862 A Wonderful Night Begins (1/2)

Fat John and Skinny Bill woke up from their sleep and realized that it was almost 11 a.m. They rushed out of the room to knock on doors. Soon, the hallway went from quiet to noisy. A group of Englishmen yawned as they came out of their rooms in succession. They all had drunk too much alcohol the previous night and found that their heads were still somewhat throbbing in pain.

”Damn it. It's 11? I'm going to be late for work.” Some people were still confused about where they were at.

”Wake up, Gary. We're in Spain now! In Madrid!” John knocked on the fool's head.

”Madrid?” That fool stared blankly for a moment. He held his head and cried out, ”Champions League final!”

The man next to him laughed when he saw him wake up from the daze.

The laughter dispelled the rest of their sleepiness.

”Well, guys, today is the day of the holy battle! Rouse yourselves. Go wash up, and then we're going out for a meal!”

This was not a high-quality hotel. A group of ordinary people from a small city in central England could not afford to stay in a four- or five-star hotel. It was not even easy to find such a small hotel like it. The Champions League final was held in Madrid, which drove up the occupancy rate in the hotels.

John and his group were staying in a hotel south of Madrid, which was located in a relatively backward part of the city's economy. The hotel environment was not very good, but the price was low. It was the best choice for people who were not rich.

As soon as John and the others stepped out with Nottingham Forest scarves around their necks, they caught the attention of the Spaniards around them.

The Englishmen were not nervous. They shouted to those Spaniards, ”Nottingham Forest will win!”

It was not a provocation because they were not drunk. Rather, it was meant to curry favor.

Then came the Spaniards' response. ”F*ck Real Madrid!”

This was a group of Atlético Madrid fans. Even though they were Spaniards and people from Madrid, they wanted to see their arch enemy lose at home the most.

”We found a good place,” John laughed and said. ”Come, let's go eat, guys!”

※※※

Javier Thomas, a history teacher at a high school in Madrid, was a Frenchman. However, he was now a Real Madrid fan.

During Real Madrid's most brilliant period 10 years ago, he was still teaching in France and had no interest in football. At the time, Real Madrid had many superstar players. The team was star-studded and known as the ”Galácticos.” They won two European titles in three years and were unparallel at the time. It was the greatest team in the world.

He came to Madrid in 2005 to continue teaching. He had heard of Real Madrid's football fame. Unfortunately, the Real Madrid he saw was the one with the new lease of life after its calamity. It was like a once-golden palace that had turned into a ruin with thick overgrowth.

His social circles were still full of Real Madrid fans. He was puzzled and surprised by that, so he decided to explore the root causes of it. Since he was a history teacher, he began to study its history. Real Madrid's history was worthy of their pride. While he studied its history, he had close interactions with the Real Madrid fans and personally went to watch the Real Madrid games live. The tall Frenchman, who wore glasses and was refined, had since become a Real Madrid fan.

What really made him fall in love with Real Madrid was not the glorious history but the character and fighting spirit that Real Madrid showed in the following seasons. They could reverse the situation and take the title in a game trailing behind Barcelona with 15 minutes left, showing the spirit of Real Madrid, which had been overlooked for years. When he saw Higuaín score a goal in the final minutes at Bernabéu and reversed the game to win a 4:3 victory over the RCD Espanyol team, the mild-mannered and good-natured gentleman was thrilled and could not help himself as he roared in the stands and hugged strangers around him.

Such an exciting reversal was far more than one or two games. He quickly fell in love with the team.

Now, he was an unwavering and fanatical Real Madrid fan. He had a dual identity. Normally, he was a mild-mannered teacher and never argued with people. Even his body language was gentle. When the weekends came, he transformed into an easily excitable dangerous figure that everyone should stay away from him.

Even his wife of 20 years could not understand his transformation.

She could only blame football for being a sport that made people crazy. Fortunately, their child was a girl. If the had a son, she would have had to keep him away from football.

”It's finally going to be over.” The wife sighed as she watched her husband check the ”preparations” for watching the game later that evening over and over again. Her husband's regularly intermittent mental illness would spontaneously recover. Her husband was just a Real Madrid fan and not a fan of the French national team or a fan of the Spanish national team. So, the World Cup this summer had nothing to do with him. The current game would be Real Madrid's last game of the season. Whatever the outcome was, her husband would soon be back to normal.

Her husband came out of the bedroom after he packed and got ready. He looked at his wife and daughter, who were sitting in the living room. He came up to stroke his daughter's head.

”Don't think about taking her to the game.” His wife became alert.

”I'm just touching her head.” Thomas laughed wryly. ”Don't look at me like you're looking at a mental patient, Selena.”

”You're a mental case on this day.”

Their 6-year-old daughter watched curiously as her parents argued over what she could not understand. She liked her mother and her father, but she seemed to have two fathers and two mothers. On a day like this, her gentle and beautiful mother would suddenly become nervous, and her always smiling father would become bad-tempered. Her young mind sometimes remembered that her father would suddenly lose his temper and throw stuff. She did not know the reason. There were also times when her father would suddenly be very happy, buy her gifts, accompany her to play games until late, or hug her tight, which made her a little uncomfortable. She also did not know why.

Thomas did not want to quarrel with his wife on such an important day, so he chose silence.

His wife also did not want to deal with him. She sat on the side and held her daughter as she watched her favorite cartoon.

Thomas sat for a moment like that. He felt the atmosphere was very awkward. He wanted to say something, but his wife would immediately glare at him. He decided to go out early, walk around, find a bar, drink with Real Madrid fans to discuss the evening's game, and set off together to the Bernabéu when it was near game time.

During those two hours, he would completely forget that his wife and child were at home. He could enjoy the football, which brought joy and, of course, pain.

He did not forget to kiss his wife and daughter on their foreheads before he went out. This time, his wife did not shy away.

”I'll be back early,” Thomas said as he opened the door to walk out.

※※※

”Ah... Madrid in two colors. You don't often see the city like this. To the north is Madrid in white, and to the south is Madrid in red. Now, they will all mingle here, even though the red color does not come from the south.”

A tour guide was talking to the crowd behind him in front of the Bernabéu stadium. A group of East Asian tourists with dark hair held their cell phones, cameras, and digital video equipment to take photos and filmed the magnificent Bernabéu stadium continuously as they made sounds of exclamations. No one cared about what the tour guide said.

”Hey, look at those guys! They're not Spanish! They're fans from England... Don't take photographs of them! Don't point the camera lens at them!” The tour guide hurriedly gestured for the curious people to put down the camera equipment in their hands.

”English fans, God knows if each of them has just gulped down 10 gallons of beer. Drunk English fans are the most dangerous!”

As if to coordinate his words, the policemen on duty around them slowly got closer to the group of English fans in red jerseys to separate them from those people around them. The English fans did not mind the treatment. They saluted the policemen and shouted slogans in English.

”What are they shouting?” some of the tourists asked.

The Spanish tour guide shrugged and said, ”Nottingham Forest will win... Something like that. It is the UEFA Champions League final tonight. Unfortunately, you don't have tickets. Otherwise, I'd be happy to take you to a football match of the highest quality in Europe.”

In fact, he would very much like to watch the final, but he had to take the tour group around.