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On September 14, the team's last training session before the Champions League match, Chu Zhongtian did not drive home, but drove to the Rhine-Neckar stadium in eastern Sinsheim. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

I don't know why, before the game, he suddenly wanted to see tomorrow's battlefield. Even though he'd seen the stadium countless times, he was familiar with everything here – except for the visitors' dressing rooms.

With the identity of the captain of the home team, Chu Zhongtian easily entered the court. He walked up to the stands from the passage used by the fans and found the staff hurrying to set up tomorrow's stadium stands. All teams participating in the Champions League have to change their home stadiums to a "Champions League new outfit" on the Champions League match day, which is actually a layer of film with the Champions League five-star logo on the fence of the stands. Fans who have watched the Champions League will notice the five-star logo on the edge of the stadium stands.

This stadium is not large, it can only accommodate 30,000 people, but it is already the largest home stadium of all the teams Chu Zhongtian has played for. For the Champions League, this is a small stadium, and even such a small stadium now looks very magnificent.

The full Rhine-Neckar Stadium will be even more spectacular.

"Why are you here, Chu?" Rangnick's voice suddenly sounded behind him.

Chu Zhongtian turned around and saw that his head coach was walking up from the bottom of the steps.

"Hello, Ralph. It occurred to me that I was supposed to drive home after training. But after getting in the car, I suddenly had this idea. Chu Zhongtian said.

"Well, so am I." Rangnick nodded and stood beside him. "I suddenly wanted to see this stadium. I've seen it many times, but it's the first time I've seen it like today. ”

Chu Zhongtian laughed when he heard this: "It's the first time I've seen it like this. ”

Indeed, most of the time they usually see this stadium, it is full of people, very noisy, and they themselves are also enthusiastic. It's the first time I've seen this home stadium with such a calm mind.

"How's your preparation for tomorrow's game, Chu?" Rangnick asked.

"Ready. Actually, there's nothing to prepare for, it's the same as every normal game, how I prepare for those games, how I prepare for this game. Chu Zhongtian replied, "What about you, Ralph?" ”

"Honestly...... I'm a little nervous, haha! Rangnick pushed his glasses and laughed.

Chu Zhongtian looked at his head coach in surprise, if he remembered correctly, this should not be the first time that head coach Rangnick led the team to play the Champions Cup. He finished second in the league and qualified for the Champions League when he was in charge of Schalke 04.

'It's not the first time I've led a team to play in the Champions League. Sure enough, Rangnick confirmed Chu Zhongtian's guess. "I played Schalke and I was nervous before that. This time I was still nervous. I think after a few seasons, I have more hope for Hoffenheim than I did for Schalke. The minimum goal is to qualify from the group and in fact I hope the team can go a little bit further because it's our first time in the Champions League and how far we can go will probably determine how ambitious we are on this stage in the future. ”

Chu Zhongtian thought about it for a moment and said, "Actually, Ralph...... Even if I haven't played in the Champions League yet, I hope to lift the trophy one day. This is my ambition. ”

Rangnick turned his head to look at Chu Zhongtian, and a smile appeared on his face: "I knew it." The moment you said on TV that our goal was to win the league really scared me. But now I'm not surprised. Of course I want to win the Champions League. But I'm the manager, so I'm more realistic. Let's not talk about the champion, tomorrow's opponent is actually not easy to deal with. ”

Chu Zhongtian nodded. "You've said this many times, Ralph. There is no opponent in the Champions League that we can take lightly'. Chu Zhongtian said in Rangnick's tone.

Both laughed.

"That's what I said to you, but I know you kid must have something else in mind."

"Yes, I don't despise them, but I'm not afraid of them either, I want to win. Not just a win against CSKA Moscow, but also Manchester United, and the opponents we could face in the quarter-finals, and the opponents after that......"

As he spoke, Chu Zhongtian looked at the court and stopped talking.

Both of them fell into deep thought. They are looking forward to what it will be like to have Hoffenheim in the Champions League in the future and who they will face in the future.

CSKA Moscow arrived in Sinsheim two days before the game, and they stayed in one of the city's best hotels. After acclimatization to the field training, the head coach of CSKA Moscow, the Spaniard Juand. Ramos expressed his surprise at the stadium: "The stadium is much better than we thought it would be......"

So what do they imagine it to look like?

Rags? Like a rotten vegetable patch?

As an opponent in the same group, CSKA Moscow clearly did not know enough about Hoffenheim.

However, it would be a mistake to say that they don't know anything about it, at least their manager knows the two men in the Hoffenheim squad very well.

Juander. Sergio Ramos, the most glorious period of his coaching career, was created in Sevilla, where he led them to two consecutive League Cup finals, winning the title for the first time. Just when he wanted to defend his title, he ran into Metz from Ligue 1, and there happened to be Chu Zhongtian and Ibisevic in that Metz team at that time.

He must not forget Chu Zhongtian, because before the game, he also made targeted arrangements for Chu Zhongtian's injury, requiring the whole team to take Chu Zhongtian's side as the key direction of breakthrough, he hopes to replicate the final of the 2000 European Championships between France and Italy, the French team continued to break through Cannavaro's side, causing Cannavaro to make mistakes in the last minute of the game.

Unexpectedly, Chu Zhongtian didn't eat this at all, Sevilla put all the offensive firepower on Chu Zhongtian, but it made Metz. With almost zero defensive pressure elsewhere in Metz, they can attack boldly with confidence.

Chu Zhongtian not only successfully defended Sevilla's wave after wave of attacks, but also organized and assisted all three goals of Metz, and finally Metz defeated Sevilla with a score of 3:2 and won the first UEFA Cup in the history of their club. After the game, it was reported that Chu Zhongtian broke his arm during the game, but he didn't show any abnormalities at all and persevered until the end of the game.

Chu Zhongtian's tenacious and unyielding image was immediately branded on Juander. Ramos's mind is in the back of his mind.

Later, he left Sevilla to coach Tottenham in the Premier League, but his tenure at Tottenham was a failure, so he moved to the icy Russian region to coach CSKA Moscow. I didn't expect to turn around in such a big circle, and now I met Chu Zhongtian again.

So CSKA Moscow's tactics were very simple - "staring at Chu Zhongtian." ”

Ramos knows that Chu Zhongtian is powerful, and such a player must not be taken lightly, so Chu Zhongtian must be completely frozen.

Speaking to his players before the game: "I'm not alarmist, if you can't freeze Hoffenheim's number eight, you just wait to lose. So in this game, I ask you to guard against Chu at all costs. ”

Of course, he was serious, but he didn't know how many players listened. He knows Chu Zhongtian very well, but the players of CSKA Moscow may not know much about Chu Zhongtian.

※※※September 15, Champions League match day.

This day is destined to be a day in the history of Hoffenheim.

The team from a small town in Germany will face their first Champions League game in their franchise history against CSKA Moscow.

The game doesn't start until 8.45pm local time, but from 4pm onwards, fans are gathering outside the Rhine-Neckar Stadium, and the Hoffenheim fans are particularly active, looking out on the outside of the stadium are mostly the home team fans in the blue jerseys.

When they saw the camera, they jumped up and yelled excitedly at the camera: "Hoffenheim! Hoffenheim! ”

For the dark horse's first Champions League game, major media have also paid great attention, and many TV stations and print media have sent people to Hoffenheim to cover the game.

The 09-10 season was also the first season in which China Central Television (CCTV) began broadcasting the UEFA Champions League. Originally, CCTV had the idea of broadcasting the Champions League before, but the price has not been negotiated. And this time, because Chu Zhongtian's Hoffenheim scored the Champions League main match, CCTV made up its mind and decided to buy the broadcast rights of the Champions League. Because of Chu Zhongtian's relationship, the number of Chinese viewers watching the Champions League will definitely surge when the time comes, and CCTV spent a lot of money to buy it, but in fact, it did not lose money, and it can completely recover its cost through various advertising revenues.

The match between Hoffenheim and CSKA Moscow is the first match of the Champions League broadcast by CCTV, in fact, there are also Juventus and Bordeaux in Group A, Maccabi Haifa and Bayern Munich in Group A, Besiktas and Manchester United in Group B, Zurich vs. Real Madrid in Group C, Marseille vs. AC Milan in Group D, Chelsea vs. Porto in Group D, and Atletico Madrid vs. Nicosia Apoel.

But there is no dispute at all about which one to broadcast on the free channel, the fifth channel with the widest coverage, and although Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, AC Milan and Real Madrid all have a large number of fans in China, where can they compare to Chu Zhongtian's influence in China? Chu Zhongtian's fans cross club boundaries, including Manchester United and Real Madrid fans, as well as Bayern Munich and AC Milan fans. The broadcast of this game is the least controversial result, and as the only image spokesperson of Chinese football, Chu Zhongtian's game should also be broadcast live. It's strange that Chinese TV doesn't broadcast matches with Chinese players.

At the same time, CCTV is also preparing to broadcast the match between Hoffenheim and Manchester United live at the Rhein-Neckar Stadium.

Thanks to Chu Zhongtian, the football commentators of China Central Television have the opportunity to often go abroad to explain high-level events, instead of watching big-screen TVs in Beijing's narrow live broadcast room. In order to improve the level of football players, they need to participate in more high-level competitions, just like Chu Zhongtian, the gap with domestic players is gradually widening. The same is true for the level of commentators, and the professional level of China's table tennis commentators, gymnastics commentators and diving commentators must be first-class, and football is ...... This time, CCTV did not send a reporting team, but in Beijing, everything was already in place. The sports channel plans to broadcast a special program from midnight to introduce the two participating teams, and of course CSKA Moscow will bring the introduction, and the main character is Hoffenheim. For the achievements of Chinese players in Hoffenheim, even if it is broadcast many times, the audience will not get tired of it, because it is not only to appreciate Chu Zhongtian's performance, but also to have a sense of national pride. Just like the footage of Liu Xiang winning the gold medal in the 110-meter hurdles at the Athens Olympics, it has been replayed many times at different times, and people are still excited every time they watch it.

Chinese football sucks, and because of this, Chu Zhongtian's performance can arouse people's interest and praise even more. If there are no green leaves, how can the red flowers appear delicate?

There is also a lot of interest about this game on the Internet in China. Whether it's in various QQ groups, fan forums, or on it, as long as it's related to football, it will talk about this game. Everyone was anxious and excited to wait for the start of the game. Although the Champions League is played in midweek and everyone has to go to work and school the next day, many people have already decided to stay up late to watch the game.

Chu Zhongtian's debut in the Champions League, no one wants to miss it.

※※※ On the first night of the competition, Chu Zhongtian also went on the Internet and left a message on his official website "We all love Lin Danda", thanking everyone for their concern for him. There were tens of thousands of messages and posts behind his message in just half a day, and everyone was surprised that they could still see idols at such an important time, many people kept their distance from the public after becoming stars, and at least Chu Zhongtian was still very close to the people on the Internet.

There are also people who leave messages to express their love and support for Chu Zhongtian. Of course, more messages are to cheer him on, hoping that he will perform well in the next day's race.

Because of the time, Chu Zhongtian didn't read all the messages, he only read a few pages. Of course, he knows how high the expectations are for him at home, and how many people will be sad if he messes up in this game. Just like Liu Xiang's sudden retirement from the Beijing Olympics, he was originally a national hero and a national hero, but after that day, he became a national sinner and was scolded and cursed by hundreds of millions of people. Chu Zhongtian didn't want to be like that, besides, he could still withstand this kind of pressure.

His way of dealing with the pressure from outsiders is very simple - he doesn't play for a certain person or a group of people, he plays for himself, and his own will is to play well, play well. As long as he can accomplish this goal, he will have a clear conscience. And if he plays well and plays well, people from the outside world will be satisfied, and the pressure will naturally not exist. So the key is to only care about yourself, play according to your own heart, have a clear conscience, and the result will naturally not be too bad.

Even if you lose, as long as you work hard and do your best, it's not bad, then there's nothing to blame.

He's not going to think stupid questions like "what would people say about me if I fail" when they're under a lot of pressure, he's just going to think "play well".

At this time, Chu Zhongtian didn't think about how much importance China attached to this game. He was packing up his things in his hotel room and preparing to leave.

Early this morning, the players gathered at their hotel, had lunch together, rested together, and then went out together to take the bus to the stadium to prepare for the game.

Many players seemed very excited, but Chu Zhongtian was very calm. He's seen a lot of big scenes, including the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Super Cup, and a normal Champions League group stage can't make his heart beat too fast. As he said to head coach Rangnick, he prepared for the game as if it were a normal game.

There are not many people who are calm from the outside to the inside, Chu Zhongtian is one of them, and Van Nistelrooy is naturally one of them. He had been informed by the head coach before the game that he would start the game. After a few rounds as a substitute in the league, he finally got his chance to start.

He knows the manager wants to use his experience in the Champions League to help the team and this is a good opportunity for him. Being a substitute in the league has made him doubt whether he made the right choice and he will have to prove that he is not old with a good performance. So far, he has not scored a goal in a competitive match for his new club, and as a striker, the only measure of his ability is to score goals, and a striker who can't score is definitely not qualified, even if he has 30 assists in a season.

And this Champions League match is an excellent stage for veteran Ruud van Nistelrooy to show his ability. He's looking forward to it, but he's not excited or excited, and he knows that as a striker, the most important thing is to stay calm no matter what the situation, so that he doesn't miss out on the best chances. In fact, the biggest gap between the old striker and the young striker is calmness.

Before getting into the car, Chu Zhongtian happened to bump into Van Nistelrooy, the two of them glanced at each other, and they seemed to see calm in each other's eyes, Chu Zhongtian smiled at Van Nistelrooy, and Van Nistelrooy smiled back.

There is no need to speak, they all know each other's thoughts.

(To be continued)