It's cheating, but Hazard

Chapter 319: Ancelotti, the Master of Jokes
The next day, Charles woke up and leaned against the head of the bed in a daze.

After a while, Anais woke up as well, leaning against the headboard as well, tilting his head. "What's wrong? You're not really thinking about your graduation thesis, are you?"

French universities are the type that are easy to enter but difficult to graduate from.

The three-year graduation rate for students is only 42%. Of course, this includes the number of students who did not graduate before.

If we count only freshmen who have just entered college, the graduation rate will drop to 28.4%.

"It wasn't this matter, I was thinking about something else," Ciel explained.

"What was that? The team's results?"

Anais asked after thinking for a moment.

"Pep's birthday is in a few days. I have already prepared his gift. I am thinking about what to give to his wife. He doesn't seem to be planning to hold a party, so I am wondering whether I should go there."

Charles said.

"This is indeed a difficult question. Let's go choose gifts together later. If he didn't invite you, he probably wants to spend the night with his family. Then we don't need to bother them."

After Anais finished speaking, he quickly got out of bed and prepared to wash up.

"Okay, you're right," and with that, Charles also threw back the covers and prepared to wash up.

After getting themselves ready, the two went out immediately and started preparing gifts.

That afternoon, the two of them packed all the gifts they had chosen.

Because the birthday was very close, Charles directly asked his assistant to fly and deliver the prepared package.

The next day, when Charles just arrived at the team, he saw that Neymar, who was originally a little sad, had become cheerful.

He probably guessed that Neymar had sorted out his issues.

After a while, Neymar came over and shared with Charles what he did yesterday.

"I have already told my parents about this."

"What did they say?"

"They are also very willing to accept this little angel, and Corolina is willing to give birth to him, so I will be a father!"

Neymar said excitedly.

"So you want to marry her?"

The legal age for marriage in Brazil is no earlier than 16 for girls and 18 for boys, so there is no problem with Charles asking this question.

"No, I have never dated her. I have only met her once. I said she was my girlfriend yesterday just for the convenience of talking about this matter."

Neymar explained.

Charles was also somewhat helpless, "So what are you going to do?"

"I have already thought about it. I will give her child support in the future, but the child will not have anything to do with her. She also agreed."

Neymar whispered.

Charles didn't say much, but just reminded him at the end not to forget to find a lawyer to sign the contract.

There is no emotional basis between the two parties, so this step is already the best solution.

On January 1, in the 25th round of the Premier League, Chelsea will challenge Bolton away.

In the two teams' recent 13 Premier League encounters, Bolton has 2 draws and 12 losses, never winning. The last time Bolton beat Chelsea was in December 2003, when Abramovich had just invested in Chelsea and his rise to fame in Chelsea had just begun.

In addition, Chelsea had an FA Cup match in their schedule four days later, so Ancelotti began to rotate the main players on a small scale in this game.

The main reason is that Chelsea has given up the League Cup, so it is still necessary to fight for the remaining FA Cup.

However, the rules of this FA Cup competition are very strange.

Generally speaking, domestic cup competitions will arrange for top league teams to play against lower league teams after a few rounds in order to increase their income.

The German Cup and the King's Cup are similar.

What is different about the FA Cup is that after a match is tied, the mainstream option is to play overtime or penalty shootouts, but the FA Cup is different, their choice is a replay.

Before the quarter-finals, there was no penalty shootout after extra time, which meant that if the game was still tied after extra time, a replay would take place.

It is precisely because of this strange rule that two teams created a very strange world record.

In the 1971 FA Cup fourth qualifying round tie between two non-league clubs at the time, Alfchurch and Oxford City, the match took more than eight hours, 8 days and was played in five different stadiums.

In the first game, the two sides tied 2:2.

The second match was held at Oxford University and ended in a 1:1 draw.

The third game was held at St. Andrew's Stadium in Birmingham, but this time, the two sides still ended up with a 1:1 draw. There was no way out, according to the rules, they had to replay the game.

The fourth and fifth games were played at Oxford United's Manor Stadium, and both teams ended in a goalless draw.

Finally, in the sixth match, Alvchurch won 1-0 at Villa Park.

After seventeen days of competition, Alfchurch finally advanced to the next round.

This shows how terrible such competition rules are.

If there are no other important competitions for lower-level teams, then the FA Cup is the most important competition.

They can definitely conserve their energy, but the top teams simply can't afford to waste time.

With three games in a week, we can't afford to play even with two starting lineups.

The game starts soon.

Charles sat on the bench and watched the game with peace of mind.

Neymar was full of energy on the field.

Ancelotti slowly approached the bench, quickly reached out and took the water bottle from Charles' hand. Under Charles' surprised gaze, he easily opened the bottle cap, then twisted it half a turn and returned the bottle.

Charles took the bottle and looked at Ancelotti with some confusion.

Ancelotti cleared his throat.

"I think you should take a break. What the media said is actually quite right. You are too tired."

"I think I'm fine... Well, thanks for helping me unscrew the bottle cap, boss."

Ciel said with a smile.

Ancelotti continued in a low voice, “But not all newspapers are right.”

"For example?"

"In many aspects," Ancelotti did not give a direct answer, but started talking to Charles about something else.

On the field, Chelsea's start was not that good.

Two minutes into the game, Holden shot directly from 2 meters away. The ball passed through Chelsea's defense and eventually went wide of the goal.

Just one minute later, Bolton midfielder intercepted the ball and counterattacked.

Elmand made a cross and Kevin Davis headed the ball from the small penalty area. Fortunately, Cech reacted quickly and caught the ball.

These two consecutive attacks finally allowed Chelsea players to get into the game.

Essien passed the ball in the middle, and Bosingwa shot hard outside the penalty area, but the ball was caught by Jaskelainen.

Ancelotti shook his head. "It's a pity he's not British."

"Why?" "Because then he will have butterflies."

Charles just laughed out loud.

Ancelotti went on to say, “But there is one thing about him that you can never do.”

"Which point?"

"When he joined Bolton, how much do you think Bolton spent?"

"500?"

"No, it cost £10. In the last game, Allardyce thought that he, Van der Sar and Cech are the best active goalkeepers. I think he is right."

"But in my heart, Cech is the best goalkeeper."

Ancelotti whispered.

As soon as he finished speaking, Chelsea took the lead.

Drogba received the pass from Malouda, adjusted horizontally and then suddenly shot hard from the front of the penalty area. The ball was like an arrow from a bow, but fell quickly when approaching the small penalty area and flew into the goal over Jaskelainen's head.

Chelsea 1:0 Bolton.

After Bolton restarted the game, the ball was passed incorrectly again.

Malouda broke through the midfield and passed the ball to Drogba, who volleyed with his left foot from the left side of the penalty area.

But the £100,000 Jaskelainen was too good and managed to block the ball.

Bolton's defenders immediately started to counterattack. After the midfielder took the ball away, Stenson made a powerful shot outside the penalty area, but the ball did not favor Bolton, but was held tightly by Cech.

"This Stenson, he is an Icelander, Bolton spent 350 million pounds to buy him.

Ancelotti said.

"Boss, how do you remember it so clearly?"

Charles asked.

Ancelotti raised his eyebrows. "Okay, you found out. I have been paying close attention to the Premier League for a long time. I have always wanted to coach a Premier League team. Well, I have a childhood dream of playing in England."

Charles laughed again.

"It seems that you don't believe this, so I can only tell you the truth. Abramovich has no money recently, so I am thinking about how to buy some cheap players. Bolton has a good eye."

Ancelotti continued.

"Then why don't you look at Arsenal's scout list and follow Mr. Wenger's lead?"

"That won't work. Arsene will really find Ferguson and shoot me with a gun."

Charles turned his head and saw Ancelotti's serious face. He also said seriously, "There will be no bullet in this pistol."

Ancelotti was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter.

All the players on the bench looked over, even the fourth official not far away turned his head.

"Ahem..." Suddenly, Ancelotti pinched his neck with his hands, "Water, water, water..."

Charles quickly opened the bottle of water and Ancelotti hastily drank the water. It took him a long time to recover.

"What's wrong, boss? Did you choke?"

Ancelotti capped the water bottle and said, "Ahem, I accidentally swallowed the gum."

The game continues on the court.

Mikel made a straight pass in the middle, Anelka broke through and shot in the penalty area facing the goalkeeper who was rushing out, but the ball was blocked by the opponent.

Bolton wanted to counterattack, but the ball was intercepted just as they reached the backcourt, and the situation changed instantly.

Bosingwa passed the ball from the right side, and Drogba faced the defense of two opposing defenders and successfully shook them off with a fake move. He then changed direction and rushed to the baseline, broke through and passed the ball to the middle, but Ramirez who came in from behind was once again blocked by the goalkeeper.

Jaskelainen kicked the ball with a long kick, Petrov made a diagonal pass in front of the goal from the left frontcourt, Chelsea players chased back frantically, Matthew Taylor headed the ball at the back post, and the ball finally hit the post and flew out of the bottom line.

Ancelotti, who had recovered, continued, "Have you heard of 'Wenger Burrito' and 'Ferguson on Fire'?"

Charles shook his head. "I have heard of hotpot, maocai, and shouzhubing."

"Is it delicious?"

"It's delicious, so delicious, so why do we have to go to China?"

Hearing this, Ancelotti's heart was already on hot pot, "I don't know, I want to eat hot pot too."

Charles turned around and found Ancelotti still thinking about what hot pot tasted like, so he had to change the subject, "Boss, you should tell me what 'Wenger Burrito' and 'Ferguson on Fire' are."

"Well," Ancelotti said with a smile, "it was at the Old Trafford battle in 2004. The British media at the time called Manchester United's victory over Arsenal the 'buffet battle', and then some stores launched these two packages."

"The pizza shop was very popular at the time, and then a reporter took the 'Wenger Burrito' to Arsenal's training base and asked their players to taste it, but they were rejected.

"But the reporter was not discouraged and stopped Ferguson at Glasgow Airport when he was returning home and asked him to try out 'Ferguson in flames'."

"and then?"

Ciel asked curiously.

Ancelotti went on to say, "Ferguson was dying at the time."

"what?!"

“I almost died of laughter.”

"Boss, you almost scared me to death," Charles said with a helpless smile.

Ancelotti also laughed, then lowered his head and covered his mouth carefully. "The British media at the time were all saying that if Ashley had chosen to throw the food with his feet instead of his hands, he would not have thrown the food originally thrown to Van Nistelrooy who kicked him on Ferguson's head."

"Didn't everyone say it was Fabregas who lost it?"

"That I don't know," Ancelotti said.

Chelsea played more and more courageously on the field.

Chelsea doubled their lead just a minute later when Drogba missed a penalty.

Mikel broke through on the left and made a cross. Malouda got the ball at the back of the penalty area and adjusted his shot. The ball was blocked by Cahill and then fell to Malouda's feet. Malouda shot from a small angle. This time Jaskelainen had no way to prevent the ball from breaking the goal.

Chelsea 2:0 Bolton.

After the kick-off, Elmand made a back-hook shot in the melee in the penalty area, but the ball was blocked by Chelsea players.

From the corner kick, Bolton failed to score. Cech kicked the ball to the midfield. Muamba and Mikel rushed to the landing point of the ball at the same time. In the end, the Bolton player was better and passed the ball directly to Petrov the moment he received the ball.

Petrov volleyed a powerful left-foot shot from the left side of the penalty area, but the ball was blocked by Cech.

Wasting opportunities is bound to be punished.

15 minutes later, Chelsea secured the victory.

Anelka shot with his left foot in the center of the penalty area and the ball flew into the goal from the lower left corner.

But this doesn't mean it's over.

In the 73rd minute, Kevin Davis made a cross and Elmand headed the ball from the center of the penalty area, but the ball went slightly wide of the left post of the goal.

A minute later, Chelsea changed the score to 4:0.

Essien broke through on the left and passed the ball to the middle. Anelka's shot was blocked by Bolton's defender. Ramirez made a follow-up shot from the penalty area line and the ball hit the post and bounced into the net.

(End of this chapter)