An hour before the start of the match, the entire city of Gihón was bustling with activity.
.
The media had gathered in the northern port city of Gihón. It was an unimaginable situation in the past.
In fact, the Spanish media had already gathered in Gihón half a day before the start of the match. Even though there was a match between the leading team, Barcelona, and the super team, Deportivo La Coruña, the match in Gihón was the main event that attracted the attention of the entire country.
Just as the media had said, the spectators who were paying attention to the match were not only Valencia fans or Sporting de Gijón fans, but also a large number of neutral fans. They wanted to see the clash between Sporting de Gijón, the dark horse, and the defending champion. They wanted to see how intense the clash would be.
In fact, what was more interesting was that in the post-match statistics of the match, there were quite a number of women among the spectators who were paying attention to the match! Obviously, the 28-year-old head coach of Sporting de Gijón, Li Ang, was very popular among the female fans.
*****
Forty-five minutes before the start of the match, the stands of the El Molino Soccer Stadium were almost full. The fans could not wait for the match to start.
Before the teams even entered the field, the fans of both teams had already started a full-scale war in the stands.
Sporting de Gijón's fans were singing and mocking Valencia for being below them in the standings.
On the other hand, Valencia's fans were singing "We are the champions" in response to the provocation of Sporting de Gijón's fans. Valencia was a traditional powerhouse in La Liga, and they were the defending champions of La Liga. Even though they were currently being suppressed by Sporting de Gijón, they did not care too much because they believed that it was inevitable for their team to surpass Sporting de Gijón. Perhaps, if Valencia won today's match, they would surpass Sporting de Gijón! They even thought that it was a good arrangement to deal a heavy blow to the opponent in Gihón's territory. How good would that be? For this newly promoted team that had been defeated by their own team in the previous season's Supercopa de España, the current dark horse of La Liga, the Valencians felt that they had the most confidence to beat this team in the entire La Liga, even though Sporting de Gijón had previously won against Deportivo La Coruña and Real Madrid. They had beaten Sporting de Gijón before, and it was a double!
The Gihon police were on high alert, fearing that the fans from both sides would start a conflict and bloodshed before the match even started. In the middle of the two teams' stands, there were two rows of empty stands. This was the separation zone between the two teams' stands!
There were two rows of riot police standing back to back at the 'artificially formed' barrier between the two rows of stands. They were fully armed, wearing helmets, and holding tempered glass shields and batons. They stared vigilantly at the red-faced fans.
Seeing this scene, the commentator, Dagestino, sighed. "Sporting de Gijón is just a newly promoted team. They have been away from La Liga for too long. I'm afraid no one would have thought that their first season back in La Liga would cause such a huge commotion. A match with the defending champions is actually such an important and exciting clash!"
*****
Thirty minutes before the start of the match, both teams' players appeared on the field to warm up. In the stands of El Molinon Stadium, the war between the two teams' fans was temporarily suspended. Everyone began to cheer for their teams. Of course, the home team, who had the absolute advantage in the entire stadium, created the loudest noise!
"Gihón!"
"Red and White Army!"
"We are the kings of the north!"
From the players who came out to warm up, it could be seen that both teams had sent out their best. They had sent out the best, the strongest, and the most famous players … Not to mention the home team's determination to take revenge, it was clear that Ranieri was also particularly cautious about Sporting de Gijón, the opponent they had beaten twice in the Supercopa de España before the start of the season.
Obviously, Ranieri's praise of Sporting de Gijón's manager, Li Ang, in a previous interview was not just a polite compliment. He really valued this team and this opponent!
As for Sporting de Gijón, other than the injured Mata and Dorado, as well as the young player, Javier Blanco, who would miss the game because of the flu, they had also sent out their strongest lineup.
*****
While the players were warming up, Li Ang stood at the entrance of the players' tunnel and was talking to Ranieri about something.
"Look, look, Manager Li Ang is talking to Ranieri. It looks like the two of them are talking happily. This is really a rare scene," Dagestino said, making a fuss about nothing.
"Yeah, it's good enough that Manager Li Ang doesn't quarrel with his opponent before the game. How can there be such a harmonious scene?" González also said.
Li Ang was very curious about Ranieri and maintained his respect. He could be said to be the person in the world who knew Ranieri the best, even better than Ranieri himself. In the world of football, Ranieri seemed to have always been a strange existence. He had become a famous manager very early on, but his "fame" seemed to always have nothing to do with his outstanding achievements. Although there was a long list of European powerhouses such as Chelsea, Juventus, Inter Milan, and Roma on his 30-year coaching resume, he had not won even a top league championship trophy for himself in 30 years. How much sadness and frustration was vividly condensed in his nickname, "The Tinker."
The Tinker only knew how to fix things. In the perspective of football success, Ranieri was a manager who only knew how to piece together the team lineup, without advanced skills and tactics, and lacked a distinct personal style. He was always dissociated from success. What was even more tragic was that Ranieri had patched the pot for a lifetime, but often ended up working for others. Chelsea, who was at the height of its power in the Premier League in 2005, and Juventus, who now had five consecutive championships, both began to achieve glory after Ranieri's dismissal.
Some busybodies jokingly called him the "founder of the dynasty," and some even called him the "eternal number two." The humiliation of Ranieri's failed experience reached its peak in Mourinho's war of words against him. "Ranieri is almost 70 years old and has only won the Super Cup and some small honors. I used to spend five hours a day learning Italian to ensure communication with the players. Ranieri has been in England for five years and can't even say 'good morning' and 'good afternoon' clearly … "
It was such a manager who seemed to never find a way to success who took over a civilian team that barely avoided relegation last year. This team had no financial resources, no heritage, and no background. It only had the abandoned players of the powerhouses, grassroots players, and a failed manager who would never win the championship.
Almost everyone was cynical about Ranieri and his team, thinking that it might even be more difficult to avoid relegation this year. Unexpectedly, from the first round of the 2016 season, Ranieri continued to slap these people in the face. Before Li Ang's "rebirth," Leicester City, nicknamed "Fox City," was still the leader of the Premier League. Although Li Ang did not know whether the team finally performed the miracle of winning the championship, Ranieri's professional resume was worthy of his respect.
Of course, these were Ranieri's later coaching resumes. Perhaps even Ranieri himself did not know that he would coach Juventus, Inter Milan, Leicester City, and other teams in the future.
Li Ang found it very interesting. He knew the man's later resume and knew his magic, so he maintained respect for him. However, the other party did not know. However, Ranieri was indeed a recognized good man. He had a good temper and could chat with a young manager like Li Ang, who was famous for his unruly character.
This was a good old man, worthy of my respect.
PS: Sixth update, these were all written late into the night. They are now coming out. Because of the chapters at night, the subscriptions are bleak, only two-thirds of what they were during the day, a third less. Four more chapters! After a tiring night, I opened the window and wanted to take a breath of fresh air. What a heavy smog … Begging for a monthly ticket to take a breather.
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