Chapter 526 Declaration at Paris Airport
While other Spanish teams have disbanded and players have been on vacation, Real Madrid still insists on regular training. The players have no objection to this, but are excited because they have the opportunity to participate in the Champions League final.
For the players of other teams, there is no point in training because they have no chance.
On this day, Wang Li arrived at the club very early as usual. The training in the past few days was all conducted in the club and he did not go to Real Madrid's professional training ground. This was mainly because Carlo only wanted the players to do some training to recover their condition.
Such training is boring, but Carlo feels that Real Madrid's overall strength is much stronger than Lyon, so as long as the team maintains a normal state, it is normal to win. Therefore, as long as the team can have a normal game state, there is no need to make any special arrangements for training.
And these days, Wang Li did not do any sex-specific training, he just kept practicing long-range shooting and some shooting moves.
In fact, Wang Li is also very much looking forward to the upcoming Champions League final!
Even though Wang Li can participate in such a competition every year, it only happens once a year. Such a competition of the highest level and the highest grade makes him have extreme expectations. After winning, the team can get the championship trophy, the highest honor of the club. Is there anything better than this?
Perhaps, the last time he participated in the Champions League final was a pity because he was sent off at halftime, but no matter what, the game was won and he won his first European championship trophy.
Now, participating in this tournament for the second time, he feels that he should perform at a higher level and strive to lead Real Madrid to a resounding and perfect victory, so that the championship trophy will be more meaningful.
As he was thinking, Wang Li had already arrived at the training ground.
On weekdays, there would be no one on the court during this time period, and Wang Li would always be the first one to arrive. But today he saw a player, the team's captain Paven.
"Francisco?" Wang Li was a little surprised when he saw Pavan.
"Oh? Alan."
Paven's short brown hair looked very refined. When he saw Wang Li kick the ball into the goal, he greeted him and said, "Why do you come so early every day?"
Wang Li nodded, patted his shoulder and asked, "What's wrong? How are your injuries?"
In the last league match, Pavon's leg was injured and he has been recuperating during this period, which has made Wang Li the captain of Real Madrid.
"The doctor said that I can take part in adaptive training in the next two days." Obviously, Paven is very happy that he can recover because he can catch up with this most important Champions League final.
"This is really good news." Wang Li said with a smile.
Although he felt that Real Madrid would still win even if Pavon did not participate in the game, in fact, the relationship between the two in the club was very good. Putting aside other things and just talking about personal feelings, he also hoped that Pavon could play in the game. After all, for other players, this kind of game would only have a few opportunities in their lifetime.
If Pavon can participate in the game, it will definitely be a great boost to Real Madrid's backcourt strength. The defense line led by him and Ramos will feel much more solid.
The two chatted for a few more minutes before starting to do some warm-up exercises on the court.
Soon, Real Madrid players came to the training ground one by one. They were surprised to see Pavon, because according to Pavon's injury, it was normal for him to miss the Champions League game. However, returning from injury early would be a great help to Real Madrid. As the captain of the team, Pavon was quite popular, and every player came over to congratulate him.
However, Carlo, who arrived late, did not say much about Pavon's appearance on the court. I guess he should have known about it a long time ago.
Although Real Madrid has symbolically blocked the news, the journalists and media are definitely well-informed. Those media that are on good terms with the Real Madrid club have various news channels - the doorman, lawn care workers, cleaners, some club staff, etc., almost all of them have more or less contact with the media.
At noon on the day when Paven participated in the club's training match, many journalists and media had already received the news. They immediately fabricated a lot of "inside" reports, and these reports were preceded by a phrase "rumor" or "inside information".
Although the official Real Madrid club has not confirmed the news of Pavon's return, a photo of Pavon on the training ground published by Marca almost explains all the problems.
"Real Madrid captain Pavon is expected to return in the Champions League final!"
Such news immediately focused the attention of the entire European media on Real Madrid. There is no doubt that Pavon is important to Real Madrid. He is not only the captain of Real Madrid, but also the first general of Real Madrid's defense. Whether such a player can participate in the game will have a great impact on the game.
At least it is not so easy for Lyon to score a goal.
In fact, this is true. In the games where Pavon was absent, Real Madrid's defense ability was definitely a big problem. In the games where Pavon participated, Real Madrid obviously lost more goals than when Pavon did not participate. With such real data in front of us, everyone can't help but pay attention to Pavon.
Wang Li is Real Madrid's first star and the top killer on the front line, while Pavon is the cornerstone of Real Madrid's stabilizing defense.
Florentino's 'Zidane-Pavon' style Real Madrid management strategy also shows this point. The significance of Pavon's appearance is not only a general of the team, but he is also the most outstanding star cultivated by Real Madrid since Florentino became chairman.
Now before this Champions League battle, Pavon has returned, which has a huge impact on Real Madrid's morale and image.
But just as the media were discussing the issue vigorously, something of great significance happened at Real Madrid. This was an internal event and was not detected by the media, but it had a huge impact on Real Madrid.
In the afternoon, Carlo arranged a competition to adapt to the 'sex'.
Such a confrontation match is a confrontation between the main players and the substitutes. The purpose is of course to allow the main players to find their game form, adapt to the rhythm and atmosphere of the game, and also to train the team's coordination.
However, before the training match started, Paven took out the captain's armband when he changed his clothes.
After looking at the armband for two close seconds, he turned and walked to Wang Li, put the captain's armband on Wang Li, and then patted him on the shoulder. The meaning was self-evident.
This scene was seen by many players, and they all stared at Wang Li and Pavon with interest. It was difficult for other players to "interrupt" the discussion in such a situation, but other players of Real Madrid did not feel too much, mainly because Pavon had already been the captain of Real Madrid, and it did not matter if Wang Li was the captain of the team.
In Real Madrid, these two players are supported by all the players, and now that Pavon has "handed over" the captain's armband to Wang Li, the other players don't feel much.
However, as the person involved, Wang Li wanted to return the armband to Paven, but Paven shook his head: "Alan, you have made the greatest contribution to the team's success. You are the captain of the team and everyone expects you to be the captain. I think you are more suitable than me."
Such a sentence earned Wang Li a sincere smile.
In fact, Wang Li doesn't care about the position of team captain. His performance and position in the team are there. Even if he is not the captain of the team, no one will object to what he wants to do on the court.
The significance of the captain's armband is an "official" form. With the captain's armband, Wang Li naturally becomes the leader of the team, which is a kind of recognition.
Seeing Pavan's expression, Wang Li knew that he could not change his mind, so he readily took it and put it directly on his arm. This scene made all the players in the team applaud.
While Real Madrid was training hard and making final preparations for the final, Lyon in France was also making preparations.
Lyon's head coach Houllier didn't think of any good tactics. Barcelona, Chelsea, Benfica and others all failed before him. Houllier didn't think he was better than famous coaches like Mourinho and Rijkaard.
Therefore, he simply stopped thinking about it and just let the team adapt to the "sex" and do more training, and increase confrontation training to prepare for the match against Real Madrid.
If the outside media knew what Houllier did, they would definitely be even less optimistic about Lyon, but Houllier has his own ideas.
Lyon is now at its peak, having won the domestic cup and league titles for several consecutive times, which is a brilliant achievement. For Real Madrid, perhaps other teams have to make some arrangements for "sex", but it turns out that such practices have no significant effect.
So, what if the team is allowed to compete head-on with Real Madrid?
As soon as this question arose, Houllier's eyes lit up. If Real Madrid didn't count that black-haired boy, Lyon would not be afraid of Real Madrid at all.
Lyon's forward line is not weak.
What makes Houllier most gratified is of course the team's best scorer Juninho. For several consecutive seasons, this Brazilian has been the team's best scorer and has won the Ligue 1 best scorer twice. Such performance and state make Houllier very confident.
Juninho Penambucano (junior Juninho for short) is a Brazilian player. He was the top scorer of the French Ligue 1 for three consecutive years (03/04, 04/05 and 05/06). But don't think that the top scorer must be a striker. In fact, Juninho is a midfielder. What makes people remember most about him is his high accuracy, rapid descent and powerful free kicks.
After 2000, Juninho was favored by Lyon because of his performance in the Brazilian league, but due to a dispute with Lyon over the contract, he did not have a chance to play for a whole season. Despite this, Juninho had an outstanding performance in his first season with the French club, winning the club's first league championship and the French Super Cup.
For several years in a row, until now, Lyon has relied on Juninho's goals to win these two honors. Among them, Juninho's role is unquestionable. He not only scores a lot of goals, but also always scores key goals. Even Real Madrid coach Carlo has emphasized this player to the players.
With Juninho as the core of the attack, Lyon's forward offensive ability can be imagined, which is by no means comparable to that of ordinary teams. In fact, by reaching the final of the UEFA Champions League, Lyon has fully proved the strength of the team.
Therefore, head coach Houllier is very confident in the team's forward line. He believes that Real Madrid's poor defense will never be able to defend against Lyon's attack.
On defense, Lyon's pillar is not a certain player, but the team's goalkeeper Coupet.
In 1996, 24-year-old Coupet moved from Saint-Etienne to Lyon. It was a very risky transfer because the two teams were located in cities only 80 kilometers apart and had always been sworn enemies.
Saint-Etienne is a traditional powerhouse in Ligue 1, but has declined in recent years. Lyon has become stronger year by year after acquiring Coupet and has now won five consecutive Ligue 1 titles. From this perspective, Coupet's original choice was correct.
Now, Coupet's performance in Lyon is undoubtedly the best goalkeeper in the French Ligue 1. His achievements are very high. Perhaps the saddest thing for him is that he is in the same era as the French goalkeeper Barthes. The 1998 World Cup made Barthes the irreplaceable number one goalkeeper of France. Even though Barthes has fallen from Manchester United to Marseille, even though he has been suspended for half a year and has no ball to play, Coupet still cannot completely replace Barthes' position.
Of course, these are the players' personal troubles, but for head coach Houllier, Coupet is the pillar of Lyon's back line. With him standing in front of the 'goal', Lyon's defense is always so solid.
From this perspective, whether in offense or defense, Lyon has the world's top stars leading the team, and the team is generally united, at least in this respect it is much stronger than Real Madrid. French teams have always been famous for their overall operation, which is by no means comparable to Spanish teams.
Therefore, even though Real Madrid has many stars, Houllier is not too worried at all.
No matter from which angle you look at it, the one person who gave Houllier the most trouble was Wang Li.
With that black-haired kid, how much has Real Madrid's strength increased? ---Double, this is the conclusion Houllier came to after constantly analyzing Real Madrid's games. With the black-haired kid's continuous attack, Real Madrid's overall strength has at least doubled.
This is not to say that Wang Li himself is more important than the entire Real Madrid team, but his contribution to the team and the added strength to the forward line. After all, he has scored too many goals.
How to play against such a Real Madrid?
Houllier thought for a long time and could only come to one conclusion - fight!
It's a simple word, but it's the best way. As long as Lyon performs better than Real Madrid in the game and the team's strikers have shooting boots, Lyon still has a chance to win.
What is the probability of winning?
20 percent.
This is the conclusion that Houllier came to after some research. This conclusion really makes people feel frustrated and disappointed, but Houllier is already satisfied. After all, the probability is much better than Benfica. What Koeman said after the game almost spread throughout the world. Everyone didn't remember anything else but one sentence---Benfica will never be able to beat Real Madrid.
In other words, Benfica's chance of winning is approximately 0.
As the days passed, the atmosphere of the competition became more and more intense.
At this time, the Spanish and French media also began to make pre-match reports to gain the advantage of public opinion before the game. One report after another came out, but most of these reports were still about the preparations of the two teams. One said "Beckham is in good shape", and another said "Juninho scored a goal in the training match", etc. These reports obviously had no substance.
Before the game, both teams were in training and few players and coaches would be interviewed, so it was really difficult for the media to obtain any first-hand information.
But this day was an exception because the Real Madrid Club arrived in Paris on a special plane.
This was on May 23rd, two days before the final. Carlo obviously wanted to give the players a day to fully adapt to the venue, as the Champions League final could not tolerate any carelessness.
UEFA attaches great importance to this Champions League final, because it is the 51st Champions League final and commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Champions League. It is very meaningful, so this Champions League will be held in Paris, France, which is also the venue for the first Champions League.
It's not just about significance. In fact, if Real Madrid and Lyon advance to the final, they will definitely get greater attention from UEFA, because UEFA has always wanted the five major leagues to develop in a balanced way. Whichever league stands out will be suppressed. This has always been UEFA's standard of conduct.
The French Ligue 1, which has never been outstanding, has obviously always been at a disadvantage, but this time Lyon reached the Champions League final, which is the result that UEFA hopes to see, so before the game, UEFA even took the initiative to promote this game, which is really rare.
This is not Wang Li’s first time in Paris, but he is indeed unfamiliar with this city. The last time he came here was when Chelsea participated in the Champions League group stage against Paris Saint-Germain. Now that I think about it, that was at least more than a year ago.
However, this does not hinder Wang Li's popularity at all.
He had just arrived in Paris and hadn't even stepped off the plane when a large group of fans came to welcome him.
These fans should be considered a ragtag group, mainly from England and Spain, there are also many Parisian fans and fans from other countries. Although they are just a ragtag group, their number should not be underestimated. Judging from the scene, there are at least 5,000 of them, and it is said that there are even more fans outside the airport who cannot enter, which seriously affects the normal operation of Paris International Airport.
This is, of course, something that should be of concern to Paris airports.
When the Real Madrid players came out of the airport one by one, the "ragtag group" gave almost all the cheers to Wang Li, and the other players rarely got any.
Compared with Wang Li's reputation in Europe, other stars can only feel ashamed of themselves.
This made Wang Li feel excited and thrilled. He waved to the fans and shouted "Thank you", which led to even louder cheers, which made the other players jealous.
When the players walked out of the airport, Wang Li was stopped by a group of reporters, most of whom were French reporters. They might have been able to stop the Real Madrid players here through the "back door".
Faced with this opportunity, the reporters of course immediately put the microphone to Wang Li's mouth. Seeing so many fans shouting Wang Li's name, a reporter took the lead in jokingly asking, "Alan, seeing so many fans in Paris supporting you, what do you want to say most at this moment?"
Wang Li waved to the fans again, and then said excitedly: "I want to tell all the fans that I will bring the championship trophy from here to Spain!!!"
After hearing this, the French reporters felt as disgusted as if they had eaten a fly.