If you ask Manchester United players a season ago, "Where is Hoffenheim?" they would probably frown and say, "Who knows where that ghost place is."

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

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

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

If they had already advanced early, they might say to the media in a joke: "Hoffenheim? Where is that?"

Now, when they were interviewed by reporters, they seriously stated that Hoffenheim is a difficult opponent to deal with.

"They have strong strength and many excellent players. We have to play 100% to ensure we don't lose..." Giggs used cautious words when talking about his opponents. He did not say "Make sure to win", but said "Make sure not to lose".

"Tell me about the opponents in Hoffenheim that impressed you the most?" asked the reporter.

"Chu." Giggs blurted out.

"Their No. 8, Chu." This was Carrick's answer. After that game, both Carrick and Fletcher had a new understanding of Chu Zhongtian.

"Their forwards are very powerful and midfielders are also very strong, but the No. 8 still impressed me the most." Rooney replied. "I think if we want to win, we must curb him."

"Of course it's Chu." Obetan also said in an interview. "I played with him for two seasons with Metz. He is the kind of leader player. He can always lead the players of the team to fight with him. He can make everyone perform extraordinary... To be honest, I like playing football next to him..." As a former teammate, Obetan highly praised Chu Zhongtian. The last time Manchester United and Hoffenheim played against Old Trafford, he had not yet recovered from his injury and could only watch the game in the stands. Chu Zhongtian in that game was even better than Chu Zhongtian he remembered. It seems that he had made another improvement in one season at Hoffenheim.

The players say so, and the coaches think so.

"Chu is their key. The last time we met, we didn't have a good defense, because we put too little pressure on him in the midfield." Ferguson said to the players during the tactical meeting before the war. "So I asked all of you to move more when defending him in this game. Even if you foul, I don't care, but pay attention to the location of the foul. Their free kicks of Salihovic and Eduardo are very good, don't give them too many opportunities like this. To oppress him, don't leave any space for him."

When Manchester United arrived in Sinsheim, although they knew that the city would not be too big, they still exclaimed when they saw it. Manchester has a population of 430,000, and is the most populous city in the UK except London. It is a large population and naturally large scale. In their eyes, Sinsheim cannot even match a district of Manchester. And it is such a small place that they have lost all their faces at Old Trafford.

They just came to Sinsheim and had never visited Hoffenheim. Otherwise, they would have thoughts when they saw the training ground adjacent to the bullpen.

The citizens of Sinsheim were also very excited. This was the first time in their small city that they had a great European club that had always enjoyed a high reputation throughout the world. Although Bayern Munich is also a giant, everyone always feels that it belongs to a country, and there is not so much freshness. If the novelty is not enough, the excitement will naturally be less... Before Hoffenheim's rise, Sinsheim's citizens did not have a team that collectively supported. Some people like Bayern Munich, some people like Stuttgart, some people like Karlsruhe, and some people like foreign teams, such as Milan's two giants, Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and other giant teams. There are also fans who like Hoffenheim, but they are all concentrated in the small town of Hoffenheim.

It is not surprising that there are Manchester United fans in this city, but even if some of them are Manchester United fans, it doesn't matter at this time. When Manchester United players take a bus to enter Sinsheim downtown, all they can see is blue and white. That is the color of Hoffenheim jersey and team flag.

The last time the reporters saw this scene was the last round of the Bundesliga last season. Hoffenheim challenged Schalke 04 away. That game was related to whether Hoffenheim could win the league championship. The whole city turned blue and white overnight. It was very spectacular.

Small cities are also good for small cities. People here are more likely to unite and cheer for a team, rather than like big cities, there are many teams with their own territory. In Madrid, you will never see the Spanish capital being dyed pure white, and you will not be able to see red or blue dominate the whole city in Milan. In Manchester, Liverpool must be divided into blue and red, and the colors in London are even more complicated, like a camouflage city.

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

Maine Road was once the home court that Manchester City had spent 80 years. Manchester City was Manchester United's archenemy in the city. The colors of the jerseys were blue and white, but their blue was lighter. Manchester City had a nickname called "Blue Moon", which came from the color of their jerseys.

"Stop teasing, Mike." Mullensten continued, "This place is much better than the broken place on Maine Road."

Maine Road Stadium is located in the south of Manchester. It used to be a brick factory. It was once a glorious industrial area, but now it has become a place where abandoned factories gather. The dilapidated and gray factories are connected in pieces, with dirty and messy streets and sewage flowing. Those walking on the streets are either Indians or ragged blacks. It is a slum in Manchester.

Sinsheim is obviously not like this. Although it is small, Sinsheim is neat and clean and full of energy. It is completely different from the place that is usually dead and only appears a little energetic after getting drunk.

"But our opponents are as difficult as Manchester City in the Derby..." Mullensten added.

※※ Today is December 7th, the day before the sixth day of the Champions League - that is, the last round of the group stage.

The away team Manchester United had just arrived in Sinsheim and went to Sinsheim's Rhineka Stadium to adapt to the venue without even putting their luggage. The home team Hoffenheim was conducting normal training in the training ground next to the bullpen.

During the training interval, the topics they discussed naturally cannot be separated from tomorrow's game and their opponents.

"It seems that Manchester United is not lost..."

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

"That's of course. It's better to miss tomorrow night's game because of getting lost, so we won without a fight, haha!" Ibisevic laughed loudly.

"Stop daydreaming, Ibi." Chu Zhongtian poured cold water on him. "As the master, of course we must treat them well. How can we hope they get lost?"

Chu Zhongtian was full of fighting spirit and didn't want his opponent to be unable to come.

Today's training time is not long, and the main thing we practice is the offensive and defensive drills of the set piece. After the training, the players will take the team's bus to stay at the hotel in Sinsheim. In the evening, Rangnick will hold a tactical meeting to arrange the tactics for tomorrow's game in detail.

Not every home game does this, and there are some less important leagues, the night before the game, the players spent the night in their own homes.

But this game is different. Centralized management before the game makes it easier for players to stay in shape. Although it is now the peak period of H1n1 influenza A, it should not be crowded.

After the training, the club even shortened the time for players to accept interviews with reporters and sign autographs for fans, for fear that the players will be physically tired after training, their resistance will weaken, and their chances of getting flu are increased.

After taking a shower in the locker room and changing clothes, everyone consciously walked towards the bus in the parking lot. Where, head coach Rangnick, assistant coach Zedler, team doctor Dr. Bex and his assistant. His assistant held a plate in his hand with a thermometer in it. Everyone knew what to do.

Since the swine flu outbreak, this check-up program has been performed after every training, but most of the time it is at the door of the locker room.

Captain Chu Zhongtian was the first to come forward for a temperature check. Baker gave him the thermometer and asked him to clamp it under his armpit.

"How is it like training today, Chu." Because the temperature check takes some time, you can't just put it in and see the temperature. So after watching Chu Zhongtian clamp the thermometer under his armpit, Bex started talking to him, otherwise it would be too embarrassing to wait.

"Not bad, Dr. Bex."

"Ha, that's good. You're in good shape and tomorrow's game will be interesting."

While they were chatting, Bex's assistant sent the thermometer to other players. Everyone either clamped the thermometer under their armpits like Chu Zhongtian, or put the thermometer in his mouth and started measuring the body temperature.

On this side, Chu Zhongtian had already taken out the thermometer and handed it to Bex.

Bex looked at the index on the thermometer, then nodded: "Normal." Another assistant recorded it in the notebook.

The temperature data of other players also came out one after another. Everyone was normal and no one showed signs of fever. The players who had undergone temperature checks got in the car and went to the hotel to rest.

This is a routine check every day. However, as the game approaches, from now on, this check has become a routine check every hour. From the training base to the hotel, and from the hotel to the game field, the team doctors follow the whole process, checking whether the player's temperature is normal every hour. If anyone dares to cough, everyone will become nervous.

The battle is imminent, and the players are not nervous about Manchester United's arrival, but are instead nervous about being tossed by a "swine flu".

※※※The night in the Wimbledon bar is still crowded and crowded. Manchester United went to play Hoffenheim away, and boss John and others could not go to watch the game on the spot, so they could only pay attention to the game through TV. There will be live broadcast signals between Manchester United and Hoffenheim tomorrow night, and everyone 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 also changed. Because Hoffenheim's qualifying situation is not optimistic, it can even be said to be a bit pessimistic.

They don't want this game to be the last time they saw Chu Zhongtian in the Champions League this season, but Manchester United is indeed very difficult to deal with.

Sports news is being played on TV, and the news of Manchester United preparing for the Champions League group stage was mentioned earlier, and now everyone is talking about it.

"In order to play this away game, the old man Ferguson had a big rotation in the last round of the league. As a result, they were forced into a draw by West Ham United away. After the game, Ferguson still smiled, which means he didn't care about the league at all..."

"That is to say, in the game against Hoffenheim, he will send all the main players to play? Then Chu isn't it dangerous?"

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

"Hey, I think Hoffenheim himself is the same. The situation was very good. Why did it look like this in the last round? They could have qualified in advance..."

"Losing to CSKA Moscow away is the key. Before that game, Chu had just returned to China to participate in the game and flew back and forth tens of thousands of kilometers. Where is the state of the situation?"

"well……"

When everyone thinks about the difficult situation Hoffenheim faces, they can only sigh.

"Actually, that Europa League is also good..." After sighing, someone began to arrange a retreat for Hoffenheim and Chu Zhongtian. "Didn't Chu become famous for his League Cup at that time?"

"Come on, who can participate in the Champions League? "

"It's better than being able to participate in anything, right?"

"How can you not participate in anything? They are obviously the third in the group, but they are unwilling to play in the League Cup, so they have to compete for the qualifying spot in the Champions League."

"Okay, okay, don't fight. What's the point of fighting here?" Seeing that two drunk people were a little angry, others hurried out to smooth things over. "It depends on Chu's performance..."

Everyone turned their attention to TV again, but unfortunately there were no reports about Manchester United and Hoffenheim.

※※※"Dear, I have followed the media's statement. As long as you mention the game between you and Manchester United, you are basically more optimistic about Manchester United." In the hotel, Chu Zhongtian was talking on the phone with Emily. The two of them were tens of thousands of kilometers apart, so they could only keep in touch by phone.

"Of course, Manchester United is much better than us in terms of strength and fame." Chu Zhongtian didn't care at all. "If I were a reporter or an ordinary neutral fan, I would also think Manchester United has a greater hope of winning than Hoffenheim."

"But judging from the latest odds of bookmakers, you are not as bad as before."

"Maybe it's because our lineup is complete?" To be honest, Chu Zhongtian has never understood the odds of the bookmakers, so he never bets on football.

"Home court advantage, a complete lineup, coupled with your performance in the first matchup, and the current situation is a life-and-death battle for Manchester United, and a life-and-death battle for you. This kind of game can often burst out with greater energy, so it may not be possible to compete with Manchester United." Emily pointed her finger and analyzed to Chu Zhongtian. "But it is just slightly better than before. Overall, the odds are still not optimistic about you."

After listening to her analysis, Chu Zhongtian suddenly said to Emily: "Emily, buy the lottery."

"Ah?" Emily didn't react.

"I said you buy this game. If you buy a few thousand euros, you can buy it and we will win!"

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

"It's okay, just use it as a pastime and buy it for fun. If we buy it, we will make money, how great it is!"

Emily was silent for a while, as if she was thinking about the question. Then she replied, "You are right, okay, I'll buy it online later."

After talking about football, they started to talk about their relationship. To be honest, Chu Zhongtian missed Emily very much. They were in a passionate love period and would miss each other very much if they didn't meet for a long time, not to mention that they had not met for several months.

"Emily, when do you have a holiday?" Chu Zhongtian asked. "Christmas?"

"I'm afraid you'll come to Los Angeles for Christmas, my dear." Emily said this with a sorry tone. She also knew that it would be bad for both of them after such a long time to be separated. No matter how loyal the relationship is, there will be problems if she separates for such a long time.

"Fortunately I didn't play in the Premier League." Chu Zhongtian said in a joke. If he played in the Premier League, Chu Zhongtian would not have a winter break, and Christmas is even a double match a week. How can he have time to fly to Los Angeles to meet Emily? Fortunately, the German League has a winter break. Although he has to train with the team most of the time, at least there is still a week of free-door holiday.

Emily's heart seemed to be hit. She knew that Chu Zhongtian was a little angry. Although he could see him in Germany and the United States, they actually did not have much private time and space that belonged to them completely. They were busy and found that they had nothing to do during the holiday. However, in the small city of Sinsheim, there were not so many developed media and paparazzi followers. The two had a lot of time and space that belonged to them completely, and could live a real world of two people. There was nothing to worry about the private photos of them on the front page of a newspaper with great influence the next day.

But what can she do? Her career is in the United States and she needs to be here most of her time, so it is impossible to live in Germany for a long time. Now it is the rising period of her career. She has been filming several movies a year and is so busy that she doesn’t touch the ground. How can she have a long vacation?

Chu Zhongtian also realized that this topic had affected each other's mood, so he changed the topic.

But no matter how you talk, you can still feel the absent-mindedness in each other's tone. For their future, both of them are unwilling to talk and think about them now, because the reality is very complicated and is not as easy to get together like the princesses and knights in fairy tales.

"So good night, my 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. In fact, it was not too late to sleep, and his roommate Ibisevich had not come back.

He was trying to forget the unpleasant topics today and let himself think about tomorrow night's game. His mind was full of Manchester United players, the crowded Rhine Neka Stadium, and the magnificent and exciting opening music of the Champions League... and then he fell asleep under such self-hypnosis.
Chapter completed!