After winning the Portuguese Cup, Porto did not celebrate in a big way, but simply held a celebratory reception. Everyone understands that the real big head is in the UEFA Cup final, the winner of the Portuguese Cup, although it is also a title, but compared to the head of the UEFA Cup winner, it is a small witch. Porto's president, Costa, also took out his cheque as a reward for the winner of the UEFA Cup at this celebratory reception. Although Porto's players pay more attention to this honor, the appropriate monetary reward will undoubtedly give them more strength to fight.

After successfully winning the Grape Cup, Lao Lei rushed to Sevilla with the whole Porto team to prepare for the final match of the League Cup. This time, Kayla and Sentia also followed Lao Lei to Seville together, ready to go to the scene to cheer for Lao Lei. Then came the big Porto fans who poured into Sevilla with the team, which was the first time Porto had a chance to touch the European championship trophy after 87 years. For loyal Porto fans, they won't want to miss out on such a big event.

With the major leagues over, all eyes of European football are on the best two finals. As the first side to play the final of the UEFA Cup, Porto received close attention and coverage from the media. Compared with the opponent Celtic, Porto is undoubtedly more favored by the outside media. Compared with Porto's smooth sailing, Celtic's journey is somewhat stumbling and lacks a bit of convincing. Especially in the third round against Celta Vigo, it was only the advantage of away goals that he got away with it. However, Celtic is not short of supporters, as it used to be in the quarter-finals. They eliminated Premier League giants Liverpool with a score of 3:1 over two legs. And in this final, the English media is also standing behind Celtic. Cheering for it, there was a war of words with the Portuguese media.

Although there are no giants participating in this final. But there are also a lot of highlights. First of all, there are the managers of both sides, Mourinho and Martin O'Neal are usually known for their tough and distinct personalities, and their respective team results are very good. Jose Mourinho led Porto to a treble title, and his transition from translator to manager is legendary. Similarly, Martin O'Neill is no slouch, having been dubbed Ferguson's successor by the English press, a title that is enough to represent a lot. There are achievements, and there is also temper. That's why this game is also known as the madman coach showdown. I believe that during the game, there will definitely not be many cameras aimed at the two head coaches, and closely observe whether they will make any amazing moves.

Then came the battle between the two sides, with Porto occasionally playing conservative football, but it was more often branded as an offensive football by the media. Celtic, on the other hand, is a standard English football style of play, full of muscles and thick lines, and mostly conservative play on defensive counter-attacks. In the eyes of many media, this is another battle between offensive football and defensive football.

However, Mourinho himself is dismissive of the comparison. In his eyes there is only winning football and losing football, attacking football? Defending football? What is that? Ignoring these external distractions, Mourinho is fully committed to preparing for this final. This game is undoubtedly the most important game of Mourinho's coaching career, who would have thought that the Barcelona translator back then. He will be the head coach who will lead a team to the European championship today.

After watching a series of videos and analyses before the game, Mourinho was full of confidence in this final. In his opinion, this Celtic team has three fatal weaknesses, the first of which is its attacking power. Celtic were able to make it all the way to the final. Its biggest reliance in attack is undoubtedly its two striker combinations, Larsson and Hartson. The elimination of Liverpool relied on the three goals of these two strikers, and now Celtic is only left with Larsson. Not as tall as Hutson. Hartson was injured before the game and will need at least three weeks to recover after diagnosis. It has been confirmed that he will miss this final. What's worse is that Sutton, the Celtics' only backup center, is also exempted due to injury and has to recuperate for one month. This is undoubtedly good news for Porto's defense, and it only takes a firm lock of Larsson to make Celtic's attack dumb.

The second point is that the Celtic midfield is too lacking in creativity. Its entire midfield is filled with violent sappers, lacking skill and creativity. Only Petkov, who came to Bulgaria, can take on the role of playmaking, and although Larsson will drop back to midfield from time to time to receive the ball, this still does not change the shortcomings of Celtic's midfield focus on power and speed. In comparison, the midfield 3 with Lao Lei, Kostiani and Deco who have both offense and defense is undoubtedly much better.

And last but not least, another highlight of the game, the silver ball system will appear for the first time in an official tournament. The rules stipulate that the first half of extra time still uses the rule of winning with the Golden Ball, and if both sides fail to score in the first half of extra time, they need to complete all the second half of extra time to determine the winner with the final result.

More than half of the main players in the Celtic squad are over 30 years old, and there are undoubtedly more physical problems than the younger Porto. What's more, compared to Porto, Celtic reached the final round of the Soviet Super League with all their might, and there was less time to rest. Even if they can draw Porto in 90 minutes, once it goes to extra time, they can only be more than willing to resist Porto at that time.

In Mourinho's view, with these three points in place, Porto undoubtedly had a huge advantage before the game began. Three-time champion, the thought of this title to be won by himself, Mourinho's heart was excited. However, his good mood did not last long, as the news of Kostiani's right leg injury on the training ground poured cold water on Mourinho. Although Kostiani is not in the team of Porto, he is undoubtedly an important part of the team. It is precisely because of his presence that Lao Lei can step forward without scruples to assist, and if he is not available, it will have a heavy impact on Porto's tactical system.

The news of Kostiani's injury quickly spread in major media newspapers, and for a while, the news of Kostiani's absence from the League Cup final caused a wave of public opinion. While both Mourinho and Porto's players have flatly denied the news, the images of Kostiani being carried off the training ground make these arguments look unconvincing.

Martin O'Neill, on the other hand, believes that it is just a smoke bomb spread by Porto in order to confuse their preparations. He said that the Celtics would not pay attention to the news, and would only concentrate on doing their own thing. At the same time, it was also publicly announced once again that the Celtics must win. For a while, the two sides once again launched a war of words in the media.

The time soon came on the day of the competition, and the Olympic stadium at this time was already filled with blue, green and white. The stands, which can accommodate more than 57,000 people, were opened in blue and green, each occupying one side. The twin-serve fans were fighting before the game about who was louder than their respective songs, and it has to be admitted that the Celtics fans were clearly superior. And the Celtic fans also smirked after the victory, believing that this was a good omen and that they had gained a slight advantage for the team. It's a bit untenable, but it's a good example of how easy football can be.

In the dressing room of Porto at this time, Mourinho was seizing the time to arrange the final tactical changes. He made a point of asking his players to pay attention to the Celtic's defensive movements, who were rough and he feared that this would lead to non-combative attrition. This Porto team have too little experience playing against English-style teams, especially a purely English-style team like Celtic. Although Porto have an absolute advantage in terms of technology, they have to be careful of the physical aggression of their opponents, especially those who are injured. Speaking of which, Mourinho gave Kostiani a worried look.

Before the game, the team doctor had asked Mourinho to play on the bench, and although he recovered in time, he was still in danger of relapsing. But due to Kostiani's own insistence, Mourinho finally agreed, but there was still a faint feeling of anxiety in his heart.

In addition, he also asked the players to be careful of Celtic's counter-attacks, which were also very sharp. Although their counter-attack was the traditional English long ball rush that was easy to guard against, it was Celtic who had the upper hand when it came to headers, and it was Celtic who had the upper hand in terms of the average size, strength and confrontation of the players. Jose Mourinho could have guessed that Celtic would be going to spend a lot of money on set-pieces in this game. The defense of high-altitude balls is also the focus of Mourinho's training in the past two days, but once it is on the field, I don't know how much effect it has, looking at the somewhat nervous disciples, Mourinho's heart does not have much bottom.

The time soon came to play, Lao Lei stood in the players' tunnel, listening to the loud singing from the field, his heart was excited, and his right hand trembled slightly and pulled a cute blonde girl. "Are you nervous?"

Listening to a crisp immature girl's voice in his ears, Lao Lei lowered his head and looked. Seeing a pair of big clear eyes, I looked at myself curiously. Suddenly, Lao Lei felt that his nervousness was slowly fading, smiled, lowered his head, and said lightly to the little caddy: "Nervous, of course not, we will definitely win the championship." Can you believe it? ”

Without waiting for Lori to answer, the Celtic players on the side were not happy, "hum", and the cold snort kept sounding in the players' tunnel. For a while, the atmosphere in the players' tunnel became tense, and the players on both sides did not let each other, and before the game began, there was a momentum of competition.

"Really?"

"Really, this championship is mine!"

Old Ray didn't care about the hostility of the Celtics players around him, and said firmly.

The big war is about to begin! (To be continued......)