Both teams pyed in the Champions League midweek and faced strong oppos in the league over the weekend, but the outes were drastically different.

  The formidable Napoli defeated Juventus 1-0 away, thanks to avaro's decisive goal. They secured three vital points and further exteheir lead at the top of Serie A.

  Meanwhile, Mourinho's Inter Min could only manage a 3-3 draw at home against Roma, failing to maintain pressure on Napoli and watg as Gao Shen and his team disappeared further into the distance.

  This sparked a heated response ialian media following the matches.

  The media showered Napoli, and especially Gao Shen, with all the praise they could muster. Who would have thought that Napoli, after sg a crucial away victainst Chelsea midweek, would go on to other decisive win against Juventus?

  The key detail: in both matches, the pyers who delivered the decisive blows were substitutions made by Gao Shen.

  In the away match against Juventus, it astore who earhe er, Parejo who delivered it, and avaro Jr., Napoli's fourth-choice ter-back, who scored the winning header. All of this poio Gao Shen's masterful trol over the Napoli squad, demonstrating his ability to orchestrate them like aension of his own body.

  sider this: avaro is currently a substitute among substitutes, but he showed no signs of rust after ing on. His sharp performanly underscored the exceptional job Gao Shen and his staff have done in keeping the pyers fit and ready.

  Even more impressively, Napoli has had the fewest pyer absences due to injuries in all of Serie A this season.

  Oher hand, after Napoli wideheir lead, Gazzetta dello Sport reported distent brewing within Inter Min's locker room.

  Veteran pyers like Materazzi, Vieira, and Crespo were reportedly unhappy with Mourinho's failure to implement an effective rotation system, which resulted in a signifit ck of pying time for the team's substitutes.

  In stark trast, Napoli's approach was meticulously effit.

  Gazzetta dello Sport eveed aire page to paring the pying time of pyers from both teams, revealing that every single member of Napoli's first-team squad had seen a this season, with substantial minutes across the board. Even young talents like Insigne ati had received pying time. While these appearances were often in less critical matches or during "garbage time," they were valuable opportunities for these pyers to gain experiend adjust to Serie A.

  Mourinho, by trast, stuck with pyers he trusted and was familiar with, limiting opportunities for others. This led to diminished pying time for Materazzi, Vieira, and Crespo.

  When asked, Mourinho defended his choices by saying the veterans were simply too old. However, this didn't sit well with them, and many media outlets criticized him fleg pyers who had once beeo Inter's success.

  Adding to Inter's troubles, after their 3-3 draw with Roma, Roma's head coach, Spalletti, publicly accused Mourinho and his team of receiving favoritism from the referees.

  "Inter Min is doing noeople used to accuse Juventus of doing," Spalletti said, refereng Juventus' infamous sdals before the Calciopoli i.

  Spalletti's frustration stemmed from a questionable penalty awarded to Inter during the match. Balotelli verted the penalty, allowing Io salvage a point. Without that decision, Roma would have taken all three points.

  For Roma, this wasn't just about pride. They're currently seventh in Serie A, tied on points with Cagliari, just two points ahead of Atanta and Palermo. However, they're six points behind sixth-pced Genoa. If not for the penalty, Roma would have closed the gap with Genoa to four points and created a more fortable cushioheir pursuers, a critical distin for their European ambitions.

  Spalletti was livid about the referee's decision, which he believed cost Roma two vital points.

  Speaking at the post-match press ference, Spalletti decred, "Inter's performaonight doesn't deserve the draw."

  He added, "If I had to piow, this season's Serie A champion should be Napoli. Gao Shen's team has demonstrated true dominan the pitch. They deserve the title."

  Spalletti aowledged that stroeams tend to receive slight favoritism from referees, calling it aable psychological bias. Roma themselves, he admitted, had beed from it in the past.

  "But in critical matches like this, referees must be more cautious. Decisions that affect the oute of the game should be handled with extreme care. Tonight, the referee clearly failed to remain impartial," Spalletti said.

  These remarks caused a major stir.

  Mourinho, unsurprisingly, fired back, saying there was nothing wrong with the penalty decision.

  "The only thing Spalletti ght," Mourinho quipped, "is that referees favor the strong teams and we are the stroeam in Serie A."

  This provoked an immediate response from Spalletti. "Are you the team that's seven points behind the Serie A leaders right now?"

  The Roma coach added, "I uand why Mourinho is in denial, he's afraid of losing the championship. But holy, if you ask anyone, I 't think of a single reason why they wouldn't piapoli."

  "The best-perf team this season is the stroeam."

  Mourinho retorted quickly, "So what if we're seven points behind? There are still 12 rounds left in Serie A. The fight isn't over."

  "At least we're peting for the championship, not scrambling for Europa League qualification," he added.

  The bad-forth betweewo promi managers captured the attention of the media and fans in Min and Rome, sparking intense debates across Italy. The league was suddenly alive with tension aement.

  Then, Gao Shen posted a tweet.

  Apanied by a cartoonishly aggrieved face, his tweet read, "e on, you two big guys, keep arguing. Just don't drag me into it! I'm young, I'm still a kid!"

  Strangely enough, Gao Shen's tweet had an immediate effect. Mourinho and Spalletti both stopped arguing. The Minese and Roman media, as if ourheir attention toward Naples.

  What happened?

  It was ter reported that after seeing Gao Shen's tweet, both Mourinho and Spalletti were so infuriated that they called each other, vented about Gao Shen's shamelessness, and agreed to a truce.

  Mourinho allegedly cursed, "This guy steals the spotlight and acts i."

  Even Spalletti couldn't help but grumble, "How someone so ing pretend to be so harmless?"

  Gao Shen, hearing all this, simply shrugged. "Who did I offend this time?"

  …

  Perhaps the tension from the argument lingered, but Mourinho clearly felt the heat.

  In the midweek Italian Cup semi-final first leg against Sampdoria, Mourinho fielded both Materazzi and Vieira, alongside several other substitutes and rotation pyers. Even the goalkeeper was switched from Cesar to Toldo.

  This lineup showed that Mourinho rioritizing the league and Champions League over the domestic cup.

  However, the pn backfired spectacurly.

  Just nine minutes in, Sampdoria's Cassano found the . By the 30th and 42nd minutes, Pazzini, a winter signing, scored twice, giving Sampdoria a 3-0 lead by halftime.

  Mourinhht on Crespo and Obinna in the sed half to boost the attack, but it was too little, too te. Inter Min suffered a humiliati.

  In the post-match press ference, a frustrated Mourinho shed out, calling his team's performance amateurish. He also directed his a the substitutes, saying, "Before, people criticized me for not rotating pyers. Now, you've seen why I stick to the same starters."

  "The differen quality was obvious tonight."

  His ents sparked widespread e. Though clearly fueled by frustration, Mourinho's remarks only deepeensions within Inter's locker room.

  Inter's ma scrambled to tain the fallout. Both Moratti and Branca publicly dowhe issue, insisting Mourinho's words had been misinterpreted and denying any internal flicts.

  Still, whispers persisted that Mourinho had been looking for an excuse to abandoalian Cup entirely and focus on the league and Champions League.

  …

  While Inter Min suffered a blooli took a fortable 3-1 victory over Lazio in their Italian Cup semi-final first leg.

  Eighteen minutes into the match, Thiago Motta threaded a pass to i, who calmly slotted it past the keeper.

  Ih minute, Lichtsteiner pyed a through ball, allowing i to beat the offside trap and score his sed.

  Seven mier, Vargas sent in a cross, which Lazio's ter-back cleared poorly. Rakitic chested the ball down and smashed a volley from outside the box into the . 3-0.

  Though Lazio pulled one ba the sed half, the damage was already done. Napoli secured a crucial away win.

  …

  Three days ter, ih round of Serie A, Napoli faced Lazio at home.

  Five minutes in, Pelle trolled the ball in the box, turned, and fired it into the o give Napoli an early lead.

  Ih minute, Pelle scored again, doubling Napoli's advantage.

  The matded 2-0, with Pelle's brace sealing another win for Napoli.

  Inter Min also won their match, beating Genoa 2-0 with goals from Ibrahimovid Balotelli.

  The gap betweewo teams remained seven points, but with only 11 rounds left, the title race was being increasingly one-sided.

  …

  After the 27th round, Napoli prepared to host Hiddink's Chelsea.