Chapter 630: Chapter 629: Porto, Real Madrid, Bayern, The Winds of 2004
Manchester City’s second retirement ceremony was held together with Manchester United.
Once again, the two giants of Manchester joined forces at Old Trafford Stadium to hold a retirement ceremony for Schmeichel.
The image of Schmeichel in a custom-made Manchester number one jersey, half red and half blue, became the only headline of the day in the football world.
Barcelona: ???
The spectacle was even grander than that of Guardiola.
After all, the stage was different.
Could his former club Barcelona even compare to Manchester United?
Barcelona: Isn’t it because you at Manchester City are too embarrassed to co-brand with us?
It’s worth mentioning that both Guardiola and Schmeichel, after retiring, will continue to work at Manchester City as assistant coaches.
Schmeichel will handle more of the training-related aspects.
While Guardiola will mainly be devoted to developing new tactics.
Deschamps will focus on the proficiency and teamwork of current tactics.
The three of them performed their duties, becoming Maxa’s best assistants.
This way, Maxa was freed from the complexities of coaching and could fully commit to doing more valuable and necessary things that required his attention.
"Eight Culinary Traditions of Chinese Cuisine," "Comprehensive Guide to Muscle and Bone Relaxation," "Required Dishes for the French Cordon Bleu Chef," "One Hundred Ways to Make Chocolate," "Complete Guide to Milk Tea"... each book was an ocean of knowledge.
...
After Chelsea "bought the whole of England," people thought there would be no bigger news.
Until...
"Crazy! Porto goes broke, buys Didier Drogba from Marseille for 23 million euros!"
"Drogba returns to the Portuguese league! Unfortunately, this time he’s with Porto, not Sporting Lisbon!"
"Marseille turns a net profit of seven million euros from Drogba in a single season! They made a smart trade!"
"Mourinho: The legend returns! This year’s European football belongs to Portugal!"
"Deco: I am well aware of Drogba’s strength, he was one of our most troublesome opponents when he was at Sporting Lisbon! Now we’re full of confidence for the Champions League!"
The self-proclaimed "Special One," Mourinho, spouted his usual audacity.
Many considered him a jester, including Guardiola.
Championships aren’t won by shouting about it.
You can brag after you win.
Deng Kai: You sure???
Guardiola: Can Mourinho compare with you, Kai? You, Kai, act with assurance, Mourinho is merely bluffing!
Feng Te: Full marks for idioms!
After Porto stirred things up.
Real Madrid turned up the atmosphere.
"Galacticos in ultimate form! Beckham joins Real Madrid for 37 million euros!"
"The flying boot incident finally brings bad consequences! Manchester United loses Beckham, Real Madrid welcomes a peak lineup!"
"One superstar a year! Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo, Beckham, plus Raul and Carlos—Real Madrid’s galaxy of stars!"
"Florentino: Such a Real Madrid should win all championships, including the Champions League!"
"First in Champions League winning odds! Real Madrid is seen by sixty percent of fans as the strongest team!"
The day had arrived.
Real Madrid had once again assembled a blockbuster lineup.
Manchester United was sorrowful, with their strength diminished rather than augmented.
If Veron’s departure could be considered damage control, then Beckham’s exit truly hurt.
There was a time when Beckham was the emblem of Manchester United!
Given the circumstances, Ferguson was even more grateful that he had brought in Ronaldo last season.
While still lacking a bit in experience, Ronaldo could barely take over the assets left by Beckham.
Subsequently, Manchester United officially announced Ronaldo as the new owner of the number seven jersey!
Van Nistelrooy could finally get the number nine jersey he had long dreamt of.
But when Ferguson sent word to inform Van Nistelrooy, he refused the number nine.
He wouldn’t want anything that belonged to Ronaldo.
He wanted to prove he was better than Ronaldo.
What Van Nistelrooy didn’t know was that Manchester United was busily planning a campaign to boost Ronaldo, making him their next "money-spinner."
Van Nistelrooy saw his athletic value.
But he overlooked that Ronaldo possessed commercial value on par with Beckham’s, which he did not have.
Therefore, he could never win in this competition against Ronaldo.
On the other hand, Real Madrid, with their glamorous squad, for the sake of harmony in the front line, loaned their striker Morientes to the French team Monaco.
If a team has too many players who want to start but can’t, the locker room is bound to blow up.
Especially when those players are stars, all capable of starting.
Look at Manchester City; they have a lot of rotating players.
On one hand, Manchester City doesn’t have sole absolute starters in all competitions, and some of the reserves have ample playing time and stable positions, so they don’t make a fuss.
On the other hand, most of the City players are young and not yet renowned; they are willing to accept and even need competition.
There’s no concern about being undervalued or offended.
But Real Madrid has too many superstars, which easily poses these issues.
So, Real Madrid chose a "best solution."
At least that’s what they believed.
However, when the media interviewed Deng Kai about this matter, Deng Kai said, "Honestly, I thought Real Madrid’s previous signings were not problematic."
"Be it commercially or in terms of athletic ability, they were commendable."
"But this season, I think Real Madrid’s balance has finally tipped. I’m not saying that their new players aren’t good enough, I mean they shouldn’t have let Roy Makaay go," he continued.
"Additionally, loaning Morientes is definitely one of Real Madrid’s worst moves in recent years. A team like Real Madrid needs depth in their forward line."
"If Morientes doesn’t want to sit on the bench, then offer him higher wages until he’s satisfied. Alternatively, let the stars play in order of ability; even if they lose their spot to competition, there would be no hard feelings," Deng Kai added.
"In short, Real Madrid had many options, but they chose the laziest one. And I think this act of trying to cut corners could potentially bring them disastrous consequences."
Deng Kai’s criticism of Real Madrid was utterly unreasonable.
Many fans who previously had a good impression of Deng Kai have now changed their allegiance.
But if they had known in advance what kind of Champions League schedule Real Madrid would face this season, they wouldn’t dislike Deng Kai.
If things go as expected, Real Madrid will meet Monaco in the quarter-finals of the Champions League this season, and then be eliminated by a Morientes-led Monaco.
Now, isn’t that a show?
Real Madrid clearly didn’t check the calendar when they loaned out Morientes.
In Germany, the newly crowned Bayern Munich is ready to cement their position.
They are not planning to let the championship go to anyone else.
Therefore, they brought in this year’s European Silver Boot winner Roy Makaay from Deportivo La Coruña for a record-breaking fee of 18.6 million euros.
Then they brought in the Argentine defender Demichelis for 4.5 million euros.
And they sold their striker Elber to Lyon for 4.2 million euros.
