Chapter 218 The legendary coach showed up at the doorstep?!
The fans left the stadium one after another, and Roma players also walked into the player tunnel one after another, preparing to return to the locker room.
Unexpectedly but understandably, not many players from both teams greeted each other after the game. Chen Xiaoliang only shook hands with Terraciano and Milenkovic who took the initiative to show their goodwill.
The referee was also facing a great enemy. In order to avoid any more accidents after the game, he kept looking around, fearing that there would be another conflict between the players.
Mourinho was very happy. He earnestly asked the team doctor Manara to accompany Chen Xiaoliang to the hospital for a detailed examination the next day. After learning that it had been arranged, he happily invited Chen Xiaoliang to attend the post-match press conference later.
But before that, we have to wait for the press conference in Florence to be over.
Italiano did not attend, but asked assistant coach Nicolino to go instead.
Faced with the media's barrage of questions, Nicolino was clearly overwhelmed and could only play dumb, beat around the bush, and talk about other issues.
"Were the fouls you expected?"
"Did you communicate and apologize to the opposing players after the game?"
“Do you think that after Chen Xiaoliang leaves the field, the team will have a chance to win the two-round match?”
"The fans are very dissatisfied that the club made a lot of money from the sale of Vlahovic but did not buy players of the same quality. Will the club continue to buy players in the summer window with a profit of 50 million euros?"
"We have seen a large number of fans verbally attacking head coach Italiano and striker Cabral who missed the penalty on the club's social media accounts. Do you have any response to this?"
"Are the injuries of Nicolas Gonzalez and Saponara serious? Will it affect the former's participation in the World Cup for Argentina?"
…
Nicolino's answer is basically: "I'm not sure about this (or just say I don't know), maybe I need to go back and confirm with the club (or the head coach) before I can answer."
Therefore, the media asked for a long time, but basically got nothing answered.
However, it seemed that the club had given some instructions, so although Nicolino had no idea, he had a good attitude, was friendly and answered every question (not the one asked).
Therefore, when the press conference in Florence ended, all the reporters in the room naturally threw their pent-up questions to the press conference in Rome, especially when they saw Chen Xiaoliang and Mourinho appear together without masks and wearing gauze, the questions became even more enthusiastic.
"What do you think of today's referee Dovili?"
Mourinho: "He is a responsible person. His original idea may be to make the game exciting and smooth, but it is obvious that some people are not here to play football today. He tried to prevent some things from happening, but they still happened in the end. But I am glad that his severity in the second half put the game back on track and asked some people to leave the court in time when they were crazy. Overall, his performance was very good."
"Is Chen Xiaoliang's injury serious? Will he be allowed to rest later?"
Mourinho: "It's not serious. If it was serious, I would definitely not let him play. Whether he will rest later depends on the schedule and the needs of the team."
"The team has already made it to the finals, but the opponent won't know until the other semi-final is over tomorrow night. Do you think there is a good chance of winning the final championship?"
Mourinho sneered: "This is a very naive question. No one enters the final for anything other than the championship. No matter which team Milan plays against, we will go all out."
Afterwards, the reporter began to question Chen Xiaoliang.
"You gave two assists today and helped the team turn the tide. Congratulations."
Chen Xiaoliang: “Thank you.”
"Your face was covered in blood when you were injured. I saw you touching your face several times and communicating with the team doctor non-stop, as if you were trying to confirm the extent of your injury. What were you thinking at the time?"
Chen Xiaoliang: "I know my injury is not serious, but I want to know as soon as possible how long it will take for the bleeding to stop, because that will determine how quickly I can return to the game."
"Do you think Castrovilli deliberately bumped your shoulder?"
Chen Xiaoliang paused and said, "I refuse to speculate. This is his business. You shouldn't ask me."
"You injured Nicholas Gonzalez and Saponara in the confrontation. Did you intend to fight back?"
Chen Xiaoliang had expected that someone would ask him this question: "I don't know what tactics the other side has arranged. I am a player of Roma. I have no way of knowing what the other side is doing. But if the other side insists on using toughness or even roughness to show their determination to win, then I will definitely use my attitude to tell the opponent that they will never succeed.
But I want to correct your statement. Those two players were injured in the confrontation with me. Nicolas Gonzalez kicked the sole of my shoe, and I didn't touch Saponara at all.
If Nicolas Gonzalez had been slower or I had been faster, he would have hit my ankle or calf, and I wouldn't be here talking to you right now."
At this point, the reporter interrupted: “I saw that Biraghi had an argument with you about this. What did you say specifically?”
Chen Xiaoliang: "I know this topic will definitely become the focus today, so I also want to tell the outside world through you.
If all these dirty things today were deliberately prepared for me by someone on the other side, then please ask those opposing players who were injured and left the field to put the entire account on that person.
This kind of football will change everyone's mentality, but in the end no one will benefit. The only ones who will suffer are professional players and football itself.
You just asked me what I said during the argument between me and the captain of the opposing team. I just told him that I don't like playing like that, but if they like it, I will definitely stick with them to the end. Facts have proved that I am a man of my words.
But again, my goal is to win the game, but not by dirty means."
Obviously, the master and the apprentice had already exceeded the minimum requirement of answering 5 questions, so they looked at each other and stood up at the same time. The Roman press officer also understood the situation immediately and announced the end of the press conference to the reporters.
After taking the bus back to the Trigoria base, the players then took their own cars home.
David had already been waiting at the parking lot to pick him, Wu Lei and Cesco up.
While driving, he kept criticizing Fiorentina's poor performance tonight, angrily saying that Fiorentina's football was simply "shameless", which made Wu Lei and Chen Xiaoliang, who understood the joke, laugh out loud.
The way home is very short. Trigoria is just outside the city and there are no people there at night. It only takes a few turns to get home.
From a distance, I saw Helena waiting at the gate of the yard.
After entering the room and looking at Chen Xiaoliang's wound, she felt so distressed that she kept saying, "Stop practicing, take a few days off." Chen Xiaoliang just smiled.
After applying medicine to Chen Xiaoliang and changing the gauze, Helena said something that surprised Chen Xiaoliang.
She said her grandfather would come to Rome to see her the day after tomorrow and wanted to meet Chen Xiaoliang by the way.
Chen Xiaoliang didn't react and asked if there was anything wrong.
Helena just said that her grandfather loved football and also liked watching Chen Xiaoliang play football.
Chen Xiaoliang naturally agreed. There was no reason to refuse such a small request from such a close person.
He also wanted to bring back a few more jerseys and souvenirs from the club to give to this old fan from Germany.
The next day, Chen Xiaoliang rested as usual and got up to collect the mission rewards.
In addition to the basic tasks, he was undisputedly named the best player of the cup, and with two assists, he gained a total of 16 skill points.
Skill value 0→16
Then there’s the overwhelming influx of text messages and social media messages that come after every great performance.
Riise sent a notice to Red Star Erke that the new pair of sneakers "Conquer II" designed for him will be completed soon, and he will be invited to try them on to collect data.
At the same time, the game photos uploaded by Riise's team on his social account received 4 million likes.
Among them was Ibrahimovic who liked the post and left a message below saying "a man approved by God."
Chen Xiaoliang couldn't help but burst out laughing. It seemed that the old guy Ibrahimovic was giving him a thumbs up, but in fact, he was just helping himself to show off.
However, there was one unread text message that still made him stand in awe:
"Congratulations young man, I have asked the club to book me a ticket for the Coppa Italia final, it will be my first time to watch this historic match live.
I wish you good luck and hope you have a good result in the final."
From: Sir Alex Ferguson
Oh my god!
This year's Italian Cup final will be held at the Olympic Stadium in Rome on May 12. The presence of a legendary figure like Sir Alex Ferguson will certainly make his already high morale even more explosive.
Chen Xiaoliang quickly responded, inviting him to stay in Rome for one more day so that he could play the role of a good host.
After breakfast, the team doctor Manara came to the door and accompanied Chen Xiaoliang to the hospital for a full set of examinations. The results showed that everything was good.
However, Manara still recommended that he rest for three days, avoid strenuous exercise, and apply medical gel regularly to prevent the wound from rupturing and causing secondary infection.
Faced with the professional advice of the team doctor, Chen Xiaoliang naturally would not deliberately go against it. After all, training is training anywhere, and he can train his legs and techniques if he doesn't train his head.
Nothing happened that day. The next day at noon, Helena went to the airport to pick up her grandfather. Chen Xiaoliang specially asked David to drive them.
But about an hour later, David sent a text message without any context: "Get ready."
Prepare? Prepare for what?
Chen Xiaoliang thought that the jerseys and souvenirs were all ready, and the driver and bodyguard had also been sent, so what else needed to be prepared?
After thinking about it, how about making a pot of tea?
Half an hour later, he was sitting on the sofa and browsing his phone when he heard a short horn outside the yard. Knowing that David had returned, he stood up and went to the door to greet him.
An old man with white hair and a high forehead slowly got out of the car. He looked in very good health, but Helena still supported him respectfully.
Chen Xiaoliang thought he was dazzled, so he rubbed his eyes and looked again, and saw that the old man was smiling at him.
What the hell?!
Chen Xiaoliang looked at Helena with suspicion, only to see her blush and stick out her tongue slightly.
"Nice to meet you." Seeing Chen Xiaoliang open his mouth but not knowing what to say, Grandpa extended his hand and greeted him first.
"Hello... hello!" Chen Xiaoliang immediately stretched out his hands and bowed!
Helena helped Grandpa into the house, and Chen Xiaoliang quickly said to David: "Why didn't you tell me first? What are you talking about?"
David looked aggrieved: "The little girl wouldn't let me talk, for fear of delaying you."
Chen Xiaoliang felt warm in his heart. Seeing that the two men had already entered the house, he immediately said to David, "Call that guy Reese! Quick!"
David quickly took out his cell phone and Chen Xiaoliang trotted into the house.
Grandpa came into the house, looked left and right, and nodded continuously.
Chen Xiaoliang asked his grandfather to sit down and quickly handed him some hot tea.
Grandpa smiled and asked, "Red Country Tea?"
Chen Xiaoliang kept nodding like a woodpecker.
Helena couldn't help laughing when she saw how excited he was.
Chen Xiaoliang: "I really can't believe that you are Helena's..."
Grandpa took a sip of tea and put down the cup: "I am her and Erica's biological grandfather."
Chen Xiaoliang still couldn't believe it: "No... this... excuse me for asking, you two seem to have different surnames..."
Helena blushed.
Grandpa smiled and said, "They are the children of my youngest son. My youngest son died when they were young. Their mother remarried, so they naturally took their stepfather's surname."
Helena lowered her head slightly.
Chen Xiaoliang felt a little embarrassed and a little self-blaming, thinking that after living together for so long, he didn't even know anything about her! He only knew how to train, watch the game, analyze, and applaud for love all day long... He didn't even know about Helena's family.
Grandpa continued, "When they were born, my mother died. Her name was Erica Heathfield, so their father named their younger sister Erica. I named their older sister Helena because I didn't know in advance that I would have twins."
Hitzfeld!
Hitzfeld!!
Hitzfeld!!!
When this surname came out of the old man's mouth, it seemed calm and indifferent, but 20 years ago, this surname could have shocked the entire German football world, no! It could have shocked the European football world!
Otmar Hitzfeld!
Legendary German football coach!
He led the team to win seven Bundesliga titles, three German Cup titles and one Toyota Cup title.
He has won the Champions League with Dortmund and Bayern Munich in 1997 and 2001 respectively!
He is one of only five coaches who have led two or more teams to win the Champions League!
The other four are the Austrian coach who famously said, "History will only remember the champions, not the teams that played beautifully", Ernst Happel who led Feyenoord (1970) and Hamburg (1983) to victory;
Carlo Ancelotti, the Italian coach who won the Champions League with AC Milan (2003, 2007) and Real Madrid (2014) and reached the Champions League semi-finals again this season;
Chen Xiaoliang’s current manager is Jose Mourinho, who won the Champions League with Porto (2004) and Inter Milan (2010);
And another legendary German coach, Josef Heynckes, who led Real Madrid (1998) and Bayern Munich (2013) to win the Champions League twice!
Just when Chen Xiaoliang was once again speechless due to shock and didn't know what to say, the mobile phone on the coffee table lit up. It was a reply from Sir Ferguson: OK, see you in Rome.
The three were attracted by the ringing sound and looked down.
Heathfield was stunned: "Do you know him?"
Chen Xiaoliang nodded quickly, then picked up his phone embarrassedly...
Everyone knows what happened at Camp Nou in 1999, when Manchester United used two penalty kicks in the final moments to defeat Bayern Munich, who had been leading for almost the entire game, and completed the feat of winning the first treble after the Champions League was reformed.
Standing on the sidelines at the time were Sir Alex Ferguson and Hitzfeld…
But soon, Hitzfeld noticed Chen Xiaoliang's embarrassment: "It doesn't matter, I have retired for so many years, everything is over, he is a great coach, his career is much more successful than mine.
Don't be nervous. I only commentate on TV occasionally. The rest of the time I'm just an ordinary old man who likes to watch football."
Chen Xiaoliang gradually came to his senses. He was not nervous, but it was too unexpected...
But now that I think about it, it makes sense. With such an amazing grandfather, it’s no wonder that both sisters are engaged in sports...
Naturally, the topic soon turned to football, and Helena went to the kitchen to prepare afternoon tea and dinner.
When talking about the votes for the Kopa Award and the fact that Matthäus, whom Hitzfeld once coached, ranked Chen Xiaoliang second, the old man seemed very pleased.
He said Matthäus was a very proud and conceited person. He had won all the titles except the Champions League, including the World Cup and the European Cup. Although he did not win the Champions League, he also won two UEFA Cup titles.
On a personal level, he has also won almost all the important personal honors including the World Footballer of the Year, the Ballon d'Or, the German Footballer of the Year, the Serie A Best Midfielder, the Best Foreign Player, etc.
He was also acknowledged by Maradona as his "lifelong enemy" during his playing days.
As a German and Bayern legend, Matthäus may have given Chen Xiaoliang the greatest recognition by ranking him after Bayern's Musiala and before Leverkusen's Wirtz, sandwiched between the two Germans.
At the same time, Hitzfeld also suggested that Chen Xiaoliang could use Matthäus and Rijkaard as templates to hone himself.
However, this legendary coach who has seen countless people has one thing he doesn't understand. He said that this is what he wants to ask Chen Xiaoliang in person during this meeting, that is, why Chen Xiaoliang's passing is so good, but his dribbling and small technical skills are very average?
In normal player training, these are the comprehensive products of ball training. There may be some differences, but the gap is not as big as that of Chen Xiaoliang.
Chen Xiaoliang could only stammer and say that he did not have a good foundation and was seriously biased in training, and he would definitely work hard to catch up in the future...
The two were chatting when Reese came.
When he entered the room, he was still wondering why Chen Xiaoliang hurriedly asked him to come over and why he didn't answer the phone when he called to ask. In fact, after Sir Alex Ferguson's text message came just now, Chen Xiaoliang turned his phone to silent mode in order not to disturb Hitzfeld.
But when he entered the room, Reese stood there with his eyes wide open and his mouth open!
Chen Xiaoliang quickly said: "This is Helena's grandfather..."
Reese blurted out without thinking: "Hello, Grandpa!"
Chen Xiaoliang patted his arm and said, "At your age, you still call me grandpa. Aren't you afraid of calling me old?"
Reese: "Dad ! Ah...no...Xi Shuai!"
Hitzfeld was also stunned. He didn't expect Riise to come.
After Chen Xiaoliang’s introduction, he realized that Liverpool’s former left-wing bully had actually become a professional agent.
The two only played against each other once in the 2001 European Super Cup. In that game, Riise played as a left midfielder and Gerrard played as a right midfielder. His assistant coach McAllister and German player Hamann played as double central midfielders.
Bayern's midfield also has names like Salihamidzic, Sagnol and Lizarazu. The 40-year-old Matthäus went to the Major League Soccer last season and has retired now.
In the end, Liverpool won 3-2 and won the honor of five championships that season.
When the three of them sat down, they had more topics to talk about.
Hitzfeld asked a lot about Mourinho's coaching philosophy and Chen Xiaoliang's own views on football. He also asked Riise which players he had signed now and whether he would consider signing German players in the future.
However, seeing that Chen Xiaoliang had already called his agent, the old man no longer held back.
He said that today he came to see his eldest granddaughter, whom he had rarely seen since she went to college, and he also came to Italy to see some old friends. At the same time, he also wanted to meet this amazing Roma midfielder.
But he did receive an unofficial invitation from his former disciple, Oliver Kahn, now chairman of the board of directors of Bayern Munich.
Because according to FIFA's official regulations, other clubs cannot contact the player privately while the player is under contract.
But now that the Internet is pervasive and agents are rampant, this rule has long been in name only. Clubs have plenty of ways to contact players in advance through unofficial channels.
They hope that Chen Xiaoliang can ask Roma to lower his penalty clause in the upcoming contract extension, or set up a separate penalty clause specifically for Bayern.
As far as they know, Haaland, whose buyout clause has been triggered and who is certain to transfer to Manchester City next season, has set up an exclusive buyout clause for Real Madrid in his new contract.
Bayern believes that Chen Xiaoliang will be a decisive addition to Bayern's midfield after joining. At the same time, he will also support Bayern's midfield for the next ten years together with Musiala and Gravenberch, who is confirmed to transfer next season.
In addition, the German Football Association has also had informal communication with Kahn, hoping that if Bayern can sign Chen Xiaoliang, they can help the German Football Association naturalize him.
Chen Xiaoliang and Reese were both stunned. Reese said it takes 8 years to become a German citizen.
Hitzfeld turned his head to look at Helena who was busy in the kitchen: "If you and my granddaughter... then you can get permanent residency immediately. In this case, even ordinary people can become naturalized in three years. With your conditions, you can become a naturalized citizen immediately after obtaining permanent residency."
"Originally, the most difficult thing for rich people is to pass the German test to obtain citizenship. But I really didn't expect that you speak German so well. I heard that your Italian is also good?"
Chen Xiaoliang nodded, thinking that my German is better than the examiner...
However, he did not directly respond to Hitzfeld's invitation, whether it was Bayern or Germany, but just said that he would consider it.
The old man was knowledgeable and had seen countless people. He knew what Chen Xiaoliang was thinking as soon as he saw his expression. He said that his meaning had been conveyed and his granddaughter had also seen it. His mission was accomplished, so he did not mention the matter again.
The "family" was having a great time. When they were having dinner together in the evening, David unexpectedly said that he witnessed with his own eyes the 1-1 draw between Glasgow Rangers and Bayern Munich in the Champions League group match at Ibrox Stadium on September 21, 1999. In that game, Rangers suppressed Bayern for 89 minutes until the last minute when Bayern equalized.
Football can always bring together unrelated people in the world to talk. Football is the common language across all corners of the world.