After the match against Bari, the Fiorentina squad had a day of rest and a day of recuperating training before flying to Bayer Leverkusen, Germany, where they will play their first Champions League match of the season.

Due to Fiorentina's outstanding performance in recent seasons, Fiorentina signed a three-year contract with Qatar Airways this summer, thanks to Kenyon's planning and Zhuang Mingge's accumulated network resources, which will provide a special plane to facilitate the team's travel time between stadiums and allow the players to get a better rest.

In addition, Qatar Airways has also made a modification of the interior of the aircraft at the request of Fiorentina FC to make it more suitable for the needs of a football team. For example, the number of seats in the front cabin has been reduced to the right number of seats, so that the players and coaching staff, as well as some special personnel, can better relax; Transform the cabin in the middle of the aircraft into a lobby that can function as a temporary meeting room or as a place for celebration and entertainment; The cabins at the back are reserved for some support staff, such as the team's nutritionists and physiotherapists.

This kind of luxurious treatment has made many players more determined to stay in Fiorentina to play, after all, if you play in other teams, it is good to have a train to ride, and many small and medium-sized players will have to take a long-distance bus when they play away games!

For example, those Eastern European teams that are suffering from an economic crisis, Zhuang Mingge has heard before that Russian land snakes like Moszsparta are extremely sad when playing away games, because they are located in Moscow and spend a long time on the road no matter where they go to play, forcing UEFA to take these objective factors into account when arranging the schedule.

Therefore, Fiorentina, who can be transported by plane to play games outside, is simply a super tyrant in European football clubs in the eyes of the players!

Well, that's all for now, let's turn the conversation back to the Champions Cup.

On 18 September, the 22,500-seat Ulrich Hubland Stadium was packed to capacity.

Bayer Leverkusen fans in the stands were quite excited as their team was about to play their first Champions League match in the club's history! What a memorable scene!

Although Bayer Leverkusen's first Champions League game was against Fiorentina, who had won the Champions League twice in a row, the Leverkusen fans were clearly not discouraged by this, but cheered on the home team with great excitement from the stands.

Zhuang Mingge, who was sitting in the VIP box, looked at the newly expanded stadium with great interest, and said that Leverkusen is really an independent team under Bayer, and even the name of the stadium is used to commemorate the former chairman of Bayer......

Of course, what Zhuang Mingge didn't know was that next year the stadium would be renamed Bayer Stadium, and it would be directly changed from a memorial to Mr. Chairman to an advertisement for the entire Bayer company.

At this time, Zhuang Mingge turned his attention to the Leverkusen coach Christopher Daum, who was shaking hands with Capello on the sidelines.

If there is anyone who has transformed Bayer Leverkusen from a team that can only play soy sauce in the Bundesliga into a team that can wrestle with the likes of Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, the answer is not their current top scorer Kirsten, but their manager Christopher Daum!

Although the arrival of Kirsten changed the fate of Bayer Leverkusen's fight for relegation year after year, he could not make Bayer Leverkusen a serious contender for the Bundesliga title; It wasn't until Daum, who was still coaching in Turkey at the time, returned to China at the invitation of Leverkusen general manager Carlmond and picked up Leverkusen's coaching whip that this "pharmaceutical factory" (Leverkusen's nickname) officially began to become a force to be reckoned with in German football!

After taking over, Daum reorganized a team that was only relegated in the last round of last season into a disciplined iron army, and its all-attacking and defensive style of play made Bayer Leverkusen and Stuttgart, who have the "troika" of Balakov, Elber and Bobic the most eye-catching and flashiest team in the Bundesliga, and they are much better than Loew's Stuttgart in terms of results.

"It's a pity, Daum, this guy ......" Looking at Daum standing on the sidelines, Zhuang Mingge really found it hard to believe that this German coach would be ruined in the future because of the drug abuse scandal exposed by Hoeness.

However, considering that the whistleblower is Bayern general manager Hoeness, and Bayern Munich's huge influence in German football, and considering that Daum was about to take over the coach position of the German national team at that time, maybe there are still some unknown insiders in this?

Although he was curious about this, Zhuang Mingge had no intention of getting to the bottom of it. You must know that curiosity kills cats, and there are some truths, but it is better not to know them, so as not to burn yourself because you know too much.

Because this is the first Champions Cup match in the history of Bayer Leverkusen club, the whole "pharmaceutical factory" takes this game very seriously. Therefore, despite the fact that the opponent was Fiorentina, who were exceptionally strong for Bayer Leverkusen, Daum did not strategically abandon the game, but put the strongest starting lineup in his hands on the field.

Goalkeeper Dirk Henin, the back four are Robert Kovac, Warnes, Jan Heinze (the Dane, not the well-known Heinze who played for Manchester United and Real Madrid) and Novotny, who just returned from Napoli this summer.

One of the three starting midfielders is Nico Kovac, the brother of Robert Kovac, and the two brothers, who play in the same team and perform well, are a sight to behold in the Bundesliga. The other two are LaMelo and Brazilian midfielder Emerson, both of whom are good players in attack and defence. In particular, Emerson, who transferred from Gremio this summer, has a comprehensive technique and a good overall view of the big picture, so that Leverkusen's midfield has a real offensive and defensive transition hub and a midfield metronome.

And on the forward line, the team's leading scorer and Kilsten, who is also last season's Bundesliga Golden Boot, deservedly got a starting position; Due to the transfer of Paulo Sergio, one of Daum's three strikers last season, to Roma, and Ze Roberto, the target that Bayer Leverkusen has been scouting, was abducted by Fiorentina ahead of schedule, Fat manager Calmond brought Neuville, who had a good performance at Tenerife last season, to Leverkusen.

Dutch striker Meyer was up front, and his main task was to scramble for headers, attract the attention of opposition defenders and create space for Kirsten and Neuville behind him.

Suffice it to say, although Daum's Bayer Leverkusen team lacks fame, it is quite good, with some good players on both ends of the floor. This means that this road trip to Fiorentina is destined not to be easy.