After 97 years, Millwall seems to have new changes every day, with innovative promotional posters, a new flag for the club, an official website, and a blue lion as a mascot on the sidelines of home games.

After beating Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup in early March, Millwall progressed to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, where they entered a rhythm of draws and wins, which gave United the chance to catch up, and the gap between the two sides narrowed, and Ferguson began psychological warfare again, claiming that Millwall would collapse as much as last season.

Before every league press conference, Aldridge almost formulaically says: if Manchester United performs well, the league title is theirs.

With the war raging back in Europe, the Millwall team packed up their bags and boarded a plane to Bergen, Norway, led by the coaching staff.

In the quarter-finals of the European Cup Winners' Cup, they will travel to Norway in the first leg against Norwegian powerhouse Bran.

The official chartered a small passenger plane, not only all the players of the first team went out, but the youth team also had 18 people to accompany them.

The first team were all seated at the front of the cabin, with the youth players and coaches in the back row, with Najib Nagy being the exception, who sat next to Aldridge as the two discussed the youth team's agenda.

Aldridge's idea to send the youth team away from home in Europe was not only to develop a sense of belonging in the team, but also to take the opportunity to interact with clubs across Europe, and the cost of the trip was not worth mentioning.

When he played the second round of the European Cup Winners' Cup in Switzerland and Sion, Aldrich noticed that these small Nordic countries also have a good youth team, regardless of their strength. At least the style is necessarily different from England. In order to give youth team players more exposure to different styles of football across Europe. Lest he be assimilated by his league rivals on English soil every day, Aldridge contacted Bran before leaving for Norway and proposed that the youth teams of the two teams play a friendly match.

The Bran Club readily agreed, and they didn't have to provide a hotel for Millwall anyway.

In addition, Aldridge also sent other clubs in Norway to the intention of friendly matches for youth teams, many clubs feel that it is quite new, and it is common for the first team to play friendly matches. However, it will not be played in the middle of the season, most of them are pre-season friendlies, and it is the first time that someone has come to the door to challenge the youth team.

Several clubs have also agreed, as for the Millwall youth team in England's youth league and youth FA Cup, Aldridge does not have to worry too much, the intensity of the youth league is not large, because the number of participating teams is not much, an average of ten games are only one game, as long as you apply with the FA to adjust the schedule, it is not a big deal. The FA Youth Cup schedule is even more relaxed, with consecutive promotions. On average, only two games in a month and a half.

The first team will return home after the away game against Bran, and Najib will take the youth team around Norway and "step on the field" in Norway under the banner of exchange.

But then again, Aldridge really doesn't care what the youth team has done in Norway, the main thing is to broaden the horizons of the youth players, after all, it is just a simple training and local youth league, which is really not enough, so that every week, Nagy will take the players to the community to find a street football team for the youth team to practice.

Aldridge and Nagy were discussing the youth team schedule in their notebooks, and the noise behind the cabin made him unable to concentrate, so he turned around and shouted, "Ronaldo, you give me some peace!" ”

The first time the boys experienced this kind of scene, they were excited, and they were still restless on the plane, and Xiao Luo was there to teach Ashley Cole samba with great interest.

was reprimanded by the head coach, and Xiao Luo finally settled down.

The boys in the youth team are no longer loud, and the first team players in front of them are very quiet, playing cards, listening to music, watching movies

When the plane landed at Bergen International Airport in the evening, the players leaned into the window to admire the beautiful harbour city, and the enchanting night view quickly made the players remember it.

After getting off the plane, the bus that had been arranged in advance was already waiting outside the airport, and Aldrich and his party boarded the bus with simple luggage bags and stayed in the hotel in the city.

The first-team players may not have much European experience, but most of them have travelled with the national team, so they come to the hotel to pack up and recharge for tomorrow night's game.

But the youth team players were visibly overexcited, restless in the hotel, Villa and Joe Cole were about to sneak out of the city and were caught by Najib, the country-looking youth players who looked like they were going into town and the entire youth team coaching staff couldn't sleep all night, and Najib's assistant Mr. Franz simply sat in the corridor with a chair for the vigil

Bran's position in Norway is similar to that of Newcastle United in England, who have won titles in the past and now only occasionally challenge for the title, but they are not dominant, but because of their Nordic style, Bran has always been sought after in Bergen, and the football frenzy caused by it has endured.

The youth team had a tight schedule, so the next morning, Nagy led the youth team to the Bran club's youth team training pitch, and after a short warm-up, the players from both sides came to the game, and planned to leave Bergen in the afternoon to travel to Oslo, the capital of Norway, and then challenge the youth team of the capital club the next day.

Bran's youth training ground is not large, there is only a small grandstand around it, and the residents who have nothing to do nearby come to watch the game, they have all heard that a youth team has come from England, it is the club that plays European games against Bran in the evening, and they will play against their youth team here during the day.

Fans who follow mainstream European competitions know that the previously unknown Millwall team has set a new winning streak in the top five leagues, setting an 18-game winning streak in England, which can be described as an invincible opponent in the Premier League.

So they were eager to see what was great about the youth team at such a club.

But they were disappointed.

The Millwall youth team, led by Ronaldo, is a bit of a gap in average age with the Bran youth team, as the likes of Villa and Ashley Cole. Both are still 1516 years old. Ronaldo is about to turn 17 years old. Originally, the average age was not very large, but there should not be much difference in strength because of the age difference of one or two years.

However, in the game against Bran Youth, Millwall's youth team played extremely badly, Nagy was so anxious from the sidelines that he jumped to his feet, he was so angry that his brain was smoking, but Aldridge sat in the stands and laughed.

Take a closer look, Ronaldo, Joe Cole and others are all playing with black circles under their eyes. The ghost knows what time they were playing in the hotel room last night.

Before the first half was played, Millwall Youth fell behind 1-3.

Players such as Xiao Luo, who was mentally ill, also knew that they had played for too long last night and did not rest well, which led to abnormal performance, and felt that their bodies were getting heavier and heavier, and at halftime, Nagy chose to make substitutions, replacing some tired and panting players.

In the second half, the team's performance was still not improving, allowing Bran to score two more goals.

With every goal, the coaches and players on Bran's youth side cheered with joy and the fans in the stands applauded.

They think that the strength of this Millwall youth team is simply scum!

It can be seen that their first team is not bad. It is no wonder that English football has performed mediocre in the past decade, and it seems that Millwall is just a rat carrying a gun in the Premier League.

Xiao Luo and other players who were substituted off the field looked embarrassed. Looking at the smug expressions of the young players and coaches next door Bran, it hurt their self-esteem.

Aldridge in the stands was very happy, and he felt that the decision to come out with the youth team was really right.

You have to let these young men understand that if you want to travel abroad and play football to win applause, how can there be such a good thing in the world?

I hope today's defeat will teach them a lesson, as long as it is not a shameless and skinless loss, and the players who have no sense of honor at all, should be able to wake up.

Aldridge left the scene after the game and in the afternoon, his players did a simple warm-up at Bran's home stadium to acclimatise to the field.

Norway had a good day, and although it wasn't as warm as England, it should feel good in a long-sleeved shirt when it comes to playing in the evening.

After the training session, Aldridge attended the official press conference.

The atmosphere at the press conference was a bit odd.

There are many reporters from the mainstream Nordic media, and there are also some reporters who follow the UEFA match, but the English reporters who came here with the team can't help but smile, as if they expected something good to happen.

When Aldridge sat down, Bergen's local football reporter said, "Mr. Hall, did you watch the morning game?" ”

Aldridge didn't react for a moment, and asked rhetorically: "What game?" ”

"Millwall Youth and Bran Youth."

"Oh, look, does that have anything to do with tonight's game?"

"Millwall Youth suffered a 5-1 defeat, what do you think about that?"

'I don't think the youth team can represent anything, it's normal for the Under-18s to have ups and downs, let alone coming to Norway from England, but it's a good workout for them, even if they lose, it's a valuable experience, I think it's good.'

"Is a 1:5 score also good?"

"I don't understand what the 1:5 score represents? What exactly are you trying to ask about this scoreline? You're confusing me, in England there are teams in the youth league that can lose seven or eight games a game, but so what? Won't the loser's player play in the future? Do you think they won't succeed in the future? ”

Aldridge looked puzzled, could it be that in Norway, the youth team is very important to the results of the game?

The English reporters in the audience, especially those who knew Millwall well, couldn't help it, and covered their mouths and laughed.

After the last, Richard said bluntly: "Mr. Hall, Bran's head coach Calvinnis just commented on the morning game at the press conference, and believes that from the performance of the youth team, the strength of Millwall's first team is definitely not very good, he declared that Bran will make the suspense of advancing to the semi-finals completely disappear at home tonight, and will not give Millwall a chance to return to London and turn the tables again." ”

Aldridge was stunned to hear this, he did not know the manager of the other side, and when he contacted the friendly match between the clubs, he agreed directly with the administrative director of Bran Club.

"Extrapolating the quality of the first team from the performance of the youth team?"

Aldrich asked suspiciously.

The reporters in England laughed like crazy and kept nodding their heads, which made their Nordic counterparts despise their behavior, which was too unserious and impolite!

Aldridge's expression became strange, and he couldn't help laughing, wondering if this Calvinnis was overconfident or brainless, and he wrote lightly: "Oh, well, we are here with a very serious mentality, and I am very much looking forward to seeing Bran play his best and give the fans a good game tonight." (To be continued......)