Chapter 51: Real Madrid is not among our targets!
Declare war on Barcelona!
This is how all mainstream media understood Gao Shen’s remarks at the signing conference.
It’s actually normal.
Today's Real Madrid and Barcelona are like classmates in the same class. Barcelona scored 90 points and Real Madrid scored 80 points, so Real Madrid said, I must work hard and strive to get 90 points in the next exam, or even do better than Barcelona.
This looks okay , right?
It depends on where your butt is sitting.
Both AS and Marca believe that Gao Shen continued the style of his previous press conference, boldly shouted out a powerful slogan and set a very exciting goal, which is to reverse Barcelona.
Please note that this is a goal and a direction to work towards, it does not guarantee success.
Therefore, the two Real Madrid mouthpiece newspapers responded positively and enthusiastically, believing that the Real Madrid head coach should have such courage and ambition. Otherwise, how can he be worthy of Real Madrid and such a luxurious lineup?
But if you sit on Barcelona's side, you'll find something seems wrong.
For example, Catalonia's Daily Sports commented on its front-page headline that Real Madrid's new head coach was playing a crude trick, trying to provoke Barcelona's anger and anxiety through psychological tactics .
"But it's obvious that his methods are too naive and no one will be fooled."
Daily Sports also commented that whether from the schedule, the opponents, the team's condition, or even the overall strength, Real Madrid is not qualified to challenge Barcelona.
Trailing by ten points and with only twelve league rounds left, this is an almost insurmountable gap.
More importantly, Real Madrid still has the Champions League!
"It's hard for Real Madrid to fight on two fronts with their old, weak and sick players, and they still want to reverse the standings. This is simply a joke, just like Real Madrid hiring a 25-year-old rookie as coach!"
"If this young rookie head coach thinks that he can shake the morale of Barcelona's troops with his words, then he is really ignorant and ridiculous."
Another Barcelona mouthpiece, Mundo Deportivo, also believes that this is a not-so-clever trick played by Gao Shen, and also a very dangerous move.
"He is trying to stir up confrontation between the players and fans of both teams, which is not a good sign!"
Mundo Deportivo believes that Barcelona is the best and greatest team in La Liga and even European football in the past two or three years. Rijkaard created the Dream Team II, and Ronaldinho won the World Footballer of the Year for two consecutive years and a European Golden Ball. To put it bluntly, world football in the past two years has belonged to Barcelona.
"Real Madrid and its stars are a thing of the past, they must try to learn to accept reality!"
Mundo Deportivo believes that what Barcelona should do most now is not to use any treacherous schemes, but to focus on their own games, continue to maintain their high-flying form in La Liga, win the La Liga championship ahead of schedule, and make Real Madrid completely despair.
At the same time, in the Champions League , Barcelona must continue to work hard to win a Champions League title.
In the Champions League, Barcelona's performance is not as good as Real Madrid, because so far, Barcelona has only won one Champions League, which was in 1992 when the Dream Team led by Cruyff won it, and it is also the only one in Barcelona's history.
Now, Rijkaard's team is expected to win the second title or even more.
Mundo Deportivo called on the team to fight back against the Real Madrid coach with iron-clad results.
…
The day after the signing ceremony, mainstream media in other European countries reported on it to some extent.
After all, Real Madrid is still the hottest traffic in world football, and Gao Shen, the 25-year-old Real Madrid coach, is the focus of worldwide attention. Naturally, every word he says attracts much attention.
But after saying that, Gao Shen hid in Valdebebas and concentrated on preparing for the game against Valencia.
Far away in Barcelona, Barcelona coach Rijkaard also saw reports and comments in the newspapers early the next morning. The Catalan newspapers, in particular, almost all attacked Gao Shen, and even the Daily Sports and Mundo Deportivo gave him prominent coverage.
This left Rijkaard speechless.
"It sounds so righteous, but in reality it's all about interests." Rijkaard sneered.
Don’t be fooled by the righteous words of Mundo Deportivo and Díaz de Sport, who said Gao Shen was playing tricks. Not only did they report it, they also put it on the front page, as if they were eager for readers and fans to pay more attention to it. Isn’t this just adding fuel to the fire?
They are sitting on Barcelona's side, but deep down they are still thinking about creating gimmicks, attracting attention and boosting sales.
Chief assistant coach Henrik ten Cate seemed very calm. "I checked the original words online. In fact, he didn't say that. The media only quoted a part of it when reporting it. If the original words were used, I don't think there is anything wrong with it. It's just the head coach encouraging his players."
This is the consistent nature of all media outlets around the world, taking things out of context.
Rijkaard nodded. "I think he was speaking to the Real Madrid players."
"I watched the Highbury match two or three times. What can I say?" Ten Cate frowned and said with a sigh, "This head coach is quite good. He is a bit like Benitez, but with more flexibility. To be able to perform like this at the age of 25 is really outstanding."
Rijkaard was a little surprised. Ten Cate is a serious person. He doesn't even admit defeat to himself. When has he ever seen him praise others?
"But even so, Real Madrid is still no match for us."
The Black Swan cried out inwardly: As expected, this guy just likes to play with twists.
"Real Madrid's tactics have some potential, but they are still relatively crude. However, the intensive schedule does not allow them to slowly polish them. They can only make continuous adjustments and adjustments through matches, which can easily affect their results."
"But the most serious problem right now is the physical condition of Real Madrid players. We can see from the game that their training level is very low, the stars have poor playing ability and physical fitness. With this situation, let alone catching up with us, it is estimated that it will be difficult for them to deal with Valencia at the weekend."
"And these are not things a rookie head coach can handle."
Why is the world famous coach the world famous coach?
Is it just because of his fame?
Please, which wealthy team would be stupid enough to spend so much money to hire a guy with no real skills just for the sake of fame?
Just like Capello, it is rumored that Real Madrid will spend 7.5 million euros to sign him.
Is this him alone?
No, Real Madrid wants to sign Capello's entire team, which may include a fitness coach, goalkeeping coach and assistant coach, etc., all of which are included in the 7.5 million euros.
Real Madrid’s current situation is very problematic, including low training level and poor physical fitness of players, which need to be resolved.
Who to rely on?
Only through high-level training.
If he is a famous coach, he has the resources and connections to temporarily hire a high-level coach, even if it is just a last-minute effort, which can greatly alleviate the problem.
But how profound is it?
What kind of connections can a 25-year-old rookie have?
Even if he is connected through Real Madrid, which high-level coach is willing to trust and obey him?
For Real Madrid, appointing Gao Shen as head coach is an unsolvable problem.
"We still have to focus on our own game. It is already the limit for Real Madrid to reach the quarterfinals, and La Liga cannot be reversed. Real Madrid's target is us Barcelona, but our Barcelona's target does not include Real Madrid, but only the double crown!"
Ten Cate said this with great dominance, as if he was the head coach of Barcelona.
This made Rijkaard on the sidelines feel a little embarrassed and even slightly dissatisfied.
Fortunately, Ten Cate will leave after the end of this season.
…
This profound remark poked a hole in the sky and the media went wild.
Valdebebas is no exception.
As soon as he arrived at the training base, Fernando Lucas reported the latest public opinion to him, with a hint of worry.
"I think you really shouldn't have said that yesterday. There is a lot of opposition out there now."
Who would have thought that after hearing this, Gao Shen was not anxious at all, but laughed and said, "I guessed it."
"What...what do you mean?" Lucas was confused.
"After the signing ceremony, Butragueno and the PR department told me that they had predicted such public opinion, but I told them that there was no need to suppress it. Instead, we should push it secretly. The louder the opposition, the better."
"Why?" Lucas was even more confused.
"I said those words to Barcelona, to our players, but also to the media."
When everyone thought Gao Shen was standing on the first floor, he was actually already standing on the fifth floor.
Lucas didn't understand at all, what did it mean?
"Was there anything I said wrong? Is our squad worse than Barcelona's? We are targeting Barcelona and want to work hard to reverse the situation. Is there a problem?"
Lucas blinked and thought about it carefully. It seemed that everything was correct.
Oh, aren’t people allowed to have a goal to work hard towards?
Besides, although Real Madrid’s stars are no longer at their peak, which one of them is not a world-class superstar?
Lucas pondered over it again and again, vaguely grasping something, but not fully understanding it.
Gao Shen couldn't help laughing when he saw him like this. "Our players are all superstars. Even if they are no longer at their peak, they are still superstars. They are all very arrogant and will not tolerate any doubt. That's why Zidane, Beckham, Raul and others played so hard at Highbury. Even Ronaldo must be very angry."
"Now, I just said that we should aim to reverse Barcelona and that our team lineup is no worse than Barcelona, but the media couldn't stand it and started questioning, bombarding and criticizing us. What do you think our players will think?"
Gao Shen actually learned this psychological warfare trick from Ferguson.
Many times, as a fan, I feel that some of the things Ferguson and Mourinho say are inappropriate.
This is certainly true, but in fact, those words may not be spoken to the fans at all, but to the players, opponents, and the media.
If the media does not react, they will be depressed. But once the media reacts, whether it is support or opposition, response or criticism, the purpose of their speaking out is achieved.
Declare war on Barcelona!
This is a new goal that Gao Shen has set for Real Madrid.
