After the press conference, Joel and Zhang Yang exchanged phone calls.

It's kind of getting acquainted.

Joel is leaving Tottenham next season, he has not yet decided which team he wants to go to, and he is still very interested in meeting the new young champion manager, and he also has a question, "I heard that you turned down Tottenham's invitation?" ”

"I have no reason to leave Millwall."

"But Tottenham are big clubs, big clubs, much bigger than Millwall, even if Millwall have ...... You know, foreign capital, but it's not comparable to Tottenham. ”

Joel said.

It's really about understanding the difference.

Many European coaches feel that going to coach at a big club is a kind of career leap for a head coach, just like McClaren, when he has the opportunity to go to England, he immediately decided to leave Middlesbrough, and Middlesbrough also wished him success.

Therefore, most head coaches pursue to coach in giants.

Zhang Yang understands this kind of thinking, but he has no similar thoughts, "I don't think Tottenham is better, I am familiar with it, and Tottenham can't give a better contract. ”

Joel nodded.

Although I still don't understand it in my heart, can I consider that Zhang Yang is Chinese, probably Tottenham and Millwall, the influence in China is similar? Well, yes, it doesn't matter.

Joel felt he understood.

————

The end of the 38th round of the Premier League also marks the end of the 2005-2006 Premier League, and there are only two games left in the eyes of the media and fans, one is the final of the Champions League, and the other is the FA Cup final between Millwall and Liverpool.

Millwall won the league three rounds to the top, with Chelsea in second place and Manchester United in third, with Liverpool holding on to fourth place and finishing last place in the Champions League.

Fifth and sixth are Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal respectively, and the two rivals in the same city, next to each other, are in the rankings, which shows the fierce competition, but Arsenal are more concerned than Tottenham, and they are the teams that must be mentioned because Arsenal have reached the final of the Champions League.

This may also be the reason for Arsenal's poor league results at the end of the season – they have put most of their energy into the Champions League and have not been as well prepared for the league.

There is another important reason why Arsenal take the Champions League seriously: the Champions League title is not only an honour, but also allows them to qualify for next season's Champions League in the form of defending champions.

There is a precedent for this.

Liverpool won the UEFA Champions League last year against AC Milan, but they finished fifth in the Premier League, so they appealed to UEFA, citing "the fact that the defending champions cannot play in the Champions League shows that there is a problem with the rules of participation in the Champions League." ”

UEFA announced that Liverpool had been given a place to play from the play-offs, and the number of English teams participating in the Champions League this season has also been expanded to five.

This is not reproducible.

UEFA immediately changed the rules, deciding that in the same scenario, the defending champions would squeeze out their country's last place in the competition, meaning that if Arsenal could win the defending title, they would squeeze out Liverpool's place in next season's Champions League.

It's interesting.

Liverpool won the league contention, they finished fourth in the league, but the Champions League place is not necessarily determined by the league position, as long as Arsenal can win the Champions League, Liverpool's fourth place will be meaningless.

Many media have conducted detailed analysis and reports on this point.

Judging from the current situation, the initiative of the Champions League qualification competition is still in the hands of Arsenal, and Liverpool can only hope that Arsenal will not be able to win the championship, but Arsenal does not have an advantage, if they lose the Champions League, not only lose the championship, but also lose the qualification for next season, it is equivalent to losing everything.

This is a battle against the water.

With such a 'sinister' game, you can imagine how much attention it can attract.

Arsenal is going to play a decisive battle with Barcelona, and the attraction will definitely be higher, and many media and fans hope that Arsenal can win, which also represents the victory of English football.

As long as Arsenal can win the title, plus Liverpool last year, English football has won the Champions League for two consecutive years, which is enough to show the strength of English football.

It will give the fans a sense of pride.

Despite the poor results of the England national team and the fact that they are not favored to participate in the World Cup, their league is very strong and has beaten Serie A to become the number one league in the world.

Of course, on the latter point, perhaps without Arsenal's title proof.

At the beginning of May, the 'phonegate' scandal broke out in Italian football, and the "Milan Sport" newspaper suddenly published the content of the phone call between Juventus club general manager Moggi and the Serie A referee designator in recent years, mainly recorded in 2004 between Moggi and Paireto, the referee designated for Serie A for six seasons.

On the day of the end of the Premier League, the scandal continued to ferment, with the resignation of the president of the Football Association, Carraro, and the subsequent resignation of the vice-president, Marzzini.

Later, the four major prosecutors' offices of Naples, Rome and Turin began to intervene in the investigation.

Italian football is in the midst of a huge crisis.

The reports of the British media are all kinds of schadenfreude, and the comments of British netizens are the same, English football and Italian football are natural mortal enemies, the Italian league was considered a 'small World Cup' in the past, and the English domestic league should develop, and the biggest competitor is the Italian league.

The crisis in Italian football is certainly a big deal, but it has no effect on England, and it has no other effect than to give fans more to talk about.

Fans still follow the game.

The FA Cup final is also very important, Millwall has been watched by many people, and many media reports are talking about the possibility of Millwall winning the 'double', which will push Millwall's success to another peak.

The English FA Cup itself is also very influential.

Maybe fans in other countries don't care much about the English FA Cup, but the FA Cup, which has the longest history, is concerned by every English fan, and the FA Cup champion will also gain great honors, and it is easier to get more support.

The Premier League is over, and many media outlets have begun to cover the FA Cup final.

Millwall FC, there are many reporters every day, they will interview Millwall's players, coaching staff, and even officials and staff, mainly to understand Millwall's preparation for the final.

Millwall and Liverpool played the final, the media's opinion of the result was 'half and half', they felt that Millwall had a good chance, because the league performance was very strong, and in the 36th round of the match with Liverpool, although they lost the game, Millwall only sent a substitute lineup, and Liverpool only scored one goal.

Liverpool also have a good chance.

Rafael Benitez is a coach who is good at playing cup competitions, Liverpool have always had good results in the Champions League, and they have always been strong contenders in domestic cup competitions.

The media reporters who came were more or less disappointed.

Millwall's first-team training ground has been closed, and even the usual 'open training days' have been denied access by journalists and fans on the grounds of preparing for the game.

Zhang Yang did not appear in front of reporters.

Millwall's players did not take the initiative to be interviewed, and even when they saw reporters, they would hide far away and not accept interviews at all.

This is also Zhang Yang's advice, he asked the players not to be interviewed by reporters before the game, which will put pressure on the players and will also make the team fall into the impact of reporting.

For example, when there are many media outlets reporting on Millwall's team, the players will talk about it privately, and they will treat the report as a talking point, and they will also affect the mood for praise and criticism.

It's bad for the team.

Some media outlets angrily reported that "Millwall doesn't want the outside world to know what they're doing!" But it didn't matter what they did, and in the last three rounds of the league, they showed with their performances that everyone was already going on vacation! "The implication is that Millwall players don't take the FA Cup seriously, they feel it's enough to win the league.

Some media outlets have issued similar analyses, but many more have taken a neutral point of view, covering Millwall from the side of the interview.

Although Millwall's training is closed, there is still a lot of media coverage, and the only teams participating are Millwall and Liverpool, and the London media will not support Liverpool, so they can only report on Millwall.

Many fans are also happy to talk about Millwall, because Millwall is the league champion, this season is a big talk in the Premier League, and the fans' attention is equal to the media market, even if they hit a wall repeatedly, there are still many reporters piling up at Millwall FC, hoping to get interviews.

On May 11, four days before the competition, reporters finally met Zhang Yang.

That's probably thanks to Liverpool.

The day before, there was a 'ticket suspense' in Liverpool, 1,600 tickets for the final disappeared in Liverpool through the Royal Post Office mail, and after the police intervened in the investigation, they quickly came to the conclusion that 'tickets were stolen'.

But then there was none.

The police have been investigating, but in a short period of time, many tickets have been sold on the black market, and it is said that many fans have bought tickets from unknown sources, and they also said in a loud voice, "I know there is a problem with the tickets, so I can't buy them through normal channels, I can only hope that these tickets are valid." ”

"1,000 more tickets, 1,000 more fans to support Liverpool!"

"It's good for us!"

"I also bought tickets, but I refused to hand them over because I paid for them."

“……”

The fans who bought the tickets spoke out publicly, but the Cardiff organisers later made it clear that the tickets would be considered invalid.

In fact, it doesn't make sense.

Liverpool CEO Perry wanted the FA to come forward to solve the problem, but the FA and the Millennium Stadium security group, Cardiff police and the city council made a decision not to reprint the tickets, the FA's main reason is that a few minutes before the start of the game, the turnstiles' electronic identification system will put 2,000 fans per minute, and the staff has no time to identify which tickets are cancelled, but the FA and the police still warned fans again not to buy tickets on the black market, even if they can enter the stadium, they will be evicted by the police at that time. They will even be investigated for dirty purchases.

After the rejection of tickets for the reprint, Liverpool had to take steps to compensate fans who should have received tickets on Thursday.

"We are now convinced that about 1,000 of the 1,600 tickets stolen last Friday have been sold on the black market. With the FA refusing to reprint the tickets, we had to compensate those fans directly with the last of the tickets that should have been drawn by the fan card holders. Those fans who have been drawn to buy tickets will surely be disappointed, but this is the best solution right now. I am disappointed that innocent fans are held accountable for the theft of their tickets. Tickets were already scarce, and now nearly 1,000 fans are being kept out of the stadium. ”

The London press gloated over the incident.

But Zhang Yang has to step up and put pressure on the FA and the tournament manager, because Millwall are the 'loser' side, "if they don't do their job well, then there will be a thousand more Liverpool fans in attendance!" ”

'Of course, I know they don't want that, but the result is for sure, it's not good for Millwall, there should have been the same number of fans on both sides!'

"If that causes problems for the game. I mean, the fans who buy tickets on the black market can be violent or dangerous people who are barred from the stadium, and I have to worry about the safety of my players, which will also prevent us from playing. ”

"I hope they can do a good job, otherwise the game will lose its safe environment and lose its fairness."

Media reporters hurriedly wrote down what Zhang Yang said.

After that, a reporter immediately asked about Millwall's preparations, and Zhang Yang rarely revealed a little information, "Everyone is very serious, and we are more prepared in terms of the game." ”

Zhang Yang said of the opponent, "Liverpool are a strong team, Benitez is a good coach, but if you ask me what I think of the game, sorry, it will definitely be Millwall who wins, because we have the quality, the preparation and we want to win the title. ”

The flamboyant declaration of victory immediately made the reporters smile.

Over the past season, Zhang Yang has been very low-key most of the time, does not often talk about opponents, treats opponents with respect, and rarely talks about wins and losses before games.

Now Zhang Yang talks about 'sure to win', "Is Millwall really confident? ”

The media coverage is questionable.

In the midst of many reports, the time quickly came to the 15th.

At noon that day, Liverpool and Millwall both arrived in Cardiff, Wales, and the fans of both teams also came to Cardiff, livening up the streets of the city.

The FA Cup final is here.