champion light

Chapter 817 The Third Fire
Time passed quickly, and it was the day before the match against Nottingham Forest in the blink of an eye.

After the last day of training, Benitez announced the 18-man roster and starting roster for tomorrow's game within the team.

As he said, although there is not much time, he chooses the list based entirely on the player's performance in training, not on fame.

Therefore, Robinho, who was not very correct in training, lost the election.

He didn't even make the big list!

When Benitez announced this decision on the training ground, everyone was surprised, and Robinho was even more surprised. Everyone looked at him with surprised eyes, which made him feel very embarrassed.

He didn't expect Benitez to be serious—he told Elano in private, thinking that Benitez was just talking, and he didn't dare to really do anything.

He claims that he is the second most expensive player in the entire European transfer market this season, and Benitez dare not touch himself at all.

But who would have thought that... people would really dare to take him under the knife!

After Benitez announced the roster, he disbanded the team. He did not call Robinho to his office. If he did that, it means that he planned to talk to Robinho in private to explain the matter to him.And now he has such a tough attitude that he doesn't take Robinho seriously at all...

This attitude was even more difficult for Robinho to accept. Although he didn't get angry on the spot, his complexion was ugly, and his already dark face became even darker...

He then left in a hurry without communicating with anyone in the dressing room, changed his clothes and left Carrington in his Ferrari.

Elano was a little worried, but he never found a chance to comfort Robinho, and he really didn't know how to comfort Robinho.He had persuaded Robinho before, telling him not to confront Benitez, but Robinho wouldn't listen... I guess he won't listen anymore...

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The media was also surprised that Benitez excluded Robinho from the squad.In this regard, the explanation given by Benitez is that "Robinho is temporarily not included in the squad due to some non-technical reasons", which makes people even more curious-what kind of "non-technical reasons"...

But Benitez refused to explain, but the media is always supernatural. Soon the media broke the news that Benitez was dissatisfied with Robinho's lazy training attitude, so he excluded Robinho from the squad.

But this time, almost none of the media spoke out for Robinho.

Because Robinho's training attitude and game attitude have long made many people unhappy-he has the second highest salary in the team, and the second worth in the team, second only to Glory, but look at Robinho's training attitude and game attitude, is it one-tenth of Glory?
When Manchester City's performance was not good, Robinho was often criticized by the media, and the criticism was also focused on his attitude.

Everyone thinks that Robinho has a problem with his attitude. He seems to be here to make money.

After the media figured out why Robinho missed the game, they lost interest in it.A new head coach will definitely clean up a thorn in the team. This is normal for any team and under any head coach.So there is nothing to hype, unless Benitez dares to exclude Rong Guang from the squad for the competition, that is the sensational news...

Everyone's interest quickly shifted to the competition itself.

Although the game has not yet started, some clues can already be seen through this starting list.

"...The game against Nottingham Forest was Manchester City's first appearance in the FA Cup this season. Although Manchester City's opponent was only a Championship team, Benitez did not dare to neglect. He sent all the main players except Robinho...Obviously he does not want to repeat the tragedy of Mark Hughes. In September last year, Manchester City led by Mark Hughes was unexpectedly eliminated by a League One team Brighton in their first appearance in the League Cup this season..."

"Nottingham Forest was very brilliant in the late 70s and early 80s. They won the European Champions Cup for two consecutive years. They were the top team in Europe. But now they are no longer what they used to be. This team is struggling in the English Championship. The Championship has played 26 rounds, and Nottingham Forest ranked No. 20. The 26 rounds of the league lost 26 games, only won five games, scored 38 goals and conceded [-] goals... Such a team can make Manchester City so cautious, I have to say that today's Manchester City are no better than Nottingham Forest..."

"For Benitez, this is the only and last chance for him to keep his promise this season. If his team is eliminated by Nottingham Forest, then Manchester City can announce that this season will bid farewell to next season's European war. This may be a good thing for them, because in that case, Manchester City can put more energy into relegation..."

There is no shortage of such sarcastic voices in the media.

For Manchester City's failure, everyone is like a joke. Except for Manchester City's real supporters, no one cares whether they will really be relegated.

"Manchester Evening News" also wrote a special article describing the current crisis of Manchester City. It makes people feel that Manchester City has almost reached the end of the road.

Because it is a local media, their opinions are more likely to gain popular support and influence public opinion.

So much so that some Manchester City fans asked this question on the Internet: "This is really incredible. It is the first time I saw that in the confrontation between a Premier League team and a Championship team, everyone is overwhelmingly optimistic about the Championship team..."

This kind of public opinion made Nottingham Forest's head coach Billy Davis a little at a loss: "Many people think that we can beat Manchester City away? How is this possible? But think about it carefully... This proposal is really very tempting..."

He seemed genuinely moved...

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"Manchester City, playing at home, faced a team ranked in the relegation zone in the English Championship. It was like a formidable enemy. It's really..." Before the game, when Alan Hansen exchanged his views on the game with Mortensen, he blacked Manchester City as usual.

"Manchester City's recent situation is indeed very bad. After Benitez took office, he did not bring any changes to the team, which also made many people have little confidence in him." Mortensen said.

"Let's watch this game." Alan Hansen shrugged.

At this time, in Manchester City's dressing room, Benitez is preparing his players for the last pre-match.

While everyone was changing, he was standing in the middle of the locker room, holding a newspaper and reading to everyone.

"...This Manchester City used to scare everyone in the transfer market in the summer, because their aggressive offensive in the transfer market really made people think that a strong team was about to be born...But look at it now, half a season has passed, and their performance has relieved those who were nervous. This 'mercenary' is only fighting for money. What fighting power do they have? Manchester City's failure proves that money is not helpful to football..."

"The transfer fees of Berbatov and Robinho are the third-highest and second-highest players that Manchester City invested in the transfer market this summer, but neither of them has played to their strengths. No wonder some people will question that they are here for Manchester City to make money, and they are not sincere..."

The people in the locker room were all doing their own things, and didn't take Benitez's words seriously. After all, many of them were still unhappy with Benitez.

But Benitez doesn't care about that, he read like no one else.Finally, when he read Berbatov and Robinho, someone raised his head, and someone looked at Berbatov. Robinho was not there, otherwise he would not be able to escape...

Berbatov was the most surprised, because they thought that the head coach would call his name and read an article criticizing him in front of the whole team, which made him very embarrassed.

But Benitez had no intention of stopping there. He continued to read, newspaper after newspaper, and soon it wasn't just Berbatov who looked embarrassed.

In addition to glory, almost everyone was read by Benitez to criticize their articles.

After the reading, the atmosphere in the entire locker room has become very strange.

Rong Guang has been observing. He finds it very strange. He doesn't know what Benitez thinks. Before this game, what's the point of offending all the players again?

Isn't he afraid that the players will be passive and sabotage during the game?

After reading, Benitez put down the thick stack of newspapers in his hand, and then looked at everyone, turning a blind eye to the expressions on the faces of those players.

Then he said: "Are you very upset? Do you feel ashamed? But I want to ask, is it because you performed poorly that you are unhappy and lose face, or because you are publicly criticized?"

Everyone was stunned, and everyone... was speechless to Benitez's rhetorical question.

There is no need to answer this question, of course it is because I have been criticized publicly so I lose face...

Who would feel ashamed because of a bad performance... Eh, no, it seems like none of us would feel that there is something wrong with a bad performance...

"What's wrong with being criticized? What's wrong with being named and criticized because of your poor performance? You are professional players, stars, and public figures. Since you earn much more money than ordinary people, you have to bear that kind of pressure. I don't mean to say something to embarrass you. I just want to tell you that no one's career is smooth sailing. Everyone will suffer setbacks and pain. I was almost able to touch the championship trophy, but I failed. Since then, I have been living in an atmosphere of a loser. It seems that everyone will look at me as a loser, as if I have been branded as a loser... But I did not give up on myself like this. I did not really become a loser as everyone thought.

Benitez was talking about the 2005 Champions League final. In his first season in charge of Liverpool, he led Liverpool to the Champions League final. That final was really ups and downs. At the beginning, AC Milan led by three goals in the first half, but in the second half Liverpool caught up and equalized the score.

As a result, just when everyone thought that Liverpool was going to drag AC Milan into the quagmire of collapse, Kaka suddenly broke out and sealed the victory for the team...

That game is still often mentioned by people. Of course, in this story, Benitez and the Liverpool he coached will always appear as "the most famous loser in the history of the Champions League".

Among them, Benitez is the most vivid image, because as the head coach of the team, he must be responsible for the team's performance.

So the failure of this game had the greatest impact on him, which directly led to his subsequent dismissal-because of that failure, the club's top management lost trust in him.The club is no longer willing to continue to invest money in his team, so he can only leave get out of class sadly...

"You may find it funny what I say, but no matter what others think, I never gave up on my goals."

Then, he pointed to Rong Guang again.

"Rong has been in great pain for eight months in the past year."

Hearing him mention Rongguang, everyone's gazes involuntarily turned to Rongguang.

Rong Guang was a little surprised that Benitez suddenly used himself as an example, but his face didn't change much, at least he wasn't as embarrassed as others.

Facing the eyes cast by the price one after another, he seemed very calm.

"He fell from the No. [-] position in the world, but he never thought of giving up on himself. So he was able to score a hat-trick in the first official game of his comeback. God is fair, he will give you some tests. If you can pass the test, you will be able to see his smile on you, but if you can't... The most important thing in this world is a complete loser. Whether it is as an individual or a team."

(End of this chapter)