The strongest blade in football

Chapter 160 The Smile Fade (4000 words chapter)
Aris is a Greek club, and like Olympiakos and Panathinaikos, it is a comprehensive club.

In Greece, clubs with deep pockets manage a football team and a basketball team.

These clubs will not be financially strained by managing two teams in different fields, but can earn good income in both fields.

But their fame is limited to Greece, in England, not many people think that Aris is a great club.

At the beginning, Manchester City players didn't take Aris seriously.

Only Mancini attaches great importance to this game and keeps giving the team earmarks.

"Don't underestimate the enemy, they drew with Leverkusen in the group stage, and double-killed Atletico Madrid at home and away!"

Manchester City players still don't take it seriously.

Leverkusen?Atletico Madrid?They are all just ordinary mid-upstream teams in the league.

Wang Nuo also doesn't think Aris will be Manchester City's opponent.

In Standard Liege last year, Wang Nuo played against fellow Greek team Panathinaikos in the round of 16 of the Europa League.

He played well and scored, and of course he remembers the regretful look on the Frenchman's face when he was tackled by Cisse.

In this game, Mancini let Wang Nuo start, because Wang Nuo has experience in playing against Greek teams, and he is really strong in the Europa League.

Wang Nuo has scored 5 goals in the Europa League so far, ranking fifth in the Europa League scorer list.

In front of him are Porto's Falca with 8 goals, Hulk with 7 goals, Naples' Cavani with 7 goals, and CSKA Moscow's Dunbia with 7 goals.

Originally, this game was a good opportunity for Wang Nuo to launch an impact on the UEFA Europa League Golden Boot. However, things changed.

Just two hours before the game, when he called Emilia Clarke again, the phone rang a few times and was connected.

"You finally answered my call! What happened recently, and you didn't answer the call, I thought..."

Just as Wang Nuo said a few words, he was interrupted by the opposite party.

"I'm Emilia's brother." There was a man's voice on the other end of the phone.

"Oh hello!"

"Hi, your note on your phone is 'Descendants of the Dragon', what's your name?"

"Oh, I'm Emilia's friend, just call me JACK, is she okay? She hasn't answered the phone, what happened?"

Wang Nuo had an ominous premonition.

"Sorry, Jack, I can only tell you that she is in the hospital and it is inconvenient for a few days. If you need to find her, please contact her in a few days." The man said.

"Wait, the hospital? Is she sick?" Wang Nuo's heart skipped a beat, "Can she answer the phone?"

"I'm afraid not."

At this moment, Wang Nuo suddenly vaguely heard Emilia's voice from over there. She spoke intermittently, which sounded very strange.

"Don't...worry....it's fine...me."

"Annie! What's the matter with you?"

Emilia's voice on the phone was not right at all, like a beginner in English practicing basic pronunciation.

"Sorry, I have to hang up." Emilia's brother's voice came back from the phone.

"Wait! Give me the address, can you give me the address of the hospital? I want to visit her, and I'm worried." Wang Nuo said.

There was a pause for a few seconds, as if thinking about whether to reject Wang Nuo.

"Please! I'm her very good friend!"

There was a few seconds of silence on the phone.

"Well, you can only come between 9 am and 11 am, and you only have two hours of visiting time per day." Emilia's brother provided Wang Nuo with an address called the National Neurosurgery Hospital.

"OK, thanks!"

After hanging up the phone, Wang Nuo was in a state of confusion. Obviously, something must have happened to Emilia.

He tried to take a deep breath, but couldn't calm down.

Damn it!What will happen?She had a car accident?then what?
All kinds of guesses circled in Wang Nuo's mind, all kinds of questions, all kinds of imaginary pictures came up.

The time is less than two hours before the start of the game.

Usually at this time, Wang Nuo has long been focused on preparing for the game.

But this time, he simply couldn't control himself.

Wang Nuo's mind was no longer just thinking about winning the game. Really, it was as if the originally flat wooden board was being split in two from the middle by a chainsaw.

One half is the match, the other half is the address of that hospital in London.

Wang Nuo just wanted to rush over as soon as the game was over, to see how she was doing.

So, he found Mancini and lied in a rare way.

"I had an accident at home, and someone was in the hospital." Wang Nuo said to Mancini, "Can I leave early after the game?"

Mancini looked directly into Wang Nuo's eyes, as if he could see through everything.

"Come back after the game!" The Italian's voice was cold, without showing any expression on his face, "Or I can send you back now, do you want to!"

Wang Nuo shook his head quickly.

Of course Wang Nuo didn't want to, the game must be played.

Wang Nuo understood what the boss meant. They are now in Greece, more than 2000 kilometers away from London. What he should do now is to get rid of distracting thoughts and play well first!
So, he began to keep hinting to himself that he had been out of contact for several days before that, so there was no need to be in a hurry and try to calm himself down.

He then acted early and managed to secure a flight to London on the nearest flight after the game.

He has made up his mind that after the game, he will return to London immediately, but before that, he must play the game well!
In fact, if there was no phone call before the game, I would have been very happy to come to Greece this time.

Manchester City's trip to Greece has been warmly received by the home team Aris Club. Aris not only regards this duel as a further springboard in the Europa League, but also regards it as an excellent opportunity to establish diplomatic relations with the Premier League local tycoon Manchester City. opportunity.

Aris Club held a dinner specially for Manchester City to welcome guests from afar, and also held a fireworks display before the game.

In a peaceful atmosphere, Wang Nuo took the little caddy and stood on the lawn of the Tsarilau Stadium.

This stadium is small, similar to the stadiums of many clubs in Belgium. The stands are not covered, and the lighting of the stadium only depends on the huge searchlights at the four corners.

The bottom of the stand is six or seven meters high from the stadium, and it is surrounded by high barbed wire. Even so, it can't stop the enthusiasm of the fans.

After the game started, the fans did not stop for a moment, they were always cheering and singing, constantly creating the atmosphere of the home court.

The hospitality and courteousness before this could not conceal the essence of the football game. As soon as the game started, Aris bared his fangs.

Aries are not docile and well-behaved sheep, they are a very competitive team.

Their players are limited in ability, but they have a very positive attitude and fight for every ball.

They seem to have studied Manchester City's style of play long ago, making the whole Manchester City team very uncomfortable to play. At one time, it felt like they had encountered the tough bones of the League One or the British Championship in the FA Cup.

Aris has a proud record, that is, they have remained unbeaten at home in European competitions for nearly 40 years.

In this game, their goal is to prevent Manchester City from scoring away goals and keep this record.

Wang Nuo played hard and conscientiously throughout the first half, and did not have many outstanding performances, except for a wonderful dribble that played against Aris' defender Lazaridis.

But it was this excellence that reminded the England Expeditionary Forces of the defender's name they saw before the game, and they were almost happy for the whole game.

Because Lazaridis is the name of the man Rosie, the former press officer of Manchester City, was exposed to cheating on, they have the same name.

Therefore, after Aris changed his style of play and focused on defense in the second half, which made the game dull, the bored British people began to joke on the sidelines.

Every time Lazaridis touched the ball, City fans chanted all kinds of chants.

"Laza, Laza, how is Rosie recently?"

"We love you, Raza! As much as you love Rosie!"

Later, every time Lazaridis touched the ball, he would be applauded by Manchester City fans, and someone shouted at him, "Quick, long shot!"

In this way, Lazaridis became the darling of Manchester City fans out of nowhere without doing anything.

Manchester City fans have always been so boring, this is not a precedent.

In the Europa League group match with the Salzburg Red Bull in December last year, they also favored an opposing player——

Alan, who made his debut in the European arena from Fluminense in Brazil.

The reason is that Alan is a very popular British name, similar to names like "Wang Jianguo" in Chinese.

In that match, the king of the ball, Nuo Jiangong, Manchester City won a big victory. In the second half of the game, the stadium began to echo loudly with the singing of Manchester City fans:
"Alan, Alan, wave to us!"

"Alan, Alan, a good friend of Manchester City!"

"After drinking a can of Red Bull, Alan becomes a superman in seconds! Shoot! Shoot!"

The funny thing is that last Christmas, Alan also took a video and gave it to Manchester City, thanking Manchester City fans for their love, and wishing Mancini to lead the team to achieve good results.

And Lazaridis's reaction today seemed to be the same. He enjoyed the funnyness of the British Expeditionary Forces and couldn't help laughing after a touch of the ball.

In this way, in a strangely harmonious atmosphere, the second half of the game also ended smoothly, and the score of the two teams remained 0-0 until the end.

Wang Nuo was replaced by Balotelli in the 75th minute.

He didn't score or assist in this game, and his playing was substandard, but he was still much better than the opposite Japanese striker Daisuke Sakata.

Wang Nuo trotted off the field. After he and Mancini lightly clapped hands, Mancini had already guessed what Wang Nuo was thinking.

"You go back early, be careful on the road." He said.

Wang Nuo didn't stay in the locker room for a second, changed his clothes and left, then he took a taxi and went straight to the airport.

At nine o'clock the next morning, Wang Nuo arrived at the address given by Emilia Clarke's brother.

It was a beautiful red brick Victorian building.

Wang Nuo wrapped himself up tightly, wearing a scarf, a baseball cap, and a pair of big sunglasses, holding a greeting card with speedy recovery in his hand as a disguise.

Originally, he also bought a bouquet of flowers, but was turned away by the hospital and was not allowed to bring it in.

Moreover, since there was no visitation appointment, he was not allowed in according to the regulations.

But this did not bother Wang Nuo. After a while, Wang Nuo slipped in through the side door and walked through the corridor of the surgical ward of the hospital.

Then he was led into a large room by a kind nurse.

There, he met Emilia Clarke who was lying on the hospital bed only two days after she came out of the ICU.

With an oxygen tube inserted in her nose and a transparent tube attached to her head, she was lying flat on the bed, staring at the ceiling in a daze.

The eyes that were originally vivid and vivid appeared incomparably dull, and there was no blood on his face, and he was ten times haggard.

Wang Nuo called softly, she turned her head slowly, her lips moved twice, but she didn't make any sound.

"You are JACK?" A voice came from behind Wang Nuo.

Wang Nuo turned his head and saw a middle-aged woman looking at him suspiciously with a vigilant face, who looked like Emilia Clarke's mother.

It's no wonder he showed such an expression, Wang Nuo's outfit was so strange.

Just when Wang Nuo was about to reply, Emilia waved to Wang Nuo, and pressed the button beside the bed, slowly raising her upper body.

The middle-aged woman looked pale, and helped Wang Nuo move the chair beside the hospital bed to a suitable position.

Wang Nuo thanked him and sat down on the chair beside the bed.

"What happened? Why did you suddenly do this?" He looked at Emilia in front of him, feeling very uncomfortable.

"Cerebral aneurysm... ruptured, causing... arachnoid... subjacent hemorrhage."

It took a long time for Emilia to speak such a short sentence.

Then, she blinked her beautiful big eyes, and even smiled.

In this case, she still maintains her true colors and can still laugh.

Wang Nuo didn't understand these strange terms at all, but he could think that it was a terrible physical disease.

"Now? How is it now? Also, why do you talk..."

"She is out of danger. Three days ago, she suffered from aphasia again and entered the intensive care unit again. Now, she is gradually improving to be able to speak." The middle-aged woman said on the side.

Emilia nodded, then waved lightly to her mother, motioning for her to go out.

"Okay, ring the bell if you have something to do, and I'll be right outside."

Emilia's mother gave Wang Nuo a surprised look, then walked out of the ward without hesitation, and took the nurse out as well.

The ward was quiet again.

"They are...something...inconvenient...to say."

Emilia Clarke tried hard to speak, and reached out to hold Wang Nuo's hand.

"Don't worry, take good care of your illness, you will be fine, I will accompany you!" Wang Nuo squeezed her hand tightly.

Emilia Clarke took a deep breath, then stared blankly at Wang Nuo's face for a long time.

"What's the matter?" Wang Nuo felt a little weird.

Emilia Clarke has always been a funny guy in his heart. If he stared at her affectionately before, it would definitely be followed by a sentence similar to "You have a piece of eye shit, it's disgusting", followed by a big laugh.

But this time, she just looked at Wang Nuo with a smile all the time, and then, suddenly, tears rolled down her eyes.

Wang Nuo was a little caught off guard, and quickly reached out to help her wipe away the tears.

Not a second later, tears flowed from the corners of Emilia Clarke's eyes again.

After a while, Wang Nuo's palms became sticky, and Emilia Clarke couldn't stop crying.

"My dear...some things...I think...it is necessary...seriously...to tell you."

The smile on Emilia Clarke's face gradually faded, and finally faded for the first time ever.

(End of this chapter)