The atmosphere at the post-match press conference was strange.
Aldrich sat on the stage with a calm expression, waiting for reporters to ask questions.
Media outside Catalonia are waiting for Aldrich's counterattack against the Catalan media.
There are no exciting topics to ask any questions about the competition itself.
In other words, Millwall's 5-0 away game against Barcelona was a shocking news, and there is a market for it no matter how you write it.
Time passed by, and the scene was completely silent. Those Catalan media reporters did not take the initiative to ask questions, which was definitely an insult to themselves.
Other reporters were unhappy about this and began to fan the flames.
"The game is over now, Mr. Hall, do you have anything to say to Van Gaal?"
Aldrich drank some water to moisten his throat and said calmly: "No, I don't know him. In view of his previous remarks, I don't want to discuss any topics related to him."
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During this trip to Barcelona, Aldridge felt so indifferent from before the game to after the game.
Van Gaal didn't seem to mind at all his disparagement of Millwall and him.
He just felt that he couldn't act like a villain and get crazy when he won the ball.
It's rampant now, but one day it will be repaid.
He is not a coach like Mourinho who has a lot of grievances with Barcelona. Throughout the year, he will only meet Barcelona two or three times if he is unlucky.
After beating Barcelona away to get three points, Aldridge temporarily put Barcelona behind him before the second meeting two weeks later.
He led the team back to London. As soon as he got off the plane, Aldrich took a car alone to a high-end restaurant. In the box, he saw many people waiting for him.
Andrew brought two assistants, Yiwen and Adam, as well as Puma's sponsor representatives.
They discuss important matters here.
Voting for the Golden Globe Awards ends in half a month.
Although this award is based on the performance of players in the past season, the performance of players in the first half of the new season has a great influence on the voting. This is a matter of impression. After a summer, the popularity of players, no matter how eye-catching their performance was last season, has faded.
Players who have performed well recently in the new season are more likely to influence the judges' judgment.
Therefore, during this period, clubs, agents, and sponsors must work together to help players win the Ballon d'Or!
There are two players who are definitely shortlisted for the Millwall club, Larsson and Nedvěd.
Nedved was actually shortlisted for the Ballon d'Or last year, but his score was in single digits. The Premier League runner-up and the European Cup runner-up only allowed him to wander around in the Ballon d'Or. Compatriot Boboski was also shortlisted.
Top ten.
In the competition year, Sweden did not enter the European Cup in England, so Larsson missed last year's list.
But this year is different. There is no competition this year. The Confederations Cup is a training stage with very low influence.
However, competition is still very difficult.
The biggest competitor is naturally the alien Ronaldo who was at the top of his game in Barcelona last season. His club honors only include the Copa del Rey. In terms of national team honors, he also won the Copa America in the summer of 1997.
The good news is that the America's Cup is an event on another continent.
Larsson or Nedved, who do you favor?
Aldrich didn't want to participate. But if he didn't participate in this kind of momentum, maybe neither disciple would have a chance to reach the summit.
Last year's European top scorer was Larsson's biggest weight in winning the award.
In the midst of an all-out publicity campaign, Larson's season data, annual data, club honors, and personal honors will all be powerful weapons to impact the judges' judgment.
After six hours of talks, representatives from all parties left the hotel one after another, and everyone performed their duties and began to act in a tacit understanding.
The sponsor Puma is not only a partner of Millwall, but also intends to maintain a long-term cooperative relationship with Millwall. At the same time, many stars in the Millwall team are their brand spokespersons.
Larson's sneakers, the Phantom, were put on the shelves, and promotional videos began to be broadcast on TV stations across Europe.
Millwall and Armani's cooperative advertisements have also appeared on billboards in landmark squares in major European cities. The young and muscular Millwall "male model" team has set off a wave of fashion trends.
The club's publicity department led by Ivan put carefully produced highlights of Larsson's performance on the Internet, and these videos occupied popular positions on football-related websites across Europe.
Larsson has played for Millwall for three and a half years, and has become the club's top scorer in total goals in all competitions.
Sometimes when you look at one goal or two goals alone, you won't think how amazing a striker is.
But the goal highlights have the most shocking visual impact.
Yiwen spent a lot of money to find a team to make the best video collections, and made four in total.
The first is a full-goal collection, documenting Larsson's more than 150 goals for club and country over the past three and a half years.
The second is a collection of assists. In order to show his comprehensiveness, his clever assists as a forward are also presented, which is bound to give people a greater impact.
The third is a collection of key battles. This video summarizes Larsson’s key goals in the most critical games of Millwall’s Premier League title last season, helping Millwall ascend to the Premier League throne in an unstoppable manner.
He scored goals in both the FA Cup and the European Cup Winners' Cup finals, which made his performance in key matches skyrocket! This video is also very targeted, especially in the European Cup Winners' Cup finals, where Ronaldo became the background.
The fourth video is a bit like a textbook, telling the world how Larson can score goals.
Grabbing points, long shots, headers, left foot, right foot, volleys, lobs, regular movements, irregular movements, all the movements he used to score goals in different ways are presented. This is like a textbook for scoring goals.
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As an agent, Andrew also became active. He met with senior executives of major Fleet Street newspapers and communicated privately with TV station leaders. Not only did he promote these videos on TV, but he also began to build momentum for Larson through newspapers, football programs, etc.
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They are not required to sing praises for Larson. As long as they discuss Larson's performance and keep Larson's exposure higher, it will be a help.
The Millwall club itself was very calm. Aldridge said easily in an interview with reporters: "Larsson, Nedved, Makelele, Shevchenko, Trezeguet. Southgate
...Um, sorry, I think all my players are eligible for the Ballon d'Or. Who will win? Who will be in the top ten? Fair
In terms of being able to help a club like Millwall go from the second tier to the top league in just three years and win honors in the European competition, my players are all amazing. Maybe they are not that famous.
, but considering their results, I think many of them are qualified to be among the top ten for the Golden Globe Award."
The British media inevitably focus on the Ballon d'Or. Last year, Shearer was third in the Ballon d'Or. This year, there are no local players from England to compete, so they have to settle for the second best. Naturally, they hope that players from English clubs will win the award.
Millwall's players are naturally favorites.
Larsson has also become the most popular star.
Premier League champion, FA Cup champion, European Cup Winners' Cup champion, top scorer in the Premier League, top scorer in Europe. Helping Millwall create a new winning streak in the five major leagues, Larsson's name has already become golden.
In mid-November, just before the Ballon d'Or voting deadline, Millwall ushered in the fourth round of the European Champions League group stage. The opponent was Barcelona, which they had played against two weeks ago.
In this sensitive period of Ballon d'Or selection, Barcelona is very depressed.
There are only two players in their squad who can compete for the Ballon d'Or, Figo and Enrique.
Another favorite to win the Ballon d'Or was originally from Barcelona, but now belongs to Inter Milan.
Moreover, based on Barcelona's current situation in the group stage, they don't have the energy to participate in the Golden Globe Awards.
After two losses and one draw in the group stage, is there any hope of qualifying?
Yes, just a little bit.
Before this game, Van Gaal visited London as a guest and experienced the horror of Fleet Street.
At the pre-match press conference, although Van Gaal said that Barcelona still has hope of advancing, as long as it defeats Millwall, only God knows what will happen in the last two rounds of the group stage.
Fleet Street was sarcastic, repeating old stories and repeating what Van Gaal said half a month ago exactly as they were.
"Mr. Van Gaal, English football may not be strong enough in your impression, and teams that have succeeded in the Premier League are nothing to be proud of. However, at Camp Nou, Barcelona under your leadership set a very embarrassing losing record. You
Do you still stick to your previous views now?”
"I don't want to discuss topics that are not related to this game."
"Haha, it's really funny. Half a month ago you made a lot of remarks that had nothing to do with the game, but today you changed your tune?"
"Millwall's victory was ugly. They would only defend in the half court. They only had quick counterattacks. They just stole a big victory, that's all!"
Van Gaal is still the arrogant and conceited Van Gaal. Even though he lost face, he still refused to give in.
When the two teams met at Wembley, Aldridge looked exactly the same as he did half a month ago.
Instead of shaking hands with the opponent, he just stood on the sidelines and supervised the fight.
He cannot be said to be in a good mood. In the past half month, Millwall has maintained a good condition with one draw and one win in the Premier League. Manchester United has one win and one loss, and the points gap between the two teams has narrowed by one point.
Although Millwall was more than ten points ahead of second place at this time last year, this year they are one point behind Manchester United.
However, the outside world still gave Millwall high praise.
Team records are most afraid of horizontal comparison.
Millwall had no distractions last year and just played in the league. In the second half of the season, they had a huge lead. They were freed up to focus on the FA Cup and the European Cup Winners' Cup, and finally won the championship.
This group of rookies from Manchester United, as the defending champions last season, competed in the Champions League as the main force for the first time. They were not eligible to play the season before.
At that time, Manchester United, which was competing in both the European war and the league, almost collapsed. It was difficult to advance to the Champions League group stage, and it also set a losing streak in the league. Many records were wiped out. For a time, talk of the fall of the Manchester United dynasty was rampant.
This year is not only the first time for this group of players to play in the Champions League for Millwall, but also the first time in the club's history. Under the influence of two-front operations, Millwall not only did not fall behind in the league, but also has a very bright future for advancing to the Champions League.
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Being able to achieve this level is enough to raise the outside world's evaluation of Millwall to a higher level.
Wembley Stadium was packed.
The match between Millwall and Barcelona is a rare high-level enjoyment for fans.
Fans of the Wild Lions came to Wembley with a relaxed attitude. There should be no suspense about the team they support qualifying for the group stage. Today, they want to see what Barcelona, with the aura of a wealthy club, can do.
We've beaten five of us at home, and when we come to Wembley, isn't that all we have to do is throw up our hands and surrender?!
