The young player Bonazzoli had just been slapped hard, feeling extremely frustrated!
At this moment, the match had just ended, and his teammates had all gone to shower, but Bonazzoli locked himself in the restroom alone.
He hid in the innermost stall, sitting on the toilet, touching his cheek that had just been slapped, and tears of disappointment rolled down.
The slap was heavy-handed, making his cheek burn with pain, but what hurt him more was his pride!
In the first round of the 2015-2016 Serie A season, Inter Milan drew 1:1 at home with visiting Udinese.
Bonazzoli scored Inter’s only goal in the match.
Logically, scoring in the first match of the new season should be a happy moment for Bonazzoli, even though Inter didn’t win the game, as he is in a developmental stage.
At the end of last season, under the guidance of his agent Ronaldo, Bonazzoli signed a new contract with Inter Milan.
Not only did his annual salary double, exceeding a million euros, but this season, Inter Milan’s coach Leno also confirmed him as the team’s regular starting center forward.
This was due to both Leno’s habit of using old players from the youth team and Bonazzoli’s excellent performance last season.
Last season, with the help of Tang Long, Bonazzoli, as the team’s substitute striker, unexpectedly scored 11 goals, becoming the team’s second top scorer after Icardi.
This summer, Bonazzoli made his debut for the national team in Italy’s 0-1 loss to Portugal in a friendly match.
All signs indicated that this young leading forward of the Italy U-21 National Team was rapidly rising as a new star, likely representing Italy in next year’s European Cup.
Bonazzoli himself was full of confidence and momentum, aspiring to replace Icardi’s position and even aimed to challenge for this season’s Serie A Golden Boot.
After all, Chiwo once told him, "If a young man doesn’t even dare to imagine, how can he ever hope to achieve it?"
However, the pride and self-satisfaction that Bonazzoli had just begun to develop were completely shattered by a loud slap from Candreva in the locker room!
"Bonazzoli, are you useless? Wasting the crossing opportunity I gave you, I really don’t understand how someone like you could be a starter at Inter Milan. It’s a colossal joke!"
The cause of this happened in the 88th minute of the match, with the score still 1:1.
Candreva, after receiving a long pass from Kovacic, used his skillful basic technique to fake out the defending player, glanced at Bonazzoli’s position, and crossed with his right foot.
Candreva had been battling in Serie A for many years, with his entire career thus far spent in Italy.
The cross was perfect in both curve and strength, with a cunning intention to bypass the last defender and send the ball to Bonazzoli’s head.
The pass was excellent, causing the goalkeeper to hesitate, thinking of advancing, but the curve suddenly dipped sharply, moving out of his arm’s reach.
At this point, Bonazzoli had positioned himself well, facing an empty goal, needing only to gently nod the header towards the goal for Inter Milan to secure a last-minute victory in their first home match of the new season!
The die-hard fans in the North Stand were already jumping in excitement!
Some excited fans even began to raise their arms and cheer in early celebration!
However, to everyone’s surprise, facing a wide-open goal, Bonazzoli astonishingly headed the ball over to the stands.
Jeers and curses came from the North Stand!
Candreva was furious, blowing his beard and glaring!
If you can’t score even that, why are you at Inter Milan playing as a center forward?
After the draw with Udinese, Candreva and Bonazzoli had an argument in the locker room.
Initially, Bonazzoli was humbly listening, after all, Candreva’s reputation in Serie A was outstanding, and generally, no one dared provoke him, especially since Candreva, known as "Cleaver", was Italy’s National Team’s stalwart right winger.
He played in the 2014 World Cup with the team and was almost guaranteed a starting position on the right side for next year’s European Cup, a fact Bonazzoli understood he must rely on his senior for support to find his footing in the national team.
However, it might have been precisely Bonazzoli’s humble demeanor that made Candreva act high-handedly, using his seniority to bully his junior.
His speech became faster and his tone more casual, even including many curse words.
In the locker room, the Inter players knew the two were national teammates, so they didn’t intervene too much in their dispute.
Moreover, now’s Inter was far from the united team it was last season.
The team’s veterans, retired or transferred, leaving only a few seasoned players like Medel, Juan, and Santon able to be absolute starters, and the team’s cohesion was much weaker than before.
Candreva pressed further, "With your level, you’re not fit to play for a big club like Inter Milan, even on my previous team Lazio, you’d just warm the bench."
Bonazzoli frowned, unable to hold back any longer, retorting, "How am I unfit to play for Inter? I scored the only goal for Inter in this match. I’m a forward; occasional mistakes are normal!"
As for Candreva saying he wasn’t suitable to play for Inter Milan, Bonazzoli felt a surge of anger welling up in his heart!