Four Chinese fans had a day they will never forget as they walked out of the tunnel with their heroes at the recent Premier League Asia Trophy.
Passionate supporters for each of the four clubs playing in the tournament - Manchester City, Newcastle United, West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers - were chosen to be Budweiser Caddies for the finals day in Shanghai, China on Saturday 20 July, having won a nationwide competition by explaining why they are their club's biggest fan.
As caddies for the Official Beer Partner of the Premier League, they presented the Budweiser coin to referee Craig Pawson. They also walked behind the starting XI of the teams as they came out for the day's matches in the No 12 shirt of their favourite club, showing the supporters' role as the "12th player".
Newcastle's third/fourth-place playoff with West Ham gave Wang, a former student in Newcastle who idolises Alan Shearer, and He Yiyi, an amputee footballer and visitor to the Hammers' training ground in 2017, a chance to meet their heroes.
After that, Bao, a former student in Wolverhampton and founder of a supporters' group in Shanghai, and Zhou, a die-hard Sergio Aguero fan who learned Spanish before meeting the striker at a match last year, joined Wolves and Man City ahead of the final as they were met by a packed crowd in Shanghai's Hongkou Stadium.
"I feel that as a fan, I have reached the highlight of my life," Bao said. "This feeling cannot be expressed in words.
"It went so fast, I still feel like I'm dreaming, it's incredible!"
Zhou added: "It feels like a dream for me too. It's amazing, too amazing!"
