Of course, Portugal has not been idle these days.

No team will take a final lightly, let alone face a team coached by Pan Yi?

Compared with a world-class coach like Pan Yi, Portugal coach Fernando Santos is too ordinary.

Although he is 61 years old this year, his career as a player or as a coach can only be described as mediocre.

In the early days, he basically spent some teams in Portugal and Greece, until he started to coach the Greek national team in 2010.

He led his team to Euro 2012 finals and made history at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Such a result attracted the attention of the Portuguese, who succeeded Paulo Bento as the new coach of Portugal after the World Cup.

In the next two years, the European Championships were of course a priority for Santos, and in fact he did well, with a 68.75% win rate that allowed them to make it out of qualifying and into the main draw.

Now, he has led the team to the final of the European Championship!

It was also the second time in Portugal's history that Portugal reached the final, the last time being at Euro 2004 on home soil, but they lost to Greece in the final, fulfilling the "Greek myth" of their opponents.

The 19-year-old Ronaldo, who was still "Little Luo" at the time, shed sad tears, and I believe many fans still remember them vividly.

This time, both Santos and Ronaldo will certainly want to make history and at the same time make up for the regrets of all the Portuguese 12 years ago.

"It's still hard for us to spy on the Swedish team."

Assistant coach Valle reported: "Similar to the pre-match of the French team, Pan Yi is a bit of a mystery and the training is all closed. ”

Santos smiled slightly: "Guessed." He can come up with something new every time, of course, for fear of being seen by others. For example, the formation of troops in the game against France was actually quite unexpected, and it also had a good effect in the end. ”

Of course, Santos also admires Pan Yi.

Of course, in this world, who coaches would not appreciate Pan Yi?

Peers know their peers best, and they naturally know how difficult it is for Pan Yi to lead the team to achieve these results.

Especially this time, he led the mediocre Swedish team, and he could go all the way out of the group of death, and then reach the final, which can be said to amaze the world!

This can be regarded as an eye-opener for coaches all over the world, allowing everyone to see how Pan Yi can make a team with average technical level fully play his tactical literacy and play his own style and level.

They also know how Pan Yi's tactics are leading the trend of world football, and how he is leading football tactics to leap forward.

Even Santos himself can be nourished by Pan Yi's coaching philosophy and apply it to his own team.

Santos has benefited greatly from the combination of triangles and corners, running without the ball, the wingbacks' support for the waist, the switching between central and wingback, and the connection between the center and the winger.

The games that Pan Yi led the team to, whether it is Milan, Hamburg, Chelsea, or now Sweden, take out the game video from time to time to watch, and there may be some new experiences.

This is to live and learn to be old!

The 61-year-old Santos can be so inspired by Pan Yi, not to mention those young coaches who are on the rise, and they all regard Pan Yi as their idol one by one, and they can't wait to worship him.

Valle suddenly said: "You say, is it possible that those rumors are true, Pan Yi really has the mysterious power of the Dragon Kingdom?" Did he defeat France with this force? ”

Valle was a little old man in his fifties, and he believed in these things a little bit in his heart.

"As far as I know, the young people of the Dragon Kingdom generally don't believe this, and I think Pan Yi is just using it to fight a psychological war." Santos shook his head and said, "We can't be affected by this, we still have to focus on our own preparations." ”

"Yes." Valle nodded yes, but was still worried, "So what do we do now?" I had the feeling that my eyes were dark. ”

Santos pointed to the midfield position on the tactical board and began to express his opinion:

"Now we can only guess Pan Yi's style of play through Sweden's previous matches."

'They have a star like Ibrahimovic, but they don't rely on him very much on the pitch. In other words, Ibrahimovic's fulcrum and finishing in the front court are just part of their tactical system. ”

"And like the other players, Forsberg, Isak, Lindelof, Augustinsson...... Wait, this group of players is singled out, and their strength may not be very top-notch. But when combined, it is definitely a headache for all teams, which is also a characteristic of Sweden all along, and the team has strong combat ability! ”

"And we have Cristiano Ronaldo, we have B, including Nani, who is fast, has good technique, has the ability to make a single man, and has the threat of counter-attacking. This is our strength, and it is certainly the focus of their prevention. ”

"So, when they play us, they should also play team football to the extreme, especially in the midfield, they will organize a strong defensive network in the midfield, strengthen the control of the midfield, to intercept our effective passing advances, and prevent us from passing the ball to the front of the field, especially at the feet of Cristiano Ronaldo."

"But we can also stop them from doing that. Because Sweden's disadvantage is also obvious, their players are still a bit behind us in terms of technical ability. So, we need to give full play to our skills in ball control, speed and flexibility, and improve the speed of passing and receiving and advancing the ball! ”

Valle nodded frequently as he listened.

Santos's remarks can be said to hit the nail on the head of the Swedish team.

After all, the Swedish team does have a big gap with the Portuguese team in terms of technical delicacy and fast passing and receiving coordination.

Once both sides pick up the tempo, Portugal's advantage will become more apparent, while Sweden will be in a situation where they will be prone to mistakes.

"In this game, we have to take the initiative from the beginning!" Santos said suddenly.

This surprised Valle a little.

Santos's use of troops has always given people a sense of stability, but not panic, and Pan Yi once said that he is not good at winning by surprise.

In the previous games, Portugal has always been in a posture of defending and counterattacking, and does not often take the initiative to attack.

And now that it's the final, Santos is going to be unusual?

"What Pan Yi does best is drag the game into their own rhythm, and if he succeeds, it may be difficult for us to take back control." Santos explained.

This is also based on the characteristics of Portugal itself.

In terms of the overall strength of the team, Portugal is actually inferior to France, Germany, and even Spain.

In other words, if Sweden can win against these teams, so can Portugal.

Looking at Pan Yi's past tactical play, it is very common for him to suddenly control the scene and then hit the opponent.

Especially after finding the opponent's weakness, he directly grabbed the enemy's loophole and beat him, so that the opponent lost his sharpness and lost the opportunity, and then the next game entered Pan Yi's rhythm.

And once you enter Pan Yi's rhythm, it will be difficult for the opponent to turn the tables.

"Therefore, we have to work out a set of specific steps and details for the attack after the opening, and it is best to be able to open the Swedish defense as soon as the opening and catch him off guard!"

Santos spoke, and consulted with Valle.

They all understand that against Pan Yi's team, if they can't work on the tactical details, then if they want to win, they can only rely on God to bless.

For example, Ronaldo has a hat trick, Tianshen Tianfan?

——

After more than 20 days of competition, the European Cup has finally reached its most exciting moment.

Only two of the 24 teams will now be left and from these two teams will decide another new champion in the history of the European Championship!

The world's attention is on Paris, on Saint-Denis, on the Stade de France.

On the day of the European Championship final, the whole city seemed to have erupted, and fans and journalists gathered everywhere.

Coupled with the UEFA officials and staff who have already set up and prepared everything here, the streets of Paris are filled with tension, excitement and joy before the European Cup final!

Yes, joy.

Whether it's the Portuguese fans in the red jerseys, the Swedish fans in the yellow jerseys, the neutral French fans, or even the Dragon fans from afar......

Everyone is singing and dancing together, looking forward to the arrival of this football event.

That's what football is all about, and it's about bringing joy to people all over the world!

In order to welcome these fans from all over the world, Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport and Saint-Denis Airport ushered in the busiest day of the year.

Throughout the day, planes took off and landed at various airports in Paris almost non-stop, some of them were originally in France, but they had gone to watch the football in other cities before, and now they are flying to Paris;

Some have come from their respective countries to support their national teams, whether they are Sweden or Portugal;

There are also Pan Yi fans from all over the world, they are here to see Pan Yi, where Dragon Country fans account for a large part, and at the same time they have also become supporters of the Swedish team.

The staff at the airport, the city's police department, despite their early preparations, still underestimated the atmosphere of the final.

From Saint-Denis to the whole of Paris, the atmosphere of the final soared like a rocket, and the atmosphere of the European Championship final and the passion of the fans could be felt everywhere.

On the day of the final, major European bookmakers also offered the latest odds.

Portugal are slightly ahead at 2.75 to 1, but their final rivals, Sweden, are not much lower at 2.8 to 1.

The odds for a draw are 3.0 to 1, while the odds for an extra-time winner are 6.0 and the penalty shootout is 5.0.

The odds are so close that it proves that this final is a close contest in the eyes of the bookmaker!

This is basically in line with the opinion of the media and fans.

In the eyes of most people, the overall strength of the Portuguese team is still slightly superior, and they are playing better and better under the leadership of Cristiano Ronaldo and B seats, and their steady style of play is bound to cause a lot of problems for the Swedish team to break the game.

The most important thing is that Cristiano Ronaldo, who is a superstar of the emperor, scored a goal in the semi-finals and showed good form.

In such a crucial final that will determine the outcome of the game, the power of the superstar cannot be ignored!

On the Swedish team's side, Pan Yi's arrangement is obviously still the focus of everyone's attention.

At the same time, the central axis, consisting of Ibrahimovic, Forsberg and Lindelof, is also working better and better.

After beating Spain, Germany, France and other giants in the elimination one after another, the confidence of the Swedish team is also getting stronger and stronger.

Therefore, even if Sweden can beat the Portuguese cattle in the final, I believe many people will not be surprised by this.

Not to mention that Sweden also has a world-class star Ibrahimovic!

It can be said that the two teams even have a bit of similarity in terms of personnel structure, that is, several well-known stars come to fight with a group of younger brothers;

It's just that these "little brothers" in the Portuguese team are generally stronger than the Swedish "little brothers" in terms of strength and fame.

And after Portugal's first training session after arriving at St. Denis, head coach Santos also spoke to reporters about the upcoming final.

He said that Pan Yi's existence makes everything possible for the Swedish team.

"Because Pan Yi is the kind of head coach who can improve the combat effectiveness of a team by himself, we will not relax in the slightest against the Swedish team, and I believe my players know this very well!"

"Our tactics? It's the final now, and the team has no secrets. The players are in good shape at the moment and I don't make too many tactical changes. ”

"Pan Yi's tactics? The Swedes have found a very reasonable set of tactics in the last few games, they have scored a lot of goals and the defense has been very solid. I don't think Pan Yi will do anything too unexpected. ”

"As for the trend of the game, it is still difficult to predict, but Pan Yi was born to be the kind of head coach who exists to pursue offensive football, and he has always given the impression of playing aggressive attacking football."

'When he was at Chelsea, we used to see such beautiful attacks that were like mercury and it was definitely not going to be for him to defend them.

"So I believe that in the final, we will also be able to see a brave attacking Swedish team, because their head coach is Pan Yi!"

Santos also believes that either Portugal or Sweden can win the title, and he believes that the odds of both sides winning this game are equal, and neither has been able to take advantage of the other.

"After entering the finals, there is no good game to play, let alone the opponent is Pan Yi?"

"We're thinking about how we're going to enjoy the game right now. This is the second time that our grapes have played in the final of the European Championship and we want to play well and show everyone how hungry we are for the title! ”

Santos's remarks were graceful and restrained, but they did not show the slightest weakness.

And when such an interview report was seen by Pan Yi, he immediately understood Santos's intentions.

Santos seems to be blowing Pan Yi, but it seems that he wants to roast Pan Yi between the lines, and it feels like Sweden is sorry for Pan Yi's reputation if it doesn't play offensive football.

This is because the Portuguese mainly play counterattacks, but they are afraid that your Swedish team will also shrink back and not attack!

If everyone defends and counterattacks, with Portugal's current offensive ability, it will definitely be worse than teams like Germany and France, and Santos is not sure.

And once Sweden presses out to play, then the counter-attacking speed of the Portuguese forward line can rise, and it can also play the characteristics of the entire Portuguese team.

In other words, Santos's words are to provoke Pan Yi and let Pan Yi attack him!

If you change someone, like Wenger, who is highly respected, is praised by him like this, or you really can't let go of your face, and then you fight against them......

But who is Pan Yi?

He doesn't eat this!

Winning is the truth!

"But he's right about one thing, and that's that I'm not going to fight to the death."

Looking at Santos who was talking eloquently on the TV screen, Pan Yi smiled and said to himself.

Although a team like Portugal is mainly about playing and defending, if you put control cleanly, it is tantamount to letting the opponent dominate.

After all, the attacking line composed of B seats, Nani, Ronaldo, Quaresma and others can be said to be not inferior to any national team in Europe.

Therefore, Pan Yi wants to give up possession of the ball in a premeditated manner, but he must firmly control the control of the space, and then control a certain game situation, and then slowly find an opportunity to get it back.

At this point, the TV screen turned to the outside of the Stade de France.

There, there are already countless fans singing and dancing, preparing for tonight's final.

Especially the fans of Portugal and Sweden, who have come to Paris and St. Denis to support their national teams!

And Pan Yi can also guess that at this moment in Sweden, in Stockholm, and around the world, there will be countless fans waiting for the opening of the final like these fans who came to Paris.

The difference is that they may be at home, in a bar, in the square, on all kinds of different occasions, but they are all in the same mood.

That is to cheer for the team you love and hope that your team can become the final champion!

Leading the team and satisfying the aspirations of these fans is undoubtedly the greatest wish of any manager.

As the head coach of the Swedish team, Pan Yi is, of course, to use the most reasonable way to defeat the opponent and let all Swedish fans get what they want! ——

"Are you all ready?"

When Pan Yi's loud inquiry came out in the quiet locker room, all the Swedish players stood up in unison and nodded to Pan Yi in agreement, all of them looking very serious.

This is the final after all, after all, it is their chance to make national history! It is obviously impossible to be completely indifferent.

"Then let's go!"

After speaking, Pan Yi, who was standing at the gate of the locker room, opened the door of the locker room.

Everything that needs to be said has been said, it's time for them to go and fight for real!

As the door opened, the sound of the closing ceremony outside suddenly swept into the entire locker room, making everyone feel the atmosphere of the final.

The players, led by captain Ibrahimovic, walked out of the locker room one after another, and Pan Yi followed the team with his coaching staff and walked out.

During the whole process, everyone did not communicate at all, as if they were quietly waiting for the finals to come.

Soon, they arrived at the waiting room in the players' tunnel, where the two sides lined up to get ready to play, and the Portuguese players were already waiting there.

At the top of the line was the captain of the Portuguese team, Cristiano Ronaldo, who first hugged Ibrahimovic and then said hello to Pan Yi.

He basically didn't have much to do with the players in the Swedish national team, so that's how he talked to the two biggest names.

Pan Yi is different.

Although only Seat B and Cancelo are his disciples in the Portuguese team, most of the players have played against Pan Yi and can be regarded as his old rivals.

For example, Cedric and Fonte are Southampton's Premier League opponents, while Ronaldo and Pepe are the main players of Real Madrid, and they have also played against Pan Yi many times in the Champions League;

The largest number of players in the Portuguese national team are the top three in the Portuguese Super League, and the three teams of Sporting Portugal, Benfica and Porto have also played against Pan Yi's team in recent years.

Even if you haven't fought before, who doesn't know Pan Yi?

Or to put it another way, what player doesn't want to know Pan Yi and not want the opportunity to play under him?

Therefore, when Pan Yi entered the waiting room, the sound of greeting him was endless, which showed his popularity.

"You little rabbit, wait a little bit, don't fight too hard!"

Pan Yi walked up to seat B and took the initiative to hug the kid.

Seat B was stunned for a moment after hearing this, then grinned, hugged Pan Yi tightly, and said, "Boss, although I want to win you, I still have to thank you." If it weren't for you, how could I be on the stage of the European Championship final? ”

He was right.

Although he was also a teenager in the timeline of his previous life, making his debut for Portugal in 2015 at the age of 21, he ultimately failed to qualify for the tournament in the face of fierce competition – which of course had something to do with the fact that he was injured at the time.

However, this also shows that he is not indispensable to this national team, after all, if he is a meritorious core player, the head coach will often give him the opportunity to recover during the tournament.

But in this life, not only did the B not get injured in the league, but they also occupied a regular position in the seven-time champion Chelsea, and played a perfect season.

And his all-round characteristics of being able to play the middle and side, up and down, have also been brought into play in the Portuguese national team.

Under Santos, he often exists as a central midfielder, standing in front of William Carvalho alongside Renato Sanchez, who has just joined Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich for €35 million, feeding Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani up front, while also sweeping up midfield.

His strengths lie in his ability to use his body flexibility and balance to complete technical maneuvers, his ability to control his center of gravity under pressure, his ability to accelerate continuously and abruptly change gears after starting.

Although his individual defensive ability is not outstanding, the B seat is relatively good in taking the initiative to implement the pressing awareness, attacking the defense and grasping the timing of the return, which has made him firmly occupy a main position in the Portuguese national team, and he also appeared in the starting lineup for the final today.

Fighting for the country is always the ultimate goal of a football player, and being able to stand on the final stage of the World Series is something that many people dream of!

So of course B Xi is very grateful to Pan Yi for discovering and cultivating him.

"You deserve it." Pan Yi patted Seat B's back, and then exchanged a few words with Cancelo, who was standing behind.

Unlike the B bench, Cancelo is only a rotation at Chelsea, and although he has performed well, he has yet to win a place in the Portuguese national team.

Then, Pan Yi returned to his team.

Now it's going to be the final, of course they don't have a long conversation, and the referee is already calling for players to play.

As the players and coaches of the two teams walked out of the tunnel one by one, the entire Stade de France suddenly resounded with an overwhelming cheer.

They've been waiting for a long time!

As the two teams were preparing to play the national anthem, Pan Yi returned to his away team's coach's box, he turned his head sideways and saw that Santos had already walked out of the field before the players, and stood in front of the home team's coach's box to prepare.

After the national anthem was played, the stadium burst into cheers, and then the players of both teams returned to their own half, spread out and prepared to start the game.

At this time, Pan Yi took the initiative to walk to Santos in front of the home team's coach's seat.

"Hello!" Pan Yi and Santos hugged gently.

Pan Yi felt that Lao Shuai's body was a little stiff, and obviously his mood was also a little nervous.

This is also understandable, after all, such an event may only have such a game in a lifetime.

And, unlike Pan Yi, who often appears on big stages like Champions League finals, a coach like Santos who has previously only managed in some teams outside the top five leagues is a really rare experience.

The two weren't acquaintances, so they simply said hello and then returned to their respective coaching seats.

Almost at the same time, the two superstar captains of Ibrahimovic and Cristiano Ronaldo on the field had already finished guessing the side, and Portugal won the kick-off first.

The race is about to start!

(End of chapter)