Chapter 284: Manchester City's Championship Celebration! World Cup Approaches!
On the night of the championship, Lin Quan, like many other Manchester City players, felt physically exhausted yet mentally too excited to sleep. Next door, teammates were playing games or singing karaoke, making Lin Quan chuckle and shake his head. "These guys will all have panda eyes tomorrow," he thought.
Unable to sleep, he opened his phone to surf the internet. As soon as he unlocked it, he saw a congratulatory message from Lily Collins. Checking the time, it was already half-past ten in the evening. Considering the time difference, it should still be afternoon in the United States.
Thinking of this, Lin Quan messaged Lily Collins: "Are you free?"
Within seconds of sending the message, Lily Collins called him.
...
The day after winning the championship, instead of squeezing onto a commercial flight, the entire Manchester City team took a charter flight back to Manchester with Mansour. As soon as they landed, they were warmly welcomed by tens of thousands of fans outside the airport.
At this moment, Manchester City's players were the heroes of the city. Inside and outside the airport, countless fans held up banners and flags to welcome their heroes back triumphantly!
The players were visibly surprised by the turnout of fans. While they had anticipated some fans to greet them, they hadn't expected such a massive turnout!
Upon seeing the enthusiastic crowd, they decided to bring out the Champions League trophy and raised it high for the fans to see. This sight further excited the fans who shouted "Champions!" and waved their arms, celebrating and singing team songs joyously.
Despite having celebrated multiple times at the Estadio da Luz and at the hotel, the players' enthusiasm was reignited by the warm reception of the fans. Since the season's matches were all over, after the victory parade, the team would have time off, so most players had plenty of time.
Many players began fulfilling fans' requests by taking photos together or signing autographs. Among them, Lin Quan was undoubtedly the most sought-after for autographs.
Soon, Lin Quan was surrounded by a large group of fans wearing sky-blue number 10 jerseys. Since joining Manchester City last year, Lin Quan's jersey sales had consistently outpaced others by a wide margin.
Now, with his leadership in winning the club's first-ever Champions League trophy, his status among Manchester City fans had reached unprecedented heights.
The security staff on site struggled to maintain order as the number of fans was overwhelming. Those at the back were anxious not to miss out on their idol's autograph, causing a bit of a chaotic scene with pushing and shoving.
Seeing this, Lin Quan realized the situation was becoming dangerous. With so many people, there was a risk of a stampede. While signing autographs was meant with good intentions, it could potentially lead to unintended harm!
Realizing this, he quickly obtained a megaphone from the airport staff and addressed the fans, asking them to form a queue and promising to fulfill each of their autograph and photo requests one by one. To prevent scalping, he limited each person to a maximum of two signatures.
After Lin Quan spoke, the fans calmed down and patiently started queuing up.
"Lin, are you really going to sign autographs for all these people?" asked his teammates, who had mostly fulfilled fans' autograph requests by now, upon hearing Lin Quan's plan.
With over ten thousand fans at the scene, even if they weren't all Lin Quan's fans, they wouldn't miss this opportunity.
"Uh-huh, that's my plan!" Lin Quan nodded. Once the words were spoken, there was no turning back.
He arranged for an office desk and chair from the airport staff, paying a few more autographs and photos in return, preparing to sign for hours on end.
Lin Quan sat down and began signing autographs.
Seeing Lin Quan fulfill his promise, fans cooperated eagerly. They queued up orderly, holding their jerseys or memorabilia they wanted signed, chatting briefly with their idol before getting their signature.
Once fans restored order, the pressure on the onsite security personnel significantly eased. They breathed a sigh of relief and admired the 18-year-old player for calming the fans' excitement with just a few words, showing such influence and appeal that's rare for someone so young.
Lin Quan's sincerity in fulfilling his promise added to his appeal, even winning over some who weren't his fans originally, making them curious to learn more about him.
Many fans at the scene took advantage of the wait to snap photos and share them online with captions like: "Waiting for Lin Quan's autograph!" Many fans even live-streamed the event online like frontline reporters, providing real-time updates to countless fans.
Soon, what started as a small event of Manchester City fans greeting the team at the airport quickly became a hot topic on the internet.
"I really want Lin Quan's autograph, but I'm not in Manchester!"
"Anyone in Manchester, can you help me get Lin Quan's autograph? I can reimburse your travel expenses!"
"I'm in London, can I make it to Manchester by car in time?"
"It's over 300 kilometers. If you drive, it'll take more than three hours. With tens of thousands of people at the scene, even if Lin Quan signs for everyone, it'll take at least four to five hours. You should make it in time!"
"Alright, I'm taking a leave to Manchester!"
"Bro, are you serious? Remember to get one for me!"
"Count me in!"
"Me too!"
Despite the large crowd, Lin Quan remained relaxed. He patiently signed autographs for each approaching fan. However, as he signed, Lin Quan felt something was off.
Why weren't the numbers decreasing? Instead, they seemed to be increasing?
What was going on?
In the end, what was planned to take four to five hours for autographs ended up taking a full eight hours.
After signing the last autograph, it was already dark outside. His arms were sore, feeling detached from his body.
Fortunately, the club arranged a special car to take him to the club's victory banquet.
When Lin Quan arrived, most of his teammates were already there.
"Tsk tsk, are you still signing autographs now?" David Silva and others curiously gathered around when they saw Lin Quan.
"Congratulations, you guessed it right. You guys are heartless, leaving me here alone!" Lin Quan said with a mix of resentment and amusement. "After you left, many of your fans showed up. Not seeing you, they all came to me for autographs, indirectly burdening me even more!"
"Haha, thanks on behalf of those fans. But staying wouldn't have helped much anyway. Your fans wouldn't recognize our signatures!" His teammates justified themselves, reasonably.
They couldn't help much by staying, but they genuinely admired Lin Quan.
They had assumed Lin Quan would just brush off the fans, but who would have thought he'd sit there and sign autographs for eight hours!
The celebration banquet ended, and the next day, Manchester City held its most important celebration event—the victory parade!
Manchester City players rode on three floats, with Lin Quan and De Bruyne at the front, holding high the Champions League trophy, the symbol of their victory.
After a series of celebrations, Lin Quan rested in Manchester for a day before flying back to Portugal.
After reuniting with Guardiola and others, Lin Quan spent three relatively quiet days in Portugal.
On May 30th, with the arrival of the Spanish national team training camp, Lin Quan had to temporarily bid farewell to his family and return to Spain ahead of time to participate in the new national team training session.
In preparation for the World Cup, this training session would last for half a month and would be conducted in closed conditions. During this period, aside from friendly matches against a few top opponents, they would not appear in front of the media, and players were not allowed to return home to prevent any tactical information from leaking.
These measures were unprecedented, clearly reflecting the immense pressure that Vicente del Bosque felt due to the World Cup.
As defending champions, Spain carried enormous pressure from their past achievements and the expectations of their nation.
As one of the teams with the best chance to win back-to-back World Cups in recent decades, they were undoubtedly the favorites for this tournament.
However, this top-seed status meant that every move they made would be scrutinized under the spotlight or even a magnifying glass.
Spain couldn't afford to lose. If they were to lose, criticisms would come from all directions!
Unfortunately, the recent Champions League matches had already highlighted serious issues of aging among Spain's players.
Players like Villa, Xavi, Xabi Alonso, and Puyol were already past their prime.
Given their ages, it was undoubtedly their last World Cup.
Replacing players of this caliber would not be an easy task once they retired.
Therefore, if they couldn't capitalize on this opportunity at the end of their careers to make another run for the World Cup, they might not have another chance in four years.
Even though Spain had a wealth of talent, rebuilding the squad and finding the right players and tactics would not be an easy task.
Argentina, with their paper strength not inferior to Spain's, also had top players like Messi, but due to tactical imbalances and squad mismatches, they had never been able to break through in major tournaments.
As for Portugal, heavily reliant on Cristiano Ronaldo to lead the team, their strength might barely be enough to make it out of the group stage.
On the World Cup stage, top stars were crucial, but not the only factor.
Del Bosque couldn't rely solely on having Lin Quan in the team to face the upcoming matches without worry.
After this World Cup, Spain's squad would need to be redefined, and tactics adjusted according to the technical characteristics of new members.
Since lifting the European Cup for the first time in 2008, this Matador Legion had gradually faded from people's view and would gradually become history after this World Cup.
Therefore, this was their last major tournament together!
Del Bosque hoped they could end with no regrets and achieve the best results possible!
(End of this chapter)