Chapter 287 I Want to Play Against the Strongest Team, but It Doesn’t Matter if We Meet Barcelona First

Mendes came to London this time not only to bring Li Ang the news that he is likely to win the "Silver Ball" honor at the FIFA awards ceremony at the beginning of next year.

For Mendes and the entire economic team behind Li Ang, it is more important to agree on the renewal of the cooperation with the first batch of commercial endorsement companies signed with Li Ang.

Among them, the giant groups with huge energy, funds and industry resources in China are certainly not among the ones that Mendes wants to exclude from the list of partners.

These big companies have also provided Li Ang with more lucrative new endorsement contracts early.

This time, Mendes wants to find Li Ang to determine which existing small and medium-sized cooperative enterprises to eliminate and replace with new large industry groups.

Because when signing the endorsement, Mendes did not give these companies a written clause of priority renewal of cooperation, and the contract period was mostly about two years.

Now that the cooperation is about to expire, it is naturally time for a new round of negotiations. If they can't reach an agreement, it is normal to break up amicably.

After suppressing his previous excitement, Li Ang listened to Mendes' analysis and suggestions.

To be honest, Li Ang is not short of money now. His total endorsement amount has reached the first place in the industry since the end of last year - and it is the level that is far ahead.

The personal brand projects prepared by Mendes for him are also being prepared and developed one after another.

By the end of next year, Messi and Ronaldo's annual income may be pulled away by him.

In this case, Li Ang's statement that he will not give priority to the amount when choosing endorsement contracts now is not considered a pretentious statement.

But considering that there is a huge economic team behind him now to pursue higher returns, Li Ang did not say anything hypocritically that "money is not important".

And he thinks Mendes' analysis makes sense.

The company that offers him a sky-high contract now is not necessarily a high-quality company.

But small and medium-sized enterprises can seize his traffic, expand their territory in the domestic market, and get enough benefits, so they naturally need to show their sincerity.

You invite me to endorse, and the conditions you offer cannot even meet 80% of the top contracts in the industry, so what kind of sincere cooperation can we talk about?

So in this regard, Li Ang basically agreed with Mendes's "principle" to change the original cooperative enterprise.

Everyone makes money together and shares the cake together. Enterprises with a cooperative foundation can certainly be called old friends.

For such a relationship, your competitor offers a higher price. As long as you can match 80% and give certain concessions, everything will be fine.

For those who cannot meet this standard, don't mention any relationship. When the cooperation period is over, everyone will go their separate ways.

After getting Li Ang's approval, Mendes was in a good mood. He opened a bottle of red wine in the living room of Li Ang's villa in advance and celebrated with Li Ang.

After a few glasses of wine, there was no one else at the scene. Mendes complained in front of Li Ang about the inconvenience of dealing with the renewal of Real Madrid and Ronaldo.

"I don't want to bother with it anymore, and I don't know what's the point of moving Cristiano to other European giants now?

He's about to turn 30, but he's still so competitive and strong!

I advised him before that while he had won the Ballon d'Or for two consecutive years, he should accept the long-term contract offered by Florentino and stay in Real Madrid until he retires.

But he refused to listen and insisted on getting a contract with an annual salary higher than Messi's!

I've said that Barcelona's top brass is full of shit! They will have a hard time giving Messi such a big contract now, and this is not normal at all..."

Mendes was obviously complained by both sides in the process of handling this matter.

At this time, he relaxed, and with the sense of achievement he got from Li Ang, he completely vented his grievances.

Li Ang didn't say much, but patted Mendes on the shoulder from time to time to comfort him.

It's really hard to stand on this matter, because from the perspective of Florentino and Ronaldo, both of them are right.

After Florentino took over Real Madrid again, he has always attached great importance to and strictly controlled the salary of the team.

You know, if a superstar in the team renews his contract and has a significant annual salary increase, it will not only affect him, but all the players in the entire Real Madrid first team!

At that time, all the agents of these players will find the old man and ask the club to raise their players' salaries, and also use Ronaldo's case as an example.

That would be a disaster for the old man and Real Madrid.

But do you want to say that there is anything wrong with Ronaldo?

He won the Golden Ball Award for two consecutive years, helped Real Madrid win six championships, and successfully defended the Champions League.

Compared with data, his data in these seasons is not worse than Messi.

Compared with honors, he who completed the Champions League defense is more convincing than Messi, who has only won one King's Cup in recent seasons.

In this case, seeing that his old opponent got a much richer contract renewal than himself, how could Ronaldo not be angry and dissatisfied?

He is originally such a person, straightforward, and says whatever he wants.

The old man may feel that Ronaldo is about to turn 30 years old and his competitive condition cannot be guaranteed.

After all, there are so many examples of stars who have declined sharply after turning 30.

But Ronaldo has the confidence to continue his peak state for as long as possible.

If the old Buddha knew Ronaldo's ability to maintain his state in the future, he would have given him the annual salary of 30 million, because Ronaldo is indeed worth the price, and he can also bring more benefits to Real Madrid.

But the old Buddha did not open his eyes like Li Ang after all.

So there is no way, both sides have their own reasons, and they are both firm and stubborn. Mendes, sandwiched between these two strong personalities, would be a surprise if he didn't feel wronged.

"Chris didn't suddenly become this character. He was like this when you first met him.

And to be honest, without this stubbornness and confidence, Chris would have given up in the competition with Messi long ago. His character made him, Jorge, he didn't mean to lose his temper with you..."

Li Ang helped him explain a few words from Ronaldo's perspective.

Mendes, who knows C Ronaldo's personality and childish temper better, gradually calmed down after pouring out his grievances.

"Alas, if you were still in Real Madrid, you could help me persuade him more on weekdays. Some of my words may not sound good, but he may accept them if you say them."

Li Ang smiled knowingly when he heard Mendes say this.

This is indeed an art of speaking.

Sometimes it is not that you think it is good for the other party, and the other party will definitely accept what you say.

You still have to take a detour, find out his temper, and persuade him from his perspective to play a better role.

When he was still in Real Madrid, C Ronaldo always liked to chat and play with Li Ang whenever he had nothing to do.

Sometimes C Ronaldo was provoked by his opponent on the court, and Li Ang tried to appease him, and C Ronaldo was honestly hugged by Li Ang and left the conflict site.

Therefore, Li Ang thought he had a lot of experience in how to smooth out C Ronaldo's personality after he got angry.

After promising Mendes that he would find time to talk to Ronaldo over the phone later, Li Ang finally had some free time.

And Mendes did not stay in Li Ang's villa for too long.

Tomorrow Chelsea will go away to play the fourth round of the League Cup, which is the 1/8 knockout round of this season's League Cup.

Li Ang will not start the game, but will go with the team to the away game.

Mendes still has a lot of things to deal with, so after wishing Li Ang a successful promotion with the team in advance, he left on time.

The next afternoon, Li Ang arrived in Shropshire in the central and western part of England with the team.

At the new grass stadium that can only accommodate 10,000 fans, he sat on the bench and watched the League Cup match between his team and the English League Two team Shrewsbury up close.

Mourinho used some rotation players and young players from the youth training to deal with this game.

Li Ang's pressure only provides more confidence for his young players.

After all, he is one of the most lucky players in European football. Li Ang does not believe this, but his teammates do.

Well, to put it simply, he is the "mascot" on the bench of Chelsea in this game.

And seeing the final result of 3-0 stable promotion to the next round of the League Cup, Mourinho was also very satisfied with Li Ang's pressure effect.

The main players of Chelsea's first team rested comfortably for two days, and then began to prepare for the Queens Park Rangers step by step.

Last season, Queens Park Rangers successfully broke through the siege of the English Championship and returned to the Premier League. This season's record can only be said to be in line with their status as a newly promoted team.

At present, after nine rounds of the Premier League, they have lost six games in the league and only have seven points, ranking second from the bottom in the Premier League.

And the exaggerated data of 18 goals conceded has made them the worst defensive team in the Premier League so far this season.

Fighting against such a team, to be honest, the whole Chelsea team really can't raise any tension.

Considering that they are about to go to Slovenia and Maribor for the second round of the Champions League group.

Mourinho simply let the main veterans such as Ibrahimovic and Terry continue to rest.

So on the afternoon of November 1, when Queens Park Rangers came to Stamford Bridge, they faced a non-main Chelsea team that continued to rotate.

But Crystal Palace and Manchester United had already set an example for Queens Park Rangers.

Now facing the rotating Chelsea lineup, no mid- and lower-level teams in the Premier League would dare to relax their vigilance.

Although the season has just begun, the mid- and lower-level teams that are several positions ahead of Queens Park Rangers cannot pull away from them in terms of points.

But facing the current Premier League leader, the Rangers players who lost the ball will inevitably be in awe.

In addition, today they came to Stamford Bridge to challenge Chelsea.

From the beginning of the game, the Rangers players showed a defensive attitude that they had no ambition to win and just wanted to get a point.

Originally, Mourinho didn't care much about the civilian version of the bus of this weak team.

But after seeing that his own players besieged the Rangers for 45 minutes without breaking their goal, he could only accept the result of a draw at halftime.

Mourinho frowned slightly, and then asked Li Ang, who had been on the bench for half the game, to warm up.

Commentators from various countries who saw this scene teased Mourinho, saying that he was going to use his real trump card.

The Rangers players, who were originally happy about keeping the tie in the first half, froze when they saw Li Ang take off his substitute vest and start warming up on the sidelines.

Before the second half started, Mourinho made the first substitution of the game.

As expected, Li Ang directly replaced Ramirez and played as a double central midfielder with Kroos.

Lampard still looked like a defensive midfielder on the field, but the Chelsea fans at the scene knew that Mourinho would never let Lampard stay in his own half as a defensive player in the second half.

As expected, as soon as the second half started, Lampard, Li Ang and Kroos lined up and pressed into the Rangers' half.

This was simply blocking the door of the Rangers to organize the offense. The tactics were domineering and arrogant, but the Rangers players dared not speak out.

Torres, who had not had many good opportunities on the offensive end in the first half, ran more actively.

After Li Ang came on the field, he and Lampard opened fire directly from the periphery, swinging heavy artillery one after another, hitting the Rangers defenders in fear.

Long-range shots plus set pieces, Chelsea's two bus-breaking tactics were used in turn!

Thousands of Rangers fans at the scene were very nervous and kept praying for their team.

After beating the Rangers' defense for about 20 minutes, Li Ang looked at the Rangers defenders who were forced to move forward to prevent him and Lampard from kicking freely, and he felt relieved.

In the 72nd minute of the second half, Li Ang and Kroos switched positions to the right side of the midfield to meet De Bruyne who had failed to break through.

After receiving the ball, Li Ang dribbled forward slightly and adjusted his pace.

The Rangers midfielder Sandro was so scared that he quickly pressed forward to interfere with the long shot he was sure to hit!

But this time Li Ang did not decisively shoot, but when he was about to contact and confront Sandro, he flexibly slammed the ball and changed direction, dodging Sandro's interception!

After passing Sandro, Leon continued to rush to the Rangers' penalty area with the ball at high speed!

This sudden change caused the Rangers' defense to be in chaos.

The Rangers' left center back Caulker wanted to stop Leon immediately, but his partner Dunn wanted to return to the penalty area and wait for another midfielder Carl Henry to return to fill Sandro's position.

The different ideas of the two directly led to the split of the Rangers' defense line, and Leon also keenly captured the opportunity at this moment and directly stuffed the ball behind Caulker!

Dunn was dragged at the back of the Rangers' defense line, so when Torres rushed into the Rangers' penalty area diagonally, he was not offside!

Shu Shu stopped Leon's pass that tore through the Rangers' defense line like a surgical knife. Before Dunn came to defend, Torres completed the push with his right foot!

The Rangers' goalkeeper Green reacted quickly and he also caught the football.

But Torres' push was very powerful. After being blocked, the football finally hit the inside of the goal post and bounced into the net!

The hope of the Rangers, who had defended for 70 minutes, was shattered at this moment!

Leon and Torres, who had crushed their hopes, hugged and celebrated in the penalty area in front of them.

Mourinho stood on the sidelines and breathed a long sigh of relief.

As for the Rangers, who had upset him for most of the game today, Mourinho was also unceremoniously directing the team to switch to a defensive counterattack posture immediately after taking the lead.

But the Rangers players, who had already given up, did not have the intention of making a desperate attack at the last moment.

In the end, the score of this game was fixed at 1-0.

Chelsea's victory was not as easy as the media predicted before the game, but at least they won and continued their winning streak in the league.

Manchester City and Arsenal fans could only accept the reality that Chelsea continued to win with disappointment again.

Li Ang's performance in the second half of this game once again made him the focus of discussion among fans.

There is no way. As soon as Li Ang came on the field, Chelsea's offense was revitalized. This effect is simply amazing, and it is difficult for fans to ignore it.

The lesson of today's difficult victory also made Mourinho directly send out the full main lineup when facing Maribor four days later!

So Maribor suffered again. It was not as bad as the 7-0 massacre in the last round, but they were still beaten 5-1 by Chelsea at home!

This time, the protagonist on the court changed from Li Ang to Ibrahimovic, who was fully rested and wanted to play well.

Ibrahimovic, who had not been able to perform well in several games, directly made a big four in this Champions League group match!

That really made Maribor's defense cry.

Li Ang only got one assist in this game, but he was in a good mood and accepted an interview with the media after the game.

Chelsea has already locked the qualification for the top of the group after this round of victory over Maribor.

So the most questions that reporters asked Li Ang were what opponents he wanted to face in the Champions League in the future.

Li Ang's answer was as straightforward as ever.

"Of course I want to play against the strongest team, and I have always thought so."

After a pause, Li Ang added humorously:

"Of course, if I can meet Barcelona in the first round of the knockout stage, then I have no problem~"