When Zhou Yi reunited with his parents in Monaco, back in China, the media and fans alike were closely following the awards ceremony. With *France Football*'s Ballon d'Or and FIFA's World Player of the Year merged, UEFA's Best Player in Europe Award became an equally important award, comparable to the FIFA Ballon d'Or.

For a Chinese player to have a chance at winning this prestigious award, it wasn't an exaggeration to call Zhou Yi "the pride of China."

And this awards ceremony and draw was attended by more Chinese media than ever before.

Monaco has hosted many sporting events. Not to mention the annual Champions League draw and awards ceremony, the most famous is the Monaco Grand Prix, a Formula One race.

But neither of those sporting events brought as many Chinese media as this one.

Even for the annual Champions League draw, while Chinese media pay close attention, they wouldn't send so many people to report live. Some of them partner with European sports media, allowing them to obtain relevant reports and content through these partnerships. Others simply scrape information from others' websites.

This time, Chinese media unusually gathered in Monaco, all for Zhou Yi.

CCTV even sent a team specifically to film Zhou Yi.

This matter was quickly communicated and coordinated with Zhou Yi by CCTV after he was shortlisted in the final three.

Due to their previous good working relationship, communication went smoothly.

Apart from not being able to enter the venue to film, CCTV could follow the entire process, using a "third eye" to faithfully record Zhou Yi's participation in the awards ceremony.

Zhou Yi jokingly asked them, "Aren't you afraid that after such a big production, I won't win the award?"

They replied very seriously, "We have prepared two plans."

"Both plans can be used?"

"Yes, regardless of the outcome, the aim is to record."

So after waking up on the twenty-ninth, Zhou Yi received a call from the contact person of the CCTV filming team and began arranging the filming, starting with the initial makeup.

Although it was a documentary-style shoot, some simple makeup was still necessary, because there would be an interview with Zhou Yi before the official filming began.

After the interview, Zhou Yi had breakfast with his parents. Because he had already communicated the filming with his parents yesterday, they were not surprised. Zhou Jianliang was very active in front of the camera, while Li Cuiyun was slightly more reserved.

For the rest of the day, Zhou Yi ate at the hotel, then went to the hotel gym to do some physical training when he had free time... All of this was faithfully recorded by the camera lens.

During the training, the reporter realized that this was good material, so he asked, "You're here to receive an award, and you still don't forget to train?"

Zhou Yi nodded. "Physical training can be done anytime, anywhere."

During this time, Zhou Yi also accepted an exclusive interview with the UEFA official website. The questions asked by the reporter during the interview were all based on the premise that Zhou Yi would win the award. The CCTV reporter was very happy and quietly asked the UEFA official who accompanied the reporter to the interview, "Does this mean that Zhou Yi is confirmed to win?"

The UEFA official shook his head. "The final selection of the Best Player in Europe is different from FIFA's system. We use live voting, and no one knows the result until the very last moment." When he mentioned FIFA, there was a hint of disdain in his tone. It seemed that Blatter was not very popular...

"We have prepared similar interviews for all three candidates, and we will use whoever's interview wins in the end," the UEFA official explained.

The CCTV reporter then looked at Zhou Yi's words and actions during the interview, which were very calm and composed. He was clearly the person involved, but he was calmer than himself, an outsider... This kid has a big heart.

After the interview, Zhou Yi had lunch with his parents. During the meal, Dortmund's CEO Watzke and sporting director Zorc also came to accompany them. The CCTV crew filmed next to them, and they chatted casually as if no one else was there.

Zorc also praised Zhou Yi for his physical training in the morning. "I called Jurgen and told him about it, and he was very happy. But he also asked me to remind you to get some rest, since you still have to fly thousands of kilometers tonight..."

※※※

After lunch was a nap. After waking up from the nap, Zhou Yi went to the hotel pool for a swim, and as a result, he ran into three of his fans by the pool, who weren't from Germany or China, but were local Monaco residents—one of them was a waiter at the hotel, and the other two were his friends, obviously premeditated.

So Zhou Yi signed the Dortmund No. 23 jersey they handed him, and took a photo with the three of them while wearing swim trunks and bare-chested.

When Zhou Yi went down to swim, the CCTV crew took the opportunity to interview the three young men from Monaco, asking them why they, as Monaco residents, had become Zhou Yi's fans.

They told the CCTV reporter that they were originally Dortmund fans, and then were impressed by Zhou Yi's performance at Dortmund, so they naturally became Zhou Yi's fans. And when they learned that the crew was from China, one of the cheerful Monaco fans showed off his self-taught Chinese skills to the camera.

However, judging from the bewildered expressions on the faces of the crew members, the Monaco fan's Chinese proficiency was really not that good...

After speaking, the young man asked the crew what they thought of his Chinese level. The crew members, with the attitude of being kind and friendly to their Monaco friend, all gave a thumbs up and said, "Very good!"

The Monaco young man laughed and was very happy.

※※※

The Champions League group stage draw and the European Best Player awards ceremony will be held at the Grimaldi Forum at 5:45 in the evening.

Zhou Yi came out of the pool, took a shower in his room, changed into formal attire, and someone came to pick him up.

He and his parents will take a special car provided by the organizing committee to arrive at the venue and walk the red carpet there.

After that, the CCTV crew will no longer be able to follow in to film. They will stay in the media center and watch the live broadcast on the big screen TV to find out if Zhou Yi has won the award.

As for the Champions League group draw results?

They don't really care...

Tonight, for the Chinese media and fans, the biggest suspense, the only suspense is whether Zhou Yi can win in the live vote and become the Best Player in Europe last season!

※※※

Because Monaco observes daylight saving time in August, there is a six-hour time difference between Monaco and Beijing. When they walk the red carpet, it is 5:00 p.m., which is 11:00 p.m. Beijing time. And the draw ceremony starts at 5:45, which is 11:45 p.m. Beijing time. At the same time, the awards ceremony is after the draw ceremony, so by the time Zhou Yi takes the stage, it will be in the early hours of the morning in Beijing.

But there will still be many Chinese fans waiting in front of the TV and on the internet, just waiting to witness history.

When Zhou Yi in a suit appeared on the red carpet, the flashbulbs at the scene went off, and the Chinese reporters were particularly excited—not to mention the selection of the Best Player in Europe, this scene alone had already created history!

This is the first Chinese player in history to appear in this place!

Although Sun Pan helped Atletico Madrid win the Europa League in 2012, the Champions League was obviously more important in the Best Player selection that year, and as a goalkeeper, it was difficult to appear in the final results of various selections. So Sun Pan did not appear at the scene during the 2012 Champions League draw ceremony and awards ceremony. He was recovering from an injury in Madrid at the time.

In addition to the sound of reporters' shutters, there was also cheering from the fans.

Zhou Yi waved to the fans and the cameras with a smile on his face.

Not restrained, but not excited, just like his performance on the field.

He strolled through the red carpet like everyone else and entered the doors of the Grimaldi Forum.

The CCTV reporter who was broadcasting live was a little excited. "Twenty-one seconds! The time it took for Zhou Yi to get out of the car, walk the red carpet, and enter the Grimaldi Forum was twenty-one seconds! This is a history-making twenty-one seconds! Zhou Yi fully demonstrated his demeanor in these twenty-one seconds, calm and composed! I want to remind everyone that this is a young man of only twenty-two years old! Kaka was twenty-five years old when he won the first Ballon d'Or of his life, Cristiano Ronaldo was twenty-three years old when he won the first Ballon d'Or of his life, and Messi was twenty-two years old when he won the first Ballon d'Or of his life! For Zhou Yi, he still has a long way to go. There are countless possibilities in his career... Zhou Yi, the future is limitless!"