The UEFA Super Cup is a traditional tournament that has been held since 1972.

It has previously been said that Nottingham Forest are the European champions because they are European Champions Cup winners. But in Liverpool, Liverpool fans also consider them European champions because their team has just won the UEFA Cup.

In this way, there are two more European champions, but there must be only one champion, and there can only be one. What to do? Then there is a match between the champions of these two events to determine the winner. This method is a bit of a "king of kings", everyone is a king, but which king is stronger? I believe many fans will be very interested in the answer to this question.

Originally there were three major European cups, the European Champions Cup, the European Cup Winners' Cup, and the UEFA Cup.

The European Champions Cup, as the name suggests, is a cup that only the champions of the national leagues can participate in, which is the most valuable championship and the coveted honor of countless giant teams.

The European Cup Winners' Cup is played by the champions of each country's cups, followed by the Champions Cup.

The League Cup has the shortest history, its predecessor was the "Fair Cup", and the participating teams are neither league champions nor cup winners, but several teams other than the cup champions and league champions, and each national league is allocated a different number of places at the end.

Later, in the 21st century, UEFA believed that with the weak teams of the national leagues squeezing into the Cup Winners' Cup, the level of the Cup Winners' Cup declined, and the attractiveness declined, so it carried out a cup reform, merging the Cup Winners' Cup and the League Cup, canceling the Cup Winners' Cup, a 38-year-old cup, and replacing it with the League Cup.

Today's UEFA Super Cup has two teams that have become Champions Cup winners and UEFA Cup winners. The format of the Super Cup has also changed from the previous two-legged home and away legs to a single game to a single game, and the venue of the competition has been fixed in Monaco since 1998.

Monaco is indeed a beautiful country, with blue seas and blue skies, and a wide variety of luxury yachts parked in the harbor, which only the truly wealthy are entitled to. For a man like Done, he doesn't have the money to keep a yacht, not even Shania. Of the people he knows, perhaps only Wood's agent, Billy. Woolks is most likely to own a private yacht.

Monaco is best known for motorsport, and Monte Carlo is famous for its Formula 1 circuit. Before becoming head coach, Donn knew Monaco from two sources, one in racing and the other in football.

Monaco also has its own professional football club and participates in the French Ligue 1, which is not a force to be reckoned with in French football. Donne's biggest impression of them was when former Real Madrid striker Morientes was loaned to Monaco and then avenged his revenge on Real Madrid in the knockout rounds of the UEFA Champions League with a goal that helped them knock out Real Madrid.

The footage of Morientes comforting his good friend Raul after the game was unforgettable for Donne.

It was a legendary Champions Cup, and the two teams that reached the final were not the best known and strongest teams in Europe at the time, but it produced two young coaches – Monaco's Frenchman Didier Deschamps and Portugal's Porto coach Jose Mourinho. In the end, Mourinho had the last laugh, won the Champions Cup, and he himself completed the triple jump from the league championship to the UEFA Cup and then to the European Champions Cup, and became the hottest manager in Europe.

The same thing happened to Donn last season. Donne, who led the team from the First Division to the Premier League and then to the Champions Cup, also completed a triple jump no less than Mourinho, and considering that he was in a more competitive and stronger Premier League, it may be more difficult than Mourinho at the time. Tony today. Done has also become the hottest young manager in Europe at the moment. There is nothing unusual about high-achieving managers, who rely on experience and wisdom in this business, and wisdom and experience are exchanged by time - age, and the older managers have more experience and wisdom, think of Ferguson, Wenger, Capello, Scolari, Bosque, Aragonés...... Which one is not fifty years old or older, and the gray hair shows that they are even more wise.

In the coaching circle, everyone in their forties is considered a young handsome, and if they are players, I am afraid they all have to be called "old and decrepit". Jose Mourinho was already over 40 when he won the Champions Cup, while Don was not yet 40 years old. With such a high level of achievement at such an age, it is difficult not to attract attention. The success of young coaches shows that they still have more glorious years to look forward to than the old man, the old man will always grow old, and then this football world will be the world of young people, Don En doesn't mind using the age advantage to dominate the world for thirty or forty years or something......

After Nottingham Forest won the Champions League, some Forest fans feared that a tycoon like Roman Abramovich would poach their "head" with a high salary. Mourinho also relied on Porto to win the Champions League before jumping to the more advanced Premier League.

In response, Donn promised at the celebration that night that he would not leave the forest in front of more than 30,000 fans in attendance, as well as countless television viewers. He didn't say "I won't leave for the duration of the contract", he didn't say "I won't leave for many years in the future", he said "I will never leave".

He did receive offers from a number of clubs to coach with them.

The biggest of these is Real Madrid.

Chairman Calderón and Real Madrid fans thought Capello's Real Madrid was too rigid and had no artistic football style, so after winning the league title, Capello was swept away. So when Don received this invitation, he felt ridiculous. Could his football be better looking than Capello's? Nottingham Forest has been criticized by the European media all day long as a representative of ugly football and negative football, and allowing a team like Nottingham Forest to win the Champions League is simply a step backwards for modern football...... Wait, how could Calderón take a fancy to him?

So Don took the invitation as a joke and didn't reply to the other party at all. Soon after, he heard that Real Madrid had finally taken Schuster, and they had paid Getafe a liquidated damages, which Getafe had agreed to release.

That's right, Schuster played beautiful football when he was in charge of a small team, he used to be a Real Madrid player, and he is the most suitable manager for Real Madrid at the moment. I don't want to have nothing to do......

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Monaco is a beautiful seaside city, but the Forest team is not here for a holiday. They came to Monaco two days early to do training to adapt to the venue, and the life of these two days was two points and one line in the hotel and the stadium.

The Liverpool team is not far from the Forest team's hotel, and it's only a 20-minute walk away – Monaco is a small country, with only 200 metres from north to south at its narrowest point.

Living so close that even if you go out for a walk, you may run into it. After the media hype on both teams, it is now a saber rattling. So it's better not to meet if it's okay, especially the "culprit" who single-handedly provoked this war of words.

At this time, this person, who has been scolded by countless Liverpudlians hundreds of millions of times, is sitting in the hotel lobby, drinking coffee and being interviewed by a Chinese media group, looking very leisurely.

Why do you say "media group"? Because there were reporters from more than one media outlet, there were ten people around Donn, all of them journalists from China. Since the World Cup in Germany, Tang En and Tang Jing's newspaper has been in a relationship of writing articles, so he has known many Chinese media, and during this year's Asian Cup, he scolded the Chinese team from the Football Association to the players as a foreigner, causing an uproar in China. But after all, it was only repercussions in China, and Tang En didn't take it to heart, and tossed with those media and fans.

This interview was agreed upon from the Asian Cup, and he was just fulfilling his promise.

The reporters asked a wide range of questions, starting with the Super Cup, which will start tomorrow, to the previous Asian Cup, and some of Donn's personal hobbies...... For example, why he likes Chinese culture so much.

Don was comfortable answering their questions in Chinese, and he was able to overcome his addiction to speaking his "native language".

A Chinese reporter kindly reminded him: "The big game is coming, Coach Don En, aren't you worried about tomorrow's game?" ”

Don couldn't help but laugh and cry: "I'm worried that it doesn't have anything to do with my interview here, right?" ”

"As far as I know, Coach Benitez is busy studying the opponent's profile at this time."

"That's just because you didn't know when we studied our opponents." Don's face stiffened, and he had some suspicions that this blind reporter had come to deliberately smash the scene.

Tang Jing hurriedly came out and played a round with the mud.

"Coach Donn, can you give us a look at tomorrow's game?"

Donn stood up, that was the last question, he didn't have that much time to spend playing word games with reporters. "Prospects? What is there to look forward to? Of course we will win. With that, he grinned and made a triumphant gesture, and the photojournalists pressed the shutter of their cameras very cooperatively.

After the interview, Don shook hands with the reporters and said goodbye, and he was going back to his room to prepare for the night's tactical meeting.

"Say something nice to me in front of Chinese readers, I know I don't seem to have a good reputation in China right now." He said jokingly, causing the reporters to laugh. "Maybe I'll have the opportunity to go to China in the future, and everyone will take care of me then!"

He arched his hands into fists and made a very Chinese movement.

Then he turned and walked away.

Was he joking? Some people think it is, some people think it is not, such as Tang Jing.

Nottingham Forest has a Chinese player, a Chinese assistant coach, and a manager who loves Chinese culture and has chosen to go to China for vacation twice...... How can such a team with close ties to China turn a blind eye to China's "virgin land"?

Real Madrid has been to China, Barcelona has also been to China, Manchester United, Chelsea...... The Premier League is very loyal to the development of the Asian market, and these teams are coming, so will the new European championship be far away?

She was looking forward to it.

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Don didn't go back to his room, he went straight into Don's room, where the coaches were all there, discussing the relevant topics of the night's tactical meeting. Seeing Don come in, everyone just glanced up and continued to busy them, and no one cared.

Don got up to catch up.

"How's the interview?"

"It's much easier to deal with than the British media." Don glanced around the room, "Still discussing?" ”

"It's basically gone, it's just some divergent discussions." Tang introduced.

Divergent discussion refers to a discussion that is not specific to this game, but a question that derives from it. In fact, to put it bluntly, it is "off-topic", but this off-topic is more professional......

The coaching staff believe that Benitez will choose a more modest tactic in this game, that is, not focusing on defense and not overemphasizing attack, but patiently maneuvering with Forest, even if it drags on to the penalty shootout. And then from this topic, run to Benitez as a person, what he likes, what habits he has, and what influence does the Spanish identity have on the football tactics he chooses, after all, the philosophy of Spanish football is completely different from that of English football.

Then, continuing to run, running to the tradition of Liverpool, the topic quickly changed again. This time, Donn is the protagonist, and everyone is discussing the war of words between Donn and half of Liverpool City's population (meaning Liverpool fans).

This time, seeing Don En sitting next to him, everyone looked at Don and smiled while discussing.

Chris Lak is still making jokes about Donn, telling him not to travel to Liverpool for the rest of his life, otherwise he may be in personal danger.

Donn sat aside, not joining their off-topic meeting, his mind racing the conversation of these people before stopping at the topic of Benitez as a person.

As a head coach, researching a team naturally starts with your peers. He knows Benitez, very well. Thanks to the developed information and communication technology, he can easily know a lot of things that he wants to know.

Like him, Benitez is a master tactician, a manager who is good at directing on the spot. Remember the 2004-2005 UEFA Champions Cup final? Rafael Benitez's first season in charge of Liverpool was a miracle night in Istanbul.

Don knew that he was promoted directly from the rookie to the head coach, and he did not receive a formal education, in addition to relying on his own talent, he continued to learn from the experience and knowledge of others. So he read a lot of tactical notes, studied the methods of other head coaches, studied many classic battles in football history, and learned from the middle battles to which predecessors left a shining point.

Ordinary fans only watch the game to see the performance of the stars, Don is a fan who likes to study tactics from before the crossing, so he only plays CM and FM when he plays games, and he is a complete rookie when he plays Pro Evolution Soccer, and he can't win with five-star computers, let alone play against people. It's not the same when you play a soccer manager game, where he plays against people online and always wins. He benefited greatly from these habits. There is always something worth learning and learning from those classic examples.

In the Champions Cup final against AC Milan, he let George. Wood followed Kaka every step of the way, and it cannot be said that he was not affected by Benitez. Remember that Champions Cup final? Liverpool's defender Finnan was injured, and Benitez replaced Finnan with Hamann, and Liverpool switched to 352. Hamann's introduction gave the Reds a special person to keep an eye on Kaka, and as a result, the Brazilian, who was unusually active in the first half, disappeared without a trace.

Sometimes, a manager's substitution doesn't have to be earth-shattering, and the seemingly inconspicuous is more threatening. Rafael Benitez is one such restrained manager, and most of his tactical masterpieces look unremarkable. Also that season, Liverpool visited Torino with a score of 2:1 at home to challenge Juventus. At that time, the Italians were favored by public opinion, but Liverpool killed the old lady 0:0 away from home. The rest of the fans shouted that the game was dull and lethargic at 2:45 a.m., but Don watched the game full of energy from start to finish. He saw Benitez's tactical wisdom in it, and the change of formation of the three central defenders paid off. Juventus, who are the best at defending and fighting, was suffocated to death by Liverpool, who suddenly changed formation, and Capello could only return with hatred again.

Done remembers his first season in the Premier League, when he drew 1-1 at home to Arsenal and beat Chelsea 2-1 at home. Even after more than two seasons, that game was still his biggest defeat in charge of Nottingham Forest.

To this day, he still remembers every detail of that game, because the score of 1:4 was just too glaring. In the game, all his tactical arrangements were perceived by the opponent, and his proud on-the-spot command was also suppressed by Benitez, no matter how he changed and adjusted, he could not call up the circle that Benitez had drawn for him. At that time, he had a sense of powerlessness that Sun Wukong couldn't jump out of the palm of the Buddha's hand.

Don is not a man who is blinded by the anger of defeat, and he is willing to gamble and lose. Since you have lost, the only thing you can do is to study the game carefully, find your shortcomings in it, and then improve it in the future games. success when you fail, although this saying is very vulgar, it is indeed a famous saying for the ages. He learned a lot more from this game than just a few wins in a row.

After that, Don En is no longer the former Wuxia Amon, and Nottingham Forest often wins against Liverpool, and the relationship between the two sides is no longer the relationship between the strong man and the promoted horse.

The best thing about Don is that he is by no means contaminated with the "×phobia" of Chinese football, so he will not have any boring psychological shadow because he has lost to an opponent and then always trip over the same stone. He is a person who believes in the philosophy of struggle that "if someone slaps me, I will give me a hundred slaps back", saying that at best it is "those who offend my heavenly authority will be punished even if they are far away", and if it is difficult to hear, it is called "if you look at me and you will be punished......

Benitez is a steady manager, so before the game, Donn did everything possible to provoke his war of words against Liverpool and drag the Spaniard into the water. But will Benitez really be affected by this?

He did not reply to Donn's provocations and insults to him in the media, and in his interviews, he only talked about the game and nothing else.

It seems that Donn's psychological tactics didn't work for him?

No, whether it really doesn't work or not, you won't know until the time of the game.

Don came back from his musings, and his coaches had moved the conversation from Earth to Mars. A group of people are talking about Paul, a fat civilian star who has recently become very popular in the UK, who made a splash by singing opera in the elective program of "British Genius". Pertz (paul_potts).

"Alright, guys. If it's okay, you should go back, don't you think it's too crowded? Don stood up and clapped his hands, interrupting their discussion. After dinner, the players are notified of the meeting. He said to Chrisrak.

Chrislak nodded, he didn't leave right away: "What else?" ”

"Remind them to get off early today."

After explaining this, Chris Lak and the other coaches walked out.

Then Don stood in front of the sofa and looked at Don who sat down: "You're not going back to your room?" ”

Don was stunned for a moment, then he looked up and looked around, oh. "So this is your room......"

Don couldn't laugh and pushed him out. "I'll call you at dinner, you'd better rest now, I see you're tired."

Don muttered, "I'm used to living with you," and walked back to his room.

Lying on the bed in his room, before he closed his eyes and fell asleep, he was still wondering "what is Benitez doing at this time......

(To be continued)