Chapter 18 Feyenoord
Feyenoord, Fiorentina's opponent in the Champions League qualifiers, when people mention the Eredivisie, they first think of Ajax, and then PSV Eindhoven. Feyenoord is always the one that is easy to be ignored.
In the Netherlands, Feyenoord is known as the Big Three of Dutch football together with Ajax and PSV Eindhoven. The latter two are less, but it is undeniable that Feyenoord is the only one who can compete with Ajax and PSV in the Eredivisie.
Since the club was founded in 1908, they have won 14 Eredivisie league titles, 10 Dutch Cup titles and 2 UEFA Cups, and became the first Dutch team to win the European Champions Cup in 1970.
In 1908, the Feyenoord club was established by two young people who played football. Feyenoord was just the name of one of their neighbors.
On July 19, 1908, they gathered in a bar in Rotterdam and established the football club. At that time, they named it Wilhelmina, after the Queen of the Netherlands named a local church after herself.
After that the club changed its name twice more, and in 1912 they finally decided to change the club to Feyenoord. In the first year after the establishment of the club, they participated in the Dutch League, and 16 years later, they won the first Dutch League Championship in the history of the club.
In the following time, Feyenoord successively won several league championships and Dutch Cup championships, but the most memorable was May 6, 1970, when they defeated the Celtics of Scotland in Milan. Won the European Champions Cup in one fell swoop, becoming the first Dutch team to dominate Europe.
In front of 25,000 Dutch fans, Feyenoord beat the Scottish champions 2-1 at the San Siro with a goal in the 117th minute of extra time.
On the second day, thousands of Dutch fans surrounded their heroes and cheered all the way from Milan to the Netherlands. This was the only time Feyenoord won the Champions League.
After entering the new century, in the UEFA Champions League, Feyenoord more often played the role of accompanying the prince to study, but today, Fiorentina will make them lose even this qualification.
The Flacchi Stadium was already full of voices. After experiencing the darkest period, Fiorentina finally returned to the top competition of European clubs once again. ??thing.
Who doesn't want to witness this historic moment with their own eyes, and who doesn't want to witness their team's heroic appearance in the Champions League again.
Boom!
Degan slammed the door of the locker room, then looked at the teammates who were taken aback by him, and suddenly smiled: "Don't mind, guys! I just want to calm down everyone's crazy brains, no Don't mean it!"
calm!
Fiorentina really need to calm down now. The excellent record in the warm-up match has made them seem a little impetuous these days. Degan can see it, and Prandelli can also see it. If in the past, Prandelli would stand up and let his teammates They regained their composure, but now that he has Degan, naturally he doesn't need to worry about everything, and Degan has that ability, while cooling the heads of his teammates, he can also stimulate everyone's fighting potential .
"The enemy is here!" Degan smiled easily, but in the next second, his face suddenly became hideous, "But you guys give me the feeling that this team from the Netherlands is not Worth mentioning."
The teammates were taken aback for a moment, and then thought carefully in their hearts. It is undeniable that Feyenoord, an opponent, was indeed not taken seriously by them.
In particular, Feyenoord's coach Erwin Koeman also took the initiative to show weakness in the press conference before the game: "Fiorentina is a very strong team. Gan, he is an unbelievable player, this game will be very difficult for us, we are ready to accept any result!"
Look at what people said, it is clearly holding a flag and shouting: the slogan of begging for light abuse!
But Digan and Prandelli saw through this guy's heart, spleen, stomach and kidney at a glance, and there was a malicious intention hidden in his soft words!
Erwin Coman clearly intends to limping the entire Fiorentina team, and then he has the advantage of being a fisherman with his left hand!
Fiorentina is indeed powerful, but not strong enough to ignore the existence of Feyenoord. After all, they are also one of the three giants in the Eredivisie. They really treat them like fried bean sprouts, and they can eat them whenever they want!
Of course, if it wasn't from the perspective of the captain, it would take some means to calm down the teammates and face up to today's opponents. Digan didn't take Feyenoord seriously either.
Prandelli had already obtained Feyenoord's lineup for this game before. Degan looked at it once, and apart from Charisteas on the front line, he really had no acquaintances.
Charisteas' scoring rate has always been low, but if you ignore him, you will definitely be in bad luck. In 2004, the Greek team miraculously won the European Cup. Charisteas is the biggest contributor. His The three goals are all key: his goal in the group stage helped the Greek team draw with Spain 1:1; his goal in the quarter-finals helped the team eliminate the French team 1:0; the final was also his goal The goal enabled the Greek team to beat the host Portugal 1:0, and finally won the trophy. Charisteas himself was selected as the best team of the current competition, and he was regarded as a national hero by Greek fans.
There is an interesting story that happened before the European Cup. At that time, Charisteas, who played for the Bundesliga Bremen team, made a bet with his teammates: If the Greek team can reach the European Cup final, I will hang up my boots.
In the end, the Greek team not only reached the final, but also won the cup. Charisteas' bet became a beautiful and sweet joke.
Charisteas, who is 191cm tall, has an unparalleled advantage in the forward line. What's more valuable is that he also has good jumping, which makes him often a nightmare for the opponent's defenders. When the team is passively defending, he can return to the defense to help his teammates. When the team is counterattacking, he can actively return to the gap of the opponent's defense.
Degan didn't want such an accident to happen, and he didn't want Fiorentina to become those egomaniacs who were eliminated because they underestimated their opponents in the 2004 European Cup.
"Guys! Don't forget how we got this qualification. If you just want to show your face in the Champions League, you can say it now. I think the coach will be on the bench and arrange for you. The eye-catching position ensures that the cameras will visit from time to time, but if you remember what I said to you before, when we get on the field, we have to work hard from the first second."
"Ervin Koeman is deliberately showing weakness. He hopes that we will despise his team even more, so that they will have a chance to stab us in the heart when we are careless. Then, what should we do?"
"Tell them, fuck it, we're going to turn their last hope into despair! We're going to control the game from the first second of the game, and then teach him what a cruel game football is!"
The Fiorentina players listened quietly, each and every one of them felt that their blood was about to burn, this was their first game of the new season, as Degan said, this would be a great start, great There is no room for error in the beginning.
Prandelli is very satisfied with everything that happened in the locker room. He now feels that it is a genius decision to give Deegan the captain's armband. Digan can do all the work.
The staff of UEFA came to inform that when it was time to play, Digan packed his equipment, walked to the door, and pushed the door open forcefully, the cheers like a tsunami poured in like a huge wave .
"Listen to the cries of the fans, they are here today to see their beloved team return to the highest level of competition, we have no other choice but to win, let's go! Guys, let's go Go kick the ass of those enemies hard and tell them whose territory this is!"
The Fiorentina players who were almost turned into beasts by Degan jumped up one by one, shouted and rushed out, Prandelli watched from behind, smiled and said to his assistant Antonelli: "Look Arrived? This is the true value of Rhodes!"
Antonelli also smiled: "That kid is born to be a leader!"
Prandelli nodded and said, "That's right! This is Florence's luck, and it's also my luck. I didn't realize until now that being a head coach is actually such an easy job."
It's time to play. In the player tunnel, the Feyenoord players looked at the opponents standing beside them, all of them were full of doubts. The aura emanating from the opponents gave them the feeling that they were about to It is not a football field, but an ancient Roman arena.
The Fiorentina players are gladiators, sharpened their swords and guns, and are ready to kill at any time.
Feyenoord's captain Vlaar couldn't help worrying. In the locker room just now, their head coach Erwin Koeman was still saying that they should take advantage of the opponent's underestimation, break the deadlock first, and then use defense to win, but Looking at the appearance of these opponents now, will they really underestimate the enemy?
Fraer felt a little unconfident in his heart!