Although this away game was a derby in the same city and did not require a long journey, the entire RCD Espanyol team still checked in at the hotel a day in advance. The purpose was naturally to prevent the players from being distracted by the outside world.
Of course, Xia Ruofei himself was staying in the hotel, and he had a special status. Naturally, he did not need to go to the trouble of checking in with the team at another hotel.
The game kicked off at seven o 'clock in the evening local time. Xia Ruofei participated in the team's practice in the morning and went to the team's hotel in the afternoon to take the team bus to the famous Camp Nou stadium.
It was still early before kickoff, but there were already many Barça fans in red and blue home uniforms gathered along the way. The closer they got to the Camp Nou stadium, the more fans there were on the roadside.
Seeing the RCD Espanyol team bus coming, the Barça fans booed one after another. Some people unfurled banners full of sarcastic words toward the team bus.
More and more fans gathered on the roadside. The police cars sent by the Barcelona police also sounded their sirens to clear the way for the bus.
Every time there was a Catalan derby, the Barcelona police were very nervous. Although La Liga did not have as many football hooligans as the English Premier League, the atmosphere in the derby game was tense both on and off the field.
Xia Ruofei and Wu Lei sat in a row. He turned to look at Wu Lei, who had a tense face. He smiled and pointed to the Barça fans outside the window and asked, "Lei, are you nervous?"
Wu Lei forced a smile and said, "It's okay! A little bit … "
Xia Ruofei laughed and said, "If you're nervous now, won't your legs go soft when you step on the turf at Camp Nou?"
"No!" Wu Lei said, "As soon as the game whistle blows, I will have no distracting thoughts!"
"Haha! Then I'll see how you perform! " Xia Ruofei said, "Remember, after the kickoff tonight, no matter how the manager arranges the tactics, you must resolutely move forward in the first few minutes. As long as there is a chance, I will pass the ball to you!"
Although it hadn't been announced to the public yet, Ruby had already announced the starting lineup after the last pre-match training. Xia Ruofei and Wu Lei were in the starting lineup.
In fact, Wu Lei had been getting more and more playing time during this period of time. He often appeared in the starting lineup. Even if he was a substitute for a few games, he would be substituted in around 60 minutes. His playing time was relatively stable. It was not surprising that he was given the opportunity to be in the starting lineup this time.
Moreover, when the RCD Espanyol team faced Barça, they were attacking the opponent in a weak position. With the defensive lineup relatively stable, Wu Lei, who was better at speed and positioning in the front field, was also suitable for defensive counterattack tactics.
As for Xia Ruofei, although Xia Ruofei had only represented the team in half of the game, that half of the game was too dazzling. Moreover, in the past few days of training, Xia Ruofei's performance was too good. He was even a level higher than the other players. In addition, he was the team's boss. Ruby couldn't put him on the bench.
After Wu Lei heard Xia Ruofei's words, he nodded firmly and said, "I'll remember!"
Wu Lei could be said to be obedient to Xia Ruofei. Since Xia Ruofei had instructions, he would not hesitate to carry out Xia Ruofei's instructions even if he had to go against the manager's deployment.
After the two chatted for a while, Xia Ruofei lowered his head and played with his mobile phone again.
Suddenly, he saw an interesting screenshot on Weibo. He couldn't help but click on it and take a look. Then he couldn't help but laugh.
After Wu Lei heard it, he turned his head and asked, "Brother Xia, what are you laughing at?"
"See for yourself!" Xia Ruofei smiled and showed the screen of his mobile phone to Wu Lei.
Wu Lei glanced at it and couldn't help but smile bitterly. "Damn … I've already deleted this. I didn't expect someone to take a screenshot and dig a grave at this time …"
It turned out that the picture posted on this Weibo post was a Weibo post by Wu Lei in 2013. At that time, Wu Lei was a player of the Shengang team in the Huaxia League. In January 2013, the Shengang team visited the Camp Nou stadium.
After the visit, Wu Lei wrote on Weibo, "This is the holy temple of football. It's every player's dream! Only here can you really feel the charm of this stadium! Enjoy all of this! This is football! Barça! Barça! Barça! "
The Weibo post was accompanied by a photo of his visit to the Camp Nou.
After Wu Lei joined RCD Espanyol, he knew the grudge between RCD Espanyol and Barça, so he deleted the Weibo post. He didn't expect a fan to take a screenshot.
The netizen with the Weibo ID "Dumby Sa Village" wrote, "Six years ago, Wu Lei dreamed of setting foot in Camp Nou, and tonight, his dream may come true!"
The fans' comments below were also very happy.
"So, is Wu Lei going on a pilgrimage?"
"Ball King Wu, your dream has become reality! You must seize the opportunity! "
"Don't be afraid! The opponent is Barça! Just do it! "
…
Xia Ruofei laughed as he looked at the comments. Even Naldo and the veteran goalkeeper Diego Lopez, who were sitting in the front row, couldn't help but stand up and turn around to ask.
Xia Ruofei smiled and showed them the picture on his mobile phone. He also translated Wu Lei's words into Spanish for his teammates to hear.
Everyone also gave a good-natured roar of laughter, which made Wu Lei even more embarrassed.
Of course, even if Barça and RCD Espanyol were mortal enemies, his teammates did not feel unhappy because Wu Lei had once posted such a Weibo post.
Barça was known as the Cosmos and had fans all over the world. Moreover, the whole team knew that Wu Lei was an Arsenal fan. He only had a pure appreciation for Barça, not to mention that was many years before he joined RCD Espanyol.
Everyone was not naive enough to think that Wu Lei had betrayed the team because of such a Weibo post. In fact, they simply thought it was funny and a little emotional about the magic of fate.
In addition, the RCD Espanyol players were speechless when they saw the millions of views and thousands of reposts on Weibo.
They used to know that Huaxia had a large population and that Wu Lei had countless fans in Huaxia, but they did not have a direct idea. Today, through such a major market in Huaxia's domestic Weibo platform, they had a clear understanding.
"Wu! I heard that you have tens of millions of fans in Huaxia. That's so enviable! "Naldo said with a yearning look.
Wu Lei had been learning Spanish during this time. Although he was not very fluent in conversation, simple communication was not a problem.
When he heard that, he smiled a little shyly and said, "Thank you!"
Xia Ruofei asked with a smile, "Lei, do you want me to help you tell him to pass you more often? In the future, you can introduce him to Huaxia to play football!"
The Huaxia Premier League had ushered in the golden era in recent years. The world's top foreign players were constantly pouring into the league and constantly breaking the record for players' salaries. An annual salary of tens of millions of euros was very high in the world of football. In the Huaxia Premier League, there were actually several top foreign players who had this level of salary.
Therefore, many players in the top leagues dreamed of going to Huaxia to make money.
The salaries of domestic players had also risen. Basically, national footballers could get an annual salary of tens of millions. Of course, these tens of millions were in Huaxia dollars.
Even so, this income was quite high and was beyond the reach of other industries.
With such a background, Wu Lei was able to resolutely come out of the country and work hard for RCD Espanyol, a team in the middle and lower reaches of La Liga. Even if it was rumored that his mother team, Shengang, and RCD Espanyol, shared his salary and his income did not decrease by much, it was already very rare to be able to take this step and give up the comfort zone of the domestic league.
Wu Lei quickly waved his hand and said, "No, no, no! You'd better let me go! I don't have that much power! Besides, Naldo is a center back. How can he pass the ball to me? "
Xia Ruofei could not help but laugh.
Naldo seemed to have heard Wu Lei mention his name. He turned his head and asked, "Boss, what did Wu just say about me?"
Xia Ruofei laughed and said, "It's nothing! Nothing! He praised your defensive skills! "
Naldo rubbed his shiny black bald head and grinned at Wu Lei. "Brother, you're right!" Thank you for the compliment! "
After this little episode, Wu Lei's nervousness was greatly relieved. He felt a little breathless just now, but now he felt much more at ease. Even if there were still a large number of Barça fans booing loudly outside the car window, he was no longer affected.
"Thank you, Brother Xia!" Wu Lei whispered.
Xia Ruofei was looking down at Weibo. He just waved his hand and did not say anything.
After a while, the team bus drove into the Camp Nou stadium. The players got off the bus one by one and walked toward the away team's locker room.
A lot of fans had already gathered there, but under the isolation of the security personnel, those who could appear in the away team's locker room were all RCD Espanyol fans wearing blue and white jerseys. The Barça fans could only be separated from the outside and keep booing.
Xia Ruofei and Wu Lei got off the bus one after another, and the fans immediately cheered.
Xia Ruofei saw that among the fans, there were six or seven who were obviously yellow-skinned and black-haired fans. They all wore jerseys No. 24 or No. 25. These two numbers were Wu Lei's and Xia Ruofei's.
Xia Ruofei knew that they must be Huaxia fans. As for whether they came all the way from Huaxia or were international students in Europe, he did not know.
Xia Ruofei turned back and gestured to Wu Lei. Wu Lei quickly found the Chinese fans, so the two of them waved in their direction.
The fans were even more excited. They shouted the names of Xia Ruofei and Wu Lei. Some people even took out the five-star red flag and waved it.
"Let's go! Let's go over and say hello! "Xia Ruofei said with a smile.
"Okay!" Wu Lei responded.
The two of them walked to the side of the Huaxia fans. When they saw them coming over, the cheers of the Huaxia fans became louder.
Xia Ruofei and Wu Lei came to the barrier. Xia Ruofei smiled and said, "Hello!"
"Boss Xia! Come on! "
"Wu Lei! Come on! "
"Boss Xia, can you give us an autograph?"
"And a group photo! A group photo! "
Not only the Chinese fans, but the RCD Espanyol fans around them also excitedly greeted Xia Ruofei and Wu Lei.
Seeing the popular Xia Ruofei and Wu Lei, the other RCD Espanyol players could not help but cast envious looks as they passed by.
Xia Ruofei and Wu Lei naturally would not refuse the requests of the fans. However, because the pre-match preparations were about to begin, the fans did not keep pestering the two players. After a few autographs, Xia Ruofei and Wu Lei took a few more photos with them. Then they waved to the fans and quickly followed the team in front of them into the tunnel.
Everyone arrived at the slightly shabby away team locker room at Camp Nou. After changing into their jerseys, the starting players were called by the assistant manager to go to the field to warm up before the game.
It was also Xia Ruofei's first time at Camp Nou. On this point, Wu Lei was the same as him.
The moment the two of them walked out of the players' tunnel with their teammates, they suddenly heard a series of loud boos. The intensity of the boos was many times louder than the boos of the roadside fans that they had heard through the glass of the car just now.
Wu Lei was also considered a veteran. After coming to La Liga, he had also participated in away games. However, when he suddenly heard such loud boos, he could not help but tremble in his heart.
Xia Ruofei, on the other hand, was unaffected. He looked around the stands without a change in expression. He was surprised to find that there were already many fans in the stands, especially the north stands where the diehard fans were. The flags were flying in the air, and it was densely packed with people. The boos were mainly coming from this stand.
It was still an hour or two before the game started!
Xia Ruofei smiled and said to Diego Lopez, who was next to him, "The Barça fans are early!"
Diego Lopez had experienced such a scene countless times, so he was also calm. He said with a smile, "It's like this every time the Catalan derby is played. Whether it's the players or the fans, everyone is like they're on steroids!"
Xia Ruofei shrugged and said, "Be careful. If the people from the Anti-Doping Committee hear this, they'll ask you to do a urine test after the game!"
Diego Lopez was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then he laughed.
Manager Ruby also came to the sidelines. He happened to see the scene of Xia Ruofei and Diego Lopez joking around. He could not help but sigh in his heart. Mr Xia doesn't look nervous at all. He's really Mr. Big Scene!
In contrast, Wu Lei's slightly nervous expression was also seen by Ruby. Of course, Ruby was not too worried. In the face of tens of thousands of Barça fans, it was normal to be nervous. As for Xia Ruofei's big heart, not everyone had it.
Every manager had their own way of motivating the players, and Ruby was no exception. After everyone returned to the locker room in a while, he would try to stimulate everyone's fighting spirit as much as possible. He would let everyone put down their nervous feelings and focus all their energy on the game.
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