I Want to Be the King of Football

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

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

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 playing back from time to time, and holding a cigarette in the other hand, frequently reaching deep into his mouth. Take a breath.

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

The ashtray placed on the armrest of the sofa is already full of cigarette butts. Every time the person smokes a cigarette and puts it in the ashtray to squeeze it out, it will overflow a lot, scattered on the armrest and the leather surface of the sofa. And on the floor, it looks dirty and messy.

But he still ignored them one by one, never stopping in between.

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

In this way, I don’t know how long it took until he smoked out the last cigarette in the cigarette box and found that the packs of cigarettes were already empty. Then he exhaled heavily and sat up straight on the sofa. .

I opened my wrist and looked at the time. It was already the next day.

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

This man is a sturdy man, and he is estimated to be just over one meter nine meters tall. When he stands up, he looks unusually vigorous.

Turning his sore neck, he clenched his fists again, and continued a series of boxer movements. After moving his muscles and bones, he walked over to take his coat and opened the door and walked out of the office.

As soon as I left the house, a cool breeze blew over my face, I only felt that the whole person was energetic and the air was fresh.

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

…

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

When the big guy walked out of the training building, the yellow BVB logo above was still on, very eye-catching. This is the symbol of the Bundesliga giant Dortmund, and it is also the football palace in the minds of countless German fans.

After walking a certain distance, the big man didn't forget to look back at the yellow sign, the corner of his mouth raised slightly, and a proud smile appeared. Like a policeman, he used his right index and **** to make a salute.

He is Dortmund's coach Jurgen Klopp.

Behind him is Dortmund, which started construction in 2005 and only opened at the beginning of this year. It took the club nearly six years and spent countless hours, energy and money on a brand new training base.

Messy long hair, square head, big face, beard, antique thick black glasses, sneakers, jeans, training shirt...

When Klopp turned his back to the training building and walked towards the parking lot, under the lighting from a distance, the image of his sloppy uncle, and the BVB training building behind him, did not have a rough beauty.

…

This season, Dortmund's start was not ideal.

After the first five rounds of play, the Hornets have two wins, one draw and two losses, ranking eleventh in the Bundesliga.

The most recent game was a one-to-two loss to Hertha Berlin at home.

Many people questioned Klopp, thinking that it is difficult for Dortmund to reproduce the glory of last season. The reason is simple. Last season's midfielder Shaheen went to Real Madrid with 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's 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. The opponent is Manchester City, the champion team from the Premier League.

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

More interestingly, since August 2003, Dortmund lost to Belgium's Bruges in the peripheral qualifiers. After failing to participate in the Champions League group stage, this team has suffered a huge disaster and has since fallen. At the most miserable time, he was almost on the verge of bankruptcy, and had to sell his stars like crazy to stabilize his position.

In eight years, 3,100 days, Dortmund finally returned to the Champions League.

Dortmund today is completely different from the Hornet that swept Europa back then. Dortmund was a veritable star army at the time, but now the Hornet is younger and plays more passionately.

Head coach Klopp is a sloppy uncle who is famous all over Germany. His most interesting news is that Hamburg chose not to hire him because of his smoking. This allowed Dortmund to pick up a big bargain.

Therefore, every time Klopp defeated Hamburg, he would take this matter to ridicule his opponent.

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

Guardiola is best at passing the ball. Even in the European Super Cup facing Barcelona, ​​Manchester City still insists on passing the ball unshakably and vowing not to be conservative, while Klopp's Borussia Dortmund played aggressively. Full, known for his passionate pressing and oppression, and the counterattack is a must.

The two coaches, the 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 leaving for the UK, Dortmund held a press conference at the Brakel Training Center.

Klopp still didn't change his sloppy image. Wearing the jeans and training shirt that seemed to have not been changed for a long time, he yawned and showed his yellow teeth because of smoking, and came to everyone in front of him.

He is always straight to the point, never circumstance, and directly announced the list of 18 people going to Manchester.

The only special thing is that the main scorer Barrios is missing due to injury, 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 that many of you feel that we did not perform well this season, but we will prove that you are wrong."

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

For Dortmund unfortunately was drawn to the death group, Klopp said it was really bad.

"It feels like I stayed up until midnight last night, only to find that there is no smoke in my pocket. It sucks!"

The media reporters present were all amused.

Everyone knows that he is addicted to cigarettes.

"This is a very strong team, but we will use our strength and performance to prove that we have the ability to participate in the competition. We will compete with the other three teams for the two promotion spots. This is very important for us. ."

Dortmund is not financially strong, it is very important for them to participate in the Champions League, if they can advance, the harvest will be even greater.

Of course, in any case, the Bundesliga is equally important, because it is related to the qualification for the Champions League next season.

Barrios' absence due to injury will have an impact on Dortmund, but Klopp doesn't think it matters.

"We also have Lewandowski and Perisic, they are both very good attackers."

Both players are highly anticipated. Perisic performed well in Bruges, Belgium, with a lot of goals and assists. However, after coming to Dortmund, he played in the first five rounds, but failed to score and score. Assists.

Obviously, he is still adapting.

Lewandowski is the best striker in Poland, but after joining Dortmund, a season has passed. He has not shown very convincing results yet, but Klopp is still full of confidence in him.

"I don't doubt his strength and potential. He is only 23 years old. He scored a lot in the Polish league. We are very optimistic about him, so we brought him to Germany. He needs a little time to adapt and improve himself. This requires In a process, we have enough patience to wait for his growth."

As for Manchester City and Sotung, Klopp said he didn't feel too much.

"It's like smoking. The rich, the middle class, and the poor are different. So I don’t watch the rich smoke cigars. I think I have to smoke it, too, because I There is no money in his pocket."

Klopp's words once again made everyone on the scene laugh.

"There is no doubt that freezing the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe will be a problem, but it is not necessarily. We will try some methods and try our best to do it."

During the period when Su Dong played for Bayern, Klopp played against Su Dong. He knew all about the threat and strength of Su Dong, but the more so, the more he underestimated it.

Finally, there is an interesting question.

For example, a reporter who is acquainted with him will ask Klopp whether he will continue to dress in his usual clothes on the day of the game, or will he get a little more straightforward?

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

"Hey, please, don't cheat me." Klopp scolded with a smile.

"Although I don’t read much, UU reads www.uukanshu.com, but I know that UEFA has a hard and fast rule. When playing games, you must wear a formal suit. I used it when I played in the Europa League last season. , They reminded me repeatedly."

"If I was fined, I would have no money for cigarettes."

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

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

Whether it's on the court, off the court, or when facing media reporters, he is like this.

He was never the kind of polite gentleman like Heathfield. On the contrary, he would roar, go crazy, and even make troubles unreasonably. He was like a tiger living in his heart, showing his power anytime and anywhere.

This is not something that can be **** in a suit.

And everyone is looking forward to it. In the UEFA Champions League debut of the two teams and the UEFA Champions League debut of the two coaches, can Guardiola's pass and possession trap Klopp?