"To be honest, I've never considered any of that!"
At the press conference for FIFA's annual awards ceremony in Milan, Yang Yang sat in an armchair with his legs crossed, looking relaxed and at ease. Smiling, he answered the questions from the reporters present. Their questions were sharp, trying to find out why Real Madrid and Ajax had such different styles. Clearly, they wanted to steer the topic toward the public debate surrounding the two most recent matches.
"I'm a head coach. The first thing I have to consider is what every member of the team thinks. We all want to win, so my most important task is to help everyone achieve that goal. As for how we win and whether we win beautifully, that's something to worry about after we've won."
At this point, Yang Yang smiled and pointed toward the reporter who had asked the question. "It's just like now. The reason I'm sitting here in such a good mood answering this question is because I won. If I'd lost, I'd probably be sitting here with a dark expression—or I might have left early."
The venue immediately erupted in laughter.
Yang Yang's answer was amusing, but it was also the absolute truth.
As a professional head coach, the first thing you had to ensure before making any decision was that the team could win.
If you couldn't win, no matter how beautifully you played, it was all pointless.
Real Madrid's history had never lacked head coaches whose teams played beautiful football, but if they couldn't win, they simply couldn't stay for long.
There were three people attending the press conference: Yang Yang, Van Dijk, and Messi.
They were the three players shortlisted for this year's World Footballer of the Year award. Yang Yang represented Ajax, Van Dijk