Chapter 45 The Decisive Battle

Norwich will travel to Watford, who are second in the Championship, for the forty-fifth round of the English Championship.

The two sides are only two points apart. If Norwich can beat Watford, they will successfully rise to second place in the league.

A win in the final round will secure direct promotion to the Premier League.

They will no longer participate in the Championship play-offs.

If they lose this game, Watford will secure promotion in advance.

Norwich are guaranteed to play in the play-offs.

This not only introduces uncertainty into their promotion hopes, but also guarantees a distraction from the Europa League.

Even though the Norwich players were mentally prepared, they were shocked by the scene when they walked out of the training ground.

Only by being there in person could they feel the fans' passion and expectations.

Most fans were unable to enter the away stadium to cheer on their team. They could only choose to stay in Norwich and watch the game via livestream.

Today, outside Carrow Road, the crowd was immense.

There were possibly more fans than for a home game.

The street stretched as far as the eye could see.

Perhaps only last season's FA Cup victory parade had seen such a scene.

The fans were there for the Norwich players. They could not be there in person, but their hearts and minds were with the team.

They were always with the team!

They wore gold home jerseys and held Norwich team flags in their hands. Many fans had painted the team's logo on their faces.

When the Norwich players appeared, passionate cheers rose and swelled, wave after wave.

The entire stadium perimeter and nearby streets were filled with a deafening roar, infecting Zhao Gang's emotions.

He felt an urge to cry.

From the crowd, the sound of powerful, rhythmic drums echoed.

"Norwich!"

"Victory!"

"Hu~ Ha!"

"Norwich!"

"Champions!!"

A hoarse, unified, and high-pitched roar.

Filled all the players with strength, as if they had become giants capable of lifting mountains.

That was the power of the fans' passion.

They shouted abuse, they cheered until they were exhausted.

Whether disappointed or in pain, they never left.

When the team was in a slump, they could still fill the entire Carrow Road stadium, amid shouts of anger.

When Norwich marched forward with their heads held high, they were more excited and passionate than all the players, amidst the passionate cheers.

"Maybe you should say something," Hilo whispered, leaning close to Zhao Gang.

Zhao Gang listened to the fans' songs and shook his head.

He would.

But not now.

The team bus slowly left through the crowd.

The fans' cheers gradually subsided, but their expectations and enthusiasm followed the team to Vicarage Road.

Zhao Gang looked at his teammates.

Even someone as reserved as him felt excited and his blood rushing.

What about these guys?

Their faces were full of excitement and enthusiasm.

And an unparalleled determination.

"Victory," Zhao Gang's steady voice sounded in the quiet bus.

"Victory!!!!" Instantly, passionate roars echoed throughout the bus.

In the distance, countless fans held flags and ran after the bus for a long way.

The Dragon Country Sports Daily had the broadcasting rights to the English Championship.

The scene of the bustling crowd outside Carrow Road was broadcast live.

This was supposed to be an appetizer, but it made the fans watching boil with excitement.

When they heard the bright and uplifting songs, and heard the fans shout that word in unison, their bodies trembled.

In the past, these fans would only hear fans shouting the names of players like Messi.

They would also be infected by that emotion.

Now, they finally heard the name of their own countryman.

Amidst the excitement, there was a deep sense of pride and honor.

"Norwich has Zhao Gang!! But Zhao Gang is ours!!! Haha..."/

"A Championship team has this kind of atmosphere, this kind of cohesion, what about us?"

"I don't know about others, but if my team had Zhao Gang, we wouldn't be worse than Norwich!"

"I'm really tearing up, and this isn't even for the championship, it's just a fight for a direct promotion spot. If... if they make it to the Europa League final, what will the scene be like!"

"I really hope Zhao Gang can lead Norwich to win the Europa League! What kind of shock and emotion will that be??"

"Will Zhao Gang come back to lead the national team???"

"..."

"Damn it, I'm touched, can you not ask such stupid questions???"

"That's right, I was crying with emotion, now I'm crying with sadness."

"If Zhao Gang can lead the national team into the World Cup, we will definitely be more crazy and intense than the Norwich fans!!"

"Alas..."

Fulham had already secured the Championship title.

The match between Norwich and Watford had become the biggest highlight of the Championship.

So the Sports Daily specially launched a program.

The Road to Promotion.

The nominal protagonist was Norwich. The host even introduced Norwich's century-old history in a somewhat hypocritical way.

As well as the origin of the team emblem, team song, and team nickname.

Even the names of the team's current head coach and players.

For a full fifteen or sixteen minutes.

Some fans almost cursed until they had a brain hemorrhage.

Finally, the host finished introducing all of this, and seemed relieved.

"Norwich has always been a strong team in the Championship, but at the beginning of this season, because the team's forwards left or were injured, they reached a point where no one was available.

They once struggled in the relegation zone."

"But as head coach Farke showed his keen eye and signed Zhao Gang, who was kicked out of Manchester United's youth academy, the team's attack underwent a qualitative change, and the players had sufficient confidence. The dark clouds were swept away.

Norwich then became a promotion favorite again.

According to later media interviews, Zhao Gang's debut was not trusted. Whether it was the team's senior management or fans, they were full of suspicion and even hostility towards this Dragon Country teenager.

His teammates were also not optimistic. Only Farke had full trust in Zhao Gang.

And Zhao Gang also repaid the coach's trust with his super-god performance, and won the recognition of his teammates and the love of the fans.

The mentor-student relationship between Farke and Zhao Gang is indeed moving.

In his first game, Zhao Gang set an amazing record, coming off the bench and scoring four goals. Afterwards, he was unstoppable.

He led the team to an amazing sixteen-game winning streak.

With the return of the team's main striker Hilo, Zhao Gang retreated to midfield. Many people thought he might lose his way, but he used his extraordinary creativity to make Norwich's forward line the most powerful attack group in the entire Championship.

Now, under the leadership of Zhao Gang, Norwich has long since escaped the relegation zone, and their goal is to directly enter the Premier League.

Moreover, they defeated Serie A powerhouse Atalanta at home in the Europa League semi-finals, and have a great chance of entering the Europa League final!

All of this is like a fairy tale, but it really happened!

Maybe one day, Zhao Gang will leave to pursue his own higher dreams.

But this story will be talked about, and this legend will be passed down from generation to generation!

The Norwich fans will always remember, remember that super genius, who came to Carrow Road during Norwich's lowest period, saved the team, and saved the people of Norwich!

Zhao Gang!

His value on Transfermarkt has exceeded 30 million euros, and Chelsea has even offered 45 million pounds to take him away.

He is Norwich's hope, Norwich's king, and also the pride of our Dragon Country, and the light of our football!

Today's game is the most important game of the entire Championship league for Norwich.

If they win, they are very likely to directly enter the Premier League and have more energy to face the upcoming Europa League games!

Once they lose, they will fall into the promotion play-offs, competing with the other five teams for the last promotion spot, and will face extremely cruel and difficult play-offs.

It will also greatly affect their Europa League games!

I hope that today, with our common witness, Zhao Gang can lead Norwich to defeat the strong enemy as always!"

...

When Norwich arrived at Vicarage Road, they faced a completely different scene.

It really was heaven or hell.

This game was also crucial for Watford.

Moreover, in the first match between the two teams, Watford was beaten black and blue by Norwich, then led by Zhao Gang.

Therefore, the away fans were full of great hostility towards Norwich and Zhao Gang.

"You just wait to lose! We won't be like other Championship teams and let you off easily!!"

"You will fail on all fronts! You will fall into the play-offs and then be eliminated! You will continue to play in the Championship next season! You will be overtaken by Atalanta! In the end, you will have nothing!!!"

"We will kick your asses into bloom!"

"Zhao! Go back with failure!!!"

"Zhao! Join England, Dragon Country's football is finished! You won't have any national team honors!"

"England will bring you the Ballon d'Or!!! In Dragon Country, you can't even see the taillights of the Ballon d'Or!!"

These words, of course, were intended to affect Zhao Gang's mentality.

"Norwich can't keep Zhao, Zhao is leaving! Without Zhao, Hilo, you won't be able to score a single goal!!"

"Ospina is a waste, without Zhao, he can only play as a center back!!"

...

Even now, when their relationship was quite strong, Ospina was indeed agitated when he heard these words.

Hilo was different.

He was particularly excited when he heard these angry trash talkers. When the game started, he would score two goals and put his hand to his ear, giving you two "Wo Wo," see what you would shout then.

Pre-match press conference.

Watford's coach spoke frankly to the media.

"Norwich has indeed shown strong combat power, but their personnel have not changed much.

They relied on their strong fighting spirit to win the game, but from a technical point of view, our strength far exceeds them. We have excellent players in every position, and we are stronger than Norwich in every position!!

We will use this game to prove that Watford is far stronger than Norwich!!"

"Before, we were a little careless and lost to a well-prepared Swansea. This led to some difficulties for the team.

But this time we will not make any mistakes."

These words were naturally told to Farke at the press conference by the media.

This time, Zhao Gang took the initiative to give the position to Hilo.

Because he knew clearly that it was very likely that they would have to argue this time.

He was not good at it.

Hilo was!

Sure enough, hearing these words, Farke turned to look at Hilo.

Hilo took the microphone.

"We have indeed never been favored. We have lost many games, but in our lowest ebb, it was precisely Watford who brought us confidence.

If it weren't for them, we wouldn't have known we were so strong.

So in a sense, we still have to thank Watford for the warmth they sent.

We know clearly that the words at the press conference are all fake. I believe that this time, the Watford players are also ready, ready to send us directly to the Premier League.

Otherwise, how could they lose to Swansea in such a crucial game?

Oh, right, Swansea must have also discussed it with them, first win against Watford, then lose to us.

Otherwise, how could they lose to us after being able to defeat the excellent Watford?"