Inter Milan's fourth goal came in the 61st minute of the game.
Inter Milan's free kick in the front field was quick. Modric sent a straight ball. Agüero, who was in an offside position, was smart. He stood in place and did not touch the ball.
This made the CSKA Moscow players misjudge. Their defenders raised their hands to signal that Agüero was in an offside position. Then they saw Mata on the other side cut in and dribbled the ball into the penalty area.
In the face of the attacking goalkeeper, Akinfeev, Mata selflessly passed the ball. Silva, who followed, easily pushed the empty goal and scored.
Four to zero!
"Four to zero! Inter Milan leads CSKA Moscow with four goals! The Italian giants show their strong strength to their opponents. This is the heritage of the old giants. They tell CSKA Moscow how strong they are with one goal after another! "Lineker's voice rang out on the television.
Abramovich heard it and snorted. The commentator's words caused him great displeasure.
Lineker's words evoked his bad memories and feelings, stinging his sensitive nerves.
*****
At the end of the 2006-2007 season, which was this summer, Chelsea's boss, Abramovich, went to Dubai. In addition to a vacation, he also had an important purpose, which was to support a friend's football summer camp. After Abramovich went to the football youth camp twice, he did not want to go again. Abramovich's assistants followed the rich man's gloomy gaze and found that most of the children in the camp were wearing the jerseys of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Inter Milan, and AC Milan outside the game field.
Although everyone knew that Abramovich did not need the financial returns of football, he could not accept in any case that a team built with €535.8 million invested in just three years under Mourinho's management had such a weak influence on the world and the fans. The highly recruited international superstars, Shevchenko and Ballack, did not have a chance to appear on screen. In the seven-star hotel in Dubai, people were talking about Manchester United's rising star, Cristiano Ronaldo, who stayed there a week ago. As the owner of the Premier League powerhouse, Chelsea, Abramovich always received flattery from a few of his aides. Even the bartender in the hotel claimed that he was a Real Madrid fan.
Abramovich was furious. He painfully recalled the scene a few years ago when the alien Ronaldo played a hat trick at Manchester United's home ground in a royal polo shirt and won the applause of the Red Devils fans. It was this sense of conquest that was far more intense than finding oil that made the tycoon finally buy Chelsea and step into the hall of football. He vowed to build a blue aircraft carrier that was more luxurious than Florentino's Galácticos.
However, the commander-in-chief Ranieri at that time did not have the ability to realize Abu's ideals. Therefore, when the UEFA European Championship in Portugal was held in 2004, Abramovich's private superliner docked at the port of Porto. Mourinho, who had just won the UEFA Champions League, boarded the spiral staircase of the cruise ship. A year later, Chelsea regained the Premier League title for the first time in half a century and successfully defended it the following year. Chelsea, the English Premier League, or rather, European football had entered the era of Mourinho.
Abramovich thought that his Chelsea could already be ranked among the powerhouses. However, during his experience in Dubai, he saw the weak influence of his Chelsea, which could even be said to have no sense of existence. This deeply hurt Abramovich's sensitive and proud nerves.
*****
And it was under such circumstances that the conflict between Abramovich and Mourinho intensified further.
Mourinho, who received the highest annual salary in the world of football, had forgotten two important factors after three years of being fated to be champions. First, when Abramovich recruited him, Mourinho had the highest honor in European football at that time, which was the Champions League. Second, Mourinho, or to be precise, the team built by Chelsea with 535.8 million euros, could not be compared to the members of the G14 in the world, whether in terms of brand or popularity, other than being able to influence the corner of London.
In September 2005, Mourinho had a premonition of the crisis. Abramovich signed the former Valencia player, Arsen, as the club's official talent scout and investigator. The latter and Mourinho had different views on many competitive issues. In the summer of 2007, Abramovich promoted his close friend, Grant, to technical general manager. At that time, Mourinho had completely lost his competitive administrative power in the club. He could only fight by snubbing Ballack and Shevchenko.
Mourinho's philosophy was very clear. A club like Chelsea had to go through iterations and must first carry out the precipitation of competitive results before it could achieve a breakthrough to become a big club. In this inevitable process, only designers and practitioners were the most important. Mourinho was the only designer and practitioner. Abramovich could no longer accept the Portuguese's arrogance and stubbornness as he did in the summer of 2004. He significantly reduced the acquisition funds, stayed away from the locker room, and waited for Mourinho's tiredness and the limit of his patience.
In fact, Abramovich was also very clear that Mourinho did not really passively wait for Abramovich's decision as he had repeatedly said in public. At the end of 2006, his agent, Mendes, secretly met with Real Madrid's president, Calderón, in the small Portuguese city of Faro. During the conversation, the names of Mourinho, Cristiano, and Ronaldo were mentioned alternately. What made Calderón uncertain was Mourinho's high annual salary and his iron fist and arbitrariness that were very similar to Capello's. What no one expected was that shortly after Real Madrid's manager, Capello, was dismissed, Mourinho also took the same path.
The draw between Chelsea and the weak Rosenberg in the Champions League group stage finally angered Abramovich completely. He believed that Mourinho was no longer magically able to lead Chelsea to greater glory.
Therefore, a month ago, the Chelsea Football Club announced that Mourinho would no longer serve as the club's manager and explained that it was neither Mourinho's resignation nor the club's firing, but that the two sides had reached a tacit understanding.
After that, Chelsea's manager was replaced by Grant. However, everyone knew that Grant was only a temporary choice. Abramovich would certainly choose a new captain for Chelsea to lead the blue warship to conquer the sea and realize the dream of a powerhouse that he had been brooding about.
According to the English media, Abramovich was looking for a famous manager who was more capable than Mourinho to lead Chelsea forward!
Who was this person?!
The English media had once named a person: the Inter Milan manager, Li Ang!
In fact, Abramovich's assistants had recommended Li Ang to him more than once, suggesting that Abramovich invite Li Ang to coach. The Inter Milan manager was undoubtedly the most glorious champion manager in the current football world. Whether it was popularity, coaching ability, or a championship resume, they all met Abramovich's requirements. However, Abramovich had been hesitant. Having just ended his "romance" with the unruly Mourinho, the Russian tycoon was not interested in Li Ang, who was also known for his unruly character.
However, at this moment, watching Li Ang's Inter Milan show strong dominance and beautiful game scenes on the field, Abramovich began to carefully examine and consider the possibility of inviting the famous China manager to coach Chelsea for the first time.
*****
Li Ang sat in the technical area with a relaxed expression.
He did not know that in front of the television, the super-rich in London was watching him.
He was in a very good mood now. He wanted to use the bodies of CSKA Moscow as a warning to all invaders. This was a good show to make an example of them.
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