If you talk about the World Cup in South Africa, many people will think of Yang Yang leading the Chinese team to qualify from the group, some people will think of Iniesta's stunning goal in the Spanish final, and some people will remember Germany's four-goal victory over Maradona's Argentina......

But there is a name that will not be unfamiliar to fans or non-fans alike.

Paul the Octopus.

I'm afraid no one can imagine that in the World Cup in South Africa, the most popular thing is a big octopus living in the Oberhausen Aquarium in Germany, whose full name is Paul Allen.

How hot is it?

During the popular period, there were aquariums in Spain that offered a sky-high transfer fee of up to 30,000 euros for the octopus Paulo, which created the highest transfer price in the history of the octopus world, almost 30,000 times higher than other octopuses.

Even according to the plan outlined by the local Spanish council, they intend to make Paul the octopus a representative of the city, using its fame to promote tourism throughout the region.

Paul the Octopus is famous all over the world, driving the hot sales of peripheral products, and even making the Oberhausen Aquarium where he lives famous all over the world, becoming a must-visit attraction for countless tourists after arriving in Germany, and becoming a cash cow for the aquarium.

In August after the World Cup, the British pushed Paul Octopus as England's ambassador for the 2018 World Cup, citing the fact that Paul the Octopus, although he had German nationality, was born in the United Kingdom and also had British nationality.

Unfortunately, on the evening of October 25, Paul the Octopus died at the age of two and a half at the Oberhausen Aquarium, and finally did not survive until December, so that at the end of December, after England's bid for the 2018 World Cup failed, many people believed that it was because of the unfortunate death of the bidding ambassador.

Looking at Paul's record of the octopus, in the 08 European Cup and the World Cup in one or two years, Paul predicted that the success rate of the game was as high as 92.85%, and the record can be described as a brilliant and out-and-out octopus emperor.

After the death of Paul the octopus, octopus emperors around the world are also emerging in an endless stream, and various "Paul II" are taking advantage of the trend.

The Benamadena Aquarium in Madrid, Spain, is also home to two Octopus Emperors, which have been very popular among fans in Madrid and Spain, and even the media often published the predictions of the two Octopus Emperors in newspapers.

Interestingly, the aquarium staff gave each of the two octopuses a very catchy name.

The Mediterranean octopus weighing 1.5 kilograms is called Iniesta, because the staff named it is a fan of Barcelona's core Xiaobai.

The 16-kilogram Pacific octopus was named Igor, the name of Real Madrid's captain and goalkeeper Iker Casillas, and needless to say, the staff member must also be a Real Madrid fan.

Both octopuses are not small, and the success rate of predictions is also very high, and before each major game, the Benamadena Aquarium attracts a large number of fans and media to pay attention to the predictions of the two octopus emperors.

This time was no exception.

……

Before the 32nd round of La Liga, a large number of fans and media gathered in the aquarium, all waiting for the prediction of the two octopus kings.

As with Paul the Octopus, there is a special aquarium in the aquarium, two transparent glass test tubes are placed in the box, and the team emblems of the two teams are placed in the test tubes.

In the 32nd round, La Liga will usher in the second derby of the century of the season, followed by the Copa del Rey final.

The first of the two matchups is undoubtedly crucial, and it is about the La Liga title this season.

Real Madrid will only have a chance to reverse their opponents by winning Barcelona at home and successfully reducing the five-point gap to two points.

Therefore, everyone is very much looking forward to this matchup, and they are also very concerned, who can win?

The result of the Octopus Emperor's prediction came as a surprise.

"Iniesta" brazenly climbed onto the glass test tube with the Barcelona label after some cruising, which means that the Barcelona fan octopus is very optimistic about Barcelona winning.

Subsequently, Real Madrid fan octopus "Igor" was also put into the aquarium, but after a difficult choice, it did not choose either side, and it seemed that it was unwilling to make a choice, and it was a bit of a suspicion of abstention.

The scene was dominated by Real Madrid fans, and all of them let out a burst of sighs.

The prediction of the Octopus Emperor cast a shadow on the hearts of the Real Madrid fans present, could it be that Real Madrid will really lose to Barcelona at home and lose the La Liga title race this season?

Careful analysis is not impossible.

As much as five points apart, so that Real Madrid has to bear a heavy pressure and burden, the team must win the opponent at home, then it is necessary to choose to attack decisively, but this is undoubtedly in the arms of Barcelona.

Everyone knows very well that in the first derby of the century last season, a very important reason why Real Madrid was able to beat Barcelona by five goals at Camp Nou was that Real Madrid had a points lead and left all the pressure to Barcelona.

But now, the situation has reversed, Real Madrid is now behind, and the league has entered the final stage, leaving Real Madrid less and less time, in this case, who dares to say that Real Madrid will not take a risk?

If it is against other teams, Real Madrid fans must be full of confidence, but in the face of Barcelona, especially Barcelona, which has reached the peak of its pass-and-possession play this season and has reached its peak, can Real Madrid take the initiative to attack and have a chance of winning?

Now, the prediction of the Octopus Emperor has made Real Madrid lose one game before the battle, and it has also made fans more worried.

…………

…………

Yang Yang was eating the next morning when he saw the prediction of the two Octopus Emperors from the newspaper.

He snorted and almost stopped laughing.

"Eat when you eat, why do you laugh like this?" The mother sat across from her and asked with some complaint.

Yang Yang smiled and shook his head, Su Ye, who was sitting next to him, took the opportunity to come over, followed Yang Yang's fingers, and after seeing the news, she also followed Yile, feeling that this kind of thing was quite interesting.

"Paul the Octopus has been popularized so many times a long time ago, and so many people still believe it." Yang Yang felt incomprehensible.

Su Ye understands this phenomenon, "The main thing is to be bored, purely as an interesting thing to participate in, but this can be seen, it can attract so many people to the aquarium to see the Octopus Emperor, the century war is attracting the attention of the world." ”

Yang Yang nodded, Real Madrid and Barcelona are the two strongest teams in world football today, and the derby of the century is also the most attractive football game in the world.

"By the way, how are your teams going to play this game? Is there confidence internally? Su Ye asked with concern.

The game is tomorrow night, and Yang Yang will stay in a hotel with the team tonight, which is also a tradition the night before the Real Madrid game.

"I don't know." Yang Yang shook his head, "The current internal atmosphere of the team is very good, and I am full of confidence in the game, but no one knows what Benitez is thinking, he has talked to me privately, and he has not revealed his tone." ”

It's also a habit of Benitez.

It's not that he can't trust the players, but because he has suffered losses and learned lessons.

He believes that if the players know in advance, once they are interviewed by the media before the game, or when they communicate with friends, they will often unknowingly reveal some information.

Every team will collect all kinds of information before the game, because this is a war, intelligence is always the most important means to win the war, and once a little bit of tone is revealed, even if it seems that outsiders can't beat it at all, but under the opponent's prying and layers of digging, it may reveal the team's secrets.

It's a terrible thing to be figured out by your opponent before a game.

Therefore, since Liverpool, Yang Yang has been accustomed to Benitez's elusiveness, and the Spaniard almost never reveals his tactics before the game, he chooses to tell everyone his thoughts before the team warms up and returns to the dressing room and is ready to play.

During this period of time, Real Madrid has been practicing two different sets of play, one is a double back and the other is a three back waist.

Kaka has been in pretty good form of late, and if he plays with a two-back strategy, he will probably be on the line, but if he uses a back three, it will be interesting to see how Benitez arranges it.

As soon as he thought of Kaka, Yang Yang was concerned about the birth of Kaka's daughter.

Yang Yang and Kaka are neighbors, in the past two years, Su Ye and Caroline have a very close relationship, the two are of the same age, and the relationship is naturally very good, especially recently, they are both pregnant women and often exchange experiences together.

Caroline already has a three-year-old son and is more experienced in this area.

learned from Su Ye that Kaka's daughter should have been born at the end of April, but no one knows exactly when, the only thing that can be determined is that Kaka should be playing with the team at that time.

"Originally, Caroline was going to go back to Brazil, and they had even chosen a hospital before, but then she accompanied me to La Morareja Hospital for a prenatal checkup and thought it was very good, so she chose to stay in Spain, and Kaka's parents had already come to Madrid to take care of her."

Previously, Kaka also hired an experienced obstetric escort through Yang Yang, and I believe that it should not be a big problem.

Yang Yang is very clear that Kaka has been full of motivation recently, and his performance on the court is getting better and better, showing a very good momentum, and if he can continue to develop in this direction, he believes that the Brazilian can successfully transform and continue his career.

Of course, he will definitely not be able to become the young man who galloped in Europe back then.

Now Kaka is twenty-nine years old, let alone returning to the top, even if he finds his form, I am afraid it will be difficult for him to last long, and no one knows how it will develop in the future.

But as a friend, Yang Yang asked himself that everything he could have done had been done.

Sometimes, there are some things that really can't be done without believing in fate.

Yang Yang even wondered to himself, will he be like Kaka in the future?

Or rather, how do you avoid being like Kaka?