Legendary Road

"Good morning, viewers, it's 2003 am on December 12, 18. Welcome to today's morning news."

There was the sound of kitchen knives colliding with cutting boards in the kitchen, and the TV in the living room was broadcasting news from German premium TV station Premiere.

Yan Jing appeared on the stairs yawning after washing up neatly, and smelled a scent from the kitchen into his nostrils.

Yan Jing, who had an empty stomach, immediately lifted his spirits, stepped on the "da da da" steps and quickly went downstairs to the living room, and found that yesterday's Dortmund vs. Kaiserslautern match news was playing on TV.

"... Werder Bremen continued their winning streak. In another part of the Bundesliga, Dortmund, who ranked sixth in the league before this round, was tied [-]-[-] at home by the tenacious Kaiserslautern. It was a moderate upset. At the beginning of the game, Dortmund had the advantage, but Dortmund got the upper hand and failed to score. Although they threatened to shoot a few times, they all missed the goal. In the first half, neither team made any achievements. After changing sides and fighting again, Kaiserslautern suddenly pressed up..."

Mrs. Aotelia, who was busy in the kitchen, probably heard Yan Jing's footsteps going downstairs, and poked her head out of the kitchen: "Yan, can you help me bring breakfast to the table?"

"of course."

Yan Jing walked into the kitchen a few steps, and saw that there was a lot of delicious food beside Mrs. Aotelia who was wearing a blue apron.

Baskets made of bamboo strips will hold freshly toasted bread that has just been taken out of the oven. On the side of the porcelain plate are slices of bacon that has just been cooked and exuding a tempting aroma. Two glasses of milky white milk Hot steam rises in winter.

Toast with sausage slices or bacon slices, plus a glass of milk or coffee, or a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice for families with better economic conditions. This is a typical German breakfast.

There is a German proverb called "a king's breakfast, a gentleman's lunch, and a beggar's dinner", which has the same meaning as the familiar Chinese saying "eat a good breakfast, eat a full lunch, and eat a little dinner".

Yan Jing put these foods on the dining table one by one, and the news about the Dortmund match had just finished on the TV.

"...Jan Koller scored with a header and the score became [-]-[-]. After that, Dortmund still had the opportunity to rewrite the score again, but the goal was always missed, and the [-]-[-] score was maintained until the end."

Although the home team bombarded the visiting team's gate in the last ten minutes, Dortmund failed to counterattack at home in last night's game. This somewhat made Yan Jing feel a little regretful-in his opinion Come on, Dortmund's performance last night fully deserved a victory.

Gathering his mind, Yan Jing went to the refrigerator again. He opened the sliding door of the refrigerator and asked Aotelia, "Mrs. Aotelia, are you using butter or raspberry jam today?"

Altria took off her apron and hung it behind the door, and walked out of the kitchen: "English orange peel, that's the jar in the orange package. I just bought a new flavor yesterday, let's try it."

Yan Jing quickly took out the jam jar that Aotelia had described, closed the sliding door, sat down at the dining table and looked at the weather outside the window.

Due to the temperature difference between indoor and outdoor, the floor-to-ceiling windows stagnate a layer of fine water droplets on the surface, and the scenery outside the window looks like it has been treated with frosted special effects.The first morning light of winter sneaked through the thick clouds that covered the sky, slipped through the cracks to the earth, and fell on the bare branches.

"Yan, I also watched yesterday's game at home." Aotelia is also an old Dortmund fan. For Yan Jing, a young, humble and polite Chinese, who has been living alone, she has almost regarded him as a My relatives said, "It's a pity. In the end, I almost had a heart attack."

"Ms. Autelia, I have reminded you several times that you must keep Suxiao Jiuxin Pills with you when you watch the game. I guess you forgot it last night."

Yan Jing with a serious face is not joking. Aotelia suffers from a heart disease inherited from her family, which cannot be cured in the hospital for the time being.As a result, her family members all passed away one after another, leaving her alone guarding the small building.

Originally, it was better for heart patients not to watch those highly stimulating programs, but Yan Jing could not ask an old fan who had loved Dortmund for decades not to watch his team's games——Aotelia originally She still wanted to watch the game live, but it was Yan Jing who made her agree to watch live TV at home.

Otria picked up the glass and took a sip of the milk before she smiled and said, "I'll just forget about those medicines when I'm so excited."

After Yan Jing swallowed the bread, he emphasized again: "... Please remember this in the future, Mrs. Autelia, this is not my worry."

And just after the sports news of the game express was broadcast on TV, another piece of news closely related to Dortmund was released at this time.

"In terms of record, now Dortmund has almost reached the bottom - the Champions League qualifiers were eliminated, the UEFA Cup was eliminated in the second round, the FA Cup was also out of the game early, and the Bundesliga is now ranked 6th. And worse still More than that, injuries have plagued almost the entire main team for a long time, and the financial problems that have been plagued by the club have not been alleviated in the new season, but have become more serious..."

Yan Jing and Aotelia stopped eating at the same time, and focused their eyes on the TV screen.

The picture of Dortmund's club general manager Meier frowning deeply under the siege of a bunch of reporters appeared on the screen, and the editor of Premiere TV wrote the supporting subtitle below it: "Burst Dortmund is in deep financial crisis, or tickets income as collateral in exchange for loans.”

"The Bundesliga's traditional powerhouse Dortmund's financial deficit this season is estimated to be at least 5000 million euros, and the high debt has made Dortmund almost no choice. The club manager Meyer had to restart the relationship with the investor Schlei who had been rejected by him. Hitt’s loan negotiation. It is reported that once the negotiation reaches an agreement, Dortmund can get a 1 million loan, the repayment period is 12 years, and the annual interest will be as high as 800 million euros, and Dortmund can only use the ticket revenue as collateral.”

"Although Meyer said in an interview that 'we didn't burn money', someone listed a list of Dortmund's financial expenditures on the Internet-from 1999 to 2003, Dortmund spent 1.2 million euros in transfer fees. The transfer fee of Rosicky, Amoruso, Jan Kohler, the frontcourt attacking triangle is as high as 5000 million euros, not including the signing fee, and the salary of the players is as high as 6800 million euros per year."

"In this regard, the chairman of the supervisory committee, Matner, said in an interview with a reporter from our station that 'I am not interested in any form of mortgage of the future'. The spokesperson of the professional league also warned that 'we are very reluctant to see Go to a club and mortgage your entire future...don't eat up a club's future!'”

The crisp sound of the stainless steel knife and fork colliding with the smooth surface of the porcelain plate echoed in the cold air. Yan Jing and Otria silently stared at the yellow and black BVB09 logo on the TV, not knowing what to talk about.

"Yan, will we go bankrupt? It's like Florence last year..."

Fiorentina, as a veteran team in Italian football, switched to other Serie A clubs after entering 2000. In addition, the club had financial problems in 2001. It was impossible to pay the players' salaries, and the debt was as high as 5. Ten thousand U.S. dollars.

However, at that time, Goli, who was at the top of the team, did not consider the financial situation of the club, but continued to acquire players. In the 2001/02 season, it ranked second in the league and fell to Group B. In July of the same year, because it could not hand over the 7 million US dollars guarantee for participating in Serie B, the team's top management officially submitted a bankruptcy application to the Italian Football Association.

If it weren't for the Italian Football Association's graciousness in seeing that Florence has made a lot of contributions to Serie A over the years, I am afraid they would not even be able to play in the third and second divisions.

Thinking of this, Altria looked much older all of a sudden.Apart from Yan Jing, the Dortmund team has been with her all these years. Whether it is the glory of victory or the tears of failure, she walks with it and will never leave.

She loves Dortmund deeply, and the word Dortmund has long meant more than just a team to Aotelia.

The crispy toast wrapped with sweet English marmalade tasted like chewing wax in Altria's mouth, and every trace of worry was clearly revealed in the deep wrinkles eroded by the years on the corners of her eyes and forehead.

Her trembling voice is as old as an old disc that has been dusty in the record player for several years and then played.

"God, please don't do this to Dortmund..."

Hearing Aotelia's praying murmur, Yan Jing felt very uncomfortable - he had experienced this feeling before when he saw his beloved club in deep financial crisis but he was helpless, and now the club is becoming more and more dignified. He is not unaware of the atmosphere.

"Don't worry too much, Mrs. Autelia, as long as you get through this time, everything will be fine." Yan Jing comforted the old woman, "You should trust Dortmund."

"...You're right." Aotelia sighed and turned off the TV with the remote control panel, and said to Yan Jing with a forced smile, "Oh, it's easy to think too much when you're old... Let's eat quickly, Or it will be cold."

Yan Jing nodded, then randomly picked a piece of bacon, stuffed it into his mouth, chewed it a few times, and then swallowed it, and changed the topic: "Mrs. Aotelia, I have to go out to Frankfurt later."

"What are you going to Frankfurt for?"

"I have signed up for the coach training class organized by the German Football Association before. I heard that this time there will be a well-known coach to teach."

Altria finally looked less worried, she drank all the milk in the glass and shrugged her shoulders.

"Whoever it is, it can't be Beckenbauer anyway, he's busy."