Legendary Road

Chapter 27

When the battles in the major European leagues were extinguished, the eyes of fans all over the world converged on Gelsenkirchen, Germany.

The Schalke Stadium, built at a cost of 1.91 million euros, will usher in the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League final match.

To the surprise of the fans, the two sides were Porto from Portugal and Monaco from France. Those teams that were originally regarded as favorites capsized in the gutter one after another and were eliminated miserably.

The two teams that entered the finals can be said to have many similarities.

First of all, both Porto and Monaco are from teams outside the four major European leagues. Secondly, neither of them has any super big-name players in their teams. The most important point is that the head coaches leading these two teams are quite young.

Porto's coach Mourinho is only 40 years old, and Monaco's coach Didier Deschamps is only 35 years old.

At the moment when the final match was released, all the major media exclaimed, "This is the rise of the new generation of coaches", and started a heated discussion on this topic-in the future of European football, whether the meritorious old coach will continue to grow, or the new generation What about the sudden emergence of strength?

In a poll conducted by the British "Daily Mail", it can be seen that 40.00% of five fans still believe that the leaders of European football in the future will still be old coaches like Ferguson, Wenger and Heathfield.

30.00% of the fans firmly believe that the candidates for future head coaches in European football will tend to be younger, and the remaining 15.00% of the fans said that they do not care about the age of the coach.

The French "Team Daily" summarized the promotion process of the two teams in the first place.

Monaco had good luck in the group stage. They were divided into the weaker group C. As a result, they ranked first in the group with 3 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss, accumulating 11 points and advanced to the knockout round.

Last season's UEFA Cup champion Porto was divided into Group F. In the same group as them were La Liga giants Real Madrid, Partizan Belgrade, which was shortlisted for the Champions League for the first time, and Marseille of France. As a result, they won 3 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss , ranked behind Real Madrid, and qualified as No.2 in the group.

As soon as the results of the knockout draw came out, the media looked down on Porto, because their opponent in the quarter-finals was the Red Devils Manchester United led by the legendary coach Ferguson.But to the astonishment of experts and scholars, Porto defeated Manchester United 2-1 at home in the first leg, and drew 1-1 with Manchester United at Old Trafford in the second leg, advancing to the next round with a total score of 3-2. wheel.

Monaco continued to have good signing luck. Their opponent was Lokomotiv Moscow from Russia, but perhaps it was because of the severe cold weather in Moscow that they did not adapt well. They lost 1-2 away in the first round.However, after they returned to the Louis II Stadium in the second round, they still defeated the opponent 1-0 and advanced by virtue of the advantage of more away goals.

In the quarter-finals, Porto's opponent is the current Ligue 2 leader Lyon. They beat their opponent 0-2 at home, and drew 2-4 with Lyon in the away game. They continued to advance with a total score of 2-[-] in the two rounds.

Monaco's luck is not so good. Their opponent is La Liga giants Real Madrid.However, no one expected that in the second round, Monaco, relying on Real Madrid's abandonment of Morientes, scored twice, reversed the Galacticos 4-2, and had the last laugh with the advantage of more away goals.

In the semi-finals, Porto faced Deportivo, who staged a shocking reversal in the quarter-finals-they lost 1-4 at the San Siro Stadium in the first leg and won the most popular AC Milan.In the situation where most people thought that the suspense had been lost, their players returned to the home court in the second round and kicked AC Milan with four goals like crazy, sending the Serie A giants back to their hometown.

Before the game, the mainstream media had different guesses about who could make it to the finals. Correspondingly, the two teams played equally in the game.But in the end, with a golden goal scored by Delle at the Rizoya Stadium, Porto eliminated Deportivo with a total score of 1-0 and won a ticket to Schalke.

Monaco's opponent is Chelsea, which received a huge investment from Russian billionaire Abramovich before the season. As a result, they eliminated the Rubles led by Ranieri with a total score of 5-3.

Yan Jing called Boas the night Porto advanced to the final, and it took him a while to pick up.

"Hey, Yan, good evening!" Yan Jing called Boas as early as the end of the first round of the quarter-finals, but Boas was still very cautious at that time, for fear of the second round. Going to the Theater of Dreams is reversed.

The excited voice of Boas in the handset came along with the noisy sound of cheers. Yan Jing guessed that the whole Porto team must have celebrated on the team bus.

"I saw it on TV. The game just now was very exciting, Andrey."

Boas laughed heartily a few times: "Haha, thank you! I also think tonight is really wonderful!"

"Although the game between Monaco and Chelsea starts tomorrow night, I don't think you will let the St. Blair Cup fall into the hands of others, no matter who the opponent is."

"You are right, I will lead Porto to the top of Europe."

Yan Jing was about to answer, but he suddenly realized that something was wrong.

Wait... This voice isn't Andrei, is it? !

"...Aren't you Andrei?"

Although the noisy voice has never been interrupted from the receiver, it does not prevent Yan Jing from distinguishing Boas's tone.

The other end of the phone answered leisurely.

"Of course not, I'm Mourinho."

What... Mourinho? !Is the madman Mourinho talking to him on the phone now? !

Yan Jing stared blankly in disbelief, opened his mouth and couldn't say a word, it was Mourinho who noticed Yan Jing's state on the other end of the phone, and kindly opened his mouth to break the silence.

"I heard Andre mention you before. You bet him that Porto will be the Champions League champion this season?"

After hearing Mourinho's words, Yan Jing woke up from the shock. He realized that he had lost his composure just now, and quickly pinched his thigh. The pain made him realize that he was really talking to Mourinho on the phone now. .

"Uh... yes, Mr. Mourinho, I said that to Andre in Frankfurt."

"Why Porto instead of Real Madrid or AC Milan?" Mourinho is very interested in this topic, "You must know that Porto has no advantage in any aspect."

"It's not that there is no advantage, it's just that it doesn't seem obvious." As soon as the topic of football was brought up, Yan Jing immediately became calm, "The rich teams will always underestimate the small teams, just like many games this year Likewise, the underdog always wins."

Probably because of the victory in the semi-finals, Mourinho was in a good mood, and was even willing to chat with Yan Jing, a stranger: "But in the face of absolute strength, that little advantage is useless, isn't it?"

"Luck is also a part of the game. This year's dark polo teams are more or less lucky."

"That's not a good reason, man, don't put me off."

Yan Jing smiled, and he replied half-jokingly and half-seriously.

"So Mr. Mourinho, if I say that because Porto's coach is you Jose Mourinho, so this season's Champions League will belong to Porto, do you think I am perfunctory?"

"My first reaction was that you were perfunctory." Mourinho paused, his English with a little Portuguese flavor was low and magnetic, "But after thinking about it later, I thought it was true, because... "

Mourinho didn't seem to intend to continue. After waiting for a while to no avail, Yan Jing finished his words for him.

"Because you are the most special one."

After that, the person on the other side of the phone became Boas again. After hearing Boas' voice, Yan Jing immediately complained about the other party's behavior just now.

"Andrei, you bastard, why did you call your head coach without reminding me?"

"You have to be considerate and considerate of me, Yan." Boas said he was innocent, "After knowing that it was you who called, Jose insisted on asking me to give him the call. I am just a small assistant coach. Do you dare to defy your boss?"

"...Go away." Yan Jing's mouth twitched twice, and then he remembered that the business hadn't been done yet, "By the way, do you still remember the bet I made with you in Frankfurt?"

"Yes, I remember." Boas said that he had no problem with his memory, "Why?"

"Do you think I can advance my 'bonus' in advance now? Two tickets to the Champions League final are enough."

"No problem." Boas agreed very readily. Although the tickets he could allocate were not many, there was no pressure to give Yan Jing two tickets. Do you want to go with your friends to witness our Porto win?"

Yan Jing was choked up by Boas's words, and then replied slowly: "No... In fact, I don't have a girlfriend. The one I want to take to Gelsenkirchen is the young genius of our team."

"Oh Yan, you don't even have a girlfriend?! Don't tell me you've never been in a relationship before."

"It's true... But, Andrei, I'm only 24 this year, so don't worry about it." Yan Jing was speechless, "And I'm in love with football right now?"

"I think you should hurry up and find a girl to have a relationship with while you are still young." Boas said to Yan Jing earnestly, with the tone of someone who has experienced it, "Believe me, if you plan to stick to the road of coaching, There's not much time for romance in the future - of course, if you're going to have a lifelong relationship with football and marry him back home then I have nothing to say."

"...International long distance is too expensive, Andrei, goodbye, we will talk next time."