Starting With Real Madrid

One of the reasons professional football has so many fans worldwide and attracts so many elite talents is not just because of money and fame, it's because it is the closest thing to war in peacetime.

And war always stirs passion and fearlessness.

In the 1990s, Ferguson led his all-conquering Red Devils, dominating the Premier League and winning three league titles in four years. With stars like Cantona and the Class of '92, Manchester United's ambition stretched beyond domestic success.

The Champions League.

For any club aiming to build a dynasty, this was the ultimate proving ground.

But in 1996, a Frenchman named Wenger arrived at Highbury.

At first, Ferguson paid him little attention. Wenger wasn't even on his radar. But that season, he led Arsenal to a third-place finish in the league, forcing Ferguson to take notice.

That same year, Manchester United secured their fourth league title in five seasons.

A year later, Wenger responded to Ferguson's initial indifference by leading Arsenal to a league and FA Cup double.

The reigning king suddenly realized that before he could conquer Europe, a new challenger had already emerged in his own backyard. Alarmed, he made a decisive move, spending big to bring Dwight Yorke from Aston Villa.

With Yorke and Cole forming the legendary "Black Wind Duo," Manchester United reached new heights.

That season, they achieved the unprecedented treble—Premier League, FA Cup, and Champions League—marking the beginning of another era of dominance with three consecutive league titles.

But dynasties rarely fall because of external threats. The real cracks always form from within.

As Ferguson set his sights on another Champions League title, his two most troublesome players declined rapidly. This forced him to rethink his plans and confront the growing issues within the squad.

With a legendary midfield of Giggs, Scholes, Beckham, and Keane, Manchester United could consistently create chances. But what they lacked was a true goal machine, someone who could reliably finish those chances.

And so, Ferguson was willing to wait an entire year to secure Ruud van Nistelrooy from PSV Eindhoven.

At the same time, however, another problem was brewing—Beckham.

His growing presence in the tabloids set off alarm bells for Ferguson.

The veteran manager had seen too many rising stars in English football lose their way due to distractions off the pitch, Gascoigne, Cantona, Yorke and Cole… He didn't want Beckham, whom he had nurtured like a son, to follow the same path.

But he forgot, Beckham wasn't his son. And even if he were, sons don't always listen.

The infamous flying boot incident in the dressing room sent shockwaves through the club, and before long, Beckham was on his way to Spain.

Without Beckham's pinpoint long passes, United lost one of their most lethal attacking weapons. The once perfectly balanced midfield was suddenly thrown into disarray.

To make matters worse, after losing Beckham, Manchester United failed to sign Ronaldinho, who chose Barcelona instead.

That failed transfer was a crushing blow.

In the summer of 2003, United signed Cristiano Ronaldo and handed him the iconic No. 7 shirt. Many believed he was brought in as Beckham's replacement.

But in professional football, there is no such thing as a direct replacement.

No two players are ever truly alike.

Meanwhile, Chelsea's rapid rise under Roman Abramovich presented a new threat. For the first time in Premier League history, Manchester United went two straight seasons without winning the title.

Backed by unmatched financial power, Mourinho quickly built Chelsea into a formidable force, seemingly ready to dethrone United and establish a new dynasty.

To make matters worse, the departure of Roy Keane left a massive void in Manchester United's midfield.

During the 2006 World Cup, the world was captivated by Zidane's infamous headbutt, Italy's triumph, and the Calciopoli scandal. But behind the scenes, Ferguson made a decision that would shape the next era of Manchester United.

At a time when Ronaldo was public enemy number one in England, Ferguson personally intervened, convincing the young Portuguese star to stay.

He made one promise—he would build the next great Manchester United team around him.

Who is the true core of the team? It's not just about saying it out loud. It's not as simple as giving Ronaldo unlimited shooting privileges or making him the highest-paid player in the squad. It has to be reflected in tactics, in his status within the locker room, and in every aspect of the team's setup.

On a tactical level, the sale of Van Nistelrooy fundamentally changed Manchester United's approach to advancing the ball. Instead of relying on their midfield to dictate play, they began using a forward dropping deep to compensate for the midfield's lack of vertical passing ability.

One major advantage of this system was that it forced defenders, sometimes even a holding midfielder, to step forward, creating gaps in the back line. That was exactly what Ronaldo needed. With his exceptional off-the-ball movement, boundless energy, and blistering speed, he could make diagonal runs into the space left behind, hitting those gaps at full pace to generate scoring chances.

Ferguson had been meticulously preparing for this tactical shift. From Rooney's transformation to the use of players like Saha, Alan Smith, Berbatov, and Tevez, every move was based on the same principle.

The entire structure revolved around Ronaldo.

And the Portuguese forward did not disappoint. While his finishing wasn't always clinical, United created an abundance of chances, and goal after goal propelled them back to the summit of European football. They won both the Premier League and the Champions League.

This was the Ferguson-led Manchester United that Gao Shen was preparing to face.

Ever since reaching the Champions League semifinals, Gao Shen and his coaching staff had been analyzing Manchester United day and night.

Every evening, he would immerse himself in the tactical library, dissecting Ferguson's strategies and searching for weaknesses.

What he found was revealing—Ferguson wasn't fully satisfied with his current squad.

There had been persistent rumors that he wanted to bring Wesley Sneijder from Real Madrid to replace Scholes. However, based on tactical insights, Gao Shen was convinced that Sneijder wasn't Ferguson's real target.

What he truly wanted was Karim Benzema from Lyon.

Ferguson valued Benzema so highly that he was even prepared to let Cristiano Ronaldo leave.

While Ronaldo was the focal point of United's attack, he wasn't the foundation of their tactical setup. His role was primarily to instill fear in opponents and deliver goals. But in football, goals aren't a guarantee, they have to be created.

And in that context, shaping the environment to generate goals was even more important than the goal itself.

United's tactical framework depended on forwards dropping deep, but only one player had truly mastered the role—Rooney.

Tevez brought relentless energy and fighting spirit, but his ability to drop back, receive the ball, and distribute it effectively was lacking. Berbatov, on the other hand, had exceptional technique, great hold-up play, and precise passing, but he simply didn't run enough.

United's entire attacking system thrived on fluid movement and constant rotation, and Berbatov's lack of mobility often disrupted the team's rhythm.

At present, among United's forwards, only Rooney fully met Ferguson's expectations.

Benzema, the rising star at Lyon, was a generational talent.

Like Rooney, he was adept at dropping deep, receiving the ball with his back to goal, and linking play. His first touch and passing were superb, and he rarely lost possession in the attacking third. The key difference? Benzema was also a clinical finisher.

Simply put, he was both a tactical forward and a pure goal scorer.

That's why Ferguson had been tracking Benzema since his emergence, determined to bring him to Old Trafford and pair him with Rooney as the future of United's attack.

He was even prepared to part ways with Ronaldo if necessary.

After sorting through Ferguson's tactical philosophy, Gao Shen felt that many things had become much clearer.

"I'm almost certain that Ferguson will start with Ronaldo up front, Rooney on the left, and Park Ji-sung on the right. He promised Park that if he performed well, he'd get a chance to play in the Champions League final."

In the coaching office, after Gao Shen finished speaking, Zidane wrote down United's likely starting lineup on the tactical board, arranging them in their usual 4-3-3 formation.

"There are two key players we need to shut down defensively. One is Rooney. His ability to receive and distribute the ball in the attacking third is crucial. The moment he gets possession, we have to immediately cut off his passing lanes."

As he spoke, Gao Shen turned to the board and circled Rakitic, who occupied the right side of Napoli's three-man midfield.

"So in this game, Ivan's role will be critical. The second Rooney gets the ball, he needs to close him down and deny him time and space. We can't let him pick out passes comfortably."

"If we shut down Rooney's passing options, United will only have one alternative route to transition from midfield to attack."

Gao Shen turned and slapped his hand against Carrick's name on the board.

Carrick's passing ability, particularly his long-range distribution, was a major weapon but only when he was given time to operate.

People often referred to him as the 'Pirlo of the Premier League,' but the key word there wasn't Pirlo—it was Premier League.

No one seriously thinks an NMG pop singer is the same as Louis Koo, right?

So marking Carrick wasn't actually that difficult. The key was to apply constant pressure. If he wasn't given space, his passing range would be severely limited. Unlike Pirlo, he wasn't a deep-lying playmaker who could consistently break defensive lines with forward passes. Instead, he was more of a distributor, keeping possession moving rather than slicing defenses apart.

If United's midfield had a natural playmaker who could consistently advance the ball, Ferguson wouldn't have needed to adapt his system by dropping forwards deep. He would have simply relied on a Van Nistelrooy-style striker to finish chances like in the early 2000s.

"Our training sessions leading up to the game will focus on these two key areas. Our primary goal is to keep United from scoring in the first leg."

In a Champions League semifinal, securing a clean sheet at home was a result they could work with.

More importantly, Gao Shen wanted to use this first leg to test his theories on Manchester United to see if his tactical analysis held up under real match conditions.

After all, what he studied in the tactical library still needed to be proven on the pitch.