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The doping incident sparked widespread media discussion.

In England, many media outlets spoke up for Luton. After all, Luton was an English team, and what's more, the UEFA Disciplinary Committee decided to conduct full urine tests on Luton players based solely on Roma's report. This indicated that the UEFA Disciplinary Committee harbored suspicions about Luton, a team from the third tier.

"This is a big fuss over nothing. If Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, or any other Premier League team had defeated Roma, the Disciplinary Committee, even if they received a report, would never have made such a big deal out of it. This only shows that in the minds of many, Luton, from England's League One, doesn't deserve to beat Roma. Unfortunately, Gao Bo's team slapped them hard with their performance on the field. Even with all their dirty tricks off the pitch, they still lost in the end!" Sky Sports reported.

Meanwhile, in Italy, numerous media outlets reported with great seriousness on whether Luton had used performance-enhancing drugs.

After all, once the Disciplinary Committee got involved, whether or not Luton had used doping, the media's sensationalism would only make the situation murkier.

However, when the Disciplinary Committee's results were finally released, Luton was cleared of all charges.

Luton's players had not used any prohibited substances.

Subsequently, Italian media revealed that Luton had used ammonia to refresh their players before the match.

However, English media quickly retorted, stating that this only proved Luton's proficiency in chemistry, as ammonia is not a prohibited substance but merely a physical means of enhancing players' concentration.

While the media bickered, Luton's schedule remained packed. At least Gao Bo had no time to engage in a war of words with the media.

The Europa League group stage had concluded, and the focus now shifted to domestic competitions.

Upon returning to England, November's schedule was very tight, as the FA Cup matches had also begun.

Luton played six matches in the remainder of November, and their form fluctuated, achieving four wins, one draw, and one loss! They advanced to the third round of the FA Cup and surpassed Leeds United to claim second place in the league.

On November 9th, in the first round of the FA Cup, Luton defeated Southend United 1-0 away from home!

On November 14th, in the sixteenth round of the league, the team drew an away match. Luton challenged Oldham away, and despite attacking for ninety minutes, they failed to score, resulting in a 0-0 draw! This match also caused the team to fall behind their top two rivals in terms of points.

On November 18th, in the seventeenth league round, they won 3-0 at home against Bristol Rovers; on November 21st, they won 1-0 at home against Yeovil in the league.

On November 24th, the team suffered their second defeat of the season away from home. In the nineteenth league round, Luton lost 1-2 to Leyton Orient away. So far, after nineteen league rounds, the team's record is thirteen wins, four draws, and two losses, accumulating 46 points, one point behind Charlton, and level on points with Leeds United, placing second in the league on goal difference.

On November 28th, in the second round of the FA Cup, Luton defeated Burton Albion 1-0 at home to advance to the third round. In the third-round draw held that evening, Luton was drawn against their arch-rivals, Watford.

A match against arch-rivals is certainly an important one, but the FA Cup third round would not take place for another month, so the team didn't need to consider the FA Cup for now.

After this FA Cup match, the fifth round of the Europa League group stage followed closely, with Luton hosting CSKA Sofia. Although the team had already qualified, to secure first place in the group, they could not relax their efforts in the group stage matches.

However, CSKA Sofia also failed to threaten Luton, who performed exceptionally well at home.

On the Europa League stage, the players seemed to exert extra effort.

In the first half, Griezmann and Vardy both scored for the team. In the second half, substitute Matty Smith scored two headers, and ultimately, Luton secured a dominant 4-0 victory over CSKA Sofia at home.

Meanwhile, in another match, Roma defeated Basel 2-0 at home, keeping their slim hopes of qualification alive. Due to Basel's loss, Luton secured first place in the group with a game to spare.

Next up were the domestic league matches. As League One has a demanding 46-game schedule, Luton's fixtures were incredibly condensed due to their participation in the Europa League, meaning they played almost two matches every week.

Fortunately, Gao Bo became increasingly adept at squad rotation. On December 5th, in the twentieth league round, a semi-strong Luton side narrowly defeated Carlisle United 1-0 at home. On December 11th, in the twenty-first league round, Luton, with a mix of semi-starters and substitutes, defeated Huddersfield 2-1 away, maintaining their position in the top tier of the league table.

On December 16th, the final match of the Europa League group stage saw the team challenge Basel away.

Before this match, the Roman media, who had previously had many grievances with Luton, now lavished praise on them, hoping Luton would defeat Basel away, thereby giving Roma a chance to turn things around.

However, Gao Bo had no intention of changing his plans for this match.

Gao Bo didn't even bring a single first-team player for this away game. The substitute players started, and the bench was filled with players promoted from the youth team.

In fact, for Basel, even if they won, they couldn't snatch first place in the group, so they only needed to secure a draw to get one point.

Basel also didn't push forward aggressively at home, as they feared that if they provoked Luton and then lost, Basel's second place in the group might be snatched by Roma. So, both sides played in a tacit understanding.

When the match ended, the score was 0-0! Both teams played to a goalless draw, advancing together, while Roma was left to regret their exit.

After the match, the Italian media heavily criticized the Luton-Basel match as a fixed game.

However, not many people paid attention to them. In such circumstances, any rational person would know what choice their team should make.

Football matches don't always have to be a life-or-death struggle...

After returning from Switzerland, on December 18th, the draw ceremony for the Europa League Round of 32 was held in Nyon, Switzerland.

Luton fans were very concerned about this draw, hoping to draw a weaker opponent so that the team could go further in the Europa League. For Luton fans, winning the Europa League was not something they were considering at this point.

Gao Bo was also very interested in the Europa League draw. If possible, he certainly hoped that the team's path to promotion wouldn't be so difficult, but even if they drew some big teams, Gao Bo wouldn't be discouraged, after all, his goal was to win the championship.

After training on the eighteenth, the players gathered in the team's meeting room to watch the draw ceremony together.

When Luton was drawn, the players cheered.

Their opponent was, Dutch giants: Ajax!!