After the 31st round of the league, Newcastle United quickly moved from 'league mode' to 'Champions League mode', and the Champions League quarter-finals will certainly be more important than the regular league, and they will need to concentrate on preparing for the two-legged match against Villarreal.

Villarreal is not easy to deal with.

Speaking of Villarreal, it's not easy to find big stars in their squad, and the most famous player in the team may be talking about a former Arsenal star -

Robert Pire.

Pire, who was born in October 1973 and is now approaching the age of 36, can start to consider retirement in his thirties for a midfielder, but Pire joined Villarreal on a free basis at the age of 33 and is now almost three seasons away, and is still Villarreal's main wing force and one of the best performers in the team.

He is a true evergreen.

In addition to Roberto Pire, Villarreal also have stars such as Pudvilla, Cazorla, and Joseba Llorente in their squad, but the overall squad is still much worse than Europe's top clubs, and even compared to Newcastle United, they do not have any advantages.

With a weak squad, Villarreal can get a good result in the league and reach the quarterfinals of the Champions League, relying on manager Manuel Pellegrini.

Manuel Pellegrini, nicknamed 'The Engineer', is Villarreal's biggest star.

Manuel Pellegrini's successful coaching journey, which can even be described as 'legendary', did not have a brilliant career, starting his coaching career after retiring from football, coaching the Universidad de Chile at the age of 33 and starting his early coaching experience with South American football teams.

In the beginning, Pellegrini was not a success, or even a failure, as he led the Universidad de Chile, which had won six league titles, not only did not get good results, but suffered a dismal relegation.

After that, Pellegrini coached Palestino and O'Higgins successively, and also achieved relatively good results, but the failure to coach the Universidad de Chile team has always been a shadow of his coaching past.

Manuel Pellegrini's real success began with two runners-up finishes in the A-1 and his first solo managerial title in the 1994 Intercontinental Cup of the Americas.

The following year, Manuel Pellegrini won the Chilean Champions Cup.

This series of coaching achievements caught the attention of Ecuador's Universidad de Deportivo de Quito, who was hired as coach of Ecuador's Universidad de Deportation de Quito in 1998, and he soon led the team to its first league title.

Then Manuel Pellegrini started to 'jump ship fast'.

He started with the Universidad de Deportation de Quito, Ecuador, then moved to San Lorenzo in the next two years, and led the team to win the Autumn League Championship and the Mercosur Cup (the equivalent of the European Union Cup), and was poached by River Plate in Argentina in a year, and he immediately led the team to victory in the Autumn League Champions Cup.

When the coach is the coach of a South American giant, he will definitely go to Europe to 'jump ship'.

Manuel Pellegrini was tapped to Spain to become the head coach of Villarreal, and he was one of the few South American coaches to go to Europe.

Manuel Pellegrini's arrival changed Villarreal's completely, as the "Yellow Submarine" achieved quite impressive results on a low budget, leading the team to a third-place finish in the league in his first season, qualifying for the Champions League the following season and progressing to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup.

The following year, Villarreal reached the semi-finals of the 2005-2006 UEFA Champions League, losing to Premier League side Arsenal.

In the next two seasons, the team finished fifth and runners-up in the league, and the runners-up were already Villarreal's best result in league history.

This season, Villarreal have been ranked in the top six of La Liga and have reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League, so this result will definitely satisfy all Villarreal fans.

From Pellegrini's past and coaching Villarreal, you can know the reason why he is considered a 'legend' by fans, his coaching achievements are really legendary, as if coaching any team, can win quickly and successfully, he has been considered one of the top managers, there are many big teams, are interested in Pellegrini, hope to invite him to coach.

Therefore, the clash between Newcastle United and Villarreal, and the hype of Villarreal in the Spanish media, are mostly focused on Pellegrini.

This is their advantage.

Compared to the stars, they are certainly not as good as Newcastle United; It is also difficult to compare the results, Newcastle United's league results are too strong, and the team with the most goals in the Champions League is also the team with the most goals, suppressing Barcelona and Inter Milan in the group stage, so that Villarreal can only look up.

So they're better than coaches!

Manuel Pellegrini is one of the most famous managers, and his very tough coaching past is the confidence of Villarreal and the Spanish media.

Compared with......

What about Keegan?

Kevin Keegan is also a very famous coach, but his coaching starting point is too high, and it is difficult to distinguish between good and bad results in the past, because he is only considered a 'promotion' master, that is, leading the second-tier teams to promotion, and those so-called second-tier teams, such as relegated Fulham and Manchester City, are already the best of the second-tier teams, and it is not surprising that they can be promoted quickly the next year.

When a coach can't win a championship or create a miracle, it's hard to be recognized by the outside world.

Keegan is like that.

If you compare it with other ordinary coaches, Keegan still has a little bit of fame, he does have a wealth of coaching experience, plus the plus point of being a top star when he was young, he can also be called an 'excellent coach', but compared to Pellegrini, a head coach who relies on excellent coaching results from the bottom and has been promoted step by step, Keegan can't make any comparison.

This also made Keegan very embarrassed.

When the outside media were hyping up the 'coach comparison', he found himself at an absolute disadvantage, and he couldn't say anything he wanted to say, especially depressingly, even the British media thought that his coaching ability could not catch up with Pellegrini.

Keegan felt very annoyed and unwilling, but he couldn't change the opinion of public opinion, so he could only stay in the club and vent his frustration in command training--

"No one can be lazy!"

"Get serious! Everyone has to be serious! ”

"Be sure to prepare for battle! We have to beat Villarreal and get close to the last four of the Champions League! ”

That's the only thing he can do.

The Newcastle United players don't feel very good, Keegan is usually very good, the training requirements are not strict, the players are occasionally lazy, and they don't turn a blind eye at all.

Now, it's over.

The time of hardship and suffering has come.

In the two days leading up to the first leg, there was a slight change in the focus of media opinion, and many media reports stopped talking about the upcoming game when they talked about Newcastle United, because they found a bigger, hotter focus.

Grapevine, transfers, gossip ......

These are always in focus.

The origin of the matter was filmed by a tabloid reporter that Manchester City manager Ross Kalt appeared in Newcastle, Ross Kalt is the latest manager to be promoted, specializing in club transfer-related work, because he was promoted by the club's president Mubarak, he is very valued by Mubarak, has a lot of power in Manchester City club, and has personally operated two heavyweight transfer transactions in the winter.

Ross Kalt appeared at Newcastle and could be linked with Newcastle United right away.

In the initial analysis, the media linked Manchester City FC to Zhen Shaolong.

Manchester City's hope to get Zhen Shaolong is a well-known thing, and Mubarak has been photographed appearing in Newcastle, which must be directly related to Zhen Shaolong.

But the analysis of "Manchester Sport" immediately shifted the public's attention to Michael Owen, "Zhen Shaolong's value is very high, the transfer will definitely be a long negotiation, it is impossible to negotiate in a short time, Carter is likely to come for someone else." ”

"Michael Owen's contract with Newcastle United expires at the end of the season."

One sentence says it all.

Michael Owen suddenly became the focus of public opinion, and it was rumored some time ago that Owen and Newcastle United's contract renewal negotiations did not go well, because Owen wanted a certain level of salary increase, but Newcastle United believed that his performance could not get a salary increase.

Negotiations between the two sides were suspended.

Michael Owen's season is over, and the 'very likely' departure from Newcastle United has become a matter of recognition in the media and fans, which club will he choose to go to?

Manchester city!

When Manchester City and Owen are linked, many people also think it is very strange, Owen was born in the Liverpool academy, is a famous star of Liverpool, joining the Manchester team, it always feels weird, he chooses Manchester City is likely to be labeled as a 'traitor'.

This is a city feud between Manchester and Liverpool.

When there is a lot of public opinion in the outside world, it will definitely affect Newcastle United, and Milner, who has a good relationship with Owen in the team, asked with interest, "Michael, are you going to Manchester City?" ”

Owen had a helpless expression on his face, "You said the outside report?" I didn't even know there was such a thing! ”

"Really?" Milner was a little unconvinced, "I think Manchester City are not bad, they are said to be getting a high salary. ”

"It's all fake news!" Owen was so sure that "no one has contacted me, and I'm never going to join the team in Manchester!" He gritted his teeth as he spoke, showing a Liverpudlian who hated Manchester.

Zhen Shaolong was passing by.

As if hoping to be affirmed, Owen asked Zhen Shaolong, "Do you believe it?" Examine? The reports outside are all fake, that manager, he came to Newcastle and I have nothing to do with it! ”

Zhen Shaolong stopped and said very sincerely, "I believe in you, Michael. ”

Owen was immediately very moved.

Milner continued to pout, still not convinced.

Zhen Shaolong only said one word and walked away, he didn't want to talk about this topic, because he knew better than anyone that the manager of Manchester City came to Newcastle completely for his transfer negotiations.

Newcastle United have opened his transfer talks with Real Madrid and Manchester City, as the two sides have signed a partnership agreement, in fact, there is only one party.

Zhen Shaolong didn't know the specific situation, and he didn't care very much, because the transfer fee that was the focus of the dispute between the two sides would not be directly sent to him.

Ashley is clear.

Because it is a negotiation involving a huge amount of money, it will definitely be a long-term tug-of-war, but Ashley will show up on time every time, and the transfer fee offer has been raised to 235 million euros, but Newcastle United, or Ashley himself, still bite 280 million euros.

That's not his bottom line.

Ashley's bottom line is 250 million euros, but it is not yet April, there is still some way to go before the summer transfer, and the other party is so sincere that he is not worried about the transfer falling through.

In recent times, the daily negotiations have been boring, arguing and arguing like a fight, but Ashley shows up on time every time, and has some fun.

It's all money!

One of the things that Ashley is most proud of is the introduction of Zhen Shaolong from St. Pauli, Germany, he thinks that now is the harvest time, and he can earn nearly ten times the profit in two years, which he can use to brag for a lifetime.

Fresh after the 'no gain' talks, Ashley began to boast again, and his boast was directed at manager Charnley, "See? I'm just going to bite the price, not a single euro lower! It is said that they have already negotiated cooperation, and if they can't successfully introduce Zhen Shaolong, their cooperation will be a piece of waste paper! ”

"We have the absolute initiative!"

"Fortunately, we signed a new contract with Zhen Shaolong, and the liquidated damages are 300 million euros, otherwise the transfer fee would not be able to talk about this price." Ashley said with great interest, and after walking to the parking lot, he saw the supercar, and suddenly asked strangely, "Why didn't Zhen's car drive away?" Is he still in the club? ”

"I don't know."

Charnley shook his head.

"What about Lola? Didn't she come in the afternoon? Ashley suddenly felt a little uncomfortable, "I'll go back to the office and take a look, maybe she's still waiting there." ”

Charnley was stunned for a moment, hurriedly grabbed Ashley, and suddenly said, "That's right! Laura went back before she saw you, and asked me to advise you to drink less, and not to get so drunk that you forgot the day before, as you did last time. ”

Ashley was immediately relieved by the concern from his daughter, shook his head with a smile and said, "What can a little girl understand?" Today's negotiations were great, let's go to dinner to celebrate, be sure to have a few more drinks. With that, he got into the car.

Charnley turned around and exhaled a long breath, stealthily glancing down at the message on his phone--

"Don't let Michael come to the office."

"Not even before seven o'clock!"

"Thank you!"