Chapter 1

The Roma fans in the Olympic Stadium held up their signs high.

"Totti, no party!"

They firmly believed that the great Roma wolf king would change the course of the match.

Unfortunately.

Totti was old.

When he once again received the ball in the flank area, preparing to reorganize the attack.

Leverkusen's number 10 suddenly appeared, blocking his pass.

"A clash between two number 10s!"

"Totti's ability to get rid of pressure on the spot is still top-notch... alas!"

Totti protected the ball with his body, and lightly flicked the ball with his heel!

Trying to get rid of the pressure from Leverkusen's number 10.

His speed was far inferior to what it once was.

Li Kang leaned back, took a step with his left leg, and quickly poked the ball away with the bottom of his foot!

Totti stepped on air, staggering, and fell to the ground, pressing down on the Chinese player!

The roar of the Olympic Stadium gradually subsided.

Roma fans seemed unwilling to believe what they were seeing.

"Oh! Possession has returned to Leverkusen!"

"Li Kang's interception was still not a foul!"

"The ball is now at Son Heung-min's feet!"

"Leverkusen's counterattack!"

-[Totti is too weak, right?]

-[He's old, his body can't keep up with his mind. His ball control and dribbling were strong when he was young! Now he can only bully the weak.]

-[It's not entirely the reason. Apart from those midfielders from Real Madrid, Juventus, Bayern, and Chelsea, everyone else has a bit of a hard time playing against Li Kang!]

-[Hard time with what? Didn't you see that 39-year-old Totti can still compete physically with 17-year-old Li Kang?]

.....

Leverkusen's counterattack opportunity was cut off by Rüdiger.

The ball bounced out of bounds.

Totti stood up and pulled Li Kang up.

He patted the Chinese genius on the back of the head in a friendly manner.

The Roma wolf king has always been protective of young players, and in his career, he has only ever hit Balotelli, when he was with Inter Milan.

He looked at Leverkusen's number 10.

His thoughts were complicated for a moment.

....

On the sidelines.

Garcia hesitated for a moment and made a downward pressing gesture towards the Roma defenders.

Roma had to control the number of attackers to prevent Leverkusen's counterattack.

This was only the first round of the group stage.

On the other side.

Dino said in surprise, "Boss, did you see that? Li Kang just used the bottom of his foot to control the ball?"

The old man Toppmöller supported his chin and pondered, "He's gotten rid of another bad habit from La Masia's youth training! He no longer simply likes to touch the ball with the instep and arch of his foot!"

Brandt on the bench twitched his lips: How the hell can you forcefully associate this with La Masia?

........

The game time passed minute by minute.

Leverkusen's players were consuming a lot of energy on the defensive end.

Li Kang now understood the benefits of "green tangerine-flavored chewing gum."

The sweet taste of green tangerine echoed in his throat from time to time.

This allowed him to always maintain a high level of concentration.

It seemed that the candy was using a way to deceive the brain to maintain his mental state.

The cheers of the Olympic Stadium gradually subsided.

Beep! Beep beep~

When the referee blew the whistle to end the game.

Old man Toppmöller and Dino rushed onto the field excitedly!

"Congratulations to Leverkusen! They have won their first victory in this season's Champions League group stage!"

"The Chinese youngster Li Kang, with one goal and one assist in this game, helped the team defeat Roma 2-0!"

"The official UEFA player ratings are also out! As expected, Li Kang was named MVP of this game!"

Dragon Country live broadcast room.

Colorful barrages of comments flooded the screen.

-[What does this prove? It proves that we Dragon Country people can also play football well, but we lack a good environment and soil!]

-[I estimate that before the group stage is over, Li Kang's number of goals and assists in the Champions League will surpass Park Ji-sung of Manchester United back then!]

-[Don't jinx it, the second round of the group stage is at the Nou Camp against Barca! It's not that easy, Li Kang is only 17 years old, as long as he doesn't get injured and maintains his form, he will break the record for Asian players in the Champions League sooner or later.]

-[I still remember that year in the Champions League when Barca beat Leverkusen 7-1, and the away fans were crying!]

.......

The sweetness that Li Kang kept savoring disappeared as the game ended.

He couldn't help but yawn.

Surrounded by his teammates.

He was staggering, ready to fall asleep at any moment.

The coaching staff and teammates didn't notice this at all.

Reporters and media also broke through the security personnel's obstruction and rushed to the field, holding microphones to the Leverkusen coach!

"Mr. Toppmöller! I am Segil, a reporter from *Marca*. What do you think about the next round of the group stage at the Nou Camp?"

"Mr. Toppmöller, what kind of magic did you use to turn a discarded player from Barca into the most watched genius in this season's Champions League?"

*Marca*?

Why didn't this toilet paper newspaper focus on the Champions League games of the Spanish teams and came to Rome?

Old man Toppmöller knew he couldn't hide it anymore, he hesitated and said, "I didn't do anything, Li had the ability to control the game when he was in the Leverkusen youth team..."

He paused.

He said in a solemn tone, "No matter who the opponent is! Nothing can stop Leverkusen's promotion path this year!"

........

Totti loudly encouraged his frustrated Roma teammates.

Pjanic got up and patted the grass clippings off his buttocks.

He and Li Kang had agreed to exchange jerseys before the game.

Although he was knocked down by the Chinese kid three or four times in this game.

But it won't affect his mood after the game.

"Li!"

Pjanic approached the Leverkusen crowd, took off his jersey, revealing a whole piece of his big belly.

Li Kang smiled.

Reporters and media raised their cameras, leaving behind the moment when the two midfield geniuses exchanged jerseys.

"Jerry, this is a pity, isn't it? I'd rather take a picture of Li Kang and Totti exchanging jerseys!"

"Tom, Totti's era is over! The future of European football belongs to these two styles of midfielders!"

..........

The Leverkusen players returned to the hotel where they were staying.

Li Kang lay on the bed and fell asleep as soon as he closed his eyes.

The system prompt echoed in his mind...

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for completing the mission...]

Son Heung-min tucked him in.

Then he quickly changed his clothes, wearing a baseball cap, sunglasses, and a mask.

Brandt asked excitedly, "Where are you going? Take me with you! I heard that the pizza in Rome and Naples is the best! And the mozzarella cheese snacks..."

Bender threw him a game console and said seriously, "Play games in the room, we're not going to a place for kids to play!"

Brandt was about to refute.

Kramer smiled and said, "Send me a message and tell me what you want to eat! I'll help you pack it back!"

Having said that.

The three of them sneaked out of the hotel room.

The destination... was Via Marco in Rome!

.......

On the other side.

Barca visited the cold Berezina River.

With a group of substitutes, they easily defeated BATE Borisov 3-0.

Without Messi.

Without Iniesta.

Coach Enrique was surrounded by microphones from various media.

He didn't seem to enjoy the joy of this victory very much, and said calmly:

"Leverkusen defeated Roma? I didn't care about that duel! I will take the time to watch the video of the game after the game."

"Yes, Barca will send out their full squad in the next round against Leverkusen!"

"Li Kang! I have watched his game videos. He is a very good young player. If he is willing to return to Barca, he will become Rakitic's rotation substitute!"

"You know, Barca has the pressure of multiple competitions every season..."