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"Hola, Amigo!"
"Hey, Lance!"
Coincidence makes for a good story.
Capital Daxing Airport, baggage claim area.
Two groups of people bumped into each other without warning.
It just so happened that the entire Barcelona squad had flown out from Barcelona and arrived in the capital around the same time.
Just like that, they ran into each other.
Lance saw Messi in the crowd at first glance. Their eyes met across the distance; Messi was the first to look away, turning to talk to his teammates.
Griezmann looked as if he were meeting an old friend in a foreign land.
He took the initiative to approach with a cheerful expression and strike up a conversation with the Atlético Madrid players.
Halfway there, Griezmann realized something was wrong. He was a traitor now!
But turning back now would be even weirder.
Griezmann was suddenly frozen in awkwardness.
Fortunately, Lance played the nice guy to the end and stepped forward first, saving Griezmann from the embarrassment.
"Long time no see."
"It hasn't been that long."
"Hehehe..." Griezmann gave a sheepish laugh.
His gaze drifted over Lance's shoulder, glancing at his former teammates not far away.
Seeing the slightly off expressions on Saúl, Juanfran, Giménez, and the others, Griezmann felt quite bad and sighed inwardly.
However, Gabi, Koke, Godín, Oblak, and the others were fine, nodding and smiling at Griezmann from a distance.
"Do they hate me?"
"Would you believe me if I said no?"
"..."
"All joking aside, this was your choice anyway. No matter what happens, you'll have to bear it yourself."
"That's right. I chose to leave the team. I've already prepared myself."
"How's the match preparation going? Feeling confident?"
"Of course. I'm afraid I'll have to ruin your sextuple winner dream this time, and even make you lose face in your own country..."
Griezmann smiled slightly.
It was clear that the Barcelona squad's preparations were going well.
Recently, media outlets like Mundo Deportivo and AS had also revealed that...
Griezmann had integrated quickly, developing a certain level of chemistry with Messi and Suárez. Barcelona's performance in the first few warm-up matches of the season had been excellent.
Luis Enrique had been coaching Barcelona since 2014, having completed two seasons so far.
This was his third season, and he had a sufficient understanding of the failures of the previous two seasons.
Lance didn't doubt for a moment that, due to changes in the timeline, Luis Enrique would evolve ahead of schedule, similar to the 2025 Champions League winner Paris Saint-Germain.
If he could integrate some trendy new tactics into Barcelona's traditional tiki-taka and high-pressing system...
Perhaps Barcelona really could find a second wind.
"I understand, so I'm looking forward to a great match."
"Me too."
Griezmann didn't say more and turned back to his team.
Suárez was the first to approach.
"Antoine, what did he say? Was he threatening you?"
"No, I actually threw down the gauntlet."
"Oh? Nice! We should tell them that Barcelona isn't the same as last season!"
With two days to go before the match, Suárez was already itching for a fight.
Having lost for a year, he was hungry for revenge!
As for Messi, he had been silently observing everything.
But the light in Messi's eyes couldn't lie.
He believed that this time would definitely be different!
..."Brother, do you want a ticket?"
"How much?"
"8,800."
"So expensive! Why don't you just rob someone?"
"If you're not buying, don't waste my time. Others want them."
"Wait!"
The entrance to the Bird's Nest Stadium was packed with people.
A scalper in the crowd was haggling with a boy who looked like a college student.
The match between God Lance and Barcelona...
Online tickets sold out in one second!
If your hands were even a little slow, you couldn't get one!
Many people complained in Lance's Weibo comments that match tickets were harder to get than Jay Chou concert tickets.
It couldn't be helped; even though the Bird's Nest Stadium had plenty of seats...
It still couldn't withstand the country's massive population.
Football had been the hottest sport in the last two years, and Lance was the most popular superstar. It would be strange if people could get tickets easily.
Fortunately, this college student came from a well-off family. He quickly took out his phone to message his family to shell out some cash.
Gritting his teeth, he bought the marked-up ticket for 8,800.
"Just to see God Lance, it's worth it!"
On the day of the match...
The area around the Bird's Nest Stadium had already been cordoned off by traffic police, with massive crowds of people converging here from all over the country.
Even if they couldn't get inside to watch the game, many people still crowded outside the stadium, hoping for a chance to see Lance.
Those who managed to get tickets were the "noble" ones.
A huge crowd queued at the ticket gate, suffering in the heat.
They didn't complain at all, their faces showing the superiority of the upper class...
"Lance, don't you guys have any professional football stadiums?"
"This..."
Saúl's question made Lance very embarrassed.
The Atlético Madrid squad had just gone out to adapt to the field and warm up, getting a feel for the turf and the dimensions of the field.
The low-quality turf at the Bird's Nest left much to be desired.
Additionally, the Bird's Nest is a multi-purpose stadium, with a wide athletics track surrounding the football field.
This resulted in a large distance between the players and the stands.
The Atlético Madrid players, accustomed to professional stadiums, were quite uncomfortable with this sense of emptiness.
It couldn't be helped; football just wasn't taken seriously in the country.
Many cities had only started building professional football stadiums because of the football craze in the last two years.
In the past, having a piece of land to play on was good enough.
With the country focusing on infrastructure and the economy, who would care if a stadium was good or not?
Football was entirely a "national fortune stabilizer."
"Lance already gave us feedback on this issue before,"
Simeone chimed in.
"So our strategy for today is sound: minimize ground passes as much as possible, and play more long balls and balls behind the defense."
"It's a disadvantage for Barcelona, but an advantage for us."
Simeone was full of confidence.
Barcelona's tiki-taka would be difficult to operate effectively on poor-quality turf.
Plus, with the entire stadium supporting Lance...
The Bird's Nest was essentially Atlético Madrid's home ground.
"The advantage is mine!"
Simeone didn't know that Luis Enrique, the Barcelona manager in the locker room next door, was also talking about this.
"Atlético Madrid must think that the poor turf quality is a disadvantage for our passing game."
At these words, the Barcelona players smiled knowingly.
Luis Enrique's expression was also relaxed.
"Over the past two months, I believe everyone has become fundamentally familiar with the new tactics."
"How about we give them a huge surprise when we take the field in a bit?"
...The CCTV5 broadcasting team had long been ready at the Bird's Nest.
Duan Xuan and Xu Yang were already on standby in the media section, with 30 minutes to go before the live broadcast.
CCTV5 Sports Channel had specially cleared the 7:30 PM prime time slot...
...specifically for this crucial Spanish Super Cup match.
With two weeks of advance promotion, many fans were already waiting in front of their TVs.
Back when the Italian Super Cup was held at the Bird's Nest, the match between Lazio and Inter Milan attracted many fans.
Today's hype was on a completely different level...
...comparable to an important Champions League or World Cup match!
"Instructor Xu, do you think Lance can successfully achieve the status of sextuple winner?"
"I think it'll be difficult."
"Oh? Why's that?"
Instructor Xu Yang paused and frowned slightly.
"Although he's come through safely before, this time I really think Atlético Madrid's chances aren't great. Perhaps most people are destined to be imperfect, even Lance. A winner-takes-all final, combined with Atlético Madrid's loss of players, and the rumors of Barcelona's new tactics... I've said this many times: things look grim for Lance. But this time, it might actually be true."