The Godfather of Greenery

Chapter 519 Hollowing out Tottenham Hotspur
When he walked out of the gate of the Princess Sophia Grand Hotel, Butch first looked to his left and then to his right. He saw a man who raised his camera to shoot at him, a reporter from the Daily Sports News.

But he didn't say anything, and he didn't accept the interview. Instead, he smiled at the other party, turned around and walked west.

The reporter took a few more photos of Butch's back, and then continued to squat nearby, because Messi's father Jorge also walked out after a while, and the reporter still did not go forward to interview, still It was a few pictures taken where Jorge hadn't noticed, and then disappeared.

The whole process did not attract anyone's attention, and even Jorge himself may not know that he was secretly photographed.

When Jorge walked out of the Princess Sofia Grand Hotel, Bach had already turned up the mountain, and soon came to a white palace-style building halfway up the mountain. He took out the key from his trouser pocket and opened the gate of the garden wall. Stepped in.

Through the garden, the most striking thing is a room with a transparent glass curtain wall on the side of the mansion. At this moment, two important figures in Barcelona are sitting here at a low table between them. , there are all kinds of drawings, with dense football terms written on them, and all kinds of signs painted on them.

Butch was walking in the garden, looking at the two people in the room, he felt that they were like a master and an apprentice.

"Butch!" Hearing the door knock, Cruyff knew it was Butch, because besides his family, he was the only one who had the key.

Guardiola heard Cruyff's voice, raised his head from the drawing, looked at Butch, and nodded slightly.

"How?" Cruyff asked with a nonchalant smile.

Butch shook his head, "They decided to go to Manchester City. With 5000 million euros in cash and a weekly salary of 30 euros after tax, the upstart Manchester City really wants to win a superstar at all costs! "

After hearing this, Cruyff laughed, stood up from the sofa, and sighed softly, "It's normal, I can't deal with Kaka, if we don't win a superstar, Manchester City will lose face completely, and with the Middle East's It is not surprising that they will do this in the usual way of spending money to pave the road, isn’t it just to extract a few more barrels of oil? There is nothing else in the Middle East, there is too much oil!”

These words made Butch laugh out loud, and even Guardiola couldn't help but raise his head.

"Ye Qiu seems to be based on the long-term. I underestimated him back then!" Cruyff said with some regret.

Once upon a time, he felt that Barcelona should invite Ye Qiu to the team, but at that time, he was far from the power and prestige in the club now, at least Laporta and some directors were still a little obsequious to him, otherwise Ye Qiu should be the head coach of Barcelona.

"Perhaps the price of forcing Messi to stay is too great!" Guardiola also came over, and the three men stood in a zigzag shape and basked in the sun.

Cruyff just smiled, "Tottenham Hotspur has never been a team that relies on Messi, so last season's Ribery, this season's Messi, and even from Ruud van Nistelrooy three years ago, Ye Qiu is not stingy about selling any star in the team, because he knows very well that once Tottenham Hotspur's tactical system is formed, no matter who leaves, it will not affect the team. It can ensure the competitiveness of the team in the Premier League."

The system, which can be said to be the most respected and most important part of all Dutch-born coaches, and what the system often represents is the overall football. Eleven players revolve around a football, and no one is indispensable. Yes, everyone is just a part of the system, and they are playing part of the roles and functions of the system.

"However, if Ye Qiu sells Messi, with his style, he should force Van Persie to stay!" Guardiola added.

Cruyff glanced at his proud disciple, the corner of his mouth twitched slightly, and a little dissatisfaction swept across his eyes, but he didn't show it, "Do you really dislike Eto'o that much?"

All Barcelona insiders are well aware that both Cruyff and Laporta appreciate Eto'o, but Guardiola doesn't like the Cameroon striker, not because of his performance on the pitch, but because of his character and his style. Open your mouth wide.

Hearing Cruyff's question, Guardiola did not answer. He knows his mentor very well. He knows that if you talk more and answer more now, there will only be disputes in the end, and as long as there is a dispute, you will finally ask for peace. It must be him too.

"Even if you don't like Eto'o, what about Bojan?" Cruyff asked again.

But Guardiola still didn't speak, stood aside and remained silent.

Seeing that Cruyff was about to get angry, Butch immediately interrupted with a smile, "Who said selling Messi would not sell Van Persie? In my opinion, as long as we get the players, we can make some concessions on the transfer fee." , I believe Van Persie will not be able to refuse the temptation of Barcelona, ​​because he is Dutch!"

Dutch football has always been inextricably linked with Barcelona, ​​so Barcelona has always had an irresistible temptation for Dutch players, and I believe Van Persie is the same.

Butch's words made Cruyff couldn't help laughing. Although many people said that he had become a Catalan, in fact, he was still born in the Netherlands. There is a natural sense of closeness, not to mention that Van Persie is still the type of player he admires.

"When Tottenham sold Messi, we poached Van Persie, Real Madrid took Ribery, Manchester United stole Gareth Bale, Tottenham's entire attacking line All of them have been scooped up, can this team continue to be so good in the Champions League next season?"

Butch's words immediately made Cruyff and Guardiola laugh again.

But soon, Cruyff shook his head and said: "Don't underestimate Ye Qiu, sometimes even I can't figure him out, whether it's the transfer or the tactical arrangement of the game, at least, I never dare to imagine him. In his hands, a Premier League team can play such outstanding attacking football."

But Butch's words are not unreasonable. Tottenham Hotspur are very good, but it is precisely because of their good looks that their players are targeted by many teams. As long as one is not handled well, it may be possible. The whole team will fall apart because of this, and the team's combat effectiveness will definitely suffer.

Did Leverkusen, Valencia and other teams decline like this soon?

But I have to admire one thing, that is, even if these four major stars are poached, Tottenham Hotspur can at least get a large amount of transfer funds, Messi alone is 5000 million, Ribery, Gareth Bale and Van Persie, each of the three players is worth a lot, and that is bound to be an astronomical sum.

With such ample funds, it is completely enough for Ye Qiu to rebuild a team!

Of course, Cruyff never believed that Ye Qiu would sell all the stars in one go.

"By the way, Josep, have you figured out how to teach Tottenham Hotspur a lesson?" Butch eased the atmosphere between the two masters and apprentices, and immediately changed the subject. important reason.

In Baqi's view, Cruyff is getting older and somewhat arrogant, especially in Barcelona. His long-term superiority makes his arrogance more obvious, whether it is against Laporta or Gua. Diora, that's all.

But Guardiola is able to get to this day, not completely without his own personality, he needs Cruyff's guidance and support in many things, but the two cannot agree on everything, there will always be some disagreement.

For example, Guardiola doesn't like Eto'o and Bojan very much, but Cruyff likes these two players very much.

"I'm going to start the game!" Guardiola also changed the subject, and he didn't want to get into trouble with Cruyff, "As the teacher said, formulate a strategy, start the game for 10 minutes, attack in 5 minutes, attack in 5 minutes Close, safe strategy, even if it can't suppress Tottenham Hotspur, at least it can prevent them from entering the state."

Cruyff is also a smart person, knowing that he can't completely control everything, so he was happy to take advantage of the slope and said with a smile: "Never underestimate Ye Qiu, the most critical core is to beat Tottenham Hotspur. The factor is also to contain their offense, as long as they can stop their offense, with Tottenham Hotspur focusing on offense and light defense, their defense will definitely have problems."

Guardiola didn't say anything, but his expression looked a bit unnatural. He didn't like to play this kind of passive tactics.

Of course, many people say that Barcelona's ball possession tactics are a bit negative. After all, every game has a lot of ball possession rate, but not many goals. This is regarded by many people as another negative style of play. , but Guardiola doesn't think so, because possession of the ball represents the initiative, and Barcelona's offense is not strong, a very important reason lies in the frontcourt.

"Their defense has problems, and our offense has problems, especially in the frontcourt, lacking a strong ball point!" Cruyff has said many times about this problem with the team, and this is also the reason why Barcelona this season An important factor in the weak offense is the lack of people in the frontcourt who can hold the ball.

Originally, in the eyes of Cruyff and Guardiola, Messi should be regarded as the most suitable candidate, but now that the Argentine is going to Manchester City, Barcelona must find a way to plug this loophole in the next season.

"I plan to let Iniesta go up and play in the frontcourt." Guardiola said, "He can pass threatening balls and has a good breakthrough ability. Let him be better in the frontcourt, Henry and Eto'o Directly attack the opponent's defense line."

After hearing this, Cruyff sighed, "You still refuse to fight back!"

Guardiola is silent again, and his silence is actually a silent confrontation.

Perhaps, many times he is using this kind of silence to swear his power, that is, he is the head coach of Barcelona!

Sometimes, it is one thing to be wise or not, but it is another thing to stick to what you think and realize the way of football in your mind, especially when your thoughts are linked to unreasonableness, it is to trust others , or believe in yourself?

Different people have different opinions!
In his previous life, Ye Qiu had read a report from Ferguson's autobiography. In his autobiography, he said that a very important reason why Manchester United lost the 09 Champions League final was that the hotels in Rome were too bad.

Ye Qiu also saw the follow-up posts on the forum. Many fans still laughed at Ferguson that he couldn't afford to lose, and then sarcastically asked him, are all the hotels in Rome like this?

One thing is for sure, that is not all, there are some hotel rooms that are quite good, but many hotels that are a little bit old have done a very, very bad job of soundproofing the rooms.

As early as after Tottenham Hotspur reached the final, Peter Kenyon specially arranged personnel to go to Rome to look for hotels, and he himself once came to Rome for a few days to experience the hotel recommended by the staff , and to his surprise, the hotels in Rome are really unflattering.

"The sound insulation of several hotels I have stayed in is super bad. One of them is Songshuyuan Palace Hotel, you know? Oh my god, I can hear the TV and voices in the next room in the middle of the night. I can even hear the creaking of the bed boards clearly, and I can't fall asleep without earplugs."

"What's even more terrifying is that the air conditioner is turned off at [-] o'clock in the evening, and the Internet speed in the room is slow, and there is a charge, [-] euros an hour, which is better than robbing a bank!"

"But that's not the most outrageous thing. There is a hotel called Montmarie Excel Hotel near the Olympic Stadium. The Wi-Fi is free, and there is a swimming pool. The air conditioner will not be turned off, but the problem is that in the middle of the night, the corridors outside There were people running around, and some children were crying, and what was even more frightening was that someone knocked on my door after three o'clock, which scared me."

Undoubtedly, for Peter Kenyon, the trip to Rome in just a few nights was definitely a nightmare, and from his description, Ye Qiu and the coaching staff also fully and deeply understood the disadvantages of some hotels in Rome. How crude the facilities are, even some five-star hotels still do a poor job in terms of sound insulation.

Of course, the hotel in Rome has an advantage, it is relatively cheap. Although this is a city with a lot of tourism, the hotel is indeed not expensive, especially compared to London, but Ye Qiu does not want his team to relive Ferguson. Nightmare, the night before the Champions League final, we couldn't sleep collectively.

In the end, after careful selection, Tottenham Hotspur locked in a Cavalli Waldorf Astoria Resort Hotel in the west of the Vatican in Rome. This is a five-star hotel located on the highest hill in Rome. The location is very secluded. It is a good place for a vacation to feel the nature, and besides being quiet and well-equipped, the scenery is also quite charming.

In this hotel, you can overlook the city of Rome, and you can also see St. Peter's Basilica. In addition, the cooking skills of the hotel restaurant here are also top-notch. They promised Tottenham Hotspur that they can serve different cuisines according to the needs of the team.

The price of staying in other hotels was almost double that of staying in this resort hotel, but considering the team's pre-match preparations, Ye Qiu finally chose to stay in this resort hotel, and the hotel also decided to give some money. The price is favorable, but the premise is that Tottenham Hotspur agree to help them promote them on the official website and in interviews with the media.

Many people say that there are many hooligans in English football, but in fact, Italian fans are not necessarily much better.

Therefore, when Tottenham Hotspur arrived in Rome, as soon as they got off the plane, hundreds of newspaper reporters and media gathered here. I believe that the team's sponsor Qatar Airways must be very happy at this moment, because Tottenham Hotspur took pictures with their plane and the logo on it.

Versace must have been delighted, too, because Tottenham arrived in Rome in their suits.

And these photos will appear in the pages of newspapers around the world tomorrow, as well as on major news websites.

The Roman Police Department specially arranged a team of people to follow Tottenham Hotspur 24 hours a day to protect the safety of everyone on the team, so when Tottenham Hotspur got off the plane, immediately follow the arrangement of the organizing committee, Got into the bus, left the airport, and waited until they walked out of the airport to find that there were quite a lot of Tottenham Hotspur fans gathered outside the airport.

They all came to cheer for the team, and thousands of people showed up at the airport to pick them up.

From the airport to the hotel, you can see it all the way. There are promotional banners for the UEFA Champions League final everywhere along the way, but it may be that the bus is going outside, so I didn’t see too many fans gathering, and I didn’t see the enthusiastic atmosphere of the final. I believe that in the urban area, or in the Olympic Stadium in the north, this kind of atmosphere will be stronger.

It is said that the Rome municipal government has also launched a series of celebration activities specifically for this Champions League final to attract fans and tourists, and this final will attract at least [-] England fans to Rome, which will greatly Promote consumer and hotel tourism in the city.

Of course, correspondingly, the Roman officials have also increased the level of security and security. Police can be seen at almost every intersection to ensure that the team arrives at the hotel without any risk and participates in the afternoon pre-match familiarization training.

In the afternoon, when the team went to the Olympic Stadium for familiarization training, the players' family members, relatives and friends all arrived in Rome on a Qatar Airways flight. They were also picked up by the police, and the journey was uneventful.

Even that night, there were no disturbances by Barcelona fans in the hotel where the team stayed. After all, the hotel is on a remote mountain. If there is not someone who is familiar with Rome to guide the way, it is impossible to find it.

But when Ye Qiu and the coaching staff were satisfied that everything was calm, the next day, many newspapers successively published the inside story, which attracted the attention of the media and fans all over the world, causing an uproar.

(End of this chapter)