This year, they've fulfilled expectations, successfully capturing everyone's attention again with their script of reversals and underdog victories.
Last year's Champions League runner-up, this year's Champions League final team, AC Milan, has fallen once more to the same opponent.
And the opponent still isn't a top-tier league team.
San Remo, this eccentric team, makes AC Milan fans both love and hate them.
Because at the beginning, this team was nicknamed "Little AC Milan."
But... Little AC Milan has hammered the genuine AC Milan for two consecutive years.
How should everyone feel?
However, despite the high attention, this year's Italian Cup does have new elements.
This year marks a "Little San Remo Miracle."
Yes, San Remo has now reached a stage where it has a "miniature version."
This signifies that the name San Remo carries a certain weight.
This year's Little San Remo Miracle came from a club called the "China Town Team," an amateur football club.
They entered the Italian Cup semi-professionally, and in a streak defeated three opponents to advance to the fourth round, setting a new record in the event.
San Remo's record was winning a lower league championship, while the China Town Team set the highest record for an amateur team in the event.
Among them, the Chinese player Hu Lai scored eight goals across four matches, thus clinching the Golden Boot for the event!
Although the gold content can't match last year's 17 goals by Lu Yang, a Golden Boot is a Golden Boot, Hu Lai was very fortunate.
This season, San Remo's Italian Cup matches were all handed over to substitute players, Lu Yang played just three games, with six goals and two assists, extremely efficient, earning the Silver Boot in the Italian Cup.
This highlights the different levels of honor for different players.
Last year, Lu Yang's Italian Cup Golden Boot was almost an important reference to prove his ability and value.
But this year, the Italian Cup data for Lu Yang is better than nothing.
The Golden Boot for this cup event can no longer bring him assessment and value increase.
Only data from higher-level competitions can further enhance his performance.
This is the dilemma many top scorers face in secondary leagues.
No matter how spectacular their performances in secondary leagues, without higher-level honors and performances, their evaluations will always be capped at a certain bottleneck.
This isn't their bottleneck but the bottleneck of the platform, league they're in.
So lower-tier leagues can't breed superstars, even if Mei Luo dominates lower-tier leagues for ten years, they can only receive evaluations like "great potential," "very likely to become a star," instead of "superstar," "Golden Ball level."
Similarly, stars like Mei Luo, achieving victories in the Italian Cup, Super Cup, King's Cup, or FA Cup won't further their honors much, even a league championship wouldn't have much impact.
Only more Champions League, European Cup, and World Cup titles can further advance them.
So when faced with media questions like "Lu Yang, Hu Lai surpassed you this year by winning the Italian Cup Golden Boot, what do you think?"
Lu Yang easily responded: "I would recommend San Remo sign him, he's a very talented player, I believe he has a bright future ahead."
Jealous?
How could that be?
Moreover, Hu Lai is a Chinese player, Lu Yang doesn't have enough time to support him.
However, after this interview came out, the Championship team Leeds United reportedly developed a strong interest in Hu Lai, expressing willingness to purchase this young Chinese forward.
...
"Ding! You've led the team to retain the Italian Cup championship, earning reward essence points *3, obtaining moment pack *1, acquiring Superstar Skill Nuclear Weapon 7!"
"Nuclear Weapon 7, when you wear the number 7 jersey, you'll appear to be a deity, the more critical the match, the more likely you'll land a critical hit. In the final ten minutes of the game, your personal ability will gradually improve, with a maximum increase of twenty percent!"
Lu Yang allocated the essence points to speed and short pass, both of these stats have reached 84.
A few days later, Serie A and Serie B respectively ushered in their thirty-eighth round of league matches.
San Remo's last battle ended in a three-three draw, maintaining their unbeaten league streak!
Sogel shed some blood in the previous match, although it's not serious, but for caution, he was allowed to rest this round.
Sogel's Serie B league data also settled at seventeen goals, six assists!
In some years with fewer goals, this performance could earn the Golden Boot.
Of course, this year, Sogel is a bit far from the Golden Boot.
Silver Boot Kolber scored a terrifying thirty goals this season!
But that doesn't mean Sogel is much worse than Kolber.
Their roles differ.
Kolber is a typical finisher, while Sogel is an evolved version of a pivot forward—the all-around forward!
His role is something data can't fully express.
Lola hasn't completed the data team setup yet, but she's collecting a lot of data for this season herself. Combined with San Remo's matches, it's not hard to analyze Sogel's significant pulling and drawing roles.
Although he doesn't undertake fixed offensive tactics, all tactics include specific run designs for him, making him the top tactical asset for San Remo!
Bai Zhami scored thirteen goals, one assist this season, fully showcasing his characteristics.
Despite the league difficulty increasing significantly, Bai Zhami's goal count hasn't decreased. Plus, this season he's had increased rotation.