Chapter 34

Chapter 34

"Jose, you really don't give face. You know that Malaga is my favorite team, but you still won two goals like this. You don't know how to put some water or something. All of them can avoid relegation. Then How nice."

A slightly fat young man who was about the same age as Jose sat in front of him and complained. Jose slowly blew on a cup of tea in front of him, smiled slightly, but did not answer.

"It's so strange. You used to drink Coke the most. After staying in the United States for two years, you started to like tea when you came back... What's so good about this kind of thing? It's not as refreshing as coffee, and it's not as refreshing as Coke." The fat young man chattered endlessly. As he spoke, he took a sip of the coffee in his hand.

"Juan, drink less cola. Carbonated drinks are not good for the human body, and the sugar content of cola is very high. Look at your body shape. Are you the same age as me? Now you are much fatter than me " Jose put down his glass and replied with a smile.

The young man looked down at his slightly protruding belly, and shook his head helplessly: "No way, God chose to let me have flesh, so I can't resist God's will... Besides, I'm not an athlete, drinking carbonated drinks What does it matter?"

"I'll tell you something quietly." Jose pretended to be mysterious and said, "Coke killer."

"Pfft..." The young man almost spit out his coffee. After coughing for a long time, he gasped and said, "Are...what are you kidding?"

"I'm really joking." Jose shrugged his shoulders, laughed, and then said in the young man's helpless eyes: "But to be honest, drinking less carbonated drinks is good for you."

"Okay, I will drink less in the future." The young man shook his head helplessly: "By the way, you haven't answered what I just said."

"I think it's inappropriate for you as the football director of the Mallorca club." Jose did not hesitate to give the opponent a big hat: "And for the Mallorca club The eldest son of the shareholder with the largest shares, Juan, your words really shame the Asensio family."

Juan Asensio, football director of the Mallorca Club, the eldest son of Antonio Asensio, the largest shareholder, looked at Jose in embarrassment and couldn't say a word.

Jose continued to sip the tea leisurely, without continuing to look at Juan.

"Oh, forget it, I can't tell you... In fact, according to my opinion, my old man should go to buy shares in Malaga. After all, we are not from Mallorca." Juan sighed.

"Mallorca has earned a lot for your family in the past few years. Mr. Asensio sells a lot of people every year." Jose said casually.

"It's not much, it's only a few million a year... And this year, there is probably no bonus. The team played too poorly before and didn't get enough income in the Champions League. It seems that after the end of this season, the shareholders I'm going to be very dissatisfied." Juan shook his head, and then said: "By the way, Jose, you have to be mentally prepared, maybe after the end of this season, the shareholders will ask to sell some of the main players."

"I'm just an executive head coach." Jose shrugged his shoulders: "Whether I will take Mallorca next season or not, that's not yet determined. You must know that my contract with the first team is only half a year, and it will be at the end of the season." It's time."

"No, the management is very optimistic about you. Your grades are so good, how could you not renew your contract?" Juan said comfortingly.

Jose smiled—management favored me? It's a pity, I don't like the management...

This season, Mallorca's income and expenditure can at most reach a balance without generating profits. Jose has known this for a long time. Mallorca's broadcast fee share in La Liga is not much. No matter how good the results are, it is not as good as a few strong teams. I get a lot, and although the pre-season transfer investment is not high, the salaries of the players are all fine-tuned according to the need to play in the Champions League. Now that the Champions League has not entered the group stage, at least tens of millions of dollars have been lost in broadcasting Fees and almost the same amount of ticket revenue and bonuses, this loss is quite huge for Mallorca. Although they can still play in the UEFA Cup, even if they win the UEFA Cup, how much income can they earn in total? Compared with the Champions Cup, it is a heaven and an underground.

But, I don't need to tell Juan what I want to do now, so as not to startle the snake. Although Juan has a straightforward personality, Antonio Asensio behind him is a standard old fox, shrewd and capable, even if he doesn't want the club's shares Now, knowing that Jose intends to ask for it, I am afraid that he will also ask for a high price-the nature of a businessman is to pursue the greatest profit.

"Come to my house in the evening, how about drinking beer and watching the UEFA Cup quarter-final draw ceremony?" Jose extended an invitation to Juan.

"No problem, my old man has gone to Malaga, and I have nothing to do alone." Juan readily agreed.

"Arsenal, Leeds United, Galatasaray, Lens, Celta Vigo, Werder Bremen, Slavia Prague... plus our Mallorca, although there is no most difficult team in the quarterfinals. Serie A teams, but they are not easy to play... It would be great if they can meet Slavia Prague. The Czech team is easier to deal with, but they also eliminated Udinese in Italy and entered the league It may not be easy to deal with the quarterfinals." Juan commented while drinking beer.

"That's right, these guys are not easy to deal with...but we Mallorca is not easy to deal with, no matter what team we are facing, we have to find a way to win!" Jose took a sip of beer and sipped Said angrily.

"Well, what you said is right, you are the head coach, how can you do it if you don't have confidence." Juan laughed haha.

"Look at the draw, look at the draw," Jose said.

The UEFA Cup quarter-final draw ceremony is also the last draw of the UEFA Cup, which will divide the upper half and the lower half. Although this season is the first season of the newly formed UEFA Cup, UEFA does not seem to be special. In addition to inviting the head coaches of the participating teams in the midway draw, the head coach was not invited again in the quarter-final draw, and Jose was also happy to relax.

Soon, the results of the lottery ceremony began to slowly appear in front of everyone.

"The lower half..."

Jose nodded slightly when he saw Mallorca's name appearing in the third quarter-final match. This position meant that Mallorca would It will be away and then home, and in the semi-finals it will be home and then away - if it makes it to the semi-finals.

This position is neither the best nor the worst. The key is to see what team the next opponent is.

The results of the first half came out soon. Arsenal, first home and then away, against Werder Bremen, Celta, first home and then away, against Lens, who eliminated Atletico Madrid before, and the next one , is the first game in the second half, which is Mallorca's game against any team...

"Galatasaray." Johansson read out the team's name calmly.

"It's not Slavia Prague...but it's okay, it's better than running into Bremen or something..." Juan said with some disappointment, and then he became happy again. In his opinion, from Turkey The team should be easy to deal with, although this Galatasaray seems to be the overlord of the Turkish league, but a championship team in an unknown league should be easier to deal with than the mid-range teams of the four major leagues...

Jose frowned - he knew that this Galatasaray was not easy to deal with at all...

The Turkish national team's striker partners Arif and Hakan Suker in the forward position, the brains of the midfielder, the legendary Romanian midfielder "Midfield Conspirator" Haji, Brent and Popescu in the defense, the goalkeeper Brazil's national team The team's former main goalkeeper Taffarel... In terms of fame, although these people are relatively old, they are much more famous than Mallorca, a veteran player...

It is no coincidence that Turkey performed well in the European Championships in 2000 and the World Cup in 2002. They have continuously introduced older famous players since a few years ago. This approach can effectively improve the national football The rise of the level, although the performance of the Turkish national team in the past few years is mediocre, but after such a long period of dormancy, the Turkish national team will become a pivotal force in world football, and the level of the Turkish league has gradually begun to rise. The level of the top ten in Europe cannot be underestimated at all for the overlord in the Turkish league.

It's just that these words don't need to be said to Juan. He is not a coach after all. What Jose needs to consider now is to let the players not have the same thoughts as Juan. scary.

"One day later, we will go to Turkey to participate in the first round of the UEFA Cup... Maybe people think that there is nothing special about a Turkish team, but what I want to tell you is that what we are facing will be It's a tough test."

Standing on the training ground, Jose said to all the players with a calm expression. Many Mallorca players showed disapproval expressions on their faces. In their opinion, Monaco, the leader of Ligue 1, was beaten to pieces by them. A Turkish league champion... what is that?

Looking at the expressions of the players, a smile appeared on Jose's face. He knew that soon, the players would stop thinking this way.

"Now, let's go to the meeting room together. I want you to see some small things... Don't worry, it's not anything else, but about the stadium where we will play next. The name of the stadium is Ali San Mian Stadium."

Listening to Jose's words, the players still didn't take it seriously. Jose laughed and added a sentence.

"Finally, what I want to tell you is that this stadium has a nickname... Well, I actually think it's a very tacky nickname, but this nickname is, to some extent, quite True to its name—the nickname of this stadium is... Hell!"

Although the weather was fine and the sun was shining on Mallorca's training ground, everyone couldn't help shivering under Jose's deliberately gloomy tone.

The Mallorca players looked at the head coach with a ferocious smile on his face, and couldn't help thinking: "Is that stadium really as terrible as the head coach said?"