Coaching legend

The Christmas game, the results are not very good. George is a little dissatisfied.

But the game is over.

George can't do anything about it.

After the game with Newcastle, George went to participate in the Champions League knockout draw.

This is the first Champions League knockout draw after the Champions League eliminated a group stage. It is also the first Champions League knockout draw held at the end of December.

When George arrived at the draw site, George saw many young faces.

Or it can be said that from this season, the Champions League is more of a stage for young coaches.

Mourinho, with a defiant face, looks more like a star standing among the coaches. But among the coaches present, Mourinho is indeed very handsome. He is qualified to be cool there.

Mourinho is incompatible with the coaches around him. He is worthy of being a madman. He has not yet arrived at Chelsea and has not yet become famous. But he has already shown that kind of arrogance.

But Mourinho did not become famous in European football because of the Champions League championship. In fact, Mourinho was already famous in European football last season. And in the selection of the best European coach in 2003, he beat Ancelotti, the head coach of the Champions League last season.

The madman Mourinho won the triple crown in Porto last season, leading Porto to win the Portuguese League Championship, the Cup Championship, and the UEFA Cup. Although Mourinho is still unfamiliar to some Asian and African fans.

But Mourinho is already well-known in European football, and everyone knows him.

And now Mourinho has just turned 40.

Becoming the best coach in Europe at the age of 40, Mourinho is indeed a leader among the new generation of coaches. This head coach, who has been taught by Robson and served as an assistant coach in Barcelona for several seasons, is quite extraordinary at the first shot.

He led Porto to perform very well in the Champions League group stage. If it weren't for Real Madrid, Porto would definitely be the first in the group.

Porto has accumulated 11 points in the group.

In addition to Mourinho, there is also Monaco coach Deschamps who has played against George. He is even younger.

Like George, Deschamps is only 35 years old this year.

Needless to say, the results are also quite outstanding.

In addition to these few people, Ancelotti, who won the Champions League last season, is still a young coach. Ancelotti is only 44 years old. Forty years old, in the coaching industry, it belongs to the category of young coaches.

Of course, old faces are also indispensable.

Including Ferguson, Wenger, Lippi, Hitzfeld and Ferguson's former assistant, Queiroz.

These people are all well-known coaches in European football.

George is no longer an unknown person now.

In the past few years at Blackburn, George has also left a great reputation in European football. So although George is only 35 years old, when he came in, many coaches still greeted George.

Now George is most concerned about which opponent he will meet.

Lyon? Real Madrid? Sparta Prague? Juventus? Milan?

George prayed secretly in his heart that he must draw Sparta Prague. He must draw Sparta Prague!

Don't look at Sparta Prague as the first in the group. But the teams in their group are all scum. Not to mention the first in the group, even if they advance with all wins, George is not afraid of them at all. It can be said that all the second places in the top 16 of the Champions League are praying that they can meet Sparta Prague.

Of course, if we have to settle for the second best, it will be no problem for Blackburn to draw Lyon. Although Lyon will soon usher in the most glorious seven consecutive championships of their club. But the seven consecutive championships are in the French Ligue 1. If it is replaced in any of the Premier League, Serie A, La Liga, and Bundesliga, then you are really amazing.

Ligue 1?

Cut, it's not that George underestimates Ligue 1. Ligue 1 actually allowed Lyon to win seven consecutive championships, which also shows the competitiveness of Ligue 1.

Ligue 1's seven consecutive championships are not even as valuable as winning the championship in the four major European leagues.

The Ligue 1 champion is much easier to beat than Real Madrid, Juventus, and Milan. It would be a waste of the team's energy to play against strong teams from the beginning of the knockout stage. It would be really difficult to play later.

George looked calm on the surface.

But he kept praying in his heart. Sparta Prague, Sparta Prague! Of course Lyon is also OK, Lyon is also OK!

Unfortunately, what you fear will come true.

Blackburn did not draw any team between Sparta Prague and Lyon. Sparta Prague was drawn by Stuttgart, and Lyon was drawn by Galatasaray.

Compared with their good luck, Blackburn actually drew Juventus. And Deschamps' Monaco drew Moscow Lokomotiv.

George only realized the benefits of the first place in the group stage at this time.

How good is the first place in the group stage. Once Blackburn is the first place in the group stage, it will avoid many European strong teams. It will face teams like Stuttgart, Galatasaray, and Moscow Lokomotiv. At that time, the road to promotion will be smooth.

Now it is actually drawn to Juventus.

George was furious when he heard the name of Juventus. Damn, Juventus?

If there was a team that George was least willing to face, Juventus would definitely be included. Juventus, old lady.

The nickname of the old lady is definitely not given to Juventus casually. George hates playing with such a calm club the most. They can suffocate you to death. George believes that there is absolutely no team in the entire European football world that is willing to play against Juventus.

How unlucky he is to meet Juventus.

Lippi heard that it was Blackburn, so he turned his head and looked at George.

This is the first time George and Lippi have played against each other. But both sides are familiar with each other's names. George is the youngest champion coach of the Champions League. Even now, he is the youngest coach in the knockout stage of the Champions League.

Like Deschamps, both are 35 years old.

In addition, George has a weird temper and has deep grievances with Italian football. Lippi knows George very well.

George also smiled at Lippi.

If Lippi knows more about George from the media. Then George knows more about Lippi than others.

Who is Lippi?

Lippi was the most outstanding head coach in Italian football in the 1990s. He led Juventus not only to win the league championship in succession, but also to win the Champions League. George even knew that Lippi would lead the Italian national team to win the World Cup in the future.

What if George won three consecutive Premier League titles? What if George won the Champions League?

Anyway, Lippi's fame is far higher than George's now. Lippi has been tossing around for many years and began to really become famous in Naples. After that, he came to Juventus and became very popular. How good was his performance in Juventus?

In fact, it was only slightly better than George's performance in Blackburn.

Blackburn was built by George. Unlike Juventus, which is a giant itself. But when people talk about George and Lippi, they will definitely say that Lippi is better. This is the privilege of the head coach of a giant.

George was very unhappy when he was drawn to Juventus. George was even more unhappy when the game was played at home first and then away.

At home first and then away, that means giving the initiative to Juventus. But George couldn't complain about others, because Blackburn was the second in the group.

But George has been in European football for so many years, and he has long developed the ability to hide his emotions. On the surface, you can't see what George means.

George kept comforting himself.

I don't want to meet Juventus, but Juventus is willing to meet me?

Tsk!

Now Lippi is probably in the same bad mood as me.

When George left the scene, he was smiling all the time. Even when the reporter asked questions, he didn't hide his smile. "There are no weak teams in the top 16 of the Champions League. The teams that can enter the top 16 are all strong teams in various leagues. It will be a tough battle for anyone."

"Juventus is a wealthy team with a glorious history. I am also very happy to play against it."

Looking at George, the reporters present suddenly wondered if George in front of them was pretending?

But the moment he returned to the hotel, George's face turned cold. Damn it, many fans later said that the Champions League title in the 2003-04 season was the easiest to win. Which bastard said that? You see, we just came out of the group stage and we met Juventus.

…………

With the draw of the Champions League knockout round, 2003 also ended.

This was a turbulent year.

In the 2002-03 season, all the Premier League teams did not perform well. In the Champions League, the Premier League teams were eliminated early, and there were no Premier League teams in the Champions League semi-finals.

The performance in the league was also very poor.

But among them, Blackburn performed slightly better. So the Premier League championship fell on Blackburn. Blackburn also became the first team to win three consecutive league championships since the establishment of the Premier League.

Of course, these are only things in the first half of the year.

In the summer, Russian oligarch Abrahimovich came to the English football world. He threw 130 million pounds in one summer, shocking the European football world. There was a big earthquake in the English football world. The players Chelsea bought in one summer can almost form a lineup.

Chelsea's performance is indeed good.

Now Chelsea ranks second in the Premier League, just below Arsenal, and even two points higher than Blackburn. The pattern of the Premier League has completely changed.

In the past, the top four teams in the Premier League were basically Arsenal, Blackburn, Manchester United, Liverpool, and of course Newcastle could occasionally get in. In the past, when Gullit and Vialli were there, they could still enter the top four.

But after Vialli's late period and Ranieri took over, Chelsea has not entered the top four for a long time.

Now Chelsea's performance has improved.

Even surpassing Premier League powerhouses such as Blackburn and Manchester United. Chelsea's performance shocked everyone.

Of course, what European football is more worried about is how much money the ambitious Abrahimovic will invest in the next transfer period?

In addition to this little thing in English football, it's the European football.

England's handsome guy, Beckham joined Real Madrid. And the World Cup champion coach Scolari left Real Madrid in disgrace.

As for the head coach, 2003 was almost the stage for young coaches. Mourinho won the UEFA Cup and Ancelotti won the Champions League. European football will be their stage starting this year.

Anyway, the eventful year of 2003 has finally come to an end.