Chapter 335 Return to Portugal

At the beginning of the second half, facing Leicester City, which has been severely weakened this season, Mourinho made substitutions immediately, and both main players Hazard and Ibrahimovic were replaced.

The reason is very simple. After this game, Chelsea will play against Sporting CP away. This is why Mourinho did not let Jiang Yuan play today.

In fact, although Leicester City was emptied in the summer window, as the runner-up team, the players' momentum is still there. Facing Chelsea's substitute lineup, Ranieri led the team to a wonderful counterattack goal.

The miracle seemed to be right before our eyes, but it never came.

“Beep, beep, beep—!!!”

"Well, as the referee blew the whistle to end the game, the home team Chelsea defeated Leicester City with a score of 2:1 and won their second victory in the Premier League this month."

"Currently, Chelsea, who have played one more game, has a total of 20 points and is currently at the top of the Premier League table. The specific ranking after eight rounds will depend on the performance of Tottenham, Manchester City, and Liverpool..."

……

"Oh woah~!"

"you know you love, I know you care"

"you shout whenever..."

After the game, the Blues players celebrated wildly in the locker room. Pogba sang with a microphone and his teammates started to cheer.

Under the gaze of all the players in the locker room, Hazard raised his best player trophy. Pogba was also very sensible. He stopped singing and handed the microphone to him: "The most valueable player for the match, Eden!"

"Wow~!"

"Now, Eden, please give your acceptance speech."

Hazard stretched out his hand, and the entire locker room fell silent: "First of all, I think everyone did a very good job in this game, but I think I am not the one who deserves the best player trophy the most."

Hazard's words fell into silence.

"It's Jiang and Jose, the assist kings of this game!"

Hazard suddenly raised the microphone, and the players who reacted immediately started to make a noise. Mourinho pouted, slowly walked to the center, and took the microphone from Hazard: "Ahem, thank you very much for the host's recognition of me and Jiang."

"Mr. Jose, why did you and Jiang come up with this trick?"

"nonono!"

Mourinho said "no" three times in a row, denying what Hazard said.

"Come on, this is not a trajectory, this is a tactic, part of our tactics!"

Mourinho took a step forward and pulled Jiang Yuan to his side in front of everyone: "This is the wisdom of Jiang and me."

“It’s mainly you”

Jiang Yuan smiled and said that Mourinho talked to Jiang Yuan about this matter before the game. Jiang Yuan thought it was feasible, so he agreed without hesitation. He didn't expect that Ranieri was really deceived in the end. It was really awesome.

"so……"

Mourinho looked around at everyone present and said, "Remember what I told you before? In high-level sports competitions, you can't win by relying on your body alone. What should we rely on?"

"Here, we depend on this!"

Mourinho pressed his index finger to his temple: "Wisdom is part of our tactical system. We are smarter than Leicester City, so we won"

"We win!"

Mourinho raised his hands high and the players immediately cheered. Jiang Yuan held Pogba's hand and the two of them danced rhythmically.

Hazard and Terry looked around and regretted that there was no beer in the locker room.

Just as Terry was about to ask Tokante to go outside and bring in a box of beer, the French defensive midfielder tilted his head with an innocent and puzzled expression: "We are stronger than our opponents, why don't we use this tactic in the game against strong teams? If we use this tactic today, won't others be fooled next time?"

Upon hearing this, the home team's locker room fell silent.

Mourinho looked at Jiang Yuan, Jiang Yuan looked at Mourinho.

Neither man spoke.

……

Immediately after the game, Sky Sports reporter Marlo interviewed Leicester City coach Ranieri on the field. During the interview, Blues fans kept shouting "idiot", and it seemed that they were ready to take this opportunity to win to criticize Ranieri.

In the first round of last season, Chelsea lost to Leicester City.

Marlo smiled symbolically at the camera, then turned his gaze to Ranieri: "Claudio, first of all, I am sorry for your loss in this game. The score is 2:1, and you are not far from victory."

The Sky Sports reporter was very kind at first and seemed to have no questions to ask. But just when everyone thought that there would be no explosive content in today's interview, Marlokash put on a show.

“If you hadn’t watched Jiang’s live broadcast in the first half, do you think you could have led the team to tie the score?”

call--

Ranieri let out a long breath, and his Italian instinct made him raise his hands, gesturing with both hands continuously: "The fact is that we were just a little bit short, I wanted to win so badly at that time, and then our players on the bench told me that Jiang was live streaming on his mobile phone, and he was very close to Jose, so our assistant coach suggested that we watch Jiang's live streaming to see if we can get some 'inside intelligence' about Chelsea."

"I thought this idea was unrealistic at the time, because even if Jiang and Jose sat very close, I would not have the opportunity to hear the tactics."

Ranieri received the ball with both hands. No one knew what he wanted to express through these gestures, not even the Italian himself.

"When I turned on my phone, I really heard it. I heard Jose telling the coaching staff that they wanted to strengthen the attack on the left and swap the positions of Hazard and the original left winger (Falcao). I immediately made a decision."

"And then?" Marlo demanded.

"Then?"

Ranieri smiled self-deprecatingly: "Then it was like what you saw, we were deceived, our players almost gave up the defense in the middle, Paul's long shot was very accurate, Kasper (Schmeichel) failed to save the ball. This was a mistake made by our coaching staff, not any player on the field."

Marlo smiled and looked at the camera again: "When you watched the live broadcast, did you think that you fell into Chelsea's trap?"

It seemed like Marlo was rubbing salt into Ranieri's wounds, but after all, Ranieri has been the head coach for so many years, and his ability to control his emotions is still first-class.

"It was impossible for me to doubt the situation at that time. Because Jiang had the habit of broadcasting live when he was on the bench. This was something that all the players and coaches in the entire Premier League knew. None of us doubted it. We all thought that they had leaked the tactics through mistakes."

Ranieri glanced at the stands behind him: "But there are Chelsea fans behind me who are insulting us. To be honest, I should listen to the opinions of Chelsea fans and not watch Jiang's live broadcast."

"So, Mr. Claudio, in your opinion, you can actually win this game, right?"

"Of course!"

Although the team was at a disadvantage both on the surface and in the results, Ranieri had an inexplicable confidence in his team.

"Okay, then, as the head coach of Leicester City, please vote for who you think is the MVP"

“Is it just our players, or does it include them?”

Ranieri looked at Marlo. He was mentally prepared at this time. If Marlo asked him to evaluate the MVP of Leicester City, he would say that Leicester City had no MVP today.

But Marlo's question included the rival Blues Chelsea, and Ranieri's answer was clear. "Jiang!"

"Ok?"

Marlo was a little surprised by Ranieri's answer: "Claudio, I need to remind you that although the player you mentioned won the league golden boot last season, he did not play in the game today."

“But I think he’s the best player.”

Ranieri said this and left in frustration amid the mockery of the home fans.

……

The Sun's front page headline: The real 12th man? Chelsea's live broadcast "leaked" tactics, Leicester City was deceived!

Chelsea fans were interviewed: When Claudio (Ranieri) was watching Jiang's live broadcast, I thought Chelsea was going to be doomed in the first half, because I was sitting in the stands behind the bench at the time, and the noise at the scene was very loud. I thought Jiang didn't hear my reminder, but now it seems that he should have heard it.

Leicester City legend Gary Lineker criticized coach Ranieri: Under the circumstances at the time, he (Ranieri) should have thought more. Chelsea is not as stupid as imagined. They will not easily leak tactics to their opponents.

NetEase: Shocked, he helped the team score a goal without even playing, the secret behind the football king Jiang Yuan turns out to be this!
Immediately after the game ended, major domestic social forums launched heated discussions about the game.

Many people have a question in their minds, that is, the "tactics" used by Chelsea are not glamorous, but they still get the recognition of fans and even the opposing coaches.

In fact, in professional sports competitions, any practice that does not violate the rules and is conducive to winning the game is tacitly permitted. This is essentially the same as using the home caddie to delay time when the team is ahead in the score, except that the practice of leaking tactics is more complicated.

Chelsea fans: Awesome!
Leicester City fans: Awesome

Netizen: This is fraud

……

After the game, Chelsea players rested for a day and then rushed to Lisbon, Portugal.

Two days later, they will play a Champions League group match against Sporting CP at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon.

In September, Chelsea won all the games against Dortmund and Monaco, and currently has a total of 9 points, ranking first in Group G, while Sporting CP has 6 win and 1 draw, and currently ranks second in the group with 1 points.

As the second seed in the group of death, Dortmund only got 1 point, which made many fans sigh.

Monaco was even more pitiful, losing both games against Sporting CP and Chelsea without getting any points, and the only goal was scored by Mbappe's "long-range shot".

The value of Jiang Yuan’s beloved disciple is still rising!

The plane arrived at Lisbon Humberto Delgado Airport. Chelsea players will stay at a local 4-star hotel in Lisbon, but Jiang Yuan is not among the group.

Unlike his teammates, Jiang Yuan took another flight from Gatwick, his destination being Porto.

Before departure, Jiang Yuan made an appointment with Ruben Neves, and after landing, Jiang Yuan was picked up by the Porto midfielder.

"Jiang, give it to me."

Neves glanced at Jiang Yuan's bodyguard, was stunned for a moment, and then reached out to take Jiang Yuan's luggage, but Jiang Yuan directly pushed the suitcase to the bodyguard Jerome.

"Well, Jiang, I feel like you've changed a lot."

Neves said with a smile, and took Jiang Yuan to his Mercedes-Benz. The latter helped Jerome put the luggage in the trunk, and then asked: "Changes? What exactly do you mean?"

“You’ve grown a beard”

Neves touched his dark beard and said: "The first time I saw you was at the Gaya Training Center. At that time, your face was very clean, without any beard at all!"

“I’m a little slow in development”

Jiang Yuan sat in the passenger seat: "But I can shave off my beard. Can this help you regain the same feeling as before?"

Neves started the car and turned on the air conditioner, but did not step on the accelerator. Instead, he looked Jiang Yuan up and down and finally shook his head.

"Hey, come on, what do you mean by shaking your head? Just tell me if you've found the same feeling as before!"

“No, I don’t have that feeling anymore.”

Neves shook his head in frustration: "You spoke Portuguese in a staccato way before."

"now what?"

“Now you’re speaking Portuguese with a Cockney accent!”

Neves quipped: "You have been assimilated by those British guys. Didn't they teach you to drink?"

"..."

Seeing Jiang Yuan didn't say anything, Neves realized something: "Sure enough, I lost!"

"Lost, what did you lose?"

"I made a bet with Hu Lun. I said you wouldn't drink in London, but I didn't expect you to drink now, so I lost 30 euros."

Neves's expression was full of regret, but Jiang Yuan's focus was not on the bet, but on the word Hu Lun.

In this summer window, the championship coach Lopetegui parted ways peacefully with the Porto club and became the head coach of the Spanish national team. This also makes Jiang Yuan feel unfamiliar with the current Porto.

I knew so many people before, but now the only one I am most familiar with is Ruben Neves.

"Why did Hu Lun go to Spain? Isn't it better to stay in Porto?"

Jiang Yuan was very confused. Lopetegui's performance in the club was not bad. Although he did not win the championship last season, he was also the second place in the Portuguese Super League. There was no need for him to leave.

"This is what the Spanish Football Association wants"

Neves quoted Lopetegui as saying: "Huron had a farewell dinner with us before, in the restaurant you and Carlos (Casemiro) loved the most, but you and Carlos are no longer here."

The two chatted for a while, and Neves finally started the car.

"To Spain..."

Jiang Yuan murmured: "Then I guess I won't have the chance to meet him again in the future."

"Why not?"

Neves looked at the traffic light in front of him seriously, and at the same time talked to Jiang Yuan: "World Cup, Hu Lun signed a two-year contract with the Spanish national team and will participate in the World Cup in Russia. You can meet in Russia."

"Where are we going to eat? It's my treat!"

“Paella Bar”

"Paella? You mean the one in the town? That one is closed now. But I know a good seafood restaurant somewhere else. I'll take you there!"

……

(End of this chapter)