In the president's office at the Bernabeu Stadium, when the Nou Camp battle was in full swing, Florentino took Zidane, Valdano, Butragueno and Redondo and others to sit on the sofa and watch.
Watching live TV.
When they saw Gareth Bale score the second goal, Valdano was in awe.
Butragueno nodded and said: "When he left Real Madrid, his coaching was still very young, but now, if you look at him, his gestures and formations are already the style of everyone. To talk about the current coaching
The level is probably not as good as his."
Valdano and Zidane both nodded in agreement.
In fact, Butragueno said [probably], those were just polite words and saved face for many people.
How can this be estimated?
FIFA and UEFA have clearly told you that Gao Shen is the best head coach in the world, bar none.
How good is it?
In January this year, Manchester City encountered a devilish schedule. Gao Shen devoted himself entirely to the team's preparations and competitions. He had no time to go to Zurich, Switzerland, to receive the award. Even when FIFA asked him to make a video to receive the award, Gao Shen refused.
Said there was no time.
The results of it?
FIFA still gave him the Best Men's Football Coach of the Year award.
When Butragueno presented the award, he jokingly said that he was only accepting the award on behalf of Gao Shen and would go to Manchester in person later to present the award to Gao Shen again.
Besides Gao Shen, who else can let FIFA do this?
After all, this award should not be given to Gao Shen, right?
Their strength and achievements are there. If you don’t give them to them, then where is the authority of this award?
"Barcelona's strength has declined." Zidane said to the point.
Valdano and Butragueno both nodded.
It has indeed declined, which can be seen from the two goals scored by Manchester City.
Moreover, Barcelona's passing and ball control could not penetrate Manchester City's defensive formation, but the defense had problems twice.
"So, we have a chance?" Real Madrid steward Manuel Redondo asked happily.
The three Zidane looked at each other and laughed bitterly in unison.
"Even if Barcelona's strength declines, it will still be one of the top teams in world football today. Even if it is purely based on strength, it may not be the best," Butragueno said.
"Yes, sophisticated targeted tactics and formations are very important to Manchester City's strength." Valdano agreed.
In terms of pure strength, it’s hard to say who is stronger between Manchester City and Barcelona.
But if there is more depth, it will be different.
"We have to be hopeful, but at the same time we have to be pragmatic. From the current point of view, it is not easy for us to catch up with Barcelona in terms of strength in a short period of time, especially our salary control."
Valdano reminded.
One of the important reasons why Manchester City was able to build such a team in such a short period of time is that Mansour invested almost without any return, especially the salary structure of the entire team.
During Gao Shen's three years of coaching, his salary has increased every year. Now Manchester City is one of the teams with the highest annual salary in European football.
If according to the current trend, if Manchester City wants to maintain the current lineup configuration, it will definitely have to eliminate one of them and surpass Barcelona and Real Madrid.
But this is something Real Madrid simply cannot do.
"In any case, adhering to the salary system is our bottom line. I believe Gao Shen understands this." Florentino said without doubt.
This is his red line in running Real Madrid.
No matter who you are, you must abide by it.
Many people have forgotten why Florentino came to power?
Two thousand years ago, it was not the year for the election of Real Madrid president.
But the then chairman Sanz, after winning the Champions League twice in three years in 1998 and 2000, was so confident that he decided to run for re-election in advance. He felt that he could win no matter what. Who could compete with him? Who could challenge him?
His status?
Logically speaking, this is a fact.
From the very beginning of the campaign, Sanz was the undisputed favorite.
Almost everyone in the world feels that Florentino defeated Sanz thanks to the so-called superstar policy and it was Figo.
This is simply a big joke!
Do you really think that Real Madrid members and fans are all idiots?
Superstar?
Who wouldn't?
Didn’t Sanz also clamor for a superstar? Didn’t the other candidates also clamor for a superstar?
For Real Madrid, aren’t superstars standard?
Oh, just because the superstar comes from arch-rival Barcelona?
Besides, at that time, which sane person would believe that Figo would come to Real Madrid?
So what's the problem?
debt!
No one has ever taken a closer look at the mountain of debt behind Real Madrid's two Champions League wins in three years.
Even at the end of two thousand years of Champions League, after Real Madrid won the championship, what was everyone talking about?
Will Real Madrid become the first defending champion in history to go bankrupt due to debt, or to be deprived of qualifications by UEFA?
Listen, Real Madrid was in debt of three to four billion at that time, which was a very serious situation!
Sometimes, Florentino feels that the fans are like a group of gods who do not eat the fireworks of the world. They can be full just by floating in the air and breathing air, without having to consider the real survival issues in the world.
But members of Real Madrid, especially members of the board of directors, are ordinary people. They need to consider reality and how to solve this debt problem?
It's like Laporta's Dream Team 2 and Dream Team 3 are brilliant, but so what?
With a mountain of debt, he eventually lost to Russell, who advocated compressing debt and cutting expenses.
So many people say that Russell is actually following Florentino's path.
Of course, in Florentino's opinion, this was just a joke.
It's not that he was boasting, he didn't take Russell seriously at all.
Many people say that Real Madrid relied on government financial subsidies to avoid bankruptcy. This is another lie.
Real Madrid's debt was settled by selling the old sports city.
This is equivalent to if Real Madrid is now heavily in debt, Florentino can agree to the Madrid city government demolishing the Bernabeu.
Does the Madrid City Council want it?
I definitely want to, because the location of the Bernabeu is so good.
This was what Real Madrid's old sports city looked like at that time.
The location is good and the area is large. After the demolition, land was exchanged for land, and Valdebebas was built near the airport in the suburbs. A large sum of money was paid for the demolition, which alleviated the team's debt crisis. The city government built the stadium in the old sports city.
A four-tower business district was built on the location, which became the most prosperous area in Madrid.
A win-win situation, how great!
But just because others are forgetful, it doesn't mean that Florentino is also forgetful.
He has always clearly remembered how he became the chairman of Real Madrid.
Whether it is the first phase of Galaxy Battleship or the second phase, he adheres to the salary structure.
This is his basic strategy for running a business and running Real Madrid.
The salary structure will be like a tight spell, firmly surrounding Real Madrid.
Whether you want to recruit or reorganize, you need to take the salary structure into consideration.
Moreover, Real Madrid cannot give endless transfer fees to the head coach like Mansour did.
From this point of view, Real Madrid cannot ask the coach to build a team that can be compared with Barcelona in a short period of time.
This is simply unrealistic.
What Real Madrid wants is hope!
The hope of rivaling or even defeating Barcelona!
But now, no one can see such hope in Mourinho.
And Gao Shen can give it!
Only Gao Shen can give it!
…
The first half ended with a score of zero to two.
The home team was two goals behind.
After Gareth Bale scored a goal, Barcelona obviously played more cautiously and focused on stability.
Manchester City also did not take aggressive risks, but played steadily and steadily, reflecting the style of a strong team.
As a result, although both sides attacked and defended each other, they failed to score again in the end.
When entering the intermission, Gao Shen first praised Yaya Toure by name.
In fact, as early as when Barcelona was drawn, Gao Shen had already guessed that Yaya Toure would take the initiative to challenge.
The Ivory Coast midfielder wants to avenge his disgrace at Camp Nou, prove his ability, and make Barcelona fans regret it at the same time.
Gao Shen deliberately cooled off for a while, waiting until he took the initiative to come to the door.
After that, Gao Shen deliberately teased him, making him feel like he was beaten to death in this game.
Yaya Toure transformed into the world's top midfielder tonight.
Active in defense, excellent in offense, both offensive and defensive, he made great contributions at both ends. The key is that his foot skills are very good.
If such a player is used well, he can become the backbone of the midfield.
Gao Shen mentioned it to Sarri before, and he believes that Sarri will definitely be watching the live broadcast tonight.
Paul Pogba and Kondogbia in Leeds United are both this type of midfielders. If used properly, they will bring great help to the midfield.
Of course, Manchester City was not completely without problems in the first half. For example, several counterattacks were not decisive enough and the game was a bit complicated.
According to Gao Shen's meaning, it means to be direct and sharp to give the opponent a heavy blow.
Also, the combination of Rakitic and Yaya Toure makes Manchester City's midfield hard, thick and full of pressure, but the delicate passing and dribbling is gone, and the ability to control the rhythm is lacking.
weak.
There is no way around this.
Playing David Silva can solve this problem, but his abilities in other areas will definitely be weakened.
Nothing is perfect in this world!
"The start of the second half was still the same."
"Barcelona will definitely still want to control the rhythm of the game, and we will still have another wave of attacks."
But Gao Shen also said that Barcelona will definitely be prepared this time and will not let Manchester City attack like they did in the beginning.
"But it doesn't matter. If the attack doesn't work, we will retreat and continue to defend and counterattack steadily."
"We scored two away goals in the first half. It is destined that Barcelona will come out in the second half. This is our chance!"
Losing two goals at the Nou Camp, let alone Barcelona fans, no one can tolerate it!
This score basically sentenced Barcelona to death.
Therefore, Guardiola will definitely press forward and attack.
What Manchester City needs to do is to stabilize their position, let Barcelona attack, and then counterattack.
This is the benefit of having an advantage in the game.
