As the champion of the French Cup last season, Metz's joining the League Cup is already in the third round. Their opponent is Delhi City, the champion of the 2005 Irish League Cup.

This is a team that Chu Zhongtian and his teammates have never heard of. It seems that they are thousands of miles away from the Irish League.

Historically, this is not the first time Metz has played in European competitions, but for the current Metz team, there are not many people who have participated in European competitions. Moreover, their opponents are so unfamiliar.

Although Delhi City participated in the Irish League and won the Irish League Cup, they are a Northern Ireland team. The city of Londonderry is also the second largest city in Northern Ireland and a city with prominent religious contradictions.

Generally speaking, football in Northern Ireland and Ireland is very complicated due to religious and political factors.

But Metz players don't have to worry about that. They just need to go to the city Brandywell Stadium in Londonderry to participate in the game.

On the 13th, Metz took a plane to the International Airport of Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, and then took a bus specially provided by the event organizer to Londonderry, a small city in northern Northern Ireland. Like many cities in Europe, it is known as the largest and largest. In the eyes of the Chinese, Chu Zhongtian, they are just small towns. To put it bluntly, they are not called cities, but towns.

Although it is controlled by Northern Ireland, the city is actually closer to Ireland. Near Londonderry, the border line follows the Foyle River, with Ireland to the west and Northern Ireland to the east. However, when the border line reaches Londonderry, it turns a corner and marks Londonderry on the west bank of the river into Northern Ireland. I don’t know why the border line was divided so much here, but the consequence of this is that this small city has never given up its freedom to break away from British control and run towards Ireland. Whether emotionally or geographically, Londonderry is more interested in Ireland.

So when the bus that the Metz team was riding near Londonderry, they saw a huge stone tablet, which read in English: "you_are_now_entrering_free_derry." "free_derry" has two meanings, one refers to the Catholic diocese of the city, and the other means "free Delhi" - Catholics call this city "derry" and do not recognize the "londonderry" imposed on them by the British government.

You are now entering free Delhi.

The bus drove past this stone tablet, and the small town outside the car was quiet and peaceful. It was impossible to tell that a war broke out here more than 20 years ago. The u2 band has a very famous song "sunday, bloody_sunday" about what happened at that time.

The small city is divided into two parts by the city wall - the inner city surrounded by the city wall, and the outer city unexpectedly located in the wall. The inner city is Protestant and the main commercial center, while the outer city is a gathering place for Catholics.

The City Brandiwell Stadium where the game is held is located in the outer city.

However, the hotel where the team stayed was located near the square in the center of the inner city. When the bus drove through the ancient city wall door hole, Chu Zhongtian felt like he was traveling through the time and space tunnel.

In the room in the hotel where I stayed, you can also see the thing that was very familiar to French teammates in the central square - a towering monument of freedom. This thing was once built in Paris, France to commemorate the end of the Second World War. Later, in the 1980s, the French government wanted to demolish it. Just as the city government of Londonderry was to commemorate the end of the Northern Ireland War and expressed the call of the people of Delhi to pursue freedom and democracy, it was preparing to build a monument on the central square. After repeated economic calculations, the cost of the new construction exceeded the government's budget. It happened that the French side was going to demolish it, so they simply bought a ready-made one, so they moved the monument that was originally standing on the streets of France to Londonderry as a whole.

The team arrived in Londonderry in the morning, had lunch, rested for a few hours, and set off at 3:30 in the afternoon to train at the Municipal Brandiwell Stadium for adaptation.

The stadium is very small and can only accommodate 9,000 people, and the average attendance rate of Delhi City competition is only more than 3,000 people. Even so, this attendance rate is already considered high in the Irish League... Chu Zhongtian once again thought of the Kings Ranch Stadium in Wimbledon Athletics, which can only accommodate 4,600 spectators.

This is the top Ireland league...but it is similar to the stadium of England's Ninth Amateur League.

Despite this, football is also very tenacious here.

"The situation in this venue is similar to our training base." Ribery sighed. "It's even worse. I think I should reduce the dribbling on this football field." He was afraid of spraining his ankle.

Many players and Ribery had the same idea, the venue was average, not good, and a little uneven. Despite this, when seeing this narrow and low stadium, almost everyone thought they could easily defeat this unknown team.

What's the result?

In the first leg of the League Cup the next night, Metz took the initiative in the game for most of the time. But they just couldn't shoot through the Delhi City goal. With the support of more than 3,000 fans at home, this small team was united like a steel plate, blocking their goal.

The stadium, which can only accommodate 9,000 people, is full. Not only that, fans who cannot buy tickets try their best to watch the game on site. The municipal cemetery not far from the stadium is open to fans, allowing them to stand at a high place to watch the game. Londonderry is a hilly city with a undulating terrain. On the outside of the stadium, there are double-decker buses, allowing fans to stand on the upper floor to watch the game.

Chu Zhongtian is not unfamiliar with this scene at all. When playing football at Wimbledon Athletics, there was a FA Cup match. In order to watch the game, those Wimbledon Athletics fans who did not buy tickets were waiting outside the stadium and let some people lie on the wall to broadcast live for them.

With such a strong support from fans, Delhi City might really be able to create miracles... They succeeded, and they held the score of 0:0 at home.

When the final whistle sounded, Metz's players seemed a little frustrated because they did not win such a weak opponent away. However, Delhi City players were ecstatic and saw further hope - before facing Metz, they first eliminated Swedish team Gothenburg with a total score of 2:0, and then defeated Scottish team Grena in the second round with a total score of 7:3. Now in the third round of the two rounds, they ended their home game 0:0, at least cutting off Metz's chances of scoring away goals.

Delhi City fans sang the song "teenage_kicks" by the local punk rock band "the_undertones" in the low stands, a song used by fans as Delhi City's team song.

“i_wanna_hold_you,wanna_hold_you_tight,yeah!teenage_kicks_right_through_the_night—orge_on!!”

Amid the singing of Delhi City fans, Metz hurriedly left the narrow stadium that almost suffocated them.

The team performed poorly in the first League Cup game, and Fernandez did not criticize anyone because this is the first time. It is always a mistake of one kind or another for the first time, and it is no big deal. But after this game, I believe that the players have understood what the European competition is like. When they return to home, they will not give Delhi City any chance.

When the Metz players left Londonderry the next day, they might only remember that the fans here were so enthusiastic... The red and white plaid flags that kept waving were the only color that night.

※※※ The trip to Londonderry was like a dream with his feet hanging in the air. Later, when I recalled, I was not clear about many details. And when I returned to the Ligue 1, Metz landed on his feet and returned to the real world.

They beat Nice 2:0 at home on September 16th.

On September 23, in the seventh chapter of the league, Metz lost to Bordeaux 1:2 away.

After playing this game, Metz will usher in their third round of the League Cup at home. This is the second round of both sides. Metz must defeat the opponent here to advance. Even if it is a draw, as long as the opponent scores a goal, they will be eliminated.

On the stadium I am familiar with, with the support of 20,000 enthusiastic fans, Metz has no excuse for not being able to win this time.

Although more than 2,000 people came to cheer for their teams, these two thousand people could not do anything in front of the fans of Metz who were ten times more than them.

In the Ligue 1, the Forian Stadium in Saint Mountain is a relatively dilapidated small stadium, and for Delhi City players, it is still a "behemoth".

In this behemoth, Metz also took the initiative from the beginning of the game, but the team did not waste opportunities as easily as in the first round. During these days of training, Fernandez focused on shooting and received rewards in this game.

Just six minutes into the game, Ibisevic scored the first goal for the team with a header. At the same time, he also scored the first goal of Metz in the European arena.

So far this season, Ibissevic has scored four goals on all fronts, which is completely different from Ibissevic who did not score any goal no matter how he shot.

If the goal is first scored, it will be easy to say. If Delhi City still fantasizes about advancing, they must push out and attack, otherwise it will be a dead end. Delhi City attacked, giving Chu Zhongtian more chances to pass the ball.

As the first half approached, Chu Zhongtian made a straight pass, Ribery successfully counterattacked and after receiving the ball, he easily pushed the ball into the empty goal.

With two goals in the first half, Mes has basically secured the victory.

But Metz did not stop there. They seemed to want to return all the shame of 0:0 away games to this small team.

Fernandez had only a simple sentence for the team's tactical arrangement in the second half during the break: "Continue to attack."

He doesn't need to say too much. To deal with such a weak opponent, being too verbose will only make the players feel that the head coach is worried about them and that they have not received enough trust and respect. As professional players, they have played dozens or even hundreds of professional league games and know how to play.

In the second half, Chu Zhongtian led the team to continue to put pressure on Delhi City, firmly suppressing Delhi City, which was trying to counterattack. In the 56th minute, Ribery wanted to dribble and be knocked down by the opponent in the frontcourt. Proman took a free kick and scored directly. 3:0.

This ball completely extinguished the fighting spirit of Delhi City's counterattack.

In the subsequent games, they even had very little pressing against Metz players. Chu Zhongtian didn't seem to be playing football in the midfield, but was more like walking.

He even had the opportunity to start trying to make some fancy technical moves to test his training results over the past few months. For example, once again, he faced Delhi City a not too tight defense, and even made a Marseille slalom for the first time in his career... but because the opponent's defense was not tight, his Marseille slalom actually did not play any role - he was in front of the opponent before turning, and after turning.

Chu Zhongtian also realized that the timing of his work was wrong, so he passed the ball to his teammates.

At the end of the game, Ibisevic was knocked down by the Delhi player after receiving Chu Zhongtian's pass in the penalty area. The referee decisively blew his whistle and gave Mes a penalty.

Originally, the team's number one set player was the deputy captain Promón. He not only took the free kick, but also took the penalty kick. So when he saw the penalty kick, everyone thought Promón would come forward to take the penalty. The stands also reminded of the fans calling Promón's name, cheering for his upcoming second goal in this game.

Chu Zhongtian also thought so. He never had anything to do with the team's penalty kick. He just raised his arms and cheered for the team's penalty kick. At this time, Promón did not run into the penalty area, but ran to him: "You punish, Chu."

Proman's words surprised Chu Zhongtian.

"I'm not a penalty kicker..." Chu Zhongtian pointed at himself. "I'm afraid I can't kick..."

"It doesn't matter, we have won anyway, it doesn't matter whether you can play or not." Promón smiled. "If you want to score your first goal in a European game, then you can get it in. Anyway, it's handed over to you." After that, he walked towards the penalty area, but did not step in, but stood on the penalty area line.

Ribery next to him was surprised and pointed to the football inside and said to him: "Gregory, the football is there..."

"I'm not here to play this penalty," Proman replied.

"Who is that?" Ribery was confused. Who else could you be? Do you think there were fewer goals? I don't mind if you think there were fewer goals. If you don't want to punish me, just leave it to me... When he was about to go in and grab the penalty kick, Proman made him dispel this idea with one sentence.

"I gave it to Chu. I think he has made the most contribution, but he didn't score a goal, which is unfair."

If Chu came to punish him, Ribery would have no objection. If it were someone else, he would probably have to steal his own kick anyway.

"Good idea." He gave Proman a thumbs up.

Then he turned around and shouted at Chu Zhongtian: "What are you still stunned? Chu! Come up and play penalty!" His teammates knew about his call. So everyone looked at Chu Zhongtian, watched him walk up, walk into the penalty area, pick up the football, and then put it on the penalty spot.

This was the first time Chu Zhongtian played a penalty in a game, but he was not nervous.

The fans in the stands were shouting the name of the vice captain Promón, but Promón had no intention of playing a penalty kick, which made their shouts gradually weaken. At this time, Chu Zhongtian walked in, then picked up the football and asked for a penalty kick. After seeing that it was Chu Zhongtian coming to pay a penalty kick, the fans cheered again, and the cheers became much louder.

"Kick it in, Chu! This goal is what you deserve!"

After Chu Zhongtian put the football into place, he looked back at his teammates. Everyone was not yelling like the fans in the stands, but many people gave him thumbs up.

Chu Zhongtian turned back, looked down at the football under his feet, and then looked at the goalkeeper standing in front of the goal.

He didn't retreat and assist, but stood next to the football.

He felt that running-up is not a good thing for him, because during the running-up process, he might think about it and hesitate about how to play, which would lead to a penalty kick. It would be best to play based on his physical instinct.

After seeing that everyone retreated outside the penalty area, the referee blew a whistle.

The goalkeeper of Delhi City was waiting for Chu Zhongtian to retreat and run, not just him, but everyone: players, coaches and fans were waiting for Chu Zhongtian to run and then play a penalty kick.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, Chu Zhongtian swung his right leg on the spot and then pulled it hard on the football!

The football flew to the right of the goal like a cannonball, and then hit the net!

The ball has entered!

The goalkeeper of Delhi City had no response. After the football entered the goal, he turned his head and took a look. There was no pain of conceding the ball in his eyes, but instead he was confused... He shot? The penalty kick was finished?

Even Metz's fans were not prepared for such a sudden penalty. They were stunned for a while before someone took the lead in cheering for the goal.

Then the cheers rang throughout the Stands of the Forian Stadium in Holy Mountain.

After scoring the goal, Chu Zhongtian stood there and waved his hand vigorously. Although he scored his first goal in the European game, the ball was sent by someone else, not by himself, so he couldn't show any excitement.

However, the teammates came over to send their congratulations, which made Chu Zhongtian feel the warmth of the team.

The topic quickly turned to Chu Zhongtian's shooting method.

Ribery patted Chu Zhongtian on the shoulder and said to him: "Your way of paying a penalty is really special... If I were that goalkeeper, I would never have thought you would shoot directly without saying hello... Haha! But this is a good way to get a penalty!"

Proman is a set piece master. He takes the penalty kicks for the entire team, and he has the right to speak on the penalty kicks.

"Don't be happy, Frank. This method may only be used by Chu."

"Why?"

"You don't assist at all, try shooting his speed ball on the spot. You have seen just now, how fast is Chu's football shot? If you don't assist, you will no longer have the power transmitted from your feet. You can only rely entirely on your waist and abdomen to exert force. This kind of shooting method is thankless and can easily strain the back muscles." Proman analyzed for everyone. "So I said that if you don't have a body like Chu, don't try it easily."

Chu Zhongtian didn't expect that there were so many names. He just thought that shooting a penalty kick could allow him to distract himself, but he didn't expect that it would become a unique free throw method... In the end, Metz defeated Delhi City 4-0 at home, with four goals from Ibissevic, Ribery, Proman and Chu Zhongtian helping the team advance to the next round with a total score of 4-0.

Metz's League Cup journey officially kicked off.
Chapter completed!