Coaching legend

This is the first time George has led the team to Spain.

La Liga is now at its peak, surpassing the World Cup Serie A to become the top league in Europe. This can be seen from the quarterfinals of the Champions League this season. There are three teams in La Liga, Real Madrid, Valencia, and Deportivo La Coruna.

In the past World Cup Italy, only Milan represented Serie A alone.

It was not easy for Milan to appear. If it were not for good luck, it would have been eliminated long ago.

There is only one Bayern in the Bundesliga.

The influence of the Bosman Act is really great. The European clubs that flourished in those days are now only the four powerful leagues.

In addition to the four major leagues, other leagues, including Ligue 1 and Eredivisie, have completely declined. Their clubs are completely unable to compete with the four major leagues. I don’t know whether this is the inevitable development of football or the sadness of football development.

Spain in early April is already sunny.

Looking at the warm weather, George thought unconsciously. With such good weather, it is no wonder that Spanish players are reluctant to play in humid England. And even if they go to England, they will not adapt. The so-called homesickness will appear at any time.

George came to Valencia.

Valencia is a beautiful city. It is bordered by the blue sea in the east, with a vast plain on its back, beautiful beaches and abundant sunshine. This land is like a pearl on the west coast of the Mediterranean. The ancient Greeks, Romans and Arabs have appeared here like ghosts. Today, Valencia has developed agriculture, and its citrus and lemons are well-known and exported to Europe and the United States.

This is the third largest city in Spain, and there is a La Liga team here. He is Valencia, known as the Bat Legion. Valencia is an old team with a long history and the third largest number of members in Spain. In the early days, the team wore white tops and white shorts, so Spain was called "White Ghost".

Valencia is a team completely different from other Spanish styles. Valencia is known for its stable style, characterized by rapid offensive and defensive conversions and efficient defensive counterattacks.

Speaking of Valencia's current defensive counterattack tactics, one person cannot be ignored.

That is the Italian coach Ranieri.

Ranieri moved to Spain and became the head coach of Valencia in the 1997-1998 season. He spread the Italian-style defensive counterattack to Spain, and it bore fruit in Valencia. Although he was in Valencia for only two years, his tactical thinking deeply influenced Valencia. Ranieri contributed greatly to Valencia's ability to become one of the Spanish giants in the late 1990s.

Cooper, who succeeded Ranieri, perfected Ranieri's defensive counterattack.

Especially Mendieta's genius performance, coupled with the joining of Kili Gonzalez, made Valencia's counterattack tactics more and more outstanding. It has become a force that cannot be ignored in European football.

Cooper also used his performance in Valencia to become a truly world-class coach.

However, George was not afraid of the powerful Valencia at all.

George had studied Valencia early on.

George was confident of defeating Valencia.

…………

April 4th was the first round of the Champions League quarterfinals.

George led Blackburn to the Mestalla Stadium.

Valencia's Mestalla Stadium has a long history. It has a history of more than 70 years, but it doesn't look too old. This stadium, which can accommodate more than 50,000 people, is much larger than Blackburn's Ewood Park.

Every time George sees these stadiums, he can't help but feel envious.

Even if it can't be compared with Old Trafford and Wembley, it can at least have 50,000 or 60,000 seats, which is also good. But now Ewood Park can only accommodate more than 30,000 people, which seems a bit small.

But after entering the stadium, George shook his head.

Speaking of which, Valencia has performed very well in the past few seasons. And this game is a very important game in the Champions League knockout round. But Valencia's home stadium was not full, and there were at least 7,000 or 8,000 empty seats.

This surprised George.

In the Premier League, George played games. Even those relegation teams have a large number of fans. Many stadiums can be filled. Even when George led Burnley to fight in the lower-level leagues, there were many fans on the scene.

Just like Preston, which is in the same place as Blackburn and Burnley. Their club is a team in a low-level league.

For so many years, they have no idea what the top league is like. But they have a lot of fans, and there are 20,000 fans on site for every game. There are many such clubs in England.

But I really didn't expect that the powerful Valencia didn't even fill the seats of more than 50,000 people.

And now there are thousands of fans in the Mestalla Stadium who followed Blackburn. So the number of Valencia fans present today is about 40,000. There are too few fans.

Valencia, what is this place?

This is the third largest city in Spain. As a strong team in the world's first league, the number of spectators on site did not exceed 50,000, which is very unexpected. If it were Blackburn, let alone this Champions League knockout match, even in the league, 50,000 fans could still be easily gathered.

George wondered if Valencia had so few fans on a regular basis? Or was it because Valencia fans didn't care about Blackburn at all and thought this game was a foregone conclusion?

George put aside his disappointment and looked at the players on the field. He saw Aimar playing with the ball there, and he felt a little envious. Players like Aimar can only play in La Liga. With his frail body, if he goes to the Premier League, he will probably retire in a few seasons.

Clown Aimar, a 21-year-old young player, is very famous. Not only in Argentina, but also in La Liga and in world football.

Aimar is a genius from the Argentine giant River Plate. Together with Saviola, he led River Plate to win two Argentine Football League titles and a South American Super Cup.

Aimar is even considered by the Argentines to be the "successor to the king of football". Of course, there are too many "successors to the king of football" in Argentina now. But those who can be given this title are all the most outstanding talented players in Argentina.

21-year-old Aimar just transferred to Valencia this winter. The transfer fee exceeded 20 million euros.

In the current world football, there are very few players who can transfer to 20 million US dollars at the age of 21.

Since the winter transfer, Aimar's performance in Valencia has been obvious to all. In the La Liga, a league that emphasizes technology, Aimar, a talented midfielder, performs with ease.

But there is some good news. Aimar was injured not long ago and just returned not long ago. It is difficult to guarantee his condition.

George just watched for a while, and then went into the locker room by himself. He just came out to feel Valencia's home court. In the locker room, George was analyzing how to deal with Valencia away.

At this time, the players who finished warming up entered the locker room one by one.

"We are a newcomer to the Champions League. Although we are the champions of the UEFA Cup last year, few people can think that we will enter the quarterfinals."

The UEFA Cup championship is too watery. Compared with the strong teams in the Champions League, the UEFA Cup is completely inferior. Some of those giants looked down on Blackburn.

"The quarterfinals, you are already amazing. But are you only satisfied with the quarterfinals?"

"Of course not." All the players shook their heads.

The quarterfinals, the quarterfinals are also a goal. All Blackburn players disagreed with this statement.

"Yes, the quarterfinals, the quarterfinals are nothing. As long as we beat Valencia, we can enter the semifinals. After the semifinals, it's the finals. We have come to this point, how can we be satisfied with the result of the quarterfinals."

"Valencia is a team that mainly defends and counterattacks. For defense and counterattack, I let him only defend, not counterattack."

George began to explain the tactics of this game to the players. It was only a short time, because the tactics in the game had been explained in training.

"Valencia was the runner-up of the Champions League last season. Go tell them why they are the runner-up, not the champion!"

There were two games in the quarterfinals of this day. One was Valencia against Blackburn and the other was Arsenal against Deportivo La Coruna. In yesterday's game, Manchester United lost to Bayern Munich 0-1 at home, and AC Milan defeated Real Madrid 3-2 at home.

The Premier League champion Manchester United's qualification situation is already precarious.

Therefore, the English media put their hopes on Blackburn and Arsenal.

"Hello everyone, this is the Champions League quarter-final match. The two teams are Valencia and Blackburn."

"First, let me tell you about Valencia's starting lineup. The goalkeeper is Cañizares, the back line from left to right is Carboni, Pellegrino, Ayala, Angloma, the midfield is Kili Gonzalez, Baraja, Mendieta, Aimar, and the forward line is Kalou and Juan Sanchez."

"Let's talk about Blackburn's starting lineup. The goalkeeper is Cudicini, the back line from left to right is Riise, Blanco, Ferdinand, Sagnol, the midfield is Pires, Deco, Makelele, Miku, Duff, and the forward line is Klose."

George did not let Panucci, who was in good form, play in this game, but chose to trust the veteran Blanco. Blanco will only miss many games in the second half of the season because of physical problems. But George has never doubted his strength.

Although Blanco's turning speed is slow, his front defense is absolutely first-class in world football. And the important thing is that Blanco is extremely experienced. He can make up for Ferdinand's rashness.

For this game, George has enough confidence to defeat Valencia.