The Meazza Stadium, shared by Inter Min and A, is owned by the Min city gover. her team has their offices here, so the facilities are retively basic.

  After the game and the press ference, Mourinho asked Gao Shen to meet him in a secluded spot withiadium.

  Standing at the top level of the stadium near a guardrail, Gao Shen watched as fans poured out of the exits, spreading across the open spaces around the stadium like waves. The se was truly spectacur.

  Gripping the rail, Gao Shen admired the view, but a strahought crept into his mind.

  What if Mourinho suddenly developed evil iions and pushed him down?

  He quickly chuckled at his own ridiculous idea.

  In truth, he was a bit afraid of heights.

  The thought crossed his mind again: it's lonely at the top.

  ...

  "What are you doing there, ughing like an idiot?"

  Mourinho pced a bottle of wine he'd brought on the ground, opened Gao Shen's wine instead, and poured himself a gss. He swirled the gss slowly, took a sip, clicked his towice, and looked displeased.

  "Your wine is cheap and tastes awful," Mourinho decred.

  Gao Shen ughed to himself.

  He had specifically asked Zidao pick this wine, and it was the most expetle he had ever purchased. How could it be cheap?

  "Maybe everything tastes cheap to you these days. I uand that," Gao Shen replied with a smirk.

  Mourinho didn't seem to care.

  At their level, the oute of a single game didn't weigh too heavily on them. Unless a boundary was crossed, they could still get along just fine.

  It was like Ferguson and Wenger, mortal rivals och, bickering endlessly, but off it? They could still enjoy a drink together.

  The same was true fao Shen and Mourinho now.

  "To be ho, I'm not in such a bad mood. It's just that the wine really is terrible," Mourinho said with a straight face.

  From his to seemed like if he couldn't beat Gao Shen on the field, he'd beat him at the bar.

  "Why don't you try it for yourself?" Mourinho offered, reag for the bottle to pao Shen a gss.

  Gao Shen quickly deed the "kiure."

  ...

  After two gsses of wihe versation became more animated.

  Gao Shen, naturally talkative, could chat with anyone.

  The discussion began with Ferguson, whom Gao Shen admired the most.

  Everyone knew Mourinho shared a close retionship with the legendary Maer United manager.

  From there, the topic shifted to the Premier League, Serie A, Napoli, and Inter Min.

  Mourinho opened up about Inter Min's tactical approach during the match, even admitting that he had made a signifit mistake.

  "Don't misuand me. My tactics were fihe problem was with the pyers exeg them," Mourinho said bluntly.

  He eborated further, expining his deaking process.

  From his perspective, it made seo go head-to-head with Napoli in this match. He wao assess his team's capabilities early on.

  Was Napoli strong? Judging by their performances ier half of st seasohey were good. But a new season always brings uainty.

  Moreover, Inter Min had signifitly strengtheheir squad pared to st year.

  "I've been thinking about this game ever since I first took over at Inter Min," Mourinho admitted. "But I didn't expect that in August, three of my ter-backs would require surgery at the same time. My hands were tied."

  That, however, wasn't the "mistake" he was referring to.

  "You mean Mani Jr.?" Gao Shen guessed.

  Mourinho looked surprised. "You know?"

  Gao Shen nodded with a faint smile.

  The Brazilian pyer had cost Inter Min €13 million, a sizable iment.

  "He has great individual skills, but how should I put it? Even at Roma, he always focused more on his own game. With Ibrahimovic already in your lineup, adding someone like Mani, who likes to go solo, and Balotelli struggling on the right fnk, it creates a lot of inefficy upfront," Gao Shen expined.

  He spread his hands as if to say, "What you do?"

  That recisely Inter Min's issue during this match.

  Gao Shen was beginning to uand why Mani Jr. had excelled at Roma but failed to make an impact at Mourinho's Inter Min.

  It wasn't about his ability; it was that Mourinho couldn't tolerate pyers with that kind of style.

  With Ibrahimovic already operating as a lone wolf, there simply wasn't room for another individualistic pyer like Mani Jr. iack.

  Ibrahimovic couldn't link up py the way Totti had do Roma.

  And as for Quaresma? Only Mourinho himself probably knew why he'd brought him in. Perhaps he believed he could mold Quaresma into something more, or maybe the deal was influenced by the pyer's agent, Mehere could have been other reasons too, big transfers always had yers of plexity.

  ...

  After Gao Shen offered his insights on Mani Jr., Mourinho seemed to see him in a new light, almost as a kindred spirit.

  Perhaps it was because Mourinho khe media would be ruthless with him after this loss—if not tonight, theainly tomorrow.

  Inter Min's current roster had no excuse to perform this poorly.

  Under Mani, it was the manager who took the brunt of the bme. Now, it was Mourinho's turn.

  But Mourinho leased to find someone who uood his situation.

  "Let me ask you something personal," Mourinho said, looking directly at Gao Shen.

  Gao Shen raised an eyebrow but nodded.

  "Why didn't you take the Bara job this summer? Was it really because you wao leave the opportunity fuardio?"

  "That's two questions," Gao Shen replied with a grin.

  Mourinho scowled.

  "Be serious! Let's talk about personal matters!"

  Despite his gruff to was clear Mourinho was still grappling with the Bara situation.

  Bara was a sore spot in Mourinho's career.

  This also expined why, ter on, when he managed Real Madrid, his rivalry with Bara became so fierce that it even caused divisions within the Real Madrid locker room.

  Sometimes, g too much about something lead to obsession.

  "There's some truth to it," Gao Shen admitted. "I gehink Guardio is a better fit for Bara than I would be. I don't think I could adapt to the team or its culture. At least, I wasn't prepared to follow in Cruyff's footsteps."

  Gao Shen's hoy took Mourinho by surprise.

  Cruyff had fully ied himself into Bara's culture, marrying a wife and living in Bara to bee one of their own.

  For outsiders, blending into a fn club or city often required more than just professional success. It required adapting to the local culture and way of life.

  Gao Shen's insight reflected a deep uanding of this dynamic.

  Hearing this, Mourinho couldn't help but look at him with admiration.

  For someo even 28 years old, Gao Shen's maturity was remarkable.

  Still, there was something almost unnerving about it.

  Too mature, almost as if he were a man in his forties trapped in a young body.

  ...

  In many ways, this crushi might not be a bad thing for Mourinho.

  It was his first official match as Inter Min's manager, and this loss exposed the team's fws, giving him the crity to make necessary adjustments.

  At the very least, it would strengthen his position when dealing with ma.

  "Look, we lost 0–3 to Napoli. Why don't we i more and siger pyers?"

  After all, it was just the Supercoppa.

  For Mourinho, the result wouldn't carry much weight.

  For Inter Min, however, the loss stung, especially beied 3–0 at the Meazza. It was humiliating.

  But that humiliation might ultimately lead the club to back Mourinho even more.

  As Gao Shen prepared to leave, he jokingly said, "You really owe me a good meal someday!"

  Mourinho chuckled and replied, "I'll treat you when I beat you."

  "Oh, I guess that means I'll never get a meal, then," Gao Shen quipped.

  The two shook hands, parting with ughter.

  Gao Shen realized Mourinho was far less bative in private than he was och.

  Still, behind that fa?ade, he was fiercely petitive and undoubtedly difficult to deal with.

  In that sense, Mourinho was very different from someone like Ai.

  Ai gave off a warm and approachable vibe, almost like a benevolent uncle. Sometimes, Gao Shehought Ai was too agreeable, to the point of g his own edge.

  Mourinho, oher hand, was sharp and ambitious, a lot like Gao Shen himself.

  Perhaps that was why they could never be close friends.

  But it didn't stop them from sharing a drink and having a good versation.

  ...

  "How was it?"

  After Gao She, Mourinho returo his staff. Boas, curious, asked how the meeti.

  "He's no pushover," Mourinho replied with a frown. "He's a tough oppo. Serie A this season is going to be iing."

  Boas was taken aback. He had only seen Mourinho this serious when discussing legendary managers like Fergusoez, or Wenger. He hadn't expected Gao Shen to and such respect.

  It seemed he had uimated the young manager.

  "We'll have to wait and see," Mourinho added. "Napoli will be fighting on two, maybe even three fronts this season. Things could get messy for them."

  Some managers excel with a single petition, but juggling multiple fronts often exposes their limitations.

  Take Moyes at Everton, Pellegrini at Vilrreal, or even Ai at A, especially Ai, notorious for his reluce to rotate pyers.

  What happens when a team doesn't rotate and petes on multiple fronts? Disaster.

  Everton, for instance, could fight for a top-four finish in the Premier League on a single front, but when stretched across two petitions, they barely avoided relegation.

  Mourinho was eager to see how Gao Shen would handle such challenges with Napoli this season.

  "But before that," Mourinho cluded, "we o meet with Mr. Moratti first."

  ***

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