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"Guys, did you see that? Our draw doesn't seem bad at all!"
"It's definitely a great draw, the group stage should be stable."
"Lance, it's probably thanks to your luck."
"Me?"
In the Atlético Madrid training base cafeteria, Lance pointed at his nose and laughed.
"No, no, that's impossible."
If it were Lance's luck, they would definitely be drawn into a Group of Death.
Last season, Bayer Leverkusen's arduous struggle to emerge from their Group of Death was still fresh in everyone's minds.
Facing the encirclement of Real Madrid, Roma, and Liverpool, they bravely broke through the blockade and secured first place in the group.
The draw for the 2015-2016 Champions League group stage was already out.
Pulling out his phone to check the news, Champions League news was everywhere, covering everything.
"Manchester City Faces Group of Death, Lance Crowned European Player of the Year"
"Atlético Madrid and Manchester United Get 'Great Draw', Real Madrid PKs PSG"
"Lance Leads Last Season's Champions League Best XI! Atlético Madrid Secures Round of 16 Spot Early!"
"AS reported, at 6 PM Central European Time on August 27, 2015, the draw ceremony for the 2015-2016 Champions League group stage and the Player of the Year awards ceremony were held in Monaco. Lance beat Messi and Suárez to win last season's European Player of the Year award! He was also selected for the 14/15 Champions League Best XI."
"The draw results: the Galácticos Real Madrid and PSG are in Group A; defending champions Juventus, Premier League runners-up Manchester City, Europa League champions Sevilla, and Bundesliga powerhouse Mönchengladbach are in Group D, which is the Group of Death. In Group F, Arsenal once again faces their nemesis Bayern Munich; Manchester United in Group B, Atlético Madrid in Group C, Barcelona in Group E, and Chelsea in Group G all have no strong opponents and are considered great draws."
"Due to controversial incidents involving Bayer Leverkusen last season, core players like Lance accumulated yellow cards and missed the final due to suspension. After multiple hearings and discussions by UEFA, a new yellow card reset rule will be implemented starting from the 2015-2016 season, where accumulated yellow cards before the semi-finals will be cleared. This hopes to protect player interests and not affect the quality of the semi-finals and finals. Attached below are the 15/16 Champions League group stage draw results: Group A... Group B... Group C: Benfica, Atlético Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Astana..."
Seeing this draw, Lance just wanted to say one thing: "Damn it!"
Was UEFA rigging it?
The very first match would be against his old club, Bayer Leverkusen...
"Lance, congratulations on winning European Player of the Year."
"Thank you, Sami. It's a shame we were drawn together."
After the training day ended, Lance received a call from his former head coach, Sami Hyypiä.
Two consecutive seasons of good results allowed Sascha Lewandowski and Sami Hyypiä to remain firmly in their positions as Bayer Leverkusen's head coaches.
Logically speaking, these two should have been sacked in the summer of 2014.
The prediction was that German native young head coach Roger Schmidt would take over and coach Bayer Leverkusen for three years.
Lance's appearance had already created a butterfly effect, gradually influencing the landscape of European football.
This influence was growing larger and becoming increasingly uncontrollable.
"How's the team recently?"
"You know, too many players left, so the results are a bit up and down, hahaha, but still under control. Lance, when we meet, be careful, we might pull off an upset."
"Then I'm really looking forward to it."
Bayer Leverkusen's supermarket opened for business, Lance, Firmino, Son Heung-min, De Bruyne, Van Dijk, Maguire, Kimmich... a whole group of players all left.
Former striker Kießling was reinstated, and the club also used the budget gained from their "overnight wealth" to bring in some new players.
But without Lance, De Bruyne, and others, Bayer Leverkusen had long lost its soul.
In the first four games of the season, they had two wins and two losses, finally losing to Bayern Munich.
The Southern King of the Bundesliga seemed poised to dominate the league again.
Lance couldn't help but sigh when he read the news recently.
"Forget it, I just need to play well myself. After all, Bayer Leverkusen actively requested the transfer, so I've been more than fair to them."
Thinking of this, Lance couldn't help but send a message to De Bruyne at Manchester City.
[Congratulations on entering the Group of Death. If we don't meet in the knockout stage, I will carry your last wish to win the championship]
De Bruyne's reply was also very simple:
[Fuck off! See you in the knockout stage!]
Unfortunately, Son Heung-min wasn't so lucky.
Tottenham didn't get to play in the Champions League, so he wouldn't be seen for a while.
"Lance, who are you messaging? Is it your German girlfriend?"
After getting familiar with Griezmann, he gradually started joking with Lance.
"It must be. I accidentally saw a picture of her, no wonder Lance is so smitten with her."
"Get lost!"
Lance irritably wanted to kick Torres.
Both of them were introverts; were they really this uninhibited in private?
"By the way, what about playing Athletic Bilbao this week? Will the head coach let us play?"
"I don't know. After all, the Champions League is next midweek, so there might be rotations."
"Lance, you have the best relationship with the head coach right now, can you sound him out for us?"
"No need, rotations are definitely happening."
"Ah?"
Athletic Bilbao, in La Liga, is a famous 'pure-blood' team, only recruiting players from the Basque region.
The Basque region has a fierce local culture, which also makes Athletic Bilbao's fighting spirit very strong.
Even Real Madrid and Barcelona have a tough time playing them, so it will definitely be a hard battle for Atlético Madrid.
All the main players hoped to start, but facing the Champions League group stage, playing two matches in a week was too much pressure.
Everyone was also quite troubled.
Before the third round of La Liga on the weekend, Simeone indeed asked everyone to stay.
"The squad list for the weekend league match has been sent to everyone's email, and the starting lineup has actually been set. There's an announcement in the WhatsApp group. Everyone can check it themselves. If anyone has questions about the lineup, you can ask now. Otherwise, once I leave the changing room, no questions will be allowed."
"Head coach!! I want to play both matches in full!"
"Me too, head coach!!"
Atlético Madrid's main squad stood up one after another, the substitute players' expressions also subtly changed.
They had a chance to play, but if the main players took their spots, they would be back on the bench.
"Stop! I've changed my mind. From now on, no questions are allowed."
"What?"
The entire Atlético Madrid team was stunned.
How could Simeone be so unreasonable?
However, the head coach was authoritative enough that they had nothing to say.
Only Saúl, who had a more direct personality, wasn't afraid of Simeone. Relying on his youth academy background and Simeone's personal favour in promoting him, he had always been outspoken.
"Why is only Lance starting?"
Yes, this was also a question that everyone found quite strange.
The starting lineup for the weekend match against Athletic Bilbao was almost entirely made up of substitute rotations, with only goalkeeper Oblak and attacking midfielder Lance starting.
Logically, for such an important match, at least half of the main players should have been arranged.
Were they abandoning the league for the Champions League?
Simeone's answer was also very simple:
"Because he can lead the team to victory. Dismissed."
"Head coach! Head coach!!"
The changing room erupted, and Simeone left without looking back.
Lance realised he had become the target of all criticism.
It's not about scarcity, but about unfairness.
No matter how skilled or good Lance's performance was, facing this situation would inevitably make his teammates confused.
Did the coaching staff really believe that Lance alone could take down Athletic Bilbao?
"Damn Simeone, he's not taking responsibility himself and making me bear all the pressure alone?"
Since things had come to this, Lance could only tough it out.
The system was his biggest backing.
"Brothers, I said it. These three points for this match are on me."
[You've gained new insights into "Hyuga Kojiro"!]
[Integration value +15%]
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What's going on, this works too?