Chapter 24: Invitation from a Master
The news of Chen Xiaoliang's injury spread like wildfire and soon spread throughout the Red Country fan circle.
Mourinho called Gerrard overnight to inquire about the situation. After receiving the answer that he was unharmed and clearly seeing the hospital test report, he was also amazed.
Although repeated examinations confirmed that Chen Xiaoliang did not have any problems, Gerrard still allowed Chen Xiaoliang to recover for a period of time to ensure that everything was safe, and conducted special training alone for about two weeks.
However, in comparison, Barisic was not so lucky. The brief shock caused him to lose his memory of the incident after he woke up. The doctor recommended that he stay in the hospital for observation, and it is estimated that it will take about four weeks to fully recover.
In the league standings, after seven rounds, Rangers and Celtic, who had two games less, had already formed a clear lead, especially in the seventh round. Although Rangers beat Dundee United 4-0, Celtic defeated Ross County 5-0 away from home, with Japanese player Kento Furuhashi scoring twice again.
Eight days later, on September 20, Rangers traveled to challenge the Irish team, who were third in the standings.
At the pre-match press conference, both the Red Country media and the local media mentioned Chen Xiaoliang's injury.
Gerrard's answer was very vague. He just said that Chen Xiaoliang's injury was better than expected and would take about two months to recover, but it would definitely not affect his future career.
The people who were most relieved to hear the news were Chen Xiaoliang's parents and the Red Country fans.
Gerrard did this because he was already preparing for "that game".
Due to Gerrard's confidentiality order, Chen Xiaoliang could not go to the club and could only do physical training at home under the guidance of a physical trainer.
In the last game, he once again completed the four routine tasks of [enter the roster for the next game], [appear in the next game], [appear in the next game and win], and [keep a clean sheet in the next game].
At the same time, because of one assist plus one goal, [Next game goal/assist] can get two rewards.
In addition, it was the first time that he completed the task of [Winning the Best Player of the Next Game].
In total, I got 2 physical recovery cards and 12 hours of training value.
In addition to the individual physical training during this week, he trained almost every day even though he did not have to participate in the competition, and accumulated another 21 hours of training points.
Including the remaining 1 physical recovery card and 2 hours of training value, he currently has a total of 3 physical recovery cards and 33 hours of training value.
Chen Xiaoliang hesitated for a long time, wondering whether to use the stamina recovery cards. However, considering that he would not be able to play in the game for some time, he would naturally not be able to get any rewards. In addition, he played for 70 minutes in the match against Dundee United and did feel a little physically strained. So he decided to keep the three cards and use them when needed in the future.
And he still used the 33 hours of training to prioritize improving garbage attributes.
Especially after tasting the pleasure of assists and goals, he was eager to continue to maintain this pleasure in the game.
The satisfaction of having tens of thousands of people cheering for you after scoring a goal is truly irresistible.
It feels good to shoot inside, and it feels good to shoot inside all the time.
He used 20 hours of training to increase his marking from 6 to 10, which will improve his marking ability when defending without the ball instead of always chasing the ball.
The remaining 13 hours of training value could only be rounded up, and I used 10 hours to increase the ball stopping rate from 3 to 5, which could barely help me avoid embarrassing situations where I had to stop the ball three meters away.
【Technical attributes】
Passing 5, Crossing 2, Marking 10, Penalty 9
Technique 2, Corner Kick 2, Dribbling 2, Out of Bounds 5
20 steals, 5 shots, 5 stops, 4 free kicks
Headers 10, long shots 4
After taking a look at his technical attributes, Chen Xiaoliang turned off the system, turned on the TV, and started watching his teammates' game against the Irish.
The Irish performed much stronger at home than Chen Xiaoliang expected, especially after losing his partner Barisic. Uglumba, who only knew how to rush around, and Kamara, who defended with his eyes, completely turned the left flank into a disaster area for the opponent's indiscriminate bombardment.
In the 21st minute, the Irishman took advantage of the defensive loophole on the left side and made consecutive crosses into the penalty area , causing Rangers to concede the first goal. The record of not conceding a goal at the start of the season also came to an end after seven rounds.
Gerrard immediately made changes, moving Aribo to the middle, Davis to the left to help defend, and Kamara to the right to cooperate with Tavernier.
Although this strengthened the left side, it also weakened the right side.
The two sides were evenly matched. After Rangers scored two goals in a row to reverse the score, they were eventually tied by the Irish in the 70th minute due to the decline in their defensive level.
Celtic, who finished the game a day early, beat Livingston 3-2 at home. With two games less, they have narrowed the gap with Rangers in the standings to 4 points.
The worst thing is that the Japanese striker Furuhashi Kengo scored again.
The Scottish media continued to hype up his and Chen Xiaoliang's amazing performance in the Scottish Premier League, and even used headlines like "The Sharpest Spear and the Hardest Shield in the Scottish Premier League."
Fortunately, Gerrard is an experienced player. He always keeps Chen Xiaoliang away from the media and the whirlpool of public opinion.
After watching the game, bored Chen Xiaoliang was about to go online to chat with his old classmates in Hongguo, but unexpectedly a strange phone call came in, and it was Hongguo's number.
He picked up the phone tentatively, and a middle-aged man's voice sounded:
"Is it Chen Xiaoliang?"
Chen Xiaoliang didn't dare to answer. If it was a phishing media or a scam call, his number would soon be leaked.
"No, don't be nervous. I got your phone number through McAllister. My last name is Sun Jihai. You should have heard of me."
What? Sun Jihai???
A series of question marks popped up in Chen Xiaoliang's mind.
As a Premier League fan, how could Chen Xiaoliang not know Manchester City legend Sun Jihai.
But it was late at night, almost 12 o'clock, and a man called for no reason and said he was a big star. Who would dare to believe it?
"How about this, you add me on WeChat and we can video chat. I'm really not a liar."
Seeing that the man was sincere and his accent on the phone sounded like the interviews he had heard on TV, Chen Xiaoliang hung up the phone and accepted the WeChat friend verification sent by the other party.
After a while, a bell rang, and a middle-aged man wearing glasses smiled in the video.
"Oh my god! It's really you!" Chen Xiaoliang shouted in surprise.
Sun Jihai also felt very proud and smiled even more brightly.
"I'm not lying to you, but it's right for young people to have a sense of self-protection when they venture abroad."
"Teacher Sun, you came to see me specially, what's the matter?"
"It's nothing, don't worry about it. I was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame recently, and Manchester City invited me to attend an event, so I've been staying in the UK. I've been watching your games before, and I thought it was great and didn't expect to meet you, but I saw you injured last time, so I asked a friend to contact McAllister and wanted to come and see you. How are you feeling now?"
