When Gao Shen woke up, he felt refreshed.

  Every time he spent a night iactical library, he would wake up feeling energized and clear-headed.

  It allowed him to start eaew day in peak dition.

  Pulling back the curtains, he saw the bright sunlight streaming through the window. The weather erfect.

  Having grown up in southern a, he had struggled to adjust to the gloomy British weather while studying at Loughbh Uy. That was why, when he had the ce to intern, he had chosen Madrid, where the sun was almost always shining.

  Later, he moved to Italy, where the climate suited him better.

  Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, he spshed cold water on his face. The icy shock sent a shiver down his spine, waking him up pletely.

  As he stared at his wet refle, a thought suddenly struck him.

  He remembered what he had looked like when he first arrived in this timeline.

  Back then, he never could have imagined reag this point.

  His only focus at the time had been surviving at Real Madrid, figuring out a way to hold onto his job.

  Now, survival was no lohe goal. His ambitions had grown far beyond that.

  He had figured it out.

  Ferguson had told him this. Mourinho had said it too. Even Su Qing had advised him.

  He ched his fists and stared at himself in the mirror.

  "Take down Ferguson. Reach the final!"

  At that moment, he felt like a warrior setting out to sy a demon.

  ---

  That m, everyo the club noticed something different about Gao Shen.

  For the past few days, he had seemed tense and preoccupied. But today, he was back to his old self—calm, fident, and full of energy.

  Like self, he was radiating sunshine and vitality.

  Zidane and Lucas picked up on the shift almost immediately.

  Carlo and the others noticed it when they arrived at Castel Volturno.

  Everyone was relieved.

  This was the Gao Shen they knew.

  ---

  Each m, the coag staff gathered early for a meeting to go over the day's training schedule and key points of focus.

  As usual, Carlo Ai chaired the meeting.

  Gao Shen usually didn't participate in training sessions himself.

  But today, as soon as everyone had arrived, he walked straight up to the front of the room.

  He had something to say.

  Looking at his staff, he felt a deep sense of camaraderie.

  Every one of them was an expert in their field.

  Carlo Ai had coached Real Madrid and was more than capable of managing any top club.

  Fernando Lucas was arguably the best analyst in Europe.

  Zidane—a legendary footballer, a soon-to-be coag i.

  Maurizio Sarri—a tactical genius, though still waiting for a perma tract.

  Bueura, Pintus, Borrell, Lopis—all of them elite in their respective fields.

  After three years together, they had bee a well-oiled mae.

  Gao Shen took a deep breath.

  "First things first, fet the first leg. We o focus entirely on Old Trafford week."

  He turo Lucas.

  "The analysis team o prepare a detailed report as soon as possible. We o break everything down and analyze it thhly. Also, I want scouts closely monit Maer United's every move."

  Luodded in aowledgment.

  "The first leg ended 1-1 at home. That means we have no choice, we must score in the sed leg."

  "With that in mind, I want to have one-on-oings with every pyer over the wo days. I want to hear their thoughts."

  "But before that, I want to hear from you all. Are you fident about the sed leg? What tactics do you think we should use? Do we attack? Do we defend? We o be very careful in our approach."

  If they attacked, they risked being caught on the terattack.

  With Rooney, Ronaldo, Berbatov, and Tevez, Maer United's ter was one of the deadliest in Europe.

  If they pushed forward recklessly, they could leave themselves exposed.

  Oher hand, Napoli's passing and movement were among the best in Europe.

  But United's defense was also formidable.

  Gao Shen had always believed that the best way to uand an oppo was to listen to the pyers who had actually faced them och.

  If they focused on defehey still had to find a way to scoals.

  ---

  In Gao Shen's staff, each coach had their own personality and approach.

  Carlo Ai was naturally cautious.

  He always thought about how things could g first, before sidering victory.

  That had always been his style. Identify weakhen reinforce them.

  "We o defend well at Old Trafford," Carlo said. "But I do think we should start with an aggressive approach. We o take the initiative and try to score early. If we 't, then we fall bad focus on staying pact."

  "At home, we didn't py to our strengths," he added bluntly. "We were solid, but we let ces slip away."

  Gao Shen nodded.

  He had already admitted that the first-leg result was on him.

  Zidane, in trast, was banced and pragmatic.

  He believed that after drawing 1-1 away, Ferguson would expeapoli to attack at Old Trafford.

  "I actually think our first-leg tactics could work well again in the sed leg," Zidane said. "I rewatched the match, we handled Rooney and Carrick very well."

  Gao Shen shook his head.

  "Ferguson will have learned from the first leg. I think he'll start Berbatov this time."

  "Will Wes Brown be avaible?" Zidane asked Lucas.

  Lucas shook his head. "No signs of a retur."

  Brown had been Maer United's first-choice right-back st season.

  He had performed well and was reliable defensively.

  "If Wes Brown 't return, what about Maer United's right fnk?" Zidane asked. "We should let Di María stay on the left and keep attag O'Shea. If we keep pressing him, United will struggle to cope."

  Everyone nodded.

  Cristiano Ronaldo rarely tracked back beyond the halfway line. Regardless of where Ferguson positioned him, he always drifted forward during matches, his focus was on sg goals.

  This was why some critics, including Ferguson himself, felt he was somewhat one-dimensional.

  "Let's go with a 4-2-3-1." Gao Shen suddenly decred.

  The room fell silent.

  "Berbatov up front. Rooney py oher the left ht. The other two iag trio should be Tevez and Park Ji-sung, while Ronaldo pys trally, roaming behiov. We even have Berbatov drop deep while Ronaldo makes runs beyond him on the terattack."

  Everyone quickly uood what Gao She, this was a variation of a system United had used before.

  Over the past three seasons, Ferguson's Maer United had been one of the stro and most sistent teams in Europe, stantly evolving tactically.

  In Gao Shen's previous life, Guardio had defeated Ferguson by using ae possession-based system, bined with the brillianessi and Ia.

  But Napoli wasn't Bara, they needed a different approach.

  "If we py 4-2-3-1, we'll likely trol the midfield," Sarri pointed out. "That could be a major advantage."

  "Exactly," Gao Shen agreed. "With Berbatov and Ronaldo both operatirally, her of them will track back. Carrid Fletcher alone hold the midfield?"

  Carlo frowned. "That's risky. If we push too far forward, we'll be exposed to terattacks."

  Tactical setups always involved trade-offs.

  There was no such thing as a perfect strategy.

  If you focused on attag, your defense would suffer. If you reinforced one side, the other would bee vulnerable.

  That was the reality of football.

  "If we press high, how long we sustain it with our current fitness levels?" Gao Shen asked Bueura and Pintus.

  Previously, he had felt that aggressive pressing was too risky.

  But now, he realized that every choice carried risks.

  Maer United were an exceptional team with elite pyers. No matter hooli pyed, Ferguson would find a way to create ces.

  No team could be pletely fwless when fag a side of this caliber.

  "United's tempo is fast, and their attacks are physically demanding," Bueura responded. "If we go all out, robably maintain high-iy pressing for around 70 minutes."

  Pintus thought for a moment and agreed. "Yes, 70 mi most."

  That was actually quite good.

  The Premier League was notorious for its physical demands, high tempo, stant duels, aless pressing. Even top teams struggled to maintain iy for aire match.

  In Gao Shen's previous life, Klopp's Dortmund could only sustain their high-pressing game for about 60 minutes against Premier League teams like Arsenal.

  This tion worth sidering.

  In those first 60-70 minutes, Napoli o take trol and capitalize on their dominance.

  One goal might not be enough.

  The ideal sario was to score first, overturn the aggregate score, then drop deeper and forited to push forward, opening up space for terattacks.

  But Ferguson was no fool.

  He wouldn't allow the match to follooli's script.

  And what if, iag phase, Uruck first?

  What if they tered and scored before Napoli?

  That was a question without an easy answer.

  This was the Champions League semifinals, every match was worth tens of millions of euros.

  If it were simple, it wouldn't be one of the highest levels of football.

  This was the biggest stage in the world.

  "Alright, everyohink it over carefully," Gao Shen said. "I'll do the same. In the meantime, I'll talk to the pyers individually. I o hear their thoughts on the first leg, especially their impressions of United's pyers."

  If the squad cked fidehe tactieeded to at for that.

  If they were fident, Gao Shen could afford to take a mgressive approach.

  At the end of the day, no matter how perfect the strategy, the pyers were the ones who had to execute it.

  They were the ones och.

  So Gao Shen o craft a pn that fit them.

  ***

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