Before leaving for the Netherlands, Aldrich left home for a special ritual in which Arthur insisted that the whole family go to church together, and in the deserted church, the pot-bellied Arthur knelt beneath the statue of Jesus and prayed with his eyes closed.

Their family has a tradition of faith, but it has not reached the point of fanaticism, and Aldrich goes with the flow, occasionally walking through the motions with his family, and there is not much consciousness of believers in his heart.

His parents hugged him one after another, kissed him on the forehead, the eldest brother and the second brother hugged him, and even his nephew Bowen was serious about hugging Aldrich.

After this prayer ceremony, which seemed to send Aldrich to the battlefield, Aldrich led his team to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, three days ahead of schedule.

In this year, Millwall and the Netherlands really have a fate, last year to play the final, in the second half of the year to visit Eindhoven, and now to visit the Netherlands, three times a year, the probability is really not high.

But it's good that the players are no strangers to the Netherlands, and the neutral fans here are familiar with them, and when they get off the plane and walk out of the airport, they are greeted by at least three times as much enthusiasm this year as they did last year.

Their plan is similar to the past, the first day off, the whole team can go sightseeing in the city, as long as they don't go to the red light district to play in person, anything else.

On the second day, I trained on the field, and on the third day, I took a half-day off and then prepared for the finals.

When Real Madrid came to Amsterdam one step later, it completely detonated the enthusiasm of the whole city for football, and the focus of Europe was on this water city, and the battle for the top was about to start!

May 20, Amsterdam Arena.

The Champions League final is just around the corner. Millwall and Real Madrid fans were the main spectators in the stands at the stadium. Real Madrid have a bit more fans. Because their fan base is richer, they can spend a lot of money to buy tickets from neutral fans.

The colors of the stands are clear at a glance, the noble and elegant white of Real Madrid's tradition and the blue of Millwall's traditional loyalty and dignity.

Although blue has a symbolic meaning of nobility in Europe, Millwall is clearly not associated with the aristocracy, and their blue color represents loyalty and dignity.

There was a pre-final cheering show for fans to enjoy, and live cameras were also catching the spotlight as fans from both teams waved flags in the stands. The slogans were played, and some of the celebrities who came to the scene, among which in the box, the warm embrace between Stefano and Puskas became the most eye-catching scene before the final.

Real Madrid President Sanz naturally also came to the scene to watch the game, he was more depressed, because Puskas and Stefano are the legendary superstars of Real Madrid, one is one of the thunderous spectators in the stands on Millwall's home match day, and the other is also invited by Millwall, which seems to have nothing to do with Real Madrid, which comes from the hype of Fleet Street before the game. Using the blockbuster news of "legends reuniting" to increase sales has virtually made Real Madrid very passive.

When everything is in order. Everyone was looking forward to the moment when the final began, and in the dressing room, Aldridge was doing the most difficult pre-war mobilization.

The players were uninjured and well-staffed, and Millwall attacked with the strongest formation, and there is no need to say much about the fighting spirit.

Aldridge stood in front of the players and said solemnly: "The outside media said that today's final is a milestone for me, Aldridge Hall has become a legend, as long as I win the championship, I will become one of the legendary coaches in football." I'm not going to deny that, but I don't think if I lose today, I'm going to be worthless, I have 20, 30, 40, 50 years to fight for, and I'm incredibly confident that I'm going to be a legend. But for you, you won't have another 20 years in your career, 30 years of the European Champions Cup final, the club's highest honour at state level, and I won't say to you: maybe you only have one chance in your life to play the final, that can't be! We're already incredibly strong and we're going to be favourites every season and I have that confidence and you should have that. However, you should cherish your career, such a final, play one game, one less, miss, lose, it is definitely not as glorious as winning, standing on the podium and holding the trophy high. It doesn't matter if I can become a legend or not, before the age of 40, if I don't succeed before the age of 50, I can fight for another 20 years, but you don't have that long career, go to the finals, tell yourself: win, win without regrets! ”

Aldridge turned around and opened the door to the locker room and left first.

In the locker room, the three captains took the lead in boosting morale, and they all waited for this day to be ready to wear, and there was no reason for stage fright at this time.

When Aldridge walked out of the player tunnel and came to the sidelines, the live broadcast camera immediately focused on him, and countless reporters around him also took pictures of him, the young coach looked at the coach's seat of Real Madrid with a calm face, and found that the opposing coach had not come out yet, and it was estimated that he would speak for a long time in the locker room.

After some time, the Real Madrid players appeared in the tunnel and lined up in two rows with the Millwall players, almost all of whom were strangers, and there was no communication before the game, each with solemn gaze as if they were about to enter the battlefield.

Real Madrid's coaching staff also came out, and Aldridge was waiting outside for the opposing manager: Heynckes.

Heynckes led Real Madrid to a mess in the league this season, and as Millwall, they failed to finish in the top two of the league and qualified for next season's Champions League, while Real Madrid finished third.

However, both teams reached the Champions League final in history, with Millwall being the first and Real Madrid returning to the final after a long absence.

Heynckes, unlike many other coaches, spent most of his coaching career in the giants, he coached many teams, the giants are only a handful, before coaching Real Madrid, he coached the most famous team is Bayern Munich, and every time he is favored by the giants, it is because of the breakthrough excellent results of coaching small teams.

His achievements have come one step at a time, and Aldrich has great respect for him.

Before the start of the match, Aldridge shook hands with the opposing party. Expressed admiration in person. The two had a pleasant and friendly conversation at the end of the conversation. They walked back to their respective coaches and stood still.

Players from both sides walked into the field with their heads held high under the leadership of the referee team.

"The 97/98 European Champions League final is about to begin, and the two teams who have reached the final of this season are Millwall from England and Real Madrid from Spain, and I am sure those who follow this game will already know that Millwall are in the final of the Champions League for the first time in history, and they are only one win away from replicating the miracle of Nottingham Forest. Real Madrid's 32-year absence from the Champions League has left them unworthy of the title of Champions League king, who have won the most titles but have not been able to achieve convincing results on this stage in 32 years. The best one was the runner-up, which was defeated by Liverpool, the king of Europe at the time. Whoever wins the cup today will be a champion of special significance. ”

When the Champions League theme song was played in the stadium, the starting lineups of both sides were also introduced to the audience by the commentators.

Millwall started 433.

Goalkeeper: Bout

Defenders: Schneider, Elguera, Southgate, Capdevilla

Midfielders: Makelele, Pirlo, Nedved

Forwards: Shevchenko, Trezeguet. Larson

Real Madrid started 442

Goalkeeper: Ilgna

Defenders: Panucci, Sanches. Hierro, Carlos

Midfielders: Karrumb, Redondo, Seedorf, Raul

Forwards: Mijatovic, Morientes

Millwall's starting line-up today is not surprising, as for whether it is 433 or 4231, it will be analyzed on a case-by-case basis depending on the stance in the game.

Real Madrid's players are also familiar with each other.

If there's one thing Aldridge admires most about Real Madrid, it's their goalkeeper.

Ilgner started today, with a Canizares on the bench and a Casillas in the lower echelons.

As for the players in other positions of Real Madrid, Aldridge does not think that Millwall is worse than the opponent, or in a suitable tactical system, even if the individual ability of Real Madrid's players is stronger, it may not be able to play well at Millwall.

Real Madrid's midfield today is a small diamond position, and the midfielder Redondo is synonymous with elegance.

Seedorf, Karemb is a central midfielder, can also pull the side, can attack and defend well, the forward is Raul, he is more like a nine and a half, can pass and shoot, and under Capello he played a terrifying data of 20+ in the season.

Last season's partners Mijatovic and Suker on the front line were dismantled, Suker, who can play the violin with his left foot, seems to be incompatible with Heynckes, and Hai Shuai prefers a high school striker like Morientes, who not only has height and hardness, can take the ball and can be a fulcrum, but also has no bad skills and speed as a striker.

Aldridge stared at Sanchez with a slight distraction, a Real Madrid legend who not only ended up fighting for Real Madrid, but his father also had a long history of playing for Real Madrid, and the Sanches family is a myth in Real Madrid's history.

Aldridge was envious in his heart, and he didn't know when Millwall would have such a legend.

Real Madrid, Barcelona, these are the two teams that Aldridge admires the most!

The first admires that they maintain the traditional nature of the club, not for the purpose of profit, even if Real Madrid embarks on the road of international commercialization, but it is never the purpose of private profit, members do not expect dividends from the club at the end of the season, the club can make a lot of money, is to enrich the strength of the team, to give fans the highest level of football enjoyment, this should be the public welfare nature of traditional clubs, and when other giant clubs are either reduced to private property, or become money-making machines, Real Madrid and Barcelona have become a special case in the era of Jinyuan football.

Second, admire these two giants for being able to toss!

They can fire the best coaches, they can tear up the best teams, and they can overturn the development strategies that have proven to be right

In short, it is not difficult to find one or two teams in the football world to do such a self-destructive thing on the Great Wall, and everyone is dizzy sometimes.

However, if there is any team that can do this over and over again in the long course of history, to look at the history of Barcelona and Real Madrid, there is an answer.

The presidential election alone means that the team will be turned upside down, and the phenomenon of a son and a courtier is more vividly reflected than any other club, coupled with the pressure of fans, the support of member votes and other factors, it is not surprising that the club has news of turmoil every once in a while.

Aldridge regretted that although Heynckes was a good coach, from his personal point of view, he would prefer to touch Capello's Real Madrid.

Last season's Real Madrid, who won the championship against Barcelona in La Liga!

It's a pity that Capello couldn't stand the accusations of Real Madrid fans and left in charge.

Aldridge regrets, maybe Real Madrid fans regret even more, if Capello is still there, Real Madrid may not be so far behind Barcelona in the league. (To be continued......)