Chapter 421 China competition, a rare photo of Messi and Lin Quan

As the holidays come to an end, players are returning to Manchester City one after another.

Guardiola also began to arrange for the team to conduct training camps and warm-up matches according to his own preparation plan.

Like last year, this summer, Manchester City once again participated in the International Champions Cup.

As this event continues to be held, its popularity is growing and more and more teams are participating in this event.

Compared with last year, the number of teams participating in this year's International Champions Cup has doubled to 16.

Among them, there are both top giants like the Western Super League duo and European upstarts like Manchester City.

In addition, Serie A teams such as Milan, Roma, and Fiorentina also continue to participate.

As for the Premier League, there are many more teams participating this year, and giants such as Chelsea, Manchester United, and Liverpool have also participated in this event.

Paris Saint-Germain, which is committed to improving its influence, participated in the International Champions Cup as an invited team for the first time this year.

With so many top clubs participating, the influence and excitement of this year's International Champions Cup have soared.

Many fans even nickname it the Mini-UEFA Champions League. After all, many teams here are regulars in the knockout rounds of the Champions League.

Even in last year's Champions League semi-finals, except for Bayern, the remaining three teams all came.

The influence of the International Champions Cup has expanded, which is a good thing.

Because this can attract more fans and sponsors and bring more revenue to participating teams.

But because there are so many participating teams, even if they are divided into groups as last year, the final schedule may be delayed for a long time.

If we compete one by one, the schedule may be delayed for as long as half a month.

This will greatly affect the summer preparations of major teams. In addition, so many teams gather in the United States, which is not beneficial to the promotion of the International Champions Cup.

There is only so much population in the United States, and the football market is limited.

But if so many teams can be dispersed to different countries, it will not only avoid this problem, but also further broaden the influence and appeal of the International Champions Cup, making the cake bigger so that everyone can share a bigger share. Interests.

Therefore, after discussing with the competition committee, the major clubs participating in the event decided to add two competition areas-the Chinese competition area and the Australian competition area.

The reason for adding the Chinese division is simple. China is the most populous country in the world, and its economy is booming. The football market has great potential.

The major European clubs attach great importance to developing this market. Almost every summer, teams come to the Far East to prepare for games and train.

In this case, it is better to change the strategy of going it alone and simply open a new division of the International Champions Cup in China, so that the major participating giants can directly compete here.

Compared with a single club coming over for training and inviting local clubs to play friendly matches and warm-up matches, the collision between the top clubs from Europe will undoubtedly attract Chinese audiences more.

After all, compared with European audiences, it is difficult for Chinese audiences to have the opportunity to go to Europe to watch high-quality Champions League games, especially for such a showdown between top giants, where tickets are even harder to come by.

Even local audiences in Europe may not be able to buy tickets, let alone fans from other countries.

Therefore, it is absolutely attractive to allow Europe's top clubs to compete in China and give Chinese fans an opportunity to watch football at home.

After this news came out, as expected, it caused a huge sensation in China.

"Holy crap, is it true? Are the European giants coming to play here?"

"Finally it's not the kind of game against a local team. I'm sick of watching that kind of game!"

"Who says it's not the case? The teams in our league are all a bunch of lousy chess players. Their skills are terrible. When we competed with Europe's top giants, we fell before the opponent even made any effort. Such a one-sided game is not good-looking at all!"

"That's right, even if the opponent uses all the substitutes and makes some mistakes, he can easily beat us several times. This kind of game is not a competition at all, but more like an exhibition match. There is no passion at all!"

Many teams have come to China for training in recent years, and domestic fans are used to the methods these teams use to make money.

They spent a lot of money to buy tickets and excitedly went to the stadium to watch the game, but what they saw was a game with little suspense and enjoyment. Even because the players on both sides were so different in strength, those wealthy clubs even hid their main players. , not letting those top stars appear.

This made the fans who came for these stars feel like they were at a huge loss, and it was like watching them feel lonely.

Therefore, if there is another event like this, their interest will not be as great as before.

After all, after being fooled once, you always have to learn a lesson.

Of course, if it is a fierce duel between Europe's top giants, especially if it involves the ownership of the championship, then they will still be very supportive.

In the past few years, the Italian Super Cup held at the Bird's Nest has achieved great success.

The International Champions Cup is not as valuable as the Italian Super Cup, but the quality is certainly much higher than that of ordinary teams' gold-earning games.

Therefore, if this event can really be held in China, there is no need to worry about not being able to sell tickets.

…

Guardiola originally planned to continue to compete in the United States, but there were too many teams participating in the American division, a total of 10 teams.

This made him change his mind and decide to train in Asia.

So, after a month and a half, Lin Quan and Guardiola came to China again.

The difference is that last time Lin Quan came with the Spanish national team, this time he came with his club teammates.

After learning that Manchester City had chosen the Chinese division, other participating teams also began to sign up.

Real Madrid and Barcelona chose the Chinese division by chance!

So, the three teams in China were decided: Manchester City, Real Madrid and Barcelona!

This lineup makes Chinese fans excited. This lineup is tough enough!

These three teams are currently the top teams in European football, and they were the final contenders for last year's Champions League championship.

Moreover, the games between them are still grudges, whether it is Manchester City versus Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​or the El Clasico between Barcelona and Real Madrid.

These three games, no matter which one, are absolutely wonderful and absolutely beautiful to watch.

Affected by this, tickets for these three games have been snapped up before the games even started.

On July 25, the first game in China was held at Guangzhou Tianhe Stadium.

The opponents are Barcelona and Real Madrid.

With a major event like the El Clasico coming out of the gate, event officials obviously know how to attract fans' attention.

The result naturally did not disappoint the fans. Although in terms of the nature of the event, this was only a friendly match, the competition between Barcelona and Real Madrid was never a friendly match.

There has been a long-standing feud between the two teams. No one can afford to lose, and no one can lose.

Maybe they just arranged half substitutes and half main lineups to practice at the beginning, but as they continued to fight, the two teams got really hot. In the end, the main players of both sides who couldn't afford to lose came out and sent out the strongest lineup to fight the opponent to the end.

The fans who came to watch the game were very excited to watch. Many of them had watched La Liga and Champions League games on TV. They also watched the games between Barcelona and Real Madrid not once or twice.

But watching it on TV and watching it on the court is a completely different feeling.

Watching the game live has a greater impact and a deeper feeling.

For fans who usually can only watch the Chinese Super League live, this kind of game gives them the feeling of opening the door to a new world - it turns out that a game between truly strong teams is so exciting?

Feeling: I have watched all the games for so many years in vain!

Just when the fans in Guangzhou were intoxicated by the aftertaste of the high-level Spanish derby and couldn't extricate themselves, the fans in Beijing and Shanghai were looking forward to it, with tears of envy shed at the corners of their mouths.

"I really want to watch the Spanish Derby too!"

"It's a pity that Barcelona and Real Madrid don't come to our place!"

"It doesn't matter, it's our turn in the next game, and we can also see King Lin playing football up close!"

Because Lin Quan is extremely popular in China, when arranging Manchester City's schedule, the organizers deliberately reserved the two largest stadiums for Manchester City.

July 28, Shanghai Stadium.

The 72,000-capacity stadium was packed and even the aisles were packed with fans.

Although according to the official statement, the upper body only has 72,000 seats, judging from the large number of seatless fans standing at the scene, the number of people entering the stadium today is definitely more than this number.

The reason why this game attracts so many fans is that the two sides in this game are Manchester City and Barcelona. This is almost a replica of this year's Champions League final.

The organizers will indeed make things happen, and Manchester City's popularity in China goes without saying.

As for Barcelona, ​​because of the Three Dynasties and Messi, their fans are also very large in China.

Such a collision between two teams with both strength and popularity will naturally bring unparalleled attraction and attract more fans to pay for tickets.

Judging from the attendance at the venue, the results they expected have already appeared.

In this game, both sides did not arrange a half-substitute and half-main lineup. From the beginning, all main players played.

It's not that they want to please the Chinese audience or anything, it's just that both teams have their own goals.

Guardiola wanted to test how much condition the players still had after the long vacation. The opponent happened to be not weak, so he took the opportunity to test it.

As for Barcelona, ​​they just defeated Real Madrid 3:2 at Tianhe Stadium three days ago. At this time, their morale is very high, and they want to take this opportunity to defeat Manchester City again and avenge their previous humiliation.

At this time, Neymar is still in the team and has not left the team for the time being, but he knows that it has only been a few days since his official announcement of leaving the team.

So during the game, Neymar was like a desperate Saburo, showing his best condition and attitude, attacking and defending without any effort.

Under his leadership, the Barcelona team entered the state very quickly and suppressed Manchester City from the beginning.

In the first half, Manchester City's performance was obviously not as good as Barcelona's. The players seemed to have not yet entered the state, and there were several mistakes in the cooperation between them.

Not only that, Manchester City's full-back was beaten by Neymar.

In the 32nd minute of the first half, Neymar broke through from the wing and cut inside to score the first goal of the game.

The fans at the scene burst into cheers, especially those Barcelona fans who came to support the CALL wearing the jerseys of the Red and Blues. They were even more excited to jump up and down.

Sure enough, we, Barcelona, ​​have the MSN team, who in the world can beat them?

As strong as Manchester City, won't they also suffer under my hands at Barcelona?

Manchester City fans are a little worried. Why is the team's current state so different from that in the Champions League final?

And what's going on with Neymar opposite?

Why did you suddenly become so brave?

It is already very difficult to deal with Messi, but then add Neymar, who is so talented, who can withstand this?

When watching this game, many people felt that Barcelona would definitely rise in the new season. They did not expect that Neymar would leave in a few days, causing the Barcelona dynasty that had not yet risen to collapse.

Guardiola didn't care much about the score, but he was a little dissatisfied with the state of the players.

He decisively replaced players who were not performing well and replaced them with younger, more impactful players.

The ability of these young players may not be as good as that of the main players, but their desire for the game and for honors far exceeds that of these old players who have already achieved honors.

However, it is obviously impossible to rely on a group of young players to defeat Barcelona, ​​which is in full form.

In the second half, Manchester City managed to get a goal back, but Messi and Suarez showed off their power and scored two goals in a row.

At the end of the game, Lin Quan's volley shot rekindled the suspense of the game, and Barcelona's goal suddenly became turbulent.

In stoppage time, faced with Manchester City's crazy attack, Barcelona once became very embarrassed.

But under their united defense, Barcelona finally maintained the 3:2 score to the point.

After the game, Lin Quan put his hands on his hips, glanced at his teammates, and shook his head helplessly.

He seemed to feel like he had lost something from his teammates.

But in Barcelona, ​​he felt that strong desire.

"Lin, can I exchange jerseys with you?"

While Lin Quan was thinking, Messi walked to Lin Quan's side.

"Well, of course!"

Lin Quan quickly took off his jersey and completed the exchange with Messi.

"How about we take a photo together later?"

Messi seemed to be in a very good mood and proactively suggested.

"Why take a photo?"

"Haha, I just feel that such an opportunity is rare, so I want to leave a souvenir!"

Messi said with a smile. Of course he would not say it directly. This was his first time defeating Lin Quan on the court, so of course he would commemorate it well.

"Okay, wait for me, I'll borrow a camera!"

Lin Quan nodded, walked to the sidelines, and said to a reporter at the scene:

"This journalist friend, can I lend you your camera?"

"Mine? Yes, of course!"

The reporter didn't seem to expect that Lin Quanhui would take the initiative to talk to him, and seemed a little at a loss.

"Thank you so much!"

Lin Quan grabbed the camera, ran back to the court, randomly grabbed a teammate, and asked him to take a photo with Messi.

Messi pays more attention to image. When taking pictures, he specially put on the exchanged jersey to avoid showing his shirtless image.

Because the weather was relatively hot, he didn't wear the sports tights he usually wore.

Lin Quan on the side saw Messi's actions and put on the exchanged jersey like the other party.

Thus, the out-of-print photos of Messi wearing a Manchester City jersey and Lin Quan wearing a Barcelona jersey were born!