Chapter 463: Celebration and Draw for the Round of 16
Just after noon, Tang Wucheng's private jet arrived at Liverpool's John Lennon Airport.
As soon as I got off the plane, the media and fans who had been waiting in the airport for a long time were just trying to get up.
Tang Wu boarded his private car to Anfield from the VIP lane, which is Liverpool's holy land.
Although it was a working day today, a large number of fans at Anfield still took a leave of absence in order to catch a glimpse of Tang Wu.
"Good guys, there are so many people here today!"
"yes, Owen didn't have so many people last time he won the Ballon d'Or!"
The staff who organized the event were shocked by the crowd all over the world, and according to their estimates, there would be about 5,000 people at most this time.
Everyone didn't expect the KOPs to be so enthusiastic, and there are many Chinese faces among these fans.
"They're all from Chinese fans?" A pot-bellied security guard was surprised.
"No, I can understand Chinese, some of them are Japanese and Korean!"
The first Asian Ballon d'Or winner, fans have a reason to keep the roads around Anfield blocked.
When they saw Liverpool's special pick-up car, they all raised their hands and waved Liverpool's scarves and shouted Tang Wu's name.
The car drove by, and many fans even followed the car and walked with the special car.
"How about honey, your husband is now a hero of Liverpool!"
Tang Wu sat in the back row and hugged Zhou Hao proudly, not caring at all whether the driver was a single dog or not.
"Good, good, you're Liverpool's hero!" Zhou Haohao played Tang Wu's little fan sister well, her eyes were full of happiness, and she put her mouth in Tang Wu's ear and whispered, "Tonight, I want you to be my hero." ”
"No problem!" Tang Wu showed off his biceps, "From the living room to the balcony, how is it?" ”
"To the kitchen, to the bedroom, to the gym, to the study... Corridor, yes, corridor! Zhou's eyes lit up.
The fans on the street are mixed, and if you look closely, there is even a handful of fans dressed in blue.
They're Chelsea fans!
These Blues fans have even travelled all the way from London to Liverpool just to catch a glimpse of the Ballon d'Or winners.
'We won't forget what TOM did for Chelsea!'
"TOM, COME BACK!"
Ignoring the surprised and contemptuous gazes of the people around them, these blue fans wore huge balloon gloves on their hands one by one, waving them towards Tang Wu's special car.
When Tang Wu signed with Chelsea, there were shops selling this six-finger balloon glove on the streets of London, which was Tang Wu's exclusive logo.
When Tang Wu left Chelsea, the London stores were almost out of stock, and the manufacturers were no longer selling to London, but the Liverpool stores were selling well.
In order to welcome Tang Wu today, almost all of these fans have one.
Some children did not buy six-finger gloves, so their parents bought a six-finger balloon and stuffed it into his hand.
Not only that, Tang Wu's jersey has also been sold out. Nike has just pulled a batch of goods, but they are still sold out.
"TOM, I heard that some fans went to Liverpool's official website to complain, and they said they couldn't buy your shirt." Raiola sat in the co-pilot and said with a smile.
"They can order online, and the 'Tangwu Taobao Store' has a large amount of stock and supports overseas payment." Tang Wu replied casually.
"You're a more capitalist than I am!"
Nowadays, many of the jerseys and other utensils in the Tangwu store are produced in the factory in Zhejiang, China. In other words, if Liverpool fans order online, they will buy a "genuine shirt" of Tang Wu from China.
"You know what? The last time Owen won the Ballon d'Or, there was no such battle! Not even such a celebration took place. ”
"That's why Owen went to Newcastle?"
"Uh... This one... TOM, to be honest, I can't keep up with your train of thought. Raiola smiled wryly and scratched his forehead, which was not very wealthy. This time not only fans, journalists, but also the mayor of Liverpool, do you know what this is for? ”
"Why? Do they want me to come back with another Ballon d'Or? Tang Wu joked.
"Almost." Raiola smacked his lips, "They're not for the Ballon d'Or, they're for the World Footballer." ”
"It's actually a bit of a surprise that you won the Ballon d'Or this time, and the club will know who the Ballon d'Or will go to in the past, about a week in advance. But this time you and Ronaldinho's support ratings are too close, and even Barcelona didn't dare to let out the news in advance. ”
"And if you really surprised them, who would have thought that after 42 years, the Ballon d'Or would be taken away by a goalkeeper?"
"So this time Liverpool is going to build momentum for you, and try to get you even the World Footballer of the Year."
Tang Wu nodded after hearing this, World Footballer of the Year is definitely the highlight of another individual award.
Tang Wu's name is also included in the list of the top ten players of the World Footballer released by FIFA, but Tang Wu did not have any outstanding performance in the national team, and even did not participate in the Confederations Cup after helping the Chinese team win the Asian Cup.
Ronaldo, by contrast, helped Brazil to the title, although the top scorer was his compatriot Adriano.
Looking at it this way, this year's World Footballer of the Year winner looks confusing.
Since last year, the captains of the national teams have also had the right to vote for the World Footballer of the Year. Ronaldo was elected with 620 points, less than 70 points ahead of Henry.
If Tang Wu wants to be elected this year, he must find another way. For example, all the residents of Liverpool have given Tang Wu momentum, for example, since this season, Liverpool has never conceded a goal in all the games that Tang Wu has played.
After the car drove into Anfield, Tang Wu stepped onto the Anfield stadium wearing a jersey and his trademark gloves and holding the Ballon d'Or.
At this moment, the KOPs let out a deafening cheer as if they had won the championship.
The fans who can come to Anfield to celebrate Tang Wu at this time are all die-hard fans of Liverpool and Tang Wu.
Tang Wu held the trophy and came to the simple stage specially set up temporarily for winning the lottery in the venue, and enjoyed everyone's attention.
Liverpool players, coaching staff, staff, general manager Parry, as well as Liverpool's mayor and officials shook hands one by one.
When the microphone reached Tang Wu's hand, Tang Wu took the lead in raising the Golden Globe trophy in his left hand above his head.
At this moment, the audience burst into deafening cheers.
"This is my first Ballon d'Or trophy and Liverpool's second Ballon d'Or trophy and I'm sure there will be more after that. You say, don't you? ”
“YES,YES,YES!!!” The fans shouted.
"I am very grateful to the fans for their support and encouragement over the past year, and the Liverpool staff have done their best to serve and work in the team. So I would like to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for all the contributions they have made to the club over the years. ”
"If it weren't for you, there wouldn't be as many championships as Liverpool, and there wouldn't be the Ballon d'Or in my hand today!"
"It's not just for me, it's for everyone, for all Liverpudlians!"
"Hurui !!" The stands once again burst into applause. All the KOPs puffed their hands vigorously, their faces flushed with excitement.
The Chelsea fans looked a little lonely in the crowd and they could be sure that if Tang Wu hadn't left Chelsea, he would have said it at Stamford Bridge.
Unfortunately, there are no ifs.
The celebration lasted for more than an hour, and then Tang Wu took his girlfriend to the club's cocktail party in the club's special car.
Most of this kind of cocktail party has a commercial atmosphere, and most of the investors in the meeting are looking for Liverpool's endorsement, for example, Nike wants to go one step further and seek endorsement of underwear with Tang Wu, after all, Tang Wu's whole body can be "sold" has been sold, and the projects they can undertake are very small.
After all the trivialities, Tang Wu took his girlfriend for an exciting evening, and then continued to be busy the next day.
Although Zhou Haohao has taken on a lot of jobs similar to models, this girl who could have relied on her appearance to eat has to rely on her talent.
On weekdays, in addition to going to the zoo to see the baby elephant given to her by Tang Wu, Zhou Haohao locked herself in the house to practice the piano.
Zhou Haohao didn't choose between cello and piano, and she didn't expect to become a musician anyway, so both of them were practicing and preparing for their pre-Christmas exams.
In his spare time, Zhou likes to watch movies on the sofa with a pillow. Tang Wu specially built a home theater for his girlfriend, and even equipped it with a popcorn machine.
After the win over Wigan Athletic on 3 December, Liverpool's hierarchy and coaching staff had another emergency meeting.
Now that Tang Wu has won the Golden Ball Award, and Liverpool wants to build momentum for Tang Wu's World Footballer of the Year, Liverpool Club naturally has to contribute to this.
Originally, the club's policy was to first in the league and second in the Champions League, and any other competition could be left behind. But now it seems that for the new awards, the club has also scored up manpower to work hard for the new awards.
Although the Reds' bench is a little lacking, thankfully they have already qualified for the group stage, and the final game against Juventus can be won or lost, the difference is only to be first or second in the group.
'Given what happened to Juventus at Anfield last time, we shouldn't have sent TOM on the pitch, it's a bit too risky. A Liverpool official said, "It's hard to imagine what those crazy guys are going to do to us in Alp if TOM plays, we can't let TOM risk it!" ”
As soon as he finished speaking, more than half of the people in the room raised their hands.
Tang Wu is now a golden bait, and he can't do it without a piece of ballast.
Sure enough, on 6 December, two teams who were not concerned about qualifying played the final group game of Group G at the Stadio Alp in Turin.
Under the threatening and intimidating cries of the Zebra fans, the old woman actually won three penalties in the regular game.
Reina made two saves in the right direction, but was still pierced through the net by Ibrahimovic and Piero.
With a score of 3-0, the Reds, who had suffered a defeat, walked out of the Alp Stadium with their heads bowed.
Looking at the disgraced Liverpool players, the fans of the old woman were a little unhappy.
It is true that Juventus pressed Liverpool to play throughout the game, and the result of the game was a big win against the opponent.
But after that, there was a burst of emptiness for no apparent reason.
No matter how much they shouted, how they hurled, how humiliated they were, the Liverpool players did not say a word.
For Liverpool, who have already qualified for the group stage and thoroughly implemented the supremacy of utilitarianism, they only need to be inside, not face.
"Fack, they didn't even show up for the Ballon d'Or, so why don't we win!"
"Falk Squid Liverpool, how dare you look down on us like this!"
The Old Lady fans gritted their teeth with hatred, but they were helpless.
If the two teams want to meet after qualifying, they will basically have to wait for the final.
On December 10, Tang Wu started and helped Liverpool win 3-0 over Myburgh.
In this battle, Tang Wu contributed an assist with a free kick, Tang Wu's active performance in the game made the old lady fans feel very uncomfortable, Liverpool with Tang Wu and Liverpool without Tang Wu are completely two teams.
After the match with Myburgh, the Reds packed up and took a flight out of Liverpool to Tokyo. The club's general manager, Parry, appeared at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, for the draw for the round of 16 of the 05-06 Champions League.
The draw was presided over by UEFA CEO Olsson, and the venue began with two short films, a clip from the final of the first Champions Cup 50 years ago and a brief review of the group stage of this year.
The first red ball drawn was Chelsea, and the green ball was Barcelona after that!
Mars hits Earth?
A battle for revenge?
A fateful showdown?
When the results were seen, there was a low exclamation from the venue. Thus was the "collision of deaths". It can be said that this is a result that neither Abou nor Laporta wants to see, and it is also an outcome that fans do not want to see, with one of the two most powerful teams in Europe destined to be eliminated from the quarter-finals.
The other big talk is AC Milan vs Bayern Munich, although both teams have some problems at the moment.
AC Milan have been plagued by centre-back problems of late, with Silvio Berlusconi having declared that "there is no hope of winning the league and the Champions Cup is the only goal". And Bayern, despite winning the winter title of the Bundesliga, Hamburg and Bremen did not make it easy for them, and the renewal of contracts of Sagnol, Ze Roberto, Ballack and others also plagued the team. It's all in the middle of the question, who can show a stronger will? That's where the excitement comes in.
The final group of big club clashes came from the Gunners and the Galacticos, and the two teams had deeper problems.
From a stylistic point of view, this is destined to be a showdown of technical streams. At the same time, it is also the pinnacle of striker matchup between Henry and Ronaldo. Judging by the results, both teams have not been very good on the road this season, so Arsenal, who are away and then home on the field, may have a bigger advantage.
The other groups of matches are Werder Bremen vs Juventus, PSV Eindhoven vs Lyon, Ajax vs Inter Milan, and Rangers vs Villarreal. Liverpool also drew a "good sign" against Benfica of the Portuguese Super League.