The first day after Real Madrid's championship was a day of rest. The players met for dinner at a high-end restaurant they frequented in the city in the evening.
This family gathering was less of a carnival and more of a heartwarming affair.
Speaking of the day's spectacle, the picture of Pepe and Marcelo's naked buttocks had been on the news. Everyone laughed about it, but it was nothing. After all, compared to some sexual scandals, what was that?
Everyone was decently dressed for this trip. On the balcony of the restaurant, Qin Xiong and a group of teammates were dressed in suits and holding champagne. Everyone was emotional as they recalled the efforts and sacrifices of the past season.
When it came to the future, everyone was full of confidence.
However, Raúl, Casillas, and Guti had a flash of worry in their eyes.
In the eyes of the outside world, Real Madrid was close to perfection.
In terms of the lineup structure, perhaps it was enough to strengthen three or four players to prepare for the future.
For example, Cannavaro's successor and Guti's successor.
In these positions, other than Cannavaro's successor, who must be solved first, the others were not imminent.
Gago was the expected candidate to succeed Guti. The successor of Raúl and van Nistelrooy? The Smoking Gun, Higuaín.
Did Real Madrid need to go through a painful transformation?
No!
Snede, Qin Xiong, Diarra, Robben, Ramos, and Casillas. This was the core skeleton that could keep Real Madrid at the top for at least the next three years.
But this was only the view of the outside world, and the views of some Real Madrid players.
Yes, that was right. Things seemed to be like this.
But Casillas, Raúl, and Guti, the veterans of Real Madrid, knew the nature of the Real Madrid Club better than anyone else.
It was said that there would be great governance after great chaos, and Real Madrid was indeed so. But Real Madrid was not the kind of club that could remain well-behaved in the midst of prosperity and peace.
Real Madrid had a phenomenon that was very special in the football world.
Many top teams that went from prosperity to decline could be roughly divided into two categories.
First, he had lost to time!
The core players in the team were older, which naturally led to the decline of the team's strength. Due to the lack of follow-up investment, the competitiveness of the team continued to decline. In the end, the team fell from the peak to the bottom, just like AC Milan after 2000.
The second was that he had lost to a stronger opponent.
There would always be a higher mountain, and there would always be someone better than you. When a stronger person defeated a strong person who was once at his peak, as the loser, it would cause a lot of chaos and shortcomings that had been covered up. This was also a common phenomenon in the football world. When things were going well, there would be singing and dancing, and when things were going badly, it would fall apart!
But Real Madrid often did not fall into either of these two situations. They always lost to a special phenomenon: digging their own graves!
The reason for this phenomenon was very simple.
It goes against a principle of football development: the winning team does not change!
Even in Real Madrid's victory, the management wanted the team to change. Ideally, they wanted the team to become better, but reality often did not develop according to people's subjective will.
It was because of this concern that Real Madrid's veteran players could not be as optimistic as Qin Xiong, Robben, and Snede.
The war of the mainstream European leagues came to an end. In England, a new financial football revolution was underway.
Manchester.
Manchester City's owner and former Thai Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, was deeply involved in a corruption case and needed to return to his country for a hearing and trial.
He had long had the idea of selling the club.
In the VIP box at the Luzhniki Stadium, a spectator who was ignored by the outside media came from the Arab world. After watching the whole game, he gave the final word to his entourage: the acquisition of Manchester City!
The two sides in the final were Real Madrid and Manchester United. The acquisition of Manchester City?
It sounded completely unrelated.
After the swift and decisive Arab tycoon succeeded in acquiring Manchester City, the next morning after Real Madrid won the title, the Manchester City club held a press conference.
It officially announced that the club had entered the era of the Abu Dhabi consortium from the era of Thaksin!
The Abu Dhabi Development and Investment Group of the United Arab Emirates acquired Manchester City!
It had an earthquake effect in English football.
However, Fleet Street did not welcome the arrival of the Abu Dhabi consortium with open arms. Instead, it made sarcastic remarks.
"These sheikhs actually don't understand football at all. They buy a yacht today, a plane tomorrow, and a football club the day after. It's just for fun. They have so much money that they can use it for bathing, so they have no other pursuit except for entertainment. "
But Al-Fazim, who became the boss of Manchester City, vowed to make a big career like Abramovich in 2003, and to do better.
"I think it will be the same as the Abramovich effect!"
Al-Fazim said, "We want Manchester City to compete for trophies in all competitions, not only in England, but also in the Champions League. I think what the club has been lacking is the right person to provide financial support, and now they have it. "
Al-Fazim planned to buy "at least 18 world-class players!"
He publicly announced that he was willing to spend one hundred and thirty-five million pounds to bring in Ronaldo!
Of course, due to the relationship between Manchester United and Manchester City, Al-Fazim's words may be mainly to stimulate Manchester United. As for how it would work, the Manchester City club quickly took action.
They did not provide an offer for Ronaldo, because it would only be ridiculed and rejected by Manchester United and humiliated.
Al-Fazim was like Abramovich in the past, thinking that he could knock on the doors of all the clubs in the football world with money.
He offered thirty-five million pounds to Arsenal for Fàbregas.
He offered forty million pounds to Liverpool for Torres.
He offered thirty million pounds to Tottenham Hotspur for Berbatov.
He offered thirty million pounds to Valencia for David Villa.
He offered twenty-five million pounds to VfB Stuttgart for Gomez.
.....
Al-Fazim was fantasizing about quickly having a team with outstanding fighting power.
But the football world really had its own reservations.
Some players could not be bought even if you had money!
Some of the teams that they made offers did accept the offers. After all, it was difficult for clubs not to be tempted by money.
But the players were not willing to join Manchester City.
The most important thing was that the players were not mentally prepared at all.
The vast majority of transfer operations had at least three months, half a year, or even a year or more to lay the groundwork.
At least let the players be mentally prepared.
Especially for foreign players.
From Spain to England?
From Germany to England?
And so on.
It was not as simple as going there to play football. All aspects of culture, life, philosophy, and so on had to be considered thoroughly.
Perhaps Abramovich would be gloating at this moment. He wanted to spend one hundred million euros to take Raúl from Real Madrid but failed to achieve it.
He now understood that the football world's dream lineup was almost impossible to achieve.
It had little to do with whether the club was rich or not.
And Manchester City was still in the stage of becoming a nouveau riche. They arrogantly announced that they had made an offer to Real Madrid.
One hundred million pounds to buy Qin Xiong!
Al-Fazim's slogan was: Bring Qin Xiong back to the Premier League!
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