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If you ask a Manchester United player before the season, "Where is Hoffenheim?" Most of them will frown and say, "Who knows where that hell is?" Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info"

Now they don't say that, they don't even think about it.

Because they are going to Hoffenheim to play away games, and this game is about whether they can go far in the Champions League this season.

As a team that has reached the finals for two consecutive years, it would be a shame if they didn't even qualify for the group stage this season.

If they had already qualified, they might have jokingly said to the media: "Hoffenheim? Where is that? ”

Now, in an interview with reporters, they are serious about Hoffenheim being a tough opponent.

'They have a lot of quality and a lot of good players. We have to be 100 per cent in spirit to make sure we don't lose......" Giggs was careful when talking about his opponents, not saying "make sure you win", but "make sure you don't lose".

"Tell us about the opponent in Hoffenheim's team who impressed you the most?" The reporter asked.

"Chu." Giggs blurted out.

"Their number eight, Chu." This is Carrick's answer, after that game, both Carrick and Fletcher have a new understanding of Chu Zhongtian.

'They have a great striker and a strong midfield, but it's the number eight that impresses me the most. Rooney replied. "I think if we want to win, we have to contain him."

"Chu, of course." Obertan said the same thing in an interview. 'I've played with him for two seasons in Metz and he's the kind of leader who always leads the team and fights with him, and he makes everybody go above and beyond...... To be honest, I really like to play next to him......" As a former teammate, Obertan has a lot of respect for Chu Zhongtian. The last time Manchester United played Hoffenheim at Old Trafford, he still had an injury and could only watch the game from the stands. The Chu Zhongtian of that game was even more powerful than the Chu Zhongtian in his memory. It seems that in one season at Hoffenheim, he improved again.

The players say so, and so do the coaches.

"Chu is the key for them. The last time we met, we didn't defend well because we put too little pressure on him in midfield. 'Ferguson said this to the players in the tactical meeting before the game. So in this game I ask all of you to be more aggressive when defending him, I don't care about fouls, but pay attention to where the fouls are, their free kicks from Salihovic and Eduardo are very good, don't give them too many chances like that. If you want to oppress him, don't leave him the slightest space. ”

When Manchester United arrived in Sinsheim, they knew that the city would not be too big, but they were still amazed when they saw it. With a population of 430,000, Manchester is the most populous city in the UK outside of London. There are many people, and the scale is naturally large, and in their eyes, Sinsheim can't even match a district in Manchester. And it was such a small team that forced them to lose face at Old Trafford.

They had only come to Sinsheim and had not been to Hoffenheim, otherwise they would have felt when they saw the training ground adjacent to the cowshed.

The citizens of Sinsheim are also very excited, this is the first time that their small city has welcomed a European giant that has always enjoyed a high reputation in the whole world, although Bayern Munich is also a giant, but everyone always feels that it is a country, there is not so much freshness, and the excitement is naturally not big if the freshness is not enough...... Before the rise of Hoffenheim, the citizens of Sinsheim did not have a team to support collectively, some liked Bayern Munich, some liked Stuttgart, some liked Karlsruhe, and some liked foreign teams, such as Milan, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and other giants. There are also fans who like Hoffenheim, but they are all concentrated in the small town of Hoffenheim.

It's not surprising that the city has Manchester United fans, but even if some of them are, it doesn't matter at this time. When the Manchester United players entered Sinsheim in a bus, all they could see was blue and white. That's the color of the Hoffenheim jersey and flag.

The last time reporters saw this scene was in the penultimate round of the Bundesliga last season, Hoffenheim away to Schalke 04, and that game was about whether Hoffenheim could win the league title, and the whole city turned blue and white overnight. It's spectacular.

Small cities are also good in small cities, where it's easier for people to stick together and cheer for one team, as is the case in big cities, where there are many teams, each with their own territory. In Madrid, you never see the Spanish capital dyed pure white, you can't see red or blue dominating the city in Milan, in Manchester and Liverpool it is inevitable that blue and red go hand in hand, and in London the color is even more complex, like a camouflage city.

"I thought I was on Maine Road......" assistant coach Whelan said, looking out the window at the blue and white flag.

Maine Road was once the home of Manchester City for 80 years, Manchester City are Manchester United's rivals, and the colors of the jerseys are blue and white, but their blue is lighter, and Manchester City has a nickname called "Blue Moon", which comes from the color of their jerseys.

"Don't be funny, Mike." Mulensten replied, "It's much better than the place on Maine Road." ”

Maine Road Stadium is in the south of Manchester and was formerly a brick factory. What was once a glorious industrial area is now home to abandoned factories, with dilapidated gray factories in patches, dirty streets, sewage flows, and the streets are either Indian and Pakistani or ragged blacks. It was the slums of Manchester.

This is clearly not the case with Sinsheim. Although small, Sinsheim is neat and clean and full of energy. It's completely different from the place where it's usually lifeless, and only seems a little energetic when you're drunk.

'But our opponents are as tough as Manchester City in derby...... added.

Today is December 7, the day before matchday six of the Champions League, the final round of the group stage.

The visitors Manchester United had just arrived in Sinsheim and had not even packed their bags before acclimatising to the Rhine-Neckar Stadium in Sinsheim. The home team, Hoffenheim, trained normally at the training ground located next to the cowshed.

In between trainings, they naturally discussed tomorrow's game and their opponents.

"Looks like Manchester United aren't lost......"

"Do you want them to get lost, Victor?"

"Of course, it's better to miss tomorrow night's game because you get lost, then we can win without a fight, haha!" Ibisevic laughed loudly.

"Stop daydreaming, Ibi." Chu Zhongtian poured cold water on him. "As hosts, of course we have to treat them well, how can we want them to get lost?"

Chu Zhongtian was high-spirited, but he didn't want his opponent to come.

Today's training time is not long, and the main practice is set-piece attack and defense drills. At the end of the training session, the players will travel by bus to the hotel in Sinsheim, where Rangnick will have a tactical meeting in the evening to work out the tactics for tomorrow's game.

This is not the case in every home game, and in some of the less important leagues, the players spend the night before the game in their respective homes.

But this game is different, and the centralized management before the game is more convenient for the players to stay in shape, although it is now the high incidence of H1N1 flu, and it stands to reason that it should not be crowded.

After training, the club even shortened the time for the players to be interviewed by reporters and sign autographs for fans, for fear that the players would be physically tired and weakened after training, which would increase the chance of getting the flu.

After taking a shower in the locker room and changing clothes, everyone consciously walked to the bus in the parking lot. Where, head coach Rangnick and assistant coach Zeidler, as well as team doctor Dr. Bakers and his assistants. His assistant had a plate in his hand with a thermometer in it. Everybody knows what that's going to do.

Since the outbreak of swine flu, this has been checked after every training session, but most of the time it is at the door of the locker room.

Captain Chu Zhongtian was the first to step forward to receive a temperature check. Baker gave him the thermometer and tucked it under his armpit.

"How does it feel to train today, Chu." Because it takes some time to check the body temperature, it is not just put in and you can take it out to see the temperature. So after watching Chu Zhongtian clamp the thermometer under his armpit, Bex talked to him by the way, otherwise it would be too embarrassing to wait.

"Not bad, Dr. Bakers."

"Ha, that's good. If you're in good shape, tomorrow's game will be watching. ”

While they were chatting, Bakers' assistant sent the thermometer to the other players, and everyone either clamped the thermometer under their armpits like Chu Zhongtian, or held the thermometer in their mouths and began to take their temperatures.

Here, Chu Zhongtian had already taken out the thermometer and handed it to Becks.

Bex looked at the index on the thermometer, then nodded, "Normal." Another assistant wrote it down in his notebook.

The temperature data of the other players also came out one after another, everyone was normal, and no one showed signs of fever. After the temperature check, the players got on the bus and went to the hotel to rest.

This is a routine check-up every day. However, as the game approaches, from now on, this check becomes a routine check every hour. From the training base to the hotel, and then from the hotel to the playing field, the team doctors follow the whole process and check whether the players' body temperature is normal every hour. If anyone dared to cough, everyone would get nervous.

The big game is coming, and the players are not nervous because of the arrival of Manchester United, but are nervous by a "swine flu".

※※※ The night in the Wimble bar is still full of people and buzzing. Manchester United went to Hoffenheim away, and the Johann boss had no way to go to the game and could only follow the game on TV. Tomorrow night's match between Manchester United and Hoffenheim will be broadcast live in the UK, and you can also see Chu Zhongtian's wonderful performance on TV.

Unlike the last time I went to Manchester to watch the game, everyone's mentality has changed now. Because Hoffenheim's qualifying situation is not optimistic, it can even be said to be a little pessimistic.

None of them wanted this to be the last time they saw him in the Champions League this season, but United were really tough to deal with.

Sports news was playing on TV, and the news of Manchester United's preparations for the Champions League group stage was mentioned, and now everyone is talking about it.

"In order to play this away game, the old man from Alex Ferguson made a big rotation in the last round of the league. As a result, they were held to a draw away from West Ham United. Ferguson was smiling after the game. It means that he doesn't care about the league at all......"

"That is, against Hoffenheim, he will play as much as possible? Isn't that Chu dangerous? ”

"It's hard to say, Manchester United is bound to win this time......"

"Hey, I think Hoffenheim himself is too, it's going to be a good situation. How did it come to the last round and become like this? They could have qualified early......"

"The away defeat to CSKA Moscow was key. Before that game, Chu had just returned to China to participate in the competition, flying tens of thousands of kilometers back and forth, how could he still be in shape? ”

"Alas......"

Everyone can only sigh when they think of the difficult situation Hoffenheim is facing.

"Actually, that Europa League is not bad...... "After sighing, someone began to arrange a back road for Hoffenheim and Chu Zhongtian." Didn't Chu become famous by the League Cup at that time? ”

"Come on, who wants to play in the UEFA Cup if they can play in the Champions League?"

"It's better than not being able to participate at all, right?"

"How can this not be a participant? Obviously, their current situation is that they must be third in the group, but they are not willing to play in the League Cup, so they have to fight for a place in the Champions League. ”

"Okay, okay, let's stop fighting. What's the point of us fighting here? "Seeing that the two people who drank too much were fighting a little angrily, others hurriedly came out to play a round." It still depends on Chu his performance......"

Attention was turned to the TV again, but unfortunately there were no reports of Manchester United and Hoffenheim.

※※※ "My dear, I have paid attention to what the media has said, and as long as there is a mention of your match against Manchester United, it is basically more optimistic about Manchester United. In the hotel, Chu Zhongtian was talking to Emily on the phone. Two people are tens of thousands of kilometers apart, and the only way to keep in touch is through the phone.

"Of course, Manchester United are much better than us in terms of strength and reputation." Chu Zhongtian didn't care about this at all. "If I were a journalist, or a regular neutral fan, I would also think that Manchester United have more hope of winning than Hoffenheim."

"But judging by the bookmaker's latest odds, you're not as bad as you used to be."

"Maybe it's because we have a full lineup?" To be honest, Chu Zhongtian has never understood the odds of the bookmaker, so he never bets.

"Home advantage, a full squad, plus your performance in the first meeting before, and the current situation is a life-and-death battle for Manchester United, and it is also a life-and-death battle for you, this kind of game can often burst out with more energy, so it is not necessarily that you don't have the ability to fight with Manchester United." Emily wrenched her fingers and gave Chu Zhongtian an analysis. "But it's only slightly better than before, and overall, the odds are still not favoring you."

After Chu Zhongtian listened to her analysis, he suddenly said to Emily: "Emily, buy a lottery ticket." ”

"Huh?" Emily didn't react.

"I said you buy this game. Buy a few thousand euros, buy us and win! ”

"Hey, but I'm not interested in this......"

"It's okay, just use it as a pastime, buy and play. How good it is to buy us to win, to make money! ”

Emily was silent for a moment, as if thinking about the question. Then she replied, "You're right, okay, I'll buy it online in a moment." ”

After talking about football, we started to talk about feelings. To be honest, Chu Zhongtian misses Emily very much, they are in a period of love, and they will miss each other very much if they haven't seen each other for a long time, not to mention that they haven't seen each other for months.

"Emily, when are you going to have a holiday?" Chu Zhongtian asked. "Christmas?"

"I'm afraid you're coming to Los Angeles for Christmas, dear." Emily said this with apologies in her tone. She also knows that such a long separation is not good for both of them, and no matter how loyal the relationship is, there will be problems with such a long separation.

'It's good I didn't play in the Premier League.' Chu Zhongtian said in a joking tone. If he plays in the Premier League, Chu Zhongtian will not have a winter break, and Christmas is a double game, how can he have time to fly to Los Angeles to meet Emily? Luckily, the German league has a one-month winter break, and although most of the time is spent training with the team, at least there is a week of free time off.

Emily's heart felt like it had been hit. She knew that Chu Zhongtian was a little angry, although they could see each other in Germany and the United States, but in the United States, they didn't have much private time and space that belonged to them, all kinds of entertainment, and they were busy and found that they didn't actually play anything during a holiday. However, in the small city of Sinsheim, there are not so many developed media and paparazzi tracking, and the two people have a lot of time and space that is completely their own, and they can live a real two-person world. There, they could do whatever they wanted, without worrying about their intimate photos appearing on the front page of some influential newspaper the next day.

But what can she do? Her career is in the United States, and she needs to be here most of the time, and it is impossible to live in Germany for long. Now it is the rising period of her career, she takes on several movies a year, and her busy feet don't touch the ground, so how can she have any long vacations?

Chu Zhongtian also realized that this topic affected each other's moods, so he diverted the topic.

But no matter how you talk, you can still feel the absent-mindedness in each other's tones. As for their future, neither of them is willing to talk about it now, because the reality is complicated and not as easy to come together as the princess and knight in the fairy tale.

"Goodnight, then, dear." Emily kissed Chu Zhongtian goodbye on the phone.

Chu Zhongtian replied with a kiss.

After hanging up the phone, he lay on the bed and looked at the ceiling, but it was far from bedtime, and his roommate Ibisevic had not yet returned.

He's trying to forget about today's unpleasant topics and let himself think only about tomorrow night's game, with the Manchester United players, the bustling Rhine-Neckar stadium and the majestic opening music for the Champions League...... And then he fell asleep under such self-hypnosis.

(To be continued)