Super Marshal

"Found it!"

At Chelsea's Harrington training ground, Mourinho's chief assistant coach Villas-Boas quickly walked into the head coach's office and shouted excitedly to Mourinho who was sitting behind his desk computer.

Mourinho, who had gray hair, raised his head and looked at the approaching right-hand man, but his brows furrowed.

It took him three full days to get the answer he wanted, which was too inefficient.

"Where?" Mourinho asked in a deep voice.

"There is a golf club dozens of kilometers away from the outskirts of Athens, Greece. I heard that they booked the entire club and arrived in Athens four days in advance. Not only did the media reporters not get the news, but even the fans didn't know about it. The confidentiality work is quite tight. .”

Mourinho's brows tightened even more, "He actually went to Athens four days in advance."

This is not a good phenomenon.

As early as May 12th, Chelsea played the last round of the Premier League. In other words, from the Premier League to the Champions League final, the Blues had ten days to prepare, and they did everything possible to prepare.

In comparison, Inter Milan's situation is much worse. At least they are distracted by the Serie A and Italian Cup finals against Roma, so in terms of preparations, Chelsea is slightly ahead.

But this is only one aspect. On the other hand, it can also be said that Inter Milan is easier to maintain and adjust its status.

There was no game for ten days, which was also a big test for Mourinho and the coaching staff. Therefore, during the preparation period, Mourinho secretly organized an internal game, which was a real ninety-minute regular game.

Mourinho tried his best to do almost everything he could think of before the game, but just when he was planning to go to Athens, two days ago, the media suddenly revealed that Inter Milan's Pinetti The Na training base has long been empty, and there is not even a single first-team player.

This shocked media and fans throughout Europe and even the world.

Inter Milan officials quickly responded and the team set off early for the training ground.

But where exactly the training will be held, Inter Milan did not give a specific explanation.

The all-pervasive media reporters immediately dug into the ground to dig out Inter Milan's hiding place, but they were never able to find it. This surprised Mourinho, who was far away in London, and couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.

A big battle is imminent, and if your opponent suddenly plays such a trick on you, everyone will feel uneasy.

What's more, this time his opponent is Gao Han.

"According to my guess, they should have gone to Athens in advance to get familiar with it, and there was less traveling back and forth." Boas guessed.

Mourinho nodded, it's not hard to guess.

In fact, he had had this idea before and communicated with the club. On the one hand, he avoided reporters and concentrated on preparing for the game. On the other hand, he also considered that the facilities at the Harrington training ground were indeed not good enough.

The location he chose at that time was a coastal city in southern Spain, with a climate very close to that of Athens.

However, the management finally considered the budget and believed that the team's ten-day overseas training camp would be very expensive. They ultimately rejected Mourinho's proposal and believed that it was more practical to concentrate on staying in London to prepare for the game.

What's more, Mourinho also needs to play an internal game in the middle of the training camp.

Thinking of this, Mourinho sighed secretly, erased all the troublesome thoughts in his heart, and looked at Villas-Boas again.

"Media reporters have received the news. Is anyone going to investigate?"

"How could it not be?" Boas smiled. Media reporters are all-pervasive. "However, they were all blocked by the security of the golf club. I heard that some reporters wanted to sneak in, but they were arrested and sent to the police station. ”

Mourinho could completely imagine the tricks of those reporters, and he could also imagine the scene of them being taken to the police station. He sneered disdainfully in his heart. He simply looked down on those reporters who made trouble.

But Gao Han and Inter Milan specially chose such a place to prepare for the game, but they had to attract his attention.

For Chelsea, whether they are playing Inter Milan or Atletico Madrid, there is only one way to go, and that is to press the ball, because physical fitness and physical confrontation are Chelsea's advantages and their opponents' disadvantages.

There should be no one in the world who would be stupid enough to use his own weakness to collide with his opponent's strength, right?

But playing Inter Milan is completely different from playing Atletico Madrid.

Heynckes is more conservative at heart than Gao Han, with a more balanced offense and defense. Gao Han seems to be very balanced, but in fact he is extremely obsessed with offense. He is the kind of head coach who wants to firmly hold the initiative in his hands.

What's even more frightening is that he can always use offense to defeat his opponents.

Therefore, in the past period of time, Chelsea's focus on defensive tactics was not the same as when playing Atletico Madrid. Instead, they paid more attention to the compactness of the overall formation, and even preferred to give up offense for the sake of defense.

People outside may accuse him of being conservative or anti-football, but as a professional head coach, he knows very well that this is the only way to defeat Gao Han, and he will insist on it without hesitation.

"In the first leg of the semi-finals, Gao Han and Guardiola were in the stands. If I guessed correctly, he should have seen our tactics, and they will definitely have Atletico Madrid's targeted tactics in the second round. Learned from.”

Everyone is well aware of the close relationship between Gao Han and Atletico Madrid, and Villas-Boas has no doubt that they will exchange news.

"I'm worried that they will make a fuss about Makelele, especially Yaya Toure."

When mentioning Yaya Toure, Mourinho's eyes flashed with a strange color.

That player was also the type of player he admired very much, but he was exploited by Gao Han.

This season, Gao Han reused Yaya Toure as the team's midfielder, but the position is more flexible and often adjusted according to different opponents, but generally he plays the opponent's midfielder, and even penetrates forward when attacking. Get the ball at the front of the penalty area.

In the top area of ​​the arc, Yaya Toure's ball-taking and ball-making abilities are quite good.

When playing against AC Milan and Manchester United, Yaya Toure shouldered the burden of suppressing the opponent's organizational midfielder. Both Pirlo and Carrick hated him, so Gao Han arranged for Yaya Toure to play Makelele. Mourinho has no doubt about this.

"Then we will shrink the formation and ask Ballack and Lampard to withdraw to protect Makelele."

Makelele's importance to Chelsea is extraordinary.

Back then, after Mourinho took charge of the Blues, he moved many players, but there were only four players he did not dare to move.

Goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar is the backbone of the team's defense and he doesn't dare to move. John Terry and Lampard are the local core of the team and the bosses in the locker room, even Mourinho doesn't dare to move. The last one is Makele Lai.

However, in the past two or three years, Van der Sar's performance can no longer be reassuring. Mourinho had the idea of ​​replacing him as early as the summer transfer, and the Dutchman himself also intended to leave Chelsea, but he Delayed for various reasons.

But in any case, protecting Makelele is Mourinho's only option.

At the very least, Mikel is far from replacing Makelele.

"I don't worry too much about the midfield. What I'm most worried about is the right back."

"Paulo Ferreira?"

"Well, he couldn't guard Cristiano Ronaldo."

"But hasn't Cristiano Ronaldo's condition been very bad recently? The media and fans have almost scolded him to death. Do you think he can adjust during this period?" Boas asked inexplicably.

Mourinho looked at his assistant, shook his head and smiled. After all, he still lacked experience.

"Let me tell you, Cristiano Ronaldo's condition is not bad, but he can be said to be the best in the Inter Milan team. It's just that he was heavily marked by his opponents during the game, and he likes to get the ball too much, so It seems that he made frequent mistakes and was in poor condition."

Having said this, Mourinho reminded his assistant, "Think about it, what happened with Arbeloa and Panucci's red cards? Finnan cramped before the game was over and almost cried after the game. What’s going on again?”

Boas was speechless.

Awakened by Mourinho, he really discovered that things did not seem to be what the media and fans said.

They just stared at the goals and assists, but in the game, Cristiano Ronaldo's ball-taking and breakthroughs had an impact and harassment on the opponent's defense, which cannot be summarized by simple statistics.

Finnan is a famous player in the Premier League, and Panucci is also an experienced veteran. It goes without saying how good these two are.

Arbeloa is the least famous among the three, but he completely targeted Robben's right back in the match between Liverpool and Chelsea. At this point, it is difficult for Villas-Boas to ignore his defensive ability. .

But these three players can only be regarded as quite satisfactory in front of Cristiano Ronaldo, but they still inevitably received red cards, which shows how outstanding the Portuguese is.

"Not only Cristiano Ronaldo, but also Ibrahimovic, Adriano, and Yaya Toure, Inter Milan is a club composed of freaks." Mourinho scolded angrily. road.

These four players need to be technical, physical, and impactful, and simply not too hard.

Let's put it this way, these four guys are all about hard and soft.

"To defend against them, we can only rely on the team as a whole and cannot fight alone. Moreover, Ferreira cannot guard Cristiano Ronaldo."

Boas was startled, "What should we do?"

Mourinho narrowed his eyes and looked forward firmly. He already had a countermeasure.

…………

…………

May 23, 2007, Athens, Greece.

This legendary city has returned to the eyes of the world because of this Champions League final.

In the past two days, more than 60,000 fans have poured into Athens and occupied the streets of Athens.

Especially on the 23rd, all the fans were in place, and the battle was about to begin. Fans of the two teams were also at war with each other. The whole city was filled with a tense and exciting final atmosphere.

A bus with its body painted in the colors of the Inter Milan team was driving quickly on the road to the Olympic Stadium in the suburbs. Along the way, you could constantly see the flags representing the two final teams, Inter Milan and Chelsea. Stars have appeared on street billboards one after another, showing the momentum of never looking back until they kill their opponents.

When the bus exited the viaduct and entered the streets leading to the Olympic Stadium, countless fans seemed to emerge from the ground and rushed up crazily. They kept shouting for the coach and players through the car windows. name, and kept shouting various slogans to encourage the team.

The closer you get to the Stadio Olimpico, the more fans there are and the slower the traffic.

It was so slow that everyone in the car could make eye contact with the fans outside the car.

Tonight, everyone, whether they are fans or players, has only one goal.

Leave Athens with victory!