Super Marshal

Two distinguished guests came to the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid, Spain.

Real Madrid even dispatched Sanchez, the director of the commercial operations department, to greet them personally and welcomed them into the high-end conference hall of the Bernabeu Stadium, where club president Calderon and general manager Mijatovic had been waiting there for a long time.

"Welcome to the Bernabeu, Mr. Weigel, Mr. Runo."

"It's an honor for us."

The two are Gunter Weigel, head of Adidas football affairs, and Jan Runow, head of global public relations for Adidas.

As Real Madrid's top sponsor, Adidas's two major department heads visited the Bernabeu at the same time. This is a rare event that Real Madrid has not seen in recent years, so Real Madrid attaches special importance to it.

After everyone exchanged simple greetings, they sat down according to host and guest.

"It must be your first time to come to the Bernabeu. I'll show you around later, especially our Honors Exhibition Hall." Calderon chuckled, with a glowing face when he mentioned the Honors Exhibition Hall.

Real Madrid's number of championship trophies is second to none in the entire European football.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, Jan Luno smiled and said, "This is already the second time. The last time I came here was for Beckham's transfer. Although it has been four years, there should be nothing too big." big change."

This simple sentence made everyone in Real Madrid feel a little embarrassed.

Beckham joined Real Madrid in 2003. After that, there was no significant championship trophy added to the Bernabeu's honor room, whether it was in Spain or the Champions League. .

Even in the domestic league, Real Madrid has been suppressed by Barcelona and local rivals Atletico Madrid.

This sentence is enough to show that the two top executives of Adidas came together for a reason.

"Let's talk directly." Gunter Weigel was more direct and straight to the point. "We are here just to know whether the various rumors from the outside world are true."

Hearing Gunter Weigel's strong tone, Calderon, Mijatovich and others were secretly surprised.

What was supposed to come eventually came.

But when it’s time to pretend to be stupid, you still have to continue to pretend to be stupid.

"I wonder what the rumors Mr. Weigel refers to?" Mijatovic asked with a smile.

Gunter Weigel frowned, "Do I need to explain this more clearly? Of course it's about the previous rumors about your internal rectification and purge. You have already sold a Ronaldo. You shouldn't tell me that there is no such thing, right?"

This news has indeed caused an uproar throughout Spain and even the world in the past period of time.

The cause of the matter was that Mijatovic publicly stated in an interview with Ser Radio that neither he nor head coach Capello would only believe in players who have a sense of responsibility and not Real Madrid players who fail to meet the requirements. Will not rule out being purged from the team.

Mijatovic said this because Real Madrid's performance in the first half was very poor. The management was very dissatisfied with the team's performance, and they did decisively purge Ronaldo afterwards.

Not only that, the club management also resolutely blocked Beckham who refused to renew his contract with the club.

The whole thing has caused great repercussions within the Real Madrid team. It can even be said to be panic, because who is responsible and who is not? What do you think? Who is to judge?

But after Ronaldo was purged and Beckham was banned, the Galacticos of Real Madrid's most glorious period have long since fallen apart. In addition, Zidane retired, Figo left the team, and Roberto Carlos aged. The most brilliant superstars of the year have long since faded away. Real Madrid's commercial value has also shrunk significantly.

You know, the current sponsorship contract between Real Madrid and Adidas was signed in 2004, when the Galacticos were at their most dazzling, and ended in 2008. Although there is a renewal clause in the contract, But Real Madrid's series of actions will still make sponsors dissatisfied.

It can be said that the management has been mentally prepared for this.

"This is indeed the case, Mr. Weigel." Mijatovic admitted honestly, "but it is definitely not as serious as the rumors, especially after selling Ronaldo."

This matter is also something Adidas is not very satisfied with.

Ronaldo's sponsor is Nike. When Real Madrid poached Ronaldo from the Inter Milan team sponsored by Nike, the sponsor Adidas contributed a lot. This was purely to seize the market with Nike.

Everyone knows that although Ronaldo wears Nike boots, he wears Adidas jerseys. This makes Nike's investment in Ronaldo more like advertising for Adidas.

The same situation applies to Beckham and Barcelona's Messi.

When Real Madrid wanted to purge Ronaldo, they did not communicate with Adidas in advance and even almost sent Ronaldo back to Inter Milan. This was absolutely unacceptable to Adidas.

Although Ronaldo has passed his peak, he is still one of the greatest stars in football history.

"Mr. Weigel, Mr. Luno, you all know professional football very well. You should be very clear that the reason why our team's performance has been sluggish in the past few years is because of the lack of internal discipline. This season we invited Capello to coach to rectify the situation." But judging from the first half, the effect was not obvious, so we decided to rectify the situation."

Having said this, Mijatovic also had a helpless expression, "But unfortunately, many of our high-level discussions were leaked to the media, which caused a lot of controversy, but please believe that the situation is still under control." Within the range.”

Locker room riots have occurred twice in Real Madrid in the past few years, once during Camacho's coaching and once during Luxenberg's coaching, so Mijatovic took action very decisively this time.

"What about Beckham?" Jan Runo asked with concern.

The two of them have just made it clear that Adidas introduced Beckham, and even his No. 23 jersey was selected with Adidas' help, in order to compete with Nike's Jordan brand.

Unlike superstars such as Figo, Ronaldo, and Zidane, Beckham has been in pretty good shape so far, but he was blocked by the club due to contract renewal issues, which forced Adidas to step in to understand the situation.

"Our club has been working hard. We very much hope to reach a contract extension with him. We have also given him quite generous conditions, but Beckham has always refused to give in on some terms, which led to our contract extension negotiations. rupture."

When Mijatovic said this, he changed the subject, "But I can guarantee that we have never blocked Beckham. Who the team arranges to play is entirely up to the head coach Capello, and we will not interfere."

Yeah?

Both Gunter Weigel and Jan Runow were deeply suspicious of Mijatovic's statement.

According to the intelligence they have received, the main reason why Real Madrid and Beckham have not reached an agreement is that they have not reached an agreement on the image rights. The current management refuses to fulfill Florentino's promise to return Beckham. Fifty percent of the image rights, because everyone knows the commercial value of Beckham.

In fact, Adidas has long heard about some of the practices of Real Madrid's current management, especially Calderon and Mijatovic. It is said that they are cleaning up the traces of the Florentino era on the one hand, but on the other hand On the other hand, they are making use of the golden brand that Florentino has built in the past to make money unscrupulously, especially brand licensing.

Adidas is very dissatisfied with this approach of Real Madrid's new management.

However, due to the current situation in La Liga, both Barcelona and Atletico Madrid are sponsored by Nike. Adidas can only barely compete with its opponents by firmly holding on to Real Madrid.

But in terms of sponsorship fees...

Mijatovic has always been paying attention to the faces of the two major department heads of Adidas. He knows better than anyone else that these two people determine Real Madrid’s sponsorship fees of tens of millions of euros a year. He is also very aware of the current challenges the team is facing. situation.

"Mr. Weigel, Mr. Runo, frankly speaking, not only are you dissatisfied with the current situation of the team, we are also very dissatisfied, but I have communicated with the head coach Capello and the players in the team. Yes, they are very confident that they can...defeat...Gaohan at the Bernabeu Stadium!"

"What?" Weigel and Runo were both shocked.

"Defeat Gao Han?"

But soon, the two of them shook their heads and laughed, "This is impossible!"

"How is it impossible?" Mijatovic asked.

"Capello personally assured me that you should know that he had several battles with Gao Han during his coaching career in Serie A. He knew Gao Han very well, and Inter Milan is good at attacking, Capello is good at defending, and we are playing at home. I think you know very well that at the Santiago Bernabeu everything is possible."

The Bernabeu Stadium is indeed the most difficult fortress in world football for visiting teams to break, especially under the guidance of Capello, the best defensive tactician. It is really impossible to say that Inter Milan can restrain the cold.

Defeating may be a bit too much, but maintaining a draw is really possible.

Gao Han's sponsor is Nike, and he has never had much trouble with Adidas. If he can really defeat, no, even draw with Gao Han's Inter Milan this time, it will definitely cause a sensation all over the world.

Gunter Weigel and Jan Runo are both executive-level executives of Adidas. They know better than anyone else that if Real Madrid can really do it, it will definitely be a great help to Adidas.

They heard that Nike planned to sign a huge sponsorship contract with Gao Han. It would be interesting if Gao Han's victory was broken at this time!

"Are you... really sure?" Gunter Weigel asked cautiously.

Mijatovic rolled his eyes and smiled: "To be honest, it is a bit difficult to defeat, half to half, but if you want to hold on to a draw, I think it is still very possible."

Gunter Weigel and Jan Runo looked at each other for a while, and finally believed what Mijatovic said.

Real Madrid is well-known, and it is at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, and there is a master tactician Capello in charge. If they really have to defend tightly, the possibility of a draw is still very high.

Even if Gao Han is really so miraculous, Inter Milan under his control is not omnipotent, especially when facing an iron wall.

Looking at the past few years, the teams coached by Gao Han have encountered situations where they were almost tied.

Thinking of this, Gunter Weigel immediately made the decision.

"Okay, as long as you can draw with Inter Milan, everything will be easy for us to talk about!"

This draw alone was worth Adidas's one-year sponsorship fee to Real Madrid.