Inside Suker's villa.

Bešić, Van Stoyak, Suker, and Sukic stared at each other.

Van Stoyak looked at Sukic with emotions of admiration, relief, and doting.

He was completely a miniature Suker!

For Van Stoyak, he had known Suker the longest, even a year earlier than Bešić.

Although Bešić was Suker's nominal mentor, many believed that Van Stoyak played the most crucial role.

Of course, Van Stoyak didn't care for such empty titles.

However, the moment he saw Sukic, he couldn't help but recall the voice that had enthusiastically introduced itself to him in that pub in Mostar.

That little fellow from back then was now a parent!

"Have you two had enough?" Suker grumbled, "Do you think this is a zoo?"

Hearing this, Van Stoyak burst out laughing: "I'm just a bit emotional. When Luka got married and had kids, I didn't feel this way, but looking at your child, I feel like I've gotten old!"

Bešić nodded, "Just like the most mischievous, most unreliable little rascal... *cough cough*"

Bešić quickly coughed, realizing that saying 'little rascal' in front of Sukic was inappropriate.

Bešić smiled at Suker and said, "Betty is overjoyed; she even happily said she's already a grandmother!"

To some extent, Betty had raised Suker like her own son.

A hint of warmth appeared on Suker's face: "Help me say hello to Aunt Betty."

"What about me?" Bešić widened his eyes.

Suker turned his head and pouted.

If you hadn't stopped me from leaving back then, I might have my fifth Ballon d'Or by now.

Bešić didn't mind; he looked at Sukic and waved.

The little one's eyes were very bright, looking at the two men curiously.

"Can you speak croatian?"

Bešić asked softly and gently.

At this moment, he completely lacked his usual stern demeanor.

"A little!" Sukic turned to Suker and said, "Daddy taught me."

Bešić nodded with satisfaction, "Well done!"

Suker continued to pout.

"How old are you?"

"I'm three!"

"What's your name?"

"My name is Rei... My name is Sukic!" Sukic quickly corrected himself.

He knew his father really disliked the name 'Reina Sukic'.

Suker also added, "His surname is Su!"

Bešić nodded and said, "Do you play football?"

"Yes!" Sukic shouted happily, "I'm very good, as good as Daddy! My goal is to grow to 180 centimeters by the age of 16!"

All three of them were stunned for a moment.

Van Stoyak, who was beside them, seemed to have been inexplicably tickled and burst into laughter, holding his stomach.

Suker also grinned, extending his foot to kick Sukic's backside.

"It's time for your class."

Sukic immediately nodded: "I'm going to class now, see you later!"

With that, the little one quickly went upstairs.

Watching the little one's receding back, Bešić and Van Stoyak continued to sigh with emotion.

"I still can't quite believe that Suker would actually have a child!"

Suker said discontentedly, "What kind of talk is that? Can't I have children?"

Van Stoyak shook his head and said, "It's just a feeling. I always thought you'd never grow up, but then a child suddenly appeared!"

Bešić also nodded in agreement.

Suker said irritably, "You two didn't specially come here just to make fun of me, did you?"

Bešić said, "How could that be? We're not that idle. This trip is mainly to observe the players' condition."

Suker: "European Cup!"

Bešić nodded: "That's right. As soon as the season ends, we'll immediately be diving into the 2012 European Cup. We've put in a lot of effort and preparation for it, so we can't have any problems at this point."

"I know you're under a lot of pressure with the Champions League and League right now, but it's still the same old saying: don't get injured!"

Bešić was very serious.

Suker not getting injured was the most fundamental issue.

Suker nodded, "Don't worry!"

After a pause, Bešić looked at Suker and said, "We just came from Germany."

Suker: "Finished seeing Mario and the others?"

Bešić nodded, "Mario is in great form, having just entered his peak. His goals and statistics are excellent; he can help you share a lot of offensive duties in this European Cup. Luka and Vukojević are also in good form, Tomi is a bit more composed, and Srna and you, needless to say, are both in your prime right now!"

At this point, Bešić stopped talking.

"Anything else?" Suker asked.

Bešić smiled: "Did Šimunić call you?"

Hearing this, Suker couldn't help but sigh: "He called three times yesterday. His condition... is it really bad?"

Bešić didn't speak, and Van Stoyak, who was beside him, sighed: "Let's put it this way, however many you score, he'll let in as many!"

"Do you still remember when Šimunić, during his time at Milan, became a defensive liability after losing Gattuso's protection?"

Suker nodded.

"Now his problems are much more severe than that, and under continuous setbacks and pressure, his mentality has also deteriorated. He basically won't be able to make the 2012 European Cup National Team squad!"

Alas~~~~~~

Suker also felt a bit emotional.

"I had thought some teammates would start falling behind, but I didn't expect it to be this fast."

It has to be said that Bešić was indeed farsighted.

He must have considered the decline in form of Šimunić and Kovac, and thus started preparing as early as two years ago.

After the European Cup Qualifiers, the center-back pairing of Vida and Lovren, although not fully replicating the peak Šimunić and Kovac, was still quite effective.

"What about the others?" Suker asked.

Bešić: "You mean Kovacic and Brozović, right?"

Suker nodded.

These two were newcomers Suker was very interested in.

"Kovacic's performance at Juventus is very good right now. Although he's still a substitute, he can get rotation appearances. He played eight games in the second half of the season, scoring 1 goal and providing 2 assists!"

Van Stoyak said.

Suker was surprised: "Not bad!"

For a rotational substitute and midfielder, these statistics were already very good.

Moreover, these statistics indicated that Kovacic was consistently performing well.

"That's right, Kovacic told me that Juventus is currently planning to buy out his contract!" Bešić said.

Suker was surprised again.

"They want to buy him out after half a season?"

This was good news!

This meant that Kovacic had gained the trust of the Juventus Head Coach and they were preparing to develop him as one of their own.

Juventus wasn't foolish; they wouldn't invest resources and effort into developing Kovacic while he was on loan, gaining no benefit whatsoever.

If Real Madrid recalled him, they would be left dumbfounded.

Therefore, this buyout clause was very important.

Of course, Real Madrid would certainly propose a 'priority buy-back clause'.

Suker strongly supported the buyout, as it would give Kovacic better room for growth.

"Brozović is performing even better. Perhaps because of you, Pato, the core player of Milan, is taking good care of him, and Brozović has quickly integrated into the team."

Suker nodded.

Milan currently had too many veterans and needed an injection of young talent.

Pato's performance was very good, and in conjunction with Zlatan Ibrahimović and others, Milan's performance in Serie A was significantly stronger than in the original timeline.

The group chatted for a while, then Bešić stood up, supporting his knees.

"That's enough for now, we should get to work." Bešić extended his hand: "I wish you good results this season."

Suker also smiled and extended his hand to shake it.

Watching Bešić and Van Stoyak leave, Suker slowly exhaled.

"Josip has finally fallen behind!"

Suker had been somewhat mentally prepared for Šimunić's decline.

After all, during their last joint training, Šimunić's condition was already very poor, and now it was certainly even worse.

However, Šimunić was already 34 years old, which was understandable.

Now, the departure of Šimunić and Kovac meant that the transitional period of the Croatia National Team was completely a thing of the past.

Suker's generation of players officially became the pillars of the Croatia National Team.

And in a few years, they too would gradually depart from the National Team stage.

"Time really flies!"

On April 25th, the entire Bayern Munich team arrived in Madrid, Spain, to prepare for the second leg of the Champions League Semi-Final.

In the footage, the Bayern Munich players looked very solemn. After losing the first leg 2-3 at home, their only hope was to defeat Real Madrid away.

Only then could they secure a ticket to the final.

Especially for Head Coach Heynckes, the previous match was lost due to his erroneous tactical judgment, for which he felt very remorseful.

But he had no choice; who would have thought Suker would explode in the second half?

It caught them completely off guard.

While this match was undoubtedly more difficult, they would also be more careful.

Bayern Munich was under immense pressure.

In the League and German Cup, Borussia Dortmund was pressing hard.

That scruffy Jürgen Klopp's mad dog tactics left them breathless.

In the Champions League, they faced the formidable opponent of Real Madrid.

It could be said that Bayern Munich's current situation was very difficult.

They needed a victory to boost morale and break through this critical period.

For this, they had to fight even harder to win this match.

"Bayern Munich is going to fight with all their might!"

Looking at the solemn and serious faces on the TV, Srna could feel these guys' determination.

A few days ago, he had called Vukojević and Mandžukić, and from their words, he could sense their attention for this match.

"It's the Champions League Semi-Final second leg, one step closer to the final, everyone will fight their hardest!" Suker shrugged.

"Bayern is indeed tough to play against; we were almost suppressed in the last match," Kaka sighed.

"But this time we're at home, we'll win the match." Srna said, then turned; "Did you watch the other match?"

"Chelsea and Barcelona?" Kaka grinned; "Chelsea actually drew with Barcelona at Camp Nou!"

In the first leg of the Champions League Semi-Final, Barcelona played Chelsea at home.

This match, which was almost universally predicted to be a Barcelona victory, ended in a draw.

One was the surging Barcelona!

The other was Chelsea, a team that had been turbulent all season, even having just changed Head Coaches.

Boas was fired during the winter break due to poor coaching.

And Di Matteo, who replaced Boas, managed to make this 'old car' burst into a second spring.

Drogba, Terry, Lampard, Ramires, Cahill, Ashley Cole, etc.

Against almost all expectations, they forced a draw against Barcelona away from home.

And with their current form, if they pushed harder at home, they really might be able to knock Barcelona out.

"Chelsea has a lot of experience, and under Boas's pressure, veterans like Lampard and Terry were holding back a lot of anger.

After Di Matteo took over, he reignited that fire in these old guys, and Chelsea entered an explosive period!" Suker also sighed.

As he had said before, Chelsea would play better and better in the Champions League, especially with Boas's departure, this Chelsea team showed formidable match ability.

Of course, Suker couldn't say how strong they were!

But in terms of tenacity, experience, and fighting spirit, they had already reached their peak.

Once they latched on, it was very difficult to shake them off.

Barcelona was an example; they were tightly gripped by Chelsea and played a very frustrating entire match.

"Are we going to play Chelsea in the final?" Kaka couldn't help but ask.

Srna: "You really can't say!"

"No matter who we play, we must first win the next match!" Suker stood up, leaning on his knees: "We should go back too; tomorrow is the final, everyone needs to rest well today!"

As the second leg of the Semi-Final approached, everyone at Real Madrid was in a tense atmosphere.

At this time, Real Madrid was not yet the absolute Champions League King; they had not yet established that almost absolute belief in the Champions League.

Therefore, when facing crucial Champions League matches, they would also be nervous.

However, they still believed they could achieve victory.

Even if they didn't trust themselves, they would trust Suker.

The next day, Real Madrid's training base.

Today's training session was very light; before the match, it was mainly warm-ups.

Mourinho had already arranged the tactics, and this time they were even more detailed.

In the previous leg, he had been outsmarted by Heynckes; this time, he would absolutely not make the same mistake again.

At the same time, at Bayern Munich's hotel.

The team had booked the conference room for the pre-match tactical briefing.

"Everything that needed to be said has been said, and the tactical details have been arranged.

I know this is difficult, but we must help our forwards gain time.

The last match proved that our forwards have the ability to break through Real Madrid's defense, so the key to this match lies in the backline... whether we can limit Suker!"

Lahm, Boateng, and others showed grave expressions.

They knew their task was heavy; they had to confront this 'century problem'.

But there was no choice!

They had to buy time; once Real Madrid took the lead, or had a bad start, everything would be ruined.

In the crowd, Toni Kroos stared blankly at the tactics board, lost in thought.

Some time ago, his agent approached Bayern Munich's club to discuss salary issues.

Currently, Kroos's salary level within the entire Bayern team was in the third tier, only slightly better than those reserve players.

But it still hadn't reached his desired price.

For this reason, he and his agent sought talks multiple times but failed to make effective progress.

However, in a recent conversation, Bayern's CEO Rummenigge's words humiliated him.

In the early stages of the conversation, both sides communicated amicably.

But as the bargaining process continued, Rummenigge became increasingly impatient, even saying some words that hurt him.

"Do you know our recent investment in the transfer market? Do you know that for the championship, we are actively seeking more excellent players? We have invested a lot of money in Cristiano Ronaldo, and we are prepared to invest more, and also Luka Modrić! These are all in our transfer plan."

While Kroos was almost stunned, Rummenigge said a sentence.

"We are willing to offer Luka Modrić a salary of over 10 million, because he is a world-class player, understand? Toni! You first need to show me your value."

These words deeply hurt Toni Kroos's heart.

He had played for Bayern Munich since 2007, with a loan spell in between, but his dream of playing in a Bayern jersey at Allianz Arena had never changed.

He liked it here!

He hoped to succeed at Bayern Munich, this German powerhouse.

But Rummenigge's words completely shattered his illusion.

He was not the important one; they were not even willing to offer him a very good salary level.

Because Rummenigge believed he was not a world-class player.

This was almost a humiliating statement for Toni Kroos!

"Hey! Toni!"

Kroos's body was shaken.

He turned his head and saw Lahm looking at him worriedly.

"Let's play the match well first, okay? As for other matters, I will negotiate with the club!"

Lahm had also heard Rummenigge's statement, and he knew how much those words hurt Kroos.

However, now was not the time to dwell on these things; first, they had to play the match well and win this crucial event.

Only then would he have the energy to do other things.

Even if he demanded an explanation from Rummenigge, he would have more confidence.

Toni Kroos came to the room and sat quietly on the bed.

His mind was in turmoil, somewhat at a loss; Rummenigge's words negated everything he was.

Ding-a-ling!

The phone rang.

It was his agent calling.

"Toni, Real Madrid has contacted me!"

Toni Kroos froze.

"Real Madrid?"

"That's right! They hope to bring you to Bernabéu to play, and they gave me some news."

"What news!"

"Suker recommended you to the club; he said you are a top midfielder, and he hopes to play with you!"

Boom! ! ! ! ! —

Toni Kroos felt his head suddenly roar.

Suker actually recommended him?

Said he had the ability of a top midfielder?

He had just received an almost humiliating evaluation from Bayern Munich's CEO.

Immediately after, Suker told him that he hoped to play with him.

"Toni? Toni? Are you listening?"

There was a long silence on the phone, then Toni Kroos's furious, almost cathartic cursing erupted:

"To hell with Rummenigge!"