super storm

Chapter 1458
One advantage of a mature team is stability.

The players and coaches are very familiar with each other. From the beginning of the pre-season training camp, everyone knows what they should do and to what extent they should do it, and they know each other well.

For example, in Real Madrid this year, this is already the third season that Pintus has come to the team. Everyone knows what this bald guy is like. Therefore, even if he trained the team in the United States during the training camp, no one would have much objection. Even the two new players Mbappe and Theo Hernandez knew the reason from their teammates.

After the team set off for the United States, Real Madrid also got a new aid, that is the famous Raul.

When Raul left the team that year, he was questioned a lot. Rumors of the ball dominance and cancer were endless. At the same time, many people were very dissatisfied with Florentino's cleaning of Raul and Guti, thinking that Real Madrid lacked human touch.

But now, both Raul and Guti have returned to the team. Raul is currently an assistant to the general manager, sitting next to Butragueno, but he will learn to become a head coach in the future. He should start coaching the youth team in the future.

Guti is now coaching in the Real Madrid youth team, and Harvey Alonso is also studying coaching courses while studying and practicing in the Real Madrid youth academy. They will all embark on the road of coaching in the future.

Of course, whether it will be successful, who knows?
……

After two weeks of brutal devil training, Real Madrid ushered in the first warm-up match in late July.

Exactly the same as the previous two years, Real Madrid performed very badly in the warm-up match, completely out of shape, Yang Yang didn't even play, and sat in the coach's bench throughout the game.

Real Madrid substituted all their players in the first and second halves, but ended up losing to Manchester United on penalties.

Regarding this result, there is not much discussion in the media, because after the pre-season preparations for the past two seasons, everyone knows that Real Madrid doesn't care about the warm-up match at all.

The purpose of Yang Yang and Zidane is only to inspect the team and adjust the state through the warm-up match. The real emphasis is on the upcoming European Super Cup and Spanish Super Cup, as well as the official games of the new season.

As for the warm-up match, it doesn't matter if you lose all or even a big defeat.

After the game against Manchester United, what really attracted the attention of the media was an interview with Real Madrid fitness coach Pintus from AS.

For example, Pintus is very satisfied with Mbappe's physical condition, and is also satisfied with the pre-season preparation results of Real Madrid players.

"I arranged a special training program for Yang Yang. He should be the same as last year and will not play for the time being."

"Yes, it's still the original weight loss plan. This summer, Yang Yang will lose another one or two kilograms on the basis of last year."

Pintus' interview was immediately reprinted by the media all over the world, and all the fans who cared about Yang Yang were very concerned, because they all wanted to know how Yang Yang was doing now.

But as analyzed by Aspen, the soon-to-be 31-year-old Yang Yang needs to reduce some unnecessary games, just like last season, and put more of his strength into key games.

"In the knockout stage of last season, he scored hat-tricks in four consecutive knockout rounds, which undoubtedly proves that Yang Yang's training and the team's use of him are extremely wise."

……

Three days later, Real Madrid ushered in another game in the United States of the International Champions Cup.

As a result, this time, Real Madrid's state still did not improve, and they lost [-]-[-] to Manchester City in the Memorial Stadium.

This is the time to poke a hornet's nest.

Although the media and fans have long expected Real Madrid's situation, they still hope that Real Madrid can perform better, especially when facing Guardiola's Manchester City.

But this time Zidane still faced the match by changing the lineup in the first half and the second half. Players such as Yang Yang and Modric didn't play even a minute. Obviously, they didn't pay attention to this warm-up match.

The fiasco of one to four made everyone worried, worried that Real Madrid's strength had really declined to this level?

After all, when other teams are aggressively signing in and improving their strength crazily, Real Madrid sold away important substitutes such as Morata, Di Maria and Danilo, and brought in young players like Mbappe.

……

If it is said that the loss to Manchester City made Real Madrid questionable, then the subsequent two-to-three loss to Barcelona made Real Madrid begin to feel the pressure from the media and fans.

This is still a warm-up match for the International Champions Cup. Barcelona obviously showed a better state than Real Madrid, got nearly 60.00% of the ball possession rate, and performed even better throughout the game.

Head coach Ernesto Valverde suppressed Real Madrid with targeted tactics at the beginning. Messi and Rakitic scored two consecutive cities to help Barcelona take the lead. Then De Bruyne and Asensio pulled back two games, but Pique's header in the second half sealed the victory for Barcelona.

As before, Real Madrid still adopted the configuration of two lineups in the first half and the second half, and they are still running in and inspecting the team.

On the contrary, Barcelona, ​​it seems that the progress of the training camp is faster, and they have begun to run in the main lineup.

……

The time has entered August, and Real Madrid ushered in the last game of the American training camp. The opponent is the star team of the American Major League, including Kaka, Schweinsteiger, Villa and Giovinco.

The game was played very openly, and neither side deliberately sought to win, but more to please the fans at the scene.

In the end, Real Madrid defeated their opponents five to three.

This is also the only warm-up match victory for Real Madrid in the United States.

Yang Yang still sat on the sidelines for nine or ten minutes, but his heart was full of joy.

Not because he finally won the warm-up match, but because he had a good time with his buddy Kaka before the match.

…………

…………

While Real Madrid is training in the United States to prepare for the new season, European football has already begun to ignite the flames of war for the new season.

As the runner-up of the Eredivisie last season, Ajax must participate in the UEFA Champions League qualifiers, starting from the third round and entering the play-offs after winning. Only after two knockout rounds can Ajax advance to the UEFA Champions League group stage.

But in the third qualifying round, Ajax met Nice, which ranked third in Ligue [-] last season.

If you are not a fan who is familiar with Ligue [-], your impression of Nice should still be in the middle and lower reaches of Ligue [-]. But in fact, in recent years, Nice has performed very well in Ligue [-], ranking fourth and third in the past two seasons respectively.

The team has Super Mario Balotelli and Seri, who was the best team member in Ligue [-] last season. Coach Favre also trained [-] very maturely, which made them very competitive in Ligue [-]. However, in the Europa League last season, they were at the bottom of the group stage.

This season, Nice can be described as a painful experience, determined to find a game in the Champions League, because they have not been able to enter the Champions League for nearly 60 years, so they are eager to participate in the Champions League, especially the group stage.

The first round of the match between the two sides was held at the home court of Nice, and both teams played their best.

Balotelli, who has recovered his form in Ligue 30 and has become more mature and stable, scored for the home team in No.[-] in two minutes and took the lead.

Ajax made an aggressive start in the second half, and Van der Beek pulled one back for the team in No. 409 minutes.

In the first round, the two sides shook hands and made a draw. Ajax scored an away goal and took advantage.

After returning to Amsterdam, Ajax suffered a setback at the start, and was hit by a quick counterattack by Nice in just 3 minutes, scoring a goal, which made it extremely difficult for Ajax and had to fight with their backs.

No. In 206 minutes, it was Van der Beek's goal again, which helped Ajax equalize the score [-]-[-], but the advantage in the first round has disappeared, and the two sides returned to the same starting line.

In the 5 minutes of the second half, Ajax made another victory. With a corner kick, De Ligt scored a goal for Ajax and helped the team reverse [-]-[-].

The whole Amsterdam Arena is jubilant!

All the Ajax fans seemed to see the hope of qualifying, and they were all cheering wildly.

But the good times didn't last long. Only 4 minutes later, Nice's core Seri made a heel pass, and teammate Marcel followed up with a sword to seal his throat and scored a goal for Nice.

Two to two!
Ajax suddenly fell from the cloud of hope to the abyss of despair.

Although Ajax launched an offensive frantically afterwards, they still failed to break through Nice's goal.

The tenacious Ligue [-] powerhouse kept the score of [-]-[-] until the last second of the game, never giving Ajax another chance to score.

In the end, Ajax lost the game [-]-[-] away and [-]-[-] at home, and Nice advanced to the play-offs.

……

After the game, the entire Amsterdam Arena fell into a deathly silence.

four years ago!
This year is already the fourth year!
Ajax has fallen on the threshold of the Champions League qualifiers for four years!

Last season's Europa League runner-up made everyone seem to see the hope of Ajax's revival, but now, it has all failed.

No matter how high their expectations were before, how much disappointment they have now.

Thousands of Ajax fans booed in the stands, dissatisfied with the management, because they believe that the current management team is not qualified, at least it has not brought about the transformation they hoped to see.

Ajax is still excluded from the Champions League group stage, and can only play in the Europa League in despair.

Excellent players were sent away one after another, but the team did not show courage in the transfer market and did not introduce outstanding players, which caused the team's competitiveness to plummet.

Coach Keizer was under tremendous pressure, trying to explain that Nice is not weak, but to no avail.

The whole of the Netherlands is attacking Ajax.

The huge pressure also forced the Ajax Supervisory Committee to start paying attention to the club's operations, and even began to doubt whether the teams of Yang Yang, Wei Zheng and Van Gaal could really realize their previous promises.

(End of this chapter)