At the freezing Kiev Airport, a small passenger plane flying directly from London, England, landed.
The first person to walk out of the cabin door was Aldrich, who was wearing a suit and ties. He took just two steps, but then turned back. After a while, the suit on his body disappeared and was replaced by a warm jacket.
A group of coaching staff colleagues behind him were wearing warm jackets. They took the opportunity to make fun of Aldrich. Before he came, he said that he had to be elegant and wear suits to look decent. However, he was hit by the cold Ukrainian wind and shivered and immediately put it on his back.
Forget about style, it is more practical to have some warmth.
In the second round of the European Champions League group stage, Millwall was a guest to challenge Ukrainian team leader Dynamo Kiev.
Before leaving for the game, Aldridge asked the team to pay attention to this game. Before the game even started, it was already announced that this would be an arduous battle.
After entering October, the temperature in Ukraine began to drop sharply. The lowest daily temperature was close to zero degrees. The game was held at night. Although the temperature was only five or six degrees lower than that in the UK, the temperature of ten degrees and the temperature of five degrees felt...
Definitely different.
The team went on an expedition. Unlike last season when they went to play in France or the Netherlands, the flight journey took less than two hours and took as long as three hours. They went to Ukraine and spent almost ten hours on the flight alone.
On a short-haul flight, players can recover after taking a while, but a long-haul flight is more torturous, especially the mental drain, which can easily aggravate fatigue, and the time spent outside of the flight must also be taken into account.
In more than 12 hours from setting off in the morning to arriving at the hotel in Kiev in the evening, Millwall did one thing: came to Kiev from London.
The right time, the right place, the right people, Millwall's visit to Dynamo Kiev as a guest.
So Aldrich thinks this will be a tough game.
The first-team players rested early after checking into the hotel. In order to give the players the best quality of rest, Millwall gave each player a separate room so that each player could recover from fatigue in his or her own favorite and comfortable way.
For example, some people like to listen to soothing music, some like to read books, some want to talk on the phone with their family, etc. This allows them to not be disturbed by teammates in the same room.
The coaches share a room with two persons.
Before going to bed, Aldridge played cards with two assistant coaches in the room.
Have a little gambling and enjoy yourself. At the same time, kill time and entertain yourself in this foreign country.
They were playing Texas Hold'em poker. Aldrich's hand was not good, especially when his opponent was Benitez, who was unfailing.
fate.
"I really feel for Barcelona."
Benitez raised the stakes, and then suddenly came this sentence.
I guess the Real Madrid blood in me is boiling again.
For those who have worked at Real Madrid for such a long time, when they think of Barcelona, they always feel special.
Jenson followed the bet and chuckled: "This schedule is the most beneficial to us. We are visiting Kiev in the second round, and it is October now. When Barcelona comes as a guest, haha, it will be December in the ice and snow.
At that time, the temperature difference between Spain and Ukraine was more than 15 degrees, and Barcelona indeed deserved sympathy."
Aldridge took a sip of water and said calmly: "Even if external factors are excluded, Dynamo Kyiv is still strong enough to defeat Barcelona. The upset in the first round of the group stage has proven this."
In Millwall's group, Millwall's four-goal victory over Eindhoven in the first round may not seem surprising to the outside world.
The champion of the Premier League defeated the champion of the Eredivisie. Judging from the investment and personnel of the two teams, Mirvage's victory was not unexpected, but the score was a bit large. The outside world generally believed that the gap between the two goals was normal.
But another game in the same group was shocking.
Barcelona was defeated 3-0 by Ukrainian champions Dynamo Kiev at Camp Nou!
Suddenly, people began to pay attention to this powerful Eastern European team that had a new coach in the summer, or that the old coach returned for the third time.
Aldrich held his chin in thought, when someone knocked on the door. Aldrich came to his senses and called out to come in. Nagy walked in with a frown on his face.
Aldrich immediately asked: "How is it?"
Najib shook his head and said: "Alonso and Pedretti have rested under the care of the team doctor, but they will definitely not be able to play in tomorrow's game. Fortunately, it is just a common cold, not influenza, otherwise it would be really troublesome."
Aldridge sighed and said, "Otherwise, tomorrow's game will be cancelled. The youth team will bring 16 people over, and two of them will not be able to compete. Maybe when we go to bed tomorrow, someone will catch a cold again."
Nagy thought for a while and said: "Let's see tomorrow. If only two players are absent, the daytime game will continue as usual. If there are more players unable to play, just cancel it. That would be a pity."
"It's nothing, don't worry, this is also an exercise."
Because they are playing in the Champions League, Millwall's youth team will have three opportunities to play abroad in the second half of the year. They are all youth team friendly matches that were held at the same time when Millwall was a guest in the European war. As for Millwall's invitation to these opponents to come to London as a guest, they will bring them with them.
Youth teams, all three teams declined without exception.
After all, it would cost the club money and disrupt their youth team plans, so Aldridge gave up. If they didn't want to come, we could just come and challenge them.
As for Millwall sending the challenge to the door, these teams cannot refuse. In any case, it is still a matter of face.
When there is a well-known star in Millwall's first team, the players in the youth team will also be named the second generation.
For example, Xabi Alonso, whose ability to organize and dispatch in the midfield is very good, has the reputation of Pirlo II, and Pedretti has the shadow of the French senior Makelele, known as "Little Makelele"
.
Therefore, these two players are included in the youth team's roster, allowing them to receive diversified training earlier than those players who are one or two years older than them.
After the evening card game, the coaches took a break one after another.
The next day, after the players got up, they reported their situation, especially their physical condition. They must not hide any uncomfortable physical reactions.
The players are very cautious in this regard. They also know that a healthy body can ensure good performance. Millwall is also very humane under the management of Aldridge. Like Neal, who was seriously injured and disabled for a year, Aldridge helped him regain his strength.
It took a lot of energy and time to return to the team, and these players see it in their eyes and remember it in their hearts.
Aldrich was relieved to learn that there were no more patients with colds in the youth team. The match between the youth team and the Dynamo Kyiv youth team during the day will continue as usual.
In the eyes of ordinary people, colds are very common diseases, and most of them can even be cured without medicine.
But for football players, colds are a big problem. During strenuous exercise, they can cause respiratory diseases and the body will become fragile. An irregular movement may lead to injury.
Like the future Chiellini in history said: I hope Krasic gets the flu.
To ordinary people, this sounds like a joke.
In fact, this is one of the most vicious curses in football.
In the afternoon, on the court used by the youth team of Dynamo Kyiv, the Millwall youth team played a friendly match with the opponent. Aldridge did not go to watch the game. The final result was informed by Nagy after the game: 4:2.
Millwall Youth Team lost by two goals.
When Aldrich found out, he forgot about it.
Originally a match that was not expected to attract much attention, it caused a swarm of European media.
At the press conference before the Champions League game, Aldridge sat silently.
Reporters from all over the world want to see how the match between the top two teams in this group will develop.
"We just played one round of the group stage, and Millwall's current ranking as first in the group has no meaning. We have neither guaranteed qualifying, nor have other teams been eliminated. Therefore, the ranking has no meaning, maybe only until the fourth round.
, only after the fifth round of the group stage is over, we will know who has qualified and who has been confirmed to be eliminated."
Aldridge seemed very calm. He didn't want to draw too much attention and make the team a favorite.
Therefore, he highly praised Dynamo Kyiv at the press conference.
"This is a team that participates in the Champions League all year round, but sometimes they are a little unlucky and cannot enter the main draw. But this year they entered the European competition very early and eliminated the Welsh champions and Danish champions in the qualifying rounds.
There is no doubt that Dynamo Kyiv has stepped onto this stage step by step, coupled with the legendary coach Lobanovs who returned to the team this summer.
Kyiv, Dynamo Kyiv is very strong, it was no accident that they defeated Barcelona at Camp Nou, and Millwall only played one Champions League game. Although we won, I don’t think we are more qualified for the Champions League than Dynamo Kyiv, even
The European war tradition, I will not allow the players to despise this place, absolutely not, because in that case, we will definitely leave here with disappointment and failure."
When talking about the prospects of the game, Aldrich expressed great importance to Dynamo Kyiv. Some English media reporters put forward hypotheses, which attracted ridicule from colleagues in Europe.
"If Dynamo Kyiv adopts extremely conservative defensive counterattack tactics at home, will Millwall still have a chance?"
These are the original words of an English reporter.
Journalists from major European mainstream media shook their heads secretly.
Aldridge also laughed it off and said: "The teams that can be on the Champions League stage have their own unique style. Secondly, the fierce and cruel competition situation requires every team to give their best to every game."
Fight for victory. As I said just now, Dynamo Kyiv is very strong and Millwall is not the favorite to win, so the question I should think about is: should Millwall play extremely conservatively."
Reporters from the English media are a little dissatisfied. They feel that Millwall will represent England in Europe and must show the confidence of a championship team and confidently win here.
Other European journalists nodded again.
This young marshal is quite clear-headed. Regardless of whether he really values Dynamo Kiev in his heart, at least he is well-rounded in speaking.
On the stage of the Champions League, who is Millwall?
If you think that winning the European Cup Winners' Cup last season means you can be arrogant, then you can only say that this team is still a frog in the well.
How many truly powerful people have you encountered?
The media outside England also heard that Millwall encountered a difficult bus tactic in the Premier League. However, because the impression of the Premier League's backward tactics and rough style of play still existed, they did not take it seriously and only thought it was England's inexperienced teams were simply stunned by the strong European-style teams.
The English journalists were indignant when they encountered the contemptuous and sarcastic looks of their colleagues.
They firmly believe that if weather factors are excluded, Dynamo Kiev will not have the advantage even if Millwall plays away.
Against this background, the second round of the UEFA Champions League group stage kicked off. Millwall, the much-anticipated Premier League champion, came to challenge Dynamo Kiev. The battle was about to begin. (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature for better and updated novels. quick!
