"There’s no doubt that under Mourinho, we had more fighting spirit and a better state."

Sneijder, who was not performing well in the new season, missed Mourinho more and more. In an interview, Sneijder took the initiative to mention the upcoming FIFA Club World Cup and Chen Zhong.

You should know that the FIFA Club World Cup is almost the only chance for Sneijder to make a last attempt for the Ballon d’Or.

"Iniesta plays well in Barcelona, and he also won the World Cup."

"Xavi too, they are both excellent players."

Sneijder mentioned Barcelona but did not mention Messi. Even in the Ballon d’Or selection, few people talked about Messi. Although Messi performed well this season, he still lacked in team and personal honors. In terms of personal data, after this national derby, he still fell short compared to Chen Zhong.

Even Sneijder’s probability of winning the Ballon d’Or is greater than Messi’s.

Of course, when Sneijder mentioned Iniesta and Xavi, it wasn’t to praise them. At this point, Sneijder changed his tone and said, "But I’m not worried about them, you must know that I won the Triple Crown for Inter Milan."

"In the World Cup, I also scored five goals, almost helping the Netherlands win the World Cup."

Setting aside Messi and ignoring external factors, on various fronts, neither Iniesta nor Xavi has an advantage over Sneijder. If we have to choose someone who could emerge among these hot candidates, it could only be Chen Zhong.

Chen Zhong’s individual performance last season was too brilliant.

And near the Ballon d’Or selection, defeating the Cosmic Team consisting of the three hot candidates Messi, Xavi, and Iniesta undoubtedly gives him an edge in the selection.

And Sneijder only has to worry about Chen Zhong.

The FIFA Club World Cup is the battleground between the two.

The FIFA Club World Cup is an international football championship held by FIFA and participated in by top teams from six continents.

The first Club World Cup was held in January 2000 in Brazil. FIFA hoped the event could change the Intercontinental Cup (Toyota Cup) format that initially involved only European and South American clubs. FIFA wanted this new event to include the top clubs from six continents globally. Unfortunately, FIFA could not reach an agreement with the Intercontinental Cup organizers, so the Intercontinental Cup continued, and the Club World Cup was held as usual in 2000.

It wasn’t until 2005 that the Club World Cup was relaunched.

People are more accustomed to recognizing the December 2005 tournament held in Japan as the first Club World Cup.

In the December Club World Cup, both Real Madrid and Inter Milan will participate. Sneijder has always hoped to face Real Madrid in this edition of the Club World Cup. If he can defeat Chen Zhong in a direct contest, everything will be settled.

Coincidentally, in the Santos Club, a Brazilian boy with a mohawk hairstyle looked at the newspaper with Chen Zhong defeating Barcelona with shining eyes. He also hopes to lead the Santos Club onto the stage of the Club World Cup and then defeat European giants to gain fame worldwide.

And the best target to defeat would be that big goofy guy on the newspaper, Chen Zhong!

In every corner of the world, countless young players have, intentionally or unintentionally, set their sights on defeating Chen Zhong as their goal, even though Chen Zhong is only 20 years old this year, he has already become a target or rival for many.

Sneijder took a deep breath and said to the reporters expecting him, "I look forward to meeting Real Madrid in the FIFA Club World Cup."

"Chen is an old teammate of mine; I know what he’s capable of."

This statement by Sneijder can be interpreted in two ways. One is, I know he’s very talented; the other is, I know that’s all he’s got.

And this statement, without a doubt, can also be seen as a tacit declaration of war.

Triple Crown winners Inter Milan were declaring war on the in-form Real Madrid, who defeated the Cosmic Team Barcelona.

Initially, things seemed to be nothing more than a scramble between players, but with Benitez’s intervention, the situation became severe.

In recent matches, Inter Milan gradually emerged from their slump, but the way they emerged was with the ’Mourinho’ contribution.

Benitez finally stopped being stubborn; he began to ’imitate’ Mourinho’s tactics. When he no longer tried to quickly erase everything related to Mourinho, the fortunes of Inter Milan began to reverse.

Among those whom Benitez hated most, Mourinho undoubtedly occupied a place, but ironically, when Benitez was on the brink of despair, it was saved by none other than Spain’s most hated Mourinho.

Recently, some media have been helping Benitez revisit the past.

Back when Mourinho was interviewed and asked what Benitez should do at Inter Milan, Mourinho arrogantly replied, "Just replicate my tactics, and he can become the Triple Crown winner."

And when Benitez was in dire straits, he secretly did so and did indeed succeed.

The team emerged from the slump...

Benitez adopted a defensive counter-attacking ’Mourinho-style tactic.’

On the field, Inter Milan no longer carried themselves with noble airs as they did at the start of the season, always trying to force opponents to surrender without a fight in an overwhelmingly strong posture.

The Inter Milan that appeared to fans was last season’s ironclad army which, regardless of where the opponents came from or their renown, always kept a low profile, like an old hunter experienced in trapping, hiding in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to strike.

During matches, Inter Milan’s ball possession rate could drop as low as 44% and even sometimes down to 40%, which was an ’embarrassment’ for the Spaniard Benitez, but for Inter Milan’s players, lower ball possession meant everything was under control.

One big advantage of retreating formation is that Inter Milan’s strikers could find more gaps in the front field.

In recent matches, Inter Milan’s team had less than 10 shots per game, only 7 attempts, but 6 were on target, which was extremely efficient!

The expansion of space in the front field also allowed Eto’o, Pandev, and Milito, these three open-play masters, to flourish. The exquisite counter-attacking combination plays from the latter half of last season also gradually increased.

Pandev’s goal and Zanetti’s score in the previous match could both find similar creations in last season’s Inter Milan match recordings.

Indeed, a resemblance to that Mourinho-coached Inter Milan.

Milito was reinstated as a center forward, Eto’o returned to the wing, which not only stabilized the left flank defense but also successfully activated the other midfield players. The Blue-Black Legion no longer relied on Eto’o alone to solve problems like at the start of the season.

However, Benitez still did not have control over Inter Milan; he clearly did not possess the charisma of Mourinho.

It was a common sight that after an Inter Milan player scored, no one would go forward to embrace Benitez, as if the players’ unity and the coach were two different paintings. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

The most typical case is during Mourinho’s coaching period, did you ever see Moratti leading the entire top management into the locker room for a speech?

But under Benitez’s coaching, such scenes were commonplace.

Mourinho heard Benitez’s provocation, Benitez’s championship declaration in Spain, but Mourinho didn’t respond. On the contrary, in Madrid, he deliberately, as part of Inter Milan, stated, "We must win the FIFA Club World Cup. To reach this point today, we played 57 matches in total, we absolutely cannot lose this championship, Inter must become world champions!"

At this time, Mourinho was more like Inter Milan’s coach than Benitez. Of course, in the locker room, he still smiled and said, "Of course, the premise is that the opponent in the final is not Real Madrid."

Real Madrid, of course, is also one of the FIFA Club World Cup teams, while Barcelona missed out on this Club World Cup, after all...

They didn’t win any championships either...