Starting with playing defensive midfield for Evergrande

Chapter 117 (First Update) An Exaggerated Pre-Match Farce? Who do you think you are, Su Hao?
[Su Hao has really gotten arrogant. He's only played half a season in the Premier League and he's already ignoring Messi. Doesn't he even know his own limitations?]
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[That's exactly what I meant. I said before that even if our countrymen achieve something abroad, they should keep a low profile. But now, they haven't even won a Premier League MVP yet, and they're already getting arrogant!]
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[Su Hao isn't even fit to shine Messi's shoes; he's a disgrace. If this gets reported by Spanish journalists, he'll be humiliated internationally!]
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[Hey! What are you bastards thinking upstairs? I'm just baffled. You don't support your own people being Messi's lackeys? Read the report carefully, what did Su Hao say?]
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[Do you know what kind of personality Messi has, and how much he loves us fans? In the world of football, everyone praises Messi. But Su Hao? He talks about Ronaldo's greatness, but when it comes to Messi, he's speechless?]
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[Yes! Su Hao has gotten arrogant. He thinks he's something special. Just wait for the match, and see if Messi will utterly humiliate him!]

"Damn it, this is real licking!"

That evening at the Xianghe national football team training base, the national team players, after finishing their meal, sat together and helplessly complained about the Su Hao ignoring Messi incident, which had already become a hot topic in China.

Especially after seeing the comments from Messi fans below the report.

"I just don't understand, how can there be such idiots in our country?"

Qin Sheng has a fiery temper, and seeing such a complete idiot who is siding with outsiders, Qin Sheng simply used his verified Weibo account to start a confrontation.

just
Old Qin forgot his current identity as a member of the national football team.

He had just posted a comment when he was immediately besieged by various attacks.

What kind of national pigs are these? Substitute national pigs? Useless Qin?
"Damn it, I've just made trouble for myself!"

After his fingers ached from typing and he still couldn't win the online battle, Lao Qin finally closed Weibo and slapped himself twice.

"Hahaha! Lao Qin, you're definitely in love with Xiao Hao. Look at your Weibo, you've successfully diverted all the attention to Xiao Hao!"

Seeing Qin Sheng's tearful expression, Zhao Xuri couldn't help but mock him.

However, he didn't laugh for long before Qin Sheng reopened his Weibo account, posted a new confrontational update, and casually tagged Zhao Xuri.

Zhao Xuri was immediately besieged by a massive number of Messi's fervent fans.

As for the reason, it's because Qin Sheng's post clearly stated that Zhao Xuri was supporting Su Hao!

"Damn it, Lao Qin, you've gone too far! Just you wait, I'm tagging you too!"

"Come on! If you've got the guts, just say I'm going to shut down Messi!"

"Do you think I don't dare?"

"Alright, stop fooling around, or things will escalate into a media frenzy! Once you've rested enough, head to the tactics room. Coach Fu is all set!"

The two got more and more outrageous as they talked, until Zheng Zhi couldn't stand it anymore and stopped them.

"Messi!"

"Messi!"

"Messi!!!"

The morning of November 6.

After a massive number of Messi fans waited patiently in line for over ten hours.

The Argentine national team finally appeared at the exit of Beijing Capital International Airport.

The moment that blue color appeared, even without seeing the actual person, these fans who had been eagerly waiting for this moment immediately started roaring with excitement.

Amidst the frenzied shouts, the exhausted Argentine superstar Lionel Messi finally came into view.

No surprises!

The moment Messi appeared, the atmosphere at the entire airport immediately reached its peak.

The shouts were frantic, and several people even fainted from the excitement.

In short, compared to Su Hao's return to China, Messi's arrival far surpassed Su Hao's in terms of both prestige and the scale of his fan base.

Hello!

Faced with such enthusiastic fans, Messi naturally turned around, greeted them, smiled, and then boarded the bus.

"Look at Messi, no matter how busy or tired he is, he still knows to greet the fans. That's what a superstar should be like. Unlike Su Hao, who's been playing in the Premier League for half a year and already acts all high and mighty!"

"So, I'm thinking of wearing Messi's Argentina number 10 jersey to the stadium on the day of the national team's match?"

"Isn't this a bit inappropriate? After all, it's our national team playing against Argentina!"

"What's the big deal? It's just a friendly match, and we're just supporting our favorite players. Why should we care what others say?"

"Okay! Let's do it this way. We'll wear Messi's jerseys and cheer for Messi. Messi will definitely be very touched when he sees it!"

"Yes, I know that Su. I've watched his games, and he's definitely an excellent player!"

That afternoon, after checking into the hotel, Messi gave an exclusive interview to CTV5.

Of course, as an official media outlet, CTV5 reporters didn't bring up any of those messy, unofficial news stories with Messi.

Moreover, to the reporters' surprise, Messi even took the initiative to mention his views on the Chinese team and Chinese players.

"The Chinese team is a very strong team, and this match will be of great help to our preparations for the World Cup!"

Although everyone knows that Messi was just saying that to make a show of politeness, the reporters didn't care about that.

That very evening, CTV5 broadcast the entire recording of Messi's interview on its sports news program.

Ironically, it was precisely Messi's purely flattering interview that put Su Hao in the spotlight once again.

Saying things like "Messi is so humble, Su Hao should learn from Messi" and "Messi is the benchmark for players" is really disgraceful of Su Hao this time.
And so, at 7 p.m. the following day, the 6th.

The World Cup pre-match friendly match that countless Chinese football fans have been eagerly anticipating has finally arrived.

From the hotel entrance all the way to the Workers' Stadium.

The constant screams and the crowds of people packed everywhere!

Chinese Messi fans, with their passion that is arguably unparalleled in the world, have shown the Argentinian people just how much Messi means to China.

"Leo! These Chinese people are really something."

Inside the bus, looking at the densely packed crowd, Mascherano was so shocked by the scene before him that he couldn't help but complain.

"China is the world's most populous country, so it's normal for Leo to receive this kind of treatment."

"But seriously, they're really noisy!"

"Haha, shh! Don't say things like that, or you'll get Leo in trouble!"

"."

Higuain and the others gathered together, laughing and joking.

Messi, sitting in front of them, was wearing headphones and pretending to be asleep with his eyes closed.

Unfortunately, compared to China, where there are chaotic crowds everywhere, Messi actually prefers to go to Japan.
As for what my teammates said...
Honestly, he doesn't care at all!
"Damn it, these bastards are actually wearing Argentina jerseys?"

7:30 p.m.

The match hadn't officially started yet, but the farce in the stands had already begun.

Those die-hard fans at the airport who were planning to impress Messi actually did it on match day: they sat among a large group of fans in red national team jerseys, all wearing Argentina's number 10 jersey.

It's become commonplace for the national team to be teased or ridiculed by fans because of their performance.

However, this is indeed the first time that someone has worn the national team's jersey in an official match.

Moreover, this group of people not only wore jerseys, but also made a banner in Argentinian that read "Messi - Chinese fans will always support you" and kept showing it off.

"We wear what we want, it's none of your business!" "Exactly, what does our support for Messi have to do with you?"

"If you're going to wear that, go to the away fans' section and shut your mouth!"

Seeing that these idiots were getting more and more outrageous, a tall man from Northeast China, standing at 1.83 meters, couldn't help but grab the one who was jumping the most aggressively and yell at him.

And you know what? Before they even started yelling, the moment the finger poked them, the group of people who had been shouting so loudly immediately shut up.

"Sit down, all of you! You guys come here!"

Fortunately, just as a one-sided beating was about to take place, the security guards finally arrived and successfully sent those idiots away.

The farce in the stands came to an end, and the match finally entered its final countdown.

Pre-match group photo, the two teams shake hands!
After all, it was just a friendly match. Although the Argentine stars also saw the news that had been exposed by foreign media about Su Hao ignoring Messi.

However, they only discussed it in the locker room, and that they would teach China a lesson with a bloodbath in the upcoming game. They did not show any particular hostility.

It was 7:59 p.m. local time in Beijing.

After all the pre-match ceremonies were completed!

"Zhuang Dian'er Tai!"

"Zhuang Dian'er Tai!"

"This is a live broadcast of the 2014 China Team Friendly Match!"

"Argentina National Team VS China National Team!"

"The players from both teams are already standing in their respective halves of the field!"

"The referee is checking his watch too!"

"Beep!!!"

"With the referee's whistle!"

"The competition has officially begun!"

"First, let's look at the starting lineups for both sides!"

"China's starting goalkeeper, wearing a traditional red jersey and attacking from left to right: Zeng Cheng!"

"Backcourt: Rong Hao, Feng Xiaoting, Du Wei, Zhang Linpeng!"

"Double defensive midfielders: Qin Sheng and Zheng Zhi team up!"

"Left winger: Yu Hanchao!"

"Right winger: Hao Junmin!"

"Single attacking midfielder: Su Hao!"

Forward: Gao Lin!

"On the other side, Argentina's starting goalkeeper, wearing the traditional blue and white striped jersey, is Romero!"

"Defenders: Rojo, Garay, Demichelis, Zabaleta!"

"Two defensive midfielders: Biglia and Mascherano!"

"Single attacking midfielder: Lionel Messi!"

"Three forwards: Di Maria, Higuain, and Enzo Perez!"

"Argentina has possession of the ball!"

"Absolutely their full-strength lineup! It seems the Argentinians really want to test the strength of their starting lineup against the Chinese team!"

Looking at Argentina's impressive starting lineup, commentator Huang Jianxiang suddenly became worried.

There's no way around it; they're fielding their strongest lineup, and it's their last warm-up match before the World Cup. The Argentinians are clearly trying to boost their confidence.

With this lineup, if Argentina really played seriously...
Old Huang is genuinely worried that the Chinese national football team will suffer a humiliating defeat at the hands of others!
Workers' Stadium!

After the referee blew his whistle, Higuain immediately passed the ball back to Messi.

"boom!!!"

The moment Messi touched the ball, a thunderous roar erupted from the stands.

It was unexpected, but also quite normal!

Amidst the frenzied shouts, Messi leisurely dribbled the ball towards the Chinese team's half.

After all, they are facing a world-class team. In the past few days of training, Fu Bo has been preparing for the match entirely with a defensive counter-attacking style based on the "bus" formation.

Therefore, after Messi dribbled the ball all the way into the heart of the Chinese team's midfield, Gao Lin quickly rushed towards Messi.

then
The second cheer at the Workers' Stadium then ensued.

With a simple shoulder drop and change of direction, Messi easily got past Gao Lin, whose defense was already subpar.

Moreover, after getting past Gao Lin, Messi quickly passed the ball with his left foot to Biglia, who was following up, while he himself quickly moved into the center of China's dense midfield defense to wait for Biglia to pass back.

To Messi's surprise, the referee's whistle suddenly blew before he had even started moving and settled into position.

Turning around, I saw that my own Biglia had been knocked down head-on onto the grass by the Chinese team's number 10.

There were no unnecessary movements, just a direct, head-on collision!
"Su Hao's foul was actually quite clever!"

"Messi has just started his run, and Argentina's two wingers are also advancing rapidly. If Messi receives the ball after accelerating, Argentina can complete the transition between the midfield and the attacking third in an instant!"

"Su Hao chose to foul prematurely because he saw the threat posed by Messi's off-the-ball runs!"

The fact that Su Hao committed a foul so early in the game left fans puzzled. It was Huang Jianxiang's explanation that made them realize that Su Hao's fouls were actually quite sophisticated.

However, this time Lao Huang actually over-interpreted it a bit.

Although Su Hao knew how terrifying Messi's threat was once he got going, this time Su Hao really lunged too hard and couldn't stop in time.

"Are you ok?"

Looking at Biglia lying on the ground, Su Hao extended his right hand in a friendly manner.

However, to Su Hao's surprise, the Lazio defensive midfielder completely ignored him after he reached out his hand!

Without responding or extending a hand, Biglia simply ignored Su Hao and got up.

"Damn!"

Being hit like that in front of him, even Su Hao, who has a good temper, couldn't help but curse.

And the same!

Seeing their key players treated this way by the Argentinians, the players from other national teams also lost their tempers for a moment.

What should have been a harmonious and pleasant friendly match suddenly turned into a heated one!

PS: First update delivered, second update coming later tonight!
(End of this chapter)