When Ronaldo went from the Netherlands to Spain and went to the world, there was hardly a club in Europe that did not pay attention to his performance, and Aldridge would have enjoyed his performance as early as October last year, when he really felt that Millwall and Barcelona had no intersection, even if he made some remarks because of the Ballon d'Or selection, but he did not target Barcelona, he felt that it was just an argument.

But it wasn't until April that he realized that one of Ronaldo's two club continental titles was the European Cup Winners' Cup in his only season with Barcelona.

Today, as expected, Millwall and Barcelona will meet Rotterdam, the Netherlands, to compete for the title!

Two teams that have never crossed paths in history have detonated many topics.

Aldridge was portrayed by the Spanish media as an arrogant boy who despised Barcelona, and Millwall's achievements were also attributed to the absence of a supremacy in the Premier League, and the usurpation of the Joker!

On 15 May, the European Cup Winners' Cup final was about to begin, and the stadium was packed, with more than 10,000 neutral fans coming to watch the battle at the pinnacle, in addition to fans from both teams.

Pre-match performances are taking place inside the stadium, with players from both teams getting ready for action in the locker rooms.

Millwall had been preparing longer than Barcelona and the players were in the best shape and Aldridge saw eleven energetic fighters in the dressing room.

The players are in good spirits and ready to play against an opponent like Barcelona is not only exciting. It makes them feel hungry and thirsty.

Yes, they can't wait to take on the big European teams, and the two-legged clash with Paris Saint-Germain is still too late.

Aldridge walked past each of the players, surveyed their mental state, and nodded in satisfaction once he was sure the boys were in high spirits.

"Today is a final that decides the champion, a final that will become a stepping stone for the opponent if you lose. If you are waiting for a moment to make a difference, for a game to be remembered by Europe and the world, then today is it! I have a beautiful ideal. I want you to be the first love of the new generation of fans. ”

Aldridge's words left the players a little confused.

First love?

We're going to kick the ball. I'm not here to fall in love!

The players pondered it and roughly understood what Aldridge meant.

Aldridge said lightly: "Everyone who falls in love with the sport of football will have an opportunity, a certain game. A certain star. A moment. A certain name, a certain photo, etc., Busby's Manchester United. Paisley's Liverpool, Sachi's Milan, Europe's Red Devils Belgium, Italy's chain defense, Maradona's Argentina, Samba's Brazil, Barcelona's Dream Team, etc., I hope that Millwall can become the first love of countless fans, make them fall in love with our football, remember each of our players, and reflect on the journey we have traveled, and this, it takes great moments, it needs exciting games, it needs us to have our own style, we have our own football philosophy, we have our fighting spirit, etc., etc., I think, We already have what it takes to achieve greatness, and what we need now is to have the fighting spirit to make it happen. Do you have faith? ”

The players looked at their teammates around each other, and instead of screaming with excitement today, they puffed up their chests and swore, "Yes!" ”

Aldridge nodded: "Our opponent is Barcelona, but we are not weaker than the other side, I think we are stronger!" Today we're going to beat them the way Millwall played, otherwise I don't think I'll have the face to go back to London. ”

Larson asked suspiciously, "For what?" ”

'Because our neighbours will laugh at me, not Manchester United, Manchester City, Everton, these three clubs have won the European Cup Winners' Cup, London City, Tottenham, Arsenal, Chelsea, West Ham United, all four of our neighbours have won this Cup, if we can't go back with the trophy, I feel ashamed, how can we be worthy of the king of London? Hehehe. ”

Aldrich smiled and spread his hands helplessly.

Simply counting the number of clubs that have won the three major European cups, England is the league with the most clubs in the Champions League and the European Cup Winners' Cup, and there are three clubs in the League Cup so far, even if England has a five-year European ban, which is enough to show the status of England in the history of the Europa League for nearly half a century, although the past few years have been a trough, but with the commercialization of the Premier League and the full recovery of major clubs, England has begun a new round of catching up.

Southgate stood up and said in a deep voice: "In order for the leader to go home openly, guys, fight today!" ”

"Fight!"

The players shouted in unison, and then followed the captain out of the dressing room.

Aldridge then walked out of the tunnel, and when he walked out of the tunnel, the sideline cameras quickly focused on him, and the staff ran three meters in front of him to capture a close-up.

Aldridge walked to Barcelona's dugout, courteously extended his right hand to Bobby Robson, a respectable elder who smiled at him, and the two began to talk cordially.

"Jazz, I'm very excited to play you here, and my team."

The gray-haired Robson smiled: "I didn't expect England to have such a young and excellent coach, it seems that I am really old." ”

"But are you really old enough to coach a club like Barcelona?"

Aldridge smiled at him, then added: "I have no ill will towards Barcelona, but there is some media coverage"

"Hey, ignore them, most of the time the newspapers are shit."

Aldridge smiled knowingly, he didn't want to be a manager who was unabashedly criticising others, but he had his own opinions and ideas to express, but in the process of disseminating them through media platforms, he could easily distort the facts by unscrupulous journalists.

Turning his head to look at the rest of the Barcelona dugout, Aldridge unexpectedly walked towards a young man. Speaking young, he is actually more than a dozen years older than Aldrich.

That's right, it was the same assistant who followed Bobby Robson from Lisbon, the madman "under God", Mourinho.

Mourinho has been watching Aldridge, from the moment Aldridge walked out of the tunnel, his eyes never left Aldridge's body, carefully looking at the well-dressed young man full of confidence, Mourinho was full of doubts.

Why could he be successful at such a young age?

Is it just that you have the money to buy the club?

That's impossible!

What is his recipe for success? What is the philosophy of management? What about the basis of the tactical concept?

As Robson's assistant coach, Mourinho is responsible for gathering intelligence. So. He should be the most knowledgeable of all the people in the Barcelona dugout, but he still can't summarize Millwall's tactical routine in words, and if you dig into the complexity, Barcelona obviously don't have that much time to prepare. Moreover. Proud and wealthy. It has always been the main purpose of highlighting oneself, and will never be led by the nose by opponents, and most giants suppress their opponents with an immovable attitude. Take control of the game into your own hands.

"Hello, Mr. Mourinho."

Aldridge shook hands with Mourinho very formally, the latter stared at him with wary eyes, and after shaking hands, Aldridge noticed that the other party seemed to have some intention of facing a great enemy, so he smiled and said: "If you want to discuss tactics, you can come to me, I am also a person who likes to study tactics." ”

Aldrich turned and walked away.

Jose Mourinho stared at his back suspiciously.

In fact, Mourinho's days at Barcelona will be bitter for the rest of the day.

After Robson left, Van Gaal took office, Mourinho's work was completely marginalized, such as team training, Robson was handed over to Mourinho to do, but Van Gaal did not allow him to interfere, but for Mourinho, who already had a lot of experience, he began to sum up experience, explore his own football philosophy, and began to discuss with all the football insiders he could contact, but in Spain, he has always been a small role that is not welcomed by the mainstream.

Aldrich's words are actually a subtext of digging into the wall.

Regardless of whether Mourinho will be the manager in the future and whether he will be at Chelsea, at least, if a workaholic like him can come to Aldridge now, it will definitely make Millwall stronger.

Aldrich smiled and walked back to his place, muttering in a low voice, "It's good that they didn't notice." ”

Before that, Aldridge was worried about whether he would be recognized by Robson and Mourinho, the same "little reporter" who made Mourinho angry and chased him out five years ago at the press conference in Lisbon and almost turned into a street brawl between the two.

Fortunately, Aldrich made himself disguised at that time, and besides, the other party would not take that kind of thing to heart, Aldrich's figure has changed compared to that year, and his voice has also changed.

Laughing at himself, Aldrich felt that he thought too much of himself, why should people remember him!

At this moment, the players on both sides entered the field, Aldridge restrained his smile, his eyes became sharp, and invariably, the players on the field also looked at him, he looked at each player with eye contact, and his encouragement in this gaze was more like a friend of the players, as if he was simply supporting them, but the players were able to gain confidence through Aldrich's figure, strong confidence!

He is like a victory monument, always standing strong on the sidelines, conveying confidence to every player.

"The 1996-1997 European Cup Winners' Cup is about to start, the two teams that entered the final this year are Millwall from England and the Spanish giants Barcelona, Millwall is the new champion of the Premier League, Barcelona has won the Spanish Super Cup this season, the league is 2 points behind Real Madrid, the Copa del Rey they also broke into the final, this is definitely a clash between the king teams, the two teams are star-studded, below, introduce the starting lists of both sides, Millwall started in 433 formation, goalkeeper: Bute. Defenders: Schneider, Elguera, Southgate, Capdevilla. Midfielders: Makelele, Pirlo, Nedved. Forwards: Larsson, Trezeguet, Shevchenko. Barcelona starting formation 4231, goalkeeper: Baia. Defenders: Frere, Couto, Abelardo, Sergi. Double midfielders: Popescu, Pep Guardiola. Defenders: Figo, de la Pena, Enrique. Forward: Ronaldo. It was a contest between two young teams, with the youngest player on both sides being 18 years old and the oldest being 29 years old, the average age of Millwall's starting line-up was close to 23 years old, and the average age of Barcelona's starting line-up was close to 26 years old, so there is no doubt that this is a young matchup! ”

The players from both sides took a group photo before the game, and then before kick-off, Millwall's teammates bent down in a circle to hug their team-mates' shoulders, and Southgate exclaimed, "Millwall! ”

The whole team shouted in unison: "Rush rush! ”

"Millwall!"

"Rush Rush!"

"Millwall!"

"Rush Rush!"

After shouting for the third time, everyone stood up together, cheered each other on, and then spread out in formation and prepared to kick off.

In the first half, Millwall kicked off first. (To be continued......)