"The 2018-2019 UEFA Champions League is about to begin!"
"Fans, you are now watching the draw for this season's Champions League group stage."
"Legendary women's soccer player Marta has been invited to conduct the draw, which shows UEFA's determination to develop the women's game."
Marta, the legendary Brazilian women's player, stood before the draw bowl in an elegant evening gown.
Next, she and the staff would draw the teams and decide the group-stage matchups for the new Champions League season.
Every major club had organized for its players to watch.
At Liverpool's cafeteria, as usual, everyone was allowed in.
"If you ask me, they should just draw Barcelona and Real Madrid into our group too. Turn it into one huge brawl. Even if we get knocked out, we'd still get plenty of attention."
Firmino mumbled through a mouthful of chicken drumstick. Beside him, Leo Lin took the chance to steal Firmino's boiled egg.
Rodri saw it clearly and kept making faces at Leo Lin. The meaning was obvious. If Leo Lin did not give him half the egg, he would expose him.
"Firmino, could you at least have some common sense?"
"Real Madrid and Barcelona can't be drawn together, and they can't be drawn with us either. Pot 1 teams can only be placed in groups with teams from the other pots."
As they were talking, Marta drew Liverpool from Pot 1 and placed them in Group A.
The players unconsciously stopped eating. Next, the other teams would be drawn into Group A, forming Liverpool's group-stage opponents.
"The second team drawn into Group A is from Ligue 1, Paris Saint-Germain."
Firmino's hand, which had been searching around his plate for his egg, froze. His eyes fixed on the draw result.
Paris Saint-Germain, the strongest team in Pot 2, had very fortunately been drawn into the same group as Liverpool.
Leo Lin could not help remembering the pain he had suffered during last season's group-stage draw at the hands of Firmino's predecessor, Kaká.
Then he thought back to Firmino's earlier talk about some grand clash of strong teams, and suddenly regretted stealing his egg.
He should have saved that egg for Firmino to press against his eyes, because Leo Lin was planning to give him two huge black eyes later.
"Firmino, from now on, you don't need to come to draws anymore."
Zubizarreta sighed with a bitter smile beside them.
Marta continued the draw. The third team, Napoli from Serie A, was drawn into Liverpool's group, while the fourth team was the comparatively weaker Red Star Belgrade.
With that, the group-stage draw came to an end. Apart from Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool's draw was fairly good.
Napoli had not yet recovered the peak form they once had, the kind of strength that had allowed them to win Serie A when it was known as the little World Cup.
The only team Liverpool truly needed to watch out for was Paris Saint-Germain, because they had a luxury front three.
On the left wing was the Brazilian dancer Neymar. On the right wing was Mbappé, the World Cup runner-up who had shone so brightly. At center Forward was Cavani, the efficient finisher who was known for his ballet-like movement.
With the Champions League draw complete, Liverpool were about to enter a three-front campaign, since the EFL Cup was also about to begin. Liverpool began preparing more tactical plans to make sure they could handle multiple competitions.
That night, after the draw ended, Leo Lin rode home in Firmino's sports car. Rodri also hitched a ride, and the group chatted happily in the car.
"We should get Barnett to host a barbecue feast," Rodri suggested.
Everyone agreed at once. Rodri immediately called his wife and asked her to take the barbecue ingredients to Barnett's house first.
They were chatting casually and were just about to enter the luxury residential area when Rodri's phone suddenly rang.
On the other end came his wife's panicked voice. Laura Iglesias sounded rather tense.
"Rodri, someone's causing trouble at Barnett's house!"
The moment those words were spoken, Firmino slammed down on the accelerator and raced toward Barnett's home.
As soon as Leo Lin got out of the car, he heard the fierce argument coming from the courtyard.
He quickly entered through the gate. Barnett was confronting Gitana, while Delores stood with her back to the door, shielding the entrance and refusing to let Gitana inside.
Not only had Gitana, whom Leo Lin had driven away last time, returned, he had even brought seven or eight thugs with him.
"If you have any memory at all."
Leo Lin was furious. He nearly spoke through gritted teeth.
"If you have any memory at all, you should remember that last time, I told you very clearly not to show up at Barnett's house again."
"But you couldn't do that."
The reason Gitana dared to come this time was because he had brought six friends with him.
He had thought that with such a large group, he could at least scare Leo Lin off. He also knew his father was soft-hearted enough that he would never allow bodyguards to lay a hand on him.
But the anger burning in Leo Lin's eyes, together with Firmino and Rodri behind him, both cracking their knuckles, made the three of them look intimidating enough just standing there. The pressure from their physiques alone forced Gitana's friends to keep backing away, let alone actually fight.
One minute later, the thugs had been thrown outside the courtyard gate by Leo Lin.
"I'm going to sue you."
Leo Lin suddenly spoke.
"Maybe I can't sue you, but those friends around you? I'll sue every single one of them, one by one. If you dare come here again, I promise I won't hold back like this."
"Laura recorded everything just now."
"I'll sue them for trespassing. I'll sue them for malicious assault. I'll sue them until they're bankrupt. And all of it will be because of you."
"If you don't want me to do that, Gitana, I'll say this one last time. Don't let me see you again."
"Whether it's at Barnett's home, near Barnett, or at Barnett's company, don't ever let me see you again."
Gitana fled in panic.
Perhaps those so-called friends did not matter that much to him, but it was obvious that if he dared to let them get sued, these bad friends of his would not go easy on him afterward either.
Leo Lin had used a double threat to stop Gitana from trespassing at Barnett's house again.
Vivian had been protecting Delores the whole time. Only after the danger was over did she finally let out a breath.
She smiled and waved at Leo Lin. Before Leo Lin could respond, Firmino immediately stepped forward, smoothed his hair, and gracefully held out a hand.
"Hello, Vivian."
"People call me Prince Charming."
"My name is Firmino."
A moment later.
Barnett: "Ugh!"
Rodri: "Ugh!"
Laura: "Ugh!"
Only Vivian blushed, then timidly reached out her hand.
"Hello. We've talked on the phone for so long, and now we finally meet."
Leo Lin froze.
"So this is called..."
"Love!"