I changed football.

Li Yuan got up in the morning.

Veronica's voice came from behind: "You're going to an away game today, right?"

"Yes, we'll leave at noon and head to Caen."

"I hope you score a goal today."

"Haha, thank you for your kind words."

Veronica has been learning Chinese recently, and this "I wish you a goal today" was said by Veronica in Chinese, and it was quite standard.

"I've noticed that you French people seem to speak Chinese quite fluently."

Why do you say that?

"Since you've been learning Chinese lately, I'd like to recommend a Chinese variety show called Informal Talks, which features a group of foreigners living in China."

"Hey—that's pretty interesting." Veronica was indeed intrigued.

"You can just watch it on Bilibili—I said that because the foreigners in this variety show all have some kind of accent, but the French people in it basically don't have any accents."

"Really? I'll go check it out."

After chatting with Veronica for a while, Li Yuan began to get into his daily routine.

I followed the routine of washing up, exercising, and eating, and then around 10 o'clock I prepared to leave for the training base.

Tomorrow's opponent is Caen, currently ranked 7th in the league, and their strength should not be underestimated.

There wasn't much room for rotation for Jardim in this match, even though the first leg of the Europa League Round of 16 would follow immediately after this game, in which the team would play the second leg away from home.

However, the Europa League match is in 5 days, so there is plenty of time and no possibility of being stressed.

Jardim fielded his strongest lineup for this match.

Li Yuan and Mbappe, two of the hottest rising stars, once again played together in this match.

Li Yuan looked at Mbappe, who was still talking incessantly in the locker room.

A sudden wave of emotion washed over me.

Later, this tortoise not only bet against its current opponent, but also suffered a terrible public opinion afterward.

However, we can't blame anyone else. Some of Turtle's problems weren't very obvious at this time. Maybe he was able to tolerate them, or maybe he hadn't changed yet.

After all, people change.

It's obviously impossible to expect someone to be the same person 10 years ago and 10 years from now.

Li Yuan shook his head, putting his strange emotions behind him.

The game started.

Caen kicked off first.

Caen plays a 5-4-1 formation, a defensive counter-attacking style of play.

They retreated as soon as the game started.

Breaking through a dense defense is a challenge faced by the entire world.

Monaco is not a top team after all, and they had a very difficult time playing under these circumstances.

Li Yuan tried to dribble past his opponent on the wing, but Caen's 541 formation could easily create a 2-3 person gank on the wing.

It was also difficult for Li Yuan to force his way past his opponent.

In the end, they drew several fouls from the opposing team.

The first half has ended, with the score at 0-0.

This match was very frustrating.

When Mbappe returned to the locker room, he threw his shoes on the ground.

"It's amazing to still see teams that only defend and have absolutely no offense these days!"

Because he has scored more goals, his influence has obviously increased. In the past, Mbappe would never have dared to make such a move in the locker room.

But once you have the strength and have made contributions, you dare to do it.

Moreover, the anger wasn't directed at those within the team, but at those outside the team.

So the other people in the locker room didn't have any objections.

They all started complaining.

"How did Caen get to seventh place? Other teams defend so hard, but they just cower in front of the penalty area like this, barely venturing out in the first half."

"Yeah, other teams will try to attack and launch counter-attacks even if they have the chance. It's like Caen only needs one point."

……

The players were complaining, but Caen's strategy remained unchanged in the second half: to defend relentlessly.

And then—they held onto that one point.

When the whistle blew, Li Yuan stood up from the bench and went to the away fans' stand to thank them.

However, Mbappe stormed off to the locker room in a huff.

Both players were substituted off the field after 70 minutes.

When Jardim saw that he couldn't win the game, he made a decisive substitution.

Li Yuan didn't have much to say; he'd just have to leave the field. The next Europa League match was more important anyway.

Li Yuan doesn't yet have that obsession with starting and playing the full match, but Mbappe is a bit angry.

Li Yuan even tried to persuade him.

However, Mbappe sat on the bench, sulking, and went straight back to the locker room as soon as the game ended.

Li Yuan insisted on thanking the audience outside before finally returning to the locker room.

Sure enough, when a person is about to change, there will always be a sign.

He flew back to Monaco that same evening after the match.

The next day, Yardin gave the whole team a day off.

Li Yuan rested well at home for a day and basically didn't go anywhere.

"During a long season, playing two games a week in a row can be really tiring. I only started playing in the first team in December, and there was a winter break in between, but I still felt very tired in early March."

Li Yuan said to Veronica.

"Some people rest by indulging, while others rest by returning to their families. I don't know if you are the latter, but you are clearly not the former."

"I really don't like going to those kinds of places of entertainment."

Have you been there?

"I went there once before, but obviously I don't like those kinds of places."

Li Yuan wasn't actually telling the truth; he didn't like those kinds of places, mainly because they were too dark.

But he really likes women.

Honestly, he felt the most relaxing moment was lying in bed after being intimate with a woman.

……

On March 8, the entire Monaco team departed for Bayer Leverkusen, Germany.

This was Li Yuan's first time in Germany, in this lifetime.

In his previous life, Li Yuan became a major internet celebrity in the football world and was invited to Munich to watch Bayern Munich's match.

However, Li Yuan had never been to Leverkusen in either of his two lifetimes.

As Li Yuan stood on the Bayer-Arena, Bayer Leverkusen's home stadium, he was still thinking—

Is Wirtz still with the team?

I don't think so.

In Li Yuan's memory, Wirtz was not a product of Leverkusen's youth academy; he joined Leverkusen later.

However, it seems that Havertz was in Bayer Leverkusen's youth team at that time.

He'll be promoted to the first team next season.

Li Yuan glanced at Leverkusen's roster and saw that there were quite a few players who would become key players in the future.

For example, center-backs like Tah, and Calhanoglu, and Brandt.

Although they are not superstars, they can still be considered stars at the German level.

However, Li Yuan believes that Leverkusen's style of play is easily suppressed by Monaco. Monaco's style of play revolves around a fast winger and a poacher-type center forward, relying on fast counter-attacks and set pieces, but their overall defensive speed is insufficient.

The defensive line is tall enough, but its overall construction is rather slow.

They simply couldn't handle Monaco's attacks down both flanks.