Chapter 35: Asia Trip, Part

On Monday morning, July 2005, 7, the city of Barcelona was bustling with traffic, but the climate was warm and humid, with daytime temperatures around 11 degrees Celsius, which was very comfortable.

Ricardo still lives in a small apartment arranged by the club, not far from the club's training base and a few kilometers away from the Camp Nou Stadium. The University of Barcelona is also not far from the Camp Nou Stadium, so Ricardo does not have to worry about traffic jams when he gets up early to go back to school.

This morning, Ricardo met with Fernando Lopez, the trainer of the Barcelona basketball team that Pimenta is looking for, for a tryout at the stadium of the University of Barcelona at 9: a.m., to get to know each other and make another selection...

Ricardo was quite satisfied with the two-hour trial training session, which was divided into four training sessions. The high density and intensity did not make Ricardo feel overdrawn or bored. It was basically a new scientific training set combined with ball training.

Ricardo also called Pimenta and Lopez to inform them that the contract had been officially signed, agreeing to train twice a week, on Monday and Friday mornings. If there was a conflict with the club or national team's training or games, they would be adjusted temporarily. Lopez would also serve as Ricardo's personal nutritionist, helping Ricardo arrange daily menus and training meals.

After the training session, Ricardo took a shower and had lunch at school, and took a nap on the sofa in the library after lunch. Before the afternoon class, he also had a meeting with the professor to discuss the final exam arrangements, the comprehensive evaluation of this semester, the arrangement of summer course selection, and the topic selection of the next SCI or core journal paper...

This week is also the last class of each course of this semester, and next week will be the graduation exam week. Ricardo plans to go to the club directly after finishing the practice and case study class on Wednesday morning, and then take the graduation exam next week. Ricardo's semester will be over. After that, he will have to wait until August 8 to start summer courses.

Ricardo politely brought Professor Almiron a small gift, which was a famous product of Milan, Italy - a Versace belt and wallet gift box. Ricardo also praised the head of the Computer Science Department of the University of Barcelona in person. In addition, under the influence of the two SCI papers he co-authored with the professor last academic year, the communication between Ricardo and the professor was harmonious and smooth:

1. All the homework I submitted before was basically full marks;

2. Next week's exam will soon teach you the key points the professor has highlighted;

3. Summer course selection is easy to arrange and you can make some adjustments based on Ricardo's competition or complete part of it online;

4. The topic of the paper also agreed with Ricardo secretly borrowing the theme and direction of a core academic journal that Old Li Qi had read in the future...

……

In the next two days, Ricardo held the banner of Professor Almiron and followed his example to settle the remaining professors. Then on Wednesday morning, after the last class of the semester, Ricardo officially went to the training base to report and start preparations for the new season.

Ricardo's routine physical examination went very smoothly, and the results were well received by the coaching staff: thanks to the continued high-intensity competition in the World Youth Championship in the Netherlands and Ricardo's self-training for more than 2 hours almost every day, Ricardo's physical examination and test levels after returning from the holiday were the best in the team.

At 19: in the evening, Ricardo started the first training session of the new season. Yes, the training sessions of the Barcelona club's first team are mainly in the afternoon and evening, which is mainly to allow the players to adapt to the time of the usual games and let the muscles and nerves form a biological clock.

Barcelona's pre-season training will have up to eight training sessions per week, with Sunday being the only rest day. On Tuesday and Thursday, the players will have two training sessions. On Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, the players will only start training at 19: in the afternoon.

Barcelona's preparations for the new season will accelerate from next week, and they will take a Lufthansa flight to Tokyo on the evening of the 27th to start their Asian tour in the summer of 2005.

Before departure, there will be two friendly matches with local clubs this weekend and next weekend.

……

The days of training and preparing for the exam were tight and boring... But early on Friday morning, Ricardo received a great piece of news! Chiara said she wanted to come to Barcelona for a vacation this weekend and asked Ricardo if he would take her.

(●?д?●)! !

Sending a head a thousand miles away? Uh, no, sending goose feathers a thousand miles away? Uh, no, no… What did you send a thousand miles away…

Anyway, it must be a big deal! Ricardo will definitely provide food and accommodation, and I will pick him up at the airport after training tonight!

During the training session that day, Ricardo was like a chicken with blood pumped up. He was abused morning and night, causing the abusers Lopez and Rijkaard to begin to doubt their lives: "What happened to this boy? Has he suddenly lost his mind? He works so hard in pre-season training? But this attitude deserves praise..."

That night, Ricardo picked up Chiara from the airport and took her to his small apartment which only had one bedroom and a large bed, and then started a fierce hand-to-hand fight!

Because in the car, Chiara hinted to Ricardo that her period had just ended; this was the second time, how could the hot-blooded young man hold back...

(… I omitted a few thousand words of the process which was similar to last week. The main difference was that the passion was even stronger after a few days of separation…)

The next morning, Ricardo woke up and sorted out the clothes on the floor. He prepared breakfast and at the same time thought about moving to a bigger apartment...

……

Although Chiara came to Barcelona for tourism these two days, she was actually here to provide logistical support for Ricardo; she accompanied Ricardo to the library, training, friendly matches, choosing a larger apartment, and practicing yin and yang at night...

Happy times always pass quickly. On Sunday night, Ricardo sent Chiara to the airport to return to Milan. Before leaving, Ricardo transferred 10,000 EUR to Chiara in the name of reimbursement for this trip and pre-reimbursement for the next flight.

Ricardo knew that whether he could have logistical support from time to time in the future, or whether he could still have logistical support by air express next weekend, would depend on whether he knew how to behave: if he gave too much, the people would not come frequently; if he gave too little, the temptation would not be enough…

Ricardo, who had cleared the burden in a certain part of his body, performed as if assisted by God in the following week: he knew all the questions and answered all the questions correctly - or it can be said that he was tested on everything he knew (he completely forgot the credit of the professor for marking the key points and test points); and he repeatedly performed brilliantly in training sessions and training games, which made the coaching staff frequently praise him...

……

Time flies when there is something to look forward to. In the blink of an eye, another Friday has arrived! Chiara sent me the exciting travel information as expected!

What else is there to say? Since we are so close, Ricardo must make arrangements!

After training in the evening, Ricardo picked up Chiara, who was emitting hormones, from the airport again, and they started a fierce hand-to-hand fight as soon as they entered the apartment!

Because this time in the car, Chiara hinted to Ricardo that she had started taking medicine; this was the third time, how could the hot-blooded young man hold back...

(… I omitted a few thousand words of the process that was similar to last week. The main difference was that the opponent’s routine was more proficient…)

The next morning, Ricardo woke up and packed up, and took Chiara to buy a car first! After all, they had said two exciting whispers in the taxi in a row. If the driver heard such whispers in the future, it would not be good... Or if he changed his own car, he might say something even more outrageous?

Given Ricardo's low-key personality and the high probability that he will not be in Barcelona next season, and he did not want to wait or for the new car to lose its odor, Ricardo went to the used car market and directly picked up a 9% new black 2003 Mercedes-Benz ML200K, which cost Ricardo about half a year's salary.

The 2003 Mercedes-Benz ML200K is a mid-to-large luxury SUV known for its outstanding performance and luxurious interior.

The front face adopts the Mercedes-Benz family design, which is highly recognizable. The body lines are smooth, showing a steady and elegant temperament. While providing strong power output, the ML200K's suspension system also provides a stable and comfortable driving experience, and is equipped with a number of active safety systems... The most important thing is that the interior space is large enough!

Although tens of thousands of Euros are not worth mentioning for Ricardo's actual financial resources, Ricardo thinks that as a young player, he should keep a low profile... He definitely does not value attributes such as having enough space for Car to shake!

But Chiara seemed to have misunderstood something. Looking at the almost new second-hand car, her ears turned red and she pinched Ricardo's arm hard... This little girl knows a lot~ She will be severely tortured when she returns home tonight...

For men, girls and cars are both spiritual opium! Before he and Chiara returned to his small dormitory, Ricardo couldn't help it!

In the friendly match against a regional semi-professional team in the evening, Ricardo showed his prowess, kicking and headers to score five goals in the first half!

Rijkaard: "Brother, you are a midfielder..."

The whole team thought that this guy wanted to use the trip to Asia to get ahead, and deliberately showed off some of his skills in advance!

After showing off his prowess on the court, Ricardo returned home and realized that he had overplayed his hand and was very tired... So late at night, he lost his spirit under Chiara and waited obediently for her instructions...

In addition to studying in the library and taking Chiara out for dinner on Sunday, the two also decided on Ricardo's new apartment: it is located in a mature community not far from the University of Barcelona and the Camp Nou Stadium, with 3 bedrooms, 2 living rooms, 2 bathrooms and an open kitchen. It was newly renovated last year and has modern apartments and butler services. It is fully furnished and ready to move in...

Ricardo plans to move the week he returns from his Asia trip. If he only relies on the salary from his Barcelona youth team contract, he certainly can't afford it. But Ricardo has his own little piggy bank!

These small amounts of money are easy to deal with. Chiara also feels that this multi-millionaire celebrity who is too young is really too low-key... Yes, low-key is Ricardo's greatest advantage: "It's best to be transparent, especially on the court. Don't defend me, don't pester me, and don't tackle me..."

On Sunday evening, after a long and passionate love affair, Ricardo, who had emptied his magazine again, drove Chiara to the airport in a new second-hand Mercedes-Benz and returned to Milan. Before leaving, Ricardo transferred another 10,000 euros to Chiara in the name of reimbursement of the round-trip fare to Milan Airport and pre-reimbursement of the next flight ticket.

……

The day after Chiara left, which was July 2005, 7, it was drizzling in Barcelona at noon and in the evening. After training in the evening, Ricardo happily drove his brand new second-hand Mercedes to the airport to pick her up...

This time the person I picked up was Sarafina... Sarafina, who had just finished her summer study tour and had just returned to Milan for 2 days of rest, came to find Ricardo. She planned to play in Barcelona for two days, and then flew to Tokyo with Ricardo to start her Asia tour.

Sarafira, who just got off the plane and walked out of the airport, wore a pair of Dior sunglasses, long brown hair, an off-white knitted shirt, an off-white outerwear, slim blue jeans, off-white sandals, and a dark suitcase. She looked youthful and energetic! It was completely different from Chiara's glamorous and coquettish, oh no, mature charm.

Ricardo, who took Sarafina's suitcase, didn't dare to take Sarafina back to his small apartment with only one bedroom and one bed. Everyone knew that he had to take Chiara back, but Sarafina was different - it wasn't a matter of identity, but mainly because she was not yet an adult...

Ricardo still has a bottom line. No matter how bad he is, he can't be bad to minors, right?! Besides, Ricardo just cleared his stock...

He arranged for Sarafina to stay in a five-star hotel not far from Camp Nou. He agreed to take Sarafina to visit downtown Barcelona in the morning and watch him train in the afternoon. Ricardo did not stay in Sarafina's room.

On Wednesday morning, he took Sarafina to visit Barcelona's famous attraction Port Olimpic. In the afternoon, Ricardo returned to the club to gather for the final training. Then the whole team set off for the airport to prepare to take the evening flight to Tokyo.

A taxi was also arranged for Sarafina to take her from the hotel to the airport, and they would meet up at the airport after passing security check.

Finally, it’s time to board the plane! Ricardo secretly went to the counter to apply for an upgrade...

The ground service lady said politely: "I'm sorry, Mr. Li Qi, this flight is full, there are no other seats available..."

Wait...Wang Defa!? Can't upgrade?! I just generously exchanged seats with Team 2's Pi Tu next to his toilet...

Ricardo was a little embarrassed, and suddenly remembered something, and asked quickly: "Miss, how long does it take to fly from Barcelona International Airport in Spain to Narita International Airport in Tokyo, Japan?!"

The ground service lady continued politely: "Sir, it will take about 17 hours and 53 minutes..."

w(?Д?)w... "Why don't you just say about 18 hours! Oh! What the hell!..." Ricardo was about to cry...

……

Sarafina, who learned of Ricardo's tragic experience, said she could do nothing to help him and would meet Ricardo in Tokyo.

She will help Ricardo chat more with Ronaldinho's father...

……

Barcelona's Asian tour this time can be described as a huge lineup. Not only almost all the first-team players are traveling, but also some of the second-team players...

Barcelona, ​​which has tasted the sweetness last year, knows that the first team must be complete. They rely on them to make money from performances and commercial sponsorships, so it would be best if they could earn back their own wages!

But the second-tier team still has to play in the game. They have to travel half the world for commercial performances. The first-tier team is almost the same as weaklings... It's embarrassing that the second-tier team has to play, while the first-tier team just needs to show their faces in the starting lineup.

The main players of Barcelona's 2005 Asian Tour are as follows:

The biggest star was Brazilian striker Ronaldinho;

There are also Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o, Spanish defender Carles Puyol, Spanish midfielders Xavi and Iniesta, Portuguese midfielder Deco, and French striker Giuly;

And the Argentine striker...Saviola!

That’s right, at this time Messi had not yet become the household name he is today; not to mention that in this time and space, the World Youth Championship title and the best player were shamefully stolen by Ricardo Liqui…

In Asia, Messi’s fame may not be as high as Ricardo’s; no, it is definitely not as high as Ricardo’s.

In addition to the 25 big-name players from the first team, there were also some players from the second team, such as Spanish midfielder Pitu, who had swapped toilet seats with Ricardo and was now chatting comfortably with Messi;

There are also Spanish defenders Rodri (not the one from later Manchester City), Pena, and Moura;

Spanish midfielders Verdu, Lulu and Arnault;

Spanish forwards Riera, Lanzarote, Manolo and Spanish goalkeeper Ruiz and others.

……

Oh yes, there are also some family members of the players who travel, such as Ricardo’s little princess Sarafina…