Chapter 760: Get lost

After the 3-0 win in the first leg at the Allianz Arena, everyone was looking forward to the second leg at St. Mary's Stadium, and both sides had a verbal battle before the game.

For example, Guardiola said that Bayern Munich still has a chance and will definitely turn the tables away from home.

Even the generals and top executives of the Bayern Munich team have expressed their belief that the team still has the possibility of a comeback.

But what about Southampton?

Not wanting to be outdone, even Bielsa, who has never been good at expressing his opinions in front of the media, rarely responded with such domineering words as "We have never lost at St. Mary's Stadium."

But no matter how the two sides fought before the game, how the media hyped it up, and even how the media of both countries almost entangled this game with the years of feud between England and Germany, the real battlefield was still on the football field.

Compared with the first round, there was almost no change on either side.

Not only has the lineup not changed, but even the starting tactics have not changed at all.

At the beginning of the game, Bayern Munich, who played away, took the initiative.

Southampton, playing at home, patiently organized their defense and allowed Bayern Munich to attack.

This made the Bundesliga giants feel helpless, because they found that the iron wall that they could not break through in the first round could not be broken through in the second round either.

At this point even the on-site commentator at St. Mary's Stadium acted as a tactical master, bluntly pointing out Bayern Munich's forward line and believing that Thomas Muller was not suitable to play as a center forward at all.

Bayern Munich's forward problem is a long-standing one. They wanted to sign Mandzukic but failed, and have not been able to find a suitable center forward since then. It was only recently that they signed Lewandowski from Dortmund on a free transfer.

But if this Bundesliga striker wants to play for Bayern Munich, he will have to wait until next season!

Although Bayern Munich always controlled the ball, they actually didn't get their first shot until the 25th minute, but Ribery's shot was obviously very crooked.

This was the only shot Bayern Munich had in half an hour.

On the contrary, Southampton, which was at an absolute disadvantage in ball possession, had a total of three shooting opportunities in the first half hour, two of which were on target.

Bielsa's team's offensive efficiency is still very high!

But what really changed the situation of the game happened in the 36th minute.

Hazard broke through on the left and caused Rafinha to foul, winning Southampton a set-piece opportunity in the frontcourt.

Toni Kroos took the penalty kick, and Javi Martinez, in the penalty area, took advantage of Varane's cover, overpowered Dante, and scored with a header, opening the scoring for Southampton!

This score remained until the end of the first half.

In the second half, Guardiola finally couldn't help it and made adjustments, pulling Lahm back to the back line and putting the entire burden of the midfield in the hands of Schweinsteiger and Thiago.

Obviously, this is a desperate gamble!

It's a pity that Schweinsteiger failed to shoulder this burden, and Bayern Munich failed to solve the old problem of weak forwards. They made many mistakes in the frontcourt. Southampton seized two consecutive opportunities in the 57th and 71st minutes respectively, and counterattacked to score goals.

The goals were scored by Ibrahimovic and Suarez.

At this point in the game, the suspense had completely disappeared.

With a total score of 6-0, it would be strange if Bayern Munich could turn the tables in the last 20 minutes!

This also made the top executives of Bayern Munich feel very depressed.

"Can we bring Toni Kroos back?" asked Herbert Hainer, acting chairman of Bayern Munich.

"If you have any ideas, I can arrange for someone to contact Southampton!"

He is the CEO of Adidas and was once a professional player in a lower-level league, but has always been a fan of Bayern Munich and is considered the representative of Adidas in the Bayern Munich management.

In these two rounds of games, Toni Kroos' performance in the midfield was eye-catching.

He performed very well in the last game, and in this game, during the stalemate phase, he used a precise free kick to assist Javi Martinez to score against Bayern Munich and break the deadlock on the field.

Not only that, he was in the midfield, and he was excellent in organization and arrangement, as well as passing and distributing the ball. Even his defense was much better than before.

Today's Toni Kroos is truly capable of both offense and defense, and he is quite good in both aspects.

In contrast, in these two games, Bayern Munich's two defensive midfielders, Schweinsteiger and Thiago, were completely outshined by Toni Kroos, especially Schweinsteiger, who was totally unsuitable to be this type of defensive midfielder.

But the question is, how easy is it to bring in Toni Kroos?

"When we sold Toni Kroos to Southampton, Yang Huan's offer was as high as 60 million euros. After his outstanding performance in the past few years, if we want to recall him again, how high a price should we offer?" Rummenigge asked helplessly.

Selling Toni Kroos back then was definitely a good deal and a very successful transaction.

Selling a young midfielder for 60 million euros is not considered a success?

But from today's perspective, it's hard to say.

After all, Bayern Munich is in urgent need of a defensive midfielder like Toni Kroos.

"Besides, there's no way Southampton will sell Toni Kroos!"

Hearing Rummenigge's affirmation, Karl Hopfner also asked curiously: "Why?"

"I received news that Real Madrid has decided to sign Modric. I heard that the total transaction price will exceed 70 million euros!"

"Seventy million?" Karl Hopfner was almost shocked.

70 million euros to bring in Modric?

Did I hear that correctly?

"The transfer bubble in European football is too serious now. All the big clubs have plenty of money in their accounts, so the value of players has naturally skyrocketed, especially players like Modric and Toni Kroos, who are even more scarce."

Rummenigge said with a sigh.

"But, in any case, we cannot undermine our philosophy of running Bayern Munich because of transfers. We only bring in players within our capabilities."

"You mean..." Hopfner asked.

"Javi Martinez!" Rummenigge said, pointing at the Spanish center back on the field.

"Originally my first choice was Varane, but Yang Huan was very determined and said it was impossible, so I had to settle for the second best and wanted to bring in Javi Martinez. He didn't refuse outright, so it seemed like there was some hope, but..."

At this point, Rummenigge turned his head and looked at Hopfner, "Karl, how much money can the team put into operation this summer?"

Karl Hopfner is the finance minister of Bayern Munich and has been in charge of Bayern Munich's finances for decades.

After listening to Rummenigge's words, he thought for a while, "Although we introduced Lewandowski as a free transfer, the player's salary is not small, and the pressure is relatively large. In addition, Guardiola proposed to introduce a goalkeeper before. The first choice is Liverpool's Reina, and his value is also 3 million euros."

"According to preliminary estimates, the funds we will invest in transfer operations in the summer cannot exceed 40 million euros!"

"Forty million euros?" Rummenigge frowned.

Can these 40 million euros buy Javi Martinez?

If Bayern Munich offered such a price, Southampton would probably say on the spot, 40 million euros?

You can't even buy a leg of Javi Martinez, get lost!

"Is there no more?" asked Rummenigge.

Hopfner thought for a moment and said, "Fifty million euros at most, no more. This is the club's limit."

Rummenigge is still a little disappointed because this is still some distance from Southampton's psychological price.

But introducing a strong central defender has become the team's top priority.

The problem with the forward line can be solved by Lewandowski, and the problem with the midfield can also be solved, but the problem with the back line is a difficult problem, because everyone knows that what European football lacks most at the moment is central defenders.

Especially a high-level, commanding central defender like Javi Martinez!

More importantly, the Spaniard is only 25 years old and is at his peak. By bringing him in, together with Jerome Boateng, the two can ensure that Bayern Munich's defense will not have any problems in the next few years.

This kind of transfer operation is a good deal no matter how you look at it.

Hopfner was a little surprised when he saw Rummenigge frowning. "Why? 50 million euros is not enough?"

Rummenigge shook his head. "I called Ron Gourlay and they offered a very high price of 70 million euros."

"Seventy million euros?" Hopfner was shocked.

The finance minister of Bayern Munich even wondered if the world was too crazy.

70 million euros for a central defender?

"This offer is a bit high, but you should know that the teams interested in Javi Martinez now include Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​in addition to us!"

At this moment, Hopfner suddenly understood.

The team has been favored by the two giants of the Spanish Super League. After some media hype, its value has soared by 10 million. The team’s offer will increase by another 10 million. No doubt about it!

"Must it be Javi Martinez?" Hopfner was a little skeptical.

If successful, this would likely be the most expensive player Bayern Munich has ever seen.

"I am confident that the price can be negotiated down, but..."

"Just what?"

Rummenigge looked at Sammer, who was in charge of sports affairs, and said, "We may have to send some players away."

Everyone knew what this meant.

"Everyone knows that Southampton likes young rookies the most, so I am considering adding the young players in the team to the transfer to fill the difference in the middle."

After hearing this, Sammer was somewhat reluctant, but he had no way to refuse Rummenigge's request.

As a youth training team of a top football team, it is originally intended to serve the first team.

This kind of service does not provide an endless supply of talent to the first team. Don't be silly, which wealthy club expects this?

The real service is to include young players in transfer negotiations in some transfers to increase transfer bargaining chips.

For Bayern Munich, the entire Bundesliga is their youth training camp. Who can’t they recruit?

Therefore, they do not pay much attention to their own youth training players, and basically rent them out. For example, Lahm, Toni Kroos and others returned to the team after their outstanding performance while on loan.

But there are also a large number of players who choose to stay away after their outstanding performance, such as Hummels of Dortmund.

As for players like Schweinsteiger and Thomas Muller, who have always played for Bayern Munich and have been promoted from the youth training camp to the first team, there are really few examples, and their situations are also rather special.

Especially Thomas Muller.

No one would have thought that this guy would perform so well in the World Cup, right?

Therefore, it is normal for Bayern Munich to use players as transfer bonuses.

But I wonder who Southampton will take a fancy to?