Spain, Alave.
Ávila was 1,131 meters above sea level, the highest city in Spain. It was an ancient city that maintained its medieval style. The ancient city walls were the symbol of the city, and the cathedral in the city was the oldest Gothic church in Spain. There were also a large number of Renaissance and Gothic churches, monasteries, and so on. The Alcázar Castle, built in the 15th century, was also the highlight of the city. The city still retained its Christian culture, and the walls of Ávila were the oldest. They were built by Christians to defend against Muslims in the 11th century.
The morning sun shone on this beautiful old city. A middle-aged man sat on a sofa in the park, looking at the church in the distance and frowning. He felt like he was going to rust.
Not far away, his wife and child were walking their dog. A burst of laughter came, and he felt out of place in this beautiful scene.
"Mr. Mourinho, can I have your autograph?" A little boy ran over timidly, holding a notebook and a pen in his hand.
"It would be my pleasure." Mourinho shrugged his shoulders. After signing the contract, he ignored the little boy who ran away excitedly and went into a daze alone.
Yes, this middle-aged man was the famous Portuguese manager and former Chelsea manager, José Mourinho.
Since his dismissal last September, the whereabouts of the famous manager had been the focus of attention. Barcelona, Real Madrid, the Portuguese national team, and even his return to Chelsea were all speculated by the media. But Mourinho seemed to have evaporated from the world and disappeared from the media's sight.
It had been seven months since Mourinho's dismissal from Chelsea.
The British newspaper The Guardian once used "forced" to describe the nature of Mourinho's dismissal. Indeed, for Mourinho himself, he might be reluctant to part with the team that had been deeply imprinted with his tactical ideas. Under his training, Chelsea became a rigorous and terrible iron army that was difficult to find a trace of error. But from another perspective, Chelsea was becoming one of the most boring teams in Europe. Too many forced victories had tired Abramovich, and the FA Cup trophy last year could not satisfy the Russian's appetite.
The BBC's commentary at the time also said that the relationship between Mourinho and Abramovich had fallen to a historical freezing point last season, and all the friendliness and peace were just superficial. Once Chelsea's performance was unsatisfactory, Mourinho automatically handed in his resignation letter. Generally speaking, changing the manager in the first month of the new season was not an approach that a mature club should adopt. Moreover, the so-called "crisis talk" in the case of an undefeated first match of the Champions League was somewhat of a fuss over a minor issue. Mourinho's dismissal only meant that Abramovich could no longer tolerate coexistence with him.
In the eyes of the media, the decision to leave was a failure for both sides. The British media said that Mourinho had nothing to gain other than a high penalty fee, while Abramovich had to face the pain of a huge change in the team. Chelsea was likely to use a season's results to pay the price for the easy change of manager. But no matter what, they could not change the fact that what was done could not be undone. The only thing that awaited the Blue Army could do was to fumble their way forward.
But now, at this moment, there was a newspaper in Mourinho's hands. It was the latest Marca. It reported that Chelsea had eliminated Fenerbahçe and advanced to the 20072008 UEFA Champions League semifinals. It also commented that Chelsea's "interim manager," Grant, seemed to be doing a better job than Mourinho. At the very least, there was no sign of the panic that everyone had predicted after Mourinho's departure from this Chelsea team. And Chelsea seemed to be closer to the top of Europe than ever before.
*****
Hmph!
Mourinho was irritated. He crumpled the newspaper into a ball and threw it at his feet.
Just then, his cell phone rang.
Mourinho picked up the phone and looked at the caller ID. He raised his eyebrows. It was a call from his good friend and agent, Jorge Mendes.
Mourinho picked up the phone.
"Hey, José." Mendes's voice came through. "Your vacation looks like it's over."
"Jorge, I said, I don't want to work in the short term." Mourinho frowned. The "divorce" with Chelsea was a big blow to him. He had poured a lot of effort into this team.
"Don't be in a hurry to refuse," Mendes said. "There's an unexpected invitation. I think you might be more interested. "
"Come on, old man. You said the same thing about the Portugal national team and Barcelona." Mourinho said with a smile. He did not want to coach the national team in the short term. As for Barcelona, after the initial contact with them, the two sides ended the talks because of their differences. Then Mourinho learned that Barcelona had not actually made up their mind to invite him to coach. Barcelona wanted to promote Guardiola directly. This made Mourinho very unhappy. He was Mourinho, not a spare tire, and definitely not a spare tire for a rookie like Guardiola.
"It's indeed a more unexpected invitation," Mendes said. "A name you won't expect."
"Well, tell me about it," Mourinho said. "I'll see if I'm surprised."
Mendes then said the name of the club. Mourinho's expression changed. He had to admit that it was indeed an unexpected name and invitation.
"I didn't hear that the guy's relationship with Inter Milan was strained." Mourinho was puzzled. "That guy just led Inter Milan to eliminate Arsenal and enter the top four."
"Who knows," Mendes said. Mendes said, "However, José, I suggest you think about it carefully … This is a good invitation."
Mourinho was silent on the other end of the phone. His expression changed again and again, and his eyes flickered …
*****
“Goooooaaaaal！”
"Diego Milito! This is his nineteenth goal in the Serie A league this season! "The commentator, Ferrari, shouted," A wonderful volley that scored a goal from the point of attack! Inter Milan's home game is 2-0 against Fiorentina! This is the goal that locks in the victory! "
On the turf of the Meazza Stadium, Diego Milito ran with his arms wide open in celebration. Behind him was a tide of teammates.
This was the 33rd round of the 20072008 Serie A season, Inter Milan's home game against Fiorentina.
In the first half of the game, Mai Kong's long shot gave Inter Milan the lead.
Not long after the start of the second half, Diego Milito received a pass from Mata and shot in front of the goal to help Inter Milan expand the score to 2-0!
"If they can win this game, this will be Inter Milan's 32nd victory in the Serie A season. In the 33rd round of the league, other than the draw with Lazio, they have won the other 32 games!" Rossi exclaimed. "This is an incomparably great achievement! What's more, in today's game, Inter Milan also made appropriate rotations! "
Yes, as the commentator said, Li Ang made a certain amount of rotations in the league game against Fiorentina again because the team had to prepare for the Coppa Italia semi-final next week.
Although the Serie A powerhouses generally did not pay much attention to the Coppa Italia, Inter Milan was naturally unwilling to let go of such a championship trophy since they had already won the league title in advance and the Coppa Italia was already in the semi-finals.
They had already won the league title. If they could also win the Coppa Italia and the UEFA Champions League title that they were determined to win, they would once again win the Treble after a season. This was a great achievement that no team in the history of Italian football had ever achieved!
In the end, with the goals of Mai Kong and Diego Milito, Inter Milan defeated Fiorentina 2-0 at home and won the 33rd round of the Serie A season.
*****
In the post-match press conference, the media mentioned the topic of the "Treble" to the Inter Milan manager. Li Ang did not respond directly to it, nor did he directly deny it. Instead, he said ambiguously, "Of course we hope to keep winning. At the end of the season, we will see what we have gained. Everything will be clear then."
Although Li Ang's words could be said to be more tactful, in the media's subsequent description, they were unified.
"Li Ang says Inter Milan's goal is to win the Treble!" – Corriere dello Sport.
"Li Ang talks wildly again. Treble?" – Turin dello Sport.
"The Serie A has won three consecutive championships, the Coppa Italia semi-finals, and the UEFA Champions League semi-finals. It seems that the Inter Milan manager, Mr. Li Ang, is very confident in holding the three championship trophies in his hands …" – Milan dello Sport.
Not only the Italian media, but other European media also paid attention to the Italian side's report, which even caused a stir.
The pro-Barcelona Catalonia media, El Diario dello Sport, criticized Li Ang for being too arrogant and lacking respect for his opponents. They also strongly urged Barcelona to teach Li Ang a lesson in the game. This time, they wanted to settle old and new scores.
Obviously, as Inter Milan's opponent in the UEFA Champions League semi-finals, Barcelona was extremely dissatisfied with Li Ang's decision to skip Barcelona and directly set his sights on the final and the championship trophy.
*****
In fact, Barcelona's current situation could be said to be quite bad.
It was Florentino's policy to recruit a superstar every year. Calderón did not inherit the legacy of his predecessors. Instead, it was Laporta who learned from his nemesis. It should be said that the recruitment of Begiristain and Soliano last summer was very successful. Touré Yaya, Milito, and Abidal had all become indispensable main forces for Barcelona this season. However, the recruitment of Henry was indeed questionable. The fourth superstar had become an unstable factor in Barcelona's locker room, and the Frenchman did not perform too well on the field. Most of the time, Barcelona still relied on Messi, Eto 'o, and even Boyang to win the world.
If Barcelona's recruitment was quite successful, then selling was really a big problem. In the summer of 2006, Barcelona let go of the outstanding veteran, Larsson, and then transferred van Bommel to Bayern Munich. In the summer of 2007, Barcelona let go of the Parisian hero, Belletti, the attacking fullback, van Bronckhorst, and the only pure winger, Giuly. In fact, in the past two seasons, Barcelona's lineup had performed well, but in the past two summers, half of it had been gone. When these capable players left one after another, the pain brought by the addition of new players made Barcelona suffer.
In addition, for Barcelona, to make matters worse, injuries within the team also came unexpectedly.
Puyol was injured at the end of the 2006-07 season, and this was just the beginning of a large number of injuries for Barcelona. Eto 'o was injured in the Gamper Cup, Messi was injured in the Mestalla, Touré was injured in the African Cup, Ronaldinho, Decaux, and Henry were simply constantly injured. Towards the end of the season, dos Santos and Milito fell down one after another. Injuries were tormenting Barcelona's thin lineup. Rijkaard often seemed to be stretched when it came to arranging the players. It must be known that Escuelo, Gudjohnsen, Edmilson, and the others were simply unable to bear the heavy responsibility.
If Barcelona also suffered from injuries during its glory days, then this season's disaster was more serious than the injuries was the internal friction. In fact, this tradition had been at the Camp Nou for a long time. Eto 'o's outburst at the end of last season completely exposed the contradictions in the Barcelona locker room. Although Laporta had solemnly announced the so-called Ten Commandments, the internal friction in the locker room increased in the new season. Rijkaard's weak character encouraged the players' arrogance to a certain extent. Edmilson's Black Sheep Gate, Decaux's Nightclub Gate, Ronaldinho's Fake Injury Gate, and Eto 'o's Strike Gate. How could there be so-called cohesion in such a chaotic locker room?
Barcelona's locker room was not peaceful. What was worse was that the Camp Nou fans and the Catalonia media had long been unable to tolerate it. The boos that Decaux, Eto 'o, and Henry encountered in the final game at the Camp Nou were only exceptions. This was just a concentrated outburst of the fans' dissatisfaction, including the fluttering of white handkerchiefs. The Camp Nou fans were already extremely disappointed with this team. The Catalonia media did not play a good role either. Cruyff's behind-the-scenes commanding role was becoming more and more disgusting. The frequent transfer rumors and locker room scandals also gave the club quite a headache. Laporta repeatedly made bad moves at key moments. Without a good external environment, it was difficult for Barcelona to recover. It was under such circumstances that Li Ang had paid a small price to get Decaux from Barcelona.
*****
Of course, in the eyes of the Barcelona media, the biggest problem for the entire Barcelona team was that the manager Rijkaard could not bear the heavy responsibility.
Since losing to Li Ang's Inter Milan in the 20052006 season's UEFA Champions League final, the condemnation of Barcelona's manager Rijkaard had stopped. In the eyes of the Barcelona media, Barcelona's 4-3-3, or the tactical weakness of Rijkaard's 4-3-3, had been discovered by the whole of Europe after Li Ang had exposed it. The Black Swan had forgotten a very important thing. A team's tactics had to be built around the players. After a large-scale change of personnel, many people were not used to the 4-3-3. Henry was the best example. And at key moments, Rijkaard clearly lacked flexibility. Perhaps he was at his wit's end, or perhaps he lacked courage. Anyway, the Barcelona media now looked down on Rijkaard. Rumors about Rijkaard's dismissal would be stirred up almost every few weeks.
It was no wonder that the Barcelona people were dissatisfied. The La Liga had already gone through 32 rounds. Barcelona was nine points behind the leader, Real Madrid, with six rounds left in the league. Now, they had put all their hopes on the UEFA Champions League title this season. Under such circumstances, Li Ang actually said that he had "locked in" the UEFA Champions League title. This made the Barcelona people, who had a deep hatred for Li Ang, angry.
"You want the title? Ask us first! "The Barcelona media angrily denounced Li Ang.
In response, enthusiastic media reporters "conveyed" Barcelona's angry denunciations to Li Ang. Li Ang was stunned. He was now thinking about the Coppa Italia semi-final against Lazio. The UEFA Champions League semi-final against Barcelona was still a week away. He did not expect Barcelona to make a fuss at this time.
"What I have to think about now is the game against Lazio," Li Ang said with a frown. "Barcelona? Now is not the time to think about Barcelona. "
In all honesty, Li Ang really did not mean to look down on Barcelona this time. He was just telling the truth.
However, in the Catalonia media's description, Li Ang's words completely changed. It became "Li Ang is extremely arrogant and does not care about Barcelona at all."
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