Chapter 149 FedEx Field, the Emperor ascends the throne (asking for monthly tickets!)
At 7:27 p.m. on July 6th, U.S. time, the entire Chelsea team arrived in Maryland, USA. They will play their third warm-up match of the summer break at FedEx Field in Maryland (home of the Washington Redskins football team) against La Liga giants Barcelona.

The hotel where the players stayed was called Ritz-Carlton, a luxury hotel brand in the United States whose headquarters happens to be in Maryland.

It was the same procedure. Jiang Yuan took a bus with the Chelsea logo on it and came to the Ritz-Carlton. After getting off the bus, he and his teammates gave a lot of autographs. When he returned to the hotel, 21 Chelsea players were lying on the sofa in the living room as if they were dead.

"Oh my god, I gave at least 50 autographs today!"

Hazard muttered, although a little tired but he was still very happy, because the Belgian was the most popular one in the entire Chelsea team, otherwise he would not have signed 50 autographs.

Azpilicueta yelled: "I didn't count, but it's close"

Jiang Yuan could tell that Azpilicueta's implication was that his popularity was not much less than Hazard's.

So he smiled and interjected, "We have a game tomorrow night, and we have public training in the morning. Aren't we going to be exhausted?"

"Open training? No no no"

Terry shook his head: "No open training tomorrow"

Jiang Yuan was stunned for a moment: "Why? Doesn't the club want to make money?"

"Haha, please don't be so blunt. You have to make money, but it's not necessary this time. Barcelona arrived in Maryland last night, and tomorrow morning they will have an open training session at FedExField."

"So the venue was given to them, right? I don't understand how the venue for public training was divided. Why was it us the day before yesterday?"

Jiang Yuan raised the question in his mind.

Before Terry could speak, Hazard took the lead in explaining: "Barcelona arrived last night, and Leo is here too. Do you think the fans will choose to watch us or Leo? It would be nice to have more rest!"

"All right……"

Jiang Yuan nodded helplessly. Although he didn't know whether Messi had a playing time contract, he probably wouldn't dare to do anything rash in the United States. Does this mean he might really have to play a game with Messi tomorrow?

Terry noticed the change in Jiang Yuan's expression and handed him a glass of red grape juice: "Jiang, you seem very excited? You may play a game with Leo tomorrow!"

"It's a small probability. If Leo plays, he will definitely be the starter. My time as a substitute may be staggered."

At this moment, Mourinho hurried over with a suitcase and happened to hear what Jiang Yuan said, so he did not rush back to the room, but walked towards Jiang Yuan: "As far as I know, Leo will play, Jiang, if you want to play with him, I can help you arrange it, just as a reward for your good performance against Paris yesterday!"

"what?"

Mourinho's words almost confused Jiang Yuan: "Reward? But if I remember correctly, you said I didn't play well yesterday..."

Mourinho curled his lips: "You remembered it wrong, I didn't say such a thing"

As soon as he finished speaking, the Portuguese pushed his suitcase away, leaving Jiang Yuan and the Chelsea team confused.

……

The next morning, Jiang Yuan, who had nothing to do, called a taxi to the FedEx Field. The reason why Jiang Yuan did this was actually because he was too bored. He searched on Google Maps last night and found that there was no place to play football in Maryland at all.

Finally, Jiang Yuan decided to come to the FedEx Field to play. He first spent $15 to buy a black mask in a nearby store, and a pair of sunglasses for $78.5 to perfectly conceal his identity.

Soon, Jiang Yuan arrived at the FedEx Field. Calculating the time, the public training was about to begin, but Jiang Yuan now encountered a problem. He didn't have a ticket. If he wanted to get in, he had to use a little trick.

"Hello, please show me your ticket!"

As expected, Jiang Yuan was stopped by a security guard wearing Barcelona work clothes just as he was walking towards the door, so Jiang Yuan asked, "Spaniard?"

Tony shook his head: "I'm not Spanish. If you want to get in, I won't let you succeed!"

As he spoke, Tony showed Jiang Yuan his strong muscles.

It seemed that he was probably American, so Jiang Yuan changed the question: "Are you a football fan?"

Since it was more than half an hour before the start time and there were not many people at the entrance, Tony was willing to chat with Jiang Yuan: "Whether I am a football fan or not is not the point. You don't have to talk about being a Barcelona fan for 20 years. I have met no less than 100 people like you. If you want to watch the game, you have to buy tickets, but now the tickets are not for sale! Please leave!"

"It shouldn't be full, right? Why aren't they selling tickets? I can buy a ticket for a high price!"

Jiang Yuan's words made Tony look up to him: "Buy it at a high price? Sir... I'm afraid not. You know, this is against the rules. It's difficult for me to do it."

"All right!"

Jiang Yuan shrugged: "Then can you answer my question, are you a football fan?"

Hearing this, Tony suddenly straightened his chest and said, "Of course! I am a Chelsea fan! You know, Barcelona will play against Chelsea this afternoon. I will be the backstage security and can watch the game for free!"

Chelsea fans? That's easy!

Jiang Yuan suddenly reached out, grabbed Tony's arm and walked to the side. Just as Tony was about to resist, he looked down and saw Jiang Yuan's calves. The terrifying muscles faintly visible on the latter's calves almost scared Tony: "What do you want to do? We have at least 200 security guards, you can't get in!"

Jiang Yuan did not answer Tony's question immediately. Instead, he looked around and pulled down his mask after confirming that there was no one around.

Tony's facial expression changed three times in one second, and finally he opened his mouth and shouted: "J..."

Before Tony could finish, Jiang Yuan blocked his mouth and said, "Shh, don't talk. There are Barcelona fans everywhere. It will be very difficult for me to deal with you if you do this!"

"enen!"

Tony nodded, unable to hide the joy on his face, his eyes seemed to be glowing!

Jiang Yuan put on his mask again and whispered, "Can you let me in?"

"Of course, there's a second level of security inside, but Jiang, I can take you in, leave it to me!"

After that, Tony asked the brother who was sitting and resting nearby to take his place temporarily, and then took Jiang Yuan into the stadium according to the VIP reception process: "Jiang, I'll take you to the VIP stand. Look over there, that's the VIP seat, there are many celebrities there!"

Tony pointed to the room with glass windows at the top of the stadium and prepared to take Jiang Yuan there. However, Jiang Yuan rejected Tony's kindness: "Thank you, I'd better go to the ordinary stands. There are a lot of empty seats over there. I can just find a seat."

"Ah? Jiang, it's okay. A VIP like you doesn't need a VIP ticket. I can take you there directly!"

Jiang Yuan shook his head at Tony's misunderstanding: "I don't know anyone in Barcelona, ​​I can just sit in the ordinary stands, which is closer to the players."

Closer to the players?
Tony immediately "understood" the hidden meaning of Jiang Yuan's words: "Jiang, do you want me to take you to the stadium? That's no problem. You can go to the stadium and interact with the Barcelona players. The security in the player tunnel will not stop you!"

"It's okay, it's okay, you go back, I can watch it by myself!"

Having said that, Jiang Yuan pushed Tony away, said thank you and started looking for a suitable position.

He has already seen Messi playing a long pass with Suarez on the field!
……

On the other side, Tony returned to the ticket gate. His colleague Jason saw Tony's red face and couldn't help asking, "Hey, man, what's wrong with you? Who was that person wearing a black mask just now?"

Tony licked his lips and said, "It's Jiang! Hehe, I didn't expect that he would come to the afternoon game in the morning!"

"What!?"

Jason jumped up and said, "You mean the new Chinese player from Chelsea? Where's his bodyguard? I thought he was some internet celebrity, but it turned out to be Jiang? Hey, Tony, I remember Chelsea is your home team, right? God, you're so lucky!"

"hey-hey!"

Tony smiled and said, "I just talked a lot with Jiang. I wanted to take him to the VIP stand, but Jiang insisted on going to the ordinary stand. I didn't understand what he meant. Anyway, I talked a lot with Jiang, and he gave me a very approachable feeling. I didn't expect that a football star worth tens of millions of euros would not be so arrogant when talking!"

"You don't know, these stars play a lot of tricks behind the scenes! By the way, Tony, do you want an autograph?"

When it comes to "signature", Tony's expression suddenly froze, and then he suddenly spat out two words.

"asshole!"

……

"MESSI MESSI MESSI"

"Lionl Messiiiiiii"

"..."

The Barcelona fans at the scene were completely crazy. It has to be said that Messi's popularity is really good. The match between Chelsea and Paris the day before yesterday had only more than 4 spectators, but today there were almost 3 people watching Barcelona's open training.

FedEx Field has a total of 85000 seats, and a conservative estimate is that at least 6 people will be present for the afternoon game.

This data is very exaggerated. You know, Porto's Dragon Stadium and Chelsea's Stamford Bridge Stadium do not have 6 seats!
Don’t think that the United States is a football desert. You should know that in the Ballon d’Or voting, a brace from the MLS is higher than a brace from the Champions League!
The front row was already packed with fanatical fans, so if Jiang Yuan wanted to get closer to the court he could only stand in the corner.

“This is a great location!”

Jiang Yuan muttered to himself, although he could only see half of the court because of the wall, but this was the first row and Jiang Yuan was very satisfied.

"Hey man, can you move aside for a moment?"

Jiang Yuan patted the back of the black guy in front of him. The latter just took a look and then moved slightly to the left. Jiang Yuan got the position he had been thinking about.

In fact, strictly speaking, let alone the first row, Jiang Yuan could go directly to the court if he took off his mask, but Jiang Yuan felt that there was no need to do so. For one thing, he was just a small character and there was no need to act like a star.

Secondly...to be honest, Jiang Yuan was really afraid that he would not be able to hold back and tackle Messi. As a Chinese, he was very thin-skinned. If he was scolded by Messi fans, he really didn't know what to do.

On the field, Luis Enrique gathered the players together, said a few words and then the players dispersed. Jiang Yuan, who was a player himself, knew that Enrique was probably assigning some tasks.

As expected, after dispersing, the Barcelona players began their free kick training. It would be more appropriate to call it a performance rather than training.

Whether they are veteran fans or adorable new fans, everyone likes to watch shots. The Barcelona team seized this point and started their performance at the FedEx Field.

The free kick was taken at both ends of the goal at the same time, with Chilean goalkeeper Bravo and German goalkeeper Ter Stegen guarding one side respectively.

Uruguayan international Suarez took the brunt of the attack and scored with a gorgeous long-range shot. "Beautiful!"

Jiang Yuan shouted, and the black guy Burjeva next to him smiled and looked at Jiang Yuan: "Bro, are you a Barcelona fan too?"

"what?"

Jiang Yuan was stunned. He didn't expect that the black guy next to him would talk to him. Without thinking, he said, "Barcelona fan? Not really, but I still like Suarez quite a bit. His free kicks are very strong, and his shots are also very strong!"

Bourgeois pointed to his jersey, No. 9 Suarez, and said proudly: "I am French, I like Luis, Barcelona and Argentina. Argentina is a good country!"

Hearing this, Jiang Yuan's mouth twitched.

French, like Barcelona, ​​like Argentina, the buffs are fully stacked.

"By the way, why are you wearing a mask?"

Bourgeva changed the subject and pointed at the black mask with the "3M" logo on Jiang Yuan's face.

"Cough cough!"

Jiang Yuan coughed twice: "I'm sick"

Bourgeois shrugged: "Why should I wear a mask if I'm sick? Aren't masks for doctors?"

"..."

Jiang Yuan didn't know what to say for a moment. He didn't want to reveal his identity because it would bring him trouble.

"All right!"

Seeing that Jiang Yuan didn't say anything, Bourgeois changed the question: "Bro, you are Asian, right? Korean?"

"China"

Jiang Yuan corrected it, and then there was a roar from the audience. Jiang Yuan turned around and saw that it was Messi's turn to take a free kick.

"Chinese boy, Messi is coming, Messi!!!"

Bourgeois was so excited that he almost shouted.

Messi was seen standing behind the right side of the ball, with three yellow dummies in front of him.

He took a run-up and shot, the ball went over the dummy's head and fell into the net. Goalkeeper Bravo made a save, but it was of no use.

"Wow! Messi, Messiiiiii"

There was a roar in the stands, and tens of thousands of people shouted Messi's name at the same time.

Barcelona's No. 10 player was seen staggering to Jiang Yuan's stands, then opening his arms, looking like a king!

"Messi"

"Messi!!!"

The fans were pushing forward like crazy, wanting to get a close contact with Barcelona's No. 10. Jiang Yuan and Bourgeois originally had very spacious seats, but when the fans sitting behind rushed up, Jiang Yuan was pushed directly against the wall.

Looking at the scene in front of him, four words popped up in Jiang Yuan's mind.

The Emperor ascends the throne!

"Bro, did you see that? Messi and I just made eye contact!"

Bourgeois pushed away the people who were squeezing in from behind, grabbed Jiang Yuan's shoulders with both hands, and shook Jiang Yuan's body continuously. The French guy looked very excited.

Burgeva put his hand on Jiang Yuan's shoulder, and suddenly his eyes lit up. He grabbed the muscles on Jiang Yuan's shoulder, raised his eyebrows, and then put his hand on Jiang Yuan's chest and grabbed it twice.

Jiang Yuan:?
"Dude, what are you doing?"

Jiang Yuan quickly put his hands on his chest, fearing that the French guy in front of him would do something out of line.

Bourgeois' eyes seemed to be shining: "Bro, I didn't realize it just now, but you have a great body. You don't have big muscles, but you have everything you need. You are very strong!"

After hearing Burjeva's explanation, Jiang Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, waved his hand and said, "Thank you, man. I like to exercise, so I have some muscles."

"I see!"

Bourgeois nodded, then looked Jiang Yuan up and down, exclaiming: "Bro, your body proportions are very good, and your calf muscles are better than many professional football players! Really great!"

Jiang Yuan suddenly regretted not going to the VIP stand. He didn't expect that he, a man, would encounter danger when he went out. However, from what Burjeva said, Jiang Yuan suddenly realized something and said, "Dude, from what you said, you seem to know a lot about professional football players?"

"Of course!"

Bourgeois suddenly became excited. He looked left and right, and suddenly put his right arm around Jiang Yuan's shoulders. With his left hand, he took out a piece of white and green card from the inside pocket of his coat. On the top of the card was a line of bold black words: Preuve de qualification de dépisteur en Division 4
Jiang Yuan adjusted his sunglasses: "Hey, man, what does this mean?"

"Bro, listen up!"

Burgeva suddenly stood up straight. This guy must be at least 1 meters tall!
"A scout for the French fourth-tier football league!"

Bourgeois spoke almost word by word.

Jiang Yuan's eyes lit up, then he frowned again: "French fourth-tier league...what is this?"

Bourgeois patted Jiang Yuan on the shoulder and patiently explained: "You, an outsider, definitely don't understand. This is a semi-professional football league in France, and there are many young guys."

As he was talking, Bourgeois suddenly winked at Jiang Yuan and said, "Bro, last year I saw a 21-year-old guy in the fourth-tier league and recommended him. In the end, you know that he is now playing in the French Ligue and has secured a place on the bench!"

"awesome!"

Jiang Yuan expressed his sincere admiration. Although Jiang Yuan could not understand the French written on the card, he could roughly understand what Bourgeois said - to promote players from the amateur league to the professional league!

Although Jiang Yuan doesn't know much about French Ligue 2, he can understand the technical content. This guy must be really good.

However, Jiang Yuan still frowned: "Hey, man, shouldn't scouts be old guys with white hair? Why are you so young? You should be less than 25 years old, right?"

Jiang Yuan has met quite a few scouts, from Enrique of Porto's first team to Charles of Benfica's first team, both of them are old guys in their forties or fifties.

As the saying goes, the older you get, the sharper your eyes become!

The training on the field continued. Every time Messi and Suarez touched the ball, the stands would roar. Burjeva stretched out his right index finger and shook it in front of Jiang Yuan: "That's not the case. Those old guys you mentioned... You saw them on TV, right? Those guys are scouts in the top leagues, and they have been promoted step by step. In fact, most of the scouts in the amateur leagues are my age. Bro, you know, I have a guy who is also a scout. Guess how old he is? 22, awesome, right?"

Jiang Yuan gave a thumbs up. It seemed that there were many things he didn't know.

Chatting with others can broaden your horizons. Jiang Yuan really learned something today!

"Messii"

The Emperor's enthronement ceremony is still going on. It has to be said that Messi's fan base in the United States is still very large. It is estimated that some NBA stars are only this popular in Maryland.

Burjeva shouted a few words along, then looked at Jiang Yuan: "Bro, your body proportions are very good. You said you are Chinese, right? Very few Asians have such good body proportions. It's a pity that you don't play professional football!"

Jiang Yuan's cheeks turned red when he was praised by Burjeva: "Thank you, man. I rarely hear such praise."

Bourgeois waved his hand: "It's true, there's no need to thank me. Bro, I see you like football, right? What's your home team?"

Jiang Yuan answered without hesitation: "Chelsea"

"Chelsea is a pretty good club, haha. Are you here for the warm-up match this afternoon?"

"Of course, but before that I want to see how Barcelona trains. You know, their training is very good. I'm talking about the La Masia youth training camp. You are in this industry, so you should know La Masia, right?"

Speaking of La Masia, Burgeva's voice suddenly became louder: "Of course! One of the best youth training schools in the world, but I'll tell you a little secret..."

Burgeva covered his mouth and said: "If you want to see how Barcelona trains, you can't see anything in public training. You have to go to Spain and go to Vilanova! But Vilanova is not open most of the time. If you want to go, you have to queue up and make an appointment half a year in advance!"

"I see!"

Jiang Yuan nodded, looking thoughtful.

Bourgeois looked at Messi on the field lovingly: "It's amazing. By the way, bro, you are a Chelsea fan, so you will definitely come to the warm-up match this afternoon, right?"

Jiang Yuan laughed: "Of course, I came to Maryland just for the warm-up match this afternoon."

"Hahaha, same as before, bro. If you come this afternoon, we can watch the game together. I can tell you some professional knowledge on the field, such as formations and technical and tactical coordination. These are things you won't hear from the live commentator!"

When it comes to professional knowledge, Bourgewa is quite confident. As a scout, he has received professional knowledge training.

However, to Burjeva's surprise, Jiang Yuan rejected his kindness: "Thank you, buddy, but I already have an appointment with friends, so I'm afraid I can't watch the game with you... But if you are willing, I think we will have a chance next time."

Bourgeois showed a regretful expression, then took out his mobile phone and exchanged WhatsApp (similar to VX) with Jiang Yuan.

“Why was your account created in Portugal?”

Jiang Yuan shrugged. "I lived in Portugal for a while before. Well, it's almost time for me to leave. My friends are waiting for me at the hotel. Bye, man!"

"Nice to meet you, Chinese boy. Next time we meet, I'll introduce you to my friend who plays in the French Ligue 2. Hahaha!"

……

(End of this chapter)