i want to be king

Chapter 26

Who is Portugal's No. [-] giant?

This honor has always been controversial.

Benfica, Sporting Lisbon and Porto all have supporters, but on the whole, Sporting Lisbon is basically ranked last, and the momentum is also the weakest, while Benfica has the largest audience, and is even almost recognized as the traditional No. [-] giant.

From the perspective of the number of championships, Benfica has won [-] Portuguese top league championships and two Champions League championships at the same time. These two statistics are second to none in Portugal and unmatched.

But the problem is that since winning the top league championship for the last time in [-], Benfica has been in turmoil.

Porto is currently recognized as the strongest team in the Portuguese Super League. From [-] to now, in seven years, Porto has won five top league championships, and thus won [-] top league championships, surpassing Sporting Lisbon with [-].

Not only that, Porto also won the European Champions Cup in [-].

Sporting Lisbon is also a traditional strong team. It has won two top league championships in the past seven years, but whether it is the total number of championships or the most gold-rich Champions League, Sporting Lisbon lacks a lot of honor.

Therefore, in the competition for the top giants, Sporting Lisbon's voice is the weakest. At present, it is basically a competition between Porto and Benfica. The former is an upstart, and the latter is a traditional powerhouse.

……

Su Dong walked into the honor room of the Stadium of Light and saw a dazzling array of championship trophies. From this, he could easily see the background of Benfica, as well as legendary stars and world-class players such as Eusebio and Rui Costa, all came from this team.

Many geniuses, such as the Argentine son of the wind, Caniggia and the Czech genius Poborski, have left their footprints here.

Responsible for the reception is scout Abel Silva.

During this period of time, he has been in contact with Su Dong and Mendes.

Although Athletic de Portugal is a cooperative team of Belerences, Belerences was a little neglected to Sudong at the beginning, so that they were behind Benfica in many aspects.

Of course, as a satellite team, Belerences still has an advantage when it comes to the transfer period.

The employees of the honor room are responsible for introducing Su Dong to the history of some important trophies and the legendary stars behind them.

At the end of the visit, he said to Su Dong with full expectation: "I hope to see your name here in the future."

Although it is a bit old-fashioned, I have to say that it is really exciting.

This is Benfica, Portugal's most traditional giants.

……

After visiting the honor room, before the game started, Abel Silva took Su Dong and his team to the home team locker room.

The current head coach of Benfica is the legendary player Toni.

In terms of his career, it is quite brilliant, but in terms of coaching, it is really not good.

I coached Benfica twice before, one time I only took nine games, and the other time I only took [-] games. Of course, both times were midway firefighting.

Later, he successively went to Bordeaux in Ligue [-] and Sevilla in La Liga to coach, and his results were also very average. Among them, Sevilla was dismissed after only ten games.

But even so, he still became the head coach of Benfica.

Tony obviously knew that Su Dong and his party would come to visit, but the competition was approaching, and his expression looked very dignified. This had something to do with Benfica's unsatisfactory results this season and did not meet the expectations of the outside world.

It took more than 1000 million euros to buy back Simao, and more than 2000 million euros were invested in the transfer market. For the Portuguese Super League team, it is definitely a huge investment, but so far, Benfica is only ranked fifth in the league, still behind tonight's opponent Leiria.

Tony just kept his demeanor, shook Su Dong's hand politely, and sent him away.

Then Sudong met the long-known Benfica number one star Simao.

This is definitely a star with European-level strength, and it is also Benfica's strongest combat power at present.

"I've heard that you have performed very well recently." Simao was quite polite to Su Dong.

Su Dong also responded modestly. By the way, he took out the pen and paper he had prepared earlier, and asked for an autograph and a group photo.

In addition to Simao, Portuguese international Thiago and Maniche, who have performed well this season, are also on the list of Sudong asking for autographs and group photos. Another is German goalkeeper Robert Enke.

The German goalkeeper has performed very well this season and has received the attention of giant teams including Barcelona and Manchester United. I believe it is only a matter of time before joining a giant team.

Walking around in the locker room, Su Dong got a few autographs and a group photo, and got acquainted with the players of the Benfica first team, which can be regarded as the completion of the purpose of the trip.

But when they walked out of the home team's locker room and were about to go upstairs to the fans' stands, they met Leiria's coach, the Portuguese Jose Mourinho, outside the visiting team's locker room.

"Hey, Jorge, why are you here?"

Jose Mourinho saw Su Dong and his party from a distance, and shouted at Mendes.

"Ha, Jose." Mendes immediately went up to meet him, "The battle is imminent, do you still have the mind to stay here?"

Mourinho raised his eyebrows and raised his chin confidently, "Who else is more familiar with and understands Benfica than me?"

The scout on the side, Abel Silva, was a little embarrassed and couldn't say anything.

Mendes smiled politely and noncommittally.

"If I'm not mistaken, you are Su?" Mourinho's eyes fell on Su Dong.

Among the group of four, Su Dong is the tallest and the most eye-catching.

"Hello, Mr. Mourinho, I'm Su Dong." Su Dong offered to extend his hand.

Su Dong still respects the head coach with the best coaching record in the Portuguese Super League this season.

Leiria itself is not a strong team. Before Mourinho took over, their results were not bad, but they are currently ranked fourth in the league, which is absolutely surprising. Mourinho's coaching strength is evident.

Some media even broke the news that Porto coach Machado's coaching performance did not meet expectations, and he is likely to dismiss get out of class. Once Machado dismisses get out of class, Leiria's young coach Mourinho will replace him.

This is the great man who is about to take over Porto.

Although he was a little excited in his heart, Su Dong remained calm on the surface.

To put it bluntly, whether Mourinho is good or not has nothing to do with him.

"Jorge, we haven't seen each other for a long time, after the game, sit down and have a drink?" Mourinho issued an invitation.

"Of course no problem." Mendes readily agreed.

"Su, do you want to be together?" Mourinho invited.

Su Dong looked at Mendes and nodded immediately, "Of course, thank you."

After making an appointment to meet, Mourinho bid farewell to leave and walked into the visiting team's locker room.

……

"He stayed here on purpose to block us."

Walking up the stairs to the stands, Mendes whispered to Su Dong.

This surprised Su Dong, even a little flattered.

is it possible?

"Don't think too much, it doesn't mean how much they value you, because every team is very interested in making this kind of future investment. You are only 17 years old. The cost of signing you at this time is very low, but as long as you can become a professional player, it will be hundreds of thousands or even millions of euros. What do you think?"

Mendez's words were like pouring a bucket of cold water on Su Dong's head.

To put it bluntly, it's all about profit.

"Leiria is only a hundred kilometers away from Lisbon. If they say they haven't heard of you, it must be a lie. Now it seems that they are also very interested in you, which is a good thing."

Su Dong understood what Mendes meant. The more teams were interested, the more sought-after the player was, and the more leverage he had in the negotiation.

Of course, the premise is to be able to clearly know your upper limit and where the opponent's bottom line is.

For example, with Su Dong's current strength, it is basically impossible to forcefully demand a place in the first team.

At this time, Su Dong felt the benefits of the agent.

"Mourinho is very capable. I have been in contact with him for the past two years. He once worked as an assistant for Robson, Van Gaal and others in Porto and Barcelona. He coached Benfica before and his results were very good. However, because of the Benfica presidential election, the chairman who supported him resigned, and the new chairman replaced him with Tony."

When he said this, Mendes smiled at Su Dong, "This guy will take revenge, and Benfica will suffer a bit tonight."

…………

…………

Facts have proved that Mendez's guess was right.

Benfica didn't just suffer a little, they suffered a lot.

Mourinho's team is indeed not as good as Benfica in terms of strength, but this team responded with four-three-three, but the defense was quite good. The players were not strong enough, but the tactical execution was in place.

On the contrary, it was Leiria. With two counterattacks, Brazilian player Delle scored twice to help Leiria beat Benfica [-]-[-] away.

This made Abel Silva feel very embarrassed.

Originally, Su Dong was invited to watch the match on the spot, and he wanted him to see a victory for the team, but he did not expect to lose like this.

If it weren't for Leiria's lack of ability to seize opportunities, this would definitely be a disastrous defeat.

Combined with Mourinho's confident look in the player tunnel just now, it's really a bit...

Instead, Mendes secretly smiled inwardly, and raised his eyebrows at Su Dong, as if to say, look, am I right?

It was also the first time for Su Dong to see the game coached by Mourinho. He felt very stable, without too many surprises and accidents, and completely restricted Benfica. Except for a few dangerous situations created by Simao and a few passes by Thiago, Benfica was not given the slightest chance in the whole game.

A really strong head coach.

Su Dong thought to himself.

……

After the game, Su Dong and his party did not leave just yet.

Mendes didn't even hide the truth from Abel Silva, telling the other party clearly that he just wanted to stay and meet Mourinho, and Abel Silva couldn't do anything about it.

Next door to the stadium, waiting in the coffee shop across the parking lot for about half an hour, Mourinho was late.

He first apologized to everyone, and everyone understood. After all, as the head coach, there are still many things to be busy after the game.

But no one expected that the Portuguese, who must be vengeful, had just finished apologizing and immediately turned to look at Su Dong.

"Su, if I were you, I would never consider joining Benfica."

　During the new book period, beg for rewards, collections and recommendation tickets!Thank you!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)