Li Ang stirred up all of Sporting Gijón's enthusiasm.
The fans of Sporting de Gijón were already satisfied after successfully avoiding relegation. At the same time, they planned to enjoy the rest of the season with a relaxed attitude. However, they were surprised to find that the team still had hope of promotion. Moreover, they heard the manager, Li Ang, express his ambition to challenge La Liga from the television. This aroused everyone's enthusiasm.
These two days, Sporting Gijón's media were talking about the team's promotion prospects and the last two rounds of the Segunda División.
No one would have thought that at this stage of the season, they would actually reignite the hope of promotion. This was really unexpected, a real surprise.
It was because it was unexpected that the surprise was even more intense.
Even Sporting de Gijón was surrounded by this kind of atmosphere of anticipation and nervousness.
The club's general manager, Venita Arango, specifically looked for Li Ang to ask about the possibility of the team's promotion. Li Ang faced Venita and naturally told her the truth. "We can only do our job well and try our best to win the next two games. The rest is up to God."
Venita heard this and nodded to show her understanding. This was not Li Ang being pessimistic. On the contrary, it showed Li Ang's fighting spirit. We will do our best! We will have no regrets!
Li Ang then asked Venita half-jokingly if the team could really reach La Liga, then, in terms of the transfer budget, could they increase some funds …
Venita did not give a definite answer to this, but she promised to consider it.
Li Ang felt helpless. His intuition told him that even if they managed to get into La Liga, it would be impossible for them to get more funds. Of course, the club could not possibly not provide any additional funds. However, he could not hope for any 'surprises'.
Sporting de Gijón had "spent a lot" of money in the previous seasons, but they had not been able to successfully reach La Liga. The results and investment were not proportional, which caused the team's finances to be greatly affected. Now, it was time to pay off the debts of the previous seasons. The debts owed by the previous managers had affected him, causing the current financial crisis. Li Ang really wanted to curse. He felt uncomfortable holding it in.
*****
At this time, the 20032004 La Liga season had already ended.
Valencia won the La Liga title, Barcelona and Deportivo La Coruña were second and third respectively, and Real Madrid was only fourth in the end. For Galácticos, the qualification for next season's UEFA Champions League was not enough to cover the shame of a season in which they had failed to achieve anything.
In addition, the UEFA Champions League was over.
This season's UEFA Champions League was an absolute dark horse.
In the quarterfinals, La Liga's Super Lazio was defeated by Serie A's AC Milan with a score of 1: 4. When everyone was cheering for the Rossoneri and thought that Deportivo would definitely be eliminated, Deportivo defeated the Serie A's AC Milan with a score of 4: 0 at home in the second leg. This super reversal shocked the whole European football world. 'Super Laker' was famous throughout Europe.
However, the biggest dark horse of the season was not Deportivo La Coruña, but the two teams that had reached the finals: Porto from the Portuguese Super League and Monaco from the French Ligue 1.
The two teams that people did not expect to meet in the finals.
Then, in the finals, Porto, led by a Portuguese man named José Mourinho, defeated Monaco, the dark horse from France, and stood at the top of Europe.
At that time, Li Ang watched the Champions League final in front of the television. He watched the man named José Mourinho punch into the field to celebrate the European title. Li Ang turned off the television.
For European football, 2004 was a watershed. In the summer of that year, the order was temporarily subverted. Then, a new and more powerful order was established. Many people who later shook the football world stood up …
This was an era of heroes!
Li Ang was a little excited. What role would he play in this great era?!
The veteran Ferguson, Wenger, Capello, and the others were still in power. Ancelotti and the guy named Mourinho had already risen from the middle generation. In the future, there would be a bald man named Guardiola … and Klopp and Simone …
All of them would be my enemies?!
He was looking forward to it.
*****
La Liga ended.
A new European overlord was born in the UEFA Champions League.
Now, only La Liga was still being played in the Spanish football world. Therefore, the media's attention to La Liga was more intense than before.
Promotion and relegation received the most attention.
Considering that the influence of the Spanish C1 League was negligible, the promotion war was obviously the focus of attention.
Then, the media was shocked to find that the Chinese -led Sporting de Gijón actually had a chance to qualify for the promotion play-offs with two rounds left in the league.
This immediately attracted the attention of many Spanish media. A Chinese man coaching a La Liga team was a big topic, and this Chinese coach had previously led Sporting de Gijón to defeat Real Madrid in the final of the Copa del Rey. This made Li Ang receive a lot of attention before. Now, the team led by this Chinese man actually had a chance to be promoted to La Liga!
This was really too shocking!
Thanks to the media's hype, when Li Ang took over Sporting de Gijón, the team was in a terrible situation. Now, Li Ang actually brought Sporting de Gijón to the promotion play-offs area. This could be said to be a miracle.
Moreover, Li Ang previously led Sporting de Gijón to win the Copa del Rey. This earned Li Ang a reputation, but there were also some voices who thought that the Copa del Rey was too coincidental. Li Ang led Sporting de Gijón to win the Copa del Rey, which showed that this Chinese man did have some ability. However, considering the uniqueness of the Copa del Rey, this Chinese man's coaching ability should not be exaggerated too much.
These were the media who had a grudge against Li Ang. They could not directly criticize Li Ang. After all, Li Ang's results were there for all to see. There was nothing to criticize. Therefore, they secretly changed the concept and used the "uniqueness" of the Copa del Rey to try to say that Li Ang's "standard was not that good" …
However, before these people could finish their words, as the La Liga season entered its final stage, Li Ang led Sporting de Gijón to develop silently. Suddenly, there was a clap of thunder. This Chinese manager announced that his team still had hope of competing for La Liga. He announced Sporting de Gijón's ambition for La Liga!
For those who "secretly changed the concept" and racked their brains to belittle Li Ang's ability, this was tantamount to a direct slap in the face!
You said that the Copa del Rey was coincidental. Well, well, let's look at the Premier League. Using four months, he brought a team that was almost certain to be relegated to seventh place in the Premier League. With two rounds left in the Premier League, they still had the qualification to compete for promotion play-offs. How was this coaching resume?!
It was dazzling enough!
Li Ang's words at the press conference after the game with Las Palmas also caused a stir in the media.
His sentence, "I don't care if you believe it or not, I believe it" also caused a wave of discussion among the Spanish people. Some fans, especially the young fans, thought that this sentence was simply too cool.
This sentence first became popular among the fans of Gijón, then it began to spread among the young people of other cities in Spain. For a time, it was actually quite fashionable.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
