Chapter 421 China Regional Competition, a rare photo of Messi and Lin Quan

As the holiday came to an end, the players returned to Manchester City one after another.

Guardiola also began to arrange training and warm-up matches for the team according to his own preparation plan.

Like last year, Manchester City once again participated in the International Champions Cup this summer.

As the event continues to be held, its popularity is growing, and more and more teams are participating in the event.

Compared with last year, the number of teams participating in this year's International Champions Cup has doubled to 16.

Among them, there are top giants like the two Spanish Super League giants, as well as European upstarts like Manchester City.

In addition, Serie A teams such as the two AC Milan clubs, Roma, and Fiorentina also continue to participate in the competition.

As for the Premier League, there are a lot more teams participating this year, and giants like Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and others have also participated in this event.

Paris Saint-Germain, which is committed to enhancing its own influence, participated in the International Champions Cup as an invited team for the first time this year.

With so many top clubs participating, the influence and excitement of this year's International Champions Cup has skyrocketed.

Many fans even jokingly call it the Little Champions League. After all, many of the teams here are regular participants in the Champions League knockout stages.

Even in last year's Champions League semi-finals, except for Bayern, the other three teams all came.

The influence of the International Champions Cup has expanded, which is a good thing.

Because this can attract more fans and sponsors, and bring more revenue to the participating teams.

But because there are so many participating teams, even if the competition is divided into groups like last year, the final schedule will probably be delayed for a long time.

If we finish all the competitions one by one, the competition might be delayed to half a month.

This will greatly affect the summer preparations of major teams. In addition, with so many teams gathering in the United States, it is not conducive to the promotion of the International Champions Cup.

The population of the United States is so small and the football market is limited.

But if so many teams could be dispersed to different countries, it would not only avoid this problem, but also further broaden the influence and appeal of the International Champions Cup, making the pie bigger so that everyone can share greater benefits.

Therefore, after consultation with the tournament committee, the participating clubs decided to add two new divisions - China and Australia.

The reason for adding a new Chinese competition zone is simple. China is the world's most populous country, with a booming economy and huge potential in the football market.

The major European clubs attach great importance to developing this market, and almost every summer there are teams rushing to the Far East to prepare for games and train.

In this case, it would be better to change the strategy of going it alone and simply open a new International Champions Cup competition area in China, allowing the participating giants to fight directly here.

Compared with a single club coming over for training, inviting local clubs to play friendly matches and warm-up matches, the clash between the top clubs from Europe will undoubtedly attract more Chinese audiences.

After all, compared with European audiences, it is difficult for Chinese audiences to have the opportunity to go to Europe to watch high-quality Champions League matches live, especially such a showdown between top giants, where tickets are hard to come by.

Even local European spectators may not be able to buy tickets, let alone fans coming from other countries.

Therefore, it is definitely attractive to allow the top European clubs to play in China and give Chinese fans a chance to watch the games at home.

As expected, this news caused a huge sensation in China.

"Holy crap, is this true? Are the European giants coming to our place to play?"

"Finally, it's not a match between local teams. I'm sick of watching that kind of match!"

"Who says it's not true? The teams in our league are all a bunch of losers. Their level is terrible. When competing with the top European giants, we fall before the opponents even make an effort. Such a one-sided game is not fun at all!"

"That's right. Even if the opponent used all substitutes and let the game go, they could still easily beat us by several points. This kind of game is not a game at all, but more like an exhibition game. There is no passion at all!"

Many teams have come to China for training in recent years, and domestic fans have become accustomed to the ways these teams make money.

They spent a lot of money to buy tickets and rushed to the stadium to watch the game, but what they saw was a game with little suspense and entertainment. Because the strength of the players on both sides was so different, the giants even kept their main players in the dark and did not let the top stars appear on the field.

This made the fans who came to see these stars feel that they had lost out, as it was just a waste of time.

Therefore, if there are such events again, their interest will not be as great as before.

After all, after being fooled once, you always have to learn a lesson.

Of course, if it is a fierce showdown between the top European giants, especially one involving the championship, they will still be very supportive.

In the past few years, the Italian Super Cup held at the Bird's Nest has achieved great success.

The International Champions Cup is not as prestigious as the Italian Super Cup, but it is definitely of higher quality than the money-making games of ordinary teams.

Therefore, if this event can really be held in China, there is no need to worry about not being able to sell tickets.

…

Guardiola originally planned to continue to go to the United States to participate in the competition, but there were too many teams participating in the American division, as many as 10 teams.

This made him change his mind and decide to hold the training in Asia.

So, after a month and a half, Lin Quan and Guardiola came to China again.

The difference is that last time Lin Quan came with the Spanish national team, this time he came with his teammates from the club.

After learning that Manchester City had chosen the Chinese competition area, other participating teams also began to sign up.

Real Madrid and Barcelona both chose the Chinese division! So, the three teams in the Chinese division were decided: Manchester City, Real Madrid and Barcelona!

This lineup made Chinese fans very excited. This lineup is really strong! These three teams are currently the top teams in European football and were the final contenders for the Champions League title last year.

Moreover, the matches between them are all grudge matches, whether it is Manchester City vs. Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​or the Spanish national derby between Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Each of these three games is absolutely exciting and fun to watch.

As a result, tickets for these three games were snapped up before the games even started.

On July 25, the first game in the Chinese region was held at the Tianhe Stadium in Guangzhou.

The two teams facing each other are Barcelona and Real Madrid.

The event officials obviously know how to attract the fans' attention by launching the Spanish national derby, a major event at the beginning.

The result naturally did not disappoint the fans. Although in terms of the nature of the event, this was just a friendly match, there has never been any friendly match between Barcelona and Real Madrid.

There has been a long-standing grudge between the two teams, and neither can afford to lose.

Maybe at the beginning they only arranged a half-substitute and half-main lineup to practice, but as the game went on, the two teams became really angry, and in the end, both sides, unable to afford to lose, sent out their main players and sent out their strongest lineup to fight the opponent to the end.

The fans who came to watch the game were very excited. Many of them had watched La Liga and Champions League games on TV, and had watched the games between Barcelona and Real Madrid more than once or twice.

But the feeling of watching it on TV and watching it on the court is completely different.

Watching the game live brings a greater impact and deeper feelings.

For fans who can only watch the Chinese Super League live on weekdays, this kind of game makes them feel like they have opened the door to a new world - it turns out that the games between truly strong teams are so exciting? It seems that I have watched all these games in vain!

While the fans in Guangzhou were intoxicated by the aftertaste of the high-level Spanish derby, the fans in Beijing and Shanghai were looking forward to it, with tears of envy on their faces.

"I also want to watch the Spanish derby!"

"It's a pity that Barcelona and Real Madrid don't come to our place!"

"It doesn't matter, the next game will be our turn, and we can watch Lin Huang play football up close!"

Because Lin Quan is extremely popular in China, the organizers deliberately reserved the two largest stadiums for Manchester City when arranging Manchester City's schedule.

July 28, Shanghai Stadium.

The stadium, which can accommodate 72,000 people, was packed, and even the aisles were crowded with fans.

Although according to official statement, there are only 72,000 seats in the stadium, judging from the large number of fans standing without seats, the number of people entering the stadium today is definitely more than that.

The reason why this game attracted so many fans is that the two teams facing each other are Manchester City and Barcelona, ​​which is almost a replica of this year's Champions League final.

The organizers are really good at it, and it goes without saying that Manchester City is very popular in China.

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As for Barcelona, ​​because of the Dream Three dynasty and Messi, they also have a large number of fans in China.

The collision between these two teams, which have both strength and popularity, will naturally bring unparalleled attraction and make more fans pay for tickets.

Judging from the attendance rate on site, the results they expected have already appeared.

In this game, neither side arranged a half-substitute and half-main lineup, and all the main players played from the beginning.

It’s not that they want to please the Chinese audience or anything, it’s just that both teams have their own goals.

Guardiola wanted to test the players' remaining form after a long vacation. The opponent happened to be strong, so he took the opportunity to test it.

As for Barcelona, ​​they had just defeated Real Madrid 3:2 at Tianhe Stadium three days ago. Their morale is high at the moment and they want to take this opportunity to defeat Manchester City again and avenge their previous defeat.

Neymar is still in the team at this time and has not left the team for the time being, but he knows that there are only a few days left before his official announcement of leaving the team.

So during the game, Neymar was like a workaholic, showing his best condition and attitude, and attacking and defending without sparing any physical effort.

Under his leadership, the Barcelona team got into the game very quickly and suppressed Manchester City from the start.

In the first half, Manchester City's performance was obviously worse than Barcelona. The players seemed to have not yet entered the state, and there were several mistakes in their cooperation.

Not only that, Manchester City's full-backs were also beaten by Neymar.

In the 32nd minute of the first half, Neymar broke through the wing and cut inside to score the first goal of the game.

The fans at the scene suddenly cheered loudly, especially the Barcelona fans who came to the scene to cheer and support wearing the red and blue army jerseys, they jumped and danced with excitement.

As expected, with the MSN team at Barcelona, ​​who in the world can rival them? Even a strong team like Manchester City would also be defeated by Barcelona, ​​right?

Manchester City fans are a little worried. Why is the team's current state so different from the Champions League final? And what's wrong with Neymar on the other side?

Why did they suddenly become so brave? It was already difficult to deal with Messi, and with Neymar, who could handle it?

When watching this game, many people felt that Barcelona would definitely rise in the new season. They never expected that Neymar would leave in a few days, causing Barcelona's dynasty to collapse before it even rose.

Guardiola didn't care much about the score, but he was a little dissatisfied with the players' condition.

He decisively replaced those players who performed poorly with younger and more impactful players.

The abilities of these young players may not be as good as those of the main players, but their desire for the game and for honor far exceeds that of the veteran players who have already won honors.

However, it is obviously impossible to rely on a group of young players to defeat Barcelona, ​​which is in great form.

In the second half, Manchester City finally scored a goal, but Messi and Suarez came into play and scored two goals in a row.

At the end of the game, Lin Quan's volley shot rekindled the suspense of the game, and Barcelona's goal suddenly became shaky.

In the injury time, facing Manchester City's crazy attack, Barcelona became very embarrassed.

But with their united defense, Barcelona finally maintained the score of 3:2.

After the game, Lin Quan put his hands on his hips, looked at his teammates, and shook his head helplessly.

He seemed to have lost something from his teammates.

But it was from Barcelona that he felt that strong desire.

"Lin, can I exchange jerseys with you?"

Just as Lin Quan was thinking, Messi walked up to him.

"Yeah, of course!"

Lin Quan quickly took off his jersey and exchanged it with Messi.

"How about we take another picture together later?"

Messi seemed to be in a very good mood and took the initiative to suggest.

"What are you taking a photo for?"

"Haha, I just think this kind of opportunity is rare, so I want to leave a souvenir!"

Messi said with a smile, of course he would not say it directly, this was the first time he defeated Lin Quan on the court, of course he had to commemorate it well.

"Okay, wait for me, I'm going to borrow a camera!"

Lin Quan nodded, walked to the sidelines, and said to a reporter at the scene:

"My journalist friend, can I borrow your camera for a moment?"

"Mine? Of course!"

The reporter seemed to be at a loss as to what to do, as he did not expect Lin Quan to take the initiative to talk to him.

"Thank you so much!"

Lin Quan put down the camera, ran back to the court, and randomly pulled a teammate to take a photo for him and Messi.

Messi pays great attention to his image. When taking photos, he specially put on the jersey he exchanged with so as not to show his shirtlessness.

Because the weather was hot, he didn't wear the sports tights he usually wore.

Lin Quan, who was standing by, saw what Messi did and put on the jersey he had exchanged with him.

Thus, the unique photo of Messi wearing a Manchester City jersey and Lin Quan wearing a Barcelona jersey was born! (End of this chapter)