The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 173 A More Favored Finals Opponent

"The upcoming match between Ferguson and Cruyff in the European Cup Winners' Cup final has been highly anticipated by the European media before it even begins. Ferguson is a challenger, while the Red Devils are an underdog. The media believes that this will be an offensive and defensive battle with a huge disparity between the strong and the weak, and Barcelona will naturally be the stronger side."

--Inscription

The final between the Red Devils and Barcelona became the hottest football hotspot of the year.

Although Barcelona was already dominating Europe, not all professional European football media were optimistic about the Spanish team. France's L'Equipe believed that the Red Devils had at least one advantage before the game, which was a complete lineup with no injuries or unexpected casualties.

The Red Devils had no injuries when they reached the final, and no one was absent due to yellow or red card suspensions. All the main players were able to start the game. In contrast, it was very different for Barcelona.

Barcelona's road to the finals was not as smooth as that of the Red Devils. They were frightened in the first round. Barcelona's opponent was Trabzonspor. They lost 0-1 in the first game, but they won 7-2 in the second round to advance steadily. In the second round, Barcelona cheered up and eliminated Iceland's Framrek Čavik with a total score of 5-1 in two games. In the quarter-finals, Barcelona played against the strong team Dynamo Kyiv. On the one hand, the arduous journey to Eastern Europe affected the team's condition; on the other hand, Dynamo Kyiv was strong and not the weaklings in the previous rounds. Even in the home game, the visiting Dynamo Kyiv used fast attacks and two-wing advances to give Barcelona a headache. Barcelona played very hard in both games. First, they won the opponent with difficulty 1-4, and then tied 3-2 by luck, and finally advanced with a total score of 1-1.

Barcelona, ​​which entered the semi-finals, met Juventus. Juventus was one of the strongest clubs in Serie A at that time, and its strength and reputation even surpassed Barcelona. Serie A was known as the Little World Cup at that time, and it gathered almost the best players in the world. Juventus was one of the overlords. Baggio, Casiraghi, Hasler, Di Canio and other players in Juventus were at their peak level, and the team was very confident. In the first round, Barcelona played at home. They attacked the opponent at the beginning and played the all-out attack and defense tactics to the fullest. They started to rob in the first half, and put all their strength into the attack. The central defenders would come to the opponent's penalty area. Their crazy style of play caught Juventus off guard. Stoichkov scored twice and locked the victory in advance. But after Juventus adapted to Barcelona's fierce attack, they strengthened the steals and confrontation in the midfield, and regained the advantage on the field. The final score was 3 to 1. Before the second leg, Juventus suddenly changed its coach, with Mafredi replacing Zoff as head coach. This change of coach allowed Juventus to use zone defense instead of the previous man-to-man tactical system, and actively compete with the opponent in attack. Baggio and Di Canio's two forwards shined, and Barcelona faced heavy pressure. In the end, Barcelona midfielder Amor was given a red card for a bad foul, goalkeeper Zubizarreta was also given a yellow card for delaying the game and missed the final, and main striker Stoichkov was injured and left the field. Juventus's strong attack eventually made Barcelona unable to resist, and the city finally fell, and they lost to Juventus 0-1 helplessly. Although Barcelona eliminated their opponents with a total score of 3:2 and entered the final, the whole team paid a huge price for this, as many players had to miss the next game.

Even so, Barcelona was still the more favored side before the final. Barcelona almost dominated the La Liga at that time and was in the stage of their rapid rise. In the La Liga competition this season, Real Madrid was in constant internal strife and even staged a farce of changing coaches. Toshack, Di Stéfano, Camacho, Grosso and Antić all appeared in the coaching seats of the Bernabeu one after another. The chaos of the team further fermented, and the momentum of the previous championship disappeared without a trace. Barcelona took the opportunity to rise. With the continuous introduction of strong foreign aid and successful integration, they performed well in the league. Not only did they overturn Real Madrid, which created a record of five consecutive league titles, but they were also invincible when playing against other teams. In the end, they stood out from the crowd with a 10-point advantage and won the league championship this season.

Before the game, Sky Sports analyzed the recent situation of both teams in detail and clearly pointed out the troubles of Barcelona. "No matter how strong the overall strength is, when a team loses its goalkeeper, defender and forward, the three core players cannot participate in the game, which will inevitably have a great impact on the team and weaken its strength. If Ferguson is thick-skinned enough, can lower his posture, give up the initiative to attack, and concentrate on shrinking and playing defense, he may still be able to sneak attack and succeed."

But even with this assumption, Sky Sports still favors Barcelona. They said: "No matter what difficulties Barcelona may face, the biggest problem of the Red Devils is that they are too weak. Ferguson's team is only ranked 5th to 10th in English Football League One, which is incomparable to the La Liga champions."

The Manchester Evening News predicted the Red Devils' starting lineup and formation almost exactly. They analyzed before the game: "Ferguson will use a 442 formation. The back four and the goalkeeper will not change, while midfielders Robson and Ings will definitely focus on defense. In this case, Phelan is obviously a good helper. Another midfielder will be the impactful Lee Sharp, who can also help the full-backs when needed. The forwards must be Mark Hughes and McClair. Hughes is familiar with the opponent and can find some loopholes in the opponent's defense, but on the other hand, his characteristics are also familiar to the opponent, so he will be defended in a targeted manner. As for McClair, we guess that he will return to the Red Devils' midfield more to help the team increase the depth of the midfield."

On May 1991, 5, the moment of the decisive battle finally arrived, and the De Kuip Stadium in Rotterdam, the Netherlands welcomed two giants.

Red Devils vs Barcelona, ​​Ferguson vs Cruyff.

Ferguson was not nervous at all, but rather confident and composed. This was his second time facing a Spanish giant in the final. Last time he defeated Real Madrid and the legendary Spanish coach Di Stefano. This time facing the legendary Cruyff, can Ferguson win as well?

On a rainy night in Rotterdam, the Dutch seaport, Cruyff looked very free and easy in a windbreaker. Feyenoord's De Kuip Stadium was his last home stadium, where he won infinite respect. The greatest star in Dutch football came from Ajax's youth training, played for two giants, Ajax and Feyenoord, and also played for Barcelona. In his career, he won 9 Eredivisie titles, 1 La Liga title, 1 European Cup Winners' Cup and many other honors. He himself won the European Footballer of the Year three times and the best player of the 1974 World Cup. From 1971 to 1973, he helped Ajax achieve the miracle of three consecutive European Cup titles.

Cruyff became the head coach much later than Ferguson. He became the head coach of Ajax in June 1985. Cruyff vigorously promoted offensive football and quickly opened a new dynasty era. In the 6-1985 season, Ajax won the Dutch Cup, the 86-1986 season won the European Cup Winners' Cup, and successfully defended the Dutch Cup. Although he did not win the league, Cruyff was named the world's best coach in 87 by the British football magazine World Football.

Cruyff left in anger during the 1987-88 season, and in May 1988, he became the head coach and technical director of Barcelona, ​​starting his legendary career at Barcelona. Cruyff thoroughly cleared out more than a dozen first-team stars including German Schuster, and directly promoted a group of young players to play as the main force. Cruyff thoroughly transformed the Barcelona La Masia Youth Training Camp and re-established a new youth training model. He took ball control, passing, and using technology and awareness to disintegrate the opponent's thinking as the basis of youth training, and instilled the concept of all-out football into the minds of all players.

Cruyff led Barcelona to rise in the 1988-89 season and won the European Cup Winners' Cup. In 1989, Cruyff introduced Danish midfielder Michael Laudrup and Dutch defender Ronald Koeman to further strengthen the team. Cruyff then led the team to win the Spanish King's Cup final 2-0 against Real Madrid. In the 90-91 season, Cruyff introduced Bulgarian striker Hristo Stoichkov and promoted 19-year-old youth training talent Josep Guardiola to the first team. This season, Cruyff led the team to sweep all opponents in the league, overturned the arch-rival Real Madrid, won the La Liga championship, and was named La Liga Coach of the Year.

Most of the Spanish journalists speculated that Ferguson would defend and attack without hesitation during the game, but Ferguson and his Red Devils were determined to defeat their opponents with an active offensive battle and defeat the proud Cruyff and his Barcelona fairly.

This game attracted many Dutch fans. Most of the local fans admired Cruyff very much. When he appeared at the De Kuip Stadium with the Barcelona players, almost all the fans cheered and applauded. The fans kept calling Cruyff's name and cheering for his team. The cheers resounded throughout the stadium.

It was drizzling in the sky of Rotterdam, the Dutch seaport, and the De Kuip Stadium was about to welcome a rainy match. Cruyff had a calm expression, his eyes were like water, and he was slightly reserved. He was wearing a light brown coat that was tailored to fit him perfectly; his eyes swept across the field, without any tension or joy, and he looked particularly free and easy. There was a mysterious attraction in his slender body, and whether he was greeting the fans or sitting in the coach's seat in contemplation, he was always extremely addictive. He was very familiar with every lawn, every corner, every sideline, and every net line of the gate of this stadium. This stadium recorded his glory. He once led the Feyenoord team to fight here and reached the top of the Netherlands here. It was here that he, Van Hanegen and Gullit staged a classic and miraculously won the double crown from Ajax. After becoming the god of Ajax, he was also called the "King of Feyenoord."

Even so, Barcelona was not able to truly take advantage of the home court. The Red Devils fans were even more fanatical. Even though they could not book tickets and hotels, they were determined to follow the team to the Netherlands. These crazy Red Devils fans were willing to spend nearly 10 times the price to buy tickets from scalpers, and were willing to wander the streets for a night and enter the stadium on time the next day, just to cheer for the team. When Ferguson took the Red Devils team onto the field, the whole stadium rang out even more enthusiastic cheers and applause. The volume of the Red Devils fans even exceeded that of the Barcelona fans. They were obviously more excited and crazier, and the waves of sound they made were extremely huge. The passionate Red Devils team song sounded, accompanied by waves of "champions" and "champions", which made people's blood boil.

The Red Devils fans kept cheering for the team. The Red Devils' team song resounded throughout the night sky. The enthusiastic cheers almost overturned the stadium. Irwin later recalled that he thought that more than two-thirds of the spectators in the stadium were Red Devils fans. "I was a little dazed from the time I entered the stadium to warm up. The familiar faces of the fans, the familiar Red Devils team song, the familiar cheers, the familiar slogans...all of this made me think I was at Old Trafford and that we were fighting at home. I am very grateful to our fans. Their encouragement will be our endless motivation!"

Ferguson sat still in the Red Devils' coaching booth at first, but he still looked a little anxious. The game that had been prepared for a long time finally came. After a long time of careful consideration, the formation and tactical deployment were made. Ferguson knew that the moment to test whether these measures were effective was coming. His face was red, his expression was excited, and he stared at the court without blinking, revealing a little nervousness.

At the pre-match preparation meeting, Ferguson encouraged all the players, saying: "We will fight with the confidence of winning, use offense to destroy their imagination and catch them off guard. We have defeated the Champions League champion Liverpool, defeated another Champions League champion Nottingham Forest, and we have also defeated Barcelona before... These histories tell us that there is nothing to be afraid of the enemy!"

Ferguson said with great confidence: "Let's defeat them in a fair fight!"