Chapter 400: Eve of the Battle of Life and Death

A large passenger plane landed lightly at Hitro Airport. The strong airflow blew over from all directions, blowing the drizzle away. After the fuselage stopped, the first one appeared was a group of young people wearing suits and sunglasses, all kinds of people. The eyes on the head were deep, frown, and a double chin protruding slightly forward. He was not the head coach of Rome, but who was the famous Italian coach Capello?

The group arrived in London two days in advance. Obviously, Rome also attached great importance to this game.

They can't ignore it. After all, being eliminated in the group stage is a lot different from entering the next stage. The bonus, broadcasting fees, ticket revenue and other income are almost tens of millions of euros, which is a lot of money. Especially Roma has never been a rich club. Although he won the Serie A championship last season, his domestic broadcasting revenue is still less than half of the income of the top three in the North. In this way, how much income can be obtained in the Champions League is very important to Roma.

After entering the airport hall in the drizzle, a group of reporters immediately rushed forward. Although these reporters were all English reporters, everyone knew the importance of this game. Among the other two English teams participating in the Champions League, Manchester United had already qualified with Bayern in advance, and Arsenal's game is tomorrow, so this game is what Leiden Oriental pays the most attention. However, for Serie A teams, this season is another disappointing season. Three teams entering the group stage, Lazio was eliminated in the first stage of the group stage, and Juventus had also been eliminated one round ahead of schedule in the death group. Roma has become the last single seedling in Serie A. In recent years, Serie A teams have been extremely depressed in the Champions League. There has been no Serie A team to enter the semi-finals of the Champions League for several years. From this level, Roma also bears a heavy responsibility.

After being blocked by the reporters, Capello only said one thing: "We will definitely win this game. If we win the first game, we will definitely win the second game."

Capello was in a bad mood, and failed to beat Galatasaray at home in the last game, which caused Roma too much trouble, otherwise they would have accumulated tens of them to qualify early - Barcelona had only seven points, and Roma had the advantage in two rounds - but now, they also have to fight for their own destiny, and at least one point away from home to ensure that they qualify. If they lose the game, they have to count on Galatasaray to defeat Barcelona to qualify with a goal difference.

However, Capello was in trouble in this game. The important main player Cafo was suspended due to accumulating yellow cards. In this way, Roma lacked a wing on both sides, and this man with two hearts was missing. Roma's strength declined slightly.

The only thing that made him feel a little comforted was that there were more players in Leiden Oriental absent than them - if Xiao Ming had not fired a smoke bomb.

Xiao Qing did not put out smoke bombs. With two days left before the game, only Marklele recovered among the players who were absent due to the flu. Even if the others came back before the game started, he did not dare to let players who had not participated in training for half a month on the court. His trouble would only be greater than that of Roma.

Looking at the scene of Capello being interviewed on TV, Xiao Ming turned off the TV with a "snap": "If you win the first game, you can win the second game? Joke."

Despite muttering like this, Xiao Ming knew that Capello said this just to boost morale. For a coach like Capello who is the most profitable, they can qualify if they draw away, so he will never take risks in the offense, but will use defense to deal with himself to the greatest extent.

"I heard that there will be light to moderate rain in London in the next few days." Jessica, who had been sitting quietly next to her, suddenly said.

Xiao Ming turned to look at her, and Jessica continued: "The weather in London has always been very bad, but the weather in Italy is good. If it was raining on the day of the game and the venue was muddy, Rome would be less adaptable to this kind of weather and grass than we did."

Xiao Ming felt a little moved. He knew that Jessica had become a fan for the past few years, but the weather and the characteristics of the teams of both sides had taken into account just now. If she had not learned a lot about football, she would not have said such words. And when she said such words at this time, it was obvious that she was in a bad mood and wanted to comfort herself.

He reached out to hug Jessica and Xiao Ming laughed: "It's okay... Actually, I don't really want it to rain, because if the venue and the weather are not good, it will bring more trouble to the side who wants to attack... Moreover, our team is different from ordinary Premier League teams. Although we can also play long passes, it is more technical. The venue conditions are not good, which is also a bad factor for our offense. It is precisely because of this that the venue conditions and drainage system of Brisbane Road Stadium are the best in England because we need such a venue."

When Jessica was embarrassed to stick out her tongue when she heard Xiao Ming say this, she originally thought that what she thought was pretty good, but the result was completely the opposite...

"It doesn't matter, it will rain. We have put a lot of effort into maintaining the venue these days. The conditions of the venue will not be very bad at that time. As long as there is not continuous heavy rain, our game will not be affected." Xiao Ming smiled and comforted Jessica, while also comforting himself.

But after getting up the next day, Xiao Ming felt that God was too embarrassed to give him face.

Xiao Ming stood in his office, looking at the white rain outside the window, his face gloomy.

With such heavy rain, the players naturally cannot train on the stadium, but are all training in the training hall. What he is worried about is not this, but what if there is such heavy rain in tomorrow's game, what should he do?

Brisbane Road Stadium.

In the sound of the huge wind and rain, Gray's roar still came out of the wind and rain. He is the leader of the field maintenance staff of Leiden Oriental Club. His job is to maintain those training grounds and maintain Brisbane Road Stadium. As an old employee who has worked in Leiden Oriental for more than ten years, he naturally remembers the changes in Leiden Oriental now. For Leiden Oriental, who is more accustomed to letting the ball roll on the lawn, the quality of the venue will naturally affect their performance. He also knows the importance of the next game. Therefore, although the drainage system of the Brisbane Road Stadium is quite outstanding, after seeing such a big storm, he still called all his subordinates to make the stadium suffer a little less.

After being soaked in water for a long time, the soil under the lawn will become sparse and sticky, and when you step on it, it will bring mud, and then the entire court will quickly become muddy. Such heavy rain will definitely not work by relying on the drainage system alone. Gray came up with a solution, which is to cover the stadium with large pieces of plastic cloth, so that the rain directly poured on becomes smaller, so that the drainage system can play a better role. If you soak less rain, the condition of the stadium will be better.

"Steve! John! The plastic on the right is flying! Come over quickly!"

It is easy to talk about, but it is not easy to do. Heavy rain means strong wind, which means that the plastic cloth is more likely to be blown up. They have used all the tools they usually use to press the plastic cloth, but the plastic cloth is still blown up, so they can only run around like firefighters.

Grey, who was struggling to calm down a piece of plastic cloth, saw another piece of plastic cloth flying up again, immediately shouted loudly, and then two staff members ran over immediately.

As time passed, Gray's voice became hoarse, but he didn't care about this. He kept running around in the rain curtain, and ran over wherever plastic cloth flew up.

Two hours later, the heavy rain finally stopped slowly and the wind weakened a lot. Seeing the raindrops hit the plastic cloth and flowing to both sides, Gray breathed a sigh of relief.

Because of their efforts, most of the rainwater flowed toward both sides, and a small part of the rainwater that seeped into the lawn was quickly drained by the drainage system. As long as there was no such heavy rain tomorrow, Brisbane Road Stadium could handle it.

"Guys, don't slack off, find some tools to press all the plastic cloths, let's have a good drink tonight, and see how our team beat the Romans tomorrow!" Gray shouted loudly, waving his arms.

His men cheered.

Thinking about the scene where Leiden East defeated Roma to enter the quarterfinals of the Champions League tomorrow, Gray grinned and smiled sincerely.

After getting up, Xiao Ming looked out the window. The rain had already become lighter, and it was basically gentle and drizzle. Such weather did not have much impact on Leiden East, which is good news.

Xiao Ming was just a little worried about the stadium. The rain was so heavy yesterday, and what was the condition of the stadium that had been soaked for so long? Will it be dirt when it runs? That would be too bad.

However, when going out, Xiao Ming smiled and hugged Jessica: "Prepare some delicious food for me tonight... Today we will celebrate my team's entry into the quarterfinals of the Champions League!"

"No problem!" Jessica laughed. Although she was a little worried, she didn't show any of it: "I'll go to the stadium to watch the game myself later, and then wait for you to go home."

After kissing Jessica's forehead, Xiao Ming let go of his hand, then turned around and walked out of the house.

After arriving at the club, Xiao Ming did not go directly to the training ground, but came to the club office.

"How is the situation on the court?" After calling Miss Ella, Xiao Ming asked directly.

It seemed as if it had been ready. Ella took out a piece of information and put it in front of Xiao Ming, with a smile on her face: "The situation is very good... Although it is not the best situation, it is not much different from usual. Mr. Gray and his men were busy on the court for a day yesterday, covering the court with various tools and plastic cloth. Most of the rain did not hit the lawn directly, and received the greatest protection."

Xiao Ming was stunned for a moment, then glanced at Ella.

Ella nodded at him: "No one asked them to do this, it was so heavy yesterday...but they did it spontaneously."

"I'll go to the stadium now." Xiao Ming did not say anything else, but stood up, said something to Ella, and then hurried out of the office.

On Xiao Ming's way to the stadium, the weather slowly cleared up. Although the sky was still covered with dark clouds, rays of sunlight shone tenaciously, and a rainbow appeared in the sky. This was a rare scene above London.

It was morning now, and it was not time for fans to enter the stadium. The entire stadium was empty. After saying a few words to the security guards on the stadium, Xiao Ming walked into the stadium with big strides and then walked into the player's passage.

Then he saw a scene that he would never forget for life.

The rain has stopped, but there are countless shiny drops of water on the entire lawn of the court. The sunlight shines on the water droplets, shining with all kinds of pleasing lights. These beautiful water droplets are attached to the plastic sheets. These plastic sheets are large and small, but they are laid on the lawn one by one. At the junction of these plastic sheets, various tools are filled with shovels, wrenches, hammers, shovels...

Pieces of plastic cloth hit the lawn like patches. There were flowing water under Xiao Ming's feet. The circle of land outside the court had been soaked in water. One step would be mud. But under these ugly plastic cloths, green grass was lush and lifeless.

Xiao Ming looked at this scene in a daze for a long time, then took out his cell phone.

He first called McDonald: "Alvin, let all the players who participated in the training today come to Brisbane Road, right away."

After saying this, he hung up the phone and called Miss Ella: "Miss Ella, help call Mr. Gray and the others, everyone is coming, please."

After making these two calls, he continued to look at the lawn in a daze.

After a while, McDonald brought the players with the players in a hurry. Xiao Ming's phone call was speechless. McDonald, who didn't know what happened, dared not neglect and immediately stopped training. He took everyone except the players who did not come to train because he was sick and rushed over. The distance between the training base and the stadium was not too far, so they came very quickly.

Xiao Ming, who was standing by the side of the court, heard the noise coming from behind. He turned his head and waved to all the players and coaches.

"Look, these things on the court... were done by our field maintenance team in a heavy rain yesterday. Because there were not enough tools, they could only run around the court and press down on every piece of plastic sheet blown by the wind. How long did the rain last yesterday and how long did the wind blow, they would work here in a heavy rain."

Xiao Ming said quietly that his voice was not loud, but everyone could hear it clearly: "No one asked them to do this. Their work was just maintenance. It was raining so heavily yesterday. Even if the lawn became a vegetable field today, no one would blame them. But they did this, without telling anyone, and without asking for any compensation. If Miss Ella had not told me today, I would not know that they would do this... The court was opened at 2:00 pm, and before that, they would remove all these things, and no one would see how hard they worked yesterday... This is unfair, I cannot let all the Leiden people watch this scene, but I hope you can see and understand how much people have contributed silently for this game."

None of the players spoke. They just looked at the scene in front of them silently. Everyone knew how heavy the rain was yesterday. It was a strong wind and rain that made no one want to go out. However, some people braved such bad weather and worked on the court for so long, not for rewards or for others. They just wanted to make them perform better on the court in today's game.

After a long time, Gray showed up with his men.

Seeing that almost all the members of the first team were there, watching their hard work for a day yesterday, Gray thought that he had broken the lawn by his actions, so he hurriedly walked to Xiao Ming: "Mr. Chairman, I'm sorry, we didn't have any tools yesterday, so we used these things... If we broke the lawn, don't blame them, this is all my idea..."

"Mr. Gray." Xiao Ming waved his hand, stopped him from continuing, then hugged his shoulder and pulled him out of the crowd, and then waved to the other venue maintenance staff: "I don't know the names of all of you...so, please come over."

Gray and the others watched all the first team members standing in front of them in a daze, and then said to them in unison: "Mr. Gray, we will definitely win today's game! Otherwise, we will apologize to you!"

The players were willing to shout these words. After seeing this scene in front of them, they felt that if they could not defeat Roma today, they would really not have the face to come back to see these venue maintenance personnel!

Gray and the others looked at the players in surprise and shouted at them, "These are all big stars... Although they are all staff members of Leiden Oriental Club, they are at what level they are...

"That's it." Xiao Ming waved his hand and said to Gray: "Mr. Gray, I'll ask you to clean up the venue later and see how we won today's game! Also, you go to Miss Ella later. Your hard work deserves compensation yesterday - the maximum salary."

"Mr. Chairman, we did not do this for money!" The venue maintenance staff shouted: "Otherwise, don't we know how to do other things?"

Xiao Ming pursed his lips and nodded: "It's me who is abrupt... So you can accept the twenty best tickets, right? Take your family to watch the game. The feeling of watching the game on the spot is different."
Chapter completed!