Chapter 512 Surprising Location

On this day, Real Madrid's bus drove into the Mestalla Stadium.

This season, this is not the first time that Real Madrid players have come to this stadium. The last time they came, they challenged Valencia away in the league. This stadium is Valencia's home stadium.

In Spain, the Mestalla Stadium has a very important historical significance. From the moment the stadium was built, it has experienced a century of Spanish history. During the war, it was demolished, used as a prison, and the football field was used as a plantation. But after the war was restored, the football field became a football field again, and Valencia is still Valencia.

This is the Mestalla Stadium, a stadium full of stories.

Now, the Mestalla Stadium can accommodate 55,000 fans. It is said that Valencia is preparing to expand it again in order to expand its influence in the league. It is worth mentioning that this is the 11th expansion in the history of the stadium.

Of course, these are all about the stadium. The important thing is that the 05/06 Spanish King's Cup final will be held here today, with the two participating teams being Real Madrid and Espanyol.

Espanyol, also known as Real Espanyol, was founded in 1900, just one year later than their city rivals Barcelona.

Historically, the Spaniards have not achieved anything to be proud of. Perhaps the cup championship is one of them, but they have not had a chance since the start of the King's Cup.

But it is worth mentioning that last season, Espanyol performed very strongly. They overtook Villarreal in the 34th round of the league and ranked fourth in the league. This is their best result in the past 10 years.

In fact, compared to their city rivals Barcelona, ​​Espanyol is not even as good as Atletico Madrid, which competes with Real Madrid. At least the latter still has good times. The Barcelona derby is nothing to watch, and almost every time it is a complete defeat. However, Espanyol is very popular in the Barcelona area, where they have many more fans than Barcelona fans.

This situation may be similar to that of Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid in Madrid, where Espanyol is a purely Catalan club.

But now, such a La Liga team has entered the final of the King's Cup, and they will compete with Real Madrid here for the King's Cup trophy.

The Spaniard is obviously determined to win this trophy. In this season, they are ranked neither high nor low in La Liga, and were also eliminated from the UEFA Cup. Now they only have this cup competition to play. After this cup competition, for the Spaniard, perhaps the league is over and they have nothing worth fighting for.

On the other hand, it is different for Real Madrid. This final is just the beginning of Real Madrid's fight for the championship, so Espanyol head coach Lotina seemed very confident before the game, because he knew that Real Madrid would definitely not send all the main lineup, which would be very unfavorable for Real Madrid's next Champions League.

In the locker room before the game, Carlo gave a speech to the players. At first, he only talked about issues related to the game, but in the end, he used the championship to boost the morale of the players.

"The situation is now very clear. We are likely to win the final championship in both the Champions League and the league. Now, we have to win our first championship here - the Spanish King's Cup. If we win this championship, we can play other competitions wholeheartedly. This may be a good start, or it may be the beginning of our decline. This is very important, and the right to choose lies in your performance."

Carlo came up and talked about the team's form. Now, Real Madrid is in very good shape in all three competitions, but this good situation also hides some unfavorable factors, that is, the players' mentality. He hopes to use this to remind the players.

The meaning of Carlo's words is also very clear. If they lose this game, it may be the beginning of the team's decline in performance. Because if Real Madrid's winning momentum is hindered and they miss the King's Cup championship, it will have a great impact on the players' mentality.

"...If we lose this game, even if we win the other two titles in the future, it will still be incomplete because we failed to seize the opportunity to win the treble. Such an opportunity only comes once in ten years."

"Everyone, I love championships very much and I really want to lead Real Madrid to win the treble. Do you know why?"

At this time, Carlo raised a question.

This question made the players look at each other in bewilderment. Of course, everyone wants to win the championship, but why did Carlo work so hard to win the championship? This simple question really had not been thought about by anyone.

Seeing the puzzled eyes of the players, Carlo said sincerely: "I am a temporary coach, yes, just a temporary coach. I have always coached Real Madrid's second team and never thought that I would be able to coach the first team so soon. If the team does not achieve good results this season, do you know what that means to me?"

The players were moved by Carlo's sincere words. Before they could say anything, Carlo continued, "...I will return to the second team to continue coaching. This is very difficult for me to accept. Now, I have the opportunity, but I failed to seize it. This is entirely my own responsibility. So, from my own perspective, I really hope to win the championship."

"...and you guys?"

"How many championships can you win in your career? How many chances are there to compete for the Triple Crown, or even more championships?"

"Very rarely," Beckham continued.

He was somewhat moved as he watched Carlo say these words so honestly. After all, although these were facts that everyone knew, in reality, very few coaches would be so sincere to their players.

The same goes for Wang Li. He knows that at least Mourinho will not talk to the players so sincerely, which will weaken his authority. However, it must be admitted that this also increases the affinity between the coach and the players.

Carlo nodded slightly to Beckham and continued: "Maybe you have fewer opportunities than me, because I can coach from now until I am 60 or even 70 years old, but your career is shorter, some of them are only a few years."

"So, I hope you can seize every opportunity to fight for the championship, just like now, this opportunity is rare. So, now do you know what to do?"

"Strive for the championship!" a player below said.

"That's right, boys. Try your best to beat those Spanish rubbish, and the championship will belong to us!" Carlo pointed out the window and said, "Today, today, in two hours, you will get the championship. What are you waiting for? Gather in the player tunnel right now."

Carlo took off his suit first, changed into sportswear, and walked out of the locker room.

Seeing the head coach like this, many players held back their laughter, but the fighting spirit in their eyes became stronger. It was obvious that Carlo's words had worked, and he successfully aroused the players' desire for the championship.

Just think that in two hours, the team will win a valuable championship trophy, which is the result of their hard work for a season. It’s really exciting, isn’t it?

Wang Li was also a little excited. Who doesn't want to win the championship? What he hopes most is that when he retires, there will be a medal display room at home, where there will be the Champions League medal, league medal, cup medal of the first year, the Champions League medal, league medal, cup medal of the second year... until the year of retirement. Perhaps this is a bit like being a miser, or should be said to be a medal slave, but any football player will have this idea.

Of course, this is not possible for other players, but Wang Li is different. He knows his own strength. As long as he joins a top team, winning many championships is not just a dream.

Thinking about the moment when he retires and his friends come to visit his home, Wang Li is a little excited. "Maybe if I win the Champions League 10 times in a row, UEFA will give me a permanent Big Ear Cup?"

At this moment, he suddenly had this idea.

Undoubtedly, this kind of honor is supreme for the players, even more attractive than the World Cup championship. Of course, no predecessor has been able to do this. Many extremely outstanding players are very lucky to win three Champions League titles in their lifetime.

And now, Wang Li is only 19 years old and has already won a quadruple championship. Now he has the opportunity to fight for a Spanish triple crown. This honor is really enviable.

When these interesting thoughts went through Wang Li's mind, the players of both teams were already standing in the player tunnel, waiting to go on the court and participate in the game.

"Let's switch the camera to the scene - Mestalla Stadium. The 2005-2006 Spanish King's Cup final will be held in this stadium. The game will start in a few minutes. Now the players of the two teams are entering. The two teams are Real Madrid and Espanyol. Obviously, everyone is very familiar with Real Madrid, so let us first introduce Espanyol."

"This team achieved very good results last season. This season they participated in the UEFA Cup, but unfortunately lost to Liverpool in the knockout stage. The team's head coach is Lotina. Perhaps this is not a good sign, because Lotina led Celta, which entered the European arena last time, to relegation, and Espanyol also entered the European arena last season. I hope they will not be relegated..."

"...In Barcelona, ​​Espanyol is Barcelona's mortal enemy, and Barcelona was bloodbathed by Real Madrid 8:0 in the Spanish derby. I hope Espanyol can remember this lesson. They are also from the Barcelona district, so they should not let the game turn out like this..."

With a few minutes left before the game started, TV stations across the country had already switched their screens to the court and began to commentate on the players one after another.

The commentary on the Espanyol players was very general, with only a few stars such as captain Tamdo and De La Pena being highlighted. The other players were only briefly mentioned in passing. On the other hand, although most fans are familiar with the Real Madrid players, they were still analyzed in detail.

"Real Madrid No. 21 Alan Wang!!!"

When this name was shouted out by the commentator, all the fans in the stadium cheered. Even in the Mestalla Stadium, in Valencia, Wang Li's reputation is still so loud. Many people like to watch his football. Although most of the people at the scene are not Real Madrid fans, the support for the superstar is not regional.

This game will be the first championship competition in Spanish football and the beginning of the championship of each season. If Real Madrid wins the championship, they will kick off the treble of this season. If Real Madrid loses, the Spaniards will not only win the King's Cup, but they will also be the first team to beat Real Madrid since Christmas.

Since Christmas till now, Real Madrid has won all the cup, league and Champions League matches.

After seeing Real Madrid's starting players, Espanyol head coach Lotina still felt that Espanyol had a chance of winning. Just as he thought, Real Madrid did not send out its entire main lineup. The two most important midfielders, Zidane and Beckham, all sat on the bench, which made him feel a little relieved.

In Real Madrid, the importance of Zidane cannot be ignored. He is the pillar of the team's midfield. Without Zidane's midfield, the level will be directly downgraded.

Without Beckham, Real Madrid's wing attacking ability is much worse.

Perhaps, the only regret is that the opponent's black-haired boy is still on the court. Before the game, Lotina thought that the black-haired boy might also sit on the bench, then the Spaniards' hope of winning would be greater, but this idea obviously did not come true.

However, even so, Lotina has a certain degree of confidence in his heart. After all, Real Madrid's midfield has been weakened so much. As long as the Spaniard takes the initiative, scoring goals will not be difficult. The team's forward line has been in good shape recently. The young player Juan Fran, who was loaned from Real Madrid, has performed very well, and the young player Jonathan's performance is also good. In the last two league games, he scored two goals. This is also the reason why Lotina feels a little relieved.

These are all good news for Espanyol. The only bad news is that Lotina is unpredictable about Real Madrid's lineup, because judging from the position of the black-haired boy on the field, he did not play as a striker in front of the team in this game, but was pulled in the middle of the formation, seemingly playing as a defensive midfielder.

This is really amazing.

"Who doesn't know that the black-haired kid is a goal-scoring machine? How could that rookie coach want to use him as a defensive midfielder?"

At least Lotina didn't know why, and that was what made him feel uneasy.

In fact, in this game, Wang Li's position was defensive midfielder.

Before the game, in order to ensure Zidane's physical fitness for the next Champions League game, Carlo did not let him play. Due to consecutive games, Beckham also had some physical problems, which made Real Madrid's midfield look very fragile. Although there were Baptista and Gravesen to support them, they were still worse in comparison.

Carlo is a little worried about this midfield line.

Therefore, he put Wang Li in the defensive midfielder position, the purpose was naturally to rely on his intercepting ability to greatly increase Real Madrid's defensive ability. If there was an opportunity to attack, Wang Li would of course go for it, and he was still the core of the team in the offense.

This style of play places very high demands on Wang Li. Whether in defense or offense, he is the core of the team.

However, Carlo trusted Wang Li very much and had great confidence in his abilities. After so many games, Carlo had a more comprehensive understanding of Wang Li's abilities. In his opinion, this black-haired kid was thin but very strong, extremely fast, with excellent dribbling ability, accurate and powerful shooting, average headers but strong jumping ability. The most incredible thing was that such a perfect No. 10 striker had amazing stealing ability in the backcourt, which allowed him to play almost any position in the game except goalkeeper! !

"This is incredible, it's so comprehensive." Carlo said in surprise when looking at Wang Li's data while studying the game before the game.

Such a player should of course be placed in the most important position of the team. Carlo felt it was a waste to use him only as a shooter. Therefore, seeing Real Madrid's fragile midfield, Carlo was a little worried, so he put Wang Li in the midfield. In this way, the team's defense is guaranteed. The offensive ability of this black-haired boy is unquestionable. With the assistance of other players, Real Madrid is sure to win.

In the King's Cup final, Carlo still thinks that stability is the priority.

Although playing Wang Li directly to the front of the formation can effectively ensure the team's goals and Real Madrid's chances of winning are also very high, but that is not guaranteed after all. The team still focuses on stability in the game. After all, this is an important game that will determine who will win the championship.

This decision was made after rigorous discussion by the Real Madrid coaching staff, but what Carlo did not expect was that this arrangement surprised the media and opponents.

433! ! Wang Li plays as the single defensive midfielder! !

Before the game, many people speculated about Real Madrid's lineup, but no one expected such a lineup---

Forwards: Raul, Guti, Robinho

Midfielders: Baptista, Alan Wang, Ramos

Defenders: Ruben, Ramos, Minambres, Cicinho

Goalkeeper: Casillas

The most surprising thing is undoubtedly Wang Li's position. With three forwards in the frontcourt, he obviously plays as a single defensive midfielder, and such a single defensive midfielder must also shoulder the responsibility of organizing the attack. This is the position of Lampard of Chelsea. This position is not something that an ordinary young player can do. Even if the personal level is high, this position requires too much awareness of the player's positioning and integration with the team.

This black-haired kid needs to defend and attack all by himself. Even if he is very capable, can he do it?

No one knows, they can only wait and see.

..............