Late at night, the lights in the office were dimmed.
The TV hanging on the wall is playing a video of a game. If you are a fan, you will definitely be able to tell at a glance that this is the European Super Cup game that just ended at the end of August, between Manchester City and Barcelona.
Opposite the TV wall, in the dim light, you can see a tall and burly figure slumped on the sofa. One hand is holding the remote control, fast forwarding and replaying from time to time, and the other hand is holding a cigarette, which he frequently puts into his mouth.
Take a breath.
Every time I spit it out, the room suddenly fills with smoke.
The ashtray placed on the armrest of the sofa was already full of cigarette butts. Every time the person finished smoking a cigarette and put it into the ashtray and extinguished it, a lot of it would always overflow and scatter on the armrest and the leather surface of the sofa.
and the floor looked dirty and messy.
But he still turned a blind eye and continued one after another, never stopping in between.
The whole room was filled with a thick, choking smell of smoke, and he was completely unaware of it.
Just like that, I don't know how long it took, until he smoked out the last cigarette in the cigarette box and found that several packs of cigarette boxes were already empty, he exhaled heavily and sat up straight from the sofa.
.
I turned my wrist and looked at the time. It was already the next day.
The man stretched out his arms on the sofa, trying to stretch out, but accidentally knocked the ashtray on the armrest to the ground. Cigarette butts and ashes were scattered everywhere, but he only glanced at it.
He simply turned off the TV and stood up.
This man had a muscular build and was estimated to be over 1.9 meters tall. When he stood up, he looked extremely strong.
Turning his sore neck, he clenched his fists again, and after a series of boxer movements to stretch his muscles, he walked over to get his coat, opened the door and walked out of the office.
As soon as I went out, a gust of cool breeze blew in my face. I felt that my whole body was refreshed and the air was very fresh.
After the big man took a deep breath of air, he turned his head and smelled the familiar smell of smoke in the room, as if that was the smell that fascinated him the most, before closing the door and leaving.
…
This is a huge high-level modern football training base located in a place called Brackel, south of the small town of Scharnhorst in the eastern suburbs of Dortmund, Germany.
When the big man walked out of the training building, the yellow BVB logo was still on, very eye-catching. This is the logo of the Bundesliga giants Dortmund, and it is also the football palace in the minds of countless fans in Germany.
After walking a certain distance, the big man did not forget to look back at the yellow sign. He raised the corner of his mouth slightly with a proud smile, and made a salute with his right index and middle finger like a policeman.
He is Dortmund head coach Jurgen Klopp.
Behind him is Dortmund's new training base, which started construction in 2005 and was only opened at the beginning of this year. It took the club nearly six years and countless time, energy and money.
Messy long hair parted in the middle, square head, big face, beard, antique thick black glasses, sneakers, jeans, training shirt...
When Klopp turned his back to the training building and walked towards the parking lot, his image of a slovenly uncle, contrasted with the BVB training building behind him, had a different rugged aesthetic, highlighted by the lights in the distance.
…
Dortmund's start to the season was not ideal.
After the first five rounds, the Hornets had two wins, one draw and two losses, ranking 11th in the Bundesliga rankings.
The most recent game was a 1-2 loss at home to Hertha Berlin.
Many people have questioned Klopp, believing that it will be difficult for Dortmund to reproduce the glory of last season. The reason is very simple. Last season's midfield core Shaheen went to Real Madrid for a transfer fee of 10 million euros.
Shaheen's importance to Dortmund is known to everyone who knows football.
And what is different from last season is that this season Dortmund will participate in the Champions League and face a three-front battle.
This is Klopp's first Champions League game in his coaching career, and the opponent is Manchester City, the Premier League champion team.
Interestingly, Manchester City's head coach Guardiola is also participating in the Champions League for the first time.
What’s even more interesting is that since Dortmund lost to Club Brugge of Belgium in the peripheral qualifiers in August 2003 and failed to participate in the Champions League group stage, the team has suffered a huge disaster and has been in decline ever since.
At the most tragic time, it was almost on the verge of bankruptcy and had to sell off its stars crazily to stabilize its position.
Eight years and 3,100 days later, Dortmund finally returned to the Champions League.
Today's Dortmund is completely different from the Hornets that swept Europa. At that time, Dortmund was a veritable star team, but now the Hornets are younger and play with more passion.
Head coach Klopp is a sloppy uncle who is famous throughout Germany. The most interesting piece of news about him is that Hamburg chose not to hire him because he smoked, which gave Dortmund a big advantage.
Therefore, every time Klopp defeats Hamburg, he will use this incident to ridicule his opponent.
Dortmund has not played in the Champions League for eight years and 3,100 days, while Manchester City has never played in the Champions League. Both coaches are rookies in the Champions League, which makes everyone curious about the upcoming game.
.
Guardiola is best at passing and controlling the ball. Even when facing Barcelona in the European Super Cup, Manchester City still insisted on passing and controlling the ball without wavering and vowing not to be conservative. Dortmund, trained by Klopp, played aggressively.
Full of talent, he is famous for his passionate pressing and pressing, and his counterattack is even better.
The two head coaches and the two teams can be said to be natural enemies of each other. It just depends on who can have the last laugh.
…
On the afternoon of the day of departure for England, Dortmund held a press conference at the Brackel Training Center.
Klopp still did not change his slovenly image, wearing jeans and a training shirt that looked like they had not been washed for a long time. He yawned and showed his teeth that were yellowed by smoking and came in front of everyone.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! He always gets straight to the point, never beats around the bush, and directly announced the 18-man squad for Manchester.
The only special thing is that the main scorer Barrios is absent due to injury, and Lewandowski is expected to...
Klopp did not give a direct answer to this question, but said that he believed in everyone on the team.
"I know many of you feel that we haven't performed well enough this season, but we will prove you wrong."
"In Manchester, we will use our courage, determination and belief to win to defeat our opponents and regain respect and recognition."
Regarding Dortmund being unfortunately drawn into the group of death, Klopp said it was really bad.
"It feels like I stayed up until midnight last night, only to find that there was no cigarette in my pocket. It was terrible!"
The media reporters present were all amused.
Everyone knows that he is addicted to smoking.
"This is a very strong group, but we will use our strength and performance to prove that we have the ability to compete. We will compete with the other three teams for the two promotion places. This is very important to us.
."
Dortmund does not have strong financial resources. It is very important for them to participate in the Champions League. If they can advance, the gains will be greater.
Of course, no matter what, the Bundesliga is equally important, because it is related to the qualification for the Champions League next season.
Barrios' absence due to injury will have an impact on Dortmund, but Klopp doesn't think this will matter.
"We also have Lewandowski and Perisic, who are both very good attackers."
Both players are highly anticipated. Perisic performed well in Bruges, Belgium, with many goals and assists. However, after coming to Dortmund, he played in the first five rounds, but failed to score goals and assists.
assists.
Obviously, he is still in the adaptation stage.
Lewandowski is Poland's best forward, but after joining Dortmund, one season has passed and he has not performed very convincingly yet, but Klopp still has full confidence in him.
"I won't doubt his strength and potential. He is only 23 years old and scored a lot of goals in the Polish league. We are very optimistic about him, so we brought him to Germany. He needs some time to adapt and improve himself. This requires
It’s a process, and we have enough patience to wait for him to grow.”
As for Manchester City and Sudong, Klopp said he didn't have much feeling.
"It's like smoking. Rich people, middle class people and poor people smoke different cigarettes, so I don't look at rich people smoking cigars and think I have to do the same, because I
There is no money in his pocket."
Klopp's words once again made everyone at the scene burst into laughter.
"There is no doubt that freezing Soviet Union and Dong will be a difficult problem, but it is not necessarily a problem. We will try some methods and try our best to do it."
When Su Dong played for Bayern, Klopp often played against Su Dong. He was fully aware of Su Dong's threat and strength, but the more he did, the more he downplayed it.
Finally an interesting question.
For example, a reporter who is familiar with him will ask Klopp whether he will continue to dress as usual on the day of the game, or will he dress up a little bit?
This question made the scene burst into laughter again, and the atmosphere was very lively.
"Hey, please, don't cheat me." Klopp scolded with a smile.
"Although I don't read much, I know that UEFA has strict regulations. When playing games, you must wear formal suits. I wore them when I played in the Europa League last season, and they reminded me repeatedly.
."
"If I'm fined, I won't have any money for cigarettes."
The last sentence was muttered in a low voice, but it just made all the reporters at the scene burst into laughter.
In fact, he is a very charismatic head coach who is unique.
He is like this whether on the court, off the court, or in front of media reporters.
He has never been the polite gentleman like Heathfield. On the contrary, he will roar, go crazy, and even make trouble unreasonably. He is like a tiger living in his heart, showing off his power anytime and anywhere.
This cannot be tied down with a suit.
And everyone is also looking forward to it. In the Champions League debut of the two teams and the Champions League debut of the two coaches, can Guardiola's passing and ball control be able to trap Klopp?
