Chapter 1 Match Day

On the day of the match, Zhou Yi woke up from his dream, or rather, logged out of the world of FIFOL3. Although he felt he had almost zero chance of playing, he still played many games against Borussia Mönchengladbach in the virtual world.

The system also simulated the team's current state, and in the player condition column, he could see that many players were not in good shape, especially Barrios.

As the team's starting striker, Barrios's condition was black, which represented the worst possible state.

Poor condition wouldn't reduce a player's stats, only injuries or prolonged abnormal training would, but poor condition would cause the virtual player to perform poorly in the game. A ball that could have been stopped might be kicked ten meters away, and a shot that could have easily been pushed into an empty net might be pushed out of bounds...

In the virtual world, Zhou Yi could freely arrange which players played and which didn't, just like a coach. If he couldn't do that, Zhou Yi probably wouldn't be able to play many games.

When he saw Barrios's condition was so poor, he habitually took him out of the starting lineup.

But at that moment, Barrios's face appeared in his mind, his expression under heavy pressure, somewhat frustrated and unwilling.

Perhaps it was a moment of weakness, but Zhou Yi put the out-of-form Barrios back into the starting lineup.

Then he kept the pace of one game per virtual day in the virtual world, playing eight games against Borussia Mönchengladbach.

The players' poor condition really had a big impact on the team's performance. In those eight games, Borussia Dortmund only won two, drew two, and lost... four!

Although Borussia Mönchengladbach was a dominant force in German football in the 1970s, winning five league titles and reaching the UEFA Cup final four times, winning twice, the club has become a yo-yo club due to limited financial resources. They have been relegated and promoted between the first and second divisions. They only returned to the Bundesliga two seasons ago.

This team isn't very strong. In theory, they shouldn't be in the same league as Borussia Dortmund. But judging from the current league standings of the two teams, that's not the case...

After seven rounds of the league, Borussia Mönchengladbach has two wins, one draw, and four losses, ranking twelfth. Actually, this result isn't very good, but it matches the impression people have of Borussia Mönchengladbach's consistent performance.

But Borussia Dortmund has fallen very badly—they have one win, three draws, and three losses, with only six points, ranking fifteenth...

In terms of league ranking, Borussia Mönchengladbach is two places higher than Borussia Dortmund.

Although the team's results weren't satisfactory in the simulated games, Zhou Yi helped Barrios score a goal. Barrios hadn't scored a goal in the first seven games, and Zhou Yi had to substitute him early every time, hoping to win the game. In the eighth game, Zhou Yi assisted Barrios, and this time, Barrios didn't waste the opportunity and scored. And Borussia Dortmund won their second victory against Borussia Mönchengladbach thanks to Barrios's goal...

With the abilities of Borussia Dortmund's players, it was so difficult to play against Borussia Mönchengladbach, Zhou Yi was also speechless. He had seen the data of both teams' players, and just looking at the numbers, Borussia Dortmund was much better than Borussia Mönchengladbach.

But football matches aren't simple number games. It's not like a team with more capable players will definitely win. After all, football is a game where people combine to compete against another group of people. The human factor is very important. People aren't machines, and all kinds of situations can arise, and these situations may ultimately affect the outcome of the game...

Zhou Yi lay in bed and recalled the disastrous eight games, then turned over and got up.

When he went to the bathroom to wash up, he found Barrios brushing his teeth. Since someone was inside, Zhou Yi should have turned around and left, waiting for Barrios to finish before going in. But when Zhou Yi saw Barrios's vacant eyes, his heavy heart, and the mechanical repetition of his brushing motions, Barrios's pressured expression from yesterday reappeared in his mind.

For himself right now, not even getting to play in a game, he was very eager to participate in the game. Being able to play was as happy as winning the lottery for him. But he could also see that Barrios wasn't looking forward to the game very much. He even had a little fear of the game...

Although in a real game, Zhou Yi couldn't personally assist Barrios like he did in the virtual game, helping him break his goal drought, at least he could comfort and encourage Barrios with words, right?

So he said to Barrios, "Lucas."

Barrios mechanically turned his neck and looked at Zhou Yi.

"I had a dream last night, a dream about today's game." Zhou Yi tried to speak slowly and clearly, so that Barrios could understand.

Barrios continued to look at Zhou Yi, waiting for him to continue.

"I dreamed that we won the game away, and... the winning goal was scored by you!" Zhou Yi said very seriously, trying to keep a teasing expression off his face, otherwise Barrios might misunderstand that he was using the "goal drought" to make fun of him.

Sure enough, after staring at Zhou Yi's face for a few seconds, Barrios smiled at Zhou Yi and said, "Thank you, Zhou Yi. If I really can score a goal, I will hug you." He said in a joking tone.

He could feel from Zhou Yi's expression and eyes that Zhou Yi really wanted to comfort him, so he thanked Zhou Yi.

But he didn't take Zhou Yi's comfort to heart.

These words were just to make him happy. He didn't think he could score a goal today...

He didn't even want to think about scoring goals now, because the more he thought about it, the more pressure he felt, and that might make things even worse.

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Lunch was eaten later than usual, and not too much could be eaten either. The coaching staff had requirements in this regard. Eating too much before the game would cause more blood to flow to the digestive system, rather than the brain and limbs, which would make the players sleepy in the following game, especially in the afternoon game, and their physical functions would decline.

So you can't eat too much before the game, you have to maintain a sense of hunger.

Then someone asked, but if the players aren't full, they won't have the strength to play.

The coaching staff will naturally consider this issue. During halftime of a game, the coach doesn't actually have much time to arrange tactics. Most of the time, the players are eating to replenish energy. However, they don't eat too much during halftime. They mainly eat foods that can quickly replenish energy and sugar. Bananas are one of the most popular foods in professional competitive sports, because bananas can quickly replenish energy and also create a feeling of fullness, so that players won't eat too much.

After the game, a lot of energy also needs to be replenished, so the coaching staff will require the players to eat as soon as possible after the game, instead of rushing home.

After lunch, all the players took a nap under the supervision of the coaching staff. When they woke up from their nap, it was already three o'clock in the afternoon. After a simple wash and recovery, Zhou Yi and his teammates boarded the bus and headed to the venue for this game, Borussia Mönchengladbach's home stadium, Borussia-Park.

The team's bus wasn't provided by the home team, but was their own club's dedicated bus. It was driven from Dortmund by the club's full-time bus driver.

Whether it's a domestic game or an international game, as long as it's an away game, the team's bus will depart in advance, travel through the developed highway network, and head to its destination, where it will complete the task of picking up and dropping off players to the game.

Zhou Yi sat by the window. Before long, he saw the white stadium roof behind a dense forest.

A stadium is a landmark building in any city, especially in Europe, where the population is sparse, the stadium is a behemoth on the horizon.

Borussia-Park is such a behemoth. In fact, Borussia Mönchengladbach's previous home stadium, Bökelbergstadion, was much smaller, with a maximum capacity of only 34,500 people. That stadium was obviously no longer able to meet the requirements of Borussia Mönchengladbach, and building a new stadium with a larger capacity was also a good thing for the club's future finances—because the club could earn more matchday revenue by selling more tickets on matchdays.

The Bundesliga isn't like Serie A, the attendance rate is very high. As long as the stadium is big enough, it can always be filled.

Borussia Mönchengladbach's current home stadium, Borussia-Park, can accommodate up to 54,000 spectators and covers an area of 209,000 square meters, which is indeed much larger than the previous Bökelbergstadion.

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The match between Borussia Mönchengladbach and Borussia Dortmund was at 6:30 p.m. local time, which was 12:30 a.m. Beijing time the next day in China.

This wasn't a very good time to watch the game, but many fans were still waiting in front of the TV. Because Zhou Yi was on the roster for this game!

Zhou Yi's father, Zhou Jianliang, and mother, Li Cuiyun, also sat in front of the TV half an hour early. Although the game was still half an hour away from starting, the TV station's live broadcast had already begun. Guests in the rear studio were commenting on the starting lineups of both sides—the starting lineups had already been released, and Zhou Yi was indeed not in it. He was a substitute.

While the rear guests were discussing, the screen kept switching to Borussia-Park in front.

The players had already started warming up on the field.

"Hey, son!" Zhou Jianliang suddenly pointed at the TV screen and shouted excitedly.

When Li Cuiyun looked up, she didn't see anything. "Where?"

"The picture flashed by, you weren't paying attention..." Zhou Jianliang complained.

"The game hasn't started yet, what's so interesting to watch..."

"Once the game starts, you won't be able to see our son even more. He's a substitute, he won't show up most of the time." Zhou Jianliang took the opportunity to popularize some relevant knowledge about football to his wife. "If you want to see our son more, it's only now, because he has to warm up, and the TV broadcast will give some shots..."

However, Li Cuiyun understood her husband's words from another angle: "Doesn't that mean we can turn off the TV and go to sleep once the game starts?"

"How is that possible! Didn't I say that our son still has a chance to play!" Zhou Jianliang quickly waved his hand.

"So we have to sit here and wait for an appearance that we don't know when it will happen?" Li Cuiyun yawned. It was already past twelve o'clock, and she had rarely stayed up so late, and she couldn't hold on any longer.

"Of course, anyway, it's National Day now, and we don't have to go to work tomorrow, so it doesn't matter if we go to bed a little later, we can just sleep in tomorrow!" Zhou Jianliang had already planned everything.

Li Cuiyun heard this and got up.

"Hey, what are you doing? Didn't I tell you to watch carefully?" Zhou Jianliang asked.

"Making a cup of tea, otherwise how can we get through this dry spell?" Li Cuiyun rolled her eyes at her husband.

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ps, tomorrow will be two updates a day, and the Spring Festival is coming soon. I will try my best to ensure two updates a day during the Spring Festival, but if I really can't guarantee it, I hope everyone will forgive me. After all, it's the New Year, and everyone has a lot of things to do. If it wasn't really impossible, I definitely wouldn't be willing to only update once a day.

In short, I wish you all a happy Spring Festival in advance!