The Era of Emerald

Braving the severe winter, Zhuang Mingge and Karin set foot on the land of Russia for the first time, but Zhuang Mingge and others did not complain too much. After all, this time, he came to Moscow as a guest at the invitation of the other party.

When the results of the draw for the Winners' Cup were announced, the person in charge of the Moscow Spartak Club called Florence the next day, and made a request to Florence that sounded extremely funny and unreasonable: They hope that the winners Both rounds of the Cup quarter-finals can be played in Moscow (that is to say, the second round of the match in Florence can also be played in Moscow).

At that time, Antonioni sternly rejected the Russian's opinion with an expression of "what kind of international joke are you making?", and the other party then made another request: they hoped to postpone the away game in Florence for a week.

Antonioni was stunned for a moment, and after carefully inquiring about the other party, he realized that the reason why Moscow made such an outrageous request to Florence was actually very simple: because of the poor financial situation of their club, they could no longer afford the team's long-distance travel expenses. Those who did not take off their tickets would either give up the second round of the game, or they would have to take a slow and bumpy long-distance bus to and from Russia and Italy.

The reason why the Spartak Club did not have this problem in the previous games was because the opponents they encountered in the previous rounds were all teams from the former Soviet Union, and it was completely possible to take a long-distance bus in the prescribed games. Time to race to the place.

After Zhuang Mingge heard the news, he immediately stated that he would pay for the air ticket for Spartak.

Zhuang Mingge's "generous act" obviously won the favor of the other party. During the second phone call between the two parties, the person in charge of Spartak took advantage of the opportunity to invite Zhuang Mingge to Moscow as a guest. Of course, all expenses had to be paid by Zhuang Mingge himself...

Taking a taxi, Zhuang Mingge and Karin entered the downtown area of ​​Moscow. Looking at the desolate scene on the street, they couldn't help but lament the hardships of life of the Russian people. Presumably, as a high-consumption football game, there may not be many people in the former Soviet Union. And this leisurely and elegant attention?

Well, although from the face of the card, the Russian national team is not very bad.

When the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, the powerful "Soviet Red Army" also fell apart overnight: goalkeeper Prom returned to his hometown of Estonia; while neighboring Latvia, which is also on the Baltic coast, snatched Pajas; Georgia, owns Averazil; Kancherski, who was drifting in Manchester United, finally decided to pledge his allegiance to Ukraine; and the old captain Berkovic, who has played for Dynamo Kyiv in Ukraine for many years, rejected the invitation of the Ukrainians. Eventually joined the Belarusian national team.

It seems that from the perspective of the number and quality of the stars that were carved up, Russia has become the biggest winner of this carve-up operation, because they also have Harlem, Mostovoi, Karpin, Alenichev, and Shalimov , Onopko, Kolivanov and Kiryakov and many other former Soviet international players.

But this Russia, which has lost the soul of the Soviets "persistence and unity" in the violent turmoil, just like Yugoslav football, which is currently in a downturn, has never recovered.

While Zhuang Mingge was immersed in his memories of Soviet football, the taxi had already arrived at the headquarters of Spartak Moscow Club, a slightly dilapidated office building, only an old man in an old leather jacket was working as a doorman at the door.

Spartak Moscow Football Club was founded in January 1922 and the club won its first league title in 1.It was a powerful team in the Soviet period and even in the history of Russian football. It has won the Soviet Union League Championship Trophy 1936 times (second only to Dynamo Kiev), won the Russian Football Super League Championship 12 times, and won the Soviet Cup Championship 3 times. 10 time to win the Russian Cup.

Even such a dominant team has been reduced to this point, and the status quo of other teams in Eastern Europe can be imagined.

"Haha, Chairman Corleone, welcome to the Moscow Spartak Club." After receiving the notice, a strong man in a formal suit came down from upstairs (although the edges of the suit were already a little fuzzy), visual inspection He had to be 1.9 meters tall, and greeted Zhuang Mingge enthusiastically.

After being introduced, Zhuang Minge knew that the man who received him was the chairman of the club, Igor Ivanov.

"I'll talk about other things later. I need to ask one thing first. The Fiorentina players will arrive in Moscow on a later flight. I wonder if there is any good accommodation for Spartak to recommend?"

"Haha, Chairman Corleone, your question is on the right point. We have already arranged the place of accommodation for you. It is the best hotel in Moscow. I guarantee that you will be satisfied." Speaking of this, the chairman The husband was a little embarrassed, and said hesitantly, "But...for the accommodation fee, please..."

"You don't need to worry about this. Florence will pay for it by itself." Hearing Zhuang Mingge's words, the hesitation on the chairman's face disappeared immediately.

"Thank you very much, Chairman Corleone."

"Where, in some things, we still have to be considerate of each other."

"Then, Chairman Corleone, you and this lady, please go upstairs to rest for a while, and I will take you to my office for a while."

"To put it bluntly, this room is the most luxurious in this building." When I came to the chairman's office, Ivanov served tea and water to Zhuang Mingge and Karin graciously. the president of the club.

Zhuang Mingge took a look at this office, and it was obviously much better than the room in Dinamo Zagreb... At least its walls were still intact.

"Mr. Ivanov, I think we'd better hurry up and talk about business. I came here just after getting off the plane, and I still need to catch the jet lag."

"Ah, yes, no problem!" Hearing what Zhuang Minge said, Ivanov immediately put down his work, sat on another sofa, and said, "Chairman Corleone, actually this time I invite you to come to Moscow." , In fact, it is not what our Spartacus club means, we are just entrusted by others."

"Huh?" Zhuang Mingge frowned and asked, "Then who wants to see me?"

"Well, I have his business card here." Chairman Ivanov immediately took out a beautifully printed card from his pocket, and handed it to Zhuang Mingge.

"Damn it! It's him!" Zhuang Mingge saw the name, and understood why the chairman was so respectful to him, and why the other party had to go through such a redundant procedure to see him.

The name of a Russian is printed in English on the card, and the transliteration is...

"Boris Berezovsky!"

ps: Chapter 20 of "Addition and Completion Plan"