Fox in the Penalty Area

When Li Qingqing opened her eyes, there was no light in the bedroom with the curtains closed.

She waited a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness in the room.

Then she realized that there was no one around her. . .

But there was a faint voice coming from downstairs outside the bedroom.

She looked back to see the bedroom door was open.

So she lifted the quilt, didn't change clothes, got out of bed in simple pajamas, walked out of the bedroom, and went downstairs through the corridor.

The originally faintly audible voice became more and more clear:

"... In the last UEFA Champions League semi-final that ended last night, the King of Madrid at home lost 1:2 in the first leg, and returned home to defeat the Madrid Pirates 4:2, resulting in a 5:4 aggregate score. The score advanced to the final... The game was very ups and downs. It was not until the 87th minute that the King of Madrid was tied with the Pirates by Celados and the game was dragged into overtime..."

When Li Qingqing walked to the stairs, she saw that the living room was empty, but the TV was on, playing the morning sports news.

The news is the replay of the goal that Serrados scored against the Pirates yesterday.

Meli, after attracting five Madrid players in the penalty area, unexpectedly passed the football to the Cerrados, which really surprised all the pirates.

Only Hou Lai guessed a little bit, or it was the intuition of a top shooter in front of the goal that made him realize that Meli might pass the ball.

But he was still a little slower.

In the replay screen, Li Qingqing saw Hu Lai fell to the ground, the football rolled past him, and then was pushed into the goal by Serrados...

"Ahhhhhh! Eighty-seventh minute! Serrados!! He received an assist from Melly and helped the Kings equalize the total score again! When the game was about to end with a few minutes left, the Kings Narrowly escaped, although the game is not over...but anyway, they are still in the semi-finals!"

Here, the news uses the original sound of the game commentary at that time.

Listening to this passionate roar of Sanchez, it seems that people can return to the moment of last night.

Li Qingqing remembered the live TV broadcast he watched at home.

When Celados scored, she sat on the couch motionless like a statue.

Because she realized that this ball can be regarded as a devastating blow to the Madrid Pirates.

It was equalized just a few minutes before the end of the game. There are not many players in this world who can keep their faces and hearts beating.

The next 30 minutes of extra time also proved this point.

The Madrid Pirates gave up without even trying to counter-attack many times, they were only thinking about dragging the game to a penalty shootout.

This cannot be blamed on the players on the field. On the one hand, morale has been hit hard, and on the other hand, their physical fitness is close to exhaustion, and they are powerless.

Because of the high morale of the Kings players, they can temporarily ignore the physical constraints.

"In extra time, the young midfielder Gomez Buitrago, who came off the bench, scored the winning goal for the Kings, finally eliminated the rivals Pirates in the same city, and reached the Champions League final in London..."

When Buitrago scored, several Pirates players lay down on the turf, covering their faces with their hands, looking very frustrated and painful, and seemed to have lost all their strength.

At this time, there are only four minutes left before the end of overtime.

With such a huge morale gap, it is almost impossible for the Madrid Pirates to do anything.

When the final whistle sounded, King Madrid's substitute players rushed onto the pitch, embraced and celebrated with their teammates, and the entire Crown Stadium was filled with deafening cheers.

This season, the king was really aggrieved in front of his rivals in the same city. The league was double-killed by home and away, and this time he finally won the Champions League!

"Hey, Qingqing, are you up?"

Just when Li Qingqing was staring at the TV screen in a daze, Hu Lai's surprised voice sounded in his ear.

She turned her head to follow the reputation, and saw Hu Lai in an apron standing in the direction of the restaurant.

"No, I just woke up and found that you were not there. I came down to check when there was another sound in the living room... You got up so early?" Li Qingqing smiled at Hu Lai.

"Well, I can't sleep anyway, so I just got up. I'm making breakfast, not so fast. Do you want to continue to sleep?"

Li Qingqing shook her head: "I'm already up, and I can't sleep anymore. I'm going to wash up."

"Okay, I'll call you when breakfast is ready." Hu Lai waved the shovel in his hand, turned around and walked towards the kitchen.

Li Qingqing looked at his background and almost had the urge to stop him again. But her mouth was all open, but she didn't say anything in the end. After watching Hu Lai go to the kitchen, she also walked back upstairs to the bedroom.

The TV in the living room is still on, and the morning news is still discussing yesterday's Champions League semi-final.

But Li Qingqing didn't take another look.

※※※

When Li Qingqing and Hu Lai were sitting opposite each other at the dining table, ready to have breakfast, the TV in the living room was still playing the news.

But it has nothing to do with last night's Champions League semi-final.

Li Qingqing looked at Hu Lai's simple breakfast - she used to do it because Hu Lai really didn't know how to cook.

She smiled and asked, "Why are you thinking about making breakfast today?"

Hu Lai pouted: "If you want to do it, do it. Why, it's weird?"

"It's not very strange." Li Qingqing covered her mouth and smiled, "It's just that you're making breakfast for me for the first time since we've been together."

Hu Lai coughed twice in embarrassment.

Seeing this, Li Qingqing comforted her in a low voice:

"Actually, you can have a clear conscience... Didn't you see how excited Melly was after yesterday's game? You can make him try his best and then rely on a little luck to beat you. It's already amazing. That's Melly, Everyone recognized as a superstar of tomorrow..."

Hu Lai's behavior today is indeed a bit abnormal, like when his wife comes home from get off work and suddenly finds that her husband has not only cleaned up the house, but also cooked a table of delicious meals. The wife's first reaction must be "Is he sorry for me"...

Of course, Li Qingqing would not think that Hu Lai was sorry for herself. She knew why Hu Lai was so abnormal, because he lost yesterday's game.

She was afraid that Hu Lai would bear some psychological burden.

What she said was not all words of comfort to Hu Lai, but her sincere words.

In her opinion, Hu Lai can fight back and forth with Mei Li, which is already very powerful.

You must know that just nine years ago, the 16-year-old Meli had already emerged in the King of Madrid's youth team and became a star of hope. In "The Godfather of Champions", he was a talented player with a potential of -10, and he was famous.

At that time, Hu Lai was just a rookie who was not even wanted to play football in the physical education class of Dongchuan Middle School.

Even Li Qingqing didn't dare to think that Hu Lai at that time could be compared with Meli, and Hu Lai's own goal was only to be able to join the Dongchuan Middle School team...

The two of them are like two parallel lines that can never intersect, and they are still parallel lines that are hundreds of thousands of miles apart.

And now, in less than ten years, Melly is about to celebrate wildly for beating Hou Lai once.

Although Hu Lai was eliminated from the Champions League by Meli this time, Li Qingqing wanted to let Hu Lai know that this is not the end, let alone a failure, but just a part of the long-term competition between the two.

The two of them are of the same age, their careers highly overlap, and there are still many opportunities to meet in the future, so the gains and losses of one or two games cannot be counted.

It doesn't matter if you get eliminated once, you just win it back next time, that's what football is all about.

Besides, even if he is eliminated, Hu Lai's performance in the Champions League this season is already good enough.

He scored sixteen goals in the Champions League this season, only one goal away from the single-season scoring record in the Champions League created by Caesar. Close to the achievement of "The Great", why can't we have more expectations for the future?

As the top scorer in the Champions League in the King of Madrid team, Hu Lai actually does not need to bear any responsibility for the team's elimination.

No matter who is blamed, it will not be his turn.

Without Hu Lai's sixteen goals, the Madrid Pirates might not have reached the semi-finals. The last time the Pirates reached the semi-finals of the Champions League was in the 2023-2024 season. Bjorn Hantczek of Munich.

They lost to the future champions Torino Bulls in the semi-finals of the Champions League.

As for the Champions League final, the Madrid Pirates have not tasted the taste of reaching the Champions League final for 19 years. So everyone's expectations for the Pirates in the Champions League are not as great as imagined.

In fact, after the semifinals this time, no one in the media criticized Hu Lai.

Some fans on the Internet complained that if Hu Lai returned to the defense faster and shoveled Meli's ball, it might have saved the team. But such people are very few. Besides, if Hu Lai didn't clear the football, but kicked it into his own goal, I'm afraid they would have another way of saying it.

After hearing Li Qingqing's obviously comforting words, Hu Lai shook his head: "Ah, I'm not thinking about this, Qingqing."

"Then what are you thinking?"

"I'm planning to use the time before breakfast every day to do morning exercises, specifically for strength training, and continue to strengthen my core strength."

Li Qingqing was not surprised by Hu Lai's statement, although Hu Lai's strength was much better than before. But strength training, especially core strength training, is a long-term thing, because you have to keep doing it. If you don't practice after practicing for a period of time, the strength you have trained will also disappear.

So Hu Laihui planned to use the time before breakfast to do morning strength exercises. Li Qingqing fully understood and agreed.

She clapped her palms and said with a smile, "Okay, when we practice together, I can still be your physical coach!"

She also did a move to show off her biceps.

Right, this is the correct attitude to face failure!

Failure is not terrible, but the terrible thing is to lose once and be devastated. Look at Meli, how many times have you lost? I never thought of giving up, isn't this just a win?

So this time I lost to Melly, I will find a chance to win back next time...

Huh?

Li Qingqing suddenly thought of something, she stared at Hu Lai with wide eyes.

Hu Lai was dumbfounded by her look: "What's wrong?"

"I suddenly remembered one thing...Meli seems to be participating in the Los Angeles Olympics as an overage player!"

Hu Lai was stunned for a moment, and remembered that there was indeed such a thing-the Argentine Football Association was obviously worried about being eliminated in the Olympic group stage four years ago, so it decided to recruit Meli as an overage player. And Melly seems to have the same resentment, so the two hit it off.

Hu Lai's originally dazed eyes lit up.

But he quickly woke up, shook his head and said, "It may not be possible to meet."

Li Qingqing said: "It's always a goal!"

Hu Lai tilted his head and thought about it, Li Qingqing was right.

Regardless of whether they can meet or not, the account of being eliminated by Meli in the Champions League still has to be settled, so it is no problem to meet Meli in the Olympics as a goal.

With this goal, he is more interested in this summer's Olympic Games.

Li Qingqing felt the changes in Hu Lai, which Hu Lai probably didn't even realize.

It was only then that she was sure that Hu Lai had really come out of yesterday's failure. She confidently picked up the egg that Hu Lai fried for her with her chopsticks, and took a bite.

Although it's a bit cold, it's still... um... Sure enough, it still doesn't work!

"Hole."

"What's the matter?"

"I'll make breakfast in the future..."

"Why? Do you think my cooking is unpalatable?"

"No, no, you should spend your precious time on core strength training, and strive for an early revenge success!"

"Tsk!"

※※※

PS, all the updates are completed today, I wonder if anyone has guessed the result? Because I read many chapters that say that Hu Lai wins anyway, why did it take so long, won’t it be over if you win directly?

But I really didn't intend to be unexpected. This writing is the result of my long-term consideration. I think such a failure is needed, and Hu Lai's old enemy needs to be further shaped.

So I ended up writing anyway.

In fact, this plot is mainly written about Melly... I know some of you don't like to see people other than the protagonist occupy too many scenes. I also saw that some people counted how many times the protagonist's name appeared in the chapter, and some people directly expressed his Don't care about Melly, let me not waste ink on Melly.

But I still wrote it, because judging from the length of about 2,000 chapters in the book—there are now 1,440 chapters, and there should be another 600 chapters in the remaining content—it shouldn’t be a big problem—it would take a few chapters to describe Merry is necessary.

After all, what I am writing is a virtual football world, and every main character in it needs to spend pen and ink to shape and operate. Mei Li is definitely not a simple tool person like "the protagonist's opponent".

This is my little insistence as an author.

It is also an explanation to readers who were dissatisfied with too many roles in Meli some time ago.

Finally, I will start to collect manuscripts tomorrow, I am too middle-aged to do what I want, please be considerate...

***

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