After a day off, Chen Xi and his teammates devoted themselves to active preparations!

Chen Xi also knows a little about this Porto, and he knows very well that Mourinho started from Porto and then became the world's top coach.

Although Chen Xi didn't pay much attention to football at that time, he was still deeply impressed by the miracle year of European football in 04, when the two most important events in Europe that year, the European Champions Cup and the European Cup, were won by two dark horses, Porto and the Greek national team!

As for this year's League Cup final, Chen Xi is not impressed, but he believes that this group of players is basically the foundation for Porto to win the championship next year, plus their powerful coach, the strength of this team will definitely not be much worse!

In fact, this Porto team is basically the original team in history to win the European Champions Cup next season.

Among them, Baia, Deco, Costinha, Maniche, Carvalho and Ferreira are the main players of the Portuguese national team in the future, it can be said that the reputation of this Porto player may not be as good as Tottenham, but their strength is definitely not weaker than Tottenham, and even, in terms of overall strength, Mourinho's team may be slightly stronger than Tottenham.

After looking at the information collected by some assistants about Porto, Hoddle did not dare to underestimate them.

Judging from Porto's path to promotion, although they have not faced any famous giants before, they are also teams with good quality such as Panathinais, Celtic and Lens.

What's more, judging from the score they advanced, they couldn't help but defend solidly and attack quite sharply. There are very few goals conceded and a lot of goals scored, which is obviously much more consistent than Tottenham scoring more goals and conceding more goals.

It can be said that the team in Mourinho's hands is a typical team suitable for playing in the cup!

For such a team, with Hoddle's tactical literacy, there is no good way to deal with it. Therefore, in the pre-match preparations, he can only focus on practicing the team's proud attack!

In his opinion, since the team has relied on offensive tactics to get to the current situation, let's simply carry out the offense to the end! ――

While the two teams were making final preparations for the showdown, the major media in Europe also set their eyes on this game!

At the start of the season, no one could have predicted that Tottenham and Porto would reach the final of the UEFA Cup. But now, these two teams that have been successful in Europe are standing on the doorstep of the final venue, just waiting to enter.

Prior to that, Tottenham had not reached a European final for 19 years. However, Tottenham have won the European Championship three times, but the most recent one was back in the 80s, when they also won the UEFA Cup!

After entering the 90s, Tottenham could no longer make waves in the European arena, and even went into decline at home. Tottenham fans therefore see this return to the European final as the beginning of Tottenham's revival.

The people of Porto share the same desire. This Portuguese team was also an absolute powerhouse in continental Europe in the 80s. In 1984, they reached the Cup Winners' Cup final, losing to Juventus. Three years later, in 1987, Porto also defeated Bayern Munich in the Champions Cup final, then won the UEFA Super Cup against Ajax and won the Toyota Cup in Tokyo against Uruguay Peñarol.

Since then, the Porto have sunk on the European stage. Their best result since then was reaching the quarter-finals of the Champions League in 1999-2000 before being eliminated by Bayern.

As the saying goes, both teams are "grandly presupposed". This final will be an important battle for their revival!

In addition to the previous honors of the two teams, there are also many highlights of this match.

First of all, both teams are coached by young players, especially Porto coach Jose Mourinho, a Portugal who has just turned 40 this year but has already led his team to the final of the European competition.

In addition to their youth, Hoddle and Mourinho share a common trait: Hoddle is considered a "crazy attacking fan" because of his crazy attacking style this season, while Mourinho is considered to have "dedicated his all to football".

Therefore, it is also seen as a "mad coach" conversation.

Hoddle's playing career was much more glamorous than his coaching career, but becoming a national team coach in a football powerhouse like England at the age of 40 has also made him a high-profile coach. Some of his "crazy remarks" also made him a bit of a maverick in the slightly conservative country of England.

This season, the team's almost abandonment of defense and all-out attacking style of play has also made Hoddle blow an offensive tide in the Premier League and even the whole of Europe!

Tottenham's impressive record this season has beenned his not-so-solid managerial level, and now there are even many media outlets who have begun to hype him as the successor to Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson.

Mourinho's tactics are slightly more utilitarian than Hoddle's, but some of his off-field experiences and remarks also make him worthy of the word "crazy"!

At just 40 years old, Jose Mourinho has assisted England coach Robson Sr. for many years, and Robson said of him: "He is the best coach in Portugal, well educated. He's smart, he doesn't panic, he speaks very succinctly on the pitch and he understands football. ”

In 1992, the 29-year-old unsung midfielder came to Sporting Lisbon as Robson's translator and spent three years with Robson in Porto. Robson then moved to Barcelona in La Liga, with Jose Mourinho accompanying him to lead Barcelona to the 1997 European Cup Winners' Cup. After Robson sacked at Barcelona, Mourinho was retained by his successor, Louis van Gaal. But after just eight games, he was purged out.

In January 2001, Porto sacked their manager after a poor performance, and Jose Mourinho was appointed on the verge of success. This season, he led Porto to the Portuguese Liga title four rounds ahead of schedule. His current assistant said of him: "Jose Mourinho is a man who works 24 hours a day, he lives for football and gives his all to football. ”

Jose Mourinho's famous quote is: "We are the best, under normal circumstances we win the title and the same under abnormal circumstances." "Now, many of Europe's top league giants have taken a fancy to this young coach, and it is only a matter of time before they land in the giants!

Secondly, the two teams have two of the most fearsome goalscorers in the UEFA Cup this season.

Needless to say, Tottenham's Chen Xi has equalled Klinsmann's single-season record for goals in the UEFA Cup and the three major European cups.

Porto, on the other hand, also boast a terrifying goalscorer, Brazilian Delle Silva.

The Brazilian striker has scored 11 goals in previous matches, a statistic that may have been enough to ensure that he became the top scorer of the tournament in previous years' UEFA Cup, but unfortunately he ran into the more perverted Chen Xi.

Both were unknown before this season, but after this season, they have become the objects of the giants' pursuit.

Although the chance of Dellai catching up with Chen Xi in this game is already very small, the confrontation between these two top scorers will undoubtedly attract countless eyeballs.

The media also compared the positions of the two teams and concluded that Tottenham Hotspur attackers were the better team, but Porto's strong central midfield was something that Tottenham did not have.

The League Cup final has also attracted the attention of the leaders of both countries, the Portuguese president and the prime minister will watch the game to support the Porto team, and British Prime Minister Totsoft Blair sent a fax to Tottenham to encourage the only remaining British team in Europe this season.

Porto has been seen as a symbol of national honor for the whole of Portugal, and the country's political axe decided to support Porto in the final with the highest level of courtesy, and the president of the Porto club, Da Costa, confirmed that three dignitaries, the president of the Portuguese national team, Sampaio, the prime minister Barroso, and the mayor of Porto, Moreira, will all appear in the stands of Sevilla, along with the head coach of the Portuguese national team, Scolari. In addition, Portugal's Minister of the Interior, Supreme Prosecutor and others have also been invited, but it has not yet been decided whether they will take a break from their busy official duties.

There is also a strong traditional hostility in Portuguese domestic football, especially between the teams of Porto and Lisbon, but this time Porto has the support of the whole country, and the president of Porto proudly said: "If we win the title, it will be an honour for the whole country, because we go to Sevilla and represent Portuguese football." It can also be said that the whole of Portugal is with Porto and I am at least sure that there are 6 million people behind us. ”

Interestingly, the fans of the two local clubs in Sevilla were also divided into two factions for the UEFA Cup final, with the Betis fan group being the first to declare that they preferred Tottenham, and then the Sevilla fan group also declaring, "Since Besti likes the English, we support the Portuguese, which is something that must be distinguished." ”

The happiest were the local vendors selling shirts and scarves for Tottenham and Porto, as Sevilla and Betis fans with tickets dressed as fans of the final side of the team were impromptu to enter.

From the first few days of the game until the last 90 minutes, the heat of the game gradually heated up, but compared to the heat of the outside world, the temperature in Sevilla was even hotter! In the past few days, the maximum temperature in Seville has reached 42 degrees Celsius, and according to the weather forecast, the temperature has not shown any downward trend. This will undoubtedly be a huge test for both teams.

"It's clearly scary to play here. I'm hopeful for myself, the players too, we're all going to try to win," said Hoddle, 'but it's fair for both teams and Porto will probably be more used to being there than we are, but it's the final and we're happy to play here. I think we've learned from the World Cup in the United States that when the weather is abnormal, people understand that the players need water in particular, so you have to put some water bottles on the sidelines. ”

Hoddle also said his players would arrive in Sevilla early to help them have more time to acclimatise to the weather.

"We were already preparing for the finals early." "It's very hot, so we're happy to be able to leave a few days earlier to adjust to the weather," Hoddle said. It shouldn't be so hot at this time, which is a very important factor in the final. The players were able to come in and I'm glad we didn't have a shortage of players and a full squad. We're going to try to win, the players are very confident and we're close to winning now. ”

Like the Tottenham players, fans rushed to Sevilla early. Although the match was to be played on the 21st, the "Great Evacuation" began in the city of London from the 18th: hundreds of fan buses carrying Tottenham supporters set off for Sevilla. The journey is 2,090 kilometers and will take 40 hours, but that doesn't dampen the passion of the fans.

In addition to the buses of ordinary fans, many wealthy people even charter flights to go. Rock superstar Lord Stewart has invited 12 of his celebrity friends to charter a flight to Sevilla for £50,000. Stewart is a big Tottenham fan and tried out in England's lower leagues, but was undrafted. This time, he will pay for his friends and book them a luxury hotel.

At the moment, Seville's hostels, whether five-star luxury hotels or youth hostels, are fully booked. The mayor of Sevilla, Alfredo Sánchez, welcomed all the fans who came from afar: "Our city, like London, is a city full of passion for football. England fans and Tottenham fans are known all over the world for supporting the club in a joyful and peaceful way. ”

With 50,000 Tottenham fans expected to travel to Sevilla, a spokesman for Tottenham couldn't help but be overjoyed: "Tickets are selling so well, I think even 100,000 tickets will be sold out. ”

Now, the original price of 30 euros a ticket has been sold to 1,200 euros, a 40-fold increase. The price of two tickets sold by an online auction company "e-Harbor" to renovate the roof of a church has risen to 1,500 euros each.

Since the tickets had long been sold out, Stewart, who had a head and a face, had to beg those who had tickets to share one with him through the English media. The English media therefore said that money could buy most things, but even Stewart could not buy tickets for this game. However, there were also people who got tickets for his seven-week-old daughter, "She will probably sleep the whole game, but I hope the goalkeeper in Porto will be like her. ”

Many Porto fans have also resold their tickets to Tottenham fans, which will pose a risk to stadium safety. But Portugal is one of the poorest countries in Europe, and Porto coach Jose Mourinho understands this: "Our fans sell tickets to Tottenham fans because they get the equivalent of two months' salary. ”

In London, some fans who couldn't make it to Sevilla were already booking their places in the bars and squares, waiting for the game to end and a frantic celebration would begin.

Tottenham Hotspur rival Arsenal fans, even if you want to see it on the day of the final, it will not be easy to get a good night's sleep, and the crazy light of Tottenham fans will fill the whole north London!

(To be continued)