Volume 1 Chapter 465 Crazy Final
The brutal Premier League season is finally over, and the whole of England seems to be relieved by it
It was a 10-month hard fight, and in the past 10 months, almost every hour of every day, was closely linked to football and the game, and tension was everywhere in the air.
With the league coming to an end, teams are starting to go on break, and European internationals are gearing up for the summer Euros, with the exception of Tottenham Hotspur and Cardiff in the Championship, who reached the FA Cup final, and Manchester United, who reached the Champions League final.
These three teams will continue to work hard for the upcoming finals.
The FA Cup final is no longer being held at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, but at Wembley Stadium, the first major final since Wembley Stadium reopened, but it is also destined that Tottenham Hotspur will not be at full strength as they consider the Champions League final after the FA Cup final.
Two consecutive finals, as well as the worst league title loss in the last round of the season, will be a huge test for Tottenham Hotspur, especially in the Champions League final, and a challenge to the mental quality of the players.
Ye Qiu attaches great importance to the psychology of the players, because he knows very well that the reason why the final is the final is because it has nothing to do with your performance in the past whole season, and its test for you is whether you can show your strength in those 90 minutes and whether you can beat your opponent well.
Yes, congratulations, you're a champion; No, that's only sorry, no matter how good you have been in the past season, it's useless, because it will only get you more sympathy and pity, but it won't get you a championship
Feeling that the Champions League final is approaching, the atmosphere at Theorebold training base has gradually changed, and there is a strong tension in the air, because it is the Champions League final, and countless professional players dream of being able to appear in the Champions League final once in their lives, who will not be nervous?
From the training, Ye Qiu felt this kind of nervousness, all the players shrank back when they made movements, and did not dare to let go to fight, because no one wanted to be injured at such a time, or hurt their teammates, and everyone's nerves were tense, as if they would be broken if they tried a little harder.
When Ye Qiu arranged the training, he had fully considered that the players had just finished a season and their bodies were at a critical point, so he was more focused on adjustment, and at the same time arranged some relaxing activities as much as possible, but with little effect, because the key to psychological problems still depends on the players themselves.
There are a total of four or five psychologists in Theobald's training base, but as they said to Ye Qiu, the counseling of psychologists is always just counseling, and the real decisive thing is the psychology of the players themselves.
So, on this day, the players came to Theobald's training base early in the morning, but they were surprised to find that the training ground was empty, there was nothing, and if it was in normal times, the coaching staff would have already arranged everything and started training directly after they arrived
"Didn't the team train today?" The players stood on the sidelines, full of doubts.
Looking at Mascherano, the captain clearly didn't know what was going on, "I haven't received any notice"
"It's impossible not to train, now there are only seven days left until the Champions League final, how can you do it if you don't hurry up and train and adjust your condition?"
"I also think it's supposed to be training, but no one comes, what's going on now?"
A group of people were talking suspiciously, and it didn't take long to see Ye Qiu and the coaching staff walking down from the second floor of the training building one after another, they seemed to be in a good mood, talking and laughing all the way.
"Okay, everyone, don't guess, I'll reveal the answer" Ye Qiu smiled and waved his hand at the players, "Our training session today is not at the Theobald training base, so I'll give everyone enough time now, go back and change clothes, wait on the team bus, don't worry, this time there is no time, OK?" ”
After hearing this, the players looked even more puzzled, but they walked back to the locker room one after another, while Ye Qiu and the coaching staff boarded the team bus waiting on the side, and it didn't take long to see the players come out again and get on the bus.
Tottenham Hotspur's bus slowly drove out of the Theobald training base, south along Enfield's Great Cambridge Road, first past Enfield, and then into Tottenham, just when all the players thought that the team was going to White Hart Lane, the bus turned into a residential area, and soon stopped in an old people's home.
"It's a community retirement home in Tottenham, and it's home to a lot of Tottenham Hotspur fans, and believe me, many, many of them have been members of the team for more than 80 years, the oldest of them being over 80 years."
Before the players got off the bus, Ye Qiu told all the players the meaning of this nursing home, in the two years that he took over Tottenham Hotspur, the team also funded this community nursing home for two years, although the annual donation is not very much, but it is very meaningful, and the team often cooperates with the nursing home to hold some fundraising activities.
Tottenham Hotspur often goes to the children's hospital to visit some children, and often goes into fan organizations and participates in some activities, but rarely goes into the community, this is the first time, so when the players heard from Ye Qiu's mouth, there are really old fans of more than 80 years, and they are all full of amazement, because many of them are only in their early twenties.
"I'm bringing you here today mainly to accomplish two things, first, to give away tickets for the Champions League final"
Ye Qiu changed his previous laughing expression, and now he looked dignified, because this was a very important thing in itself.
"As we all know, in Tottenham's 100-plus years of history, we've won two top-flight titles, League One half a century ago, and we won the European Cup Winners' Cup in '19 and we won two UEFA Cups, but we never reached the Champions League final.
'The closest we got to the Champions League final, we reached the semi-finals of the Champions League but were knocked out, so that's the first time we've reached the final of the Champions League in more than 100 years since the club's founding.
Ye Qiu's words made everyone in the entire bus feel an unprecedented significance, that is, in the past hundred years, countless Tottenham Hotspur players have not achieved results, but they have now obtained them, and they hold them in their hands.
"There are a lot of old Tottenham fans in this retirement home who have experienced the history of us winning the league and winning the UEFA Cup, and I'm sure a lot of them are very, very proud to see us in the Champions League final."
"So, the second thing, I hope that everyone can get to know our fans in the process of giving away tickets, listen to what they say, how they evaluate our current team, how they evaluate you, believe me, this can better help you recognize yourself"
After finishing speaking, Ye Qiu beckoned the players to get off the bus.
The nursing home has been informed before, and many elderly fans who are in good health are waiting outside the gate, watching this group of Tottenham Hotspur players get off the bus, this group of old fans looks very excited, and there is a lot of fanaticism of young star-chasers.
"He's Frank Ribery"
"This is Messi, so cute"
"Van Persie is more handsome in reality than on TV"
"That shy young man is Cesc Fabregas, look at him like that, he doesn't dare to come close"
"David Beckham, my favourite player, have to ask him to sign me"
Some people say that when they reach a certain level of age, people's personalities have signs of rejuvenation, so many elderly people's personalities are the same as children, so as soon as they saw the stars in the live TV broadcast appear in front of them, they were all as excited as children.
Ye Qiu held this event, not only to let the players visit the nursing home and implement the club's plan to enter the community, but also to use this activity to relax the players' feelings, at least let them clearly feel that they can reach the finals, they have completed the achievements that have not been broken through in the club's history for more than 100 years.
And this feeling is bound to further stimulate and encourage them, making them more competitive
In fact, at the scene, in addition to Tottenham Hotspur and people from nursing homes, there are also many Tottenham Hotspur fans to volunteer, which is also part of the team's usual cooperation with nursing homes, that is, calling for more fans to volunteer.
The nursing home has also prepared some programs, such as a 91-year-old Tottenham Hotspur fan who tells everyone about his 80-year-old Tottenham Hotspur football experience, and he has personally experienced most of Tottenham Hotspur's history, which makes the old man feel extremely proud.
Many elderly people have come out to tell everyone about their experience of watching football at Tottenham Hotspur, and many of them have also told their own realizations, and many of them are telling about the most primitive and fundamental core concept of football, which is to break through oneself and focus on participation
There were also a number of fans who came to the scene and they also told about an event they were preparing for the Champions League final, and one of the fan groups called for a sizable number of fans.
"We've already connected with nearly 2,000 fans who love to travel by car, and when the time comes, we'll form a huge self-driving team that will travel more than 2,000 kilometers from London to Moscow, across Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Belarus and many other countries."
"It's a crazy move, isn't it?"
The fan club president, Damian, asked the crowd with a smile, and his inquiry was echoed with cheers from everyone present.
'Yes, it's crazy, a lot of people say we're crazy, but it's the first time in more than 100 years that the team has reached the Champions League final, it's crazy, so we all feel like we're sorry for the team, sorry for the players, if we don't go crazy for once.
Darmian also said they have submitted an application to Tottenham Hotspur in the hope of being able to appeal on their official website and APp in the hope that more fans will join the bandwagon, and that some fans are also encouraged to carpool, as the cost of the entire journey is expected to exceed £8,000 per car, which is not a small amount.
Tottenham Hotspur managed to reach the Champions League final, and the team received 21,000 tickets, all of which were given to the team's fans, except for a portion of the tickets left by the team to give to the families of players and staff, as well as sponsors and partners.
The team's first consideration is, of course, those fans who hold Tottenham Hotspur season tickets, but at the same time, Ye Qiu also took out a part of it, and planned to give it to fans in his homeland, as well as some media and well-known reporters, will receive free tickets.
This is also the tradition of the Champions League final, after all, such opportunities are not available every year, so generally speaking, tickets are given away for free, of course, it is not excluded that some fans will sell their own tickets after getting the tickets, which is simply impossible for the club to control.
And Ye Qiu also believes that this is a very rare case, because the people who get the tickets are the team's die-hard fans, and for these fans, participating in such a big battle will definitely be more profitable than selling tickets
In addition to the 21,000 tickets for each of the two teams participating in the final, UEFA also received some tickets, and some tickets were also sold in Moscow, after all, the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow has a seating capacity of nearly 85,000.
But one thing is very certain, that is, there is no need to worry about the attendance rate of this year's Champions League final, it must be full.
For this group of crazy fans who want to drive from London to Moscow, Ye Qiu gave support, but also said that the club will do its best to help in all aspects, and also hope that fans will pay more attention to safety.
Darmian is on behalf of the fans, encouraging all the players in the team, hoping that they will not have any pressure, let go of their baggage, and do their best to play this crucial final in the last crucial final, and strive to beat Manchester United and win the first Champions League final in the club's history.
The players were in the nursing home, accompanying the old people and the fans all morning, and only left until almost noon, and everyone was still discussing what they saw and heard in the nursing home, and it was obvious that this was a very meaningful activity, and many people got a lot of touch from it.
After returning to Theobald's training base, Tottenham Hotspur's afternoon training session went on as usual, but Ye Qiu still focused on light adjustment training, he still paid more attention to the atmosphere in the team, as well as decompressing the players, and even arranged a lot of highly entertaining games and activities to adjust the atmosphere in the team.
On 17 May, the team welcomed Cardiff at Wembley Stadium in north-west London.
The Championship side have had a mediocre season and finished in twelfth place in the Championship, which is not very strong, but all the energy of Tottenham Hotspur is in the Champions League final on L-day, so Cardiff wants to fish in troubled waters.
Ye Qiu arranged a large number of substitute lineups for this game, including Aaron Ramsey, a former Cardiff player, and a group of young players and substitutes such as Arshavin, Gareth Bale, Marcelo, Eden Hazzard, Carroll, etc., all of which were arranged by Ye Qiu to play.
For his own team, Ye Qiu is more confident than anyone else, and Tottenham Hotspur's group of young and substitute players did not disappoint Ye Qiu, in the crucial final, 0 than the net score of Cardiff
This is an asymmetrical game, Cardiff is a Championship team in the end, in terms of strength, it is much worse than Tottenham Hotspur, even if Tottenham Hotspur is a substitute and young players play, but the overall strength of the team is still very strong, and the overall tactics are still to steadily overpower Cardiff, and it is expected to defeat the opponent.
Tottenham Hotspur won the FA Cup final, but there was no celebration, but many fans who went to Wembley Stadium to watch the game followed the team's bus and carried the trophy from Wembley Stadium to White Hart Lane Stadium in Tottenham and into the team's exhibition hall.
But the day after the team won the FA Cup, that is, the day before they left for Moscow, Tottenham District Council and London City Council announced at the same time that if Tottenham Hotspur can finally win the European Cup, the city council will make an exception to allow Tottenham Hotspur to celebrate with a large number of parades, and even open some important passages south to the city to commemorate Tottenham's first Champions League title.
Many people are puzzled by the decision of the London City Council, because whether it is Arsenal or Chelsea winning the championship before, the celebration parade has been strictly restricted, but this time it is a bit puzzling to make an exception to open it to Tottenham Hotspur.
But soon, some London officials clarified that this time it was mainly to use the Champions League final to boost the London economy, because the data submitted by an authoritative research center showed that Moscow would gain at least more than 40 million pounds from this Champions League final, which greatly exceeded the 18 million pounds in Athens, Greece last year.
UEFA also gave an analysis that this year's Champions League final, not counting the qualifiers, group stage and knockout rounds, even if this final, the economic benefits involved will exceed 210 million pounds, surpassing the Super Bowl in the United States and being the first in the world.
Not only that, after the semi-finals, UEFA has begun to warm up and promote the Champions League final in advance, especially for the two teams participating in the Champions League final, and it is the advertising and promotional videos recorded before the major TV stations continue to broadcast to attract the attention of fans and call on more fans to go to the scene or watch the live broadcast.
Even the impact of this final has shocked the European Union, as it will generate more than £50 million in spurred growth across Europe, which is astronomical if you add up the expected long-term gains.
It can be said that with the rise of the Champions League in recent years, this is not just a championship trophy, not just a final, but also a crazy battle for interests worth hundreds of millions