On the evening of April 6th, Allianz Arena in Munich.

Players from both teams have finished their pre-match training and returned to the locker room.

At this time, the stands at the Allianz Arena were already packed with people and all seats were occupied.

Tonight, a total of 66,000 fans entered the stadium to cheer for Bayern.

Although Van Gaal's team did not perform particularly well this season, it still received support from the fans.

The game hasn't started yet, but the atmosphere among the fans is already quite enthusiastic.

Among them, countless flags were raised in the stand area where the die-hard fans were located.

This season, Bayern has no hope of catching up in the league, and there is basically no chance of the German Cup. The only hope now is the Champions League. Therefore, fans hope that the team can continue to move forward.

But unfortunately, the draw was drawn to the sophisticated Manchester City.

The whole world knows that Gao Shen is best at playing in cup competitions, and Manchester City is also one of the strongest teams in European football this season.

This undoubtedly casts a shadow over the prospects of this game.

The Bayern giants sitting in the administrative area of ​​the President's Stand also had solemn faces at this moment. They were obviously very worried about this game, and all of them had lost their usual ease.

"Van Gaal is too stubborn!" Hoeness already knew the team's starting lineup tonight.

"Refuse to adjust?" Rummenigge asked.

Hoeness snorted and laughed, "He won't compromise if he thinks too much."

Stubborn can actually be a neutral word.

Stubbornness is a good quality when a person insists on what is right and good.

When a person is clearly wrong but still insists on his opinion, that stubbornness will become his most fatal flaw.

Van Gaal is such a person, and he never compromises.

"Before this game, Lahm talked to him a lot on behalf of the team and reflected on the defensive problems, but it seems that he still insists and is unwilling to change himself." Hoeness said helplessly.

This is actually a very bad thing.

The whole world knows how strong Manchester City's offensive strength is.

Even at home, with the fragility of Bayern Munich's defense, it is really dangerous to face Manchester City.

Once Manchester City gets an away goal, or even allows Manchester City to score first, Bayern will be very passive, even bad.

Therefore, whether it is Hoeness, Rummenigge, or the players in the locker room, they all feel that Bayern, playing at home, should try to stabilize its defense.

But Van Gaal doesn't seem to think so.

What he wants is always to score more goals than his opponents.

"Do you know how I feel now?" Hoeness asked with a sad smile.

"Contradiction!" Rummenigge replied.

Hoeness nodded.

It seems that Rummenigge is the same.

Why did you choose Van Gaal in the first place?

Because Gao Shen didn't come.

Then why choose Gaoshen?

Because Bayern realizes that the team's techniques and tactics have reached a point where they need to be reformed.

Especially after seeing the new football trend set off by Klopp in Dortmund and Tuchel in Mainz, Bayern's top brass clearly knew that times have changed.

They chose Van Gaal because they wanted him to transform Bayern.

Van Gaal did it.

Now Bayern has become more controlling, more aggressive, and their playing style is also good-looking, but the problem is that the defense is also fragile.

In fact, these problems were not obvious last season because there was Demichelis in the lineup last season.

The Argentinian is the main central defender, and his ability to get and play the ball is very strong.

But this player had a falling out with Van Gaal and requested a transfer during the winter break and went directly to Malaga in La Liga.

The current conflicting mood of Bayern's management is that Van Gaal has indeed transformed Bayern, but the current situation makes them hope that Van Gaal will not change so much and go back a little bit.

But Van Gaal refused!

"You know what? He feels to me like a tyrant who was still living in the early 1990s." Hoeness said with a wry smile.

Professional football in that era was much simpler than it is today. The head coach often gave orders directly to the players, and the players did their best to carry them out without much questioning. This was the authority of the head coach.

But it's obviously different now.

From the Bosman Act to today's information age, players' self-awareness has become stronger and stronger, and their personalities have become more and more prominent. This makes it difficult for head coaches to unilaterally act like they did more than ten or twenty years ago. Give orders to players.

What matters now is communication.

An excellent head coach will rely on his personal prestige and charm, and through effective communication, instill his own ideas into the players, so that the players will execute them willingly.

But Van Gaal’s way of managing the team seems to still be in the early 1990s.

This is actually not a problem.

If he is coaching a small team like Alkmaar and the players under his command are all unknowns, then of course there will be no problem, everyone will obey and listen to him.

But he coached Bayern.

"If we had worked harder and signed Gao Shen before Manchester City, the situation might have been completely different now, and maybe we would have saved ourselves a lot of troubles." Hoeness sighed regretfully. tone.

"It's not possible, it's certain!" Rummenigge also felt the same way.

But there are no ifs in this world.

…

When the players of the two teams lined up at the entrance of the tunnel and were about to play, Gao Shen walked out of the visiting team's locker room.

As soon as he came down the stairs and came to the entrance of the passage, he saw Van Gaal and the coaching staff standing at the end of the queue of Bayern players. He immediately smiled and nodded to Van Gaal from a distance.

The Dutch coach also noticed him and returned the favor with a smile.

The two of them were not familiar with each other and did not communicate much.

Gao Shen still admires Van Gaal very much. He even studied Van Gaal's books carefully in the tactical library. He can be said to be profound and profound, and he also has his own unique understanding of football techniques and tactics.

In this regard, Gao Shen admires him very much.

Van Gaal is a great manager, there is no doubt about it.

But just a little paranoid.

Gao Shen discovered that these football philosophers are all paranoid.

For example, Van Gaal, Bielsa, Guardiola...

Although many people also think that Gao Shen is good at thinking and exploring, he has never been paranoid.

In fact, he is more like Ancelotti in getting along with players.

This is also the reason why the two of them can talk so well, they are both good at chatting.

No, in Ancelotti's words, his ability to chatter is far less than profound.

Tonight, Bayern will still face the match with a lineup of 4,23,1.

Goalkeeper: Kraft.

Defense: Planic, Badstuber, Tymoshchuk and Lahm.

Midfield: Gustavo and Bastian Schweinsteiger form a double defensive midfielder, with Ribery, Thomas Muller and Altintop in front.

Center: Gomez.

This is actually not surprising.

Van Gaal's main lineup this season is this. Unless he encounters injuries, he rarely makes adjustments.

But tonight, he brought Breno and Van Buyten into the substitute lineup.

It is not difficult to see from this that Van Gaal's starting lineup has not changed, but he is still a little hesitant in his heart.

Manchester City also played with their full lineup.

Goalkeeper: Neuer.

Defense: Felipe, David Luiz, Kompany and Lichtsteiner.

Midfield: Javi Martinez deep, David Silva and Rakitic in the centre.

Forwards: Gareth Bale, Suarez and Robben.

Among them, Robben is returning from injury.

Gao Shen did not hide his intention. He played away from home and played with all the main players. Manchester City just wanted to score goals.
To be continued...