Football's Number One Madman

Chapter 132 The new season begins!
8 month 19 day.

"Nuno, how is Valencia's preparations for the new season going?"

"In the few warm-up matches in the summer, you seem to have only defeated the low-level Zaragoza. Can you beat Monaco in this state? They were the quarter-finals of the Champions League last season!"

At the pre-match press conference for the UEFA Champions League qualifying play-offs, Nuno Santo was a bit overwhelmed by reporters.

He scratched his nearly bald forehead, scratched his beard, and organized his words:

"We bought a lot of people this summer, so the team needs more time to get used to the new lineup. The results of the warm-up match have ups and downs, which is normal. If you watch our games against Bayern and Cologne, you will find that, We're not doing badly, the players are actively integrating into my tactics."

The reporter immediately asked:
"Will the departure of the core player Otamendi last season make the team weak? Do you think the partnership of Mustafi and Vizo can really support the team's defense?"

Nuno Santo's answer is simple:
"We don't only have two defenders. I believe that the players can play their due role. But the transfer window is not closed yet, maybe we will have a new deal, who knows?"

The Portuguese coach's confidence is not out of thin air, the next afternoon, he proved himself with practical actions.

As the public opinion said before the game, Monaco during this period was not an unknown underdog.

They ranked third in Ligue 16 last season, behind Paris Saint-Germain and Lyon.In the UEFA Champions League, they even eliminated Arsenal in the round of 8, and lost to Juventus by one goal in the round of [-], creating the best European results in ten years.

Under the leadership of coach Jardim, this Monaco also has many star players:

Carvalho and Tulalan are young and strong, Moutinho and Shalawi are also in their prime, not to mention the "new Henry" Martial, Kurzawa, Bernardo Silva, France Binho, Lemar, Pasalic... These young people in their 20s are even more likely to come from behind.

But such a team with a scientific mix of old, middle-aged and young people suffered a blow at the Mestalla Stadium!
Less than 4 minutes into the game, DePaul made a pass from the left, Feguli flew the header, Rodrigue outflanked the goal and scored, and the Bat Corps got off to a fantastic start.

Then the two sides had offense and defense, but they failed to rewrite the score. In the 4th minute of the second half, the performer became the Monaco side.

Martial stepped into the joint camp, passed the entire right of Valencia in one breath, and then sent a cross to the goal.

The central defender Vizzo barely made a clearance, but still kicked at the feet of the opposing player Pasalic. The latter accepted the gift with a smile and volleyed the goal to equalize the score.

After conceding the ball, Nuno quickly made adjustments. He replaced DePaul with Piatti to further strengthen the wing breakthrough and offense, and Piatti did not let him down. After only 4 minutes, he assisted Pare Huo scored!
In the last 15 minutes of the game, Valencia completely took advantage of the field. In the chaotic battle after a corner kick, Feguli pushed the opponent's clearance ball into the goal, and the score was fixed at 3:1.

Nuno's three substitutions were used on Piatti, Negredo, and Fuego respectively. Li Polo could only watch the 90-minute performance of Mustafi and Vezzo on the bench.

Several times he defended, he couldn't help but cheer for the opposing player from the bottom of his heart!
Mustafi's performance was quite satisfactory, but Vezzo made three or four major mistakes. In addition to the own goal assist caused by the mistake of clearing the siege, he also overestimated his own jumping ability, resulting in the interception of high-altitude balls. There was a leak at the time, but it was a pity that Martial was not prepared, and the shot was not strong and was easily resolved by goalkeeper Ryan.

The 3:1 victory over Monaco immediately silenced the collective public opinion that was not optimistic about Nuno before the game. The Bat Corps has already stepped into the gate of the Champions League.

Three days later, on August 8, the 22-2015 season of La Liga officially kicked off. Valencia's first opponent was Vallecano, who ranked 2016th last season.

Although the ranking and strength are only in the middle, this team has attracted much attention in China.

The reason is simple, because they have a Chinese player in their team, Zhang Chengdong.

And this game...was also given a lot of exposure by the patriotic domestic media, and was even described as a "Chinese Derby"!
This kind of exposure did make the game's ratings soar, but after 90 minutes, those fans who stayed up late to watch the game were extremely disappointed.

Neither Zhang Chengdong nor Li Poluo got a second chance to play in this "focus battle"!
They could only miss a face in the shot of the bench!

The process of this game was also lackluster. Valencia, who had just played the Champions League, obviously hadn't recovered from the excitement. In the away game, they directly set up a defensive formation and handed over possession of the ball.

But Vallecano, who has a weak lineup, does not have very good offensive methods. The harder they attack, the more ruthless counterattack they will get...

No goals, no brilliant dribbles, just four yellow cards in this Madrid-based stadium.

Although a draw is acceptable, Nuno still feels a bit of pressure looking at the obviously tired players, especially Piatti, Vizzo and other players who made consecutive mistakes.

"Isn't it too much to fight continuously?"

After careful consideration for a long time, he finally reached a consensus with his coaching team:

"It seems... the next game must be rotated!"
-
Li Boluo, who had been on the bench for two consecutive games, unexpectedly got a yellow vest in the training session after the first round of the league.

This means that he has entered the lineup of the main team?

Before he was happy for 1 minute, the assistant coach conveyed Nuno's meaning:
"Because of the continuous battle, the next game is an away game. We need to rotate the lineup to a certain extent, so in the next two days, we will strengthen our defensive tactics to ensure that we are safe in France!"

Li Polo looked at Wei Zuo, who was looking relaxed and ready to take a vacation, and quietly made a poisonous oath:

"When I come back from France, you should prepare for a long vacation!"
-
Happy days are always short-lived. Only two days later, Li Poluo boarded the away flight with the team.

Although Monaco is third in Ligue [-], they are not a French team, but from the independent Principality of Monaco.

It's just that there are only 8000 people in this country, and most of them are immigrants or tax-avoiding rich people. It is impossible to organize a professional football league, so they participated in the Ligue [-] matches nearby.

At the press conference before the game, Nuno took midfielder Fuego to express his attitude:

"We will definitely win this game!"

"The club spent more than 1.2 million euros in transfer fees in the summer window, just to advance to the Champions League!"

then……

On August 8th, at 25:7 in the evening, the decisive battle for the Champions League tickets finally kicked off at the Stade Louis II!

(End of this chapter)