Soccer: I became Bruno Fernandes.

Chapter 259: Steady Progress

In the last week of October, Serie A had a mid-week matchday. In the middle of the week, Udinese traveled to the Rome Olympic Stadium to face Roma.

This was a clash between the top two teams on the leaderboard and a highly anticipated match. For Roma, this was a must-win game. A loss at home would put them 10 points behind Udinese, almost ruling them out of the Serie A title race.

Egyptian winger Salah, who transferred from Udinese to Roma in the summer, missed the match against his former team due to accumulated yellow cards. The recent busy schedule took its toll on Udinese, showing signs of fatigue, while Roma, playing at home, was in high spirits.

After an intense battle, Udinese lost 1-3, failing to set a new Serie A record for ten consecutive wins. Roma's successful home victory over Udinese not only narrowed the gap between the two teams to four points but also avenged the record of eight consecutive wins that Udinese had ended for Roma two years ago.

...

On the last night of October, Udinese faced Sassuolo at the Friuli Stadium in the 11th round of Serie A.

With a home match against Wolfsburg in the Champions League next week, Guidolin rotated Udinese's lineup again, but Bruno continued to play a crucial role as captain. The difference in strength between the backup and main squads was quite evident.

Even with half of the main players in the lineup, Udinese struggled against a well-performing Sassuolo, showing disorganized play in both attack and defense.

Bruno was very active in the forward position, but the midfield support for the attack was insufficient. In the 35th minute of the first half, Bruno created an opportunity on the right, passing to the box where Rodrigo Aguirre set up Teodorczyk, who shot to open the scoring for Udinese.

However, in the 60th minute, Edenilson committed a reckless foul while defending and was directly shown a red card, leaving Udinese with ten players and making the game more difficult. The upside was that Sassuolo, seeing the opportunity to win, pressed forward more aggressively.

In the 86th minute, Bruno made a solo run, charging forward to assist Rodrigo Aguirre, who scored his first league goal of the season. Udinese ultimately won 2-0 at home against Sassuolo.

The score didn't fully reflect the game, but Bruno experienced firsthand that the team's performance was quite average. The victory was partly due to good luck and several key Sassuolo players being absent.

...

Udinese's first match in November was a Champions League home game against Wolfsburg. In the 87th minute, Bruno received a pass from Cancelo on the left, quickly turning to shake off Wolfsburg's right-back Sebastian Jung.

 He cut inside to the edge of the box and passed to the right side of the arc. Di Natale surged forward and struck, sealing the score at 2-0 for Udinese! This match was tough for Udinese, primarily because of the congested fixture schedule, playing twice a week since October.

With a thin squad, it was challenging for Udinese to cope. Fortunately, Udinese had good luck with few injuries, keeping the squad relatively complete, which allowed them to maintain good results in both Serie A and the Champions League.

They remained at the top of the Serie A table and had nine points after four Champions League group matches, on the verge of qualifying. In today's match, both teams played a tight first half, with the score remaining 0-0 until the second half. Udinese broke the deadlock in the 55th minute when Iturra's pass split Wolfsburg's defense, and Bruno, arriving late, scored from the left wing for his fifth Champions League goal of the season.

After four group matches, Udinese led Group B with three wins and one loss. Manchester United, with a narrow 1-0 home win over CSKA Moscow, was second with seven points from two wins, one draw, and one loss.

CSKA Moscow had four points from one win, one draw, and two losses, ranking third, while Wolfsburg was last with three points from one win and three losses. However, looking at the entire group stage, no team had secured qualification or been eliminated yet.

Overall, Udinese had the best chance of advancing; they needed just one more win in the remaining two group matches to secure a spot in the next round.

Even bottom-placed Wolfsburg still had a chance to qualify by winning their remaining matches against CSKA Moscow and Manchester United.

...

On the afternoon of November 8, in the 12th round of Serie A, Udinese faced Napoli away. After just beating Wolfsburg at home in the Champions League, Udinese quickly traveled to face Sarri's team.

After Benítez left, Napoli hired the relatively unknown Sarri, and many thought Napoli would struggle, but they performed quite well at the start of the season.

In Serie A, Napoli had 22 points from 6 wins, 4 draws, and 1 loss in 11 rounds, placing them fifth in the table. In the Europa League, Napoli was even more impressive, leading their group with four straight wins, scoring 16 goals and conceding only 1.

 Especially in Thursday night's match, Napoli thrashed Midtjylland 5-0 at home. With such hot form, Sarri was confident about winning at home.

The first ten minutes of the game were dominated by Udinese. Bruno scored in the third minute from an Iturra assist. In the sixth minute, Bruno assisted Teodorczyk, who scored to double the lead. With a two-goal lead, everyone thought Udinese had the game in hand.

But Bruno remained cautious, constantly urging his teammates to stay alert. No more goals were scored in the remainder of the first half, and Udinese entered halftime with a 2-0 advantage. Shortly after the second half began, Napoli pulled one back.

 In the 53rd minute, Jorginho made a through pass, and Higuaín turned and entered the box, scoring from 9 meters to hit the far post and bounce in, marking his 200th club goal. Ultimately, Udinese won 2-1 away against Napoli.

(End of Chapter)

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