Killing like crazy.
During the winter break, Mancini returned to Italy and attended a gathering of Italian head coaches at the Coverciano base. Many famous coaches, including Lippi and Ventura, shared their views on Gao Shen's coaching of Real Madrid over the past year.
Especially this season, Real Madrid has shown unstoppable momentum.
Lippi's Guangzhou Evergrande faced Gao Shen at the Club World Cup. From his own feeling, Real Madrid did not even go all out in that match, yet they exuded a powerful aura that felt impossible to overcome.
"That is the atmosphere of a great team."
In Europe, Real Madrid had been winning consecutively, and in La Liga they were on a perfect run. There was even the possibility of winning the league with a perfect record, which would make all opponents despair.
The ceiling of this Real Madrid team is too high.
Lippi proposed a viewpoint at the gathering, that the higher Real Madrid's performance this season, the longer their peak in European football will last.
"If Gao Shen's team can really win La Liga with a perfect record, along with the Copa del Rey and the Champions League, completing an unprecedented La Liga treble, then, given the team's current age profile, no team will be able to challenge them in the next five years."
If Sacchi had said this, Mancini might have had some doubts, because everyone knows Sacchi is the number one hype man.
But this was Lippi speaking.
In Italy, whether at the training courses at Coverciano, the University of Turin, the German Sport University Cologne, or Loughborough University in the UK, almost all well-known football institutions now offer specialized advanced courses analyzing Gao Shen's Real Madrid.
This is absolutely unprecedented in world football history.
Even Leeds United, the club he invested in, looks very different within European football.
For example, this time at Coverciano, Mancini heard many people discussing that Leeds United would host the first World Sports Technology Innovation Seminar in half a year.
This was very new.
Generally, conferences of this type are organized by FIFA or UEFA. Since when does a club host and plan one?
But it sounded like many professionals actually agreed with it.
The reason was convincing. Leeds United's results were not the best, but the club's entire training system was the most advanced and complete in the world, especially in using high technology and applying advanced concepts.
"This is a young team full of potential and well worth following," said Ulivieri, head of Coverciano and president of the Italian Football Coaches Association, giving Leeds United a very high evaluation.
Not only that, he would personally lead a delegation to Leeds to participate.
According to him, many professionals around the world were also looking forward to this event, and even UEFA, FIFA, and many national associations would send teams to attend.
It could be said that whether it was Gao Shen, the team he coached, Leeds United behind him, or even the players at Leeds United, they were the focus of countless teams, coaches, and operators across world football.
What was even more remarkable was that after rebounding from the bottom during the winter break, Leeds United went on a seven-match unbeaten run through January and February. Their league position rose again, overtaking Manchester United and Everton to move into sixth, only one point behind Tottenham Hotspur.
Leeds United's startling performance drew strong attention from the entire European football world.
In short, in the current football world, everything related to Gao Shen seems full of a magical pull.
Real Madrid under Gao Shen is a killer that all teams want to avoid.
But tonight, Mancini had to face this formidable old rival.
As a result, Gao Shen sent him another heavy blow.
…
At the start, Mancini only wanted to disrupt Real Madrid's tactical setup and seize the initiative. When he saw Casillas injure his back, Mancini immediately sensed a chance and told his players to increase their shots.
During that spell, Galatasaray had more attempts than Real Madrid.
But after Casillas went off, the situation changed dramatically.
First, Di María produced a brilliant first touch and dribble from the right side of the box, then cut inside and curled a left-footed shot into the far corner, scoring Real Madrid's opener to applause from the crowd. The Argentine soon contributed again.
In the 33rd minute, Di María dropped into midfield, pushed Modrić and Carvajal forward, then suddenly played a long diagonal pass, sending it accurately to the left edge of the box near the top of the area.
Ronaldo had already surged forward, but after judging the flight of Di María's pass, he checked his run, used his body to pin the Galatasaray defender, knocked the ball into the area, accelerated to catch up, and finished with his right foot, scoring again for Real Madrid.
In the 38th minute, Real Madrid's midfield and front line combined in tight spaces. Benzema played it to Modrić, and the Croatian, while cutting inside, slipped a pass behind him.
The ball struck a Galatasaray center-back and looped up, but still dropped for Di María. The Argentine brought it down, turned, then used his pace to force his way into the right side of the box. After drawing the defense, he clipped a cross into the middle.
Ronaldo arrived on a high-speed run and finished into the empty net, making it 3-0.
The home team were three goals down before halftime.
It was a huge blow to the Turkish side.
What made Mancini even more incredulous was that in the second half, Real Madrid continued to intensify their pressure.
Under the press, a defender misjudged a clearing header, which fell to Di María.
The Argentine volleyed it forward at once. Benzema broke into the box and scored again for Real Madrid.
4-0.
That goal completely shattered Galatasaray's morale.
From then on, Real Madrid kept attacking and the goals kept coming.
First, Ronaldo scored to complete his hat-trick, then Benzema added another. Finally, Di María dribbled past three opponents on the left of the final third and struck with his left foot from outside the box.
7-0.
The match was not over yet, but the entire Turk Telekom Stadium had fallen silent.
More than 50,000 Galatasaray fans had come hoping to see a peak clash between the Turkish Super League giants and the La Liga giants, but instead witnessed the home team being dismantled by the visitors.
Mancini stood grim-faced in front of the home dugout, deeply disappointed with the result.
This was something he had never imagined before the game.
He expected his team to lose, maybe by two or three goals, but never by this margin.
This was not only a gap between him and Gao Shen in terms of lineups, but also a huge gap in the strength of the two teams.
…
"You win again."
As soon as the referee blew for full time, Mancini walked to the visiting dugout to shake hands and speak directly with Gao Shen, who was standing in the technical area.
The first words from the Italian conceded the point.
The two stood side by side. Mancini looked at Gao Shen and suddenly remembered their first meeting when he was coaching Inter Milan. Gao Shen was a rookie then, but already showed an unstoppable rise.
Even if Sacchi had been optimistic, he might never have imagined Gao Shen would reach this level.
Today, he is no longer just the best active coach.
He is aiming for the title of the greatest coach in the history of world football.
"It's all thanks to the players' hard work," Gao Shen laughed.
He was very satisfied with the team's performance.
A big away win provided a perfect start, and the second leg at the Bernabéu was basically decided.
All that remained was the quarterfinals.
"Your team really delivers. You are balanced across all three lines with no obvious weakness. Even if some are stronger in attack than defense, overall, you are very strong," Mancini praised.
The greatest wish of a professional head coach is to lead a team that bears his mark. Gao Shen can always build such a team, and even profoundly influence a club's development. That is undoubtedly greatness.
"Actually, you played well tonight too, with 12 shots," Gao Shen said with a smile.
He might as well not have mentioned it. Once he did, Mancini felt a little embarrassed.
Many of those shots came early, when he tried to exploit Casillas's injury and urged his players to shoot. In the end, only two were on target.
"You have big ambitions this season, right?" Mancini asked, full of envy.
Today's Real Madrid had been honed by refined teamwork, and everyone could see this was a team capable of extraordinary results.
Gao Shen did not hide it and replied with a faint smile, "Everyone in our team wants to give it a try and see how high we can go."
This answer surprised Mancini.
If Gao Shen had simply said he wanted the title, or even a treble, Mancini would not have been surprised. But talking about going higher was obviously about more than just this season, it was about the next season and the years to come.
At this moment, listening to Gao Shen, it truly felt like, "When I reach the summit, I am the peak."
Gao Shen did not say more on the topic. After all, things are achieved, not declared.
Looking at Mancini again, he suddenly felt a little sad.
"You should return to one of the top four leagues as soon as possible. You are being wasted in the Turkish Super League," Gao Shen advised.
There was no doubt that Mancini had come to the Turkish Super League for money.
At his age, making money is not shameful, but he cannot stay there too long.
Given the intensity of the top four leagues today, especially the Champions League, if you are away for a year or two, you often lose your feel for tactical trends and fall behind step by step.
Mancini felt Gao Shen's sincerity. He nodded with a smile, then waved and said goodbye.
He was also an unlucky man whose fate had been altered by Gao Shen, the butterfly.
(To be continued.)