At Kiev Airport, where a small passenger plane flying non-stop from London, England, landed.

The first to step out of the cabin door was Aldridge in a suit, who had just taken two steps, but then turned back, and after a while, his suit was gone, replaced by a warm jacket.

A group of coaching staff colleagues behind him were wearing warm jackets, and at this time they took the opportunity to make fun of Aldrich, saying that they should be dignified and decent in a suit before they came, but they were blown by the cold wind of Ukraine, and immediately put their demeanor behind after shivering, and it was better to have a little temperature.

In the second round of the group stage of the European Champions Cup, Millwall challenged Dynamo Kyiv, a Ukrainian banba.

Aldridge had made the team pay attention to the game before the game, and before the game even started, it was already announced that it would be an uphill battle.

After entering October, the temperature in Ukraine began to plummet, the lowest daily temperature was close to freezing, and the game was held at night, although it was only five or six degrees lower than the temperature in the United Kingdom, but the temperature of ten degrees and the temperature of five degrees felt completely different.

Unlike last season's trip to France or the Netherlands, where the flight took less than two hours and three hours, the team spent almost 10 hours on the Ukraine alone.

Short flights, where players can recover after a short break, are more torturous on long flights, especially mentally exhausted, which is more likely to aggravate fatigue, and also count the time spent outside of the flight.

In the more than 12 hours between the time he left in the morning and the time he arrived at his hotel in Kiev in the evening, Millwall did one thing: he came from London to Kyiv.

The time is right, the place is favorable. people. Millwall is a guest to take on Dynamo Kyiv. The same does not occupy.

So Aldridge thinks it's going to be a tough game.

The first-team players are given an early rest after their stay in the hotel, and in order to give the players the best quality of their rest, Millwall gives each player a separate room so that each player can recover in the way he likes most and is comfortable.

For example, someone likes to listen to soothing music, someone likes to read a book, someone wants to talk to their family on the phone, etc., which allows them to not be distracted by the presence of teammates in the same room.

The coaches share a room for two.

Before going to bed, Aldrich played cards with the two assistant coaches in his room.

Small bets are pleasant. At the same time, spend time and entertain yourself in this foreign land.

They played Texas Hold'em, Aldridge this game is not good, especially the opponent is Benitez, who is not moving, so he folds directly, rashly choosing to pretend to be a pig and eat a tiger is often the end of stealing chickens and rice.

"I really sympathize with Barcelona."

Benitez raised, and then the phrase popped up.

It is estimated that the Real Madrid blood on his body is a little boiling again.

People who have been at Real Madrid for so long always have a special mood when they think of Barcelona.

Jenson called, chuckling, "This schedule is in our best interest." The second round is in Kiev, and it's October. When Barcelona came to visit, it was a snowy December, when the temperature difference between Spain and Ukraine was more than 15 degrees, and Barcelona really deserved sympathy. ”

Aldridge took a sip and said lightly: "Even if external factors are excluded, Dynamo Kyiv has enough strength to beat Barcelona, and the big upset in the first round of the group stage has proved this." ”

Millwall's four-goal win over PSV Eindhoven in the first round may not seem like a surprise to the outside world.

The Premier League champion defeated the Eredivisie champion, judging from the investment and personnel of the two teams, it was not surprising that Millvoj won, but the score was a little large, and the outside world generally believed that the difference between the two goals was normal.

However, the other game in the same group was shocking.

Barcelona was beaten 3-0 by Ukrainian champion Dynamo Kyiv at Camp Nou!

All of a sudden, people began to pay attention to the Eastern European powerhouse where the new coach took office in the summer, or the third return of the old coach.

Aldridge held his chin in deep thought, when there was a knock on the door, Aldrich came to his senses and shouted to please come in, only to see Najib walking in with a sad brow.

Aldrich immediately asked, "How?" ”

Nagy shook his head and said: "Alonso and Pedreti have been rested under the care of the team doctor, but they will definitely not be able to play tomorrow's game, fortunately it is just a common cold, not the flu, otherwise it would be really troublesome." ”

Aldridge sighed and said: "Otherwise, tomorrow's game will be canceled, the youth team will bring 16 people over, and two people can't play at once, maybe tomorrow when they go to bed, someone will catch a cold again." ”

Najib thought for a moment and said: "Let's see tomorrow, if only two players are absent, the game will continue as usual during the day, and if there are any more players who can't play, let's cancel it, that would be a pity." ”

"It's nothing, don't worry, it's also a kind of exercise."

Because of playing the Champions Cup, Millwall's youth team had three opportunities to play abroad in the second half of the year, all of which were friendly matches for the youth team at the same time when Millwall was a guest in Europe.

After all, there will be club costs, and it will also disrupt other people's youth team plans, so Aldridge will give up, people don't want to come, let's just come to the challenge.

As for Millwall sending the challenge to the goal, these teams can't refuse, and in any case, it's a matter of face.

When Millwall has a big name in the first team, the youth team is also named second.

For example, Xavi Alonso, who has an excellent ability to organize and dispatch in the midfield, has the name of Pirlo II, and Pedretti has the shadow of the French predecessor Makelele, known as "Little Makelele".

So these two have the ability to beat players who are a year or two older than them to be included in the youth team squad, allowing them to receive a variety of training earlier.

At the end of the evening's game, the coaches rested one after another.

The next day, the players woke up and reported on their condition, especially their physical condition. Any uncomfortable physical reactions must never be hidden.

The players are very cautious in this regard. They also know that a healthy body can ensure good performance. Millwall are also very human under Aldridge's management, and after a year of serious injury like Neil, Aldridge has spent a lot of energy and time helping him get back into the team, and these players have seen it in their hearts.

Aldridge was relieved to learn that the youth team did not have any more cold patients, and the match between the youth team and the youth team of Dynamo Kyiv will continue as usual during the day.

In the eyes of ordinary people, a cold is a very common disease, and most of them can be cured without medicine.

But for footballers. Colds are a big problem, which can cause respiratory diseases during strenuous exercise, and the body will become fragile, and perhaps an irregular movement will cause injury.

As the future Chiellini said: I hope Krasic has the flu.

To the ears of ordinary people, this feels like a joke.

In fact, it's one of football's most vicious curses.

In the afternoon, on the pitch used by the youth team of Dynamo Kyiv Club, Millwall Youth played a friendly match against each other, Aldridge did not attend, and the final result was told to him by Nagy after the game: 4:2.

Millwall's youth team lost by two goals.

Aldrich knew about it and left it behind.

A match that was expected to not be too much attention has caused a flock of European media.

At the pre-match press conference of the Champions League, Aldridge sat quietly.

Journalists from all over the world want to see how the match between the top two in this group will play out.

'Just playing one round of the group stage and Millwall being top of the group at the moment doesn't mean anything. We didn't qualify, and none of the other teams were eliminated. Therefore, the ranking has no meaning, maybe only after the fourth round and the fifth round of the group stage are played, we will know who is out of the league and who is determined to be out. ”

Aldridge appeared very calm, he didn't want to attract too much attention, which made the team the favorite.

Therefore, he highly praised Dynamo Kyiv at the press conference.

'It's a team that plays in the Champions League all year round, but sometimes they're a little unlucky and can't get into the main game. But this year they entered European form very early, knocking out the Welsh champions and the Danish champions in the qualifiers, there is no doubt that Dynamo Kyiv is stepping onto this stage step by step, plus the legendary coach Lobanovsky who returned to the team this summer, Dynamo Kyiv is very strong, it is not a coincidence that they beat Barcelona at Camp Nou, and Millwall only played one Champions League game, although they won, but I don't think we have more Champions League or even European traditions than Dynamo Kyiv, I'm not going to allow the players to take it lightly, because then we're going to leave here with disappointment and failure. ”

When talking about the prospects of the game, Aldridge expressed great importance to the Dynamo Kyiv, and some English media reporters put forward hypotheticals, which attracted the ridicule of their European counterparts.

"If Dynamo Kyiv also adopt an extremely conservative defensive counter-attacking tactic at home, will Millwall still have a chance?"

These are the exact words of the journalist in England.

Journalists from Europe's major mainstream media shook their heads.

Aldridge also laughed it off, saying: "The team that can be on the Champions League stage has its own unique style, and secondly, the fierce and brutal competition situation makes every team have to fight for every game." As I said, Dynamo Kyiv is strong and Millwall are not favourites, so the question I should be thinking about is whether Millwall should play extremely conservatively. ”

The English media reporters were a little unconvinced, they felt that Millwall represented England in Europe, and they had to show the confidence of the champion division and justifiably want to win here.

Other European journalists nodded again.

This young marshal is quite sober-minded, regardless of whether he really attaches importance to Kyiv Dynamo in his heart or not, at least he is exquisite in speaking.

On the stage of the Champions League, which onion is Millwall?

If you think that you can see no one by winning the European Cup Winners' Cup last season, it can only be said that this team is still a frog at the bottom of the well.

How many have you encountered?

The media outside England have also heard that Millwall suffered a tough bus tactical sniping in the Premier League, but because the impression of the Premier League's tactical backwardness and rough style of play still exists, they don't take it seriously, and only think that the England team has no knowledge of the team is stunned by the strong team in the European style.

The English journalists were met with contemptuous and sarcastic glances from their peers, and their hearts were indignant.

They firmly believe that if the weather is taken into account, Dynamo Kyiv will not have an advantage even if Millwall play away.

In this context, the second round of the Champions League group stage kicked off, and the much-anticipated Premier League champion Millwall challenged Dynamo Kiev as a guest, and the big battle was about to start. (To be continued......)