Chapter 178 We want to defend the title! (Guarantee
The second leg of the Spanish Super Cup was played at Mestalla, Valencia's home stadium.
Before this game, there was a 180-degree change in everyone's opinions from the previous game.
Before the last game, many thought Real Madrid would beat Valencia at home.
Now, many people think that it is impossible for Real Madrid to win the Spanish Super Cup.
For a team that has won nine Champions Leagues, such an evaluation is really...sad.
In fact, this is indeed the case.
In this game, Valencia continued to use the tactical thinking of the previous game at their home court, which was defense.
When you attack, you defend, and when you defend, you defend.
Defense is everywhere.
The scene was not very nice, because Valencia seemed slow and lethargic when attacking.
However, they were able to ensure possession of the ball and would not have the ball intercepted due to frequent through balls.
In the last game, Valencia had a lot of through balls, some of which were offside, and some of which were intercepted by Real Madrid for counterattacks. If they hadn't implemented the winning "mad dog" defensive tactics, it would be hard to say that that game
How the game will be played.
Now, sitting at home and still holding a two-goal lead, Valencia has no need to take risks.
So he asked the players to control the ball more, pass the ball more, and move more, but not to pass the ball or shoot rashly.
It doesn't matter if I pass the ball back and forth for ninety minutes.
Faced with such a shameless victory, Real Madrid has no good solution. Although they have many superstars, they can't do it even if the ball is not at their feet.
Mendieta did not start this game, he still sat on the bench. Real Madrid's starting lineup was exactly the same as the previous game.
It can be seen that Bosque still withstood the pressure after the game with Florentino.
Chang Sheng sat on the coaching bench, crossed his legs and sneered.
How long can Bosque survive?
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In the end, neither side scored a goal. After a dull 0:0, Valencia won their first championship in the new season.
At the post-match press conference, Chang Sheng once again made a shocking statement.
"Super Cup? That's it. I won't be happy for a Super Cup for long. My goal is the league championship! This season, we Valencia will defend the championship! I'm not kidding, I'm not making a gimmick, I
This is not a bluff, you will see us in action."
After the game, many media reported Chang Sheng's words.
Although Chang Sheng said he would defend the title last season, he only said it during Valencia's internal celebrations. Many people thought that maybe Chang Sheng was overly excited at the time, or that he just wanted to please the Valencia fans.
It's a scene remark, and once he wakes up he won't take it seriously.
So the media didn't take it too seriously.
Unexpectedly, Chang Sheng said it so blatantly now, so it was obviously not a joke!
He really wants to compete for the league championship!
When the media heard this, their first reaction was bafflement, and then "this is impossible."
Because La Liga teams are very aware of the curse of the Champions League.
Valencia participated in the Champions League last time, but ranked fifth in the league. This season they participated in the Champions League again, and Chang Sheng, who led the team, had never played in the Champions League before. He has no experience in the Champions League. Such a team
How is it possible to do both?
Unless you have to give up the Champions League if you win...
But will the club let him give up the Champions League?
In the view of the club management, the greatest significance of the Champions League is not on the competitive level, but on the economic level. Participating in the Champions League group stage is all about money, and every additional game is also money.
Valencia is in need of money now, will they allow Chang Sheng to give up the Champions League?
But if we don’t give up the Champions League, how can we defend the league title if we always win?
Do you just rely on speaking out in front of the media?
The media has been discussing this a lot, and many people do not believe that Chang Sheng can defend the title. Although he led Valencia to a beautiful league championship last season, the difficulty of winning for the first time is completely different from that of defending the title.
Many teams can win the championship for the first time, but defending the title... is difficult.
First of all, they won the championship before because their opponents didn't know them well enough and didn't pay enough attention to them, which allowed them to take advantage of the loopholes. If they want to defend the title, there won't be such a problem. All opponents will seriously study and deal with them, because every team will fight them.
Sometimes, they are playing against the league champion, and the prospect of defeating the league champion is very tempting. They will definitely try their best, which will cause a lot of trouble for Valencia's defense of the title.
Secondly, after winning the league championship, the Valencia team's desire for honor will definitely decrease. At this time, the players will focus more on the Champions League. For them, that is
A bigger and more dazzling stage. The league has lost its appeal. The players will definitely be in good shape when playing in the Champions League, but they will lose their energy when playing in the league.
There are many factors that make it difficult for a team to successfully defend its title.
Real Madrid was the league champion last season and wanted to defend the title last season. Everyone felt that no team could threaten them. Maybe only Deportivo had a chance. Who would have thought that a team would appear out of nowhere?
What about Valencia?
In the same way, no one knows that after Chang Sheng declares in a high-profile way that he wants to defend his title, he will show up as the unconvinced dark horse.
The last team to successfully defend the title was Barcelona, who won the league championship in both the 1997-1998 and 1998-1999 seasons.
However, in Spanish football, Real Madrid and Barcelona are two special teams, and their data and results cannot be used as a reference.
At the very least, it cannot be used as a reference for Valencia.
Apart from Real Madrid and Barcelona, the last team to successfully defend a title was Athletic Bilbao. They won two league titles in the 1982-1983 and 1983-1984 seasons.
This was already twenty years ago.
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In the first training after the Super Bowl, Chang Sheng called the players to stand together before training. He had something to say.
"You didn't think I was joking when I announced that I would defend the league title after winning the Super Cup, right?" he said to his players with a smile.
The players didn't say anything. They already knew Chang Sheng's temperament. When he looked at him smiling, he might not be happy with you. Even if they thought their head coach was joking at first, they couldn't say it at this time - no
Such an honest person.
"I know some of you can't wait to play in the Champions League, and so do I. But I still want to remind you - the league is the foundation. Before dominating Europe, we should dominate the domestic league first. So this season
, if I see a player who gets excited after playing in the Champions League but loses interest after playing in the league, I'm sorry, even if you are the original absolute main force, you will have to report to the B team for me! I never joke about this.
, I always do what I say. I think you all should know my temper very well."
After the intimidation was over, Chang Sheng began to induce.
"The general view from the outside world is that we cannot successfully defend the title. They have listed many reasons, and I have read them all. I have to admit that the reasons they said seem reasonable. We are facing various difficulties. In the next step
In the next league, the obstacles we will encounter will be much greater than last season. I hope you are mentally prepared. But precisely because it is difficult to defend the league championship in one way or another, it is more worthy for us to defend the title!"
"Some media say that in the past 20 years, no team except Real Madrid and Barcelona has been able to successfully defend the title. The defending league title has become a plaything monopolized by the giants. Therefore, Valencia cannot successfully defend the title. This
The words reminded me of what the media said when we decided to end last season undefeated. They dug out historical data and records from old papers to prove that it was impossible for us to create an undefeated season. At that time, they said
It has been seventy years since any team has gone undefeated in a season. What’s the result?”
Chang Sheng put his hands on his hips and leaned forward, asking.
"As a result, we remained undefeated in the thirty-eight league rounds throughout the season! We were able to break the record that has been untouched for seventy years. What's so great about just twenty years?"
"So guys, the defending league champion is not as scary as they say. We have to show them that Valencia can make the impossible possible! Because we are such a team that is good at creating miracles!"
"Now, train to defend the league title!"
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In fact, before Chang Sheng publicly announced his intention to defend the league championship, there was a task in his task log.
That is the task of defending the league championship.
It is also the main mission.
The mission rewards are rich, but it is also very difficult.
Mission name: Defend the title!
Mission goal: Defend the league championship.
Mission statement: Now that we have won the league championship, why not try to defend it?
Mission reward: 3 million experience points, 10,000 reputation points, and 500 energy points.
Training skills: [Secondary Training], [Secondary Tactical Training], [Competition Training Defensive Set-Kick Elementary], [Elementary Free Kick Special Training], [Elementary Header Special Training], [Elementary Penalty Kick Special Training].
Competition skill: [Iron Warrior].
Even for these rewards, I have to work hard to defend my title.
In order to make himself achieve it, he directly shouted out this goal in front of so many reporters, just to make himself unable to retreat.
If he fails to lead the team to successfully defend the title, he will be ridiculed, attacked, and drowned in the saliva of reporters.
Only in this way can he break everything and create miracles.
Just like when he led Getafe to avoid relegation.
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After the Spanish Super Cup, the next step is the league.
On August 31, the first round of the league kicked off, and the game between Racing Santander and Valladolid became the opening match.
In this game, Valladolid, playing away from home, defeated Racing Santander with a score of 1:0 and got a good start in the league.
The next day, La Liga started in full swing.
Valencia's first game is an away game against Mallorca.
This game is Valencia's first league game of the season, and it also has a very important significance.
If Valencia can beat Mallorca away from home, they will set a new unbeaten record in La Liga.
Prior to this, the unbeaten record in La Liga was no more than 38 games, jointly maintained by Valencia and Real Sociedad.
Real Sociedad started in the 29th round of the 1978-1979 season and remained unbeaten for 38 games until the 32nd round of the 1979-1980 season. At that time, Real Sociedad was super powerful and was one of the top teams in Spain.
.After creating this unbeaten record of 38 league games, they won the league championship in the second season, and then they successfully defended the title.
Now Valencia is in the same situation as Real Sociedad.
They also maintain a record of 38 league unbeaten games. If they can set a new record, will this become a good sign that they can successfully defend the league title?
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