Chapter 59: Champions League Grouping
"Monsieur Dior, please open the door to the locker room for me."
Dellay was in the corridor of the locker room, shouting at the staff in the distance!
It's only 7 a.m., and there's still 2 hours left before training starts.
But he had some insomnia last night, so he simply came to the base early in the morning, intending to let his mentor see his efforts.
"Hell, why did you come so early!"
McCarthy also happened to walk to the door of the locker room at this time, and the two looked at each other, and their faces became ugly.
"Why, why can't I come early?"
Since reporting to Porto on the first day, Delle and McCarthy have not liked each other.
They both know that each other's roles have conflicted with themselves, and it is estimated that Mourinho is also to encourage competition, saving them from being too comfortable and dropping the chain at a critical moment.
But it's one thing to know in your heart, and it's another thing to look bad after meeting.
Yesterday on the training ground, the two had a quarrel over a trivial matter, and then almost got into a fight, and the last one was reprimanded by Mourinho.
"Humph!"
McCarthy snorted coldly when he heard this, but he didn't dare to really fight with the other party, otherwise Mourinho would definitely throw them together in the second team.
"Hey, it's early!"
At this time, the door of the locker room, which should have been closed, was suddenly opened from the inside, and then Zhang Desheng, who had already changed into a training uniform, was looking at them with a surprised face.
Del Lai was stunned when he saw Zhang Desheng, and he didn't react immediately.
"Zhang, you're finally back, I miss you so much!"
McCarthy was also taken aback, but immediately showed a look of surprise and gave Zhang a sensual hug after shouting.
"Hey, Benny, I've only been away for a few months, how are you doing this summer?"
Zhang Desheng naturally kept eavesdropping on the movement outside, and opened the door regretfully when he saw that the two didn't fight.
He also knew that McCarthy was deliberately appearing to be on good terms with him, presumably to create a small group to isolate the newcomer Delley.
But he can't refute the face of his old teammates, after all, he and McCarthy have known each other for a long time.
"Hello, I'm Zhang Desheng!"
After Zhang Desheng said hello to McCarthy, he naturally stepped forward to introduce himself to Dellai.
"Hello, just call me Dellai, your five-son denko last season was a miracle!"
After all, it was the first time for Del Lei to meet Zhang Desheng, especially when he saw that the two seemed to have a good relationship, he couldn't help but be a little cold and resistant to Zhang Desheng in his heart, so he didn't take the initiative to come up to say hello.
But now that others have taken the initiative to come forward to say hello, he naturally can't refute face.
After Zhang Desheng greeted the two, he didn't say much to them, and went to the training ground to warm up first.
He didn't care much about the open and secret rivalry between the two, and Delle probably didn't know that the reason why Mourinho bought him was just to find a reliable replacement for himself.
Zhang Desheng warmed up on the pitch and even began to practice shooting on his own, and the rest of Porto's players came to the base one after another.
"Zhang, I've wanted to meet you for a long time!"
"Haha, the last time we met, we were still rivals!"
"Zhang, your three-legged volley, I almost peed out at that time!"
“……”
At this time, I have to say that Zhang Desheng's five-son Dengke last season really made him famous.
The new players only joined the team at the end of pre-season training camp, and although they somewhat thought he was playing a big name, they still stepped forward with a smile on their faces after meeting each other to get closer.
Even Maniche, who is notoriously incapable of handling interpersonal relationships, squeezed out an ugly smile when he saw Zhang Desheng.
At this time, Zhang Desheng also gave the gifts prepared in advance to these teammates one by one.
He also knew that he had joined the team so late, and he was indeed a bit pretending.
Therefore, in order to alleviate everyone's dissatisfaction with himself, he purchased a lot of Chinese specialties in Hong Kong and Macao early in the morning, and shipped them in advance and waited to deliver them to you today.
These specialties are not expensive for him, because they are just tea, porcelain, Suzhou embroidery, liquor and other things, but the kindness conveyed by these gifts is still very successful to bring these new teammates.
Soon, Mourinho, who was carefully dressed before going out every day, finally appeared at the training ground.
The Portuguese young marshal, who is now completely in control of the team, naturally called this baby to chat a few words after seeing Zhang Desheng officially return to the team.
But in fact, the day after Zhang Desheng returned to Porto, he went to visit Mourinho and the second-tier coach Alberto with a lot of gifts.
So a lot of things that can't be said publicly in front of other players, these two mentors and apprentices have exchanged in private.
What is a henchman?
This is called the true master-apprentice one-mindedness!
At the end of this day's training, I saw groups of Porto players, returning to the locker room one after another to prepare for a shower and then returning to their respective homes.
At this time, according to the different small groups formed by the players spontaneously, it is actually possible to see who has a better relationship with whom, and even the status of some people in the team.
"Anderson, how is the summer!"
After a brief exchange with everyone during the day, Zhang Desheng finally sat down with Deco and Carvalho.
The lockers of the three of them have even been arranged together in the new season.
"It's wonderful, but I don't want to reminisce about that beautiful but fleeting time, or do you want to say that your trip to Asia went well?"
Deco shook his head, apparently not wanting to let himself fall into too leisurely memories, because he had to get nervous as soon as possible, and the new season was about to begin.
"Not bad, made it to the second qualifier of the U20 World Cup! But I'm not going to go back to the next stage! ”
Zhang Desheng naturally knew that the Macau team had defeated Yemen 6:1 a few days ago, and won all three games in the first stage of the qualifiers, beating the men's team to enter the second stage of the qualifiers at the end of December.
But when he came back to Porto, he really didn't want to play in the second phase anymore.
In other words, unless Macau can qualify from the group in the next stage, then he will return to the all-important quarter-finals, because a win will secure an Under-20 World Cup spot.
"Congratulations, playing for the national team is always more desirable than a beautiful beach!"
When Deco heard this, he seemed to remember that he had been missing the national team, and his expression was a little lonely.
Zhang Desheng also knew that mentioning the national team seemed to stimulate the Brazilian star a little, and when he was about to say something to make amends, Paolo Ferreira rushed into the locker room with a radio.
"Hey guys, the group stage draw has begun!"
Ferreira's words immediately halted everyone's conversation, and everyone listened intently to the sound coming from the radio.
Zhang Desheng also listened carefully at this time, the current Champions League still adopts the "double group stage" system, it stands to reason that the probability of the first stage of the group of death is not large, but it is not certain that any strong team last season performed and fell to the third or fourth gear.
The big guy listened with his ears pricked up for a long time, and it wasn't until the list of Group F was announced that he finally heard Porto's name.
But at this time, Zhang Desheng was a little uneasy like his teammates, because before everyone heard the name of Porto, the first two team names they heard were "Arsenal" and "Barcelona", and the last name was Maccabi Haifa.
"Hell, what kind of bird grouping is this!"
'That's good, Lisbon has Inter Milan, Manchester United, PSV Eindhoven in that group.
"I said, even if we meet Arsenal and Barcelona, we are not easy to bully!"
"Well said, only by stepping on such an opponent to qualify, can you have a sense of achievement!"
“……”
Although the Porto players saw that their team drew a group of death, they really didn't feel stunned when they thought about it, after all, Porto is not a little girl to be kneaded, and those three teams must have a headache when they see them, right?
Zhang Desheng had an irrepressible excitement and impulse, and couldn't help but muttered in his heart: Lao Tzu has already Portugal's son of luck once, is there a chance to engage in Argentina's son of luck this time?