Barcelona's manager, Franck Rijkaard, was one of the famous Dutch Three Musketeers during AC Milan's reign in Serie A and Europe in the 1980s and 1990s. He was Rijkaard!
Franck's name in the Catalonia language was Frink, and the people of Barcelona called him Frink. Being affectionately addressed by the locals in the local language was a sign of recognition. From this, it could be seen that the people of Barcelona were satisfied and respected Rijkaard.
Rijkaard's history at Barça began at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. Barça's vice president, Roussel, and the director, Vegiristain, did not spend much time to reach a contract with the Dutchman with a low annual salary. "We didn't give him much money. His annual salary was only one million euros, which was below market value," Roussel later recalled. "He's a good man."
Under Cruyff's recommendation, Rijkaard became Barcelona's manager. Barça's administrative officials also admitted that Rijkaard was much more honest in this regard compared to those "troublesome" managers who were prone to causing trouble. He was loyal to the club's decisions and never caused any trouble for the club.
As a manager, Rijkaard was cautious, humble, and eager to learn. It seemed that all the words that could be used to describe a manager could be used to describe the Dutchman.
*****
Rijkaard was more serious and cautious about Sporting de Gijón as an opponent. Li Ang's mushy words about Barcelona intoxicated the entire Barcelona team. However, Rijkaard was not included.
He asked his assistant, Tenkat, to inquire about the news. Through the reports from the staff of the hotel where Sporting de Gijón stayed, as well as some covert observation of Sporting de Gijón's training, Tenkat believed that Sporting de Gijón was indeed very afraid of Barcelona. They were practicing defense during training.
In addition, Tenkat studied some of Sporting de Gijón's previous games and found that Li Ang's offensive tactics were surprisingly similar to those of the current Barcelona team. However, it was clear that Barcelona did better. Therefore, in view of this, the Chinese manager recognized Barcelona's football philosophy and liked it very much. This was possible.
Rijkaard and Tenkat were just like Brian Clough. Kraff and Peter? The combination of these two men was later regarded as the biggest contributor to the rise of this Barcelona team. Mr. Tenkat, before Li Ang's rebirth in his previous life, had come to coach the Shandong team in the Chinese Super League.
Rijkaard listened to Tenkat's analysis and came to the conclusion that Sporting de Gijón did not have any tricks up their sleeves. Everything looked normal and did not look like there was anything fishy going on.
"Maybe the Chinese people are admirers of your football philosophy," Tenkat said with a smile.
Rijkaard smiled slightly and did not say anything. He was determined to win this game. Barcelona's eyes were on Europe. They wanted to dominate Europe again. Only by constantly moving forward in the league and establishing the advantage of winning the title in advance, could Barcelona put more energy into the Champions League.
*****
When they arrived at the away team's locker room at Camp Nou, assistant manager Martin Skrtel loudly asked the players to quickly change their jerseys and get ready to go to the team to warm up.
Banderas was whispering something to Li Ang.
Among Li Ang's coaching staff, Martin Skrtel was the real assistant manager. Some of the team's training arrangements, as well as notifying the players and other trivial matters, Li Ang handed them over to Martin Skrtel. He was a veteran employee who had worked at Sporting de Gijón for more than 20 years. His coaching skills were relatively average, but he was very suitable as an assistant manager. Banderas was more like Li Ang's assistant. Banderas came from Real Madrid's youth coaching system. He had a solid foundation and could help Li Ang to give advice and fill in the gaps.
This three-man coaching team could be said to be a perfect match. It was very reasonable. At least Li Ang was personally very satisfied.
Li Ang and Banderas were communicating about the starting list. It was not unusual for the starting list to not be finalized when the game was about to start. When the manager chose the starting players, he would be very cautious. Many managers had the experience of delaying until the last moment to finalize the starting list.
Li Ang prepared two sets of tactics for the game. Each set of tactics used a different starting player. The players were familiar with the two sets of tactics in the past two days of training. After the manager's choice was confirmed, they only needed to play according to the manager's arrangements. Therefore, the manager's job was very hard. Their brains needed to be precise and meticulous. There were many plans and plans stored in their minds and they had to be able to take them out at any time to be effective.
The players' voices came from the corridor. The warm-ups were back. Li Ang finally gritted his teeth and confirmed the starting list. He also immediately confirmed the final tactics to be chosen after the game.
*****
Almost at the same time, in the home team's locker room at Camp Nou, Rijkaard was laying out the tactics for the next game. Compared to the previous games, Barcelona's tactics had not changed much. With Barcelona's strength, they basically did not need to modify their tactics for specific opponents. They could cope with changes by sticking to the status quo and crushing everything with their strength. This was what it meant when they said that.
Everyone was very familiar with the tactics, so some players did not pay much attention to it. There was no nervousness on the faces of the players. Many of them had smiles on their faces. There were even some people chatting in low voices. Some people were listening to music and quietly doing things that had nothing to do with the tactical meeting.
Rijkaard certainly saw this, but he was not angry. Rijkaard was a very tolerant manager. As long as there were no problems with the players' training and game conditions and attitudes, everything was more casual. In fact, in the face of Sporting de Gijón, the third-place team in the league, this dark horse team, Rijkaard was proud that his players could maintain such a relaxed mentality.
"Our biggest enemy is ourselves. So, as long as we maintain the state and play of the previous games, it will not be a big problem to win against Sporting de Gijón." After talking about the tactics, Rijkaard added. "After the game starts, I hope everyone can quickly get into the game state and determine the victory as soon as possible!"
In the middle of next week, Barcelona would have a Champions League group game against the Celtics. Although the opponent was not strong, the team had two games a week. If they could use less energy in today's game and get more rest, it would naturally be a good thing.
*****
Li Ang finally began to announce the team's starting list in the locker room. Almost at the same time, assistant manager Scott Terry had just reported the starting list.
It was different from Sporting de Gijón's starting list only when the game was about to start. Barcelona's starting list had already been announced when they left for the stadium.
Therefore, at this moment, the reporters who were already in the media seats at Camp Nou had already seen Barcelona's starting list.
Even if it was just the timing of the announcement of the starting list, Barcelona's people could find a sense of superiority. They said that the early announcement of the starting list showed Barcelona's strength and fearlessness. They believed that their strength could crush everything and they were not afraid of the challenge of any team. Therefore, the early announcement of the starting list was a reflection of this self-confidence. This was the mentality that a championship team should have.
Then, they began to dig at Li Ang and Sporting de Gijón, saying that Li Ang had been hiding the starting list. This behavior showed that he was afraid. He was indecisive and hesitant.
The reporter of the Voice of Gijón, Mitra, looked at the scene with a sneer. Just a moment ago, these Catalonia people were still talking and laughing, praising Li Ang's friendship with Barcelona and saying that he was an "old friend of Barcelona." Now, in the blink of an eye, they were sarcastic and mocking.
Wait until the game starts, you will cry! Mitra's heart was filled with hatred.
Finally, when the players from both sides came out, the media reporters got Sporting de Gijón's starting list.
Mitra glanced at Sporting de Gijón's starting list and then his attention was attracted by the stadium. Sporting de Gijón's manager, Li Ang, and Barcelona's manager, Rijkaard, shook hands. The two men even hugged and exchanged a few words before parting.
"The highlight of the 12th round of the 20042005 La Liga season, Barcelona's home game against Sporting de Gijón, is finally about to start!" The commentator, Dagestino's excited voice came from the closed-circuit television. The gold-medal commentator's voice was a little excited.
The battle was about to begin!
PS: Second update, and guaranteed minimum of two. Looking for a monthly ticket and a few recommendation tickets. There are very few recommendation tickets this week.
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.
