I AM the Football Star

Originally people thought this was the key battle that would decide whether San Remo could break into the top four in the league, but looking at it now, I’m afraid... it won’t affect San Remo much.

But it may well decide who wins this season’s Serie A title.

Ninety minutes later, at the Rome City Stadium, fans in black-and-white jerseys erupted in wild celebration!

Second trophy of the season!

Italian Cup!

In the bag!

While the San Remo players in blue-and-white jerseys stood on the pitch, digesting a kind of defeat they had rarely experienced before.

They lost!

Two to one!

Even though Lu once scored what looked like a last‑gasp equaliser.

But Juventus striker Kolber killed off San Remo with a last‑minute winner, and scored all of Juventus’s goals in this match.

Kolber completed his own redemption, because he had always felt that Juventus’s exit from the Champions League had a lot to do with him failing to score in the last game.

One Italian Cup is enough for him to let go, enough to soothe Juventus fans.

Because this trophy did not come easy.

Before this year, the three consecutive Italian Cups were all monopolised by San Remo.

Now, Juventus have broken San Remo’s stranglehold on the Italian Cup, and that seems like a good omen.

If they can then push on and take the league title, Juventus will have completed a mini‑treble this season, one of their better achievements in recent years.

Of course, the debate triggered after this match far exceeded the match itself.

What level of honour is the Italian Cup?

We’ve actually discussed this before.

For small clubs, it is the supreme honour.

But for teams that have already won it and for the giants, this trophy is relatively dispensable, not that meaningful.

Champions League, league, Europa League, Italian Cup, and European Super Cup, Italian Super Cup—this is basically the hierarchy.

But... between the Europa League and the Italian Cup, European Super Cup, Italian Super Cup, there is a clear gulf.

The first three are titles with real substance; the latter three are embellishments, and the last two are even treated as ”pre‑season friendlies” by many clubs.

So in the past three years, San Remo’s Italian Cup three‑peat was great, but in reality its impact was limited, confined largely within Italy.

This time, however, their failure to retain the cup sent ripples across all of Europe.

Kicker: ”San Remo lose in the final, their magical 100% cup‑final win aura is gone!”

Bild: ”Empty‑handed on all fronts! The sorrow of a small club! That night at the Bernabéu drained all of San Remo’s power and luck!”

Munich Sports Newspaper: ”Giant‑killer slain by giants! San Remo suffer back‑to‑back defeats to Juventus!”

Berliner Abendzeitung: ”Italian Super Cup lost, San Remo’s record of a 100% win rate in finals is gone. Italian Cup final lost, San Remo’s record of winning every full cup run of more than four games is gone!”

Transfer Market: ”Lu’s law of ’always winning cup finals’ has failed! The European Cup may prove to be his last true high point!”

A whole swarm of media outlets jumped in.

Whenever these two teams meet, people love to list various ’curses’ and ’laws’.

And Lu carries many such ’laws’.

Among them, winning every cup final—this was Lu’s most terrifying buff!

This is the key reason why this Italian Cup final attracted so much attention.

For San Remo, this is extremely unfavourable.

Even though they had just beaten Real Madrid, one week was enough time for the fans to cool down.

And this defeat poured cold water all over the onlookers.

People need to look at the Champions League final rationally.

Can San Remo really beat Bayern?

In just one week, the answer underwent a complete reversal.

And this year, in the various awards following the Italian Cup series, San Remo finally faded out.

Ancelotti was voted the best player of the competition.

The team had six men in the best XI—Kolber, Audi, Chiavich, Turan, Vidal and others—making them the biggest winners.

San Remo only had Lu selected in the best XI.

Partly because San Remo played most of the matches with a rotated, second‑string line‑up, and partly because judges and fans hold San Remo to a very high standard—they compare them with last year.

If they’re worse than last year, then even if the actual level is still high, it’s hard to win awards.

Because awards are not only meant to compare players against each other, they also serve to challenge top players to compete with themselves.

Thirty goals last year, twenty this year—both might win the Golden Boot, but they won’t necessarily both win best player.

At this point, the San Remo Miracle, in a certain sense, has truly come to an end.

They rose out of the Italian Cup series, and now they have finally said goodbye to the Italian Cup trophy.

All good things must come to an end.

San Remo’s mark on the Italian Cup is a three‑peat.

...

May 13, Serie A Round 37.

San Remo won again, two‑nil.

Unlike the previous league round, which felt like an all‑hands‑show‑time, their form in this match was much better—it’s as if the blow of losing the Italian Cup woke them up.

A team that doesn’t win the title is nothing, even if you’re the runners‑up.

But in this round, Florence, who had been sitting atop the league almost the entire season and had just been caught by Juventus, actually lost!

Three points!

Juventus now lead Florence by two points at the top of the table!

Juventus’s league five‑in‑a‑row is right in front of them!