The UEFA Super Cup was a traditional tournament that had been held since 1972.
It had been said that Nottingham Forest was the European champion because they were the UEFA Champions League winner. But in Liverpool, the Liverpool fans also thought they were the European champion because their team had just won the UEFA Europa League.
In that case, there would be two European champions, but there must be only one champion, and there could only be one. What to do? Then there would be another match between the champions of these two tournaments to determine the final winner. This method was a bit like a "king among kings." Everyone was a king, but which king was stronger? It was believed that many fans would be interested in the answer to this question.
Initially, there were three major cups in Europe: the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, and the UEFA Europa League.
The UEFA Champions League, as the name suggested, was a cup that only the league champions of each country could participate in. It was the most valuable championship and the honor that countless powerhouse teams dreamed of.
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was played by the national cup champions, second to the Champions League.
The UEFA Europa League had the shortest history. Its predecessor was the "Fairs Cup." The participating teams were neither the league champions nor the cup champions, but the few teams other than the cup champions and the league champions. Each national league was allocated a different number of places in the end.
The UEFA Super Cup was originally a competition between the winner of the Champions League and the winner of the Cup Winners' Cup. Later, in the 21st century, the UEFA believed that as the weaker teams in various leagues squeezed into the Cup Winners' Cup, the level of the Cup Winners' Cup had declined and its attractiveness had declined. It could no longer attract richer sponsors, so it carried out a reform of the cup competition, merging the Cup Winners' Cup and the UEFA Europa League. It abolished the Cup Winners' Cup, which had a history of 38 years, and replaced it with the UEFA Europa League.
Today's UEFA Super Cup's two participating teams became the Champions League champion and the UEFA Europa League champion. The UEFA Super Cup's format had also changed from the previous two-legged home and away games to a single game. The venue of the game had been fixed in the tourist resort of Monaco since 1998.
Monaco was indeed a beautiful country with blue skies and blue seas. There were always all kinds of luxury yachts in the port, which only the real rich were entitled to enjoy. For a person like Twain, he did not have the money to keep a yacht. Even Shania did not have enough. Among the people he knew, perhaps only Wood's agent, Billy Woox, was most likely to have a private yacht.
Monaco was famous for its racing, and Monte Carlo was a famous F1 race track. Before becoming the manager, Tang En's understanding of Monaco came from two aspects: racing and football.
Monaco also had its own professional football club and participated in the French Ligue 1. It was not a force to be reckoned with in the French football world. Tang En's deepest impression of them was when the former Real Madrid striker, Morientes, was loaned to the Monaco team. Then, in the UEFA Champions League knockout round, he used a goal to complete his revenge against the Real Madrid team that had abandoned him. His goal helped Monaco eliminate Real Madrid.
The scene of Morientes comforting his good friend Raul after the match was unforgettable to Tang En.
That was a legendary Champions League tournament. The two teams that entered the final were not the most famous and powerful teams in Europe at the time. That tournament created two young managers — Monaco's manager, Didier Deschamps, and Portugal's Porto's manager, Mourinho. In the end, Mourinho had the last laugh and won the Champions League title. He himself also completed the triple jump from the league title to the UEFA Europa League title, and then to the UEFA Champions League. He leaped to become the hottest manager in Europe. Everyone knew the story after that.
The same thing had just happened to Tang En last season. Leading the team from Ligue 1 to the Premier League, and then to the Champions League, Tang En also completed a three-step jump that was no less than Mourinho's. Considering that he was in the more competitive and stronger English Premier League, it might have been even more difficult than Mourinho at that time. Today, Tony Twain had also leaped to become the hottest young manager in Europe at the moment. There was nothing unusual about a manager with high achievements. In this industry, experience and wisdom were needed, and wisdom and experience were exchanged with time and age. The older the manager, the more experience and wisdom they had. Think about Ferguson, Wenger, Capello, Scolari, Bosque, Aragones … Which one of them was not over 50 years old? A head of white hair made them look even more wise and farsighted.
In the coaching circle, a man in his 40s was considered young. If it was a player, he would probably be called "old and decrepit." When Mourinho won the Champions League, he was already over 40 years old, but Tang En was not yet 40. It was hard not to notice him achieving such high achievements at such a young age. The success of young managers showed that they had more glorious years to look forward to than the old man. The old would eventually grow old. When that time came, the football world would be the world of the young. Tang En did not mind using his age advantage to dominate the world for another 30 or 40 years or something …
After Nottingham Forest won the Champions League, there were Forest fans who were worried that a tycoon like Abramovich would poach their "boss" with a high salary. Mourinho had also jumped to the higher level English Premier League after relying on Porto to win the Champions League.
In this regard, Tang En had promised in front of more than 30,000 live fans and countless television viewers that he would not leave the Forest team during the celebration that night. He did not say that he would not leave during the contract period, nor did he say that he would not leave in the next few years. He said that he would never leave.
He did receive coaching invitations from some clubs, hoping to invite him to coach those teams.
Among them, the most famous was Real Madrid.
President Calderón and the Real Madrid fans disliked Capello's Real Madrid for being too rigid and lacking in the style of artistic football and beautiful football. So, after winning the league title, they swept Capello out. So, when Tang En received the invitation, he did not know whether to laugh or cry. Could his football be better than Capello's? Nottingham Forest was constantly criticized by the European media as the representative of ugly football and negative football. To let a team like Nottingham Forest win the Champions League was simply a regression of modern football … Wait a minute, why would Calderón take a fancy to him?
So, Tang En treated the invitation as a joke and did not reply at all. Not long after, he heard that Real Madrid had finally taken over Schuster. They paid Getafe a penalty fee and Getafe agreed to let him go.
That was right. Schuster played football beautifully when he was coaching a small team. He was once a Real Madrid player, so he was currently the most suitable manager for Real Madrid. I, Tang En, don't want to join in the fun …
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Monaco was a beautiful seaside city, but the Forest team did not come here for a holiday. They arrived in Monaco two days in advance to do training to adapt to the venue. Their lives these two days were in the hotel and on the field.
The hotel where the Liverpool team was staying was not far from the Forest team's hotel. It was only a 20-minute walk. Monaco was a small country to begin with. The narrowest part from the north to the south was only 200 meters.
Staying so close, they might bump into each other even if they went out for a stroll. Both teams were now at daggers drawn after the media's heated speculation. So, it was better not to meet unless necessary, especially the "culprit" who single-handedly instigated this war of words.
At this time, the man who had been reviled by countless Liverpudlians a billion times was sitting in the hotel lobby, drinking coffee and accepting interviews from China's media team. He looked very relaxed.
Why was it said to be a "media team"? Because it was not just one media team. There were ten people surrounding Tang En, all reporters from China. Ever since the World Cup in Germany, Tang En and the newspaper that Tang Jing worked for had a relationship of writing articles. So, he was acquainted with many Chinese media. During this year's Asian Cup, as a foreigner, he had scolded the China team from the Football Association to the players, causing a huge uproar in China. But, after all, it was only in China. Tang En did not take it to heart and let the media and fans toss and turn.
This interview was agreed upon during the Asian Cup. He was just fulfilling his promise.
The reporters asked a wide range of questions. They asked about the Super Cup starting tomorrow, the previous Asian Cup, and some of Tang En's personal hobbies. For example, why did he like China's culture so much?
Tang En freely answered their questions in Mandarin, satisfying his addiction to speaking his "mother tongue."
A Chinese reporter kindly reminded him, "The big game is right around the corner. Coach Tang, aren't you worried about tomorrow's game?"
Tang En did not know whether to laugh or cry. "Whether I'm worried or not has nothing to do with me accepting your interview here, right?"
"As far as I know, Coach Benítez is busy studying the opponent's information at this time."
"That's only because you didn't know when we were studying the opponent." Tang En's face stiffened. He had some suspicions that this blind reporter was deliberately here to mess things up.
It was Tang Jing who quickly came out to smooth things over and smooth things over.
"Coach Tang En, can you make an outlook for tomorrow's game?"
Tang En stood up. This was the last question. He did not have so much time to waste on word games with the reporters. "Outlook? What's there to look forward to? Of course, we'll win. " With that, he grinned and made a victory sign. The photographers cooperated and pressed the shutter in their hands.
After the interview, Tang En shook hands with the reporters and said goodbye. He had to return to his room to prepare for the tactical meeting in the evening.
"Put in more good words for me in front of the Chinese readers. I know my reputation in China doesn't seem to be very good right now," he said jokingly, making the reporters laugh. "Who knows, I might even have the chance to go to China in the future. When that time comes, please take care of me!"
He cupped his fists and made a very Chinese gesture.
Then he turned and left.
Was he joking? Some people thought so, and some thought not, such as Tang Jing.
Nottingham Forest had a Chinese player, a Chinese assistant manager, and a manager who loved Chinese culture and chose to vacation in China twice. How could such a team with such close ties to China turn a blind eye to the "virgin land" of China?
Real Madrid had been to China, and so had Barcelona. There was also Manchester United and Chelsea. The English Premier League was very loyal to the development of the Asian market. With these teams coming, would the new European champions be far away?
She looked forward to it.
※ ※ ※
Tang En did not return to his room. He walked straight into Dunn's room. The coaches were all there, discussing the relevant topics for the tactical meeting in the evening. Seeing Twain come in, everyone just looked up and continued with their work. No one paid him any attention.
Dunn got up to greet him.
"How was the interview?"
"Much easier to deal with than the British media." Tang En glanced around the room. "Still discussing?"
"It's basically all gone. Just some divergent discussions," Dunn introduced.
Divergent discussions referred to discussions that were not focused on the match itself, but questions that were derived from it. In fact, to put it bluntly, it was "digressing." But this digression was more professional.
The coaching staff thought Benítez would choose a more moderate tactic for the game, which was not to focus on defense or overly emphasize offense. Instead, he would patiently contend with the Forest team, even if it dragged to the penalty shootout. Then, the topic began to run to Benítez himself. What he liked, what habits he had, and how his Spanish identity affected the football tactics he chose. After all, the philosophy of Spanish football was completely different from that of English football.
Then, it continued to run to the tradition of the Liverpool team, and the topic quickly changed again. This time, Tang En became the protagonist. Everyone was discussing the previous war of words between Tang En and half of the population of Liverpool City (meaning the Liverpool fans).
This time, seeing that Tang En was sitting next to him, everyone looked at Tang En and laughed as they discussed.
Kerslake was still joking with Tang En, telling him not to travel to Liverpool for the rest of his life. Otherwise, he might be in danger.
Tang En sat to the side and did not join in their digression. His thoughts followed the flow of these people's discussion and stopped on the topic of Benítez himself.
As a manager, he would naturally start from his peers when studying a team. He understood Benítez very well. Thanks to the advanced information dissemination technology, he could easily find out a lot of things he wanted to know.
Like him, Benítez was a master tactician and a manager who was good at on-the-spot commands. Do you still remember the 2004-2005 UEFA Champions League final? In the first season Benítez took over Liverpool, he created a miraculous night in Istanbul.
Tang En knew that he was directly promoted from a rookie to a manager. He did not receive an orthodox education. In addition to relying on his own talent, he constantly learned the experience and knowledge of others. Therefore, he read a lot of tactical notes, studied the methods of other managers, and studied the many classic battles in football history, from which he found the shining points left behind by the predecessors.
Ordinary fans watched the game only to see the performance of the star players. Tang En happened to be a fan who liked to study tactics from before he transmigrated, so he only played CM and FM when he played games. He was a complete rookie when it came to live football. He could not even win against a five-star computer, let alone against people. It was different when he played football manager games. He could always win against people online. He benefited greatly from these habits. There were always things worth learning and learning from those classic battles.
In the Champions League final against AC Milan, he had George Wood follow Kaka closely. It could not be said that he was not influenced by Benítez. Remember that Champions League final back then? Liverpool's defender, Finnan, was injured. Benítez replaced Finnan with Harman and Liverpool changed to a 352 formation. Harman's appearance gave the Reds someone to mark Kaka. As a result, the Brazilian, who was unusually active in the first half, disappeared without a trace.
Sometimes, a manager's substitution did not have to be earth-shattering. It was more threatening to look inconspicuous. Benítez was such an introverted manager. Most of his tactical masterpieces looked inconspicuous. It was that season when Liverpool visited Turin with a home score of 2: 1 to challenge Juventus. At the time, public opinion was one-sided in favor of the Italians, but Liverpool crushed the Old Lady 0: 0 in the away game. The other fans complained that the game was dull. At 2: 45 in the morning, it made people sleepy, but Tang En watched the whole game in high spirits from beginning to end. He saw Benítez's tactical wisdom from it. The change in formation of the three center backs had a miraculous effect. Juventus, who was best at defense and stifling battles, was stifled by Liverpool's sudden change in formation. Capello could only return with a grievance.
Tang En still remembered the first season when he led the team to the English Premier League. At that time, he had forced a 1: 1 draw at home against Arsenal and won 2: 1 against Chelsea at home. It was like he was riding on a high. In the end, he suffered a crushing 1: 4 defeat to Benítez's Liverpool in the away game. Even though more than two seasons had passed, that game was still the biggest loss he had suffered since he took charge of Nottingham Forest.
Until now, he still remembered every detail of that game because the 1: 4 score was too glaring. All of his tactical arrangements in the game were seen through by the opponent. His on-the-spot command, which he was proud of, was also suppressed by Benítez. No matter how he changed players to adjust, he could not move out of the circle that Benítez had delineated for him. At that time, he felt powerless, like Sun Wukong who could not jump out of the palm of the Buddha.
Tang En was not a person who would be blinded by the anger of failure. He was willing to gamble and accept defeat. Since he had lost, the only thing he could do was to carefully study the game, find his own shortcomings, and then improve them in future games. Failure is the mother of success. Although this saying is very vulgar, it is indeed a famous saying. What he learned from this game was far more than winning a few games in a row.
After that, Tang En was no longer the same person he was in the past. Nottingham Forest often won against Liverpool. The relationship between the two was no longer that of a powerhouse and a newly promoted team.
The best thing about Tang En was that he was absolutely not tainted by the "phobia" of China's bad habits in football. So, he would not have some boring psychological shadow just because he had lost to an opponent before, and then he would always trip over the same stone. He was a person who believed in the fighting philosophy of "if someone slaps me once, I'll slap them back a hundred times." To put it nicely, it was "those who offend my authority, no matter how far away, must be punished." To put it bluntly, it was "vengeful."
Benítez was a steady manager. So, before the game, Tang En did everything possible to provoke a war of words between him and Liverpool, and even dragged the Spaniard into it. But would Benítez really be affected by this?
He did not reply to Tang En's provocation and insults in the media. In interviews, he only talked about the game and nothing else.
It looked like Tang En's psychological tactics did not work on him.
No, whether it really did not work, they would only know during the game.
Tang En snapped out of his contemplation. His coaches had already changed the topic from Earth to Mars. A group of people were excitedly discussing a fat commoner star who had recently become very popular in Britain. He was Paul Potts, who had amazed the world by singing opera in the elective program "The British Genius."
"Alright, guys. If there's nothing else, you should go back. Don't you think it's too crowded here? "Tang En stood up and clapped his hands, interrupting their discussion. "After dinner, inform the players of the meeting," he said to Kerslake.
Kerslake nodded. He did not leave immediately. "What else?"
"Remind them to rest early today."
After giving these instructions, Kerslake and the other coaches walked out.
Then, Dunn stood in front of the sofa and looked at Tang En, who had sat down. "You're not going back to your room?"
Tang En was stunned by the question. He then looked around and said, "Oh." "So this is your room …"
Dunn did not know whether to laugh or cry. He pushed him out. "I'll call you when it's time for dinner. You'd better rest now. I think you're tired and confused."
Tang En muttered, "I'm used to living with you," and walked back to his room.
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