The closer we get to the final, the more interested the journalists become.

George spoke to the media before heading to the Carabao Cup final.

"Liverpool?" A reporter asked George who Liverpool's most dangerous player was. George smiled and said, "Of course it's Owen, it doesn't seem like this is a problem." Owen has been in good form this season and is Liverpool's most dangerous figure. ”

Hearing that George's answer was decent, the reporter was very dissatisfied. Who doesn't know that among Liverpool, the best and most dangerous player is Owen. If it's just to hear this answer, why bother asking Owen.

Just when the reporter was frustrated, George continued: "But if I were to say that Liverpool's most promising player, it was not him. It's their midfielder Steven. Gerrard. This is England's best young midfielder at the moment, but it's a shame Coach Houllier won't use him. If Steven Gerrard was my player, it's a shame that he's a world-class midfielder right now. ”

George's unscrupulous assessment of Liverpool angered Houllier.

In an interview, Houllier told George to shut up. "It's going to be the Carabao Cup final and I think Coach Levy should be more concerned about the final than the fight. I've been a coach for 20 years and I know how to identify the quality of the players and how to use my players. Steven was promoted from the youth team and I have my own plans for using him. You don't need to be criticized. ”

"Twenty years of coaching?" George pouted disdainfully. "If you talk about coaching for a long time, you are better than young coaches. So what game are we playing, the two managers go up and compete to see who has the most gray hair. Wouldn't it be nice if whoever had more gray hair would win? ”

"If that's a problem, the two coaches go up and report their respective coaching times. And then whoever has been in charge for a long time will win. ”

As a representative of young coaches, George despises the most because some old coaches rely on the old and sell the old. So it didn't give Hollier face at all. Then he returned to his smiling face and said very sincerely: "There is an old Chinese saying that there is no order to learn, and those who reach the first place are the first." I'm just very friendly advice, Steven Gerrard is the best midfielder I've ever seen on English soil. I'm just thinking about his career and giving Coach Houllier a proposal. He was so excited. ”

George said that he said everything, and the good guys and bad guys did it. George's attitude made Hollier cry and laugh.

In the end, George became good, and Houllier became an old stubborn who couldn't listen to advice.

When Houllier was in charge of France, he had never seen such a rogue coach. After arriving in England, Houllier, the famous French coach, understood the sharp teeth of the English coach. Not only George, but also Alex Ferguson and his fellow Frenchman Arsene Wenger, none of them were good at each other.

Say a few words casually, and it may just wrap you in.

So Houllier never answered George's words again.

In the midst of the noise, February 25, 2001 arrived.

February 25 was the final of the 2001 English League Cup.

Unlike previous years, this season's Carabao Cup final is held at the end of February. Previous League Cup finals have been held at the end of March. George won the Carabao Cup at Burnley, also at the end of March. However, the FA may find this schedule very bad. Therefore, it was decided to move the League Cup final from the end of March to the end of February. This change started last season.

George was pleased with the arrangement. If you put it at the end of March, it will be the most important time for all kinds of competitions. Like Blackburn, it's easy to clash with the knockout stages of the Champions League and the sprint to the league, so now George is happy with this arrangement.

For the Carabao Cup final, George led Blackburn Rovers to Cardiff.

Cardiff is the capital of Wales, and the Caradiff Cup final and FA Cup final have been temporarily moved to Cardiff Millennium Stadium due to the renovation of Wembley Stadium.

The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff is the national stadium of Wales and is mainly used for rugby union events as well as the national home stadium for international rugby competitions. It was once the largest stadium in the UK, capable of holding 74,500 spectators, with a retractable roof. The stadium was architecturally large, and after the expansion it had a seating capacity of 82,000. The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff is a five-star football stadium.

This is the first time that the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff has hosted a League Cup final.

Blackburn Rovers and Liverpool are the first teams to compete for the cup title at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

Coming to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff is indeed very luxurious. Not much worse than the previous Wembley Stadium, it can even be said to be better and more beautiful.

Blackburn Rovers can't compare to a metropolis like London, but they are much richer compared to Burnley, where George was before. This time, there were more than 30,000 fans who came with Blackburn, which is not weak even compared to Liverpool fans.

When George led Blackburn Rovers to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, countless reporters gathered around Blackburn's bus.

The number of journalists who want to interview George is far more than Liverpool next door.

It is estimated that in English football, there are not many people who can make reporters treat a generation of giants Liverpool so differently. And George is one of them.

Holier looked at George, who was talking there, but there was no jealousy. Because Houllier is not the kind of coach who likes to show off in front of the media, he likes to study the game tactics silently.

Therefore, I don't like the coaches who play psychological warfare, but there is nothing bad about it.

It's just that for George's impression, Houllier is not good.

It's not that the two have any grudges. It's because George used to be the first-choice coach of Liverpool FC, and then Liverpool and George fell apart. In fact, there are many such things in football.

If nothing else, this kind of thing is quickly forgotten.

But it didn't end so easily with George and Houllier. Houllier has been in charge of Liverpool for three seasons but has not won any title for Liverpool so far. But on the other side, George has led Blackburn Rovers step by step and has become a strong team in the Premier League that can compete with Manchester United and Arsenal.

And last season, he led Blackburn to the League Cup.

Therefore, the media often brings up the incident of George's contact with Liverpool in the first place. They think that with Liverpool's foundation, if George was going to go at that time, Liverpool would have already won many titles. And there are always media ridicules that Liverpool have missed out on a famous manager, resulting in a lack of revival yet.

Liverpool is the number one giant in England, and it also dominated English football and swept European football because it was too strong back then. There are not a few people who have been offended, and now seeing that Liverpool is in a bad situation, I don't know how many media are gloating.

If it's okay to say it once or twice, the media brings up this problem every day, which makes Houllier very annoyed.

So as long as it's news about George, Houllier wants to avoid it. If the reporter asks in this regard, Houllier cleverly diverts the topic.

didn't expect to avoid George in the League Cup final.

At this time, the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff was already full of fans from both teams.

The two teams first cheered for their clubs, and then began to complain about each other. Blackburn Rovers and Liverpool, there really is no grudge in history. Even in the past few seasons, after George and Houllier took office, there were actually no grudges.

Both teams have played in the league. In six league games, Blackburn have won three, drawn two and lost one. There are no major grudges in between.

Blackburn Rovers have not snatched the title from Liverpool, and Liverpool have not interfered with Blackburn's title. Although they are all strong teams, it should be said that they are not enemies.

It's a pity that I don't know what's going on, the relationship between the two teams is not close or far.

The newspapers of the two places, the Blackburn Evening News and the Liverpool Echo, have a war of words every few days. Therefore, the relationship between the fans of the two teams is not good.

Liverpool fans mocked Blackburn as a hillbilly and a country team. And Blackburn Rovers hit back at them, with the Premier League not having won a league title in a decade.

Of course, Liverpool fans are not easy to bully. They took out the pound from their bodies and waved it in the air, and then they said that Blake was a copper-smelling nouveau riche. Leaning on Jack. Walker's investment led to a league title.

Blackburn was yelling, we're rich.

At first, no one thought of it. The relationship between the fans of the two teams is so bad. Therefore, the police who maintained order on the scene were like a big enemy, and they were afraid that the fans of these two teams would be emotional and do something drastic.

The police, who were separated from the fans in the middle, could clearly see the faces of the shirtless fans on February days. Their faces were flushed, and they opened their mouths and began to curse. There were also some young fans of six or seven years old, who raised their middle fingers and spat at each other through the police.

The policemen looked nervously at the fans of the two teams, and as long as they dared to cross the cordon, they would immediately go over and intervene. It's okay to complain to each other across the cordon. Once the cordon is crossed, countless police officers will step forward and push the fans away.

The head of the police in charge of the order at the scene, looking at the chaotic scene, took the telephone and contacted the headquarters again.

Abuse in my heart: The group of bastards above gave me such a little police force. Isn't it said that there is no hatred in the history of the two teams? It's almost like a derby.

............"The race is about to start. We've got the starting line-up for both teams. Let's take a look at Houllier's lineup, goalkeeper is Sandel. Westerved, the back line from left to right is Carragher, Hendjoz, Sammy. Hyypia, Marcus. Babbel and midfielder Patrick. Berg, Harman, Vladmir. Smitchell and Gerrard, and the forwards are Owen and Robbie. Fowler. ”

"Look at the starting line-up at Blackburn. Goalkeeper Cudicini, the back line from left to right is Reese, Ferdinand, Panucci, Sagnol, the midfield is Pire, Miku, Deco, Makelele, Bellamy, and the forward line is Klose. ”

(To be continued)