After signing with AC Milan, I will be the king of football!

”Go Madrid, go Madrid, nobility and dignity...”

The game restarted.

The referee blew the whistle for the halftime break.

Ramos ran up and walked back with Huang Kaiwen.

At the sidelines, Capello handed over a towel, his trembling hand grabbing Huang Kaiwen’s arm and said, ”Kevin, maybe you shouldn’t play the second half.”

”Don’t worry, coach. I’m fine.”

Huang Kaiwen said with a smile.

He still wanted to keep Rome scoreless today; if he left the field now, Real Madrid would definitely concede a goal.

Rome’s attack wasn’t weak at all, Totti and the others were in a state that could compete in the UEFA Champions League. Real Madrid’s defenses, being disjointed, couldn’t possibly hold them off.

”Kevin...”

Capello clutched Huang Kaiwen’s arm, refusing to let go.

Huang Kaiwen was also a bit troubled.

The coach was maybe worrying too much.

Huang Kaiwen could only assure Capello, ”I’ll try not to slide-tackle in the second half, and I’ll make my defensive moves smaller.”

”Then let’s do that,”

Capello sighed as he spoke.

He really regretted letting Huang Kaiwen play midfield; with the situation as it was, he wanted to make a substitution, but Huang Kaiwen might not be willing to come off.

Back in the locker room.

The Real Madrid players could hear Totti’s furious roar.

That competitive guy must be trying to pump up his teammates’ spirits.

”You heard it, even with a lead, we can’t relax; Rome’s forward line is threatening,”

Capello said seriously, ”I want to emphasize once more, and that is defense, defense, and more defense. I’m very unsatisfied with your performance in the first half, and if you don’t want extra training...”

”Burp!”

A sudden noise arose in the locker room, interrupting Capello’s speech.

”Burp, burp, burp...”

Miguel Torres covered his mouth in panic, his eyes welling up with tears; he was about to cry!

He almost got dropped from the team last time he annoyed Capello.

If it hadn’t been for so many injuries in the first team, he would have had a hard time getting a chance to start.

Now that he had interrupted Capello again, Torres felt that he should go to church this weekend to ask the priest whether he had offended something.

Capello, although displeased,

was after all a coach in his sixties and understood such things.

Hiccups weren’t something one could control.

”Let’s continue, defense wins championships, and I demand that you focus on defense, and...”

”Burp!!!”

Torres, who had been suppressing it all this while, let out an even louder burp.

With his hand over his mouth, Torres wept with frightened tears.

”Hahaha...”

With Cassano’s laughter, the Real Madrid locker room was filled with a merry atmosphere.

Though Torres was in a miserable state, it was really quite funny.

The team’s invisible man managed to upset Capello due to an uncontrollable force; even Raul joined in the laughter.

Capello himself shook his head helplessly; he couldn’t just demote Torres to the reserve team for hiccupping, could he? What then, if next time someone farted?

From Huang Kaiwen’s left, Higuain said with a sinister tone, ”In Argentina, there’s a saying that hiccupping a hundred times means you’ll die.”

”Stop scaring him, Gonzalo,”

Huang Kaiwen said with a laugh.

How could one believe such urban myths?

”I’ve heard that too.”

Salgado nodded and said, ”I’ve heard the old folks say that before.”

Miguel Torres’ eyes widened with terror.

In his memory, this quiet big brother never lied.

”Burp, burp...burp!”

The more frightened he was, the more he couldn’t help but hiccup.

”82 times,” Cassano suddenly said.

”You’re really so bored you count other people’s hiccups?” Ramos said.

”I’m just curious when he’ll stop,” Cassano said.

Actually, he just really liked to do these kinds of strange things.

Because of the urban legend that ”hiccupping 100 times will kill you,” everyone in the locker room became interested.

Even Raul, who didn’t stare for the sake of his captain’s authority, would sneak peeks out of the corner of his eye.

Heart extremely fearful, Miguel Torres felt very nervous being scrutinized, but the hiccups still did not stop.

”97, 98!” Cassano counted aloud.

Torres, covering his mouth, hiccupped again.

”We should head out,” Galbiati reminded.

”Wait a second, let’s see the outcome!” Capello said subconsciously before quickly shutting his mouth.

These weren’t words he should be saying.

Torres’ face turned dark; he never expected the usually serious coach to also wait and see him die.

To survive, Torres held his breath fiercely, his young face turning red with the effort.

Huang Kaiwen found it all very amusing.

Europeans have many little superstitions too, but generally not about life or death, after all, those are hard to prove.

Like breaking a mirror brings bad luck, not to open an umbrella indoors, and legends about four-leaf clovers.

The locker room was silent.

Most people were waiting to watch the show.

Torres, his face turning from red to purple, couldn’t help it and opened his mouth to hiccup.

”Burp...”

”100 times, and damn it, the guy is fine,” Cassano said disappointedly.

”Pay up, don’t deny it!” Ramos grabbed Cassano and said.

”Hmph, I’ll give it to you after the game is over,” Cassano replied.

”Let’s go, it’s time to get on the field,” Raul said, waving his hand.

The Real Madrid players who watched the scene dispersed from the locker room, now with another topic to talk about with their girlfriends when they got home.

...

After the start of the second half, Rome still attacked desperately.

Huang Kaiwen kept giving orders on the defense line, making this defense line lacking understanding run smoothly.

With his frequent covering, Rome still couldn’t find any chances.

In the 69th minute, an impetuous Totti started to go it alone, taking the ball in midfield and performing a one-two with Perrotta before charging straight at Real Madrid’s center with the ball, without any intention to pass to his teammates.

Amidst the encirclement of three players, Totti used his body to its utmost, combined with his footwork to break out of the encirclement successfully, his dribble evaded Pepe’s sliding tackle but, unfortunately, Ramos managed to poke the ball behind Totti.