A day later, the entire Barcelona team arrived in Paris.
At Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, the Barcelona manager, Rijkaard, was asked an embarrassing question by a reporter: Rijkaard had previously played against Li Ang's team twice and lost both times. Would this put psychological pressure on him when he faced Li Ang's Inter Milan this time?
"Victory and championship titles are not cast by historical data. They rely on hard work on the field," Rijkaard said.
After getting rid of the reporter's entanglement, Rijkaard was still unhappy. Last season, Barcelona had been leading all the way, but in the end, Li Ang's Sporting de Gijón turned the tables and took away the La Liga title. This was a thorn in Rijkaard's heart. Now that the scar had been exposed again, it was a bit of an exaggeration to say that the old and new grudges were in his heart, but he was still unhappy.
This time, his Barcelona team was strong and had already won the La Liga title. They were also in good condition. This time, they must beat Li Ang!
*****
The next day, at the pre-match press conference, the two managers were at each other's throats again.
When Rijkaard talked about the game, he said that Barcelona had the advantage because Barcelona had the best players in all of Europe and played the most beautiful football.
"We have a phenomenal player like Ronaldinho. Not only that, every player on our team is very good. Barcelona is a whole, a healthy whole. Our beautiful football has won the approval of the audience and also won victory and respect on the field! This is where our confidence lies. We have already won the La Liga title. Now, the UEFA Champions League is our higher goal. Barcelona's desire for victory will help us win the game! "
An Italian reporter raised his hand and asked, "But Inter Milan also has a top star player. They are also the new Serie A champions …"
Rijkaard said, "I know that the situation in Serie A is a bit special now. I hope these things have not affected Inter Milan's preparations for the match. "
Rijkaard smiled and did not continue. However, he was referring to the 'Calciopoli' incident that had caused a stir in Serie A. Now, the Serie A League, which used to be a 'small World Cup', had become the laughing stock of other leagues.
*****
When Li Ang heard Rijkaard's words, his first reaction was that there was something wrong with this person. The "Calciopoli" had not affected Inter Milan yet, and he could confidently say that Inter Milan's Serie A title was real and could withstand the test.
Then he realized that Rijkaard was doing it on purpose to shake Inter Milan's morale.
The reason why Li Ang led the team to Paris a day in advance was to avoid the current mess in Italian football affecting Inter Milan's preparations for the game. Now, Rijkaard deliberately touched the pot that did not boil. He had "sinister intentions."
Moreover, the "Calciopoli" incident was now a sensitive topic.
Li Ang was aware of Rijkaard's intentions. He was alert and had a plan to deal with it.
He smiled and said, "I am familiar with Inter Milan.
"Barcelona is an opponent I'm familiar with. I'm very happy to be able to meet such a familiar opponent on a stage like the Champions League. My experience against Mr. Rijkaard will help us find a way to win in the game."
Aren't you playing psychological warfare? Aren't you going to cause trouble? Then, I will directly expose your scars.
Li Ang led Sporting de Gijón to snatch the La Liga title from Rijkaard's Barcelona. This was his own work, and it was also a thorn in the side of Rijkaard and Barcelona.
Now, what he had to do was to stir up this thorn and anger Rijkaard and the Barcelona people.
A team whose brain was occupied by anger might erupt with great energy, but it also meant that they would lose their cool and easily fall into a trap.
Sure enough, Rijkaard's face became ugly. This bastard! Is it really good to expose my scars so blatantly?!
The reporters at the scene watched the two managers engage in a war of words and enjoyed watching.
They were looking forward to the UEFA Champions League final even more.
The clash between the new La Liga champion and the new Serie A champion!
Rijkaard and Li Ang, this pair of rivals, faced off again after a year, and the stage of the battle was the stage of the Champions League final!
*****
After the press conference, Li Ang returned to the hotel where they were staying and held a tactical meeting with the team.
Inter Milan had been preparing for this game for a long time. After winning the Serie A title ahead of time, the entire team's focus was on the Champions League game.
As Li Ang said, he was very familiar with Barcelona and Rijkaard, which was really helpful for Inter Milan.
In addition, the Inter Milan Team also had two veterans, Ronaldo and Figo. As former Real Madrid superstars, they were also very familiar with Barcelona, Real Madrid's century-old nemesis.
Carlos, Mata, and Modric, the three direct star players that Li Ang brought from Sporting de Gijón, also knew Barcelona as their opponent.
Therefore, in a sense, Inter Milan was really familiar with Barcelona.
*****
As for the tactics of this match, Li Ang had already explained them in several previous meetings. Today, he focused on another topic.
That was: if Inter Milan had a player sent off shortly after the start of the game, how would they play the game?!
The players thought it was quite strange — a red card in the game might have happened before. There was nothing wrong with making plans and preparing for it.
However, how could it be possible for someone to be sent off shortly after the start of the game?!
Unless it was an extremely bad foul, the referee would be more cautious in the final of Europe's top competition like the UEFA Champions League final. He would not give out a red card easily.
The referee was now considering if a player was sent off early in the game and there was one less player to play in the game. Was he oversensitive?!
Li Ang could see the doubts in the eyes of these players.
But he could not explain it to them.
He remembered very clearly that in the original track of history, the two sides of this final were Barcelona and Arsenal, who had been eliminated by Inter Milan.
Not long after the start of the first half of the game, Arsenal's starting goalkeeper, Jens Lehmann, was sent off with a red card, which led to Arsenal playing with one less player for a long time. This was also considered to be the reason for Arsenal's eventual defeat.
Although the opponent against Barcelona was now his Inter Milan, Li Ang was not sure if his butterfly wings would change some of the situations in the game. Therefore, he had to plan ahead and consider the situation of his player receiving a red card early.
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