Chapter 68

When Barkase, who was also serving as the press officer, appeared in front of Lin Sen with a newspaper, Lin Sen had already known what Barkase wanted to say.

He had read the newspaper and seen Angel-Gonzalez's "provocative" remarks. Alan Hansen had indeed said those words on a BBC program that year, and that year, Manchester United won the double. His words became the best embellishment for the birth of Manchester United's golden generation of 1992. Manchester United fans even displayed a banner in the stands to recreate Alan Hansen's words, of course, in a teasing tone.

Angel-Gonzalez clearly believed that Lin Sen was not on par with Ferguson, which was not a problem. Lin Sen was indeed not at the same level as Ferguson. However, he thought that under Lin's leadership, Malaga could not avoid relegation, which was an overly absolute statement. Many people believed that this was Angel's resentment over Lin Sen's comments at the press conference, but Lin Sen did not entirely agree.

On the contrary, after seeing the newspaper, Lin Sen even had a bit of admiration for this journalist.

For many journalists, integrity is something to be discarded. Angel's article seemed to be full of provocation, leaving no room for retreat, but in fact, no matter how Malaga performed this season, it made no difference to Angel. If they won, he would become the yet-to-appear Paul the Octopus, naturally able to boast. If they lost, Lin Sen and Malaga would likely help promote him.

To know the answer, one would have to wait until the second half of the league, which was already a matter for the next year.

Reputation? Journalists survive on exposure, not reputation. Moreover, football is inherently unpredictable.

Angel had indeed played a good hand, but there was one premise: Lin Sen or Malaga had to respond. Lin Sen, however, was not interested. On the contrary, Barkase was very eager to issue a statement to As, believing that even with freedom of speech, Angel's remarks were too disrespectful to Malaga. What did he mean by saying Malaga could not avoid relegation? Had the season even started?

For the indignant Barkase, Lin Sen just shook his head and told him to ignore it, and he really did. Compared to these off-field factors, he had more important things to deal with.

---

On August 24, Malaga officially announced the list of players for the new season. The list had 22 players, one more than before. The player who joined just before the list was finalized was no stranger to Malaga fans: Portuguese player Duda, who had previously played for Malaga.

After completing the two phases of transfers, Lin Sen had announced that Malaga's transfer market was closed, and it indeed was. In the following time, Malaga was unusually quiet in the transfer market. Although Lin Sen had told Livermore that he might consider signing one or two more midfielders, he had already decided that the new season would have only 21 first-team players. On one hand, Malaga was indeed short of funds, and on the other, the team was not lacking in players. Although 21 players seemed a bit few, it was enough for Malaga, who had no continental competitions to worry about in the new season.

However, Lin Sen did not expect that Livermore would find him two candidates. One was Spanish star Fernando, who was a free agent after playing for Betis last season, and the other was Duda, who played for Sevilla. After much consideration, Lin Sen decided to sign Duda and pass on Fernando.

The reason was simple: although Duda could only join on loan, his affection for Malaga, where his La Liga career began, made Lin Sen confident that he would not lack motivation. Moreover, compared to the more position-specific Fernando, Duda was a versatile forward, especially on the left flank, where he could play from the touchline to the box, adding more options to the team.

Of course, Malaga could have signed Fernando as well, but the most important reason Lin Sen decided to pass on Fernando was his contract demands. As a free agent, Fernando's high salary demands were understandable, but for Malaga, meeting his salary demands would mean breaking the current highest salary cap, which Lin Sen did not want to see. Not that he wanted to save money for Malaga, but he knew the potential of the team's young talents. Once they shone, Fernando's salary would become very noticeable.

Once the team list was finalized, it meant that the new season was just around the corner. Targeted training for the match against Atletico Madrid was officially added to Malaga's training schedule.

---

Lin Sen was very satisfied with the current atmosphere in the team.

Not arrogant, not impatient, not humble, not overbearing, with a readiness to fight to the death.

This was right. No one was optimistic about Malaga, not even Malaga's own fans, who did not have much hope for a win in the first round. So, what did they have to fear? Everyone could look down on Malaga, but Malaga could not look down on itself. They could bow their heads on other matters, but not on morale. Malaga had to keep its head high.

For Lin Sen himself, he had no reason to fear Atletico Madrid.

Lin Sen was familiar with most of Atletico Madrid's players and could easily predict Rijkaard's starting lineup, with no more than two errors. Except for the new signings this summer, he could easily describe the technical characteristics and some small habits of each Atletico player on the field. This was an advantage!

Could Rijkaard do the same? He might not even know the temperaments of his own players, let alone Malaga's.

Lin Sen was also familiar with Rijkaard, at least as much as Rijkaard was familiar with himself.

He knew that Rijkaard liked a pressing style, which was perfect because Malaga also played a pressing style, as Lin Sen himself preferred. However, there were many types of pressing styles. Lin Sen called his style "soft pressing" because he did not demand that his players overpower opponents physically. He emphasized one advantage: numerical superiority. Only on this basis, would Rijkaard's attempt to make Atletico Madrid adapt to pressing be questioned. Had he asked Aguero? Had he asked Forlan? Had he asked... ideally, Rijkaard had asked them all. Otherwise, Malaga would show him what pressing really meant.

Lin Sen also knew that Rijkaard liked to push the defense forward, which was not surprising. In a pressing style, the most taboo thing was the disconnection between the three lines. Yes, the disconnection between the three lines that Lin Sen had to improve over several games for Atletico. So, pushing the defense forward was essentially an extension of the pressing style. Therefore, Lin Sen planned to give Rijkaard a gift.

The name of this gift was Rondon.

---

August 31.

Cerezo came to the club as usual, walked into the headquarters, and nodded in greeting to the club staff along the way. Just before reaching his office, he met little Hill.

"Good morning, Miguel." Although they often sparred at board meetings, Cerezo still greeted him warmly.

"Good morning, Enrique." Little Hill also nodded and smiled, "You're still so punctual."

"Today is the first day of the new season. I hope the team has a good start." Cerezo walked to his office, took out his keys, and said while unlocking the door.

"Abel performed well in the summer. I believe he will do the same today." Little Hill said confidently, "Besides, his opponent is just an amateur coach."

"Ha ha." Cerezo laughed but did not respond.

"See you later, Enrique." Seeing that Enrique had already opened the door, Little Hill waved and said.

"See you later."

Cerezo replied, then entered his office and closed the door.

---

Rijkaard got up early today.

It was not because the team needed training in the morning. On the contrary, there was no training in the morning due to the afternoon match. But he still woke up two hours earlier than usual.

The opponent was Malaga. He and Atletico Madrid had prepared for this opponent for a whole week. During this period, assistant coach Juan gave him many suggestions, most of which were about Lin Sen, such as paying attention to details, emphasizing defense, and pursuing efficiency... Initially, Rijkaard took these suggestions very seriously, but gradually, he found Juan's advice to be somewhat redundant. It was not because he had any issues with Juan, but because there were too many suggestions. Everything needed a priority, and too many suggestions were almost the same as having none.

Atletico Madrid would not have only Malaga as an opponent for the entire season, and he only had a week to prepare for the match against Lin Sen. There was only so much time, and it was impossible to do so much targeted training. However, Rijkaard still tried to respect Juan's advice because he had also watched Lin Sen's matches and knew that Juan's words were not empty.

For Rijkaard, the board's task was to lead Atletico Madrid into the Champions League next season. The new season had just begun, and no one had put any pressure on him for this match, nor did they need to. It was just a regular match, and Rijkaard kept telling himself this, but every time he said it, he felt the pressure grow a bit.

Because every time, he subconsciously thought of one outcome: what if Atletico Madrid could not win at home?

The Lin family was truly a persistent presence.

Rijkaard felt a bit helpless, but what had to come, would come.

At 7:00 PM on August 31, local time in Spain, the 2008-2009 La Liga season kicked off, with Rijkaard's Atletico Madrid hosting Lin Sen's Malaga at the Calderon Stadium.