Chapter 111
On the morning of May 20th, on this romantic day, all Chelsea players set off on a plane to Moscow, Russia.
In the afternoon, Manchester United and Chelsea players arrived at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow one after another to adapt to the final stadium in advance in preparation for tomorrow's final.
The Manchester United team moved faster and arrived at the Luzhniki Stadium first. Coach Ferguson then went straight to the pre-match press conference that day. While Ferguson was talking to the reporters, at the Luzhniki Stadium, under the gaze of the media on site, the Sky Sports broadcast camera and the fans in front of the TV, the Manchester United players began to jog on the field to relax and warm up.
After the warm-up, Manchester United players started playing a circle game. Ronaldinho was very active, constantly passing and knocking the ball with his heels and the outside of his feet, frequently causing exclamations from media reporters on the sidelines.
"Ronaldo leads the Champions League scoring list with seven goals. The media have given predictions that this year's Ballon d'Or is likely to go to Ronaldo. Before this, Ronaldo's strong competitor was Barcelona's Messi, but Barcelona's record this year is not ideal, which will largely affect the final voting choices of national team coaches and media reporters."
"But when it comes to the future winner of the Ballon d'Or, I think if Endrit leads his team to win the European Cup this year, he will directly become a strong competitor to Cristiano Ronaldo. I think as long as they have watched Endrit's games seriously, the national team coaches and reporters will not be stingy in casting their votes for Endrit."
"No, no, no, your expectations are still too high. It is very difficult for a goalkeeper to win the Ballon d'Or. If you look at the past winners of the Ballon d'Or, apart from Yashin who won the Ballon d'Or once in 1963, no other goalkeeper has won this honor. Even if Endrit is only nominated this year, it is a great progress for modern goalkeepers in modern football."
"If Chelsea wins the final tomorrow, no media outlet in the world can deny the fact that Endrit is the best goalkeeper in the league."
The commentators went off topic as they were chatting, and the director had no intention of stopping the rising ratings, so it was only after Ferguson left the press conference and rushed to the Luzhniki Stadium that the commentators returned to Manchester United.
At the Luzhniki Stadium, the Manchester United coaching staff gathered the players, distributed vests to them, and asked them to carry out a very short sprint training on the field.
After the sprint training, Manchester United staged a team match on half of the field - it was called a match, but in fact it was almost like playing. With so many media on the scene, how could Ferguson let the outside world know today how Manchester United would play tomorrow?
The Manchester United players on the scene were divided into two teams. Those wearing red vests were Manchester United's main central defenders and forward combination. Rooney and Tevez stood on the front line, and goalkeeper Van der Sar. On the defensive line, Sylvester, Ferdinand, Brown and Hargreaves lined up from left to right, while the three midfielders were Park Ji-sung, Anderson and Fletcher.
The yellow team that was competing against the red team was composed of Manchester United's wingers. The two Portuguese players Ronaldo and Nani stood at the front, one on the left and one on the right. Behind them, the three midfielders formed a small triangle. Saha stood at the front, Scholes and Giggs were on the left and right, echoing Ronaldo and Nani in the frontcourt.
Evra, Evra, O'Shea and Carrick on the yellow team's defense are not inferior to the red team's defense. The only weakness is probably that their goalkeeper Kuschak is not as good as Van der Sar on the opposite side.
Of course, in addition to these people, young player Piqué was ordered to act independently and participate in the attacks of both sides as a free man wearing a green vest.
When the Chelsea players arrived at the scene late, they saw a fierce game. The red team, which had the main central defender and forward, was 1:4 behind the yellow team. Ferdinand was so angry that he let out a strange cry and kicked the football towards the goal with all his strength as if to vent his anger.
Chelsea players stopped and watched, then all exclaimed in unison: So many people!
Who wouldn’t drool when seeing the depth of this bench? If Manchester United's substitute lineup was pulled out to compete on its own, their Premier League ranking would not dive into the relegation zone.
When Manchester United's team training was about to end, Chelsea players also entered the stadium and began to practice on the field. After the warm-up and training began, the Sky Sports commentators were stunned.
"Ashley Cole, is he wearing goalkeeper gloves?"
Ashley Cole was in high spirits and very excited. He put on gloves and stood in front of the goal, calling on his teammates to shoot. His saves were very exaggerated, and he looked very aggressive every time he saved, but the effect was good. He hit high and blocked low, and dived left and right to resolve the ruthless and powerful shots from his teammates.
"You guys are going too far! You kicked the ball too hard! Slow down! This is my first time as a goalkeeper!"
Ashley was running around on the ground, and except for Wright's extremely fast shot that broke through his defense, the rest of the shots were blocked by Ashley outside the goal.
The commentators were stunned and exclaimed that they had seen a ghost. No, they had seen God!
Amid the exclamations, commentator Elsie suddenly thought of an event in the past. "On the eve of the 2002 World Cup, Emerson also played as a goalkeeper. He injured himself during a save and missed the entire tournament. Will Ashley's save for fun be..."
"No, no, no," Elsie's partner Bloom quickly interrupted Elsie, "It shouldn't be like that. Look, their save is over, but Ashley is still fine. Tomorrow is the Champions League final. Chelsea will definitely know their limits. Nothing unexpected will happen to them."
Ten minutes later, watching the team doctor and assistant coach rush onto the court to help Ashley to the sidelines for treatment, Bloom and Elsie fell into silence. After looking at each other, they saw the same question in each other's eyes: Who of us is the crow's mouth?
In the passing and coordination training after the warm-up, Ashley was tackled by Kalou from the backcourt when he was stopping and passing, and he lay on the ground and couldn't get up. After some simple treatment, Ashley returned to the court and started jogging, and no longer participated in the team's passing and cutting training.
Ashley before injury: a husky running around happily
Ashley after injury: a poor puppy caught in a heavy rain
Ashley couldn't get excited at all and couldn't laugh. After the Chelsea players confirmed that this injury would not affect Ashley's game tomorrow, they couldn't stop laughing and the whole stadium was instantly filled with a happy atmosphere.
Ashley: …
At 22:45 Moscow time on May 21, the opening whistle of the first cross-day final in the history of the Champions League will be officially blown.
Although the game started very late, the entire Luzhniki Stadium was brightly lit that night. Every fan who arrived at the scene was in high spirits. Chelsea fans who traveled with the team hung a "Quadruple Crown" banner in the stands before the game even started.
"Coach Ferguson lined up a 442 formation for this Champions League match, with goalkeeper Van der Sar, defenders Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic and Evra."
"Nević did not appear in the team training yesterday. Many media reporters thought that Vidic would miss today's Champions League final. But in fact, Ferguson's coach was bluffing. Vidic recovered well and started in today's game."
"Carrick, Scholes, Hargreaves and C. Ronaldo in the midfield, Rooney and Tevez in the forward position."
"Both Hargreaves and Tevez performed very vigorously in yesterday's team training. Hargreaves' two right-foot arcs deceived Van der Sar, and Tevez's two shots went straight into the goal. Even though we don't know if the two can continue yesterday's hot form in today's game."
After briefly talking about Manchester United's starting lineup, the commentators began to introduce Chelsea's starting lineup.
"Chelsea will still play 433 in this game, with Endrit as goalkeeper and Essien, Carvalho, John Terry and Ashley as defenders."
"Although there was a small accident in yesterday's training, Ashley recovered well and still started in this game."
"The three midfielders are Makelele, Ballack and Lampard, and the three forwards are Malouda, Cole and Drogba."
"It is worth mentioning that Modric appeared on the bench in today's game, wearing a Chelsea jersey."
"Dinamo Zagreb released him a little late. He was not included in Mourinho's squad for this game, but because he had already signed the contract, if Chelsea wins the quadruple this season, Modric will also have a share of the honor."
There were no games anymore. Crouch, who was staying at home waiting for the European Cup to start, sat in front of the TV and looked at Modric in the stands. His back teeth were almost broken: This kid is so lucky! He joined the team and won four championships without playing a single game!
Crouch's agent Grup sighed helplessly, stretched out his hand and pushed Crouch, "We're watching the game, why are you grinding your teeth?"
Crouch opened his mouth, wanting to complain about the lucky guy, but the words came out as something else, "I will appear in the transfer market during the summer transfer window this year, right?"
Grup nodded slightly, "I have already communicated with Chelsea before."
Crouch finally breathed a sigh of relief and turned his head to stare at the picture on TV. Thank God, the camera finally moved away and no longer pointed at the lucky boy but at coach Capello in the stands? !
"Coach Capello!"
Crouch stood up suddenly and paced back and forth very depressed: the summer transfer window has not started yet, but the rumor that he is leaving Liverpool has already spread, and his next club is Chelsea. If he went to watch Chelsea's game at this time, he would definitely be criticized by Liverpool fans. After comprehensive consideration, he did not go.
But coach Capello went to the scene! If he goes with coach Capello, he will go to see his national team teammates...
"Gerald?"
"What Gerald?" Crouch turned his head and looked at Grup. "Where is Gerald?"
"He's right here at the scene right now," Grup lowered his voice subconsciously, "The camera just scanned over him..."
Crouch: ? ? ! !
No, at least call me!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
No comments yet.