those were 7:0 shellackings! That’s 14:0 combined!"
"Oh my God, what did I do in this life to be the chairman of Sassuolo, to let this old man face such a humiliating disgrace!"
As Carlo Rossi bemoaned in the center of the locker room.
Sassuolo’s coach Di Francesco stood silently in the corner, barely daring to breathe.
The air conditioning was on high, with a temperature just over 20 degrees.
Yet the blue shirt on Di Francesco’s back was plastered to his skin, visibly soaked with sweat.
Last season and at the start of this season, Sassuolo suffered two 7:0 thrashings by Inter!
Di Francesco was present for both debacles.
Ironically, the former Inter Milan coach Mazzari, who created those debacles, had been fired for poor performance, and Mancini replaced him, while Di Francesco, with his two humiliating record matches, remained as Sassuolo’s coach.
However, as early as yesterday, Carlo Rossi had met with him to deliver an ultimatum: "If there’s another debacle in this match, pack your bags and get out, I never want to see you in my life."
Not just Di Francesco, many of the players now sitting in the locker room also experienced those two crushing defeats.
Not scoring a single goal in two matches and conceding 14! How is this a confrontation between two Serie A teams?
Even if you randomly picked a team from the Italian Third Division to play against Inter, it wouldn’t be this pathetic~
"You’ve embarrassed us all, as the chairman, I can’t face our loyal fans, truly sinful!"
Carlo Rossi wasn’t tall, but he had a solid build.
He wore an old Italian brand black trench coat and a black-brimmed hat; with his deep, raspy voice and imposing manner, he had a distinct godfather-like presence from movies.
This 70-year-old man, leaning on his expensive cane, shakily circled the seated players in the locker room.
Every time he passed someone, he tapped the player’s back hard with his cane!
The players who got hit all bowed their heads silently, not daring to move, let alone speak up.
Everyone understood Carlo Rossi’s temper!
If he really lost his temper, given his influence in the city of Sassuolo, forget hitting them with a cane, he’d dare pull the trigger and put a bullet in each man’s chest!
Finally, Carlo Rossi walked up to Di Francesco.