Li Ang did not pay any attention to the sarcasm and ridicule from Barcelona and Madrid. Everything was based on results. What he said now was superfluous. When Sporting de Gijón went from victory to victory and kept moving forward, the sarcasm and ridicule all turned into flowers and praises all over the sky.
Li Ang could ignore the media, but he had to appease and integrate the psychological state of the players.
The media was hyping the Treble, and the players naturally could not not participate in it. The assistant manager, Scott Terry, warned Li Ang that he was worried that the players' morale would waver.
At the end of the day's training, Li Ang gathered all the players for a lecture.
"I know that the media has been hyping the possibility of the Treble these days," Li Ang said. "I also know that everyone is talking about it in private."
"About the possibility of the Treble, if you ask me, I will say that I am very eager and willing to lead you to create this great achievement that belongs to us." Li Ang paused for a moment and saw the brilliance in the players' eyes. He continued, "But, everyone, please remember one thing. The road has to be taken step by step. We can only be down-to-earth and win game by game. If we do this well, we can achieve that great achievement!"
"So, don't let your imagination run wild. Don't pay attention to it. Of course, you can bury your desire for victory and championship deep in your hearts and spur yourselves to work hard. When the season is over, it will be time for us to toast and celebrate!"
Li Ang's reprimand was very timely and appropriate. He did not avoid the topic of the 'treble', but gave a positive reply to it. This greatly boosted the confidence of the entire team. Li Ang was the backbone of this team, and he was confident that the players would be inspired. He then emphasized that they had to be steady and not impetuous. They had to win one match at a time!
This was timely and crucial!
*****
Li Ang keenly captured a hint of confusion in the minds of the players and handled it in a timely manner. While stimulating the fighting spirit of the players, it also prevented blind excitement and the possibility of losses leading to a collapse. This was because he was vigilant and worried about Sporting de Gijón's current situation. The Treble was right in front of them, but Sporting de Gijón was walking on thin ice. If they did not play well in a game, it could cause an avalanche of chain reactions. Li Ang was trying to win the Treble. With Sporting de Gijón's strength and the depth of their bench, it could be said that it was a "snake swallowing an elephant." If they were not careful, it could cause serious internal injuries..
In the 36th round of the La Liga match against Racing Santander on the weekend, their opponent had yet to avoid relegation. This match would not be an easy one for Sporting Gihon. However, in the middle of next week, Sporting Gihon would travel to Lisbon to play in the finals of the UEFA Europa League. This would definitely cause Sporting Gihon to be distracted in their match against Racing Santander.
Under such circumstances, Li Ang was particularly cautious about this game. He wanted to avoid any accidents. This game had to be won no matter what!
Li Ang regarded the three points in the game against Racing Santander as a must-win. Barcelona naturally hoped that Racing Santander, who was fighting to avoid relegation, could cause trouble for Sporting de Gijón. It would be best if they could stop Sporting de Gijón.
Barcelona wanted to counterattack and become the La Liga champion. First, they had to win the next three league games. Then, they had to pray that Sporting de Gijón made a mistake.
In Spanish football, there had always been a tradition of giving a sniper award to a competitor's opponent. There were many rumors about this precedent, but it was not confirmed many times. Just before the start of the 36th round of the La Liga, the media exposed an explosive piece of news. Barcelona had secretly given a sniper award to Racing Santander. On the one hand, Racing Santander had a reason and motivation to fight in order to avoid relegation. However, in order to further stimulate Racing Santander, Barcelona wanted to use money to stimulate the team to delay Sporting de Gijón's progress.
It was an open secret in La Liga that a team would give a reward to a team that defeated a competitor. Although Spanish sports law did not allow a third party to give a reward to a team that defeated a competitor, the law did not explicitly prohibit it. From a moral point of view, this seemed to be far more "honorable" and more acceptable than spending money to bribe the opponent's referee to fix a game. Therefore, this kind of "behind-the-scenes black money" appeared almost every year in Spain.
In fact, it was not the first time that Barcelona had offered money to other teams to help snipe their rivals. In the early 1990s, Barcelona had twice reversed the situation with Real Madrid at the last minute to win the title. Tenerife had stopped Real Madrid in the last two years in 1992 and 1993, helping Barcelona to catch up and win the title. Although there was no direct evidence to prove that Barcelona had offered money to Tenerife to snipe Real Madrid, in fact, Tenerife had received a "reward" from Barcelona in the end. Not only did the team participate in the Gamper Cup (a friendly tournament that Barcelona held every summer in honor of the club's founder), but the president of the team at the time was also awarded the Barcelona Medal!
This method of using money to stimulate some teams to stop their rivals was called the "Ben Laden Operation" in Spain. In Spain, the 500 euro note was jokingly called the "Ben Laden" because the highly developed bank card system made it rare for Spaniards to use such a large denomination of banknotes. Therefore, the latter was like the "Ben Laden", which was only heard of but never seen. The same was true for the bonus provided to a third party. Everyone knew of its existence, but it had never been publicly revealed.
*****
The first to expose the matter was an Israeli media called "Goal Illustrated". The Israeli media quoted the wife of Atlético Santander's goalkeeper, Arvat. The wife of Atlético Santander's goalkeeper, Arroyo, was chatting with her best friend. She boasted that her husband might earn a sum of 50,000 euros.
Subsequently, "Goal Illustrated" quickly followed up and found out that Barcelona had offered a bonus for Atlético Santander. If Atlético Santander could force a draw with Sporting de Gijón, Barcelona would reward all the players who played a total of 300,000 euros. If they could beat Sporting de Gijón, the bonus would be doubled to 600,000 euros. If the goalkeeper could score a clean sheet against Sporting de Gijón, he would receive an additional 50,000 euros. Every goal scored by the player was also worth 50,000 euros!
After the news was exposed by the Israeli media, "Goal Illustrated", the Madrid media, "AS", reprinted it immediately and immediately set off an uproar in the Spanish football world.
PS: Second update. Weakly seeking support.
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