Chapter 16

Chapter 16

On March 31, Chelsea U18 will play away against Ipswich Town U18.

Harris brought Roy to the game early. Harris also brought someone with a camera to film Zhou Liran for the entire game.

Roy always felt awkward at first, but he immediately lost this idea after the game started, and he didn't even complain about his opponent's weakness: it's better to be weaker, so that Endrit can keep the opponent scoreless until the time Harris mentioned comes.

I wish the opponent in every game was like Watford, shooting wildly but of poor quality and being hugged very handsomely by Endritt.

Of course, the game will not be decided by Roy's personal will. Chelsea U18's opponent in this game is not a team like Watford U18. On the contrary, they are playing a defensive counterattack.

Throughout the game, Chelsea U18 scored four times against Ipswich U18, while Ipswich launched a total of five defensive counterattacks. Twice the ball was intercepted right after the counterattack, and twice he rushed to the backcourt but was stopped by the defender. Only once he rushed to the front of the goal and was easily caught by Zhou Liran.

The big victory made the Chelsea fans at the scene exclaim "Awesome!" and shouted the names of the scorers. Roy raised his hand and rubbed his ears. For the first time, he felt that these friends who he once thought had very cute faces were very noisy.

Roy turned his head to look at Harris who was also cheering and sat next to him, then reached out and pulled him. Harris didn't say anything, he just raised his hand, pressed Roy's head and pushed him away.

The game was over and the fans left one after another. Roy, who had been holding back all the way, finally reached out and grabbed Harris again, "What should we do? Endrit only saved one ball in this game."

Harris said with some amusement: "No, you have no confidence in him?"

"It's not that I don't have confidence, it's that I'm worried about him."

"Berkeley has more faith in Endrit than you do."

This sentence is actually just a joke from Harris.

Beckley is the photographer hired by Harris. The price is not important. What is important is that he is also a football fan. When he heard that he could get paid for photographing the game, he agreed immediately. However, when he heard that he wanted to photograph the goalkeeper, he said he would pay more.

However, after filming the game, Beckley's eyes were much clearer than before when he exported the video content. "Endritt maintained a high level of concentration throughout the game, for more than 90 minutes. Look here, here and here. The camera was a little shaky because Endritt moved suddenly and I didn't react."

"These three times were when Ipswich launched a counterattack and the ball flew across the midfield. The first two times it was blocked by the defenders. But if it hadn't been blocked by the defenders, Endrit's sudden move to the position would have allowed him to easily catch the ball."

"This is amazing. He kept his eyes on the ball throughout the game and never relaxed. If his own ability is really as strong as you say, combined with this state, I estimate that he will not miss any ball even in the Champions League."

Harris' eyes lit up, "Really? So you admire Endrit now?"

"Yes!"

"Then the money added before..."

Berkeley stood up and said, "I'll go get a bottle of water. Please sit down first."

Harris glanced at the water bottle in front of him and shook his head slightly.

…………

On the same day, the home team Chelsea challenged Watford at Vicarage Road and won 0:1 in the 31st round of the Premier League.

On April 5, Chelsea welcomed their Champions League quarter-final opponent, Valencia from La Liga, at Stamford Bridge.

Referee Blakely took the penalty kick. Thirty minutes into the game, Valencia's Silva scored a goal and the team entered the second half with a score of 0:1.

In the 52nd minute of the game, Drogba, who had been given a yellow card in the first half, scored and tied the score. The two sides tied 1:1 and the score remained the same until the end of the game.

On April 7, in the 32nd round of the Premier League, Chelsea played against Tottenham at home. No. 12 Mikel assisted No. 6 Carvalho to open the scoring in the 52nd minute of the game. Tottenham made three substitutions to launch an attack, but the starting goalkeeper Cech guarded the goal well and Chelsea defeated Tottenham 1:0.

On April 11, Chelsea traveled to the Mestalla Stadium in Spain. Both sides adopted a 4-4-2 tactical formation, but Mourinho was obviously better. The game ended with a score of 1:2 and the team advanced to the Champions League semi-finals again.

On April 15, Chelsea played against Blackburn in the FA Cup semi-final. The team's chairman Abramovich appeared at the game to cheer for Chelsea. After Chelsea advanced to the final after extra time, Abramovich took the initiative to hug Mourinho in front of the media.

After the game, Mourinho said in an interview, "Roman and I spoke a few words outside the press conference room. I gave him a hug and he hugged me. I said 'Congratulations' to him and he said 'Congratulations' to me. This is normal."①

The home team's performance is getting better and better, the relationship between the head coach and the chairman has been thawed, the situation is very good, and Chelsea fans are grinning from ear to ear.

Except Roy and Harris.

Roy held the pen in his hand and looked up at Harris blankly. "You, you said you still want to wait, so how many more years do you want to wait?"

Harris was also a little unconfident. Although he didn't stutter like Roy, his eyes were also vague. "Wait a little longer. I don't think it will take a few years..."

This wait lasted another half a month, and Chelsea made great progress. At most, they drew, but never lost the game. They defeated Liverpool 1:0 in the first round of the Champions League semi-finals.

Roy and Harris temporarily put Zhou Liran's matter behind them. Like other fans, they have begun to look forward to this year's Champions League championship!

On May 2, 2007, at Anfield Stadium, Roy and Harris followed a large number of Chelsea fans to watch the last match of the semi-finals away from home. As long as they won this game, they would be able to advance to the final!

It is worth mentioning that no player of the home team Liverpool was injured in this game, but Carvalho, Ballack and Shevchenko of Chelsea were all injured.

The home team Liverpool is ranked third in the Premier League, while Chelsea is ranked second. Crouch of the home team ranks fourth in the Champions League scorer list, and Drogba of the visiting team ranks fifth in the Champions League scorer list, but both of them have scored six goals, but Crouch has more assists so he ranks ahead.

Both teams used a very conventional 4-4-2 formation. In the 21st minute of the first half, Liverpool's No. 5 Agger scored, and Liverpool temporarily led Chelsea 1:0.

In the 28th minute, Chelsea's No. 3 player Cole was given a yellow card for a foul. Then the entire first half ended like this, and Liverpool entered the second half with 1:0. Agger, who had just scored a goal, also received a yellow card in the 61st minute. Head coach Benítez replaced Pennant with Alonso in the 78th minute, but it did not improve the situation and the game ended.

The two sides were evenly matched, and referee Gonzalez blew the whistle to declare the game into overtime. In the 30-minute overtime, both sides used up all their substitutions, but still no player broke the deadlock at this stage and the game went into a penalty shootout.

Roy's voice was split by shouting, but Chelsea was eliminated in the semi-finals again, losing to Liverpool 4:1 in the penalty shootout.

There were cries at the scene, and Harris silently lowered his head and covered his eyes with his hands. He was in a bad mood because Chelsea fell in the semi-finals again! But at the same time, he felt a little secretly happy, because he knew that the opportunity to enter the market that he had been waiting for had finally come.

…

The day after the game, some tabloids published reports about Zhou Liran: The youth team’s starting goalkeeper Endrit has kept all opponents scoreless in the new season!

At first it was just some tabloid reports, but eventually some major newspapers also began to report on this youth team goalkeeper who kept a clean sheet in every game this new season.

The account that Roy used to post Endrit's application status began to gain a lot of followers. Most Chelsea fans noticed the good talent of their youth team, a pure Chelsea player and a goalkeeper with extremely great talent!

More Chelsea fans started to watch the youth team's games, and they became even more excited when they found that their goalkeeper Endrit could keep the game scoreless no matter how strong the opponent was.

Zhou Liran: Taking in heartbroken Chelsea fans online

Zhou Liran even accepted several interviews from media reporters in the team, and many media began to pay attention to Zhou Liran, a local goalkeeper with a traditional English background.

Liz and her husband were very happy for their son, and they brought their youngest son Holt to the scene to cheer for Zhou Liran. Zhou Liran's save bonus was also increased from 100 pounds to 200 pounds.

Zhou Liran and Endrette Carter are becoming famous!

This level of popularity was several times higher than the previous attention, but Roy was not happy at all, because Harris firmly disagreed with Roy spreading the name of "Iron-faced Superman" now.

"This is a big move. We are just in the momentum building stage now. We still have to wait for a better opportunity."

Roy sighed in frustration, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, how long do we have to wait?"

"It could be the 24th of this month, or it could be next year."

"ah?"

…………

May 24th, Athens Olympic Stadium, 2006-07 UEFA Champions League final, AC Milan vs. Liverpool.

Inzaghi scored one goal in the first half and one in the second half, and Liverpool striker No. 18 Kuyt scored a point in the 88th minute. The final ended with a score of 2:1. AC Milan became the Champions League champion despite being completely unfavored, and won the honor!

On May 25, Zhou Liran came to the locker room to change his jersey after finishing his regular warm-up. When he opened the door, he was surprised to find that his teammates appeared in the locker room at this time.

"Wow, you guys came to practice so early today? Are you feeling a little disappointed after watching yesterday's game?"

Zhou Liran stood in front of him and knelt down to put on his clothes. When he was putting on his gloves, Cocker held up a newspaper and handed it to him, "Look, Ritt!"

Zhou Liran didn't care much. He glanced at the title casually and then looked away and said casually: "Oh, we need Superman? The new American superhero comic has an Englishman..."

Zhou Liran suddenly paused, then turned back and stared at the title: We need Iron Face Superman!

Do we need an iron-faced Superman? We need - Iron Man?

"I'm talking about you, Ritter. Look, there's this one!"

Zhou Liran roughly pulled off his gloves and threw them into the cabinet, then reached out and grabbed the newspaper. The headline on it read: Iron-faced Superman is only one chance away from the Yashin Prize!

"And this one," Cocker read the newspaper headline dryly, "Please give our Iron Man a chance."

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