It's cheating, but Hazard

Chapter 196 194 Wenger: Happy Birthday, Charles (Daily Transition)

On March 3, Barcelona will face Osasuna at home.

Charles has fully recovered from his injury, but has been a substitute in recent games.

There was no progress in the first half and both sides shook hands and ended in a 0:0 draw.

Guardiola took a look at the situation on the field and slowly walked to the bench.

"There are six days left before the Champions League match against Arsenal. The next schedule is very important. After the Arsenal game, there will be the national derby against Real Madrid, which will be very exhausting."

"After the national derby comes the Catalan derby, and it will be difficult for the Spaniards to play against them either."

"If we beat Arsenal, two derby games later it would be the Champions League semi-final."

"There will be other matches between these matches, basically it will still be one match every three days."

"We have a very heavy workload throughout April. There is no so-called Death Week. We are in Death April."

"You just recovered from your injury recently. It was only three days since the last match against Zaragoza. You should rest well for this game."

"Then there is the match against Mallorca three days later, which is stuck in the middle of the match against Arsenal. You can continue to be a substitute then. I will let you play for a few minutes depending on the situation. Just keep your feet feeling."

Ciel nodded, "I understand, Pep."

He didn't know why, but Barcelona's schedule this season was so much more intense than last season. It felt like they were in a hurry to be reborn.

On average, there is a game every three days, and these three days also include the time for traveling to away games, so there is no time to rest for long.

The La Liga schedule is already tight, and Barcelona also has to participate in the Champions League and the Copa del Rey. These events are stuck together, and just looking at the schedule makes you feel suffocated.

In addition, this year is the World Cup year, and the opponents scheduled for various national competitions are all strong.

Ciel felt suffocated when he thought about the entire April schedule.

Three Champions League games, two derby games, plus some other home and away games, it's really unbearable.

After the half-time break, Guardiola continued to adjust his tactical arrangements.

In the end, Barcelona defeated Osasuna 2:0.

But the reporters were not concerned about this game, most of the questions they asked were about Arsenal.

Henry was not so happy.

In his heart, Arsenal is as important as his home.

Especially when he learned from reporters that Wenger would prepare a grand welcome ceremony for him at the Emirates Stadium.

On March 28th, Barcelona will play away against Mallorca.

In order to prepare for the match against Arsenal three days later, everyone except Charles, Messi, Xavi and others sat on the bench.

Iniesta, Yaya Toure and Keita form the midfield.

Pedro, Ibrahimovic and Hefren serve as Barcelona's trident.

It was not until the 60th minute that Guardiola made three substitutions in one go.

Messi replaced Iniesta, Xavi replaced Yaya Toure, and Charles replaced Ibrahimovic.

Just two minutes later, Messi assisted Charles.

In the end, thanks to Charles' goal, Barcelona defeated Mallorca 1:0.

As Barcelona is making great strides in the league, Arsenal is naturally no exception.

Even Fabregas, who was originally injured, has recovered and is in good shape.

After the game, the entire Barcelona team immediately flew to London, and at this time there were less than 72 hours left before the game with Arsenal.

There is a one-hour time difference between Spain and the UK, with the UK being one hour behind Spain.

It was already 11 o'clock in the evening when the entire Barcelona team flew to the UK.

"Hurry, hurry, go back and have a good sleep now to get over the jet lag."

"Also, the time in the UK is different from ours. Although it is only 11 o'clock now, it is actually equivalent to 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning in our country*."

As soon as they got off the plane, Guardiola urged all the players to get on the car and kept explaining various precautions.

"You must not stay out all night this time. If I catch anyone who is not in the room before 10pm, they will be fined 6000 euros!"

Charles, Messi, Hevren and Busquets immediately lowered their heads.

When they arrived at the hotel, Guardiola finally stopped giving instructions and signaled everyone to go to rest immediately.

After making sure that every player had entered his own room, Guardiola returned to his room with peace of mind.

Guardiola drew the curtains and the whole room was instantly dark.

He put his things aside, took off his shoes and lay on the bed to prepare for sleep.

But no matter how much he tossed and turned, he couldn't fall asleep.

When he closed his eyes, all he could think of were Arsenal's tactical analysis and match videos, since he and Wenger had never played against each other before.

Open your eyes... No normal person would sleep with their eyes open!

An irritated Guardiola took out his mobile phone from under his pillow and found that it was already past 1 a.m.

But he still couldn't sleep at all.

With a sigh, he threw back the covers, walked to the window and opened the curtains.

The sky in London was gray, with no moon or stars to be seen.

An irritated Guardiola put on his clothes and walked out.

He now feels that there seems to be something wrong with his deployment of troops.

After all, Wenger is 22 years older than him, and I wonder what kind of old fox he is.

On the other side, Charles felt a little thirsty. When he got up to drink some water, a flash of light suddenly passed by in his peripheral vision.

Charles was startled and immediately put down the cup, walked to the window, and opened his eyes wide, only to see a bald head floating on the corridor!
Charles swallowed, rubbed his eyes, and looked for a long time before he saw clearly that the person floating around like a ghost was Guardiola.

Putting on his coat, Charles tiptoed out of the room and walked towards the corridor.

"Pep, what's wrong with you?"

Guardiola was shocked. "I'm so scared. Why are you here?"

Charles walked over slowly, "I saw you floating around outside when I got up to drink some water, so I came over."

"Nothing, I just couldn't sleep, so I came out to think about something."

Guardiola explained.

Charles now understood that Guardiola was suffering from anxiety.

I just can’t sleep now, and I guess I won’t be able to eat in a few days.

"Are you worried about the game against Arsenal? Why worry so much? Didn't we go through the previous games like this?"

"And in the previous game, we scored 10 goals and Arsenal only scored four goals."

"The game is about to start, do we need to make a last-minute change in formation?"

Guardiola sat down on the chair, patted the empty seat next to him, and motioned for Charles to sit over.

“You’ll understand once you become a coach.”

Charles sat over and said, "Don't you still have me now?"

"You boy."

Guardiola laughed and patted Charles on the shoulder.

"How about calling Mourinho?"

Charles pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Didn't he play in the Premier League before?"

Ciel turned on the screen of his phone.

In the darkness, the words 3:00 shone brightly. The first match day of the quarter-finals only featured matches between Barcelona and Arsenal, Bayern and Manchester United.

Inter Milan's game will have to wait until the second match day.

Guardiola just laughed, took the phone and started calling Mourinho.

Soon, the call was answered.

"Hello? You better have something very important to tell me, it's 4 o'clock in the morning!"

……

The next day, as Barcelona arrived in London, the popularity of the Champions League match increased.

Just as the reporter of "Daily Sports" began to count Charles' top ten goals, "Mundo Deportivo" began to count the top ten reasons for Barcelona's victory.

"Before the season started, everyone was crazy about Barcelona's 'Dream Plan'."

"But until now, from the Copa del Rey match against Lianisa to the last round of the league against Mallorca, Barca have played 44 games."

"It's amazing that Barca haven't lost so far."

"Whether it's Real Madrid or Atletico Madrid in the league, Inter Milan in the Champions League or Sevilla in the Copa del Rey."

"In comparison, Arsenal is a lot worse."

"Looking at the intensive league matches, Barcelona has only conceded 16 goals so far, with 13 games in which they kept a clean sheet."

"Barcelona are very good defensively, but they are also very powerful offensively."

"In the 44 games played, Barca have only failed to score in one: away at Valencia in the league."

"On average, Barcelona scores 2.5 goals in every game. If we only count the games in which Charles started, the statistics will be even more exaggerated."

"Charles has already been confirmed to start in the match between Barcelona and Arsenal."

"Even if Arsenal's defense is suddenly blessed by God and the powerful Charr team returns empty-handed, Barcelona's defense can still turn the tide."

"However, the team that can silence Charles, Messi and Ibrahimovic at the same time has not yet been found."

"..."

"After the two games against Arsenal, Barcelona will go to the Bernabeu to challenge Real Madrid."

"But it was last season that Barcelona defeated Real Madrid 8-2 and secured the championship in advance."

"Barcelona, ​​who already have no worries in the league and are five points ahead of Real Madrid, can even just aim for a draw in this game."

"Barcelona, ​​who have no worries in the league, can have a real fight with Arsenal without any worries."

Compared to those La Liga newspapers that still care about sports, British newspapers have a different focus.

For example, the famous British newspaper The Sun focuses on the players' off-field news.

"Every player has a story. After they become stars, their every move is more or less influenced by their family."

"Here are the top ten stars' growth and family stories."

"First, Terry."

"The most talked about home in 2010 was the Terry House."

"After the 'friend's wife scandal' that rocked the football world, Terry is still trying to keep quiet because his father has made new news."

"Terry's father was arrested by police on March 3 for selling cocaine in a bar."

"When the reporter pretended to be a drug addict and bought something from Terry's father, he also specifically emphasized, 'Don't tell anyone, I'm Terry's father.'"

"Not only that, in March last year, Terry's mother Sue Terry and mother-in-law Sue Bol were arrested by the police for stealing clothes and food worth only £800 in a supermarket."

"...*"

"Tenth, Ciel."

"Although Charles is very low-key, as one of the best players in the world, countless fans are eager to know the story of Charles' rise to fame."

"Our reporter went to Ajaccio to interview local residents. Here is the growth story of Charles and his coach father..."

On the other side, while Guardiola was still talking to Mourinho on the phone, Wenger was also busy with his own things.

After disguising himself, Wenger ran to the door of a chain cake shop.

After hesitating for a long time, Wenger looked at the glass door of the cake shop to check his outfit before walking in.

The clerk came over quickly.

"Hello, welcome, sir, how can I help you?"

Wenger touched his fake beard subconsciously and said, "I made an appointment for a cake before, and I happened to be free now, so I wanted to come and take a look in advance."

Hearing this, the clerk became even more enthusiastic.

"Okay, sir, I'll check it for you now. What was the name you reserved at that time?"

Wenger followed, "Charles Lee."

The clerk flipped through the order form, confirmed the information, and then brought a cake from the counter.

"Sir, this was just made not long ago. Take a look and see if this is the cake you ordered."

Wenger took a look and nodded, "Yes, it is indeed the cake I ordered. Can I taste it now?"

The clerk prepared tableware for Wenger without saying a word.

After making sure no one could directly observe his face, Wenger carefully cut a small piece of cake and put it into his mouth.

It is not that sweet, the cream is healthy animal cream, the cake base is very soft, and the fruits on it are very fresh.

It’s not quite the French favourite, Queen Claude, but it’s still delicious.

After taking a small bite, Wenger turned to look at the clerk.

"I remember your official website said that you are a chain cake shop, and you also have a chain store in Barcelona, ​​Spain. Is that right?"

The clerk was a little surprised, but nodded.

"Yes, our cake shop not only has branches in the UK, but also in France and Spain, and the quality of cakes in each branch is exactly the same."

“So whether you’re in the UK or Spain, you can get the same texture and taste.”

After Wenger confirmed it again, he finally felt relieved.

"You don't add alcohol to the cake base you make, right?"

Upon hearing this, the clerk handed over a manual.

"Don't worry, sir. All of our ingredients are listed in the brochure. The cake you ordered does not contain any alcohol."

Wenger nodded with satisfaction.

"Then I want to order a cake. Yes, I want it from the branch in Barcelona. It needs to be ready on April 4. It's this one."

"It just said 'Happy Birthday, Charles'."

"What? Sir, I don't speak French."

The clerk was a little at a loss.

Wenger patiently repeated, "I said, you spell it. 'Joyeux anniversaire, Charles'."

1. What we are talking about here is not the natural time difference between the UK and Spain, but the time difference between the Spanish people's biological clocks and clocks.

At 11 o'clock in the evening in Spain, the sun may have just set for more than an hour.

2. Changing the formation at short notice, or in the Champions League, Guardiola has really done this before. He is a very serious anxiety patient.

3. There is a time difference between Milan and the UK. Milan is one hour ahead of the UK. The time here is Milan time.

4. It is probably not time for Giggs’s sister-in-law scandal to be exposed yet.

5. Charles is Charles, but the pronunciation is different.


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(End of this chapter)