"What are the odds of a team defending both the Premier League and the Champions League at the same time?"
"How many Premier League teams in history have ever managed to defend both the Premier League and the Champions League at the same time?"
"Only when you've truly been a coach, or truly played in the Premier League and the Champions League, do you understand how difficult that is."
"Forget defending them. If you can win even one of those two major competitions within five years, your career can already be called a success. Win two, or even three, and every professional player will envy you."
"Liverpool have already defended the Premier League. Now they have a chance to defend the Champions League as well, provided they can beat Barcelona in the second leg."
"Liverpool's heavy win over Barcelona at Anfield in the first leg shocked every fan."
"Whether Barcelona can regain some pride at Camp Nou in the second leg will determine whether they can continue to earn more support from their fans."
"Barcelona's results this season have not actually been good. Their performances in both La Liga and the Champions League are still open to question."
After defending the Premier League title, Liverpool had no time to celebrate. The team had to keep preparing for the decisive battle against Barcelona.
Klopp believed Liverpool had a very good chance of defending the Champions League this season. Real Madrid had been eliminated early, and Liverpool held a big lead over Barcelona, giving them a strong chance of reaching the final.
In the other Champions League semifinal, Bayern Munich also had a two-goal lead from the first leg and a good chance of reaching the final.
On May 26th, on the eve of the Champions League semifinal.
"Actually, there's not much difference between playing at Anfield and playing at Camp Nou. Either way, you'll feel the noise. A lot of noise."
Krawietz had drunk a little too much, and his face was flushed.
This was his first time drinking in Liverpool's cafeteria. After the team won the Premier League, he was very happy, and Klopp did not stop him. Klopp knew what kind of person Krawietz was. Even if he drank too much, Krawietz would never do anything out of line.
"You're going to play in noisy environments anyway, then lift trophies in noisy environments, then spend your careers in noisy environments."
"But only truly outstanding professional players can enjoy that kind of noise. If you aren't good enough, your football world will be very quiet. No one will question you, no one will praise you, and no one will know you."
"Fifteen years ago, Klopp and I were in a Champions League final. We lost that match, and we lost it to Bayern."
"Ever since that match ended, every time an important game comes around, I think back to how it felt to face Bayern in that final."
"I'm only a coach. I can't go out there and play. All I can do is do my best to help you, find some of the opponent's weaknesses, and tell you how to beat them."
"Sometimes my advice may be right, but there will always be times when I'm wrong too. So thank you for fixing some of my mistakes and making the things I got right even more effective."
Krawietz downed another glass of red wine, then carried his glass over and urged Zubizarreta to drink a couple more as well. Zubizarreta was clearly a little drunk too.
"With the teams I worked for before, we rarely won titles, so I had already prepared myself for the possibility that I would never experience what winning a championship felt like in this life."
"But ever since the Spanish national team changed coaches right before the tournament, and I was brought into the national team, then won the World Cup, and later got bought by Liverpool, my coaching career has changed completely."
"I have to thank Lin."
Zubizarreta raised his glass and waved it toward Leo Lin.
"We're going to defend the Champions League. I believe in you all that much."
By evening, Krawietz and Zubizarreta had been taken home by the players. Klopp knew why the two of them were so happy.
People always said players were under great pressure, but the pressure on professional coaches was no less. Especially when a team's results got worse. Sometimes it really did have something to do with the coach, but after all, the ones playing on the pitch were the eleven players, and poor results were also connected to how the players performed.
But as long as a team's results kept declining, the one who would ultimately be fired was always the coach. Players had contracts and were hard to deal with, while a coach could be replaced by the club at any time.
It was true that many Liverpool fans supported Klopp, liked Krawietz, and loved Zubizarreta deeply. But if Liverpool's results began to decline, or if they even suffered three straight losses or five straight losses, a portion of the fans would definitely start demanding that the club replace the coaches.
So after successfully defending the Premier League, the reasons Krawietz and Zubizarreta were happiest were, first, that they had not let the Liverpool fans down, and second, that they could continue coaching Liverpool. They liked Liverpool. They wanted to keep coaching Liverpool.
They had already become the best of friends with the players. They had grown used to walking into Liverpool FC on time every day, ordering breakfast, then sitting with everyone and talking about what had happened recently.
This was life. This was football. This was Liverpool now.
Two days later, the team officially set off for Camp Nou. This was Leo Lin's second time coming to this stadium.
Tickets for Camp Nou were still snapped up by Barcelona fans, and the vast majority of supporters still had hope.
"Maybe we'll come back against Liverpool here. We have outstanding players. We can do it."
"Nothing can stop Barça. I'll wait inside Camp Nou until the very last moment."
The support of the Barcelona fans greatly encouraged the Barcelona players. Leo Lin walked into the Camp Nou dressing room and changed into his boots. Firmino was telling Mané a Brazilian folk joke.
Mané clearly did not quite understand it, but he still started laughing, because Salah beside him understood it. Soon, Leo Lin started laughing too, and he did not even know why.
Then the Liverpool players all seemed to catch it from one another. Everyone laughed as they entered the players' tunnel and lined up, ready to go onto the pitch.
The Barcelona players had originally been very serious. They were seriously prepared to overturn Liverpool. But then they saw the eleven Liverpool players standing beside them, every one of them laughing like fools, bending forward and back, tears nearly coming out.
The Barcelona players suddenly forgot how they had lost to Liverpool by four goals in the first leg.
As they laughed, Leo Lin, standing at the front of the line, suddenly remembered that it had been a long time since he had shouted a slogan together with the Liverpool players.
So he suddenly turned around and looked at all the Liverpool players. Everyone had still been laughing, but once they saw the look in Leo Lin's eyes, they seemed to understand what he was about to do.
"No, Lin. There are so many people here. I'm too embarrassed to shout."
"Yeah, Lin, forget it. Let's not do the slogan today."
But Leo Lin still raised the Liverpool flag high and shouted loudly, as if no one else were there.
"Liverpool!"
Behind him came a roar loud enough to drown out the eighty thousand fans at Camp Nou.
"Everything!"
"For football!"
"Charge!"