While the funeral was busy, the Champions League game continued.

In the first leg of the Champions League quarter, Blackburn Rovers and Manchester United played ahead of Arsenal.

However, in the second leg, Arsenal played a day ahead of Blackburn Rovers and Manchester United. Arsenal lost 2-1 away to Deportivo La Coruna, but this did not affect Arsenal's qualification situation at all. Arsenal still reached the semi-finals of the Champions League with a score of 4-2.

This is Arsenal's best Champions League result since Arsene Wenger took over Arsenal.

This season for Arsenal is indeed not easy. The two groups of death actually broke through. And to be able to beat Deportivo La Coruna by such a big score, George admired Wenger a little.

On April 18, at Ewood Park, Blackburn faced Valencia.

Speaking of which, Blackburn Rovers beat Valencia 2-1 in the first leg. There is a lot of hope for the promotion. It should be a very happy time. But the atmosphere at Ewood Park is very solemn right now. All Blackburn fans wear black cloth in memory of the deceased Jack. Walker.

The various songs in the stadium before the game were also gone.

Many fans held flowers in their hands and silently mourned for the dead Jack. Walker blessings.

George stood on the field and remembered the newspaper about Jack. Walker's evaluation.

A lot of the owners of English clubs are fans, and that's been the case throughout history. But as money has more and more influence on football, there are fewer and fewer pure fan chairmen. Many of them can't afford the impact of money on football.

Now like Jack. There are fewer and fewer complete fan owners like Walker in English football.

Jack. Blackburn, which Walker took over, was an English First Division club. Jack. Walker has done a lot since he became owner of Blackburn. Expanding the pitch, buying big-name players, inviting Dalglish to become the club's head coach.

Among them, he bought Shearer for England's record £3.5 million and later bought Chris for a record-breaking £5 million. Sutton was a sensation in English football that year. Jack. Walker poured money and made Blackburn a Premier League powerhouse.

And after George came to power, Jack. Walker is even more stingy with money.

There have been big transfers like the £12 million buying of Rio Ferdinand.

Jack. Although Walker is a rich man, he is definitely not the kind of rich man who casually throws tens of millions of pounds without blinking. A tycoon like Abu, who has tens of billions of pounds in assets, throws hundreds of millions of pounds at play.

But Jack. Walker can't.

In the early 90s, he invested £10 million a season, the most invested club in the Premier League. But since the Bosman Act, there are many clubs that spend more than £20 million or £30 million in a season in the Premier League.

Jack. Walker had to step up his investment in order to develop the club. After George became the owner, the annual investment was not small. This is already Jack. Walker did the best he could.

So the media are affirming Jack. What Walker has done for Blackburn.

And Blackburn Rovers fans are thankful to Jack. Everything Walker does.

Now Jack. Walker died. All the Blackburn fans are remembering the old man.

UEFA also agreed with Blackburn Rovers fans to observe a moment of silence for the beloved chairman before the game.

George didn't know about Paul. Walker's thoughts, how he would face this Blackburn left behind by his father. For the future, George is a little confused. George has no regrets about renewing his contract with Blackburn, although he has known Jack for a long time. There's a good chance Walker won't survive this season. But George has no regrets at all.

The first is that George is reluctant to Blackburn. Blackburn Rovers is a team built entirely by George, and all the players in it are carefully selected by George. Now, after three years of running-in, they have begun to show their strength.

At this time, George was really reluctant to leave.

Another point is that George is not a ruthless and unrighteous person. Jack. What Walker was doing to himself, George knew very well. There was no Jack at the beginning. With Walker's support, George is likely to leave Blackburn in disgrace.

Coaching a Premier League club for the first time has completely become a stain on his coaching career.

In George's situation at the time, if this happened, all the fame that had just been accumulated would be completely gone. George will have to return to League One again. When we'll be back in the Premier League, it's anyone's guess.

But it's because of Jack. Walker's unreserved support allowed George to get through. The current results have also been achieved.

Hence George for Jack. Walker's gratitude is definitely heartfelt. George was reluctant to be because of Jack. Walker's departure immediately moved to other clubs.

Even if he doesn't have a good relationship with Paul in the future, he can only leave in the end. But at least I didn't let down Jack this time. Walker's expectations.

………… The referee's whistle also woke up George, who was in deep thought.

It turns out that the game is about to start. George brace himself to watch the game and reach the last four of the Champions League is the best thing for Jack. Walker's best consolation.

With a 2-1 away win over Valencia, George did not take the same risky style of play as he did in the previous game. Instead, take a slight pullback and let Valencia play out.

Valencia must have been in a hurry for this game.

Two goals will ensure they reach the semi-finals of the Champions League. And the premise is that Blackburn don't score.

Such a request is indeed very difficult for Valencia.

But Cooper doesn't look at people as conservative, but he's a tough guy. Although it was a 1-2 defeat at home, and it usually plays defensive counterattacks, it is not conservative at all here.

Facing Blackburn, there was a fierce attack.

Fortunately, Blackburn Rovers are solid defensively and have no problems. Valencia attacked for about ten minutes, and Blackburn's side did not move. And every time an attack is organised, the Valencia backline has to turn on a red light.

Blackburn's counterattack was one word, fast.

Deco and Miku are both good passers, and after getting the ball, they don't ink with you at all. Three feet and two feet are passed to the front, especially to the two wings, and then there are two wings to attack. This counter-attack was no worse than Valencia's, or even better than them.

Because Valencia's two full-backs are too old. The explosiveness is seriously lacking, and it is very difficult to face Pire and Duff.

If you don't move forward, you will lose touch with the midfield. But the defense moved forward, and was attacked by two wide players, and it was impossible to defend at all.

Cooper is also thinking about it now. Should there be a big attack, regardless of Blackburn's counterattack. Or rather, it's better to go back to the old ways and play defensive counter-attacks. But looking at Blackburn, if Valencia don't attack, they can definitely ink a game.

George sat steadily on the bench.

This game is already safe in George's heart. Valencia, don't look at you as you reached the semi-finals of the Champions League last season, we at Blackburn are not afraid of you at all. George squinted at Cooper, who was anxiously walking around on the sidelines.

You really think that Blackburn will only play the style of play in the middle of the field, and the players who play counter-attacking Blackburn are also at ease. Deco, in particular, has been much more positive than before since a trip to Brazil. Especially in defense.

Although Deco also assisted in defense before, his defensive skills were too poor and he was reluctant to defend in his heart, so he was of limited help to Makellele.

But since the trip to Brazil, Deco has become more active. I also learned how to defend from Claude Makelle.

George was very aggrieved at that time.

This must have been what Luxenberg said to Deco. Maybe it was to tell him that the Brazilian national team has no shortage of offensive players, and if you want to be in the main team, you must learn to defend. That's what George thought. Anyway, Deco is a lot more active defensively now.

George could only sigh. I've told Deco so many times before, and it's not as good as someone else's Luxenberg word.

Is there only a small amount of influence on you?

But no matter how you say it, this change in Deco is something that George likes very much. With a positive Deco, Blackburn's defense is more solid. And Deco has good physical strength, even if it is a shoulder pick on defense and offense, there is no problem at all.

Valencia's Mendieta and Aymar took turns attacking Blackburn but were unable to open up Blackburn's defence.

Fifteen minutes passed in this state.

George was happy with the situation.

Blackburn's wide cross was headed out by Ayala and Baraja was immediately on the way to Mendieta. Mendieta was depressed, but he wasn't frustrated. He believed that Blackburn would have made a mistake.

At this point, Aimar suddenly cut in, and Mendieta made a very clever pass to Aimar.

Aimar was very fast, and after getting the ball, because of Deco's defense, he could only go a little to the right. But he still used speed to pass Deco, and Blanco immediately came over to help defend.

Aimar saw that Blanco was in a steady position, so he headed to the right again. Blanco couldn't keep up with the speed after all. Instead, he stepped back in a straight line and didn't let Aimar into the box. In fact, when Aimar passed Blanco, it was already a bit big.

Cudicini saw that Aimar was getting bigger, and immediately stepped forward to get the ball.

But Aimar is faster. Before Cudicini pounced on the ball, he took the ball and then faced Cudicini alone.

What was seen at this point was that Cudicini pounced and Aimar fell to the ground.

"Toot-"

The referee's whistle blows. The referee then pointed to the penalty spot and told it was a penalty.

Cudicini immediately stood up and said he had not committed a foul, but the referee did not listen to Cudicini's explanation. Instead, he held up a red card from his pocket and pointed to the sidelines to let Cudicini off.

George was also dumbfounded on the sidelines.

This instantaneous action is just too fast. George couldn't tell if Cudicini had fouled or not.

However, when he saw the red card picked up by the referee, he couldn't help but kick the field.

(To be continued)