Chapter 247: Master and Apprentice Reunite for the Final, Preparations for the Last Round of La Liga (Requesting Monthly Tickets!)

Check Dongqiu Di Headline: Following Villarreal's footsteps, Ten Hag leads Manchester United into the Europa League final; the master-apprentice showdown is finally about to begin.

"Villarreal News"—Although the date for the Europa League final has not yet been confirmed, considering past scheduling arrangements, the final between Villarreal and Manchester United should be scheduled after the 23rd, by which time both this season's Premier League and La Liga will have concluded.

【Damn, brothers, it's finally f***ing here!】

【I declare: Europa League Final hype > Champions League Final!】

【The mighty Tang Tang Qiuwang vs. the great Ten Hag, a battle of two giants!】

Is the Europa League Final generating more hype than the Champions League Final?

The fans on Check Dongqiu Di might be exaggerating a bit with that statement.

However, within China, that statement is absolutely true!

Of course, it's not just about the hype!

Villarreal and Manchester United may not appear as formidable as Real Madrid and Juventus.

But that is merely how they appear!

Villarreal possesses a player of Ball King caliber.

Manchester United possesses a coach of Sage caliber.

This is a battle between a Sage and a King!

The competitive level of the Europa League Final is in no way inferior to that of the Champions League Final!

Click-clack!

"Regarding this season's Premier League, do you think the team can ultimately secure a top-four finish?"

"Of course, that is certain."

Ten Hag appeared very relaxed: "We are already in fifth place, only two points behind fourth; we will win the final two matches and then secure qualification for next season's Champions League, a fact known to all fans."

"Then can we talk about the Europa League? After defeating Celta, you successfully advanced to the Europa League final, and your opponent in the final is currently La Liga's biggest dark horse, Villarreal."

Ten Hag frowned as he listened to the reporter's question.

"Villarreal is an excellent team; they have key players, and Tang often delivers unexpected performances in matches."

When mentioning "Tang," the wrinkles on Ten Hag's face smoothed out.

"Do you mean that Tom will perform very well in the final, is that correct?"

"Yes, that is exactly what I mean. Based on my understanding of Tang, his level is outstanding even among all active midfielders, and he also has excellent chemistry with his team; this is something we need to consider."

The reporters below exchanged glances, and upon realizing this, they began snapping photos of Ten Hag frantically.

"Hmm?"

Escrivá, watching the interview live stream on his phone, narrowed his eyes.

Based on Escrivá's understanding of Ten Hag, the Dutch Sage generally would not spend so much time describing a player from another team.

What surprised Escrivá most was that Ten Hag had actually lavished praise on Tang Ye!

This was extremely strange!

It must be remembered that at the very beginning of the 2016-17 season, Ten Hag had said that Tang Ye would be unable to adapt to La Liga.

But now, as the season nears its end, Ten Hag has suddenly changed his tune, saying how incredibly powerful Tang Ye is.

Ten Hag is highly capable; this is something Escrivá firmly believes.

At the same time, he is also a strange fellow!

Just like Tom!

Geniuses are all strange!

What exactly is going on inside Ten Hag's mind?

His wife, Marta, handed Escrivá a chilled bottle of sparkling water, and the bored Escrivá shared his recent thoughts with her.

"Isn't that quite simple?"

Marta blinked her eyes.

"The season is nearly over, which means the transfer window is about to open."

"..."

Holding the TV remote control, Escrivá's body instantly froze.

UEFA: The Europa League final will be held on May 25 (local time) at the Friends Arena in Solna, Sweden, with a single-leg format.

"Shoot directly, shoot directly!"

Actively making space, Tang Ye created a good shooting lane for Rodrigo, who was charging forward.

Bang!

Slap!

"Saved!"

"Lux has saved the ball!"

"The score is still 0-0! Deportivo La Coruña has held on until now!"

【Holy crap, holy crap】

【Don't tell me Villarreal is going to get counter-attacked and beaten by Barcelona?】

【No way, can the opposition stop defending and just attack, attack!】

【They've dropped even deeper than Atlético Madrid; in this match, you really can't blame Villarreal.】

【Did Barcelona bribe Deportivo La Coruña?】

The introduction for this match was displayed in the top-left corner of the live stream.

La Liga Round 37: Villarreal vs. Deportivo La Coruña.

The match had reached the 87th minute, yet the score on the field remained 0:0.

"Damn!"

"Cross runs! You could try that from the outside!"

Escrivá was now growing anxious; neighboring Barcelona had just won a match and sat at 85 points. If Yellow Submarine drew this game, they would be squeezed out of second place.

Just a few days ago, Villarreal had celebrated their second-place ranking on the table!

How could they fall now!

"Stoppage time announced: three minutes."

"Villarreal still has some chances."

"Successive attacking surges by Ajax and Barcelona have caused Villarreal to encounter some difficult-to-adapt situations when facing Deportivo La Coruña, a team inclined toward defense."

Just as the CCTV commentator had said moments ago.

Because of the special tactics employed by Ajax and Barcelona, Yellow Submarine had played very steadily at the start of today's match, fearing a massive offensive from their opponent.

As it turned out, the opposition was playing a pure defensive tactic today.

Villarreal had wasted too much time in the first half!

"Come on, come on!"

"Villarreal!"

Receiving a through ball sent from the backfield by Tang Ye, Aleix adjusted and fired a direct shot!

Slap!

It was the goalkeeper Lux again!

"Wow."

Tang Ye cupped his head with both hands.

He had thought Atlético Madrid's defense was already at its peak.

He hadn't expected there to be even higher masters!

"Beep beep beep!!!!"

The stands were filled with fake whistles blown by Yellow Submarine fans.

This was the home fans declaring their dissatisfaction with the away team's cowardly tactics.

"Attack!"

"Can't you play an open game with us?"

"Stop hiding inside the penalty area!"

Check Dongqiu Di Match Report: Yellow Submarine held to a dull 0:0 draw at home by Deportivo La Coruña; league ranking drops to third place.

La Sexta: Currently, the gap between Barcelona and Real Madrid is only three points plus two goal differences; Barcelona appears to be plotting a miracle. "If I were a Real Madrid fan, I'd probably wet my pants sleeping tonight."

Marca Front Page Headline: Affected by the Champions League semi-finals, Real Madrid's league performance in April shows a downward trend; can they seize the opportunity in the final match?

Appendix: La Liga Standings (Round 37)

1. Real Madrid, 88 points.

2. Barcelona, 85 points.

3. Villarreal, 84 points.

4. Atlético Madrid, 76 points.

5. Sevilla, 64 points.

6. Real Sociedad, 61 points. Originally leading the second-place team by six points, Real Madrid fans could be said to have rested easy.

As a result, they truly lost the Round 37 match.

Now Barcelona has caught up again!

Most critically, unlike Yellow Submarine and Real Madrid, Barcelona has no other competitions besides the La Liga.

Simply put, Enrique's Barcelona will focus all their energy on the La Liga.

Three points, two goal differences...

To be honest, this is truly not an impossible task for them!

Click click!

After surpassing Barcelona, Villarreal's ranking on the table was overtaken again by Barcelona.

Reporters specifically asked Escrivá about this issue.

Because they trailed by one point, Yellow Submarine had now fallen into a disadvantageous position in the battle for second place in La Liga.

"Many fans did not expect this situation..."

!

"Yes, I know. Not only the fans, but I actually did not expect this situation either; neither I nor the players on the team expected this."

Having secured only one point in Round 37, Escrivá's expression was not very good: "Just as you said a moment ago, both we and Real Madrid have been affected by European competitions."

Because the opponents in the final two rounds were not strong, the Yellow Submarine coaching staff had kept their attention focused on Manchester United.

The Real Madrid coaching staff made the same mistake; spending all day studying Juventus led directly to them being beaten 1:0 by Sevilla.

"With the Europa League final against Manchester United starting in just over a week, will you still focus on the league's battle for second place under these circumstances? What I mean is, do you have any intention of overtaking Barcelona once again?"

The press room camera focused on Escrivá's face; the Yellow Submarine head coach maintained a calm expression.

"That is certain."

"We all know that La Liga is special; the significance of finishing second versus third is completely different."

"Our current situation is somewhat passive, but we will do our utmost to win the final match. As for the final ranking, that is no longer something I can decide."

Crack, crack, crack, crack!

……

On the return journey, the bus was extremely quiet; the Yellow Submarine players and the coaching staff were all in low spirits.

"Rod, when we won the last league match, I thought we were definitely going to finish second in the league."

Tang Ye squeezed the earphones in his hand and turned to look at Rodri, who had remained silent.

Rodri's performance in today's match hadn't been very good, so he was feeling somewhat guilty now.

"Actually, I feel we had a scoring chance in the first half; when that number 8 came up to press, I should have run to the left..."

"By 'left,' I mean the side closer to the substitutes' bench in the first half,"

Rodri added.

"No help for it; I missed plenty of chances too."

Tang Ye stuffed the earphones into his trouser pocket: "Mainly, the rhythm of this match was too strange; we haven't played a game this slow all month."

"Deportivo La Coruña's coach is very wise; they knew we couldn't adapt quickly to this rhythm."

As Tang Ye and Rodri chatted, Bruno sat quietly in front listening while communicating with Escrivá on his phone.

Escrivá, sitting at the very front, stood up.

"Hey, guys, after we get back to the base, don't rush off; gather in the gym for twenty minutes—it won't exceed twenty minutes."

……

Tang Ye sat on the bench press, lowering the dumbbell in his right hand, then slowly lifting it back up.

"Sebastián, perhaps one day I can have muscles like yours."

"Like mine?"

Aleix smiled, directly took off his shirt, flexed his arm in a curl, his biceps twisting into a knot, several veins clearly visible beneath his dark skin.

"So, you want to have muscles like mine?"

"Uh..."

Tang Ye shook his head: "It will happen eventually; don't rush it."

"Talk to me about it after you've surpassed me first."

Musacchio also showed Tang Ye his arm.

It had to be said, this group of strikers and center-backs truly had powerful bodies, with huge muscles.

No wonder every time Tang Ye pretended to be a striker and charged into the penalty area, he always felt like he was being blocked by a wall.

As the players chatted casually to relax, Escrivá, having finished taking notes, entered through the back door.

"It's fine, no need to stand up; make yourselves comfortable."

"This isn't a meeting; I'll just chat with you briefly."

Escrivá found a spot and sat down casually.

"Two matches; we have only the final two matches of the season left, and these two matches are extremely, extremely crucial."

Glancing down at the notebook in his hand: "First is the match against Valencia on the 21st; there are only four days between that match and our game against Manchester United on the 25th. It's a pity UEFA didn't arrange more rest time for us, but I don't think that matters."

"Four days is enough for us to play both matches well..."

Speaking thus, Escrivá suddenly stopped: "Tom, so why are you holding a dumbbell?"

"Oh, you mean this?"

Tang Ye lifted the dumbbell in his hand: "I was just exercising a little."

Escrivá tapped a 40kg large dumbbell on the rack behind him, then pointed at the mini dumbbell in Tang Ye's hand, which weighed only 4kg.

"..."

Tang Ye silently hid the dumbbell behind his back.

"You've all seen the league table; after the match ended, rumors were flying online. We are currently one point behind Barcelona; the situation isn't very good."

Unsurprisingly, upon mentioning the standings, the expressions of the surrounding players grew heavy; it was clear that today's match had indeed had a negative impact on them.

"However, I'm telling you, we must approach the final round with the mindset of charging for second place."

"Will Barcelona definitely win? I don't think so; their opponent in the final round is Eibar. We lost to Eibar once this season, just last month; you should know they are not an easy team to handle."

"We have a chance to push Barcelona down."

Whoosh!

He flipped the notebook to the next page.

"Then there's the Europa League matter; Manchester United is indeed very strong, so I can see you've been under some pressure recently. My pressure is also great; I've always admitted that."

"But!"

"This season we have already created many impossible miracles; you are underestimating yourselves."

Snap!

Closing the notebook, Escrivá stood up from the stool.

"Villarreal in the 2016-17 season was strong; but just how strong was it?"

"However strong you think Villarreal is, Villarreal is even stronger than what you imagine."

"That is who we are now."

The players looked at each other, and finally, everyone slowly stood up.

"The last two matches!"

"Only two matches left!"

The players put their arms around each other's shoulders; Tang Ye's heartbeat gradually quickened.

Although they had lost the match, he had found that feeling of winning again.

"Vamos Villarreal!"

Ale and Musacchio lifted Escrivá straight up.

"Vamos Villarreal!"

Check Dongqiu Di pinned post: Final round of the league! Villarreal releases pre-match poster for the away game against Valencia; all 18 players on the roster plus 4 coaching staff members appear in it.

……

(End of chapter)