Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 575 Two former employers lend a helping hand

After their match against Levante, Granada remained in second place in the league.

This excited the entire team. As the second-placed team in La Liga, Granada had never reached such a height in its many years of history.

Although it has only been twelve rounds, everyone on the team is very happy to have reached this level.

Especially in this match against Levante, when the whole team was in poor form, Shan Yongzhuo was still able to win a big victory against his opponent.

This gave Granada's players a lot of confidence.

Poor performance?

It's ok!
We have Shan Yongzhuo!
Shan Yongzhuo will clean up our mess!
This is the prevailing mindset throughout Granada at this moment.

Some local media outlets in Granada have even called for a run for the league title.

Pellegrini was delighted as he read the reports, because the media wasn't just praising Shan Yongzhuo, but also praising him.

In most La Liga media reports, three people are credited with the rise of Granada.

First and foremost is Shan Yongzhuo. His contributions need no further explanation; his 33 goals in twelve rounds are the best proof. He accounted for over 90% of Granada's goals. Without him, Granada could not have achieved its current success.

The second is Tomas Kroos. As the president of Granada, there is no doubt that his keen eye for talent allowed Granada to buy the best players at the lowest cost. Kroos, who turned stones into gold, has become known throughout Europe.

Of course, Pellegrini paid no attention to the praise from these two people.

Media reports have also highlighted Pellegrini's crucial role in Granada's resurgence this season.

His tactical arrangements, on-field command, and coaching of young players are considered key to Granada's rise. Harry Kane, Nainggolan, Ziyech, and even Blind, Van Dijk, and Flores have all had outstanding performances under his guidance, which is the best proof of that.

According to Spanish media, Pellegrini may not be the best coach in the world, but he is definitely the most suitable coach for Granada at present.

He is very good at training ordinary players, at tapping the potential of small clubs, and at making small teams achieve big results and take off.

The combination of Granada and Pellegrini is seen by the Spanish media as the finishing touch for Kroos.

Pellegrini chose to accept all the praise.

Even during training, he couldn't maintain a serious demeanor; he was constantly beaming with joy.

He was overjoyed.

Shan Yongzhuo scoffed at this.

“Manuel, you should look forward.”

Shan Yongzhuo patiently persuaded Pellegrini: "If you're this upset just because we're second in the league, that's really beneath you. What if we win the Champions League next season? Are you going to have a heart attack?"

"We can win the Champions League?" Pellegrini was taken aback.

"Of course, with me here, we'll win the championship." Shan Yongzhuo smiled confidently.

Pellegrini felt something was off, but then he thought, with Shan Yongzhuo around, it did seem like a real possibility.

Then, Pellegrini became even more agitated.

As a result, the other Granada players suffered, receiving special attention from Pellegrini and being subjected to meticulous demands during training.

In this tense yet joyful atmosphere, Granada welcomed their third league match, hosting Malaga. Malaga is Pellegrini's former club, where he led them to the Champions League quarterfinals last season, only to be brutally defeated by Manchester City, led by Shan Yongzhuo.

Unexpectedly, this season, Pellegrini and Shan Yongzhuo will face Malaga again, which can be considered a kind of unpredictability in life.

This is the second match in November. After this match, La Liga will have a break of more than half a month for international matches.

Granada will also have a holiday period.

Therefore, despite facing his former club, Pellegrini still issued a must-win order, showing no mercy to his old team.

Malaga is not in a very good state right now either.

Since Pellegrini left, several key players from Malaga have been poached, and coupled with Malaga's extremely difficult financial situation, which is close to bankruptcy, Malaga has been struggling this season.

After twelve rounds of matches, Malaga has only achieved a record of 3 wins, 4 draws and 5 losses, ranking thirteenth in the league.

This result might be acceptable for most teams, but it's quite poor for Malaga, who reached the Champions League quarterfinals last season.

Amidst the deafening cheers of over 20,000 fans at the Camenes Stadium, Malaga offered no resistance and surrendered without resistance.

Shan Yongzhuo only played half the game and scored two goals, while the other goal belonged to Nainggolan.

Granada easily defeated Malaga 3-1 at home, maintaining their second place in the league.

Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid, who had been performing strongly, were held to a draw by Villarreal away from home in this match.

This made Pellegrini even happier; he felt that everything was going so smoothly.

Villarreal is also Pellegrini's former club, the place where his coaching career truly took off.

With the help of their two former clubs, Granada has secured second place in the league, pulling away from Atletico Madrid by two points, which is a very gratifying thing.

The match has ended, and it's time for the international break.

The 2014 World Cup qualifiers are currently in full swing, which is also the worst time for top clubs because a large number of their players will be playing for their national teams, which can negatively impact their form.

But they have no choice. National team matches are something that football players can't refuse, especially the glory of qualifying for the World Cup finals. No player can refuse that.

Granada is alright, though.

Although the Chinese national football team still has matches to play, they have already secured first place in their group and qualified for the 2014 Brazil World Cup finals, so neither Shan Yongzhuo nor Feng Xiaoting went back to participate in the matches.

Although he really wanted to get back and score goals...

Feng Xiaoting returned to China to see his wife, which left Shan Yongzhuo, who had originally planned to invite him on a trip to Spain, with no choice but to cancel his plans.

Among the other players, not many have been selected for the national team.

Gunnarsson was the captain of Iceland, but the Icelandic team was not strong at that time, and they had already been eliminated early.

Nainggolan has been selected for the Belgian national team, and Blind has been selected for the Dutch national team. Both of them have gradually become key players for their respective national teams, and they cannot escape their inclusion.

As for the others, they can relax and enjoy their vacation.

(End of this chapter)