"Tonight is the night when his true strength is revealed!"

  As Ferguson stood before the home team's coag bench, watg Di Maria assist Sanchez foal against Maer United, he let out a deep sigh. His face, usually stoic, was now marked with solemnity.

  In the first leg, Gao Shen's tactid performance had left Ferguson somewhat disappointed.

  Based on his uanding, that had not been Gao Shen's true level. After the match, he'd even had some words with him.

  It turned out that Gao Shen was a fan of Ferguson. That revetion had made him feel someressured.

  So, Ferguson had offered a few pieces of advice.

  At that time, Ferguson believed he was well-positioo take on this challeo return to Old Trafford ahe young coach, his uimation was evident.

  But, damn, h he had been!

  Ferguson realized his mistake right after the opening whistle.

  Napoli's opening py was clearly inteo attack, something Gao Shen hadn't done in the first leg.

  That didn't make sense.

  Napoli's strength y in their attack.

  Ferguson had expected Gao Shen to stay defensive, so he attacked early, trying to disrupt Napoli's pn.

  But to his surprise, Gao Shen adapted quickly, abandoning his initial strategy and shifting to a more defensive posture just over a mio the game.

  That might sound simple, a quick ge of pns but it was anything but.

  Anyone who's ever managed a team knows how difficult it is to adjust on the fly, especially when you do it so decisively and quickly.

  It's ohing to read your oppo's tactics; it's ao overturn your own strategy less than two minutes after the start of the match.

  The true challenge came after the decision was made: rallying the pyers aing them to quickly adjust without breaking formation.

  That required absolute authority. It also meant the pyers must have plete faith in their coach's leadership.

  Without that fidence, pyers would begin to doubt, which would lead to insistend errors.

  That's why Ferguson once spoke about his early mistake of making substitutions too soon when coag at St. Mirren, a lesson he had learhe hard way.

  Sihen, he preferred to make adjustments ter, fog more on pyer roles and positioning rather than drastic ges.

  But Gao Shen had do.

  Napoli had shifted their formation just minutes into the game. Their defense was still solid, the adjustments had been seamless, and they forced Maer Uo make mistakes, culminating in a brilliant terattack that resulted in a goal.

  This was Gao Shen's true level, his Napoli was showing their css.

  Ferguson had seen Gao Shen yelling instrus to his pyers, but he couldn't make out the words clearly. Still, he could guess the i.

  He immediately signaled for Carrick to take trol of the game's tempo and asked the pyers to settle, not rush forward.

  At this poiions could easily bee chaotic. If United pressed too hard without trol, Napoli's terattacks would tio threaten them, potentially leading to anoal.

  Ferguson also called out to Cristiano Ronald him to calm down, he had been too eager, taking too many shots.

  This was a recurring issue with Ronaldo, his impatience.

  When anxious, Ronaldo teo waste opportunities by rushing his as.

  Whech resumed, Ferguson remained on the sidelines, giving muidance, shouting out reminders for the pyers to stay focused.

  Soon, Maer United regained posure.

  And everyoiced: after the game resumed, Napoli stayed alert, tinuing to hold their ground, waiting for Maer Uo e to them.

  "This kid is crafty!" Ferguson muttered with a smile.

  But fortunately, he wasn't foolish.

  He had adjusted too.

  "The pyers in Napoli are all good. Di Maria, Sanchez, solid performers. And then there's Rakitic..."

  The more Ferguson observed, the more impressed he became.

  The terattack that had resulted in the goal came from Rakitic, who had blocked Ronaldo's pass on his retreat, preventing Fletcher from making any progress.

  Ferguson couldn't help but appreciate Gao Shen's insight in reizing and utilizing his pyers so effectively. He even admired the coach's uanding of the game.

  Not just Ferguson—Mourinho, Wenger, and almost everyone in the football world that Ferguson knew, all found Gao Shen's vision to be remarkable. Many even admired it greatly.

  There was even a saying in the football world: Anything produced by Gao Shen must be a masterpiece!

  However, after praising Gao Shen's skill, Ferguson soon found himself feeling the kind of frustration Mourinho had often described.

  Despite Maer Uabilizing, Napoli didn't push forward.

  Instead, they stayed within their half, waiting, ready to defend and ter from the edge of their 30-meter area.

  Ferguson's eyes shifted toward the visitors' bench.

  He couldn't be sure, but it felt as if Gao Shen's gaze met his.

  And there it was, the grin. A challenging, almost pyful expression as if to say:

  "You're Wele to attack!"

  Gao Shen's strategy was straightforward.

  Napoli had the lead, there was o engage in an all-out battle with Maer United.

  They couldn't afford to be too servative, but there was no reason to be overly aggressive either.

  Time was now w in Napoli's favor. They could afford to be patient, waiting for Maer Uo take the initiative.

  After all, this was Old Trafford, the pressure was on Ferguson's side.

  Ferguson had sidered pushing forward, but United had problems.

  Their attack cked an explosive presen the wings.

  her Rooney nor Park Ji-suhe type of pyers who could break down a well-anized defense from wide areas.

  Nani, who had that ability, was sitting on the bench. But it was still the first half too early for a substitution.

  Meanwhile, the midfield was struggling to link py.

  Anderson was supposed to limit Thiago Motta, but the Brazilian's positional awareness was exceptional. Having e through Bara's La Masia, he was well-versed in trolling space from a deep midfield role.

  He never held onto the ball for long, always moving into pockets of space to keep possession flowing.

  As a result, Anderson could only disrupt him at best not stop him.

  In trast, Rakitic was successfully ralizing Carrick.

  The more Ferguson watched the Croatian, the more impressed he became.

  Rakitic wasn't just teically gifted he had a strong work rate and was a box-to-box presence.

  He was like an upgraded version of Fletcher, better teique, more intelligen movement.

  With Carriable to dictate the tempo, United's midfield colpsed.

  And when their midfield failed, so did their attag structure.

  Normally, with Carri rhythm, United had a clear attag dire.

  But now?

  With the midfield out of synited's attacks cked crity.

  By the time the ball reached the final third, no one was sure whether to push through the wings or the ter.

  Adding to the problem, Rooheir primary link-up pyer was being shut down.

  That left Ronaldo, who had dropped deep to carry the ball forward himself.

  But Napoli's deferiahiago Motta, David Luiz, and Bonucci locked down the ter.

  And with Ronaldo's dribbling ability not as sharp as before, his drives into the box cked real threat.

  At the start of the match, Ronaldo had been lively.

  But as Napoli settled into their defensive shape, he became increasingly frustrated.

  And frustration made him reckless.

  The entire game stalled into a stalemate.

  Gao Shen walked back toward the Napoli teical area.

  Carlo handed him a water bottle, which he quickly downed in rge gulps.

  Despite Maer's cold weather, Gao Shen was sweating.

  The pressure, the tension, the stant movement, and the shouting, it was exhausting.

  "We o find a way to score anoal." His voice was calm but resolute.

  Zidane and Carlo nodded.

  Right nooli led 2-1 on aggregate, with one away goal.

  But so did Maer United.

  If United scored, the aggregate would be tied at 1-1 over both legs, with both teams having the same number of away goals.

  That meara time.

  And if the score remaiied after extra time, penalty kicks would decide it.

  But if Napoli scored again, everything would ge.

  With two away goals, Napoli would take trol.

  There would be ra time, United would have to score three goals to gh.

  That's why Gao Shen was determihey o find anoal.

  If Napoli could strike again, it would drain United's morale.

  "Ferguson will definitely adjust at halftime," Zidane pointed out.

  "It's best to go for it in the first half."

  Gao Shen nodded.

  Despite what Ferguson told the media about making te substitutions, that was just for show.

  It was no different from an autobiography, embellished stories.

  The real reason he didn't always sub early was because he usually trolled the game.

  But this time?

  Napoli had trol.

  Given United's struggles, Ferguson would be forced to make ges at halftime.

  No one knew what adjustments Ferguson would make.

  Would he ge the formation? Switch tactics? Throw in a wildcard?

  With Ferguson, you could never be sure.

  So the best strategy was to strike again before halftime.

  Gao Shen checked the clock.

  Thirty minutes had passed.

  That meant there were fifteen minutes left in the first half.

  "We'll go for it i ten minutes." His voice was firm.

  "Even if we don't score, we o end the half attag set the tone for the sed half."

  That meant pushing forward around the 37th or 38th minute, including stoppage time.

  Of course, if the situation shifted, he could abandon the pn.

  But based on how things were going, he didn't believe Ferguson could ge much before halftime.

  In the first leg, aside from Berbatov's assist to Ronaldo, United hadn't created many threats.

  This time, it was the same story.

  With the deade, Carlo, Zidane, Lucas, and the rest of the staff began preparing.

  They analyzed:

  Which areas to attack?

  Who tet in United's defense?

  How had United's pyers held up physically?

  Every detail mattered iing the attack.

  But before they could act.

  Maer United suddenly unched a quick terattack.

  ***

  Bonus chp