After this Manchester United game, the Red Rebels will travel to Portugal to take on Porto.

The Red Rebels, who have already managed to qualify from the group, did not care about this game, Mourinho sent a team including Ismael, Michael? Johnson, Cesc Fabregas, Sergio Aguero, Mikel and other young players, while at the back is dominated by Philippe? Lahm, Nemanja Vidic, Giorgio Chiellini and McConn were the main players, while Spanish goalkeeper Almunia was the goalkeeper and captain of the team.

It is not difficult to see from this lineup that the Red Rebels do not attach importance to this contest between the first and second places in the group stage, and the victory or defeat of this game has no impact on the group standings, but the difference in the amount of prize money in the game is different.

However, the prize money in the group stage of the Champions League is more important than anything else for the Red Rebels, who are at the top of the league.

At present, the Red Rebels are under strong pursuit from Arsenal and Chelsea in the league.

Arsenal have been more mature this season than they were last season, with the introduction of Hangrande, which has strengthened their defence and improved their attacking aspects, which has directly made Henry the favorite to become European footballer of the year.

Although Chelsea has undergone a major adjustment, Ancelotti's ability to blend is undoubted, especially in the configuration of players, he has specially deployed the 4321 Christmas tree formation for Chelsea's tactics, giving full play to the characteristics of each player, and blending into a strong team.

On that point alone, Chelsea are undoubtedly a success!

But Abu's goal is clearly not just to succeed, he wants a championship, and a beautiful kind of championship.

It should be said that Carlo Ancelotti is leading Chelsea on the right path, after the early part of the season, Chelsea gradually showed their strength, and now they are closing in on the Red Rebels at the top of the table.

In terms of the Champions Cup, Chelsea also won 4 and drew 1 in the group stage, and there is no problem in qualifying, as long as they win the last group game, they can also ensure that they will finish first in the group.

It is in this context that the Red Rebels' decision to forgo the final round of the group stage and secure the league first is understandable.

Although it was a young player, the performance of the Red Rebels at the Porto Dragon Stadium was still very impressive, especially the small magic combination of Ismael, Ribery, Aguero and Messi, which caused a lot of problems for Porto's defense in the game.

Michael? Johnson and Cesc Fabregas were slightly weak in the back, which kept the Red Rebels at bay in midfield at Porto, resulting in the team falling behind Porto 2-1 in the first half.

However, at halftime, Mourinho immediately made adjustments, allowing Aguero, who was closely guarded by Maniche and performing poorly, to be replaced by Mikel, who has stronger defense and interception ability in the middle, which made the Red Rebels' midfield hardness improved.

As a player from the Red Rebels' youth system, Mikel is known as the more attacking and more delicate Vieira, but his defensive ability cannot be compared to Vieira for the time being, and he is still young, not as experienced and consistent as the Arsenal captain.

However, Mikel's appearance did improve the middle of the Red Rebels, who changed to play three backs, changed the offensive method of paying attention to ground coordination in the first half, avoided more entanglement in the midfield, and gave full play to the excellent running and adaptability of the three midfielders, and the ability to transfer long passes, and directly found the point of Ismail in front.

Ismail's height and ability to fight was evident in this game, as he spelled almost all of his high balls, either creating chances for his team-mates or going straight for a shot, including a powerful shot from outside the box that hit the crossbar.

After the adjustments, the Red Rebels changed a lot and the attack gradually became active, but Porto began to make substitutions, they began to be conservative, seeking stability, replacing striker Fabiano with a defensive midfielder.

After that, the situation on the field went back and forth, and although the game was very intense, the Red Rebels finally came back with another defeat of the season from the Dragons Stadium 2-1.

The Red Rebels have only lost three games this season, one being against Real Madrid in the Super Cup, but the Red Rebels did not take that game seriously; The second game was the League Cup, and the Red Rebels had also given up psychologically; The third game was the Champions League away to Porto, and although it was also considered a waived game, Mourinho never admitted it.

"We Red Rebels will not give up a game, as long as we are on the pitch, we will always have only one goal, and that is to win, this is the culture and tradition of our club, we can lose, we can lose, but the culture and tradition will never be lost!"

The hard-mouthed Mourinho kept repeating these words before the game, as if he refused to admit that he sent substitutes and young players to play for Porto, and he insisted that there were no substitutes in his team, and all the players were the main players.

It did motivate the young players before the game, but after the game, the young players were inevitably a little disappointed.

…………………… In the quiet dressing room, all the players did not dare to speak.

Finally starting in the much-anticipated Champions Cup, these young players are eager to bring a victory to the team, do their best to show their talents in front of the manager, and fight for themselves as the main bargaining chips, but who would have thought that what they gained was a defeat.

Yes, defeat!

Even the football commentator in charge of commentating the game had to mention in his post-match summary that Porto won the game in the second half with extremely conservative tactics, and that despite their excellent performance, the young of the Red Rebels II made it impossible for them to beat the old Porto after all, but they won a bright future in this game.

Mourinho stood quietly at the entrance of the dressing room, wearing his iconic Armani coat, and although the club had secured him an endorsement contract, he still clung to the coat given to him by his wife.

He knows better than anyone the talent and quality of the players in front of him, if it were three years from now, these players would definitely be able to beat Porto all over the ground, but three years ago today, Porto were better than the young Red Rebels in terms of experience and control of the game.

Young is young in the end, even if they are talented, but no one can expect them to become world-class stars all of a sudden.

It's like Cesc Fabregas and Michael? Johnson, the two playmaker midfielders, Mourinho feels that they can take over Beckham's team, they are even more talented than Beckham, and they are also very old and capable, and the skills are basically formed, but they cannot replace Beckham.

Why?

A mature star, based on the accumulation of experience, will gradually cultivate his own understanding of the football game, develop a judgment of the rhythm of the game, analysis of the situation, and then predict what may happen next, make predictions in advance, and disrupt the opponent's offensive and defensive intentions.

But Cesc Fabregas and Michael? Johnson and others obviously do not have this ability, they are still young and still need to accumulate!

Or do some people want to say, didn't Ronaldo make a name for himself in Eindhoven when he was only 17 years old?

However, it is important to understand that the football environment in 1994 and 2004 was very different, when single midfielders were rampant, such as Pep Guardiola, Redondo, etc., but what about now? A single midfielder can no longer meet the needs of the team, even if Guardiola and Redondo are reborn, they will not be able to repeat the era when one person supported the backbone of a team!

Nowadays, football is becoming more and more about the whole and teamwork, so it will be said that this is not an era that belongs to Pele, Maradona, and the alien Ronaldo!

…………………… It wasn't until a few players couldn't hold back the oppressive silence, raised their heads and looked at the manager, that Mourinho came over and clapped his hands vigorously, attracting the attention of all the players.

"I'm waiting for you to speak, guys, I think there's something you want to say to me!" After a pause, Mourinho specially left the players a little space to think, "About the game? About the results? Or is it an explanation for how you lost the game? ”

Michael? Johnson and several other players consciously moved their lips, as if they wanted to speak, but Mourinho suddenly waved his hand vigorously and made a gesture to sweep everything away.

"None of that matters!" Mourinho suddenly pointed to the players and said, "You are my players, you are responsible to me, I let you play, you are already doomed to bear all the consequences, maybe the reporters waiting in the post-match press conference now will think that you have behaved like a mess, but in my eyes, you have performed well, yes, not bad!" ”

Mourinho deliberately accentuated his tone to set off his resoluteness and affirmation.

"I don't think you guys were too bad in the game, on the contrary, conservative Porto won a game with ugly tactics and that's it! If someone were to ask, what do I value? Then I can tell you that what I value is not the three points that come from the win or defeat of this game, but what I value more is what you can learn and understand from this game! ”

After a pause, after the players had digested their words, and their emotions improved a little, Mourinho continued to speak.

"Control! It's always been our forte, but in the first half we lost control of the ball and the space, and in the second half we controlled the ball and the space, but we lost the rhythm, and tomorrow after training the coaching staff will send you an analysis report and I hope you can answer this question with your performance in the future games! ”

Speaking of which, Mourinho looked at the time and smiled.

"It's been 15 minutes since the press conference, and I'm sure those reporters are still waiting, they just can't wait to see the sad and complaining look on our faces after our defeat, I don't want them to see all this, you should understand what kind of expression you should give when you leave this locker room, right?"

"Understood!"

"Yes!"

The players replied in unison.

"Very good, I'm going to a press conference, although the loser has the right to be late and leave early, and be in a bad mood, but I prefer to take advantage of this rare opportunity to scold those ass bugs!"

With that, Mourinho turned around and left the dressing room.

Behind him, the little players who seemed to be depressed just now have adjusted their emotions at this moment, they are all young people in the end, and their emotions come and go quickly.

But the moment he walked out of the dressing room, Mourinho, who had just looked relaxed, frowned.

It is indeed a good thing to qualify for the first place in the group stage of the Champions Cup, but the next busy winter break schedule has given him a headache, especially the 4 games of the 19th-22nd round of the league, which are scheduled to be held in two weeks on New Year's Eve, coupled with the cold weather, this will be the biggest test for the Red Rebels!

(To be continued)