After playing against Mallorca, Valencia began to prepare for the second leg of the UEFA Cup against Celtic.
This game is an away game, so Winners pays special attention to it. Because the British team's home atmosphere is very strong, far superior to that of La Liga.
He was concerned that his players lacked the experience to play in that environment.
In fact, his concerns are quite justified.
When the Valencia players rushed to the away game, they received a "warm reception" from the Celtic players from the airport - about 500 Celtic fans rushed to the airport to "greet" Valencia.
The players from Lencia, but the way they greeted them was a little... not very friendly.
They sang the cheering songs of Celtic fans, raised their middle fingers towards Valencia, cursed and held various signs and banners mocking and mocking Valencia.
As soon as they got off the plane and landed in Glasgow, Valencia fans felt the hostility of their opponents.
When it came to the game, the feeling was even worse.
Spanish teams are not good at playing away games. They have always been dragons at home and bugs on the road. If a team can achieve outstanding performance in away games, then it must not be far away from the championship.
Even if a winning team comes here, it cannot be completely changed in just three months.
The Celtic Park stadium was filled with all kinds of noise and noise. The Valencia players seemed very uncomfortable here.
The performance was also slightly abnormal.
Conceded a goal in the first 20 minutes.
Conceded another goal in the second half.
As a result, the total score between the two sides became 2:2.
When Chang Sheng saw this situation, he immediately made adjustments and strengthened his defense.
They defended until the end of the game, and then defended until the end of overtime, when the two sides entered the penalty shootout stage.
At this time, Chang Sheng's prudent habit of practicing penalty kicks the day before the knockout rounds became a bit obvious.
Valencia, who was more prepared for penalty kicks, finally eliminated the aggressive Celtics with a penalty score of 5:3, passed the test in a dangerous way, and advanced in a thrilling way.
After this game, Chang Sheng secretly wiped away his sweat.
It would be such an injustice if he died in Glasgow with a 2:0 lead in the first round...
This European competition is indeed much more difficult than La Liga. In small leagues like the Scottish Premiership, there can still be very strong teams, but if you are not careful, you may be knocked to the ground.
At the same time, Chang Sheng also gradually felt that he was unable to achieve his goals. Now it is only the UEFA Cup quarter-finals, and there will be quarter-finals, quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals in the future.
Do you really want to go all the way to the finals?
Chang Sheng frowned and thought.
Let’s not talk about whether we can make it to the finals. Even if we make it to the finals, how much energy does it take?
As a new head coach, I lack the ability to fight on two fronts in the domestic and European competitions. It is obviously a foolish dream to hope for a good harvest on both fronts.
Although Chang Sheng is very angry and crazy, he is still rational.
He can say that he won the league championship in the first season because he knows that historically Valencia did win the championship this season. He has a golden finger and a time-travel advantage. No matter what, he will not be worse than the master Benitez.
Bar?
But in the UEFA Cup, I really don’t know how to win often.
If you invest too much energy in the UEFA Cup and the league is in a mess, aren't you putting the cart before the horse?
The UEFA Cup is just a passer-by for Valencia, and their goals should be the league championship and qualification for next season's Champions League.
I just finished the match against Mallorca, and the lessons learned from Mallorca are still fresh in my mind. Mallorca misjudged the situation, or was tempted by the cake of the Champions League. As a result, they failed to qualify for the Champions League and were almost relegated from the league.
.
Chang Sheng doesn't do this kind of thing.
After much thought, he decided that it was definitely better to give up the UEFA Cup.
In the quarter-finals, I played half as a main player and half as a substitute, and the result was what I expected.
Let’s just focus on the domestic league.
If you don't even win a league championship in the end, wouldn't it prove that you have time-travel advantages and golden fingers, but you are not as good as Benitez?
That’s unscientific!
※※※
After playing the UEFA Cup, time has entered December.
Baraja, who had been sidelined for three months due to injury, also returned to the team and began simple recovery training.
At first, the doctors thought it would only take seven weeks for him to recover, but they never expected that after the time was up, he would not be able to recover.
And no one knows the cause. Doctors have tested the equipment and don’t know what is going on.
So I can only continue to cultivate.
It was not until three months later, after the latest examination, that the doctors allowed him to return to the training ground.
Because he has just returned from injury, his condition and body have not been adjusted to the best condition, so he is currently mainly focusing on recovering his body, and temporarily relies on playing games with the B team to find his game state.
For Baraja, this day has been a long time coming.
Although Chang Sheng personally promised him his status in the team.
But while he was lying on the hospital bed, watching the team make rapid progress on all fronts, he felt conflicted. He was applauded for the team's performance, but worried about his position after returning to the team.
Originally he was Valencia's absolute main force.
But looking at Valencia's current tactics, it is obvious that Guardiola is more suitable to be the main force than himself.
Moreover, in terms of reputation and experience, he is not as good as Guardiola.
In terms of direct lineage, he is not as good as Alberda, whom Valencia trained himself.
What capital do you have to compete for the main force?
So after resuming training, he worked very hard, even risking another injury.
Chang Sheng had to intervene to dissuade him.
But Baraja obviously couldn't listen.
Faced with such hard work, Chang Sheng had no choice but to sigh, hoping that Baraja would have good luck and not injure himself again just after recovering from his injury.
But...he then thought about it, Baraja is a famous tough guy. For a long time, he had not heard of Baraja being injured. He had a very high attendance rate in Valencia.
So... maybe he's not so unlucky this time.
※※※
In the sixteenth round, Valencia faced Deportivo La Coruna away from home.
This is also a powerful conversation.
At the turn of the century, many very powerful teams were born in Spanish football, such as Celta Vigo, Mallorca, Deportivo La Coruna, Valencia...
But among them, Deportivo is the team with the most stable performance.
Under the leadership of Irueta, this team from the Galician Autonomous Region transformed into "Super Depor".
From the time they won the league championship in the 1999-2000 season, until the 200304 season, this team has never fallen out of the top three leagues.
They won one league championship, two second place finishes, and two third place finishes.
Historically, this season, Valencia finally won the league championship, and Deportivo was in second place, pinning down Real Madrid, Barcelona and other teams.
Valencia is playing away from home this time. Not to mention the danger.
Before the game, the media were saying that Valencia has not lost a single game so far, and neither Real Madrid nor Barcelona have been able to knock Valencia off the undefeated throne.
The most promising and possible one now is Deportivo La Coruña.
Because they are playing at home, they are on par with Valencia in terms of strength.
They occupy the right time, place, and people, so how can they be invincible?
Chang Sheng also knows this very well.
In fact, even if his team loses to Deportivo La Coruna, it will not affect the current ranking, because they are still ahead of the second place by a lot.
If you just lose one game, it doesn't pose a threat at all.
But Chang Sheng didn't want to do this.
Even if the hope of winning this game is low, there is still hope.
In training half a week before the game, he constantly instilled in his players the idea that they must not lose this game.
Until before the game, when the game started with fifteen minutes left, he was still talking about this issue.
"I know we are facing a very difficult situation in this game. Continuous fighting has made the team a little tired. Our opponents are very strong, and we are still playing away from home... But these objective reasons are why we subjectively gave up this game.
The reason for a game? No! I always believe that when facing a strong team, no matter how unfavorable the situation is, we must dare to fight against them! So even if we grit our teeth and persevere, we must not lose to our opponents!"
The situation in this game was so severe, but even so, Ibrahimovic did not get a chance to play.
4231. Even Aimar.
Chang Sheng has to be more cautious and harsh with the wild horse Ibrahimovic. Because if Ibrahimovic cannot be completely brought into line this time, I am afraid that until this season
I can't even stop myself.
※※※
The competition was very intense, even cruel.
The two teams had a fierce battle for possession of the ball in the midfield, because both teams are possession-oriented.
Valencia's midfield brain is Guardiola, while Deportivo's is Belleron.
A battle between these two top midfielders.
Deportivo took advantage of their home field to score the first goal.
But just at the beginning of the second half, Valencia tenaciously pulled back a point.
In the next 68 minutes, Deportivo took the lead again, this time the goal was by Dejaminha.
Deportivo takes the lead again!
When Dejaminha blasted the football into the goal, huge cheers erupted from the Riazor Stadium, as if they had won the game.
Even the commentator Moen was cheering for Deportivo: "The powerful Super Deportivo! Super Deportivo! It seems that only they can defeat Valencia and end their undefeated streak!"
"Super Depor! Super Depor!!" As if to cooperate with him, the stands of Riazor Stadium burst into deafening cheers.
Amid their shouts, Deportivo's players were celebrating heartily, while Valencia's players were a little distracted.
The huge sound waves hit each of their eardrums and hearts, making them feel suffocated.
Chang Sheng bit his lower lip and stared at the court.
In recent years, Deportivo has been at its peak. Their team has performed well and their fans are naturally confident. In their home stadium, they have the domineering attitude of "I dare to look down on the world and look down on the world's heroes."
Later, with Irueta's departure, La Coruña declined and was even downgraded.
The atmosphere at the Riazor Stadium was not as good as it is now, and the fans' morale was much lower.
But that was what happened later. Now Chang Sheng is unlucky to meet the most powerful Deportivo La Coruña.
Do you want to admit defeat because of this?
Of course not!
Chang Sheng withdrew his gaze and turned his gaze to the bench.
