On September 12, Qin Xiong left home neatly dressed with his travel bag on his back. He took a car to the Melwood Training Ground to prepare to go to Germany with the team today. Liverpool would challenge Borussia Dortmund in the first game of the Champions League group stage.
When he drove to the Melwood Training Ground, he was surrounded by a large number of reporters.
He rolled down the window to let the reporters make way, but the reporters kept taking photos and asking questions.
"There is news that you may be one of the top star players suspected of taking performance-enhancing drugs. Do you want to respond to this?"
"You have been in good shape all these years. Is this related to the use of performance-enhancing drugs?"
.....
Qin Xiong was so angry that he laughed.
He smiled at the reporters outside the window and said, "You guys actually took the news from The Sun seriously? I don't believe it anyway. Don't block my way here. You guys really have nothing better to do. "
The security guards of the Melwood Training Ground came out to maintain order and let Qin Xiong's car drive into the training ground.
In fact, The Sun revealed that a Premier League player had tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs and other news.
According to The Sun, the player had completed a transfer between Premier League clubs for a transfer fee of several million pounds this summer. However, his new club had not revealed the results of his latest drug test. The star player's name would be revealed on a program on Channel 4 on Thursday night.
According to the staff of the program, in fact, it was not only the top star of the Premier League, but also dozens of football players who were found to have problems in drug tests for cocaine and marijuana. However, the Football Association and the clubs of these players blocked the news and did not want their names to be exposed.
In an investigation document, three former England national footballers and one former Scotland national footballer were found to have performance-enhancing drugs in their urine during a drug test, and all four of them were eventually condemned and punished.
Because the content of the disclosed information expanded the scope of the suspects to the point that Qin Xiong was naturally affected.
First of all, he was a foreigner. Second, he was the focus of the British media.
If something happened to him, the news might become the top three news in the world that day!
From another point of view, many people actually hoped that something would happen to Qin Xiong!
But Qin Xiong had a clear conscience, so he didn't care about the suspicions of the outside world.
After he arrived at the Melwood Training Ground, he received a call from Freddy.
"Do you need to act tough in front of the media?"
"There's no need for that. They won't be stupid enough to accuse me by name. They'll only make insinuations and avoid legal responsibility. They're all old foxes and won't make such a low-level mistake. They'll use this incident to create hype and direct it to me. Of course, it'll help their newspaper sales.
"Alright, then don't think too much about it. Focus on your work."
"Of course, I'm looking forward to tomorrow night's match."
"Hehe, why?"
"Because our opponent is Dortmund."
"Okay, good luck. I'll be cheering for you in front of the TV tomorrow."
"Thank you. Good luck."
Qin Xiong did not pay attention to the doping controversy. He embarked on the journey to Germany with the team.
The resurgent Dortmund in Germany returned to the top of the Bundesliga after nine years last season and overturned the rule of Bayern Munich. The Dortmund youth team led by Klopp caused a youth storm in the European football world.
Therefore, the outside world was also looking forward to Dortmund's performance in the European competition.
The day before the match, Klopp humbly said at the pre-match press conference, "Liverpool is one of the strongest teams in European football. Dortmund is still very young. We need to re-accumulate experience in the Champions League to achieve greater progress. The match against Liverpool is a good learning opportunity. We'll strive to break out of the group stage."
Comain's evaluation of Dortmund was full of praise.
"It's very rare to be able to rely on young players to achieve success. I have a deep understanding of this. Klopp's success is worthy of respect. We'll play a wonderful match at the Westfalenstadion."
On September 14, the defending champion Liverpool's new Champions League campaign officially began. They visited the Westfalenstadion for their first match.
Before the match, Comain and the Dortmund manager, Klopp, chatted happily on the sidelines.
After the players of the two teams walked into the stadium, the magnificent cheers from the Dortmund fans at the Westfalenstadion really surprised the Liverpool players.
It was as if they had walked into another Anfield.
But the cheers were for their opponents. The pressure would be on the Red Army's side.
"Welcome to the Westfalenstadion. The new UEFA Champions League group stage officially begins today!
The defending champion Liverpool was in the same group as Olympiacos, Marseille, Dortmund, and Olympiacos. On the first day of the match, Dortmund played Liverpool on the same field at home.
Dortmund's draw was very bad. They met Liverpool in the group stage. In the eyes of most people, this meant that Liverpool would lock in a place to advance.
The remaining place would be among the other three teams.
But this game still gave the outside world enough anticipation.
People wanted to see how Dortmund, led by Klopp, would perform in the Champions League.
They overturned Bayern Munich's rule in the Bundesliga. But they returned to the Champions League after seven years. In addition, the current team's players had no Champions League experience. It was really unknown whether Dortmund could perform satisfactorily on this more intense and difficult battlefield.
Liverpool had a strong team and won the Champions League for two years in a row. Although the captain, Gerard, could not play today because of an injury, Liverpool was still the side that was overwhelmingly favored.
Let's take a look at the starting lineup of both sides.
Dortmund starting lineup: 4231.
Goalkeeper: Weidenfeller.
Defenders: Piszczek, Subotić, Hummels, Schmeerzer.
Midfielders: Götze, Kehl, Kagawa, Bender, Grosskreutz.
Striker: Lewandowski.
Liverpool starting lineup: 4312.
Goalkeeper: Reyna.
Defenders: Johnson, Skrtel, Thiago Silva, Baines.
Midfielders: Mascherano, Alonso, Qin Xiong, Lucas.
Strikers: Suárez, Raúl.
Liverpool's biggest change today is to move Qin Xiong's position back. The arrowheads in the front line are Suárez and Raúl. Let's see if Comain's change will surprise us. "
Although Liverpool's starting lineup was Qin Xiong as the attacking midfielder, in fact, Liverpool still played three strikers.
It was just that Qin Xiong was lying in ambush behind the two strikers.
This was another attempt by Koeman. After the draw with Stoke City, he discovered that Qin Xiong was at the forefront of the frontline, and it was difficult for him to get a chance in the dense defensive zone.
He moved Qin Xiong's position back.
Let's see how it works in the Champions League today.
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