Chapter 359 Fortunately it was a football match
Before the start of the first round of the Champions League last 16, under the media's offensive, fans of both teams were in a state of excitement and worry. They were excited because their teams would face one of the world's top teams and the match would undoubtedly become one of the classic battles of the season. But they were worried because their opponents would not be pushovers and either team could fail, which often meant being at a disadvantage in the second round.
Perhaps, Barcelona fans have a certain psychological advantage over Chelsea fans. First of all, this game is held at Camp Nou, and they will naturally think that Barcelona will play better on their own turf. Also, no matter how crazy Chelsea's performance this season, their head coach Mourinho was just a translator for Barcelona five years ago.
Can a translator's leadership level be comparable to that of Rijkaard, one of the 'Three Musketeers of the Netherlands'! ! ?
At least in the eyes of Barcelona fans, although Chelsea's record is not even as good as Barcelona's this season, it is very unrealistic for a translator who left Barcelona to beat his host at Camp Nou.
Of course, the above is just the discriminatory view of Barcelona fans. According to the "professional statistics" analysis of the "France Football" newspaper, if we look at the data, Chelsea and Barcelona are both the most balanced offensive and defensive teams in the world today. In their respective leagues, their goal scoring and conceding numbers have almost reached the most reasonable "critical point". However, simply comparing the two teams, their respective strengths in offense and defense foreshadow an absolutely good show of "wheat and awn versus needle".
Chelsea's previous record was undoubtedly perfect, with 25 consecutive league wins and 6 wins in the Champions League group stage. No matter from which angle you measure it, especially in the Premier League that advocates offense, the new record set by Chelsea is a miracle.
In terms of defense, they are by no means inferior, and both young goalkeepers have performed at a world-class level.
According to the analysis of many "professionals", the probability of Petr Cech playing is higher than that of Thomas Clarke. The most important reason is Cech's performance problem. What Chelsea needs in this game is stability. In the magnificent Camp Nou stadium, it is difficult to guarantee that Thomas, who is only 19 years old, will not make mistakes due to stage fright. In this game, a mistake is crucial.
On the other hand, Barcelona is the team with the fewest goals conceded in La Liga so far, but they have conceded 17 goals in 23 games, which is not outstanding. However, Barcelona has never been a team that relies on defense. In the competition with Chelsea, Barcelona's real weapon is offense.
But Chelsea's real weapon is also attack!!!
No one can deny that Ronaldinho is one of the best attackers in the world today, but more importantly, he also has the La Liga top scorer Eto'o and Deco who also has strong attacking and organizing abilities. Behind this "attack trident", Xavi's presence is crucial, because in the eyes of the Spanish media, Rijkaard's tactical system may lack Ronaldinho or Eto'o, but Xavi, who can organize the midfield in an orderly manner and occasionally have "world-class assists", is absolutely indispensable, and is the real reason why Barcelona can create the strongest attacking force in La Liga.
But who can deny that Wang Li is the best attacker in the world, no doubt about it! ! ?
According to the Portuguese newspaper "News", Barcelona's defense is not reassuring. Even at Camp Nou, if Chelsea plays a defensive counterattack, Barcelona will not dare to attack freely because they are afraid. They are afraid of Chelsea's No. 21 Allen Wang. Rijkaard will never ignore the striker with the highest goal efficiency in the world today, especially in terms of quick counterattacks. His speed will become Barcelona's nightmare! !
…………Barcelona, the capital of the Spanish province of Barcelona (belonging to the autonomous region of Catalonia) and the second largest city in Spain. When hearing this name, almost will associate it with football. This is mainly because Barcelona, both in history and everyone now, is almost always the embodiment of the will and spirit of the Catalan people in this area.
Almost every loyal football fan in the world wants to visit two cities, one is Milan in Italy, and the other is Barcelona in Spain. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to call Barcelona the capital of football.
However, for Wang Li, Barcelona has only one identity in his mind - a place for Chelsea's rival Barcelona to wash away their grievances, nothing more.
He has no interest in the other meanings of Barcelona and does not want to study them.
After landing at the El Padre de Llobregat International Airport in Barcelona, Chelsea players just stepped out of the cabin when they were met by a large number of enthusiastic Barcelona fans who lined up to "welcome" them. They were neatly dressed in Barcelona's home uniforms and held various insulting, sarcastic, and morale-boosting banners to "welcome" Chelsea's arrival in this way - "Translator, go back to your original job, football is not for you!!"
"Who is Alan Wang!? We have Ronaldinho!!"
"Barcelona is invincible. How can an upstart want to be so arrogant in Camp Nou?!"
...As soon as the Chelsea players walked out of the exit, they could see most of the fans. They were standing very forward, which made the Chelsea players feel that the airport security was deliberately letting them off guard. When the entire Chelsea team walked out of the passage, flash lights immediately filled the entire venue, and reporters from various countries followed the players' footsteps, constantly asking questions in a variety of languages.
Among them, Wang Li is the most popular player, but he is far behind the head coach Jose Mourinho who is at the forefront.
Yes, what was unexpected this time was that the head coach completely overshadowed star players such as Wang Li, Lampard, Terry, Robben, etc. Unfortunately, Mourinho didn't seem to buy it. He carried his luggage bag and walked straight towards the bus without looking back, while the players following behind were relatively relaxed and they also rushed to the bus soon after.
Wang Li was sitting on the bus, looking outside at the crazy fans waving all kinds of slogans, and the reporters who were anxious to interview someone after seeing all the Chelsea players on the bus. He couldn't help but look forward to the game even more. Judging from the scene alone, the attention to this game was definitely the highest this season.
Maybe he didn't like these media in the past, but now he hopes that his football will get more attention. Looking back at these media, he feels that their work is nothing wrong. Players need fame and the media needs news. The two complement each other, which is also inevitable for the development of modern football.
Without these media who are constantly looking for news, no matter how good a player is at playing football, who would know? This is the role of the media relative to the players.
Of course, the role of fans is more important because it is related to the foundation of a club's existence. However, this has little to do with the players because the players' income is related to the clubs and other large companies, and has little direct relationship with the fans.
"Pah!"
Wang Liped his forehead and thought that he was thinking too far ahead. These things at least had no great relevance to him at the moment. The most important thing now was to play well in this game.
For Wang Li, it was his first time to play against such a top Spanish team. It should be said that it was his first time to play against a super giant outside the Premier League.
When he was at Wolverhampton, the team had no chance to play in European competitions, and when he joined Chelsea, they did not encounter any strong opponents in the Champions League group stage. Because of this, many foreign media still question Wang Li's ability. The biggest reason is that Wang Li has no experience of playing against top European giants outside the Premier League.
At present, even though the strength of teams like Barcelona and Inter Milan is not much different from the top Premier League clubs, the styles of the two leagues are different, and the performances on the field are naturally different. If Chelsea knows how to play step by step to win against Manchester United, then when facing foreign teams, sometimes even the head coach will be a little at a loss, so they have to carefully analyze the opponent's information before the game.
Of course, this is true for Chelsea and Barcelona. Relatively speaking, they value Chelsea more than Chelsea values them. This is mainly because Mourinho has a deep understanding of Barcelona, while Rijkaard has almost no knowledge of Chelsea. In addition, Chelsea's record this season has almost surprised everyone, so Barcelona cannot afford to be negligent.
………Perhaps, for Mourinho, the significance of this game is even greater.
Six years ago, the Portuguese was an assistant to Robson and Van Gaal and could only watch others talking in front of the microphone. But now, when he returns to Camp Nou, the little man has transformed himself into one of the most sought-after coaches in world football.
When Jose Mourinho rushed into the press conference, countless reporters and himself might have felt "a world of difference" and "time flies", but Mourinho did not come here for nostalgia. He had only one goal - to lead Chelsea to attack his former club and win the game.
Almost no one present still believed that Mourinho still loved Barcelona in his heart, but the press conference had just begun. The Portuguese looked around at the familiar environment and talked eloquently: "I want to talk about the past six years. My life and career have made qualitative leaps, but Barcelona has not. I changed different teams and won many championship trophies, which Barcelona also did not have. I feel very sorry because I am still full of love for Barcelona in my heart. Although I left Camp Nou, I still hope that they can win all the honors, of course, except when they meet Chelsea."
In terms of conversation, Mourinho, who just turned 42 this year, seems to be very comfortable with it, which has long been commonplace to the English media. Although he mentioned that he has deep feelings for Barcelona, these words did not make those who love Barcelona happy anyway, and even made them feel that the words of this young head coach were full of irony.
"Is Mourinho suggesting that Barcelona failed to identify the Portuguese and keep him?"
"Or did they accidentally hit Barcelona's Achilles' heel, which has prevented them from winning the championship in the past six years?!"
"Or is it to irritate the opponent before the game so that Barcelona will be eager for quick success!?"
In short, many foreign media at the scene kept analyzing the meaning of Mourinho's words. They were trying every means to "crack" the code contained in the words, while the reporters who supported Barcelona felt sour in their ears.
Seeing that the reporters seemed to have finished "recalling" his words, Mourinho continued to speak: "I want to make one thing clear before the game. This is a fair battle and we will make every effort to win. Now we are also facing some problems. For example, Duff's injury still prevents him from running easily, which makes the team's wing attack a little sluggish, but I believe that even in this case, Chelsea will still be the final winner."
Facing Mourinho's pre-war victory declaration speech, Rijkaard was not to be outdone. Relatively speaking, the young head coach, also 42 years old, was very cautious. Regarding this game, he said: "Just like after we lost to Real Madrid at home in December 2003, now I need to analyze Chelsea carefully. I have been in office for 6 months, and the media called me a coward and believed that I was guilty of Barcelona. They accused me of being timid and handing over the midfield to Real Madrid. That statement did not hurt me. We did that and thought it was the right choice. Maybe when we deal with Chelsea, we will have to stockpile heavy troops in the midfield, but if you want me to talk more about Chelsea now, I won't."
"I've watched a few Chelsea games on TV. They are a great team, a great team, very efficient..." - At this point, Rijkaard changed the subject and said bluntly: "But Mr. Mourinho doesn't seem to have any outstanding player experience. Everything he has comes from books. I think Barcelona has a greater chance of winning this game."
Obviously, while refuting Mourinho's victory declaration, Rijkaard was also mocking him for not being a football player when he was young. In European football, the contradiction between "academic" and "practical" head coaches has always existed, and Mourinho and Rijkaard, both 42 years old, are the representatives of it. At least, they are equally young, both are coaches of the world's top clubs, and both have a brilliant future.
Mourinho just smiled at Rijkaard's aggressive words. He retorted: "As the head coach of the team, Mr. Rijkaard seems to have not won a single victory, while I have had many successful experiences. When we played against Arsenal and Manchester United...you were alone and couldn't find an opponent."
Mourinho's words clearly meant that the Premier League was a more competitive league, to which Rijkaard immediately retorted: "Really? You think so?"
...In this situation, the two young head coaches started arguing directly at the pre-match press conference. If the venue in Barcelona had not been large enough and the two men's seats were relatively far away, the reporters below the stage thought that they would definitely start fighting.
However, this caused all media outlets to go wild, and they all raised their cameras to broadcast this head coach PK battle live.
Unfortunately, after the two quarreled for a few more sentences, they began to compliment each other. They all said that the other team was one of the top teams in the world and had brilliant results this season. This game would definitely be one of the most exciting games this year. They were all looking forward to the head-on confrontation in a while... The atmosphere on the scene gradually became harmonious. Even at the end of the press conference, the two shook hands cordially, leaving all the reporters in the audience confused as to how the tense atmosphere just now had suddenly become so harmonious.
In fact, both head coaches knew very well that the above quarrel was more of a way to create some conflicts to increase the attention of the game or to raise the quality of the fans. In fact, as the head coaches of the world's top teams and the same head coach who is only 42 years old, both of them have some sympathy for each other.
As for the game that will be played soon, it has almost nothing to do with the war of words before the game. Everything that should be done has been done. All that remains is a real fight with real swords and guns. There is no room for tricks.
………Camp Nou, the history of this stadium can perhaps be talked about for three days and three nights, but the stadium is obviously not the protagonist. At 2:20 pm, the Camp Nou, which can accommodate more than 100,000 fans, was already crowded. Among them, Barcelona fans of course accounted for the vast majority, and there were only more than 5,000 Blues fans who came with the team. This is because Chelsea's record this season is brilliant enough, which enabled so many fans to come to Barcelona with the team.
From this point we can see that, at least in terms of fans, there is still a big gap between Chelsea and Barcelona, top teams with glorious history.
Television stations in various countries have been broadcasting the game live since 1:30 p.m., from the players of both teams warming up, returning to the locker rooms, fans entering the stadium, to the atmosphere in the stadium as the game is about to begin. They are very interested in almost every aspect of the game before the game.
It is said that this game was broadcast live in more than 160 countries and regions, and at least 100 million fans around the world watched the game. This news not only made the young players of both teams a little timid, but even superstars like Lampard and Deco felt a little hesitant, because they felt that this was even more exciting than the World Cup.
In fact, the reason why so many fans and media are paying attention to the game is more because of the popularity brought by Chelsea. These media and fans want to know whether this team that has won all season can maintain this state when facing Barcelona. The popularity brought by Wang Li, who is like a goal machine, is also very terrifying.
At least in the hearts of many non-European fans, Ronaldinho's popularity is far less than that of Wang Li, who has scored more than 60 goals in a single season.
The two teams met in the player tunnel. They all looked at each other and greeted the other team's players, but no one took the initiative to talk to the other team's players, even some familiar people. However, there were exceptions - "Hello."
Wang Li walked out of the Chelsea 'camp', went straight to Ronaldinho's direction, and raised his right hand politely.
At this time, almost all the players, coaches, media and officials in the player channel turned their eyes to Wang Li. At this moment, Wang Li's special performance undoubtedly made him the focus of everyone's attention.
Ronaldinho was stunned for a moment, then reacted and politely shook Wang Li's right hand. At the same time, he opened his big mouth and smiled. However, in the eyes of others, this scene was a bit scary, just like an innocent little boy throwing himself into the arms of a weird uncle - even the Barcelona players saw it that way, and they even looked at Wang Li with some pity in their eyes.
However, what no one knew was that Ronaldinho, who looked terrifying at this moment, was the most pitiful person. The moment he held Wang Li's right hand, he felt a huge force coming from his opponent's right hand. Although it was only for a moment, that force still made Ronaldinho feel a burst of pain. He couldn't help but grin and almost cried out in pain.
Unfortunately, everyone around him thought he was smiling... "You are this year's World Footballer of the Year. I look forward to playing against you."
Wang Li took the initiative to come over and started a conversation. His words were very polite, which made the Barcelona players next to him feel a little good about him. However, Wang Li's next sentence made their good impression plummet, and even fell into negative territory. "However, in the game, I will let you know what the strength of the world's number one attacker is. Your title is unworthy of the title. At least the gap between you and me is too far."
After saying this, Wang Li ignored the performance of the Barcelona players and went straight back to his team, while his Chelsea teammates all gave him a thumbs up.
**Naked provocation!!!
Almost in the player tunnel was stunned, and as the protagonist of the provocation, World Footballer of the Year Ronaldinho had a strange expression. Now almost was looking at him, and the media behind the players also pointed their cameras at him, but the Brazilian superstar's face was stunned, which made everyone at the scene regard this as cowardice.
But in fact, Ronaldinho is still recalling the feeling of the handshake just now. He even feels that the hand can easily crush his right hand. This feeling of fear is very uncomfortable. However, he quickly recovered and thought to himself, "Fortunately, this is a football game and you can't use both hands."
…Attachment: Resumes of the two team coaches (free) Jose Mourinho:
Born on January 26, 1963, he served as assistant coach to Bobby Robson at Sporting Lisbon, Porto and Barcelona; assistant coach to Louis van Gaal at Barcelona; head coach at Benfica in 2000; head coach at Unioleira in 2001; head coach at Porto from 2002 to 2004; head coach at Chelsea since 2004. He led the team to win the Portuguese domestic league titles in 2003 and 2004, the Portuguese Cup in 2003, the UEFA Cup and the European Champions League in 2004.
Rijkaard:
Born on August 30, 1962, he has played for Ajax, Zaragoza and AC Milan; he has played 73 times for the national team and scored 10 goals; he won the Dutch domestic league titles in 1982, 1983, 1985, 1994 and 1995; the Dutch Cup in 1983, 1986 and 1987; the Serie A in 1987, 1992 and 1993; the Cup Winners' Cup in 1988; the European Club Cup in 1989 and 1990; the European Champions Cup in 1995; and the European Championship in 1988.
He coached the Netherlands team from 1998 to 2000, Sparta Rotterdam from 2001 to 2002, and Barcelona from 2003 to date.
(To be continued)
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