Chapter 12: The Arrogant Rookie

Amidst the excitement, José waved his fist before turning to face the coach's bench under the rain cover, trying to calm his excited emotions.

By the time he turned back, José's expression had returned to calm. He began clapping his hands and shouting to the players who were winding down their celebrations, "Alright, enough of the celebration. Now focus on defense, start cutting them off from midfield!"

Unlike the confident José, Vázquez had already gotten to his feet when Mallorca launched their counterattack, and when Ibagasa scored, Vázquez violently waved his hand before turning toward the opposing coach's bench, muttering curses. After a few moments, he waved his hand again and sent all the substitutes out to warm up.

When the game resumed, Vázquez made three substitutions at once—two forwards and one midfielder came in for a defender and two midfielders, shifting the formation from 4-4-2 to 3-3-4...

"That's not a wise decision," said Hidalgo and Bonnes, who had just been praising Vázquez. "Piling more forwards in the attack doesn't increase the goal tally; it just makes the front more congested... Vázquez is acting impulsively. At 25, José looks so much calmer compared to 40-year-old Vázquez..." Bonnes simply sighed, muttering, "Mallorca has this one in the bag!"

In fact, that's what José thought too—after leading by two goals, the Rayo Vallecano players began to look a bit chaotic. They were young, full of energy, but they were definitely not seasoned. They played well when ahead, but once they were at a disadvantage, they easily became lost. This was the time for the coach to step in, but their coach, Vázquez, seemed even more confused—he brought in two forwards but gave no specific offensive directions, and the four forwards crowded the penalty area, even causing two of them to collide during a cross. The ball was easily cleared by Mallorca's defenders...

The experienced Mallorca players were quick to take advantage of the situation. Using their numerical advantage in midfield and attack, they began to dominate Rayo Vallecano.

Mallorca players' technical abilities were already superior, and with the added confidence, they didn't rush to score but patiently passed the ball around, organizing their attack. They weren't in a hurry. Against these young opponents, Mallorca's veterans were spinning them around with their experience.

Seeing his players desperately running around without intercepting the ball, Vázquez finally realized he might have made a mistake, but by then it was too late to change things. His three substitutions were already used up, and he had no further options.

Taking advantage of their experience and technical edge, Mallorca pushed forward with their attack, but even while attacking, they kept their defensive line intact—Rayo Vallecano had no fast forwards for counterattacks, so as long as Mallorca didn't push too high up, they weren't worried about being caught on a break.

Against Mallorca's patient attack, Rayo Vallecano's young squad and reduced defense exposed their flaws. Even their midfield anchor, Sembranos, had to drop back more to defend, and his defensive abilities were merely average. It was his foul that dashed Rayo Vallecano's final hope of equalizing. In the 87th minute, N'Gonga charged into the penalty box, and after Sembranos' defensive error, he tripped N'Gonga. The referee immediately awarded a penalty!

"Three-nil! Three-nil! Three-nil!" The Mallorca fans in the stands erupted in joy. At this point, there was no doubt they were on the verge of a glorious victory!

"Let Diego take the penalty!" José clapped his hands and shouted loudly.

At this moment, no Mallorca player could ignore his orders.

Tristan took the ball from captain N'Gonga, placed it on the penalty spot, and stood tall.

Keller opened his arms in front of the goal, staring at the ball at Tristan's feet.

Though the game was nearly over, a goalkeeper wouldn't want to let the opposing forward score easily.

"Diego! Diego! Diego!" The Mallorca fans chanted, eagerly awaiting the third goal!

As soon as the referee blew his whistle, Tristan started his run. He approached the ball and struck it firmly with his right foot, sending it cleanly into the bottom left corner of the net. Keller dived the wrong way, heading for the right side!

The stands erupted in cheers once more!

Tristan turned and ran toward the sidelines. This time, he ignored José's attempt to stop him and lifted him off the ground in a tight embrace!

"Diego's brace saw him embrace Mallorca's interim head coach José Alemany. It seems that this young coach isn't just here because his father is Mallorca's executive chairman—at least, Tristan, who has shone this season, holds him in high regard. Tristan was promoted from the B team to the first team, and José coached the B team for a year and a half. Developing a forward like Tristan and earning his support shows José has his own abilities. From this game, he seems more like a disciple of Cooper, focusing on defense and efficiency in counterattacks—this tactical approach suits Mallorca perfectly right now."

The remaining time of the second half flew by, and when the referee blew the final whistle, the stands erupted in cheers once again!

After eight games without a win and three consecutive losses, Mallorca had finally secured a precious victory at home!

The fans of Mallorca celebrated, basking in the joy of the hard-earned win.

Despite the win, Mallorca's points were still only 15, and their position in the standings remained at the bottom. But this victory gave them hope—at least for survival.

When the final whistle blew, José exhaled deeply, finally relaxing. The feeling made him momentarily absent-minded, but he quickly regained his composure, flashing a happy smile and hugging Natal together.

After releasing the embrace, Natal grinned, saying, "Congratulations, José. Your first solo coaching win... It's definitely one to remember."

"Yeah…" José mused.

The experience of coaching a professional team was completely different from coaching the B team. While Mallorca B also participated in professional matches, for all Spanish B teams, results were secondary; the main priorities were developing players and helping injured first-team members recover. The mentality was totally different. Being a head coach of a first team was a whole different concept compared to being an assistant coach.

Regardless, this experience would help José grow stronger, and he felt that in future games, his heart would be less affected by the emotional ups and downs—once you get used to it, you become calmer.

This victory marked a promising start for José's coaching career. Though he was still just the "interim head coach," everyone agreed on one thing—José Alemany, the great coach, had led Mallorca to a 3-0 victory against Rayo Vallecano on January 24, 2000, marking the beginning of his legendary coaching journey.

At this point, José was still just a rookie coach who had won his first professional match.

Yet, in the post-match press conference, he surprised everyone again.

Only a few journalists attended the press conference—mostly local media from Mallorca, with just a few from other parts of Spain. After all, this was a regular La Liga match. Without the angle of José being the youngest head coach in La Liga history, the media interest would likely have been minimal.

After celebrating with the players in the locker room, José walked into the press conference room, full of energy. He brought with him captain N'Gonga and Tristan, who had scored twice in the match.

Vázquez entered alone. He didn't shake José's hand but instead sat down with a scowl, seething in silence.

"How do you feel about your first win as a head coach?" one journalist asked after a few standard questions.

José smiled, "I'm very happy—happier than you could imagine. Because if we hadn't won, this press conference would have been my resignation announcement, and this would've been my only professional match as a coach."

The journalists looked at him, wide-eyed.

Satisfied with their stunned reactions, José soon felt unsatisfied again, as no one responded right away.

"What's wrong, everyone?" José coughed.

The reporter from Palma Daily was the first to recover and quickly asked, "Why would you say that? It's just one match. Mallorca hadn't won in eight games, so why would the management be so harsh?"

As the reporter spoke, he already imagined a hundred possibilities—José's father was Mallorca's president. Could there be a conflict?

"No, it's not about the management," José replied, shaking his head. "Before the match, I told all the players that if we didn't win, I would no longer be the head coach of Mallorca... I wouldn't coach any professional team again."

"Why would you say that?" the reporter pressed.

José smiled as he explained, "The reason is simple: we had a huge advantage in this game. We were playing at home, our players were stronger, our tactics were better, and our defense was more solid. If we couldn't win with all these advantages, it would mean I wasn't fit to be a coach. I'd go back to coaching my youth team. Of course, the biggest reason for the win today was that Mallorca's head coach was better than the other coach."

As soon as José finished speaking, the table in front of him shook as Vázquez slammed it in frustration, standing up angrily, and storming out of the room without a word, leaving only José smiling on the stage.

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