Chapter 441: Meeting in Monte Carlo
After this 1V1 contest, Real Madrid players got to know Wang Li's strength better and also realized that his defensive ability was also good. At least he could directly cut off the ball from Robinho and Baptista. This was something that ordinary defenders could never do. Even Roberto Carlos was not 100% sure.
More importantly, Robinho and Baptista clearly saw the gap between them and Wang Li.
Although a one-on-one duel does not mean much, at least both of them were defeated in the duel, which explains something.
Afterwards, the two of them were ready to leave the Real Madrid training base, but Wang Li took the initiative to invite them to dinner together in the evening.
It is not easy for Real Madrid players to get together after each training session.
But now, most of these players know very little about each other. Wang Li feels that having dinner together can increase the unity among the players. After all, football matches are not something he can play alone. He also wants to win some honors in Real Madrid this season. If there is no harmony within the team, even if his level is high, he will be helpless if the team is eliminated in various competitions in the first half of the year.
"Alan, how do you usually train? I also train hard every day, but I can't imagine that I can have such superb skills and strength as you." During the party, Baptista walked up to Wang Li and asked.
After hearing this, the players nearby immediately quieted down. They all wanted to know why this black-haired boy had such strong strength. Perhaps this training experience could help them improve their strength.
Wang Li was stunned for a moment. He still had a hard time answering this question. Should he tell them, "I am a practitioner of internal martial arts?" Not to mention that this was really shocking, even if he explained it this way, these teammates probably wouldn't understand.
He thought for a moment, raised his glass and clinked it with Baptista's, then drank the beer in the glass in one gulp, and then slowly said, "Before I played football, I learned Chinese Kung Fu for ten years, which gave me a good physique and a very quick reaction speed."
He could only use this explanation to get away with it. After all, even Chinese Kung Fu was mysterious enough to these Europeans and Americans.
"Oh my God, is that the Kung Fu you used when you beat those kids from Liverpool?" After hearing this, before others reacted, Ronaldo cried out in surprise.
"That's so cool." Casillas also had an admiring expression on his face.
"Yes, Alan, can you teach me? I want to learn too."
At this time, everyone thought of why this black-haired boy was banned for half a year.
In the Champions League final, one man was provoked to fight and challenged the entire Liverpool team. Seven opponents were injured and two had broken bones. And all this happened in just a few seconds. This "stadium violence" video was a best-seller on the Internet throughout Europe in June, and the number of clicks jumped to the first place that month, even surpassing the striptease video show of a popular European singer.
Thinking of this, all the players gave Wang Li a thumbs up in their hearts.
Although they are players of Real Madrid and professional football players, they are first and foremost men. Men will envy those who can fight. On the court, if they have such strong physical fitness and "fighting" ability, I am afraid that few defenders would dare to mess with them. Think about Roy Keane, the former bad boy of Manchester United. Almost no one dared to mess with him. On the court, he was the only one who fouled others, and few people dared to foul him.
This is entirely the deterrent effect created by past "battle records".
At this time, Ronaldo really wanted to end the half season quickly so that this black-haired boy could play for Real Madrid. Would they still have to worry about their opponents using foul tactics?
As long as you stay with this black-haired boy, you will be safe.
What Ronaldo was thinking was that he must stand firmly behind Wang Li in the future, so that no one would dare to foul him. Moreover, the little fat man had other ideas. If Real Madrid started with two forwards and he and Wang Li stood on the court at the same time, most of the defenders would probably go to defend Wang Li. Then, he would have more opportunities.
As Ronaldo has gained more fat, he has had difficulty running in recent years. It would be great if he could have someone like this to help him share most of the defensive pressure.
Moreover, this black-haired boy is so good at fighting. If I were to be attacked by him, maybe he would stand up for me.
In Real Madrid, Ronaldo has always been a leader, but at this moment, he is looking forward to becoming Wang Li's "little brother", mainly because it is natural for the big brother to help the little brother.
"I must have a good relationship with him in the future." Thinking of this, Ronaldo's fat face was full of sinister expressions, and he almost drooled.
Casillas was imagining a scene in his mind:
At the Camp Nou, Real Madrid and Barcelona were playing a Spanish derby, and then, because they couldn't defend the black-haired boy, the Barcelona players had to use foul tactics against him.
As a result, this black-haired kid knocked them all to the ground with three punches and two kicks. Ronaldinho, Deco, Eto'o, and all the people who opposed Real Madrid had to go directly to the hospital.
“Hehehehe.”
As Casillas thought about it, a sinister smile appeared on his handsome face.
The next day, during Real Madrid's training, the tasks assigned by Luxemburgo began to focus on tactical training.
After many days of recovery training, most players' physical fitness has almost recovered, and now they have to prepare for the new season.
In Luxemburg's tactics, Ronaldo and Raul are still the main players in the forward line, but during training, he will also give Baptista and Robinho many opportunities. It can be seen that although Luxemburg still likes to use big-name stars, the abilities of the two who have just transferred have also been recognized by him.
Wang Li was actually assigned to the substitute team. He was suspended for half a year and could not play in the recent games. He was just a formality in the team's training.
For the sake of the team's results, it would be useless even if he was assigned to the main team. It would only increase the players' dependence on him. Sometimes, Wang Li also acted as a referee. In the team's training, he seemed to be an outsider.
However, Wang Li had no objection to this. He could not play at all, and even if he played a big role in the team, it would be of no avail.
Compared to his teammates at Real Madrid, his training life is much easier.
The Valdebebas Sports City is being built very quickly. Around Real Madrid's training base, there are already many buildings and commercially developed gymnasiums open to the public. In addition to training, he occasionally goes there to do other sports, such as basketball, swimming, etc.
During this process, he got to know many basketball and swimming enthusiasts in Madrid.
When Wang Li first arrived at the stadium, many people came to him to ask for autographs and take photos with him, etc. However, after this situation continued for a few days, these people became accustomed to it. Some of them even played basketball and competed in swimming skills with Wang Li.
It is worth mentioning that during this process, Wang Li's basketball skills have steadily improved. At the beginning, he could only use his internal force and the Tianshan Six Yang Palm technique to shoot with a very high accuracy, but he was a pure rookie in dribbling and passing, and it can be said that he had no sense of the ball at all.
But after a few days, he can rely on his shooting advantage to play games with others with his basketball skills. Although many fans think this is "not doing his job properly", Wang Li really has nothing to do besides team training. For him, the suspension may also be a kind of vacation, right?
Of course, these are all trivial matters in daily life. In fact, Real Madrid’s training tasks are still very heavy recently.
All the top league teams in Spain have begun preparing for the new season.
Compared to the schedule of English teams, the Spanish teams have a much easier schedule. In the new season, Real Madrid has only one cup competition, the King's Cup, in addition to the most important Champions League and league.
The Spanish King's Cup (Copa del Rey) is an annual knockout football tournament in Spain. It is also the only cup tournament in Spain. The tournament was initiated by Carlos Padrós, the former president of Real Madrid, who proposed to hold a football tournament to celebrate the accession of King Alfonso XIII of Spain to the throne. The first match of the season was held in 1902.
The original competition system of the Spanish King's Cup was described by the media as a cup competition to assist small clubs because it mixed the four levels of clubs in Spain in a knockout match. The second and third level clubs and the fourth level clubs that passed the qualifying rounds had the opportunity to compete with the first level clubs, which stimulated and promoted the development of local football and the operation of small clubs. Many third-level teams could earn enough "food rations" for a year by playing a game against La Liga teams.
However, before the start of this season, the Spanish Football Association reformed the King's Cup system. After the reform, lower-level teams have to go through several rounds of knockout matches before meeting the first-level teams. This reduces the number of games for La Liga teams and reduces the possibility of upsets in the games, but at the same time it will also greatly reduce the income of many low-level teams.
For Real Madrid, this reform is beneficial to them. Their first round of the King's Cup will not start until January next year, so before that, they only have the league and the Champions League to play, and the schedule is relatively easier.
On August 28th, the Spanish La Liga finally officially kicked off. Surprisingly, Barcelona drew 1:1 with the newly promoted Alaves.
This gave Real Madrid a wake-up call, as its opponent was also a newly promoted team called Cadiz.
Cadiz entered the Spanish National League in 1935.
The team played in La Liga four times in 1977, 1981, 1983 and 1985. In 1993, Cadiz ended its last La Liga campaign and was relegated to the B Division, and then to the C Division in 1994. It was not until last season that Cadiz returned to the Spanish Second Division and won the Spanish Second Division championship last season and returned to La Liga.
In the major leagues in Spain, it is rare to see a team that has completed two consecutive jumps. It can also be seen from here that the strength of Cadiz should not be underestimated.
This is indeed the case. Real Madrid had a hard time in this game.
Just four minutes into the game, Real Madrid got off to a dream start. Ronaldo received a pass from Zidane, turned around and dribbled past Cadiz captain Quintana, then shot a curved ball from 20 yards in the middle, and the ball went straight into the lower right corner.
But after that, Real Madrid failed to score. In the 63rd minute, Cadiz midfielder Estoyanov took a corner kick from the right side, Olli headed the ball, and Pavone turned and volleyed the ball into the net from 8 yards in front of the goal, helping Cadiz equalize the score.
The two teams were once in a stalemate, and it seemed that Real Madrid was about to follow in Barcelona's footsteps.
However, in the final moments of the game, Robinho, who came on as a substitute, dribbled the ball horizontally in front of the penalty area on the right. Ronaldo inserted the ball into the right side of the penalty area, but the Brazilian did not choose to shoot. Instead, he selflessly passed the ball to Raul. Goalkeeper Armando was in a dilemma outside the small penalty area, and Raul completed the simplest shot in front of the empty goal.
The final score was 1:2, and Real Madrid got off to a hard-fought start.
In addition to Ronaldo, who made one assist and one goal, the most shining player in the game was Robinho, who came on as a substitute. After this game, Robinho's support rate among Real Madrid fans increased greatly.
It is not easy for new players to gain recognition from the fans. In this regard, Robinho was one step ahead of Baptista.
However, these have nothing to do with Wang Li. After the Real Madrid game, he followed the team's president Florentino and the team's head coach Luxemburg to Monte Carlo to participate in the Champions League group draw ceremony held there.
Last year, he could only sit in his home in London and watch the draw ceremony on TV. He still remembers the scene vividly, but now, he can participate in the ceremony.
As the top scorer of the Champions League last season, he was not only invited to attend the ceremony, but he should also receive his award at the ceremony. Wang Li had some guesses as to what the award was, but he was not sure until it was revealed.
Monte Carlo is located on the Mediterranean coast of Europe, southeast of France. It is home to the Principality of Monaco, the smallest country in the world. People call it the "Gambling Country", the "Pocket Country" and the "Small Stamp Country".
At around 7pm local time, the group arrived at the Grimaldi Forum in Monte Carlo. The Champions League group draw ceremony was held at this conference center.
At this time, in the conference center, many club executives and star players formed small groups, gathered together to chat, and waited for the ceremony to officially begin.
From the inside, it looked more like a social cocktail party, except that at the very back of the party, there was a stage for awarding prizes and drawing lots.
As soon as the group walked into the conference center, Wang Li separated from them because he saw many familiar faces---
John Terry, Arjen Robben, Frank Lampard and Thomas Clarke.
Four people were standing together and talking and laughing with each other, and next to them, Mourinho was also standing there with a smile on his face. This was the Chelsea team.
The few people seemed to be having a great time chatting, and Wang Li walked over with a glass of wine, but they didn't see him. So Wang Li smiled and walked behind Lampard and patted him on the shoulder.
Lampard subconsciously uttered an English curse, and when he turned around, he saw Wang Li.
"Oh, you're here. We were just talking about you." Robben smiled when he saw Wang Li.
"What are you talking about?"
Terry clinked his glass with Wang Li's, took a sip and said, "You are the winner this time. Alan, I think you will win both the Best Forward and Best Player awards."
Robben also looked at Wang Li with envy. Obviously, he thought so too.
Every time the Champions League group draw is held, several players who performed well in the Champions League last season will be invited. Generally speaking, there will be three forwards, three midfielders, three defenders and three goalkeepers. In this way, there will be suspense for each award.
The host will only announce the winners of each award when the draw is made.
As the champions of last season's Champions League, if Wang Li is included, there are four Chelsea players who have been invited. Among these people, Wang Li is obviously the most likely to win the award, there is no doubt about that.
"John, Frank, Thomas, you can also win a prize." Wang Li chuckled and said.
"Didn't Chelsea win the Grand Slam?" Thomas interrupted, hugging Wang Li's shoulders from behind.
In this draw ceremony, there are five most important awards for the players, namely best forward, best midfielder, best defender and best goalkeeper, as well as best player. Based on the situation of last season's Champions League, the best forward will definitely go to Wang Li, and Robben is naturally unlikely to get this honor. If the other three win, all five awards will most likely go to Chelsea.
However, several people knew in their hearts that this was almost impossible. No matter how outstanding Chelsea was, UEFA would never give all these awards to Chelsea players.
After chatting casually for a few days, Wang Li also said hello to Mourinho and returned to Florentino. After all, he is now a player of Real Madrid and has a good relationship with friends like Chelsea in private, but he still has to pay attention to the impact in public.
After all, the media are just making up stories, maybe tomorrow they will report something like 'Alan Wang misses Chelsea'.
In this atmosphere, the time soon came to eight o'clock in the evening. At this time, UEFA President Johansson and some officials also appeared at the conference center. Media from major TV stations were also allowed to enter the scene to film.
As a beautiful female host came on stage and announced the official start of the draw ceremony, everyone's attention was drawn to the stage.