Football giants

Chapter 387 Guess!

An Airbus flying from Madrid, the capital of Spain, slowly landed at the Romanian capital, Bucharest's Henri Conda Airport.

Not long after, the Atletico Madrid team walked out of the airport gate under the leadership of coach Diego Simeone and the team leader.

Since their itinerary was kept secret, there was not much movement at the airport.

There were only a few reporters from Spanish newspapers waiting here, but they all took pictures of them from a distance.

Just kidding, there is a Diego who looks like a big brother in the underworld walking in front of him? Simeone, who dares to offend easily?

A group of people walked out of the airport fiercely and got into a bus with the Atlético de Madrid team logo.

"Count the number of people, and leave as soon as you have enough!" Diego Simeone ordered Boggs to do things as soon as he sat down.

Argentina's former national gate immediately walked all the way through the national highway in the carriage, counting the number of people along the way.

When he came back, he nodded at Diego Simeone, "Well, it's all here!"

Diego Simeone immediately looked at the driver in the driver's seat in front of the car, "Let's go!"

That was the driver of Atletico Madrid.

This is also the consistent way for European teams to play away games.

The team's bus is a mobile fortress for the team. The coaching staff will discuss game tactics on the bus, and the players may also chat about some private topics on the bus. Therefore, the bus driver must be a person that the club can trust.

Therefore, for the away game, the bus is usually rented temporarily, but the two drivers are their own.

Some wealthy teams even own their own buses.

There is no way, the family has a lot of money, and before the game team leaves, the driver is asked to drive the bus to the away game and wait.

For a poor team like Atletico Madrid, there is definitely no way.

As soon as Simeone finished yelling, he leaned back in the back row, closed his eyes, and planned to squint comfortably.

But strangely, after waiting for a while, there was no movement from the bus.

"What's going on?" Simeone opened his eyes again and looked at the driver in front of the car, "Why don't you leave?"

The Spanish driver turned around with an apologetic expression on his face, "Oh, okay, right now, I'll check the navigation!"

Simeone pouted, somewhat dissatisfied, but helpless.

The driver of a wealthy team can drive a bus around the city where the away team is located two or three days in advance to familiarize themselves with the traffic in the city, as well as the locations of hotels, training grounds, and stadiums.

But Atletico Madrid can't, at least they don't have the funds!
So, no way, can only rely on navigation again and again!
After finally finding the place, I turned on the navigation, started the bus, and drove forward slowly.

After all, it is a rented car, which is not so comfortable, and the team is still stingy with funds, the buses are all cheap to rent, and the air conditioner is not strong enough.

Think about it, on a hot day, dozens of people are nestled in the car, but the air conditioner is not very cold, what kind of experience is that?
The players also complained a bit in the carriage, but in the end, they still meant to bear with it, since they will arrive soon anyway.

"Diego!"

Assistant coach Boggs, sitting next to Diego Simeone, leaned over.

"The team's winning bonus has not given an answer yet, should I remind you?"

Diego Simeone opened his closed eyes and looked ahead with a flash of anger.

He urged it, but the management didn't answer directly, but adopted a procrastination tactic, saying that they were discussing and would give a bonus plan before the game.

In the UEFA Europa League final, the prize money for winning the championship alone is as high as 600 million. It doesn't need to be much. Is it too much to allocate more than 100 million as a bonus?Is it outrageous?Are you very reluctant?

Seeing Diego Simeone's face, Boggs also knew that the head coach was not easy to handle.

"I was on the plane just now and I heard some players discussing this. You know, it's better to clarify this kind of thing before the game."

Diego Simeone himself is a professional player, of course he knows this.

These days, if you talk about honors, sense of mission, or feelings with professional players, that's bullshit!
Why is a professional player called a professional?

That's because playing football is the source of life for them and their families!

That is money!

Nothing is more important than money!
"Don't worry, I'll ask again when I get to the hotel!"

When Simeone managed the team, he still took care of the interests of the players, which is one of the reasons why he won the respect of the players.

After all, no one wants to play for a head coach who doesn't value his own interests at all.

But as soon as Simeone finished speaking, he heard the driver in front yell "Oops."

"What's going on?" Simeone raised his head and looked in front and around.

It's all cars!
The driver turned around, "It seems to be a traffic jam!"

It's not like, it's just like that!
Simeone looked at the time. During the rush hour, this road is not a big road, no wonder it is blocked.

"I'm sorry, I didn't pay so much attention just now to take a shortcut!" The driver said apologetically.

It's all because I'm not familiar with the place, if it's in Madrid, or some major cities in Europe, why would there be traffic jams?
"Forget it, forget it, find an intersection and turn around!"

Simeone noticed a phenomenon, the two-way lane, the direction he was in was a traffic jam, but the opposite side was unimpeded.

The driver agreed, saying that he would turn at the next intersection.

But wait and wait, the traffic ahead is moving slowly like a snail.

Time passed by every minute and every second, the temperature inside the car was hot, and the air conditioner was not working. The experience... can be imagined.

The most terrible thing is that at this time, some sharp-eyed bastard saw a bus on the opposite side from a distance.

"Wow, Southampton even has a bus coming!"

"real or fake?"

"Nonsense, look for yourself, isn't that the bus from Southampton?"

"Yeah, there are players on it!"

"How did they come from that direction?"

"In my opinion, they probably have already found out the road conditions!"

It's hard to die, the Southampton bus seems to have seen the Atletico Madrid bus.

No wonder, the bus is so tall and the team logo is so conspicuous, you can see it from a distance.

"Hey, are you stuck in traffic?"

"Oh, no luck, there is still a long way ahead!"

"The road is being built in the past few days, and this direction is blocked every day, so it's a fool to go!"

"There are still several kilometers, I'm afraid it will take a long time!"

"Wait slowly, we're leaving first!"

Just passing by across the safety island, the Southampton bus drove away behind him, not to mention how chic it was.

The most painful thing in life is when I am stuck in traffic, but see the person I hate the most pass through unimpeded.

"Damn Southampton!"

"It's outrageous!"

"Find out the road conditions, and didn't notify us in advance!"

"Damn it, let's kill them tomorrow night!"

"Yes, take a big breath!"

In the bus, there was a howl of Atletico Madrid players.

Finally, more than an hour later, this group of players who couldn't shout, scream, or even walk appeared in front of the team's reserved hotel.

"This is the hotel we booked?" Simeone looked at the hotel in front of him, a little dumbfounded.

Isn't this too crude?
Have four stars?
Oh no, is there a Samsung?

It's nightfall, and the whole hotel is pitch-black, even the lights are not turned on, is it plausible?

"It seems so!" The team leader smiled wryly, but he didn't know.

"Hurry up and call to ask!" Simeone felt a fire in his heart.

This question is really this hotel.

The reason is simple. Southampton booked the best five-star hotel near the National Stadium in Bucharest, the Marriott, in advance, and the other hotels were also sold out by fans from the UK.

According to the news released by UEFA, Southampton reached the Europa League final, attracting a total of more than 3 fans to Bucharest, most of whom are British fans.

Once these 3 people flood into the city, it will be a big test for Bucharest's reception capacity.

And Southampton also showed excellent operational ability this time.

When the team defeated Sporting Lisbon in the second round of the semi-final, the team immediately pushed news on the official website, APP and WeChat to collect fans who were willing to go to Bucharest to watch the game. In addition to giving away tickets, they also helped to contact the hotel for free.

As a result, Southampton's move immediately received positive responses from fan organizations and fans. The [-] fans were fully recruited within a few days, and many fans even contacted the team and expressed their willingness to come to the scene to buy tickets by themselves.

Therefore, Southampton specially sent people to Bucharest, contacted some hotels near the National Stadium, and won a very favorable group ticket price for these more than 3 fans.

Atlético de Madrid contacted the hotel rather late. By the time they started practicing hotels, the four-star and five-star hotels in the surrounding areas, and even some well-rated three-star hotels, had already been booked out.

As a last resort, they can only choose this one.

Otherwise, you have to choose a hotel further away and travel back and forth.

After Simeone heard the whole story clearly, he was helpless.

Who made Atletico Madrid poor and unprofessional?
Look at the operation of Southampton's management, it's almost blowing out the management of Atletico Madrid.

Not only Simeone is depressed, but the players are also in a bad mood.

Who wants to stay in such a bad hotel?

"Okay, everyone go in, the room is still according to our usual arrangement, hurry up and get ready, we will go to familiarize ourselves with the venue later, hurry up!"

Following Simeone's order, no matter how reluctant this group of Atletico Madrid players were, they knew that things were irreversible.

Thousands of fur and mud horses roared past in my heart, but the cruel reality had to continue.

…………

…………

When Simeone greeted the players into the hotel, Southampton had just finished their last training session at the National Stadium in the west end of Bucharest.

Bielsa is determined to carry the suspense to the end. In this training session, Toni Kroos only participated in some relaxation training of the team. When the team was conducting some tactical drills, the German midfielder was training alone on the sidelines.

This also made all the reporters who came to inspect Southampton feel very confusing.

In the end Toni? Kroos will not participate in the game?

When the reporter threw this question to Bielsa at the press conference organized by UEFA, the Argentine lunatic smiled and did not give a positive answer, but said a rather witty remark.

"you guess!"

Everyone immediately understood that Bielsa was throwing a smoke bomb.

But the problem is, no one knows whether Toni Kroos can play or not?
Everyone's feeling is that the German midfielder was included in the squad, and it is more likely that he has recovered fairly well, but Bielsa wants to include him on the substitute list, and Matic is the real main player.

After all, the Serbian played too well and was too stable against Liverpool.

One is recovering from a new injury, and the other is in excellent condition. Everyone knows how to choose?

Furthermore, if Toni Kroos really recovered, why didn't he participate in the team's tactical training?

Although what should be practiced has already been practiced before, but one more joint practice is tantamount to a tacit understanding.

Therefore, basically everyone still feels in their hearts that Matic will start!

"But why do I always feel that this matter is not that simple?"

In the exhibition hall of the National Stadium in Bucharest, UEFA President Michel Platini looked at Yang Huan with a smile and said otherwise.

(End of this chapter)