The Aftermath of Victory
With six or seven minutes left in the match, the outcome seemed sealed for Eindhoven, and The Lions fans had already begun to sing in celebration.
The players from Eindhoven looked disheartened, starting to slow down the pace of the game.
The Millwall players also entertained the thought of "let's just let it end."
But Aldrich was on the sideline, shouting at the slowing players, "Who told you to slow down?! The game isn't finished yet! If you don't want to play, just walk off the field!"
The players instantly perked up, thinking, wow, the boss is really not showing mercy now!
Suddenly, the Millwall players abandoned their formation and charged at the Eindhoven players like beasts, surprising the entire team with their aggressive pressing.
Trezeguet took control of the ball in the box, pivoted to shake off the defender, and was about to unleash a shot, but he was ferociously brought down by the opposing defender. Before he could even call for a penalty, Nedvěd surged in and blasted the ball into the net right in front of him.
Millwall 4, Eindhoven 0!
The match had entered stoppage time.
Eindhoven players stood with their hands on their hips, glaring angrily at their opponents.
Damn it, you guys are being too ruthless—are you trying to humiliate us?!
You scored three goals, we stopped attacking, but you're still struggling to score? Even if ten goals are scored, it means nothing. It's nothing more than three points. Oh shit! !
Losing by three goals was acceptable for Eindhoven, they could say they were outplayed; but the fourth goal felt like bullying.
Once the game was over, Aldrich made his way to shake hands with Advocat, but Advocat just kept a straight face and walked off to the players' tunnel. Clearly, Advocat believed that Aldrich had been incredibly disrespectful.
It was clear you had the win locked down, and both teams were just relaxing, trying to let the clock run out while keeping it classy. I lost the game, but I didn't expect to be stripped of my dignity. Then you had to go and score that last goal to humiliate us, making it look like we had no fight left at all.
That young coach is really infuriating!
The fans in the stands were thrilled, reluctant to leave even after the match. The players from both sides exchanged jerseys and Millwall players remained on the field expressing their gratitude to the fans, forming a line to wave and salute each section of the stands.
Aldrich joined in, chatting with each player to praise their performance and encourage them to keep pushing forward.
"Boss, that last goal seemed to piss off the other team," Schneider whispered to Aldrich.
Aldrich put his arm around Schneider's shoulder and leaned in to say, "It's good that they're mad. By the time we face them in the Netherlands again, they'll want revenge, and I want them to be fired up."
Hearing this, Schneider felt a sense of relief and smiled, choosing not to say anything more.
As they acknowledged the fans, Millwall's mascot, Leo, a lively blue cartoon lion, came running over to cause some mischief.
He clung to Aldrich's shoulder, not letting go, while patting Aldrich's chest as if showcasing how amazing Aldrich was to the fans.
"Alright, alright, let me go. I need to get to the post-match press conference," Aldrich said, nearly wrestling with the little lion, who seemed to be in high spirits today, attempting to pull him into a dance.
"Ronaldinho, is that you again?"
Aldrich suppressed the urge to punch "Leo" down and asked grumpily.
Sure enough, the mascot's hands pushed up the lion's head, and before Aldrich could see his whole face, he confirmed it was Ronaldinho.
There's just no hiding that big goofy grin!
"Hey, boss, it's definitely me."
Aldrich frowned, "Aren't you supposed to be in the stands watching the match today?"
He remembered Nagy asking for tickets and saw Ronaldinho's name on the VIP list when he checked the roster at the club.
Ronaldinho laughed heartily, "I gave my ticket to Joe Cole; I can watch for free anyway. I was sitting right beside the field all along."
Aldrich was at a loss for words.
In fact, many young players could watch matches for free; the ball boys at Millwall were all from the youth academy.
Leaving Ronaldinho with the players to enjoy the applause and cheers from the fans, Aldrich turned and walked away to join the post-match press conference.
When Aldrich arrived, the packed press room was filled with reporters eagerly raising their hands to ask questions.
He had a sip of water before calmly addressing all the queries.
Regarding the performances of the Millwall players, Aldrich simply glossed over with a few casual remarks, stating it was a normal display, and the players should perform at that level.
As for Eindhoven, Aldrich had plenty of praise to offer, speaking in depth about them. He remarked that, being the previous season's champions of the Eredivisie, Eindhoven was lacking a bit of luck and didn't showcase their full potential playing away. He was confident they would perform at their true level next time they faced off.
The following day, The Times covered the match with the title: Unquestionable Dominance!
Fleet Street was united in agreeing that Millwall's historic Champions League debut wasn't so much breathtaking as it was shrewd.
Besides statistically dominating the match, Eindhoven failed to create a single threatening shot, while out of their eight attempts, only four hit the target — all from very desperate situations. Such shots would require extraordinary performance to breach the net, and Butt's performance was solid as he faced little testing. The four shots on target were easily handled by him.
Millwall's passing success rate in defense and midfield reached an astonishing 100%!
Columnist David Miller noted, "If Millwall wanted to control the scoreline after taking the lead, they could have easily kept the ball away from the opposition until the final whistle. But that's not Millwall's football philosophy. Eindhoven tried to seize the initiative several times during the game but to no avail. When they intensified their pressure, Millwall exploited the defensive gaps left behind, making Eindhoven — the last season's champions of Eredivisie — their test subject. This match demonstrated that Millwall's football can not only dominate England but also be very competitive on the European stage. If Millwall can continue to defeat champions from mainstream leagues, it would convincingly show that their football philosophy is the most advanced."
After finishing the Champions League midweek, Aldrich was set to lead his team to a London derby at White Hart Lane on the weekend.
Key players would be rotated, and Aldrich didn't believe that Tottenham was currently a strong team.
Last season, Millwall's glory among London's teams was undeniable, but the summer transfer window felt somewhat lackluster, with fans of Chelsea, Arsenal, and Tottenham mocking them multiple times: small teams will always be small teams; just because they have money doesn't mean they know how to spend it; they only know how to pick up scraps elsewhere.
However, at the start of the new season, fans of Arsenal and Chelsea were thoroughly silenced.
One by 5-0, and another by 7-0.
Was the King of London simply resting on its laurels?
Meanwhile, Tottenham fans had long since quieted down; they were too busy with their own issues. This summer, Tottenham had purchased stars like Ginola and Ferdinand, yet after six rounds of matches, they found themselves near the bottom of the table with just two wins, one draw, and three losses.
Particularly in the last round, they were thrashed 5-0 away by Leicester City, completely collapsing.
From the perspective of points and form, Tottenham could hardly be called a strong team; the new signings struggled to mesh with the existing teammates, resulting in a disjointed bunch.
Aldrich was feeling a bit of a headache before the league match when he faced reporters asking about Luca Toni.
"After scoring three goals with head and foot against Tottenham in the last round, Toni is now the top scorer in the Premier League. The loan agreement between Millwall and Leicester City lasts only for half a season, right? Will Millwall consider recalling him in the winter to give him a chance in the second half? He obviously scores more than Trezeguet and has a more prominent role in the attack."
Aldrich glanced at which paper had the audacity to ask this question.
The Guardian
After clearing his throat, Aldrich answered coolly, "Trezeguet has been outstanding. I've had different evaluations of him in each game this new season, all on an acceptable level. Goals can't reflect all of his contributions to the team. Toni has been performing admirably recently, and I'm glad for him. As for what happens next season, let's see after winter."
In reality, before this match, Martin O'Neill had already called Aldrich, saying, "Sell me Toni!"
Aldrich had made up his mind about Toni's future back in the summer; he definitely didn't see a future for him at Millwall.
This thought would not waver simply because Toni was excelling at Leicester City.
The reason is simple: aside from the goalkeeper, if Aldrich has nine average players and one Toni, the entire team's tactics will revolve around Toni. Similarly, if he only has a Larsson or a Shevchenko, the other players will naturally serve this clearly more talented individual.
The issue is that, at Millwall, there are very few players within the squad whose abilities are inferior to Toni's.
Tactically, it's impossible to make him the focal point. Even if he were to remain, he would certainly not perform as well as he could on other teams.
Not selling him in the summer was an attempt to gamble on whether Toni would appreciate in value.
Undoubtedly, had he sold Toni three months ago, he wouldn't have fetched more than £1.5 million. Now, after his excellent performance at Leicester City, where he's highly valued by Martin O'Neill, it's hard to say that he wouldn't end up as the league's top scorer. If he maintains steady performance throughout the season, hitting double digits in goals seems quite achievable. Consequently, his transfer value would double, perhaps even more.
After all, Toni is still a Millwall player, and Aldrich can't make a definitive statement in front of the media; he can only give vague responses to fend off reporters.
With this annoyance in mind, Aldrich sent most of his reserves to take on Tottenham.
But he never expected that a team known for its glamorous football would set up a defensive formation against Millwall.
Aldrich stood on the sidelines, his expression cold as ice. He even considered rushing over to the opposite bench to confront Francis: "What the hell are you doing? Last week, you attacked Leicester City without a care! Although it ended poorly, you must've seen how we annihilated Chelsea last round! Are you not afraid? Not afraid? And yet you choose a defensive strategy?"
Francis felt he couldn't explain himself. The newcomers at Tottenham were all quality players, yet they just couldn't gel together. Ironically, Ginola and Ferdinand were part of the well-oiled Newcastle United front pair, so why had they come to White Hart Lane and fallen apart?
In the previous matches, their offensive performance was a mess—losing to Manchester United at home, then to Middlesbrough away. After two straight defeats, they struggled to secure two back-to-back wins, narrowly beating Derby County and scraping together a 3-2 victory against Aston Villa at home, only to finish with a goalless draw in the North London derby against Arsenal. It had seemed the team had finally overcome the initial transition of the season, but to their dismay, they were thoroughly thrashed 5-0 by Leicester City in the last round!
Damn it!
If they couldn't attack, then they needed to defend to avoid conceding. If they really pushed forward, wouldn't Millwall just cut through them like a knife through butter?
So, go defensive. As long as they didn't end up losing 0-7 or 0-5, they could still save face in London.