Chapter 84: The First Leg of the Quarterfinals
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After the quarter-final matchup, Inter Milan fans were in a state of excitement and distress. The pen ~ fun ~ Ge www.biquge.info excited that they will meet the manager who brought glory to Inter Milan Mourinho again, and the distress is that this time they will meet as opponents.
Should they cheer for Mourinho or boo him in the stands?
In fact, this is not the first time Mourinho has returned to the Meazza stadium, last season, Real Madrid were placed in a group with AC Milan in the Champions League group stage, and he led the team back to Meazza to play against AC Milan. It was a big event for Inter fans at the time, and from the moment Mourinho arrived in Milan, Inter fans organized to welcome him and greet him at the airport. When Real Madrid played away from home, many Inter Milan fans bought tickets to enter, cheering in the corner of the stands, shouting Mourinho's name.
Now, it is estimated that he will not have such treatment...... But at least at the Meazza Stadium, Inter fans shouldn't be as hostile to Real Madrid as Barcelona fans.
In fact, Inter Milan was able to become the treble winner, thanks to Real Madrid.
If it weren't for the big sale after Fiorentino came to power, Sneijder would not have come to Inter Milan, and Sneijder is the last and most crucial piece of the "treble puzzle" that Mourinho planned for Inter Milan. It is precisely because of the addition of Sneijder that Inter Milan's midfield has real control and inspiration. Don't look at Sneijder's ups and downs at Real Madrid, good and bad, but at Inter Milan, under the trust and tutelage of Jose Mourinho, his performances are world-class, as evidenced by the fact that he won the 2010 Champions League Best Midfielder award.
Perhaps in the upcoming clash between the two teams, there will be such a scene - Inter Milan fans put up large banners in the stands to thank Mourinho and Fiorentino. It's just that the latter can't say whether these slogans are really acceptable...... With a week to go, Mourinho has already heard questions about himself and Inter Milan in the club's regular press conferences.
For Inter Milan, Mourinho has never shied away from anything, especially his feelings for this team.
“…… Yes, I have a lot of affection for Inter Milan because I led them to the treble here. To win the treble is quite an achievement in any club. It was a wonderful memory. So far, I have a lot of friends in Meazza ......," Mourinho said.
It's rare that he doesn't attack and insult his opponents before an important match.
“…… I have a very good relationship with Mr. Moratti. But now I'm going to talk about Real Madrid, it's C. Ronaldo, it's Kaka, it's Chu, it's Alonso, it's Higuain...... It's all Real Madrid players. He shifted gears. After all, he is now the manager of Real Madrid, and if he always mentions Inter Milan when he talks about it, it will always leave some bad impression on the players in the current team.
At the same time, he didn't want his current big boss Florentino to have any suspicions.
After being knocked out of the Champions League semi-finals by Barcelona last season, he was loyal to Real Madrid, saying that he was willing to continue to coach at Real Madrid because Real Madrid was "white". Here he uses a pun, "white" also means "pure", and apparently he thinks Real Madrid are much cleaner than Barcelona.
And Florentino also expressed his support for Mourinho, believing that no matter what Mourinho does, the Real Madrid club will support him unreservedly, and does not think that Mourinho's conservative and negative style of play is wrong at all.
In fact, both sides are smart people, and it is impossible for Florentino not to know what negative impact Mourinho's actions have brought to Real Madrid's reputation throughout Europe, and it is impossible for Mourinho not to know how hard he worked to attract hatred at Real Madrid. But everyone takes what they need. Fiorentino is keen to give Real Madrid a 10th European Champions League under his rule, so that he will meet his idol Santiago. Mr. Bernabeu is famous. For the sake of the championship, he would rather accept Mourinho, because in today's world football, only Mourinho has the strongest adaptability and can win the championship if he changes clubs. To choose him is to choose him as a manager who can bring championships.
Cruyff, the godfather of Barcelona, once criticized Mourinho as a coach who only wins trophies, not a football coach. But for Mourinho, it's not criticism, it's praise.
Jose Mourinho also knows how difficult and stressful it can be to coach at the world's biggest clubs, even sacrificing some of his reputation and image. But he's willing to pay that price because he's hungry for a challenge. There is nothing more challenging in world football today than to win the Champions League with Real Madrid.
Since each takes what he needs, he has to support the other.
So Florentino gave up control of the team, handed over all this power to Mourinho, and provided Mourinho with all the support he could, who he wanted to buy him; In order to let the whole team be decided by him alone, Florentino also vacated the team's general manager, Baldano; When Mourinho was criticized by the media, he publicly expressed his support for Mourinho at a high-level meeting of the board...... The two of them are really grasshoppers who fell on a rope, one is prosperous and the other is lost.
It was clear that Florentino was gambling.
If Mourinho fails, it basically means the failure of his superstar policy. At that time, he may step down in the middle of the class, as he did last time, and resign to calm the anger of the members and board of directors of Real Madrid.
But if Mourinho can really replicate the myth he created at Inter Milan, then Fiorentino will be pushed to the top. He will be taken and Santiago. The Bernabeu, the legendary and greatest president in the history of the Royal Club, is on par.
※※※ For Chu Zhongtian, this is not the first time he has played against Inter Milan. The last time we played against Inter Milan was two years ago, when Hoffenheim was just a nobody in the Champions League, but the quarterfinals with Inter Milan completely made the whole of Europe know them, and Chu Zhongtian's advancement also began with the second leg of the match between the two sides.
Hoffenheim played very beautifully in that game, and that kind of brilliant running combination made Mourinho's team completely clueless, and they could only be led by the nose for the whole game. Hoffenheim seems to have merged with Chu Zhongtian, and whatever Chu Zhongtian thinks, the whole Hoffenheim team will follow.
None of them had ever been so tacit before that.
Unfortunately, they dragged the score into a penalty shootout, but still lost to Inter Milan, and Mourinho also led the team all the way to the final after escaping from death, achieving the great feat of the treble.
The Inter team has changed a lot from two years ago, with two changes in managers and a few players. McConn, who was considered the world's No. 1 right-back, has now returned to Brazil and has completely disappeared from view. Lucio and Samuel's two original central defenders are now old and injured, and the leader of Inter Milan's backline is the Italian defender Ranocchia.
And Chu Zhongtian himself has undergone a lot of changes. First he lifted the European Champions Cup at Hoffenheim, then he moved to Real Madrid for 70 million euros, and he also became the World Footballer of the Year and the winner of the European Ballon d'Or. He is no longer an unknown figure at Hoffenheim, he is one of the best midfielders in the world.
If the identity is different, will the mentality change?
In Chu Zhongtian's body, such a thing would not have happened.
No matter who the opponent is, no matter what his identity is, he has only one goal, and that is to pursue victory.
Some Chinese reporters brought up the old story again, hoping that Chu Zhongtian would recall the experience of the original battle between Hoffenheim and Inter Milan, but Chu Zhongtian was reluctant to talk more. "There is a big difference between Inter Milan in the past and Inter Milan now, so the experience of the past is not useful for the present."
The journalist asked him again: "Mourinho and Inter Milan fans are on good terms, does that mean you will face less pressure when you go away than when you go to other teams' away venues, after all, the fans there may be more friendly to you......
Chu Zhongtian shook his head and denied this opinion: "Whether it's Inter Milan or any other team, it's always difficult to play away from home. I don't think the fans' favourable sentiment towards Mourinho can be transferred to us. If we had scored in Meazza, those guys would have booed us for sure. ”
"In terms of strength, Real Madrid are stronger than Inter Milan at the moment, so you should be able to qualify for the semi-finals, right?"
"I can't say for sure." Chu Zhongtian smiled. "We respect Inter Milan and we don't say that we want to eliminate them before the game."
Answering questions from reporters, he returned to the locker room.
The rest of his team-mates, like him, were asked about Inter Milan in interviews.
In fact, they are also quite curious, if they go to Meazza this time, they will hear the praise of Inter Milan fans to Mourinho.
At the same time, many people also think that with the relationship between Mourinho and Inter Milan, they should be much less stressed and disturbed at the away venue, so that they can play this away game in a more relaxed mood, and what could be better than that? Everyone knows that away from home in the knockout stages of the Champions League is very difficult.
If you have this condition, of course, it is a good thing.
It's just that they didn't show it.
※※※ Chu Zhongtian didn't know what his teammates thought, he was preparing for the game according to his own habits. Not against Milan, but against Levante – everyone is watching Real Madrid and Inter Milan in the quarter-finals, forgetting that they have a league game to play before that.
Although the opponent is not very strong, it cannot be underestimated by the opponent. Real Madrid is not without such precedents. They often lose to some very mediocre opponents because of their light opponents. The biggest problem with this team is that sometimes they are too conceited and arrogant, and then they turn over in the gutter.
Mourinho is obviously aware of the characteristics of this team, so before the game against Inter Milan, he talked about not Inter Milan the most, but Real Madrid and Levante.
He wants everyone to know that Real Madrid have one more game against Levante before Inter Milan.
"If you lose to Levante, it's going to give Barcelona a chance! Do you want to go to Italy as second in the league? ”
Of course no one wants to.
So in the game with Levante, Mourinho did not hide any main force, he sent the strongest team he could send, and defeated Levante 3:1 away. Cristiano Ronaldo scored a goal and was substituted on the pitch in the 75th minute with a relaxed smile on his face, and now he is two goals ahead of Messi in the league scorer charts, and the gap between the two has been further widened.
The other two goals were divided between Karim Benzema and Angel Di Maria.
And Chu Zhongtian assisted C. Ronaldo's goal in the game. He now has 11 goals and 16 assists in the league, ranking first in La Liga in assists.
It has been reported that Chu Zhongtian is very likely to win the best foreign aid of the season in La Liga. If that's the case, then Real Madrid will win this distinction for the third year in a row. Last season's best foreign player in La Liga was Mesut Ozil, and last season's best foreign player was C. Ronaldo.
At least from the transfer point of view, Real Madrid has not missed anything in the past two years.
The victory over Levante finally made a stone in Mourinho's heart fall to the ground.
Now the whole Real Madrid team can put aside the league for the time being and concentrate on going to Milan, Italy...... which is the fashion capital and fashion capital in the eyes of many people. Fashion Week, which takes place twice a year, is the highlight of the fashion industry. It is a place that many people yearn for.
However, for Chu Zhongtian, Milan has only one identity in his heart, and that is the habitat of two world-class giants.
The whole city of Milan is only Inter Milan and AC Milan for him. As for any fashion, fashion, he is not interested.
In the Real Madrid team, there are two people who are familiar with the city of Milan, one is Kaka, who has lived in Milan for six years, and the other is Mourinho, who has been in Milan for two years.
But neither of them was interested in being guides and taking everyone around the city of Milan.
After landing at Milan's Malpensa airport, the Real Madrid squad met the legendary Inter Milan fans who had come to welcome Mourinho at the exit. They wore Inter's blue and black jerseys, holding aloft portraits of Jose Mourinho and slogans in praise of Mourinho.
As soon as you exit the exit, you can see them.
When Jose Mourinho appeared at the entrance of the tunnel, the lights flashed and the waiting Inter fans shouted excitedly: "Jose! Jose!! ”
The head coach's limelight completely suppressed a group of star players such as C. Ronaldo, Kaka, Chu Zhongtian, and Benzema. I'm afraid that only Mourinho in the world can do it.
But that's fine, the media and fans are drawn to Mourinho, and the players can get on the bus when everyone doesn't care too much.
Chu Zhongtian sat on the bus, looking at Mourinho, who was still signing autographs for fans below and being interviewed by reporters.
In the past, he didn't like this manager, he thought he was like a mad dog, he would bite people, bark twice at everything, always very conceited, and no one looked down on him.
But now that I've worked with him, I know what Mourinho's mad dog performance is for. It's to decompress the team.
Although Chu Zhongtian himself didn't need others to relieve his pressure, he appreciated this attitude. He thinks that's what a manager should do. The manager is not only responsible for the development of tactics and the training of the team, if a team is compared to a big family, then many times the manager is like the head of the family, he needs to understand each player, enlighten them when they are depressed, and pour cold water on them when they get carried away. They share it with them when they are happy, and they are with them when they are sad and painful.
Jose Mourinho did this very well, otherwise why would there be no dressing room problems in which team he went to? It is impossible to do this with an iron fist alone, and Capello is also an iron fist coach, but look at the atmosphere in the dressing room when he was at Real Madrid and the England national team. The iron fist is outdated, that only applies to the last century, and today's players are a new generation, they have been exposed to different things from their predecessors since they were young, they are more mavericks, they have their own ideas, and they don't want to be tied down. You can see that from Alex Ferguson. Ferguson can pull Giggs straight out of the party, and now he can only smile helplessly when faced with the scandal of his own players being exposed.
Jose Mourinho is a smart manager and he knows that an iron fist alone will no longer be able to control the players he has today. You have to fit in with the players and be their brothers, not fathers. That's what Mourinho did very well. He's very protective, and it's a good thing for the big stars. In addition, he does not match the rumoured image of Mourinho as a difficult megalomaniac. But in fact, Mourinho often jokes in training, always has a smile on his face, and is very good at getting along with the players.
Last but not least, he always brings trophies to the team, whether it's in Porto, Chelsea or Inter Milan, he can use them to prove his worth and increase his authority at the same time. The players always admire the big guys who are very good, Mourinho is obviously such a big man, everyone wants to listen to him, after he tells everyone what to do, the players think: "This is what a manager who has won two Champions League titles, it must be right!" Instead of, "Where did this nobody come from?" Who is he to dictate to us! ”
When Pellegrini was coaching at Real Madrid, he was actually not very convincing, and he couldn't hold back the bigwigs in the dressing room.
The current Real Madrid dressing room, with Chu Zhongtian's observation, is quite harmonious. The so-called contradiction between the Spanish gang and the Portuguese gang is nothing in Chu Zhongtian's view.
Real Madrid have never been more united than they are today.
Mourinho's brilliance is that he paints a bright future for everyone, drawing a very tasty and delicious pie, and in order to eat this pie, everyone has to work together under his leadership, and there is no time to think about anything other than to work hard.
Before eating this big pie, the current Real Madrid team was invincible......
(To be continued)