The Godfather of Greenery

Chapter 280 The Best Hunter

On the afternoon of the 24th, Porto, Portugal, the airport departure hall.

All the reporters and fans who came to the scene to bid farewell to Porto were surprised to find that all the outfits of the Porto team today have a new look. The suits have changed from the original dark blue to the current dark gray, but their ties are still maintained. The traditional color is dark blue, but with striking white stripes.

Everyone knows that this is the color when they won the Champions League in 1987. Not only that, Porto also specially invited the veterans who won the Champions League for the team in 1987 to follow the team to Gelsenkirchen. Can bring good luck to the team and help the team beat Chelsea.

Porto chairman Da Costa came to the airport to see him off in person, which can be regarded as trust in Mourinho and reassured the Portuguese.

Just before the Portuguese Cup final not long ago, some media disclosed that Mourinho had a fierce quarrel with the chairman Da Costa. In the final, Da Costa didn't even go to the bench to watch the game as usual, but went to the VIP seat to accompany President Sampaio.

What annoyed Da Costa was that Mourinho's team lost to Benfica in the final of the Portuguese Cup and missed a great opportunity to create a triple crown for Porto. Da Costa was on the spot in the VIP box Li became furious, scolded Mourinho, and even threatened to fire Mourinho in front of Portuguese President Sampaio.

Although Sampaio is the president, Da Costa has extraordinary contacts and influence in Portugal. According to media reports, Da Costa scolded his mother in front of President Sampaio, but in the end Sampaio took him for nothing. any way.

Because of this, many people are worried that Mourinho will be kicked out for offending Da Costa.

However, as Da Costa came to the airport to see him off, I believe this can somewhat alleviate the worries of the outside world.

"Hello, Chairman Da Costa, Mr. Mourinho, I am a reporter from the Spanish newspaper El Pais. Before we leave, can I ask you a few questions?" A Spanish reporter came over.

Da Costa looked at the time and shrugged, "Of course, it's an honor!" Obviously, he even replaced Mourinho's answer, and after he agreed, Mourinho, even if he was not happy , but still stay by your side.

"We really want to know, what do you think of the final encounter with Chelsea? Do you have confidence?" the reporter asked.

"Of course!" Da Costa nodded without hesitation, "I have full confidence in the team and Jose. I firmly believe that we can beat Chelsea and bring the St. Brad Cup back to Portugal!"

The focus of the reporter's question was obviously not on Da Costa, but on Mourinho, so after Da Costa answered, he transferred the recording pen to Mourinho. Time is known for being outspoken, so this Spanish reporter also hopes to get some serious information from him.

"We will definitely come back with the championship!" Mourinho said succinctly.

The Spanish reporter nodded and immediately began to get to the point, "But, Mr. Mourinho, I believe you should also pay attention to some recent news. Manchester United's coach Ferguson and Deportivo's coach Iru Eta recently publicly expressed support for Chelsea to win the championship, and they all doubted that in Porto and their knockout match, they were obviously taken care of by the referee. Do you have any personal response to this?"

The two rounds of knockout matches between Porto, Manchester United and Deportivo were both home and away, but in these two rounds of matchups, there were red cards in the first round in Porto, and Manchester United's base was sent off in the round of 16. Well, at that time Ferguson accused the Porto goalkeeper of deliberately acting to deceive the sympathy of the referee.

Mourinho did not give much excuses for the red card at the time. He directly stated that a football game is a game of wits and strength, and any means are for winning. He believes that it is impossible to win without a little bit of attention of.

In the second round at Old Trafford, Porto's striker Alberto was analyzed live on TV after the game. The number of flops was as high as 8 times, and 7 of them were fouled by Manchester United players. Ferguson responded to this Also very dissatisfied.

The same controversy also appeared in the game against Lyon, but the most shocking one was against Deportivo in the semi-final.

The first round was held in Porto. Deportivo and Porto played away and scored 0:0. As a result, Andrade tackled Porto players during a defense. This was just a very common foul, but Andrade After Reid fell to the ground, he lightly kicked the Porto player. Both of them were smiling at the time, but the referee ran over and gave a red card.

At that time, Andrade made a direct complaint. He has played for Porto for many years and is friends with many players in this team, and the Porto players also defended Andrade, thinking that the kick was just between good friends. A joke, should not have given a red card, but the referee did not mean to change the penalty at all.

Irueta bombarded the referee's law enforcement standards after the game. At the same time, he believed that Porto adopted the most brutal way to conduct the game. Autumn.

Not only in the Champions League, but also in the Portuguese Super League, Porto has encountered controversy more than once. Many professional football reporters have disclosed that Da Costa is using his amazing influence and extensive connections. Take control of Portuguese football and even the game.

It's just that this series of news has not been disclosed because Porto is from the Portuguese Super League and has little influence. However, as Portugal's neighbor, the Spanish football circle knows all about it, and the national newspaper The reporter obviously came with a mentality of fighting for Irueta, and only then did he make things difficult.

Mourinho's face obviously became ugly, because of course he knew what happened during the game, "I don't pay attention to what others say, especially those losers. The reason why they fail is precisely because they say A lot, but so little is done, I think anyone who doubts us should look for reasons in themselves."

"But, Mr. Mourinho, you can't deny that Porto is really lucky!" The Spanish reporter sneered.

This expression immediately angered Mourinho, who felt that he had been contemptuous.

"Are you lucky? I don't think so at all!" Mourinho's tone was very unfriendly, and he turned to leave, "Although I can't control what you think and say, I will definitely prove one thing, that is, we To be able to get to today depends on strength, and we will prove this in the final!"

In fact, not only Mourinho was very angry, Da Costa also stared at the Spaniard very unfriendlyly, if standing in front of him now is a Portuguese reporter, he believes that no one would dare to ask him this in person, But he has nothing to do with the Spanish reporter, unless he wants to cause a whole lot of trouble.

The reporter of Pais dared to criticize Mourinho, but he did not dare to offend Da Costa. If you asked Da Costa the same question face to face, there is no guarantee that the Portuguese football giant would not slap him directly. This is somewhat a bit Ask for it.

This is a guy who doesn't even look down on the Portuguese president, so it's better not to mess with him!
Chelsea also flew to Gelsenkirchen from London on the 24th, but they arrived earlier at noon, and unlike Porto who lived in the urban area, Chelsea lived in the Marriott Hotel next door to Schalke Stadium.

The proud Schalke Stadium is located in the north of Gelsenkirchen, just in the middle of Gelsenkirchen and Gladbeck, and here is not only the home court of Schalke 04, but also the training ground of Schalke 04. Next door to Aofu Schalke 04, the two areas are the same as Ajax, only a parking lot is separated, and the Marriott Hotel is just at the intersection of the road, and the three places are in the same shape.

Abramovich is rich and powerful. He directly booked the few boxes in the Marriott Hotel, and allocated the most upscale floors of this four-star hotel to the players and coaching staff. Checking into this hotel, some friends of Abramovich also came in at the same time.

The entire Marriott Hotel was directly contracted. The hotel must follow Chelsea's requirements. Since the hotel has many supporting facilities and podiums, the security guards are mainly concentrated in the main building. All people entering and leaving the main building have to go through The security checks strictly to prevent fans or reporters from entering.

Behind the hotel is the home stadium of the Schalke 04 youth team. It is an old track and field stadium, which is somewhat similar to the Munich Olympic Stadium. They are all sunken designs. The top stands are exactly level with the ground, which is ugly in other places. Yes, but apparently not very much.

This is Schalke 04's old home park Park Stadium, which is now the home of the youth team.

Different from the youth team's old home court, Schalke 04's training ground is very formal, a five-story training building, four standard-sized fields, and each field has the most complete geothermal and drainage systems , One of the venues has also specially opened up a narrow small venue, which is specially used for some minority confrontation training.

The only fly in the ointment is that, as Germany where it often snows, there is no standard indoor training ground in Schalke 04's training base. Everyone can feel the formality and perfection of the German club in this respect.

From the turf of the training ground to the indoor swimming pool, to the gym, to the medical room, to the rest room, Schalke 04's training base can be said to be five-star, which echoes the Schalke Stadium next door, and Schalke 04 said that there are still many parts of this training base that have not been completed, and the club will continue to invest more, and the total investment is expected to reach 4500 million euros.

Not only that, Schalke 04 will also build a Schalke History Museum near the stadium and training base, and the Marriott Hotel also belongs to Schalke 04, and all of these will become fixed real estate of Schalke 04 , bringing a steady stream of income.

After Ye Qiu and the players arrived at the Marriott Hotel and dealt with trivial matters, they went to Schalke 04's training base for recovery training that afternoon. Everyone felt the formality and perfection of the Schalke 04 training ground. , and there are even many details that interested Ye Qiu very much, and he thought it was worth learning from.

However, Chelsea's Cobham training base has been completed, and the team is preparing to move in one after another after the end of the season. It is too late to learn a lot of good things now, so we can only save them for later to see if there is a chance to make corrections.

After the training session that afternoon, Ye Qiu arranged for all the players to be in the conference room of Schalke 04 to analyze and study Porto's offensive routines and defensive weaknesses, as well as Ye Qiu's strategy and tactics for this game .

From a strategic point of view, Chelsea's advantage in this game is obvious. The players must overwhelm Porto in terms of personal ability and overall level. It can be said to be a complete victory, because to some extent, Porto's final qualification can be It is said to be the most controversial in recent years, and it is also regarded as the weakest final team.

But even so, Ye Qiu still didn't dare to be careless, because he knew Mourinho's strength very well.

"Porto's strength is their overall football. They always maintain a very compact and tight defensive formation. Maniche, Mendes, and Costinha are all well-known fighters in the Portuguese league. I am sure, In this game, they will definitely make a fuss about midfield defense and interception."

Relatively speaking, Chelsea's offensive power is stronger. Even though Chelsea is the team that has conceded the fewest goals in the Premier League and Europe this season, in fact, this team's offensive ability is very good, and the number of goals is even equal to Arsenal. To some extent, Chelsea's offense and defense are very balanced, but facing Porto, Chelsea must focus on offense.

"Compared to Porto, we are a team with rich experience in major competitions, but I believe that you all know that to deal with such a final, we only have to rely on our experience, which is absolutely not enough. We also need Good attitude!"

The more important the game, the more important the player's mentality is, and it can even be said to be a key factor affecting and influencing the team's performance.

Ye Qiu has always paid attention to this point, he has always avoided putting too much pressure on the players, and he has even emphasized that the team does not need to have too much pressure at all, as long as they play their best side and play well. If you play your own game well, then, no matter who the opponent is, Chelsea will be able to kill the opponent.

William Hill and other gaming companies also all supported Ye Qiu, believing that Ye Qiu's excellent military management, star-studded team, and outstanding personal ability were all important factors for Chelsea's victory over Porto.

However, the importance of this match is far higher than that of Ye Qiu's previous life. Not only did the British royal family dispatch many princes and queen representatives, the most famous of which was Prince Charles and his two sons, British Prime Minister Tony Blair. I will also come to the scene in person. Many people feel that this is the first time a London team has reached the final and may win the first Champions League. The royal family and political and business celebrities from all walks of life in London attach great importance to this.

But it’s not just the UK, the Portuguese government is also supporting Porto. In addition to Portuguese President Sampaio who will be there to supervise the battle, Prime Minister Barroso even decided to postpone his plan to visit Mexico and come to Gelsenkirchen to supervise the battle in person. At that time, German Schroeder will also accompany him in person.

In addition, UEFA also announced that a group of stars such as International Olympic Committee President Samaranch, famous Beckenbauer, F1 car king Schumacher, and former German star Klinsmann will attend the game. , which greatly increased the attention of the game, coupled with the momentum before the game, all made this game extraordinarily eye-catching.

But also because of this, Ye Qiu's protection of the team became more stringent. He even issued a death order, preventing anyone from accepting any form of interview before the game. Activities within the hotel.

But Ye Qiu obviously didn't want to seal everything too tightly, so he decided that after the players' family members arrived in Gelsenkirchen at noon tomorrow, the players could get two hours of visiting time at noon, from evening to 10 pm.

In this way, the players' mood can be avoided to the greatest extent, and they can face the game with a better mentality.

Therefore, in the tactical meeting before the match, Ye Qiu also adopted a tone as relaxed as possible, avoiding pressure.

"Actually, we don't need to think how terrible our opponents are in this game, because we have encountered more terrifying and difficult opponents than them. Arsenal, remember? We got rid of Arsenal before we entered to the final."

"For this game, I am full of confidence. I think we can win as long as we grasp one link well, and that is patience!" Ye Qiu has always emphasized the player's mentality.

"Porto will do everything they can to prevent us from attacking. We shouldn't fight them with that kind of brute force. It's not worth it. We should play smarter, use our strengths, use our control, dominate the game, and put the opponent in the game. Go with our rhythm and the way we play, and patiently find the opponent's loopholes."

Speaking of this, Ye Qiu pointed to Drogba and Ronaldinho.

"Obviously, for Didier, Carvalho was a loophole, and for Ronaldinho, he was more than capable of playing against the strong, inflexible, slow Jorge? Costa and Ferreira create gaps, and our flanks should very well create articles around that of the other side."

Having said that, Ye Qiu looked at his players again, smiled confidently and calmly, and said: "The most skilled hunter will never lose his patience and confidence. He will patiently wait for the opportunity, and wait for the prey to show his weakness. Because he believes that his prey will definitely reveal its flaws, and at that time, he will be able to deliver a fatal blow with incomparable precision."

"This is the Champions League final, guys, don't try to beat the opponent in the shortest possible time, because when we think about restraining the opponent, they also think about restraining us, how we attack, they defend, So, it's a long game and a test of will and patience."

"Many of you have very rich experience in the big game. I believe that you know how to deal with this kind of game as clearly as I do. So, my smart hunters, remember my words, don't lose patience, don't be arrogant. Disorderly!"

"This game will definitely belong to our Chelsea!"

(End of this chapter)