Chapter 84 Quarterfinals first leg
After the quarter-finals matchup, Inter Milan fans fell into a state of excitement and distress. The excitement was that they would meet Mourinho, the head coach who brought no glory to Inter Milan again, and the distress was that they met as opponents this time.
Should they cheer for Mourinho or shrew him in the stands?
In fact, this is not the first time Mourinho has returned to Meazza Stadium. Last season, Real Madrid was divided into a group with AC Milan in the Champions League group stage, and he led the team back to Meazza to fight AC Milan. At that time, this incident was a grand event for Inter Milan fans. From the moment Mourinho arrived in Milan City, Inter Milan fans organized to welcome him and welcome him at the airport. When Real Madrid played away, many Inter Milan fans bought tickets to enter, cheering in the corner of the stands, shouting Mourinho's name.
Now, I guess he won't be treated like this... But at least at Meaccha Stadium, Inter Milan fans should not hate Real Madrid as much as Barcelona fans.
In fact, Inter Milan has to thank Real Madrid for being the treble champion.
If it weren't for the big sale after Florentino came on stage, Sneijder would not have come to Inter Milan. Sneijder was the last and most critical piece of the "triple-champion puzzle" planned by Mourinho for Inter Milan. It is precisely because of Sneijder's joining that Inter Milan's midfielder has truly gained control and inspiration. Although Sneijder's performance at Real Madrid is ups and downs, sometimes good and sometimes bad, but with Inter Milan, under Mourinho's trust and training, his performance is world-class, which can be seen from his award for Best Midfielder in the 2010 Champions League.
Perhaps this scene will happen in the upcoming two-team confrontation - Inter Milan fans put out large slogans in the stands, thanking Mourinho and Florentino. However, the latter is hard to say whether these slogans can be accepted... One week before the game, Mourinho has heard about himself and Inter Milan in the club's regular press conference.
Mourinho never shy away from Inter Milan, especially his feelings for this team.
"...Yes, I have a lot of feelings for Inter Milan because I led them to the Triple Crown here. In any club, being able to win the Triple Crown is a very amazing achievement. It was a very wonderful memory. So far, I have many friends in Meacha..." Mourinho said.
It is rare that he did not attack or insult his opponents before important games.
"...Mr. Morati has a very good relationship. But now I want to talk about Real Madrid, C. Ronaldo, Kaka, Chu, Alonso, Higuain... are all Real Madrid players." He changed his subject. After all, he is the head coach of Real Madrid. If he always mentions Inter Milan, he will always leave some bad impressions on the current team's players.
At the same time, he didn't want his current big boss Florentino to have any suspicion.
After being eliminated by Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final last season, he once expressed his loyalty to Real Madrid and expressed his willingness to continue coaching at Real Madrid because Real Madrid is "white". He used a pun here, "white" also means "pure". Obviously, he believes that Real Madrid is much cleaner than Barcelona.
Florentino also expressed support for Mourinho, believing that no matter what Mourinho does, the Real Madrid club will support him without reservation, and do not think Mourinho's conservative and negative play is wrong at all.
In fact, both sides are smart people. Florentino cannot not know what negative impact Mourinho's actions have brought to Real Madrid's reputation in Europe, and Mourinho cannot not know how hard it is to be a MT that attracts hatred in Real Madrid. But everyone is going to have to do it. Florentino is eager to win Real Madrid the tenth European Cup in history under his rule, so that he will be as famous as his idol Santiago and Bernabeu. For the sake of the championship, he would rather accept Mourinho, because in today's world football, only Mourinho is the strongest adaptability and can win the championship even if he changes the club. Choosing him is to choose him as a head coach who can bring championships.
Barcelona's godfather Cruyff once criticized Mourinho for being a coach who only wins the championship, not a football coach. But this is actually not criticism, but praise for Mourinho.
Mourinho also knows the difficulty and pressure of coaching in the world's number one giants, and he even sacrifices part of his reputation and image. But he is willing to pay such a price because he desires challenges. There is nothing more challenging in today's world football than coaching Real Madrid to win the Champions League title.
Since each person gets the needs, he has to support the other party.
So Florentino gave up his control over the team, handed over all this power to Mourinho, and provided Mourinho with all the support he could provide, who he wanted to buy for him; in order to make the entire team alone, Florentino also undermined the team's general manager Valdano; when Mourinho was criticized by the media, he publicly expressed his support for Mourinho at a senior meeting of the board of directors... The two of them were really grasshoppers who fell on a rope, prospering and losing.
Obviously, Florentino was gambling.
If Mourinho fails, it basically means the failure of his superstar policy. At that time, he may be dismissed halfway through the same period as last time, resigning to calm the anger of Real Madrid club members and board of directors.
But if Mourinho can really copy the myth he created in Inter Milan, then Florentino will be pushed to the top. He will be compared with Santiago Bernabeu, the most legendary and greatest president in the history of the Royal Club.
※※※For Chu Zhongtian, this is not the first time he has played against Inter Milan. The last time he played against Inter Milan was two years ago. Hoffenheim, who participated in the Champions League, was just an unknown person, but the eighth-final against Inter Milan completely made the whole of Europe know them. Chu Zhongtian's advancement also began with the second round of the two sides.
Hoffenheim played very beautifully in that game. The superb running cooperation made Mourinho's team completely unable to find a clue, and he could only run with the nose in the whole game. Hoffenheim seemed to have merged with Chu Zhongtian. Whatever Chu Zhongtian thought, Hoffenheim would do what Hoffenheim team would do.
Before this, they had never had such a tacit understanding.
Unfortunately, they dragged the score into a penalty kick, but still lost to Inter Milan. After Mourinho survived, he also led the team to the finals and achieved the great achievements of the triple-champion champion.
Now this Inter Milan has undergone a great change compared to two years ago. The head coach has changed two and the players have also changed a few. At the time, Macon, who was in full swing, was considered the world's number one right-back, but now he can only return to Brazil to retire and completely disappear from people's vision. Lucio and Samuel's two centre-backs were now old and injured. The Italian defensive star Ranokia led the Italian defensive star on Inter Milan's defense line.
Chu Zhongtian himself has also changed a lot. First, he won the European Champions League in Hoffenheim, secondly, he transferred to Real Madrid with a net worth of 70 million euros, and he also became the World Footballer and the winner of the European Golden Ball Award. Now he is no longer an unknown little person in Hoffenheim, he is the world's top midfielder.
If your identity is different, will your mentality change?
In Chu Zhongtian, such things would not happen.
No matter who his opponent is or what his identity is, he has only one goal, that is, to pursue victory.
A Chinese journalist reiterated the old story, hoping that Chu Zhongtian would recall the experience of fighting with Inter Milan in Hoffenheim, but Chu Zhongtian was unwilling to talk more. "The past Inter Milan is already very different from the current Inter Milan, so past experience is useless to the present."
The reporter asked him again: "Murinho has a good relationship with Inter Milan fans. Does this mean that you will face less pressure when you go away than when you go to other teams away games. After all, the fans there may be more friendly to you..."
Chu Zhongtian shook his head and denied this view: "Whether it is Inter Milan or any other team, it is always difficult to play away. I don't think the fans' favorability for Mourinho can be transferred to us. If we scored in Meacha, those people would definitely boo us."
"In terms of strength, Real Madrid is currently stronger than Inter Milan, so you should be able to advance to the semi-finals, right?"
"This is not accurate." Chu Zhongtian smiled. "We respect Inter Milan and will not say stupid things like eliminating them before the game."
After answering the reporter's questions, he returned to the locker room.
Like him, other teammates were asked about topics related to Inter Milan during interviews.
In fact, they were also quite curious. If they went to Meach this time, would they hear the hymns from Inter Milan fans to Mourinho?
At the same time, many people also believe that with the relationship between Mourinho and Inter Milan, they should be under much less pressure and interference in the away game, so that they can play this away game in a relatively relaxed mood. What better thing? Everyone knows that away games are very difficult to play in the knockout stage of the Champions League.
If you have this condition, it is of course a good thing.
But they didn't show it.
※※※ Chu Zhongtian didn't know what his teammates were thinking. He was preparing for the game as he was his habit. It was not a match against Inter Milan, but a match against Levante - everyone was paying attention to the quarterfinals between Real Madrid and Inter Milan, but forgot that they had another league game to play before that.
Although the opponent is not very strong, we cannot underestimate the opponent. Real Madrid has such a precedent. They often lose to some very mediocre opponents because of their underestimation. The biggest problem with this team is that they are sometimes too conceited and arrogant, and then capsize in the gutter.
Mourinho obviously also knows the characteristics of this team, so before the game against Inter Milan, he talked about the most not Inter Milan, but Real Madrid and Levante.
He wants everyone to know that before the match against Inter Milan, Real Madrid will have to play a game with Levante first.
"If you lose to Levante, Barcelona will take advantage of the opportunity! Do you want to go to Italy as the second in the league?"
Of course no one wants to.
So in the game against Levante, Mourinho did not hide any main players. He sent the strongest lineup he could, defeating Levante 3-1 away. Ronaldo scored a goal. When he was replaced in 75 minutes, he had a relaxed smile on his face. Now he is two goals ahead of Messi in the league scorer list, and the gap between the two has been further widened.
The other two goals were scored by Benzema and Di Maria.
Chu Zhongtian assisted C. Ronaldo's goal in the game. Now his mid-range record in the league is eleven goals and 16 assists, ranking first in La Liga in the assist list.
There have been reports that Chu Zhongtian is very likely to win the best foreign aid this season in La Liga. If this is true, then Real Madrid will win this honor for three consecutive years. The best foreign aid in La Liga last season was Ozil, and the best foreign aid in last season was C. Ronaldo.
At least from the transfer, Real Madrid has not made any mistakes in the past two years.
After defeating Levante, a stone in Mourinho's heart finally landed on the ground.
Now the entire Real Madrid team can put the league aside and focus on going to Milan, Italy...※※Milan, Italy, is the capital of fashion and fashion in the eyes of many people. The fashion week two seasons each year is the highlight of the fashion industry. It is a place that many people yearn for.
However, for Chu Zhongtian, Milan only has one identity in his heart, that is, the residence of two world-class wealthy families.
For him, there are only Inter Milan and AC Milan. As for fashion and fashion, he is not interested.
In Real Madrid, two people are familiar with Milan City. One is Kaka who has lived in Milan for six years, and the other is Mourinho who has been in Milan for two years.
But neither of these two people were interested in being a guide and took everyone to visit Milan City.
After landing at the Malpensa Airport in Milan, the entire Real Madrid team met the legendary Inter Milan fans who came to welcome Mourinho at the exit. They were wearing Inter Milan's blue and black sword jerseys, holding up a portrait of Mourinho and slogans praising Mourinho.
As soon as you come out of the exit, you can see them.
When Mourinho appeared at the entrance of the passage, the flashing lights were made on the spot, and the waiting Inter Milan fans shouted excitedly: "Jose! Jose!!"
The head coach's limelight completely suppressed C. Ronaldo, Kaka, Chu Zhongtian, Benzema and other star players. I'm afraid that only Mourinho can do it in the world.
But this is also good. The media and fans are attracted by Mourinho, and the players can get in the car without everyone caring much.
Chu Zhongtian sat on the bus and looked at Mourinho, who was still signing the autographs for the fans and was interviewed by reporters.
He used to dislike this head coach, and thought he was like a mad dog, biting him when he called someone and barking everything twice. He always looked very conceited and no one looked down upon him.
But now after working with him, I realized why Mourinho's performance is like a mad dog. It is to relieve stress of the team.
Although Chu Zhongtian himself does not need others to relieve stress from himself, he appreciates this attitude. He believes that the head coach should do this. The head coach is not just responsible for tactics and team training. If a team is compared to a big family, then many times the head coach is like the parents of this big family. He needs to understand every player, enlighten them when they are depressed, pour cold water on them when they are proud. They share with them when they are happy, and they are with them when they are sad and painful.
Mourinho did this very well. Otherwise, why would there be no locker room problem for which team he goes to? It is impossible to do this with an iron fist. Capello is also an iron fist coach, but look at the atmosphere in the locker room when he was in Real Madrid and England's national team. The iron fist is outdated, and it only applies to the last century. Today's players are all new generations. The things they have come into contact with since childhood are different from their predecessors. They are more maverick, have their own ideas, and are unwilling to be bound. This can be seen from Ferguson. Ferguson can pull Giggs directly out of the party. Now, when facing his own players, he can only smile helplessly when facing the scandal of prostitution.
Mourinho is a smart head coach. He knows that he can no longer control his current players by relying on his iron fist. You have to integrate into the players and be their brothers, not their fathers. Mourinho does this very well. He is very protective of his shortcomings, which makes those big-name stars think of his benefits. In addition, he does not match his image in the rumor. Mourinho is a rumored arrogant maniac who is difficult to get along with. But in fact, Mourinho often jokes in training, always with a smile on his face, and can be very good at playing with the players.
The last and most important point - he can always bring championships to the team. Whether in Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, he can use championships to prove his value and increase his authority. Players always admire those big names with superb abilities. Mourinho is obviously such a big person, and everyone is willing to listen to him. After he told everyone what to do, the players will think: "This is what a head coach who won two Champions League titles said, it must be true!" Instead of "Where did this unknown man come out? What qualifications do he have to point fingers at us!"
When Pellegrini was coaching at Real Madrid, he was not very convinced. He couldn't suppress the big guys in the locker room.
The current Real Madrid locker room is quite harmonious with Chu Zhongtian's observation. The so-called contradiction between the Spanish Gang and the Portuguese Gang is false in Chu Zhongtian's opinion.
Real Madrid has never been as united as they are today.
Mourinho's cleverness is that he painted a bright future for everyone and drew a big pancake that looked very delicious. In order to eat this big pancake, everyone had to work together under his leadership, and had no time to think about anything other than working hard to move forward.
Before eating this big cake, the Real Madrid is now invincible...
Chapter completed!