Soccer: Maxed-out ball control, the skill is too overpowered.

The shadow of losing to Borussia Mönchengladbach in the third round of the Bundesliga did not linger for Leverkusen for long.

The team is mostly composed of young people.

Bayer Leverkusen is one of the youngest teams in the Bundesliga, similar to Borussia Dortmund's "yellow and black youth storm" at the same stage.

Especially considering the young prodigy Lu Xiao, Leverkusen's average age might be even younger than Dortmund's.

Young people are easily fooled.

After being repeatedly fooled by the two old foxes, Sasha and Hyypia, the training ground of Leverkusen was once again filled with laughter and joy.

The team's morale was not greatly affected.

Apart from substitute center-back Wohlscheid, who was suspended.

This guy is temporarily unable to play, and his abilities will not get many opportunities to shine.

Therefore, the club had no time to consider his feelings.

Wolscheid himself accepted the suspension, and regardless of whether he had any grievances against Lu Xiao and Son Heung-min, he continued to have no contact with them afterward, treating them like complete strangers.

After a day of training, Lu Xiao, drenched in sweat, chatted with Julian Brandt about the nightclubs in Bayer Leverkusen.

To be precise, it was Julian Brandt who kept bragging to Lu Xiao about how he had seduced a young supermodel and how the two of them had a passionate encounter.

Exhausted, Lu Xiao had no choice but to listen to his nonsense.

After listening to only half of it, striker Kiessling couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Lu, don't believe him. In reality, when he chases after people for their phone numbers, they don't even respond."

"Huh? That shouldn't be the case."

Lu Xiao wondered how Julian Brandt, who was considered a typical handsome man by Western standards, could not even get a phone number?

"There's nothing we can do, this guy is too twisted. He exposed his twisted nature in just a few words."

"You bastard! You're talking nonsense! They just can't handle my burning passion..."

"Hahaha, Lu, you absolutely mustn't imitate this guy."

Laughter and cheerful voices echoed from the locker room corridor.

The way his teammates teased Julian Brandt reminded Lu Xiao of Lu Xun's story "Kong Yiji".

I have to say, this guy is a real character, the life of the locker room.

Just as everyone was passing by the notice board, Lu Xiao glanced at it casually and immediately froze on the spot!

"I'm on the roster again!"

"Really? Bro, that's awesome! The coaching staff really realized that only you can help me score goals."

Julian Brandt then claimed the credit for him.

Lu Xiao ignored him.

The name "39.Lu Shaw" on the roster filled Lu Xiao with confidence.

The team Bayer Leverkusen will face the day after tomorrow, Schalke 04, is a direct competitor.

In the 2011-2012 season, Bayer Leverkusen suffered two defeats against Schalke 04, missing out on Champions League qualification and being forced to play in the Europa League.

Schalke 04 secured their place in the Champions League group stage by finishing third.

2012-2013赛季，勒沃库森总算稍微扳回一城，对阵沙尔克04保持1胜1平战绩。

They also stepped on Schalke 04's head to secure third place in the league, forcing Schalke 04 to participate in the Champions League qualifiers.

Entering this season, the two sides remain direct competitors for the top four.

The Schalke 04 home game against Bayer Leverkusen, while not as exciting as the "Ruhr derby",

It's at least a fierce battle with a high level of tension and a close contest between two equally matched opponents.

Head coach Sasha has repeatedly emphasized:

"This is a six-point game! You have to give it your all in this away game!"

"If we win, we'll gain the upper hand!"

"Whether you want to play in the Champions League or the Europa League next season depends on this match, understand?"

Under such pressure from the coaching staff, none of the Leverkusen players dared to slack off.

We maintained a high level of training intensity and attitude this week, going all out to prepare for the competition.

As for the battle for the Bundesliga title...

Neither Schalke 04 nor Bayer Leverkusen had that idea.

Teams like Borussia Mönchengladbach and VfL Wolfsburg shouldn't even think about it.

Over the years, it has been difficult for any team to challenge Bayern Munich's dominance; only Borussia Dortmund has been able to put up a fight against them.

Dortmund had just won the championship, and the trophy hadn't even been warmed up yet.

Their star player, Mario Götze, was poached by Bayern Munich.

Bayern Munich is even eyeing Borussia Dortmund striker Robert Lewandowski...

All I can say is, whoever dares to challenge Bayern for the title is just waiting to enjoy the fruits of their labor.

If you can't beat them, buy them – that's the motto Bayern Munich has upheld for many years in the Bundesliga.

Bayer Leverkusen would be better off keeping a low profile and focusing on finishing in the top four.

Therefore, Lu Xiao was quite surprised.

The coaching staff is willing to include him in the roster for the next crucial match.

……

The next day, Lu Xiao arrived at the training base and rode a bus with his teammates.

Heading to the Ruhr region of Germany, to Gelsenkirchen, home of Schalke 04.

On the bus, Lu Xiao was looking forward to tomorrow's match.

He couldn't resist taking out his phone to browse content related to the match and to see what various media experts had to say about the pre-match analysis.

Schalke 04 boasts many top-tier Bundesliga players.

Including: Farfan, Huntelaar, Kevin-Prince Boateng, Draxler...

In the world of football, these are all formidable and powerful players.

On paper, Leverkusen and Schalke 04 are evenly matched!

At the same time, Lu Xiao also noticed a problem.

This match seems to have become what's known as the "East Asian Derby"!

Players from China, Japan, and South Korea unexpectedly ended up on the Bundesliga pitch.

Schalke 04 defender Atsuto Uchida, a Japanese player, is the starting right-back and was once a rival of Hao Junmin.

They have a certain ability to break through on the flanks and a good crossing technique, and their defense is relatively solid.

The South Korean player is, of course, Bayer Leverkusen's starting striker, Son Heung-min.

As for the Chinese player, it's Lu Xiao herself, but it's uncertain whether she'll be able to compete.

"I hope so."

With a mix of trepidation and anticipation, the bus traveled along the highway, getting closer and closer to Gelsenkirchen.

……

Bundesliga matches are usually broadcast live by CCTV5, which has purchased the exclusive broadcasting rights for mainland China.

However, considering the return on investment, only the top teams in the Bundesliga receive attention; the matches of the mid-to-lower-tier teams are almost ignored.

Purchasing the broadcasting rights for the Bundesliga is relatively unprofitable.

CCTV5 focuses more on matches between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, and only occasionally broadcasts matches of other teams.

To alleviate some of the financial pressure, CCTV simply distributed some of the broadcasting rights for the games to online platforms.

On this Bundesliga match day, CCTV5 has scheduled a Bayern Munich game and a Borussia Dortmund game.

Therefore, the battle for a top-four finish between Schalke 04 and Bayer Leverkusen was scheduled to be broadcast live on Sina Sports.

While Lu Xiao was traveling to Gelsenkirchen with the team

The capital of our motherland, thousands of miles away, is the Sina Sports Events Live Streaming Center.

Chen Tong, chief editor of Sina Sports events, hurried into the studio recording hall.

"How is it? Not ready yet?"

"Teacher Zhan is still recording inside... Oh, he's out now."

Commentator Zhan Jun looked haggard as he walked out of the recording studio, clutching a thick stack of manuscripts.

After leaving ESPN, Zhan Jun left Singapore and returned to the capital to develop his career.

I joined Sina Sports, where I am primarily responsible for commentating on Premier League matches.

Zhan Jun is very popular with fans because of his clear commentary, passionate delivery, and in-depth understanding of players and match information.

He had just finished commentating on an Arsenal match and was now immediately preparing for the "Premier League Highlights" program.

I've been working non-stop for days and all I want to do is go home and catch up on some sleep.

As I stepped out of the recording studio and looked up, wow!

Editor-in-Chief Chen looked at him expectantly, and Zhan Jun's heart skipped a beat.

"Mr. Chen, what do you mean?"

"Excuse me, Professor Zhan, we might have an important task to ask you. Of course, it's just a suggestion, and we understand if you insist on refusing..."

Zhan Jun sighed.

With the editor-in-chief saying this, Zhan Jun's escape route was blocked, and he could only force a smile.

"No problem, leave it to me. The Premier League is all done this round... I mean, the Bundesliga, right?"

"That's right, as expected of Coach Zhan, Schalke vs. Leverkusen."

"Oh?"

When Leverkusen was mentioned, Zhan Jun suddenly remembered a young player.

Not long ago, Sports Weekly posted a news article on Weibo about a signing.

16-year-old Chinese-born player Lu Xiao has officially signed with Bayer Leverkusen's first team.

16 years old! Chinese-American! First team player!

When these words were put together, Zhan Jun sensed something unusual.

So, in his spare time, he collected and learned a lot of information, and roughly figured out Lu Xiao's background.

Furthermore, Zhan Jun specifically watched the first round of the German Cup match between Bayer Leverkusen on an international live stream!

Lu Xiao came off the bench and scored twice, almost making Zhan Jun's jaw drop!

No?

There are such talented Chinese players!

Zhan Jun felt like he had struck gold!

He figured that 16 was still a bit young for the first team, and the coaching staff might not necessarily arrange for him to play in the Bundesliga.

Perhaps we'll only see Lu Xiao during the German Cup in the near future.

Thinking of this, Zhan Jun quickly snatched the documents from Editor-in-Chief Chen Tong's hand, leaving the editor-in-chief looking bewildered.

Zhan Jun didn't have time to think about anything else and quickly flipped to the roster for the next match against Schalke 04.

"Lu Shaw!"

Lu Xiao was among them!

"No problem, I'll take it. I'll do the commentary for this match."

Zhan Jun, in high spirits, took the documents and strode away.

The bewildered editor-in-chief, Chen Tong, was left standing there dumbfounded.

"Huh? That easy?"

He had prepared a whole bunch of persuasive arguments, but now it seems unnecessary.