Golden Greenery

"Zhuoyang, congratulations. Congratulations to the Chinese team." Upon meeting, Mourinho first expressed his congratulations.

Zhuoyang held the hand he extended: "Thank you, Jose."

After letting Zhuo Yang sit down on the sofa, Mourinho picked up the coffee pot on the coffee table, straightened the cup he had prepared in advance, poured in the coffee, and pushed it in front of Zhuo Yang with his finger.

Zhuo Yang nodded: "Thank you." But he didn't drink immediately. Instead, he sat back and leaned on the back of the sofa.

Mourinho's character and attitude towards this matter can be seen from the fact that Mourinho chose his office in Valdebebas Sports City as the location for the meeting with Zhuoyang.

Sports City is a place that I come to almost every day. I can call him in the office and sit down at any time. If it were another head coach, how could he be so serious about it? He even made a special phone call overseas to make an appointment in advance.

Uncle Zha's office in Madibao was his dormitory. Zhuoyang and the others walked in without knocking.

An Pang's office was unoccupied, but Zhuo Yang came in and out as if he were just visiting, but he was often filled with cigar smoke and couldn't open his eyes.

Guardiola's office is more formal, but Zhuo Yang goes there often, firstly because he is really familiar with it, and secondly because he has this privilege.

There is only Mourinho's office. This is the first time Zhuo Yang has entered Real Madrid in more than a year. And as far as he knows, there are very few Real Madrid players who have entered here. Unless Mourinho invites, no one comes to take advantage of it. porcelain.

The office is very open, with the working area alone exceeding 80 square meters. After the computerization of offices, things like bookshelves and file cabinets are basically no longer used, and are replaced by several large-screen LCD wall hangings.

The desk is very wide and looks more like a dining table in size. Four chairs can easily be placed side by side on one side. There are two laptops on it, one with the lid on and the other with the lid closed. Other glasses, stopwatches, whistles, and some text pens and the like make the desktop look very messy.

"It's familiar, right? It should be called...Worker of Rockefeller Center, yes, that's the name." Seeing Zhuo Yang staring at the photo on the wall, Mourinho explained.

The photo is the only decoration on the office wall. It is the famous photo of a row of workers sitting on a high beam eating lunch, reading the newspaper and taking a cigarette break. It was taken by photographer Charles C. Ebbets. This photo of Yu 1 was retouched, and the actual situation is not as dangerous and exaggerated as it appears in the picture.

"I'm very brave. Anyway, I don't dare to eat hamburgers at such a high place. I don't dare to eat anything." After saying that, Zhuo Yang looked back and stopped looking at the photos. No matter how artistic life is, this photo is at least seriously suspected of being staged.

"Haha, life is not easy. Many people have to survive hard." Mourinho smiled: "Zhuoyang, it should be difficult for you to understand the living conditions of the people at the bottom. They are far away from you."

Zhuoyang shrugged, not wanting to explain anything to Mourinho.

Too many people only see Zhuoyang's football and piano, and see his most glorious present, and automatically assume that Zhuoyang was born like this. Then he would talk earnestly and show off his insights on life. If Zhuoyang had to explain it every time, it would not be enough for him.

Fortunately, Mourinho is not so pushy, and he does not have the bad virtue of relying on his old people to sell off old people.

Zhuo Yang’s father, Zhuo Tongtong, once said: In fact, no one is qualified to tell others the truth about life, because they only live one life, so how to talk about experience? It took me more than a dozen times to make scrambled eggs with tomatoes before I dared to speak of experience.

How can you give random advice to others in a mere period of your life?

"I have to fly back and forth for more than ten hours every international match day. Isn't it very hard?"

"Fortunately, I've gotten used to it over the years." If you want to chat, I'll chat with you.

"China is too far away, and China is also too big." Mourinho said: "I don't know the specific area, but I feel it should be as big as Spain and Portugal combined, or even bigger."

Zhuo Yang was used to this: "It should be bigger, about the same size as two Europes. Well...excluding Russia." He specifically stated that in fact, the Europe in the minds of Europeans does not include Russia.

Mourinho was slightly surprised, then smiled sheepishly.

Mourinho is someone who has been to China. He still has no real idea of ​​the "bigness" of China. He can imagine those ordinary Europeans who have never been to China. Zhuo Yang has met too many Westerners in recent years, and Mourinho is considered reliable.

In fact, it is not all caused by ignorance. It is difficult for people who have lived in small countries for generations to concretely feel the vastness of the country. The same goes for Chinese people, who subconsciously do not realize how small European countries are.

As the two most famous cities in Spain, Madrid and Barcelona, ​​Chinese people who have just come here will subconsciously think: wow, it must be so far away.

Because Beijing is far away from Shanghai and Guangzhou.

In fact, driving from Madrid to Barcelona only takes one morning, which is much more convenient than traveling within most Chinese provinces.

For the vast majority of Europeans, China's "bigness" is just a noun, not a concept.

And every time Zhuo Yang tells others that "China is almost twice as big as Europe", he can't help but think: If China could have twice the number of professional football clubs in Europe, it could really be like table tennis. , beat the whole world at will.

But the actual situation is that, except for those small pocket countries, China cannot compare with any country in Europe in terms of the number of professional clubs. This may be the real reason why Chinese football cannot fully rise.

"Frank has done a great job in China. I think he must be very happy now." Mourinho said of his old rival Frank Rijkaard, the head coach of the Chinese team.

"Yes, he is outstanding and highly respected by the people in China. We Chinese call him Marshal Jie, an outstanding marshal."

The feud between Mourinho and Barcelona actually originated from the Rijkaard era. In 2005, Barcelona, ​​which was coached by Jerzy, the two teams were locked in the group stage again in the UEFA Champions League 17 season.

Thinking of the two seasons in which he was ambitious but failed one after another, Mourinho remembered that the Champions League championship in those two seasons was taken away by Zhuo Yang.

"Zhuoyang, you are amazing. If I remember correctly, you already have four Champions Leagues, right?"

"Yes, four."

"There should be no one among the active players who has done more than you."

"No, old Sir, Clarence Seedorf, he's got five."

"Seedorf? Didn't he retire?"

"No, he went to Brazil, Botafogo player and coach."

"Oh——. Real Madrid's Gento has six. You are only... 27 years old, you should be able to surpass him."

"Maldini also has six." Zhuoyang added. However, on this point, Zhuo Yang and Mourinho have no objection. He believes that it is only a matter of time before he surpasses Maldini and Gento.

Mourinho has a very strong personality, but when talking about the Champions League, he suddenly felt that he was a little lacking in confidence in front of Zhuoyang.