Braving the bitter cold of winter, Zhuang Mingge and Karin set foot on the land of Russia for the first time, but Zhuang Mingge and the others did not complain too much, after all, this time, he was invited by the party to come to Moscow as a guest.

When the draw for the Cup Winners' Cup was announced, the head of Spartak Moscow called Fiorentina the next day and made an extremely ridiculous and unreasonable request: they wanted both legs of the Cup Winners' Cup quarterfinals to be played in Moscow (that is, the second leg in Florence would also be played in Moscow).

At the time, Antonioni rejected the Russians' advice with a look of "what are you guys doing", and they then made another request: they wanted to postpone the away game at Fiorentina for a week.

Antonioni was stunned for a moment, and after carefully inquiring about the other party, he learned that the reason why Moscow made such an outrageous request to Fiorentina was actually very simple: because of the poor financial situation of their club, they could no longer afford the cost of the team's long-distance travel, and they could not afford to take off the ticket, so they either gave up the second leg of the game, or had to travel back and forth between Russia and Italy in a slow and bumpy coach.

The reason why Spartak FC did not have this problem in the previous games was because the opponents they faced in the previous rounds were all teams from the former Soviet Union, and it was possible to get to the match venue by long-distance bus at the specified match time.

After Zhuang Mingge heard the news, he immediately said that he would pay for the ticket for Spartak.

Zhuang Mingge's "generous act" obviously won the favor of the other party, and in the second phone call between the two sides, the person in charge of Spartak invited Zhuang Mingge to come to Moscow as a guest, of course, all the expenses need to be paid by Zhuang Mingge himself......

Taking a taxi, Zhuang Mingge and Karin entered the downtown area of Moscow, looking at the depressed scene on the street, they couldn't help but sigh at the hardships of the Russian people's life.

Hawkers, although judging from the cards, the Russian national team is not very bad.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the powerful "Soviet Red Army" also fell apart overnight: goalkeeper Prom returned to his native Estonia; Latvia, a neighboring country on the Baltic coast, snatched Pajas; Georgia, the land of projectiles, has Aviradze; Kanchelski, who was floating in Manchester United, finally decided to pledge allegiance to Ukraine; And Berkovic, the veteran captain who has played for Dynamo Kiev in Ukraine for many years, turned down the invitation of the Ukrainians and eventually joined the Belarusian national team.

It seems that in terms of the number and quality of stars they have won, Russia has become the biggest winner of this partition, as they have a number of former Soviet internationals such as Haring, Mostovoy, Karpin, Alenichev, Shalimov, Onopko, Korivanov and Kiryakov.

But Russia, which had lost the "perseverance and unity" soul of the Soviets in the midst of violent upheaval, like Yugoslav football, which was now in the doldrums, has been in a slump ever since.

While Zhuang Mingge was immersed in the memories of Soviet football, the taxi had arrived at the headquarters of the Spartak Moscow club, a slightly dilapidated office building, with only an old man in an old leather jacket working as a doorman at the door.

Spartak Moscow Football Club was founded in January 1922 and won its first league championship in 1936. It has been a powerhouse in the Soviet Union and in the history of Russian football, having won the Soviet League 12 times (second only to Dynamo Kyiv), the Russian Premier League 3 times, the Soviet Cup 10 times, and the Russian Cup once.

Even such a class hegemonic team has been reduced to this point, and the current situation of other teams in Eastern Europe can be imagined.

"Haha, President Corleone, welcome to the Spartak Club of Moscow." After receiving the notice, a strong man in a suit came down from upstairs (although the edges of the suit were already a little fluffy), who was 1.9 meters tall, and greeted Zhuang Mingge warmly.

After being introduced, Zhuang Mingge knew that the man who received him was the president of this club, Igor Ivanov.

"I'll talk about other things later, I need to ask one thing first, the Fiorentina players will arrive in Moscow on a later plane, I wonder if there are any places to stay on the Spartak side that you can recommend?"

"Haha, Chairman Corleone, you are on the point, we have arranged the accommodation for you, it is the most Haode hotel in Moscow, I guarantee that you will be satisfied." Speaking of this, the chairman was a little embarrassed, and said hesitantly, "But...... Please ...... for accommodation fees."

"You don't need to worry about this, we in Florence will pay for it ourselves." Hearing Zhuang Mingge's words, the hesitation on the face of the chairman suddenly disappeared.

"Thank you so much, Chairman Corleone."

"Where, where, in some things, we still have to be considerate of each other."

"Then, Chairman Corleone, you and this lady, please go upstairs and rest for a while, and I will take you to my office to sit down."

"You're welcome, this room is the most luxurious in the building." When he came to the chairman's office, Ivanov diligently served tea and water to Zhuang Mingge and Karin, and he couldn't tell that he was the chairman of this club at all.

Zhuang Mingge looked at this office, which was obviously much stronger than the one in Dinamo Zagreb...... At least its wall skin is still complete.

"Mr. Ivanov, I think let's hurry up and talk about business, I just got off the plane and rushed over, and I still need to reverse the jet lag."

"Ah, Haode, no problem!" When Ivanov heard Zhuang Mingge say this, he immediately put down his work, sat down on another sofa, and said, "Chairman Corleone, in fact, this time we invited you to Moscow, in fact, it is not what our Spartak Club meant, we are just entrusted by others. ”

"Huh?" Zhuang Mingge raised his eyebrows and asked, "Then who wants to see me?" ”

"Well, I've got his business card here." Chairman Ivanov immediately took out a beautifully printed card from his pocket and handed it to Zhuang Mingge.

"Holy! It's him! As soon as Zhuang Mingge saw this name, he understood that Mr. Weishenme, the chairman, would be so respectful to himself, and the other party Weishenme would have to go through such a redundant procedure to see him.

The card is printed with a Russian name in English, which translates to ......

"Boris Berezovsky!"

PS: Chapter 20 of "Add more to complete jihua".