Section 144 The Young Battlefield (Part 1)

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 A generous boss, a tough coach, down-to-earth teammates, and a long season, finally seeing the harvest in front of us. Deportivo has mobilized all its staff. In the 98 years since the team was founded, they have only won the Copa del Rey.

There have been two, and they were in 1995 and 2002 during the Super Deportivo period. The weak merit book has a large blank, and I look forward to one outstanding player, coach and even boss writing it down.

In order to prepare for this game, Deportivo carried out player rotation early. Even Wang Ai, a rotation player with a killer weapon, was arranged to reserve physical fitness. He had clearly studied his opponent Zaragoza from top to bottom.

Before the game, both boss Lendoiro and head coach Irueta issued a "kill order"! The club, which already owed 160 million euros, gritted its teeth and scraped together 2 million euros as a bonus.

I really have no money, and I don’t dare to take too much. There is still a league championship in sight, and there is also the Champions League.

Although the money was not much, the boss decided to go to Barcelona in person to cheer for the team in order to show his attention and support. In Deportivo, this was not a good sign in the past. Several times Lendoiro went to watch the game on a whim, and the result was that every time

Depor lost every time, and it was a huge defeat. Therefore, the Depor fan organization strongly resisted Lendoiro appearing in the stands with them at the same time, forcing the top hero of Super Depor to often have to watch his team play.

When putting on makeup, you have to do it secretly.

The last time the Champions League group stage was in Monaco, the reason why Lendoiro danced excitedly in front of the Monaco royal family when Wang Ai scored the last free kick to equalize the score was because he could watch the game openly in the future.

The high-spirited team headed south to Barcelona the morning after the match against Mallorca, concentrating on preparing for the final three days later. Since Barcelona had "shadowed" Deportivo before, the relationship between the two teams was relatively normal. In this way

As a result, the relationship with the Spanish, who are also "royal", is relatively good. Especially in a region that often advocates Catalonia's independence, a football team named after "the Spanish" is actually quite marginalized.

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Zaragoza, their opponent in the Copa del Rey final, is a very unique team. The average age of the players is very young, probably more than five years younger than Depor. In La Liga, where the two giants coexist, Zaragoza, like Depor, belongs to the "

"One of the many", or "other teams" besides Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​operating on a small budget, working hard, and struggling to maintain it, this is basically the norm.

Zaragoza is richer than Laco, and its population is twice that of Laco, so it still has development potential. However, Zaragoza is an industrial city. After Spain became a developed country, the problem of industrial loss was inevitable.

, which also weakens Zaragoza’s development potential.

Judging from the results of the two teams, there is no doubt that Deportivo has taken the lead in recent years. The first round of the season was between the two sides. As a result, Deportivo defeated their opponent 1:0, and Wang Ai had not yet participated in the game at that time. etc.

In the second half of the game, Depor played at home and defeated their opponents 4:1. But if you look at the historical results, Zaragoza obviously rose earlier than Depor. They won the King's Cup twice in the 1960s and in the 1990s.

He has won the Cup Winners' Cup and the King's Cup once, and has won the King's Cup five times in total. At least in the King's Cup, he has an advantage over Deportivo.

The last time they won the championship was in 2001, and coincidentally, Depor won the Copa del Rey the following year. Therefore, both sides have reasons to win this final and are confident of winning.

Although in terms of absolute strength, Deportivo is stronger than Zaragoza, but in addition to Zaragoza's experience in the King's Cup, the young players in their team all regard the King's Cup final as an occasion for self-expression.

For the small teams in the middle and lower reaches of La Liga, this is a rare opportunity to showcase their skills throughout Spain. What if they are chosen? Even if it is not Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Sevilla, Valencia or Deportivo La Coruna

It is also possible. Therefore, this is destined to be a game that will not be lonely.

In addition to the enthusiasm of the young people in Zaragoza, Deportivo is not without young people, and they are even younger. For example, Wang Ai, whose height has reached the average height of Spanish adults, was inevitably caught by reporters and asked

Say a few words, and then it is quickly amplified and becomes "Rey declares war on Zaragoza!"

In fact, Wang Aizhen didn't say anything too excessive. He just congratulated the young people of Zaragoza. Winning the Copa del Rey runner-up at the beginning of his career was a very good start.

But in my heart, neither Wang Ai nor Depor dared to underestimate this young army, because they eliminated Barcelona in the semi-finals. They beat Barcelona 1:0 at Camp Nou and returned to the Roma Radar Stadium.

, the two sides drew again.

Being able to attack and defend well is not enough to describe this team. More vividly, it is to get excited when meeting a wealthy club and beat them up so that they can find a good club for themselves. This is basically the collective pursuit of Zaragoza: if the players have good

Wherever you go, the team can make a lot of money.

For example, the team's current number one star, David Villa. The 23-year-old forward who just transferred from Sporting Gijon in the Spanish Second Division for 1.5 million euros this season has played all the games for Zaragoza.

In the game, he scored 13 goals and averaged 0.5 goals per game. Not only did he hope to get a good performance from Deportivo, but their club also thought so.

The "other teams" in La Liga are essentially used to discovering young players from lower leagues or abroad, cultivating them based on their own high-level league qualifications, and then... selling them! Sell them at a good price! The two giants save money.

The training cost of star players is not high, and the free-range model is adopted. Whoever becomes a talent can be bought. Therefore, although the youth training of Real Madrid and Barcelona are famous, in fact, "other teams" are their youth training bases.

In early spring, the climate of Barcelona is much different from that of La Coruña. One is on the Atlantic coast and the other is on the Mediterranean coast, so La Coruña needs to come in advance and try to adapt to the venue. Although the temperatures in the two cities are similar, Barcelona averages in March.

It rained for six days, while in Laco it rained for half a month.

It’s either raining or preparing to rain. This is the winter in Laco. So when we first arrived in the sunny Barcelona, ​​everyone felt as if they were all moldy and had the urge to go out and bask in the sun.

After renting a training ground surrounded by green trees near the hotel, the whole team conducted a closed training camp. The Zaragoza team, which came to Barcelona in a low-key manner, was also preparing intensively.

At 8 pm on March 17, at the Espanyol home stadium, the 2003-04 King's Cup final officially kicked off.


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