Chapter 199: Four Japanese internationals? No problem, we can kill them all together
You don’t know until you see it. It’s shocking.
From leaving the team at the end of the season in June 2021 to returning to the Rangers training ground in March 2022, in 9 months, the changes in Chen Xiaoliang have left his old teammates dumbfounded.
Is this still the Red Countryman who once fought together with us?
If you say no, that iconic, fierce and clean tackle, running and intercepting everywhere, is clearly the style of the Rangers No. 33;
It is said that this soul-stirring cross, the excellent confrontation and heading ability, and the excellent passing ability, how could the red countryman 9 months ago have done it?
The Rangers players, who originally wanted to show off their skills in front of Chen Xiaoliang and let him "deepen" the impression of their old friend, were quickly convinced.
Especially the midfield trio of Aribo, Kamara and Davis, who were completely upset by Chen Xiaoliang.
Old Davis even only played 30 minutes in the first half of the training match before he asked to go off the field to rest, cursing: "You little bastard have grown up and kicked so hard without taking care of me, your 37-year-old comrade, at all."
Although the 60- minute training match ended in a 3-3 draw, with both sides "tacitly" tying the game, Mourinho was still very satisfied with the training results.
Especially Cesco and Abraham, when facing two central defenders Goldson and Balogun, they fully experienced the defensive style and strength of the Scottish Premier League.
The wing combination of Tavernier and Barisic is no worse than that of Malacia and Binya.
After the training, Mourinho gave the players a rare day off, allowing them to leave the hotel and move around freely, but the unshakable orders were still that they were not allowed to drink alcohol and return to the hotel after 10 o'clock.
Van Bronckhorst did not make things difficult for his players.
So, Chen Xiaoliang took Cesco, Wu Lei, Abraham and others to attend the dinner hosted for him by his old teammates.
Although players from both teams were not allowed to drink, which lacked a good atmosphere, the old Rangers players were happy from the bottom of their hearts to see Chen Xiaoliang, who came from Glasgow, grow so fast and become the leader of the Roma locker room in an incredible way.
Aribo told Chen Xiaoliang that the club had agreed to Southampton's transfer request and that he would transfer after the end of this season for about 6 million pounds. He would be able to play in the Premier League next season and play against Aston Villa coached by Gerrard.
Barisic and Tavernier said that although they had received offers from other "better" leagues, they were not prepared to leave.
The former has been confirmed to be selected for the World Cup at the end of the year and will represent Croatia in the Qatar World Cup. The most important thing for him now is to maintain his form and stay healthy.
This World Cup may be the only World Cup experience for the 30-year-old, so he must cherish it. In comparison, the uncertainty brought about by the transfer is too great. If something unexpected happens and he misses the World Cup, it will be a lifelong regret.
The latter is 31 years old and is also at the end of his career as a full-back. He has served as the captain of Rangers and has been with the team for 7 years. At the same time, the team's record is very good and the locker room is very harmonious. He doesn't want to run around anymore.
To put it bluntly, at this age, I have already "accepted my fate". It is not like when I first debuted, I still had great ambitions and wanted to stand out in the Premier League, to become a main player in a top club, to surpass this person and to be better than that person.
However, to correspond to this, the old guys brought a new friend, the Ivorian winger Diallo who was loaned from Manchester United.
Diallo joined the Atlanta youth training camp at the age of 13. He was promoted to the first team by Gasperini in 2020. Just half a season later, he was spotted by Manchester United and transferred for 21 million euros.
I thought I could achieve great things after joining the Premier League, but I didn't expect Solskjaer's dismissal to plunge the club into chaos again.
Shortly after taking office, interim head coach Rangnick, who had no time to take care of other matters, loaned Diallo to Rangers to prevent him from being without a ball to play.
But after arriving in Glasgow, he did not become Van Bronckhorst's first choice, and his appearance order was behind Roofe, Kent and others.
When talking about the future, Diallo expressed some worries and regretted that he should have stayed in Atlanta for a few more years.
Without adequate preparation, the top giants are not a place where anyone can dream of making a big leap and becoming a sensation.
Tiehanhan Morelos was very excited to see Chen Xiaoliang, but he said that he was a "undemanding" person and that being able to enter Europe from Colombia had already realized his football dream.
At the age of 26, he knows his own strengths and weaknesses. Instead of struggling in a mid- or lower-level team in the top five leagues, it is better to compete for the championship in the Scottish Premier League and become a hero of a city.
After chatting with the young people, there were two more "old guys".
Both Davis, 37, and McGregor, 40, said they can still play, and although their playing time has decreased, they are reluctant to leave the career they have been engaged in for half their lives.
Especially since there is probably no chance of defending the Scottish Premier League title this year, everyone is holding their breath and wanting to snatch the championship back next season.
However, when it comes to the Celtics, the two veterans told the Roma players not to take it lightly.
The reason why Rangers were so far ahead last season was not only because their defensive strength was greatly improved after Chen Xiaoliang joined the team, breaking the record for the fewest goals conceded and achieving an unbeaten season, but also because the Celtics did not take their opponents seriously and failed to recruit players in the summer.
And this season, they brought in a number of strong players in one go;
Bought former England goalkeeper Joe Hart from Tottenham;
Bought Irish midfielder McCarthy from Crystal Palace;
Portugal striker Jota was loaned from Benfica. Although he is 175cm tall and weighs only 60kg, he has become a main force for Celtic with his excellent speed and flexible dribbling.
The most surprising thing was that after the success of Furuhashi Kengo, three national team-level players were introduced from Japan in the January winter window, including Kawasaki Frontale midfielder Reo Hatate, Yokohama F. Marinos striker Dairan Maeda and Gamba Osaka midfielder Yosuke Ideguchi.
The arrival of these players, especially Jota and three Japanese internationals, has created a technical whirlwind for the Celtics, who used to play high-profile and tough, in the Scottish Premier League.
Ideguchi Yosuke is 171cm tall and weighs 71kg.
Rei Hatate is 172cm tall and weighs 70kg.
If the physical conditions of these two midfielders are still acceptable, then the following two forwards are obviously beyond the general understanding of ordinary fans.
Furuhashi Hengwu is 170cm tall and weighs 63kg.
Maeda Dairan is 173cm tall and weighs 67kg.
Coupled with the previously mentioned more "skinny" Horta, Celtics coach Postecoglou used two transfer windows to successfully achieve a change in the team's style.
With the midfield and backcourt defensive players still mainly composed of the original team, not only did they ensure defensive capabilities, but they also greatly improved the fluency of the offense, forcing Van Bronckhorst, a former Dutch international, to accept that the Celtics had re-established a clear advantage.
After hearing this, Chen Xiaoliang did not feel any threat. After all, there are more players with good skills in Serie A.
But seeing that Rangers' Red Country Youth Training Camp had only been established for less than a year, and more and more Japanese players were landing in Europe, he still felt the huge gap in the level of football development between neighboring countries.
Not only in medium-sized leagues like the Scottish Premier League, but also in the top five leagues, more and more Japanese players are becoming the main force.
Take the Bundesliga as an example. From Dortmund's Shinji Kagawa to Stuttgart's Endo Wataru, from Wolfsburg and Frankfurt's Hasebe Makoto to Frankfurt's Kamada Daichi, and from Freiburg's Ritsu Doan to Bielefeld's Okugawa Masaya, the Bundesliga has become the first choice for Japan's top players to come to Europe.
What's even more outrageous is that, unlike what most fans imagine, they were not selected by Bundesliga clubs after standing out from mid-level European leagues or strong teams in Japan's J-League.
For example, defender Hiroki Ito, who has been called up for the Qatar World Cup, was discovered by scouts at Jubilo Iwata of Japan's second-tier J2 League. After joining Stuttgart, he has now secured a place as a starter in the team.
The reason for such a transaction is that there are a large number of European scouts in Japan's three professional leagues (J1/J2/J3) to discover players.
If it can be said that it was a "miracle" that Chen Xiaoliang became a main player in Roma after playing in the Scottish Premier League for one season , then it may be a bigger "miracle" that Ito Hiroki, who only played in the J2 League in Japan for two seasons, became an absolute main force in the defense of Stuttgart in the Bundesliga.
After all, no one dares to say that the level of the J2 League is higher than that of the Scottish Premier League.
Especially on the Red Country network, when many so-called fans hear about the J2 and J3 leagues, their first reaction is to swear that "match-fixing is everywhere and the level is poor."
After the news came out that Chen Binbin, a rising star trained by Coach Xu in Chongming Base, joined the Donghai Haigang team, won the Red Super League championship, and won the 2019 Red Country Golden Boy Award, was preparing to go abroad to Japan to join the J3 League next season, he was faced with not blessings and expectations, but almost unanimous abuse and ridicule.
【What can you learn from a match-fixing league? 】
[Isn't the level of J3 worse than the second-tier league of the Red Country? ]
[Is this called studying abroad? Are you praising the Japanese and belittling yourself? ]
[It’s a waste of youth. If you want to go, go to Europe. There’s no point in going to South America, let alone Japan.]
…
What is even more sad is that according to the analysis of European scouts, this golden boy from the Red Country may not even be able to play as a substitute in the J3 League.
Yes, when Chen Xiaoliang saw the news for the first time, he also thought he had seen it wrong, but it really is a substitute.
Even the substitutes in the J3 League can't compare to him.
As a professional player, Chen Xiaoliang knows that compared to the superficial gap in the national team's performance, the level and talent pool of this low-level league are the root of the gap.
Another key reason why European scouts believe that the Japanese league is "full of treasures" is that the transfer prices of these players are so low that they can be picked up for free.
Let’s take Hiroki Ito as an example. From loan to buyout, it only cost Stuttgart 500,000 euros in total.
For many stars, this is not enough to pay a month's salary.
But no matter how big the gap is, what Chen Xiaoliang can do, besides trying his best to help outstanding young domestic players get the opportunity to train in Glasgow, is to win the two rounds of the game against Celtic.
Especially in front of this old rival club and those Japanese internationals, the victory must be won quickly and cleanly.
On the evening of March 11, Celtic Park, locker room.
Chen Xiaoliang rarely took the initiative to mobilize the team before the game.
"Everyone knows that I have been here for a year. The overall level of the Scottish Premier League is indeed significantly lower than that of Serie A. The gap between the strong and the weak is also very large. There will be many crushing games and bullying games."
"But there is one thing about football here that I will never forget and has completely shaped me."
"Be a man, do it."
"Those Scottish guys may not be able to beat you in kicking the ball, but they will never give up any chance to hit you in close combat."
"A lot of their players, like our captain Callum who we play against tonight, are just thugs and the first time you play against him you feel like he's coming on to fight you.
"And you know very well that at Rangers our pre-match chant was 'F**K' and in the tunnel as the teams lined up to go out on the pitch you could hear a lot of body parts going by.
"Tonight our opponent is such a team. They hope that we will be afraid of them during the game. They hope that when they pick up the bottle after the game, they will humiliate us as a bunch of cowards."
"The choice now lies in our hearts, in the hearts of every one of us!"
"The coach didn't make too many arrangements. I think everyone knows the reason. That is, with our strength, we don't need to make any targeted arrangements against the Celtics."
"But what I ask of you now is that everyone put all the mess behind you! And then go onto the stage with full courage!"
"If they are villains, then we are butchers!"
"Win every physical confrontation! Show them who is the tougher man!"
"Fight every 50-50 ball! Let them know who the cowardly coward is!"
"Remember, the battle begins the moment you step out of this room!"
"In the player tunnel, we have to tell them that we are here to win today!"
Having said that, Chen Xiaoliang looked around, then walked to the middle and stretched out his hand, and all the players stood up and surrounded him.
"Say it out loud, what are we here for?!"
Everyone:
"victory!"
"victory!"
"victory!!!"
Chen Xiaoliang: "Now, if you think you have the guts, come with me out of the locker room!"
After saying that, Chen Xiaoliang picked up the team flag and led the starting lineup out of the locker room.
Coincidentally, the door of the opposite locker room opened, and captain Callum walked out holding the team flag.
As their eyes met, the air around them seemed to become hot instantly!
The stadium broadcast loudly shouted:
Celtics starting lineup:
No.1 Joe Hart!
No. 3 Greg Taylor!
Number 4 Staffelt!
No. 8 Guqiao Hengwu!
No. 17 Horta!
No. 20 Vickers!
No. 33 Matteoli!
No. 38 Maeda Dairan!
Flag bearer No. 41 Reio!
No. 88 right back Yuranovic!
No. 42, Captain Callum!
Head coach Postecoglu!
"oh!!!"
Every time a player's name is called, there is thunderous cheers from the fans.
"Rome debut"
“Woo…”
Suddenly, the cheers turned into boos from the audience.
No. 3 Ibanez…
No. 6 Smalling...
No.8 Nemanja Matic…
No. 9 Abraham……
No. 12 Malaysia
No. 17 Weller Figure...
No. 20 Cesco
No.23 Gianluca Mancini……
No. 59 Zalewski...
No. 87 Fuzzato...
No. 33, Captain Chen Xiaoliang...
“Woo!!!”
“Ouch!!!”
As an iconic figure of Rangers, Chen Xiaoliang naturally enjoyed the greatest "courtesy" at Celtic Park.
Head coach Jose Mourinho…
“Ouch!!!”
Mourinho was of course accustomed to such scenes, he just smiled crookedly and didn't take it seriously.
Chen Xiaoliang and Callum were asked by the referee to guess the side.
Chen Xiaoliang said to Callum, "Which side do you want to kick off first? You will definitely lose anyway."
Callum chose the side behind him, then pointed at Chen Xiaoliang: “Wait and see, kid.”
The two men looked at each other with contempt and "friendly" exchanged team flags under the close supervision of the referee.
After the players from both teams completed the customary handshake, they stood on both sides.
“Beep!”
"The referee blows the whistle, the game begins!"
"You are watching the 2021-22 UEFA Europa League round of 16 focus match brought to you by Penguin Sports! Celtic vs. Roma at home!"
"Today, our commentators are Zhan Jun and former international Liu Yue!"
"Before he finished speaking, the Celtics' frontcourt players rushed to the frontcourt in a line!"
"Hatate Reio passes the ball straight to the left, and Horta receives it!"
"Hota changed direction and got rid of Zalewski who seemed unprepared, and rushed to the side of the penalty area!"
"With a swift escape, Zalewski couldn't even pull Hota!"
"Mancini blocked the left side of the penalty area!"
"Horta passes the ball across the top of the penalty area!"
"Maeda Dairan wants a long shot!"
"Ibanez flies to block!"
"Maeda Dairan dunks past Ibanez!"
"Wellertu is chasing after him!"
"Maeda Dairan immediately passed the ball to Furuhashi Kengo who was lying in ambush on the right side of the penalty area!"
"Hit the door!"
"The ball was blocked by Chen Xiaoliang's running legs and flew out of the baseline!"
"Within 20 seconds of the game, Celtic completed a series of cross passes in front of Roma's penalty area!"
Liu Yue: "Yes, they were clearly well prepared for this game. They passed the ball several times and avoided physical contact with Roma's defenders. The Celtics' three forwards clearly had no advantage in terms of confrontation ability."
"But they relied on their own advantages of speed and flexibility to magnify the weakness of the three Roma central defenders who were slow to turn. If Xiaoliang hadn't returned to defense in time, Furuhashi Kento would have completed the first threatening shot within the goal frame."
Callum ran towards the corner flag area, ready to take a corner kick.
Gu Qiaohengwu said to Chen Xiaoliang: "We meet again, but you won't win again."
Chen Xiaoliang: "Just you?"
