It's cheating, but Hazard

Chapter 178 Chapter 176 Ice Prince Bergkamp vs. Wizard Veron

The next morning after receiving the award, Charles boarded a flight to Istanbul and then waited for his next flight in Istanbul.

After waiting for more than two hours, fortunately the flight was not delayed, and Charles finally got on the flight to Abu Dhabi again.

Even so, when he arrived, it was already past nine o'clock in the evening, almost ten o'clock.

At the same time, there is a three-hour time difference between Abu Dhabi and Milan.

After returning to the hotel, except for Guardiola who was still waiting for him, all other teammates were already resting.

"Why did you come today? Didn't I tell you to come later? Can you handle three flights in two days?"

Guardiola pushed Charles forward and said, "If Vilanova hadn't told me about this, I wouldn't have known you would come today. Do you want to eat something now?"

Charles was still quite energetic as he walked forward with his bag on his back. It was now past 10 o'clock in the evening in Abu Dhabi, but it was only past 7 o'clock in the evening in Barcelona and it was not yet time for him to go to bed.

"I'm fine. I ate on the plane. I'm not hungry now."

"Okay then, go and have a good rest now. If something goes wrong in our semi-final tomorrow, you might have to play again."

Guardiola said with a smile.

There are a total of seven teams participating in this Club World Cup, including the UAE League champion Al Ahli, last season's European Champions Cup winner Barcelona and other six champion teams from various continents.

As the champion of last season's Champions League, Barcelona only needs to start from the semi-finals to play in the Club World Cup.

The four teams that advanced to the semi-finals this time are Pohang Steelers from South Korea, Estudiantes from Argentina, Atalanta* from Mexico, and Barcelona from Spain.

The semi-final between Pohang Steelers and Estudiantes is today and the result is out.

Estudiantes defeated the eight-man Pohang Steelers and now waits for Barcelona to advance to the final.

If the other Barcelona players really can't win in tomorrow's game, Charles feels that he will definitely not sit on the bench.

He can't possibly sit on the bench all the time and wait to compete with Pohang Steelers for third place on No. 19, right?

Of course, the fact that Barcelona couldn't beat Atalanta can just be treated as a joke.

After returning to the room, Charles washed up and lay down on the bed to sleep, but he couldn't fall asleep no matter how hard he tried.

Looking at the light coming through the gap in the curtains, Charles finally got up reluctantly and took out a 100 ml bottle of apple cider vinegar from his bag.

Drink it all in one gulp.

A dreamless night.

The next morning, Charles and Messi went downstairs to have breakfast together.

Although they were in a foreign country, the players ate only the food they had eaten in Barcelona. Exotic food was out of the question.

"When did you come? Why didn't I feel anything?"

Messi asked confused.

"You were asleep when I came, so of course you didn't know I was here."

Ciel took a sip of water and said calmly.

The apple cider vinegar last night worked great, he slept well and now feels much more alert.

"After the game tonight, do you want to go shopping and eat something else?"

Messi said with a smile.

Ciel seemed to have thought of something and handed over a newspaper. "So this is what you were thinking about at the training ground yesterday?"

"Ha, when was this taken? I was actually craving for barbecue at the time."

It was soon eight o'clock in the evening when Barcelona played against Atalanta.

In the end, Barcelona defeated Atalanta 3-1. Rogas scored the first goal, Busquets equalized the score, Messi came on as a substitute and overtook the opponent, and Pedro finally scored the winning goal.

Charles sat on the bench and watched his teammates play quietly.

However, the coach of the university team, who had taken time out to study and observe Barcelona's style of play, was very disappointed.

Because the lineup Barcelona presented this time was not their strongest lineup at all.

Even Guardiola is still doing something, letting Busquets and Yaya Toure play at the same time;
At the same time, he began to experiment with his central defender combination;
When Messi came on as a substitute, he did not play as a striker, but as a midfielder;
Charles didn't even take the field.

After the game, Barcelona successfully advanced to the final, and at this time, Charles also saw the news created by the university team.

When asked about his opinion of the Club World Cup final, Veron of the Estudiantes team said:

"We are already one of the two best teams in the world. Now we just need to fight Barcelona in the final on the 20th, a battle between men."

"Now I am almost 20 years old. I hope that Frenchman will be careful. I will teach him a lesson."

The reporter continued, "The 'Frenchman' you are talking about is Charles?"

The 35-year-old Veron seemed to realize something was wrong.

"In my opinion, in the past two years, Barcelona is the best team in the world and it brings happiness to all fans."

"As for Charles, his performance is indeed outstanding. We all love football and we all want to see superstars at their peak."

"We hope to meet Barcelona in the final because you don't come across a team like Barcelona very often."

Veron was looking for compensation, but the reporters were not willing to let him go.

"So what you're saying is that you're eager to fight Ciel?"

"Yes, of course I want to play against Barcelona, ​​and Barcelona's lineup must be complete, that's the fun."

"In the past six months, the Club World Cup has been the most important game that our team has been looking forward to. We have no pressure and we will just enjoy the game."

After reading it, Charles didn't take it seriously.

He has seen enough news like this.

In many cases, the parties involved may not mean what they want to express, but after being spliced ​​by the media and the cause and effect are reversed, a completely different meaning will be produced.

On December 12, the Club World Cup finally reached its final.

Charles held the stocking in one hand and the scissors in the other and started cutting slowly.

"What are you doing?"

Puyol looked at Charles with some confusion as he cut small holes in the socks.

"You mean this?" Ciel held up the socks. "I heard that if you cut a few holes in the socks so that they are not so tight, it can relax the muscles and improve performance in the game."

Henry also came over, "So you believe this? You want to try it now?"

"No, I don't think this will do any good. The new socks will work better, so I'm going to try them later during warm-up and see how they work."

"If it's good, I'll wear these cut socks during the official competition."

Ciel explained.

"What if you don't feel anything?" "If not, I'll put on a new one when I come back."

After hearing this, no one else said anything. After all, this kind of thing felt very metaphysical and personal.

Just like some players like to wear a shoe one size smaller, the tight feeling will make them feel very safe and fit;
But at the same time, some players like to wear a larger size of sneakers because they feel more relaxed.

There are even some players who believe that players with smaller feet are better at playing football, so when training their children, they specifically make them wear small shoes to restrict the growth of their feet.

For example, the older generation in Hungary has a theory that players with bound feet will have a much higher success rate when playing football.

Because Puskas has small feet, Hungarians now pay close attention to his characteristics, such as his small feet, when training players.

Of course, unless you were born in Hungary, being "jade" in everything will only hurt you.

The world of football is full of strange things. Charles's behavior is not even a quirk, at most he can be said to have a scientific spirit.

After putting on his custom-made socks, Charles couldn't wait to go out.

"TADA~Congratulations to the host for obtaining the reverse Veron - Bergkamp."

"In the history of football, the blue and white Argentina and the orange Netherlands can be said to have had many entanglements."

"In the 1978 World Cup, Argentina defeated the Netherlands on home soil to win the championship. Blue and white confetti flew everywhere, but Argentina's romance was like a sword shot at the Tulip Army."

"Without Cruyff, the Sea Coachman seems to be only second for a thousand years."

"But nothing lasts forever."

"Twenty years later, in the summer of France, on a night in Marseille, the Dutch team that united to defeat Yugoslavia once again met Argentina, which had won a penalty shootout against England."

"The Dutch team's continuous and clever cooperation made the Argentine defenders helpless in the 12th minute. In the 12th minute, the Orange Army led the Pampas Eagles 1:0."

"Veron seemed to be able to cast some magic. The ball was like a sharp blade under his feet, and he kicked it straight through the Dutch defense."

"It's a draw."

"In the subsequent games, the spear thrown by the God of War did not receive God's blessing, and Veron seemed to have lost his magic."

"Towards the end of the game, Bergkamp, ​​who was no longer at his best, waltzed through Argentina's defence in just two seconds."

"The wizard Veron stared at Bergkamp blankly. He didn't expect that at the last moment, the Pampas Eagle would be lost in the sea of ​​tulips."

Hearing this, Charles couldn't help but feel dazed for a moment.

The Dutch team 12 years ago may have been the most united.

Moreover, the Dutch team at that time could only be described as star-studded, with the top three central defenders who were considered the best at the time;

The midfield is even more amazing, with enough talent to allow the Dutch team to form different midfield combinations with different styles;
On the front line, the Dutch team had three Golden Boots from the four major leagues at the time.

But no one expected that due to a series of coincidences, it would be the French team that won the World Cup.

……

"Dear viewers, welcome to watch the 2009 Club World Cup final, where European Cup champions Barcelona will face South American Libertadores champions Estudiantes of Argentina."

"The two teams will soon compete at the Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi, UAE."

"In the third and fourth place finals that ended yesterday, Asian champions Pohang Steelers tied with CONCACAF champions Atlanta 90-1 in 1 minutes, and won 4-3 in the penalty shootout to win the third place."

"Now Guardiola has the chance to achieve what his mentor Cruyff did."

"In 1972, Cruyff's Ajax was the first team in European football to win five titles."

"They won the Eredivisie, the Champions League, the Dutch Cup, the European Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup (the predecessor of the Club World Cup) like crazy."

"The Club World Cup is now the only trophy missing from Barcelona's championship showcase."

"Previously, Cruyff's 'Dream Team' and Rijkaard's 'Dream Team II' both missed out on the Toyota Cup/Club World Cup."

“大学生队在半决赛中2比1淘汰了浦项制铁，现任队长贝隆之父曾率队1比0击败曼联，夺得1968年丰田杯。”

"Here is the lineup for the match:"

“巴塞罗那(4-3-3)： 1-巴尔德斯/2-阿尔维斯，3-皮克，5-普约尔，22-阿比达尔/6-哈维，16-布斯克茨，7-夏尔/10-梅西，9-伊布拉希莫维奇，14-亨利。”

“大学生(4-4-2)： 25-阿尔韦尔/2-德萨瓦托，3-塞莱，16-雷，13-迪亚斯/23-贝尼特斯，11-贝隆，22-布拉尼亚，30-罗德里格斯/8-佩雷斯，17-波塞利。”

With the referee's whistle, the game officially started.

The college team has the ball.

After Boselli kicked off, he quickly passed the ball back, and at the same time, all the Barcelona players rushed out.

The Barcelona players were very tired after working non-stop for the past few days, but at the beginning of the game when they were most energetic, they all pressed the Estudiantes team.

As expected, under the interference of Barcelona, ​​De Salvato, who was worried about passing errors, passed the ball directly back to goalkeeper Alver.

Charles looked at and analyzed the situation on the field, then slowly retreated.

At the same time, Alver kicked the ball directly to Brania.

As soon as Brania stopped the ball, Xavi rushed in front of him, and on the other side, Alves was looking at him with full alertness.

At this time, all the teammates who stayed beside him and could receive the ball were traps left by Barcelona.

As long as he dares to pass the ball to someone around him, the ball will be intercepted in the next second.

Thinking of this, Brania exerted force with his thigh and kicked the ball hard.

"call out--"

In the blink of an eye, the ball drew a smooth arc in the air and flew obliquely towards Perez.

The situation on the field changed instantly.

Just as Perez raised his foot to get rid of the ball, Charles, who was originally behind him, suddenly started.

Just when he was about to get close to him, he kicked the ball in mid-air, just like a move in Kung Fu.

*
The fans in the stands opened their mouths wide instantly.

This is the first time that the Club World Cup is held in the UAE. Didn’t they fly all the way to the UAE just to watch Barcelona’s game?

They were indeed disappointed that Charles didn't play in the semi-finals.

However, they never imagined that on the day of the finals, Charles would give them so many surprises.

I came late today because the information is very old and difficult to find, especially the information about the 1998 World Cup. I originally planned to use Wim Jonk, but in the end, considering various reasons, I changed it to Bergkamp.

There are also players with bound feet mentioned in this article. You can refer to Soboslai for details. As for whether bound feet are helpful for playing football, the current mainstream view is that they are of no help.

As for the initial problem of flight and jet lag, I calculated it many times and the results were the same, so I should have calculated it correctly...

*Atlante was also translated as Atalanta in the news reports at the time, but in fact the two are the same team.

*The picture is for reference only. The posture at that time was still different from his. It should be imagined that one leg is upright and slightly off the ground, while the other leg is tense and raised high.

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(End of this chapter)