Chapter 1006: New Official Takes Three Actions Upon Taking Office

Whenever La Liga is mentioned, the first reaction of all fans is Real Madrid and Barcelona.

But in the past three years, Atletico Madrid has risen strongly and won the league championship twice, which is really a strong momentum.

Especially with the opening of the new stadium this summer, the finances of the Colchoneros have been greatly improved, and they are already on the path to becoming one of the top three teams in La Liga.

This is also reflected in the La Liga standings.

In the past, it was always a battle between Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​but now, with the addition of Atletico Madrid, the competition has become much more intense.

Barcelona is currently ranked first in the standings.

Although Messi left this year and the team failed to recruit more players in some positions, thanks to the outbreak of Neymar and the performances of stars such as Xavi, Iniesta and Turan, Barcelona is still a strong contender for the league title.

But this season Barcelona has lost two games in eleven rounds, which shows that the team is in crisis.

The second-ranked team is Atletico Madrid, which has remained unbeaten with eight wins and three draws, but the team's offense has encountered some problems, with the number of goals even less than Celta, which is ranked fourth. Although the defense is still the best in La Liga, with the same points, it still has to finish behind Barcelona.

〖≌, on the contrary, Real Madrid’s situation this season is not ideal.

As soon as Benítez took office, the first thing he focused on was the team's defense, which led to a rapid improvement in Real Madrid's defense. In La Liga, it is second only to Atletico Madrid, and the number of goals conceded is only one more than the Colchoneros.

On the offensive end, Benítez's team also performed well. They were the team with the most goals in La Liga, one more than Barcelona. Their performance was outstanding.

But the key issue is that in the two strong matches against Atletico Madrid and Barcelona, ​​Benítez's team lost both games. If losing 1-2 to Atletico Madrid was excusable, then losing 0-4 to Barcelona was hard to tolerate.

Therefore, in the La Liga, rumors about Benítez's imminent dismissal are endless.

After losing two strong matches, although Real Madrid ranks third in La Liga, it lags behind the leaders Barcelona and Atletico Madrid by as many as five points. Although it is not a huge gap, it has already fallen behind.

It was in such a situation that La Liga finally ushered in a decisive battle.

Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona at home!

According to the tradition of the La Liga in the past, the two most anticipated matchups should be the century derby between Real Madrid and Barcelona. However, this season, the century derby was disappointing and Real Madrid was powerless, which was also disappointing.

Coupled with the departure of two superstars, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, although there are still stars like Gareth Bale and Neymar, their influence is no longer as great as before.

On the other hand, Atletico Madrid has been keeping close to Barcelona in the standings this season. In the absence of big-name superstars, the performance of the Colchoneros is surprising and also exciting.

Everyone has a bit of heroic spirit in their hearts, and they all hope to see the weak defeat the strong. The same is true on the football field. Of course, the premise is that this strong team is not the team they support.

Therefore, in the match between Atletico Madrid and Barcelona, ​​in addition to the fans of Barcelona, ​​almost the entire La Liga and even the fans all over the world are looking forward to it, wanting to see whether the Colchoneros can raise the flag of Madrid and avenge their brothers in the city when the strength of Real Madrid declines.

With the competition approaching, the Madrid Stadium was packed with people.

Yang Huan, who flew all the way from the UK to Madrid to take charge, also sat in the chairman's stand as if facing a formidable enemy.

The competition is about to begin!

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"Phelan, when I came here just now, I took a look around the surrounding area. I found that the club is still far from enough in terms of commercial development. We need to work harder."

The new stadium has been built, and supporting commercial facilities in the surrounding area have also been built, but Atletico Madrid fans do not seem to be very interested. This has obviously become a hurdle for Atletico Madrid's management.

"Master Huan, the group has arranged for someone to conduct a survey before, and we have also conducted a questionnaire survey on the fans. Our attendance rate is still very high, and even this season almost every game is sold out, but the user retention rate is not high. We will discuss and study this issue next."

Yang Huan glanced at the stands and saw that they were indeed packed with people, proving that Atletico Madrid's new stadium is not without fans or popularity, but it still lacks the ability to convert popularity into consumption.

It's not just the consumption inside the stadium, but also includes pre-match and post-match, as well as daily consumption.

This requires the club to provide guidance.

"We have studied it and found that this is caused by many factors," Ferran Soriano analyzed.

"Our former Calderon Stadium was in the city, but now it has moved to the east. Although there are still many die-hard fans who have followed us, it still has a significant impact. In addition, it is difficult to change the spending habits of fans in the city in a short period of time. We can only guide them slowly."

Atletico Madrid's situation is different from Inter Milan and Southampton.

Southampton's old stadium, St. Mary's, and the new Stadium of Glory are less than two kilometers apart and are very close to each other. In some ways, the Stadium of Glory, the Saints' fan zone, is even more convenient than St. Mary's.

At least, the Southampton City Council has taken great care of the saints in the arrangement of a series of supporting facilities such as buses and parking lots.

Inter Milan's Nerazzurri City is very close to the former Meazza Stadium. It is more convenient to get there by subway or bus, and it is closer to the city center. There are no large shopping districts in the surrounding area. Coupled with the impact of the World Expo, the Nerazzurri City has been very popular from the beginning.

But Atletico Madrid is different. The old stadium is in the city, but the new stadium is in the suburbs. Although it is very close to the airport, it is definitely a big blow to its popularity. It is good enough to maintain the attendance rate.

As for guiding fans to spend money here, it takes time.

Yang Huan also understands this. Changing the consumption habits of a person or even a group of people is not something that can be done overnight, but this does not mean that Atletico Madrid is heading in the wrong direction.

With this stadium and this group of fans, the club has popularity. How to attract the fans depends on the club's means.

As long as the general direction is correct, success is only a matter of time.

"Take your time. Your situation is special. Don't worry."

"Our new stadium has just been opened, and the bus stops and subway stations are not yet complete, especially the subway. The city government has recently changed, and we are negotiating with the new female mayor."

"What? Does she want to go back on her word?" Yang Huan frowned.

Go back on your word? Are you kidding me? It's written in black and white, and you dare to go back on your word?

"She definitely won't go back on her word. She's new in power, so she's definitely just trying to put on some pretense and show off. It's not a big deal!" Soriano said with a smile.

He is Spanish, so of course he knows the nature of the Spanish government.

As the saying goes, a new official always makes three big moves when he takes office, and this is the case.

"By the way, I've discussed this with them. Two years from now, you will run for election as a representative to the UEFA Strategic Committee. Be prepared!" Yang Huan looked at Soriano encouragingly and said with a smile.

When Soriano heard this, he nodded hurriedly, "Thank you, Master Huan!"

But soon, he thought of another question, "What about Barcelona..."

Barcelona is one of the current executive members of UEFA's Strategic Committee. If Atletico Madrid takes its place, doesn't that mean that Barcelona's representative will have to step down?

"Why should we be afraid of them? We will go and elect openly. If they have the ability, they can come and compete with us!" Yang Huan laughed majestically.

With the votes that Young Master Yihuan currently holds in his hands, who would dare to run without Young Master Yihuan’s consent?

"Master Huan, I heard that you vetoed the European Club Association's policy on supporting AC Milan?" Soriano asked with concern. This was the policy that Galliani had been vigorously promoting in European football over the past period of time.

"Yes, of course. Why?" Yang Huan nodded without hesitation. "Because they are a traditional wealthy family, they need support? Are you kidding? Now that they have been sold to Tohir, they are still given support policies?"

This matter has caused a lot of controversy within the European Club Association, because if traditional giants have problems, they need to be supported. Then, what about Liverpool? Manchester United?

With so many teams and giants in Europe, can they be supported?

Besides, Master Huan owns Inter Milan and has adopted policies to support AC Milan. Isn't that just asking for trouble?

Soriano knew in his heart that if he offended Young Master Huan, he would suffer the consequences.

Of course, Master Huan is definitely not as reckless as he appears to be. In fact, he knows everything very well in his mind.

Even the bigwigs of the European Club Association are aware of this.

Just like Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Real Madrid, don't they understand?

It is a small matter to issue a support policy today to support AC Milan, but if a big club has problems tomorrow, should it also be supported? No? If not, you are just seeking privileges!

But if I give all of it, how will the bill be settled? Who will be held responsible?

Therefore, every team knows that they can’t do this.

It's just that AC Milan had a very loud voice within the European Club Association before, and everyone was close to each other, and Galliani was also very smart and knew how to maneuver, so he proposed such a motion.

But now it’s different. As soon as Yang Huan objected, everyone immediately followed suit. After all, someone has done something bad!

Yang Huan understood the logic behind this, but since this matter would also benefit him, he just did it.

"By the way, Ferran, have you made a decision regarding Diego Costa?" Yang Huan asked with concern.

Diego Costa may have been affected by this summer's transfer. Although he stayed in the team, his form this season is not very good. This is also a very important reason for Atletico Madrid's current weak offense.

In the current European football, there is a shortage of high-quality stars and excellent center forwards are also scarce. Therefore, Diego Costa is pursued by many powerful teams such as Manchester United, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona.

There were previous reports that Bayern Munich intended to sign Diego Costa during the winter break after selling Lewandowski to Real Madrid, but Guardiola did not seem to appreciate the player.

But there are also reports that Manchester United is willing to pay a high price for Diego Costa in order to alleviate the team's lack of forward strength.

The same is true for Chelsea. Mandzukic's performance for the Blues is not satisfactory.

Therefore, in the eyes of the media, Diego Costa seems to have already booked the title of the winter break transfer king in advance.

But all this still needs the approval of Atletico Madrid, especially Simeone.