I Want to Be the King of Football

Late at night, the light in the office is dimmed.

A video of a game is playing on the TV hanging on the wall. If you are a fan, you can definitely tell at a glance that this is the European Super Cup game between Manchester City and Barcelona just finished at the end of August.

Opposite the TV wall, in the dim light, you can see a tall and burly figure sitting on the sofa, holding the remote control in one hand, fast-forwarding and replaying from time to time, and holding a cigarette in the other hand, frequently digging deep into his mouth. Take a breath.

Every time he spit it out, the room suddenly filled with smoke.

The ashtray on the armrest of the sofa was already full of cigarette butts. Every time that person finished smoking a cigarette, when he put it into the ashtray and quenched it, a lot of it would always overflow, scattered on the armrest and the leather surface of the sofa. And on the floor, it looked dirty and messy.

But he still turned a blind eye to one after another, never stopping in the middle.

The whole room was filled with a thick choking smell of smoke, and he didn't even notice it.

Just like this, I don't know how long it took, until he had smoked out the last cigarette in the cigarette case and found that the cigarette cases in several packs were already empty. .

He opened his wrist and checked the time, it was already the next day.

The man stretched his arms on the sofa, trying to stretch himself, but accidentally knocked the ashtray on the armrest to the ground. Cigarette butts and ash were scattered everywhere, but he just glanced at it. Just turned off the TV and stood up.

This man had a strong back, and was estimated to be over one meter nine in height. When he stood up, he looked unusually fierce.

Turning his sore neck, he clenched his fists again, followed by a series of boxer movements, moving his muscles and bones, and then walked over to get his jacket, opened the door and walked out of the office.

As soon as I went out, a cool breeze hit my face, I just felt that the whole person was in a lot of energy, and the air was very fresh.

After the big man took a deep breath, he turned his head specially, sniffed the familiar smell of smoke in the room, as if that was the smell that fascinated him the most, and then closed the door and left.

...

This is a huge high-level modern football training base, located in the south of the small town of Scharnhorst in the eastern suburbs of Dortmund, Germany, in a place called Bracker.

When Dahan walked out of the training building, the yellow sign of BVB was still on.

It is very eye-catching. This is the symbol of the Bundesliga giants Dortmund, and it is also a football hall in the hearts of countless German fans.

After walking a distance, the big man did not forget to look back at the yellow sign, the corner of his mouth raised slightly, and a proud smile appeared. Like a policeman, he made a salute with the index and middle fingers of his right hand.

He is Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp.

Behind him is the brand-new training base that Dortmund started to build in 2005 and only opened at the beginning of this year. It took the club nearly six years and spent countless time, energy and money.

Messy mid-parted hair, square face, beard, antique thick black glasses, sneakers, jeans, training shirts…

When Klopp turned his back to the training building and walked to the parking lot, under the contrast of the lights in the distance, his image of a sloppy uncle and the training building of BVB behind him had a rough aesthetic.

...

This season, Dortmund's start has not been ideal.

After the first five rounds, the Hornet has two wins, one draw and two losses, ranking eleventh in the Bundesliga rankings.

The most recent game was a 1-2 loss at home to Hertha Berlin.

Many people have questioned Klopp, thinking that it is difficult for Dortmund to reproduce the glory of last season. The reason is very simple. Last season's midfield core Shaheen went to Real Madrid for a transfer fee of 10 million euros.

The importance of Shaheen to Dortmund is known to everyone who knows the ball.

And what is different from last season is that this season, Dortmund will participate in the Champions League and face a third-line battle.

This is Klopp's first Champions League game in his coaching career, against the Premier League champions Manchester City.

Interestingly, Manchester City coach Guardiola is also participating in the Champions League for the first time.

What is even more interesting is that since August 2003, Dortmund lost to Belgium's Bruges in the external qualifiers and failed to participate in the Champions League group stage. At the most tragic time, it was almost on the verge of bankruptcy, and had to frantically sell stars to stabilize its position.

Eight years, three thousand one hundred days, Dortmund finally returned to the Champions League.

Today's Dortmund is completely different from the Bumblebee that swept the Europa. At that time, Dortmund was a veritable star army, and the current Bumblebee is younger and more passionate.

The head coach Klopp is a sloppy uncle who is famous all over Germany. One of his most interesting news is that Hamburg chose not to hire him because of his smoking, which made Dortmund a big bargain.

So, every time Klopp beats Hamburg, he will use this thing to sneer at his opponent.

Dortmund has not played in the Champions League in eight years and 3100 days, Manchester City has never played in the Champions League in history, and both coaches are rookies in the Champions League, which makes everyone curious about the upcoming game. .

Guardiola is best at passing and controlling the ball. Even in the European Super Cup against Barcelona, ​​Manchester City still insists on passing and controlling the ball and swears not to be conservative, while Dortmund, trained by Klopp, plays aggressively. Full, known for his passionate pressing and pressing, and his counterattack is a must.

Two coaches and two teams can be said to be natural enemies of each other, and it depends on who can have the last laugh.

...

On the afternoon of their departure to the UK, Dortmund held a press conference at the Bracker training centre.

Klopp still did not change his sloppy image, wearing jeans and a training shirt that seemed to have not been changed for a long time, yawning, showing his yellow teeth from smoking, and came to everyone.

He was always straight to the point, never beating around the bush, announcing the 18-man squad for Manchester.

The only special place is that the main scorer Barrios is out due to injury, and Lewandowski is expected to start.

For this question, Klopp did not give a direct answer, but said that he believed in everyone in the team.

I know a lot of you feel that we haven't been good enough this season, but we'll prove you wrong.

In Manchester, we will use our courage, determination and belief to win to defeat our opponents and regain respect and recognition.

For Dortmund's unfortunate draw to the group of death, Klopp said it was really bad.

It's like I stayed up in the middle of the night last night only to find that there was no smoke in my pocket, it sucks!

The media reporters present were amused for a while.

Everyone knows that he is addicted to smoking.

This is a very strong group, but we will use our strength and performance to prove that we have the ability to compete, we will compete with the other three teams for the two qualifying places, which is very important to us. .

Dortmund's financial resources are not strong, and it is very important for them to participate in the Champions League. If they can qualify, the harvest will be even greater.

Of course, the Bundesliga is just as important anyway, because it's about qualifying for the Champions League next season.

The absence of Barrios through injury will have an impact on Dortmund, but Klopp doesn't think it will make a difference.

We also have Lewandowski and Perisic, who are very good attackers.

These two players are highly anticipated. Perisic performed well in Bruges, Belgium, scoring a lot of goals and assists, but after arriving in Dortmund, he played in the first five rounds, but failed to score and score. assist.

Obviously, he is still in the adaptation stage.

Lewandowski is the best striker in Poland, but a season has passed since joining Dortmund, and he has yet to show convincing results, but Klopp still has confidence in him.

I wouldn't doubt his strength and potential, he was only 23 years old, he scored a lot in the Polish league, we were very optimistic about him, so we brought him to Germany, he needs a little time to adapt and improve himself, which requires A process, we have enough patience to wait for his growth.

As for Manchester City and Sudong, Klopp said that he did not have much feeling.

It's like smoking, the rich, the middle class and the poor, smoke is different, so I don't look at rich people smoking cigars and feel like I have to do it too, because I No money in his pocket.

Klopp's remarks once again amused everyone at the scene for a burst of laughter.

There is no doubt that freezing Su Dong will be a problem, but it is not necessarily. We will try some methods and try our best.

When Su Dong played for Bayern, Klopp played with Su Dong a lot. He knew the threat and strength of Su Dong well, but the more so, the more he downplayed it.

Finally an interesting question.

For example, some familiar reporters will ask Klopp whether he will continue to wear his usual clothes on the day of the game, or will he dress up a bit?

This question caused another burst of laughter at the scene, and the atmosphere was very lively.

Hey, please, don't cheat on me. Klopp laughed.

Although I don't read much, I know that UEFA has strict rules. When playing games, you must wear a formal suit. I wore it when I played the Europa League last season, and they reminded me repeatedly. .

If I'm fined, I won't have any money for cigarettes.

The last sentence was a whisper, but it just made all the reporters at the scene burst into laughter.

In fact, he is a very charismatic head coach, a maverick.

Whether it's on the court, off the court, or in front of the media, he's like that.

He was never the polite gentleman of Heathfield. On the contrary, he would growl, get mad, and even make trouble without reason. He was like a tiger living in his heart, showing his power anytime, anywhere.

This is not a suit that can be tied up.

And everyone is also looking forward to it. In the UEFA Champions League debut of the two teams and the UEFA Champions League debut of the two managers, can Guardiola's passing and possession be able to trap Klopp?