The three powerhouse teams, Barcelona, Liverpool, and Inter Milan, staged a love triangle in the last twelve hours of the winter transfer window. This shocked the entire European football world. They were surprised that the three clubs had done a good job of keeping the transfer confidential. In fact, the truth was that this triangle transfer was really sudden. The three clubs suddenly exerted their strength and realized this triangle transfer.
Li Ang was very satisfied with Inter Milan's harvest this winter. Although they had lost Stankovic and Marchisio, they had gained Decaux, Arshavin, and Toni Kroes. In particular, the addition of the first two was a fighting force that Inter Milan's midfield players had not been weakened. Instead, it had been strengthened. As for Toni Kroes, this was an investment with an eye on the future. There was Mata. Silva, Modric, and Carlos were youngsters. Now, there was the addition of a German lad. Inter Milan's midfield would maintain a strong fighting force for the next five to ten years!
On February 3, 2008, in the twenty-first round of the Serie A, Inter Milan defeated Empoli by a score of 2-0 at home. Adriano and Mata scored for Inter Milan. Decaux, who had been transferred from Barcelona, was given the opportunity to play as a substitute in the game, realizing his debut with Inter Milan at the Meazza Stadium.
Toni Kroes, who did not get a chance to play in this game, also appeared in the Inter Milan jersey during halftime, officially meeting the Inter Milan fans.
Inter Milan's recent opponents in the league were relatively weak. This was also seen by some Italian media as an opportunity for Inter Milan to completely consolidate their title. Milan Gazzetta dello Sport even boldly predicted that before Inter Milan and AS Roma met again in the twenty-fifth round of the league, if Inter Milan kept winning, once AS Roma lost one or two games, Inter Milan could even extend their lead to twenty-one points. This was a seven-game winning streak! And if they won the direct confrontation with AS Roma, Inter Milan would lead AS Roma by twenty-four points. Eight wins. With thirteen rounds left in the league, an eight-game winning streak was simply terrifying!
*****
On February 10, 2008, in the twenty-second round of the Serie A, at the Stadio Massimiliano.
“Goooooaaaaal！”
"Beautiful goal! Mata and Modric cooperated perfectly to plug forward and contain Catania's defensive line. Arshavin appeared in the middle of the penalty area in time and accurately grasped the opportunity to shoot, allowing Inter Milan, who had the initiative in the game, to finally take the lead. "
"This is a crucial goal! Catania, who had been defending the whole game, finally lost the ball. This is a great blow to the home team's morale! "
On the turf of the Stadio Massimiliano, the Russian star nicknamed 'The Tsar' ran excitedly, followed by the equally excited Inter Milan players.
In the away game against Catania, Inter Milan's home team faced the powerful Inter Milan and retreated to defend the whole game. Inter Milan attacked wildly for nearly sixty minutes but did not score.
Li Ang decisively replaced Silva, who was not in good form today, and replaced him with Arshavin.
The Russian was very active after he came on, continuously attracting the attention of Catania's defenders with his speed and breakthrough. This time, after Arshavin dribbled the ball to break through and attracted the attention of two defenders, he suddenly passed the football out. After Mata and Modric's continuous passing and coordination, just when everyone thought that Modric would shoot, Arshavin sent the football to the flank area. At this time, there was no one to defend anymore, and Arshavin shot a powerful shot!
Inter Milan's carefully planned attack fully mobilized Catania's defensive line and finally completed a fatal blow!
Li Ang stood up and applauded on the sidelines, not only because the team finally broke the deadlock on the field, but also because he saw the chemistry between Arshavin, Mata, and Modric during the goal. This was what he valued the most. It showed that the Russian had begun to slowly integrate into the team! This was very helpful for Inter Milan's offensive diversification!
*****
After Inter Milan broke the deadlock on the field, the Catania players began to panic. Their goal was to hold on to a goalless draw. Now that they had lost the goal, the players began to have confusion in their minds. Some players wanted to attack, while some players felt that they should continue to defend. Although it was depressing to lose to Inter Milan after defending for most of the game, was it not normal to lose to the leading team? Now, they had to avoid continuing to lose the goal and avoid a crushing defeat.
In the end, the Catania players, who were not unified in their thinking, were seized by Inter Milan. A series of punches came. Diego Milito, Mai Kong, and Modric each scored. The home team was hit by three consecutive goals and lost to the leading team, Inter Milan, at home.
Inter Milan won the away game against Catania by a score of 4-0. They also continued to break the record of the best start in Serie A that they were constantly creating. Since the start of this season's Serie A, they had won all twenty-two games and obtained a total of sixty-six points.
Inter Milan had the best start with twenty-two consecutive wins and continued to maintain the record of being the only team in the five major leagues that still had an undefeated golden body. This attracted a new round of praise and flattery from the media.
However, soon, the whole of Europe, and even the whole world, was shocked by a piece of news that suddenly broke out.
Because the day after the game between Inter Milan and Catania ended, Marca and Mundo Deportivo, which were considered to have a hostile relationship in the Spanish media, both belonged to Madrid and Catalonia respectively. They broke out a piece of shocking news at the same time.
"Lee, the new king of Camp Nou?!!!"
This was the headline used by the Catalonia media, Mundo Deportivo. There was a question mark followed by three huge exclamation marks!
"Li Ang Coaching Barça! Laporta Brewing Shocking Operations! "
This was the huge headline of the Madrid media, Marca.
*****
The two Spanish media, Marca and Mundo Deportivo, broke a piece of shocking news at the same time: Barcelona was trying to invite Li Ang to coach Barcelona at the end of the season to replace the out-of-favor Rijkaard!
"When Li Ang joined Inter Milan in the summer of 2005, he signed a two-plus-one contract for two years, with Inter Milan having the priority to renew his contract for a third year. In fact, after the end of the 20052006 season, Inter Milan completed a contract renewal with Li Ang. Both sides made it clear that the renewal rights for the third year of the contract would be used in advance. Inter Milan raised Li Ang's salary to 6.5 million euros a year, and the contract would expire on June 30, 2008. Since last summer, Inter Milan has reopened contract renewal negotiations with Li Ang and both sides have reached an agreement to extend the contract. The new contract of the Inter Milan manager expires on June 30, 2009, and the salary of the China man has increased to 7 million euros a year. At present, on the football manager salary rankings, only the England national manager, Fabio Capello, has a salary of 7.5 million euros higher than Li Ang. Then there are Li Ang and Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, with both of their salaries of 7 million euros. This has also made Li Ang one of the managers with the highest salaries in international football."
"Inter Milan may feel that giving out 7 million euros, the second highest salary in the world, is enough for them to rest easy. However, they are now facing a threat. Barcelona has made up their mind to invite Li Ang to coach. Given that Li Ang still has a one-year contract with Inter Milan, Barcelona is even willing to pay a penalty of 7 million euros worth of a year's salary to bring Li Ang to Camp Nou!"
"At the same time, Barcelona is also very generous in terms of salary. In order to get this world-class manager, they are even willing to pay more than 8 million euros a year. If they succeed, Li Ang will become the highest-paid manager in the world of football!"
"Now, everyone knows how popular and outstanding this China manager is. Obviously, Li Ang's' Li-on 'tactics have been touted by the media and experts. There has been a debate about whether Li Ang's tactics or Barcelona's tiki-taka tactics is the first mover. This also shows that Barcelona's people desire Li Ang. They also think that this manager is the most suitable for Barcelona. If Li Ang eventually takes charge of Camp Nou, this will be the craziest combination of strong teams in European football in recent years!"
At the end of the article, Mundo Deportivo quoted an unnamed Barcelona insider to prove the authenticity and possibility of this matter. "Yes, we are trying to invite Mr. Li Ang to coach Barcelona. If everything is successful, it will be an exciting operation …"
*****
In fact, with Li Ang's success in Sporting de Gijón and Inter Milan over the years, as the most famous manager in the world of football, Li Ang's future had been constantly hyped by the media.
This was Li Ang's third season in charge of Inter Milan. Although it could not be said that Li Ang had achieved unprecedented success in Inter Milan and needed to retire at the top of the stream, he had led Inter Milan to the top of Italy and Europe. It was a fact that he had been extremely successful in Inter Milan.
Due to the decline in the competitiveness of Serie A after the "Calciopoli" incident, Inter Milan outshone. Li Ang's future in the Apennine Peninsula might be in a state of "loneliness". Therefore, people had been speculating that Li Ang could not stay in Inter Milan forever. He would leave Meazza at some point. This time might be a year later, or two years later, or three years later, but he would leave eventually!
However, no one thought that Barcelona would actually make a move at this moment. They planned to get Li Ang this summer!
Moreover, according to the news, Barcelona was already on the move and seemed to have made great progress.
The whole football world was shocked by this news.
*****
Subsequently, the Barcelona club immediately refuted the rumor, saying that it was a rumor and not true. The so-called club member who did not want to be named was not true. The club had always trusted Rijkaard. They trusted him now and would continue to trust him in the future.
However, their statement did not have any effect. Everyone knew that there was a rift between Barcelona and Rijkaard. In addition, not to mention Marca, Mundo Deportivo was Barcelona's mouthpiece. This media outlet had a very close relationship with the Barcelona club. Marca, a Madrid-based media outlet, could spread rumors, but it was impossible for Mundo Deportivo to spread rumors.
Immediately, someone noticed a hidden message in Mundo Deportivo's news. It was that Laporta wanted to invite Li Ang to join.
Barcelona's president, Laporta, was currently at the most difficult moment in his five years of leading Barcelona. He needed a crazy move to turn the tide. Under the leadership of President Laporta, Barcelona had won one league title and one Champions League runner-up in five years. This could be considered Laporta's contribution to Barcelona. More importantly, he brought new ideas to how to build Barcelona. He restored Barcelona's rightful position in European football. However, after the draw with Sevilla last Monday, the gap between them and Real Madrid at the top of the table had widened to eight points again. It was easy to imagine how difficult it would be to compete for the league title against the steady Barcelona. There were protests at Camp Nou that "Laporta is out" and Laporta was facing a crisis of confidence.
In terms of the club's construction, Laporta leaned toward the former Real Madrid president, Florentino's superstar policy. It was with players such as Ronaldo, Eto'o, and Decaux that Barcelona was back on the road to prosperity. Rijkaard's offensive football was also praised throughout Europe. However, in recent years, Barcelona's transfer had repeatedly failed, including this season's transfer of Henry, which caused controversy. There were too many star players in the team, and Eto'o's open opposition to Ronaldo and Rijkaard last season were typical examples. Finally, Barcelona toured the world every summer and did not train. Their physical fitness was also a problem. All of this indicated that Barcelona was suffering from the rich disease of Real Madrid's "Galácticos" era. But there was one difference. Barcelona was now younger than Real Madrid. Iniesta, Messi, Bojan, Dos Santos, and other rookies were rising. They were more energetic. As long as the club's leadership was right, this was still a promising team.
Laporta was not as radical as his predecessor, Gaspat, when it came to handling relations with other clubs in Spain. Laporta was flexible in his diplomacy. He actively voted for Villa, the president of the Football Association. The "Zhu Tou incident" at Camp Nou was so famous, but he was not punished by the club's closure. Laporta also put aside his former enmity and got along well with his former political rival, Gaspat, who was the vice president of the professional league. They worked together to protect Barcelona's interests.
But these achievements were offset recently because Laporta was preparing to enter politics. Laporta was determined to enter politics in a few years, so he had to use Barcelona to promote his strong nationalism. Laporta had previously claimed, "Catalonia is a small country between Spain and France." This undoubtedly hurt the feelings of Barcelona's fans in other parts of Spain. They supported Barcelona not only because they liked Barcelona's football, but also because they regarded Barcelona as their own team. Laporta's nationalism also gave the non- Catalonia media an excuse to attack Laporta.
But the Catalonia media also began to oppose Laporta. Some were for the sake of publicity, and some were influenced by Laporta's opponent, Roselle. They never stopped attacking Laporta.
The currently hard-pressed Barcelona president needed a big treasure to help him through this difficult time. Obviously, Li Ang was this big treasure!
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