Welcome to Sao Paulo

If Europe's Premier League counted as devil-tier, then Brazil's clubs could only be called demon-king tier—or hell tier.

Brazil's domestic top flight began in late May every year, but in less than seven short months, they had to play all 38 league rounds, with continental cup matches wedged in between.

So before May, were these teams on vacation?

Of course not!

If that were really the case, Brazil never would have produced so many football geniuses.

Because Brazil was vast, and football clubs were as numerous as fish in a river, every state in Brazil also had its own state competition.

Take Sao Paulo State, for example. It had the Campeonato Paulista, where every year 16 teams were split into four groups for home-and-away matches.

These matches started in January every year and ended in May, right before the league began.

So Brazil's football clubs had it far rougher than Premier League teams.

The key was that their income was several levels lower, too. That was also why Brazilian players would rack their brains trying to get to Europe to play football.

But to be honest, the intensity of Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A matches was still far behind Europe's. Most matches were basically slow and leisurely, the kind that made people want to doze off.

If they all played at the intensity of European clubs, then with Brazil's clubs' packed schedules, most players would probably spend much of the year injured.

The Copa Libertadores was somewhat similar to Europe's Champions League, but also somewhat different.

What was the same was that the group stage had eight groups, with the top two advancing, and the knockout rounds were the same as well.

What was different was that from the group stage to the knockout-stage draw, there was no rule saying teams from the same country had to avoid each other.

The match between Sao Paulo and Atletico Mineiro was precisely the final clash of the group stage.

As luck would have it, Sao Paulo had only picked up 4 points and sat second, level on points with the third-placed Argentine side Arsenal de Sarandi.

Atletico Mineiro, meanwhile, had taken 15 points, locking up first place early and qualifying ahead of time.

So, in this match, with no deep hatred between the two teams...

Sao Paulo ultimately won the match 2–0, qualifying hand in hand with their good buddies from the same country, Atletico Mineiro.

What was more, the first goal came only after Sao Paulo had attacked for ages without breaking through, when future comrade Aloisio won a penalty in the second half, finally breaking the deadlock.

A fixed match?

Yes and no!

Football was not all fighting and killing. Football was one relationship after another!

Bang...! Bang...!

At eight in the morning, the sound of footballs being struck at Sao Paulo's training base carried a long way.

In Brazil, most clubs trained quite late. Some started after ten in the morning, some even waited until the afternoon, and their daily working hours were at most only around four or five hours, with actual training time only about two hours.

Coming to the training pitch this early to play football was truly very rare.

In a security dormitory not far from the base entrance, an uncle of around fifty was woken by the noise. He opened his eyes and rubbed them, but there was no anger on his face. Instead, he revealed a long-lost smile. "Two years... My alarm clock is finally back..."

On the training pitch, Chen Anno, dressed in training gear, was practicing set pieces. This was the task the head coach had given him yesterday, and in truth, he himself wanted to improve his set-piece technique as quickly as possible.

Added a bookshelf grouping function. Multiple books can be added into groups (categories). After using it, if you big shots have any suggestions, you can put them forward, and we'll make further changes.

Every movement the teenager made sent his fine black hair flying, sweat flinging a few droplets into the air with the swing of his hair.

Chen Anno possessed unparalleled talent. Not only did others know this, he himself was also very clear on it.

In Brazil, he had seen and heard of countless geniuses, but those who could truly make it and cash in on their talent were few and far between.

So Chen Anno never relied on how good his talent was and squandered it. On the contrary, he worked harder than the vast majority of players.

From the day he entered Sao Paulo at the age of seven, he had been the hardest-working player in the entire club. Anyone who had worked at the club for a long time knew this very clearly.

Football training was an extremely monotonous thing, but Chen Anno never tired of it.

Again and again, he swung his leg. Again and again, he kicked the ball out, until he had finished striking all fifteen footballs on the pitch, then went to pick them back up and repeated the process nonstop.

"Hey...! Kid, coming to the training ground this early—are you trying to steal the jobs of us old guys?"

After no one knew how long, and after Chen Anno had already rested several rounds, figures finally began appearing on the training pitch.

Chen Anno turned back and saw two players in the same training gear standing behind him. He knew both of them. One was the Brazil team's big brother, Lucio, and the other was Denilson.

Of course, this Denilson was not the Denilson known as the Samba Dancer. Although that Denilson had also come from Sao Paulo, he had already retired several years ago.

In any case, in Brazil, repeated names were all too common.

The Denilson now before Chen Anno might not have been as famous as that record-signing Denilson back then, but in the eyes of their batch of academy players, this senior was just as impressive.

Because in Chen Anno's first year in Sao Paulo's academy, he had grown up constantly hearing this senior's name.

Denilson, born in 1988, had been the captain of Brazil's youth teams from the U15 Youth Team to U19.

He had also spent five years playing for Premier League giants Arsenal. Unfortunately, injuries ruined this all-round midfielder.

Impressions of the two seniors flashed quickly through his mind, but Chen Anno showed not the slightest timidity. He raised an eyebrow and said, "Truly impressive seniors are always examples for us young players. Only old men who lost their drive to fight long ago would worry about being overtaken by us."

At this point, Chen Anno paused, then looked at Lucio, who had spoken just now. "So, Lucio, which type are you?"

Hearing Chen Anno's words, both of them were visibly stunned.

"Hahaha... You're not bad, kid. Pretty interesting." The Brazilian captain laughed, a hint of amusement in his eyes. "As for which type I am, you'll find out slowly in the future."

"Welcome aboard, Anno." Denilson smiled and reached out to Chen Anno.

"Thank you, Denilson." Chen Anno also extended his right hand. "Back when I first joined Sao Paulo's youth academy, aside from Kaka, yours was the name I heard the most."

Just then, Sao Paulo's first-team players began appearing on the pitch one after another. Under the sunlight, everyone was chatting and laughing.

Clap, clap, clap...

Once the players were more or less all there, head coach Ramalho arrived with his coaching staff.

"All right, guys, come over here. Gather around me..."

After the players had lined up, Ramalho called Chen Anno to his side and patted him on the shoulder.

"This is Anno Chen. I'm sure some of you are already very familiar with him. He came up properly through Sao Paulo's youth academy. Starting today, Anno will join the first team and fight alongside us.

"Lucio, you're the senior player. I'll leave Anno to you. I hope you can help him integrate into the team as quickly as possible."

"Yes, sir. No problem." Lucio nodded.

"Okay. Today's training is still very simple. In a moment, follow Milton for warm-ups first, then we'll do a five-on-five scrimmage. Go on..."

"Anno, wait a moment..." Just as Chen Anno turned to follow his teammates for warm-ups, Ramalho stopped him.