Football: Starting from the 05 World Youth Championship

Chapter 328 Lin Feng vs Dong Fangzhuo, Chinese Derby in the Champions League
Roma's poor performance has made Inter Milan's chances of winning the league title even clearer.

This has invisibly greatly reduced the players' concerns and worries about fighting on multiple fronts, and even significantly boosted the team's morale.

But they did not dare to be careless because after all, the opponent they faced this time was very strong and it was hard to say whether they could get through this level.

On April 4, except for a few players who were suspended and unable to play, the entire Inter Milan team boarded a plane to embark on a journey to England.

Like Milan, Manchester also has two clubs playing in the top league.

One is the famous Red Devils Manchester United, and the other is the protagonist of Sir Alex Ferguson's "noisy neighbors" - the Blue Moon Manchester City.

Compared with more than a decade later, Manchester City is still a very ordinary team.

This Manchester City team has no big-name stars, and its overall strength is average. Its record has been hovering in the middle and lower reaches of the league or even in the relegation zone for many years.

However, because Manchester City has two Chinese players, it has gained a popularity in China that is completely disproportionate to its strength.

In order to better prepare for the Champions League, Inter Milan chose to rent Manchester City's training base.

Manchester City is very welcoming to these guests from afar from Inter Milan.

As the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. No matter who plays against Manchester United, Manchester City is happy to lend a helping hand!
Compared to the Red Devils' famous Carrington training base, Manchester City's base is much smaller.

However, despite its small size, this training base has everything it needs. It has four standard competition-standard fields and an artificial turf field.

As for indoor swimming pools, indoor football fields, medical, rehabilitation and fitness centers, they are all available.

After moving into the player dormitory arranged by Manchester City, Inter Milan's players couldn't help but start complaining:

"Fuck, the training base of an ordinary Premier League team is so luxurious. I really don't know what the management of our club do. The equipment in the training base is so old and the dormitory conditions are so poor. They haven't repaired it for so many years!"

"Who says it's not true? Pinetina is quite large, but what's the use of just being large? The supporting facilities are ridiculously old. I don't know where all the money the boss spends on the team every year goes!"

Inter Milan has always given people the image of being well-funded and spends lavishly in the transfer market every year.

Moratti is really willing to spend money on buying players. Over the years, he has introduced countless stars regardless of cost.

But there seems to be no action in renovating the team's hardware facilities.

In fact, it doesn’t matter if the dormitories at the training base are a little worse. Many players can live outside and don’t have to endure the harsh conditions of the players’ dormitories.

But Inter Milan’s home locker room is also in tatters, which is really frustrating.

“I wonder what Manchester United’s training base is like?”

If the training base of an ordinary team like Manchester City is so good, then shouldn’t Manchester United’s famous Carrington training base be even more luxurious?

"Carrington Base is right next door. If you want to go, I can take you there!"

Upon learning that Lin Feng and his teammates were very curious about Manchester United's training base, Sun Jihai, who had a strong sense of ownership, immediately offered to take them to visit the next door.

Manchester is not very large in area, and Manchester City's training base is almost next to that of its arch-rival Manchester United - both training bases are located in the small town of Carrington on the outskirts of Manchester.

It’s just that because it is not as famous as Manchester United next door, when people mention the Carrington base, they will assume it is Manchester United’s base!
"Isn't this bad? Will we be beaten to death if we are caught by the other party?"

"No, no, find a taller tree and climb up. The cat can just observe from the treetop!"

Sun Jihai looked like he was saying, "I have experience, trust me and everything will be fine."

Of course, Inter Milan were just talking about it. It would be too embarrassing if such a thing were discovered.

As for things like collecting intelligence on opponents, there are naturally professional scouts to take care of that, so they don't need to worry about it.

What they need to do is to concentrate on training and preparation from now on to get ready for the game in three days!
……

The news that the entire Inter Milan team arrived in Manchester soon reached Manchester United.

Ferguson attached great importance to this and immediately arranged for scouts to go to Manchester City's training base next door to gather intelligence to see if they could obtain something valuable.

For example, what tactics Inter Milan practiced when preparing for the game, which players wore vests symbolizing the main players during team training, and the status of Inter Milan players during team training.

These things can provide him with a lot of valuable information, helping him when formulating tactics and arranging starting lineups.

Of course, the other party must have thought of what he could think of, so it is not ruled out that they would deliberately release smoke bombs to confuse or even deceive him!

C Ronaldo and Rooney also attach great importance to this news.

Ever since he last met Lin Feng at the Champions League draw ceremony, Ronaldo has been working hard on his skills these days to prepare for this game he has been looking forward to for a long time!

As for Rooney, there is no grudge between him and Lin Feng.

But because both of them are Golden Boy Award winners, are the core of their respective teams, and play for top clubs, they are inevitably compared by the outside world.

Although Rooney's stats of 19 goals and 10 assists for Manchester United last season were already amazing enough, he was still far behind Lin Feng.

上赛季林风在意甲联赛中打进了23粒进球并送出了恐怖的20次助攻，如果再算上欧冠和国内杯赛的13球11助，他效力于国米的第一个赛季，就打进了36球送出了31次助攻。

This kind of data is extremely rare in the whole of Europe.

If the European Golden Boot did not count goals scored in cup matches, perhaps Lin Feng would have won the Golden Boot award last year!

Due to the large gap in data between the two, the outside world generally believes that Lin Feng is stronger.

This made the very competitive Rooney a little unconvinced. He felt that he was no worse than Lin Feng, but the competition Manchester United faced in the Premier League was too fierce, unlike Inter Milan in Serie A where there were so many weak teams to brush up their statistics, so his statistics were not as good as the opponent's.

If Manchester United were to move to Serie A, he is confident that he could produce even more explosive statistics than Lin Feng.

It just so happens that the two teams met in the Champions League this time. He wants to use his performance to tell the outside world that the more gorgeous the data is, the stronger the team is. Whoever can help the team defeat the opponent is the real king!
The title of the best Golden Boy Award winner can only belong to Rooney!

In fact, before Rooney, Dutchman Rafael van der Vaart was the first player to win the Golden Boy Award.

However, due to the decline of Ajax and negative news, Van der Vaart was sold to the Bundesliga Hamburger FC at a low price. Compared with top giants such as Manchester United and Inter Milan, Hamburger FC is just an ordinary Bundesliga team. In addition, Van der Vaart's own data is not as impressive as Lin Feng and Rooney, so when the outside world discusses who is the strongest Golden Boy Award, he is almost subconsciously forgotten.

When being interviewed by reporters before the game, someone also asked this question and wanted to hear Lin Feng's opinion.

"Who wins the Golden Boy Award? I don't care about this kind of thing. For me, leading the team to victory and advancing to the next round is the most important thing!"

Lin Feng is not very interested in this kind of topic. If he has to compare, he might be more interested in comparing him with Cristiano Ronaldo. After all, Cristiano Ronaldo in his prime was one of the two greatest players of all time. As for Rooney, although he is very strong, he is still a long way from the level of Messi and Ronaldo.

The reporters from China are obviously not very concerned about this topic. Compared with Lin Feng PK Rooney, they are more looking forward to the China Derby tomorrow night!
Although this is not the first Chinese derby in the Champions League, it has happened several times before between Chen Tao and Feng Xiaoting.

But this time it is a contest between two top giants, Inter Milan and Manchester United, and Lin Feng is currently the star with the greatest influence and the largest number of fans in the country.

Dong Fangzhuo is the first Chinese player to join a top club.

The direct dialogue between these two people was much more talked about and influential than the previous games.

"Lin Feng, do you have the confidence to defeat Dong Fangzhuo and his teammates?"

Lin Feng wanted to laugh after hearing the reporter's question. Dong Fangzhuo has not played for Manchester United yet. In such an important occasion as the Champions League knockout stage, the probability of him playing is even lower.

I may not even be able to make Manchester United's 18-man squad. How can I defeat him if the opponent doesn't even play?

The reporter himself couldn't help laughing, and it was obvious that he knew his question was outrageous.

But there is no way, aren’t the biggest highlight of the Chinese Derby the two Chinese players?
If you don't hype the two Chinese players, what will the domestic fans watch?
Not all fans watch Serie A and the Premier League!
The situation in Serie A is a little easier. Because of Lin Feng, Inter Milan's fan base in China has expanded several times in the past two years. Many fans know or have heard of Inter Milan's players.

But the attention on Manchester United is much less. Apart from the fans of the Premier League and the Red Devils, other fans who don’t watch the Premier League often may not even know which players Manchester United has.

Your hype about Lin Feng and other Manchester United players is simply confusing to those fans who are not familiar with the situation.

Of course, if this situation happened two or three years later, it might be completely different.

Lin Feng has received professional training and will not laugh easily unless he can't help it.

After hearing the reporter's question, Lin Feng controlled his facial expression and answered seriously:
"Manchester United is very strong, and Dong's return has also brought new vitality to Manchester United's front line, so this game will definitely be difficult. We will try our best to play at our best and strive to bring you a wonderful game!"

When the reporter heard Lin Feng's answer, he couldn't help laughing.

Lin Feng really had a hard time. He was able to praise Dong Fangzhuo in a roundabout way, making it seem as if the game was difficult because of Dong Fangzhuo's presence.

The lawyer is indeed a master at pretending to be confused!
The reporter was very satisfied with Lin Feng's answer, but after reading this report, Dong Fangzhuo couldn't hold it anymore.

"Brother Lin, I'm calling you brother, okay? Next time, please don't flatter me too much, okay?!"

What Lin Feng said in an interview with reporters before made him feel so ashamed!

What's even more tragic is that after seeing this report, his relatives and friends in China were extremely excited and said they would buy tickets to fly to the UK to cheer him on.

He may not even make the starting roster, let alone play in a single game.

How could he explain to his relatives and friends if they came from far away and didn't see him appear?

All in all, it's all the fault of those unscrupulous reporters. Why are they asking such nonsense?

The same goes for Lin Feng, don’t you have any idea of ​​your own strength?

Don't you feel guilty for praising someone who is far less capable than you?

After learning about Dong Fangzhuo's situation, Lin Feng couldn't help laughing. In the end, they agreed to treat him to a meal after the game as compensation.

It just so happens that Brother Sun Jihai is also in the same city, and we finally met outside, so let’s get together and have a meal!
It’s a pity that Zhao Xuri is still on loan and not in Manchester City, otherwise we could get four people together at a table.

……

Lin Feng didn’t know whether Dong Fangzhuo’s relatives and friends really came all the way from China, but Dong Fangzhuo’s name appeared in the roster announced by Manchester United before the game.

This is the second time that Dong Fangzhuo has been included in the Champions League squad since returning to Manchester United.

According to sources, Dong Fangzhuo has performed well in Manchester United's team training during this period, which has attracted Ferguson's attention, so he was included in the big list for observation.

If he can maintain his form and the team really needs him, he might be arranged to play in the game.

In short, in the eyes of many people, this is the closest Dong Fangzhuo has ever been to an appearance since returning to Manchester United.

Although the situation seems good, Dong Fangzhuo's mentality has become much calmer than in the past few years.

Being labeled as China's first top player in the top five leagues is both an honor and a burden for Dong Fangzhuo.

In his early years, he was always worried about gains and losses. He wanted to become famous by playing for Manchester United and scoring a goal, but he was also worried that his strength was not up to the task, which would disappoint Ferguson and lead to him being fired.

Now this mentality has faded a lot, because with Lin Feng and Feng Xiaoting joining Inter Milan and Barcelona one after another, the identity of top players does not seem to be so valuable.

In addition, during the days of training and competing with Lin Feng and others in the national team, Dong Fangzhuo gradually discovered the huge gap between him and their opponents.

There is also a gap between players from top clubs!
I used to think that I was a gifted child, so I had high expectations of myself and naturally a lot of pressure.

But now he realized that compared with the other party, who was a true genius, he was just an ordinary person, which made Dong Fangzhuo feel relieved a lot.

He knows that with his current strength, it will be difficult for him to gain a foothold in Manchester United's first team.

So since being recalled by Manchester United, he has been training hard and taking every game in the reserve league seriously. He knows that only by performing well can he get the coach's recognition and have a chance to succeed.

Opportunities always come to those who are prepared. It was his serious and down-to-earth attitude that attracted Ferguson's attention and gave him the opportunity to be included in the big list.

This is what you reap as you sow!

As for whether you can play in such an important game, it actually depends on a bit of luck!
(End of this chapter)