The 19th round of the 20042005 La Liga season came to an end.
The leading team, Barcelona, defeated Real Sociedad with a score of 1-0 at home. The Catalonia powerhouse did not score their only goal until the last minute of the second half.
Real Madrid defeated Real Zaragoza with a score of 3-1 at home. Ronaldo, the "alien", scored twice. The superstar striker, who had an average performance in the first half of the season, began to show his prowess.
The defending champion, Valencia, was forced into a draw with Osasuna with a score of 0-0.
Sevilla, who had suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Sporting de Gijón, lost to Malaga, the third-last team in the league, in an away game. It was a huge upset, and it continued a strange pattern in La Liga this season: the strong teams that were defeated by Sporting de Gijón did not perform well in the later rounds of the game. It was as if the team's spirit was suddenly drained when they lost to Sporting de Gijón.
In this way, after the 19th round of the league tournament, the La Liga standings underwent a huge change.
Barcelona was in first place with a score of 12 wins, 4 draws, and 3 losses, with a total of 40 points.
Sporting de Gijón defeated Atlético Madrid with a score of 7-2 at home. Their record was 10 wins, 4 draws, and 5 losses, with a total of 34 points, and they rose to second place in the league!
Valencia was in third place with a score of 9 wins, 6 draws, and 4 losses, with a total of 33 points.
Real Madrid, a super powerhouse, bounced back with a score of 10 wins, 2 draws, and 7 losses, with a total of 32 points. This was also the first time Galácticos had been in the top four of the league this season. Luxemburgo's team began to show the strength of a powerhouse.
Sevilla lost to Malaga unexpectedly and was in fifth place with a score of 9 wins, 4 draws, and 6 losses, with a total of 31 points.
Everyone looked at the current La Liga standings. They looked at Sporting de Gijón, who was in second place, and looked at Valencia, Real Madrid, and the other powerhouses below them. They did not know what to say.
Sporting de Gijón was the dark horse of the La Liga season. They had known for a long time, but no one expected this dark horse to be so dazzling in the middle of the league season.
*****
What Sporting de Gijón was like more than a year ago was no longer a secret in the Spanish football world. With the sudden emergence of this team, reports about Sporting de Gijón had already filled the newspapers. A team that had almost been promoted to Segunda División in the previous season had miraculously broken out and been promoted to La Liga. They had even won the Copa del Rey championship. Then, as a newly promoted team, they were now in second place in La Liga. The UEFA Europa League had also entered the knockout stage!
This kind of result, this kind of change, could only be described with the word 'magical'!
All eyes were focused on one name, Li Ang!
This young Chinese coach could be said to be the biggest contributor to Sporting de Gijón's miraculous transformation.
While the media was discussing Sporting de Gijón's slaughter of Atlético Madrid and their second-place ranking in the league, La Repubblica broke the news that Atlético Madrid's owner, Angel Hill, was interested in poaching Li Ang to coach Atlético Madrid. For a moment, this became the most eye-catching news in the entire Spanish football world.
Sporting de Gijón's current results and ranking were the biggest basis for this shocking news!
Results determined everything!
Although Li Ang's current resume was thin, it was so bright that when the Spanish media and fans heard the news, they were first surprised, but they felt that it was understandable. This Chinese man seemed to be qualified to coach a powerhouse team.
*****
The front page of AS reported, "Obviously, the crushing defeat at the El Molinón Stadium has completely angered the Hill family. Ferrando's dismissal is an inevitable result. What is surprising is that Angel Hill's selection of managers includes Li Ang's name. This Chinese man, who is not yet 30 years old, now has the opportunity to coach a powerhouse team that he has just led to defeat. A Chinese man becoming the manager of a powerhouse team like Atlético Madrid, this picture is just incredible."
The local media in Gijón also reported this matter. Unlike the media in other parts of Spain who were discussing this matter and even adding fuel to the fire, the local media in Gijón were worried. They knew better than the media how important Li Ang was to Sporting de Gijón. If the current Sporting de Gijón was single-handedly built by Li Ang, it would not be an exaggeration to say that he was the pillar of Sporting de Gijón. The media and fans in Gijón were worried that the team's manager would be attracted by the powerhouse's invitation and that Li Ang would leave Sporting de Gijón. After all, compared to a powerhouse team like Sporting de Gijón, Sporting de Gijón was much worse in every aspect. Although Sporting de Gijón's ranking was much higher than Atlético Madrid's, this was the reason why the Madrid powerhouse wanted to poach Li Ang.
This matter even caused a frenzy of coverage in China's domestic media.
Although Li Ang was now coaching Sporting de Gijón and his results were excellent, in the eyes of the people, a 'grassroots team' like Sporting de Gijón could not be compared to a powerhouse like Atlético Madrid.
After the domestic sports websites and major media reported the news that Atlético Madrid was interested in inviting Li Ang to coach, the domestic media and fans could be said to be in an uproar.
A Chinese manager coaching a powerhouse team was simply something they dared not even dream of. This was much more difficult than a Chinese player playing for a powerhouse team, although the latter was already very, very difficult. One could imagine how incredible it would be if Li Ang really coached a powerhouse team.
On the Internet, the domestic fans were a little excited. They expressed their 'support' and 'strong support' for Li Ang to coach a powerhouse team and 'win glory for the country'!
*****
Hua 'er also specially called to ask about this matter. The young girl's voice was very excited.
"No comment." This was Li Ang's answer to Hua 'er.
This made the young girl a little unhappy. She said, "What's the relationship between us? Don't give such a formulaic answer."
Li Ang said, "It is precisely because our relationship is not ordinary that I said no comment."
Hua 'er's clever little head nodded and understood a little.
This meant that Li Ang was a little tempted. Otherwise, Li Ang's answer would be that he liked Sporting de Gijón, liked to stay here, and would not consider anything else.
Of course, maybe he was just a little tempted, that was all.
"Tempted?" Hua 'er's eyes lit up. She licked her delicate lips and asked. Thinking of Li Ang coaching a powerhouse team and standing in the powerhouse team's technical area, the young girl was a little inexplicably excited.
"I don't know." Li Ang shook his head. "I don't want to think about it now. Let's talk about it later."
"If you're tempted, then go," Hua 'er cried.
"Pay attention to your manners." Li Ang was a little speechless.
"Okay, okay. I'm happy for you," Hua 'er said with a pout.
Li Ang did not speak. This girl's coquettishness made him a little unsure of how to deal with it. Fortunately, Hua 'er on the other end of the phone blushed. She knew that her words were a little ambiguous, so she found an excuse to hang up the phone.
*****
Li Ang rubbed his temples.
He had a headache now.
From the bottom of his heart, he wanted to make a career in Sporting de Gijón. He wanted to lead a grassroots team to achieve a career and defeat countless powerhouses. This sense of accomplishment was bursting.
Li Ang's original plan was to stay at Sporting de Gijón for a few years and lead the team to become an important new force in Spanish football.
He had not considered going to other teams before.
Of course, this was also because there were no teams. To be precise, there were no powerhouse teams that invited him.
However, the most important reason was the current situation of Sporting de Gijón, which made Li Ang a little tired.
He was not talking about the team's results. Under his leadership, the team's current situation was very good. They were in a good state and naturally, the results were good.
This referred to the team's financial situation. Sporting de Gijón's finances had not been abundant. Otherwise, last summer's transfer budget would not have been less than three million.
After half a season, Sporting de Gijón had performed well in La Liga and European competitions. Li Ang thought that the team's financial situation would improve. However, just before the game against Atlético Madrid, he had a secret meeting with the club's chairman, Old Arango. He received news from the team's chairman, Manuel Arango, that the team's financial situation was still tight. Even Manuel Arango tentatively asked if they could sell a few of the team's star players.
They were relying on the sale of blood to support the team's finances.
This immediately alerted Li Ang. He did not hesitate to reject Old Arango. He knew that he had to be firm on this matter. He could not give Old Arango any room for imagination!
Hearing Li Ang's firm rejection, Old Arango seemed a little unhappy. However, he had an agreement with Li Ang. Li Ang had the power to transfer the team. Moreover, Manuel Arango also knew that the team's current results were largely due to Li Ang. He did not want to have a strained relationship with Li Ang.
*****
The conversation with Old Arango alerted Li Ang.
After the game against Atlético Madrid, Scottley secretly told Li Ang the news that he had found out. The defending La Liga champion, Valencia, had set their sights on Sporting de Gijón. They were interested in Ribéry and Diego Milito and intended to buy the two players as a package.
Although he did not find out how much Valencia's offer was, it was obvious that it was an offer that tempted the club's chairman, Old Arango.
This made Li Ang feel a little helpless and a little angry.
He had worked so hard for Sporting de Gijón. He had almost single-handedly built the team. He had just laid the foundation for the house here, and the other side wanted to poach him.
This made Li Ang feel insecure. He could not help but imagine that the empire he had worked so hard to build would be destroyed by the club's hoe!
This was also the reason why Li Ang had a headache and was angry. Under such circumstances, it was impossible for Li Ang not to be moved by the sudden news that Atlético Madrid had taken a fancy to him and wanted to invite him to coach.
It was just that Li Ang was not at ease with Atlético Madrid, or to be exact, with the Hill family.
Li Ang knew more about Atlético Madrid and the Hill family.
*****
Two days before the 1987 Atlético Madrid chairman election, Old Hill and Porto's star player, Paulo Futre, appeared at the club together and promised to sign the star player from the Portuguese giants if he won the election. Old Hill's move had a miraculous effect in the election of the Red and White Army chairman. He finally defeated his main competitor, Enrique Leon, with 6,219 votes to 3,465 votes.
This also became a very distinct and important event in the history of Atlético Madrid. The face of the club changed greatly because of this. Old Hill had changed the course of the club's operations. There were both good and bad sides to it. In his first five seasons as the team's chairman, the team had always been in the top four of the league and won the Copa del Rey in 1991 and 1992. But the then-chairman's series of impromptu and eccentric behavior made the team look more like a circus.
In 1992, Old Hill reorganized Atlético Madrid into a limited liability public sports company, which was to transform the club into a joint-stock company. At that time, the fans were like frogs being boiled in warm water. They did not realize the seriousness of the problem. By the time they found out about the problems caused by the club's reorganization, it was already too late.
Old Hill and his business partner, the current Atlético Madrid chairman, Enrique Cerezo, were found to have illegally obtained a total of 236056 shares of the club. But when the court heard it, the statute of limitations had expired, so they were allowed to continue to hold these shares. Today, Old Hill's son, Angel, still owned more than half of the club's shares directly or indirectly.
At that time, the Atlético Madrid fans did not give a strong enough response to the "theft" after the club's conversion to a joint-stock company. In the same year, Old Hill closed the team's youth training camp to save costs. The young Raúl left for Real Madrid, their nemesis in the same city. What happened next was needless to say. Everyone in the city of Madrid knew about his great career.
Atlético Madrid also suffered the only relegation in the history of the team after World War II during Old Hill's era. The reason was nothing more than overspending in some unnecessary areas, and the behavior of investing too little in some areas finally made the team feel the pain. Although the team quickly recovered and returned to La Liga, they did not get rid of the mountain of debt. Atlético Madrid still owed Spanish taxpayers up to 45 million euros due to the problems during the Turmoil.
In La Liga, Atlético Madrid sank for two seasons. In the 0102 season, Atlético Madrid returned to the ranks of La Liga as the La Liga champion. However, Atlético Madrid's record in their first return to La Liga was not ideal. They finished seventh last season.
Although Li Ang also admitted that although Old Hill had many failures when he was in charge of Atlético Madrid, his madness and dedication to Atlético Madrid were not inferior to Moratti during the Inter era.
However, Li Ang had to be careful. The Hill family did not seem to have a good relationship with the manager. They liked to criticize the manager.
Moreover, Atlético Madrid's finances did not seem to be very good now.
*****
Then, two days later, Sporting de Gijón defeated Osasuna 1-0 in the second leg of the Copa del Rey quarter-finals. They smoothly advanced to the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey.
In the media, it was also revealed that Atlético Madrid's owner and general manager, Angel Hill, publicly expressed goodwill to Sporting de Gijón's manager in an interview with Televisión Nacional 3.
"Coach Li Ang's results in Gijón are incredible. Look at their ranking in the league table. Coach Li Ang's coaching ability is admirable and amazing. (Invite Li Ang to coach Atlético Madrid?) Why not? "
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