On the second day, outside the Marassi Stadium, five hours before the start of the game, Sampdoria fans could already be seen gathering.

Everyone knew that they couldn't get into the stadium so early, but they couldn't help but come here early and look forward to being the first to get into the stadium.

For Sampdoria, meeting a truly strong team in the Champions League has been something that has not been encountered in a long, long time.

Although Celtic is a Scottish super giant and has also won the Champions League, in the eyes of many people, it is not the top European giant at all.

Ajax used to be glorious in all its glory, but now that they're gone, few people will remember how powerful they were.

Only Barcelona are in full swing and have the world's top stars like Leao Messi in their squad.

It's the kind of opponents that make you feel the difference between the Champions League and the league – you can't play Barcelona in the league.

Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan are all European giants, but they don't feel as good as Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Perhaps it is the overall weakness of Italian football in recent years, which makes even the top giants in Italy unable to compete with the European scope.

For example, Juventus, which has dominated the domestic league for two consecutive years, what has happened to the Champions League this season?

Looking at a superstar like Messi and a top giant like Barcelona, this is indeed the idea of many Sampdoria fans.

They don't see Barcelona as their rivals, their rivals are Celtic and Ajax.

So everyone's mood is very relaxed, and there will be no requirements for the team's results and performance, as long as you don't lose too ugly, everyone can actually accept it.

They know that this kind of thing cannot be forced. Asking Sampdoria to beat Barcelona at home is simply unrealistic and will only add unnecessary pressure to the team.

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When the buses of both teams arrived outside the Marassi Stadium, the Barcelona buses were as popular with the fans as the Sampdoria buses.

There were even fans wearing Sampdoria jerseys holding Messi's number 10 shirt.

After Alves in the bus saw it, it was like he had found a magical treasure, and his eyebrows fluttered for Messi to see.

Messi looked down through the window and waved at the Sampdoria fan holding up his jersey.

"It's amazing, it can make the opponent fans so crazy, it's really Messi!"

"That's the charm of football, the charm of Messi. I believe that in any corner of the world, even in faraway China, there will be countless people who are crazy about Messi. ”

"That's the energy of the ball king!"

"I've even figured out the title of the report: Messi, the king of the ball, makes the opposing fans bow down! What do you guys think? ”

"Not bad, not bad! This title is good! This is called 'winning and winning hearts, double harvest on and off the field'! ”

"I think your title is pretty good, hahaha!"

A group of text journalists from Barcelona burst out laughing.

Photographers and TV cameramen focused their cameras on the Messi-brandishing Sampdoria fan, who would be the best footnote to the game after the defeat to Sampdoria, which would be a frequent media outfit to announce Barcelona's prowess and benevolence.

Mighty is said to the Sampdoria team, they beat Sampdoria, naturally the mighty division.

Benevolence refers to the charm of the Barcelona team, which even the opponent fans can be impressed by and are willing to cheer for Barcelona.

After all, Barcelona is more than just a football club.

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Sampdoria's Champions League group stage against Barcelona kicks off at 2:45 a.m. GMT on October 23.

The live TV broadcast began at half past two.

For Chinese fans, the Champions League is probably the most unfriendly event for them. As the event with the highest technical and tactical level in today's football, it can only be watched in the early morning, either staying up until the game starts, or lying down early to set an alarm clock and getting up again in the middle of the night.

But either one is uncomfortable. Not to mention that the Champions League is played in midweek, unlike the league played on the weekend, everyone has to go to work the next day.

But despite this, every Champions League matchday, there are still large numbers of Chinese fans waiting in front of the TV, cheering on their favorite teams.

This shows the influence of football in China and the influence of the Champions League in China.

And now, when the Champions League has its own Chinese figure, there are more people watching the game in the middle of the night, these people are not Sampdoria fans, but Gao Zheng fans.

Feng Shiyu's alarm clock rang at 2:40 p.m., and a few seconds later, a pink arm stretched out from under the quilt and grabbed the mobile phone on the bedside table, and when the alarm clock was turned off, Feng Shiyu had already sat up from the bed.

Wearing pajamas, she got out of bed and walked out of the bedroom, went to the bathroom and washed her face with cold water, and when she came out of the bathroom, she was much more awake, she poured another glass of boiling water and brought it back to her room, put the water cup on the table, turned on the computer, skillfully found the live broadcast website in the browser favorites, and clicked on the Sampdoria and Barcelona match signal link.

After waiting for a while to load, when the screen lit up, she saw a close-up of Gao Zheng, and the opening music of the Champions League and the voice of He Ping, the commentator of the CCTV sports channel, came from the headphones: "...... Judging by the starting line-ups of both sides, both teams can be regarded as the strongest they can field so far, so it seems that the managers of both teams are not lying - Sampdoria manager Di Francesco has said that he will give it his all, while Barcelona coach Martino has also said that the team will not be underestimated...... Gao Zheng is the focus of Sampdoria in this game, and we are very much looking forward to what kind of performance Gao Zheng can show in this dialogue with strong opponents......"

At the same time, in the land of China, I don't know how many people are also staying in front of the TV or the computer, watching the game in various ways.

For them, it's like a holiday, full of excitement and anticipation.

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Gao Zheng stood in the middle of the team, and the players of the away team Barcelona were walking over one by one to shake hands.

In front of them were a large number of journalists, with long guns and short guns.

When Brazilian full-back Alves shook hands with him, Gao Zheng noticed that he was looking at him with a very strange look, as if he wanted to see something on his face.

Gao Zheng felt strange, there was nothing on his face, and he didn't understand why Alves behaved like this.

After Alves, Messi walked up, he raised his head slightly and wiped Gao Zheng's eyes, and the hands of the two people quickly released after shaking them, and even made people wonder if they really shook each other, or just slapped each other - just like the other players on both sides who shook hands before the game were perfunctory and casual.

There was neither eye contact nor verbal communication between the two of them.

Without saying anything, the palms of the hands touched each other and parted.

Messi went to shake hands with the next Sampdoria player, and Gao Zheng also set his sights on the next Barcelona player.

And the cameras of many reporters also followed Messi's figure, like a spotlight, following the number one actor on this stage.