Chapter 377: Derby on christmas eve
"How to evaluate Wang Feng? I'm afraid everyone has heard too many words of praise, such as powerful, outstanding technique, magical kid, on par with legends, and so on. What I want to say is special. Throughout the history of football, I'm afraid it's hard to find a second player like him!"
"Just awarded the FIFA President's Special Award, three-time World Cup champion, football king Pelé said so, and he was interviewed by the British Broadcasting Corporation BBC."
"His rise was too rapid. At 16, he became the mainstay of a top Belgian league team. At 17, he won the league cup and was the top scorer. At 18, he entered the stage of the five major leagues. At 19, he lifted the Champions League trophy and was the top scorer."
"Such a career experience is unprecedented. It's probably hard for future players to replicate. Therefore, it seems that he spans two eras, able to compete with players like Zidane, Ronaldo, etc., and also surpassing newcomers like Kaká, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Messi."
"His uniqueness not only lies here but also in his physique and luck. Looking at Wang Feng's career, he has never been troubled by injuries. Lady Luck seems to have always favored him, allowing him to continue to dominate football."
"Of course, these external factors only determine the player's floor. It's their own efforts that determine the ceiling, and Wang Feng happens to be a hardworking person."
"From his debut to now, it's hard to see any scandalous news about him, only focused practice, and more practice. I admit that this kind of life is boring and may not be suitable for all players, but at least for Wang Feng, his hard work has paid off."
"I noticed him very early on, so I can see that compared to a few years ago, Wang Feng's technique has made a qualitative leap, which is the result of training."
"Football king and World Cup honors? This kind of evaluation is somewhat unfair. Wang Feng single-handedly led the Chinese team to the World Cup semi-finals. I believe if he were in a football powerhouse, he would have won the World Cup trophy effortlessly. This is not a baseless speculation."
"In my mind, he is already a football king, and I believe my old buddy Maradona would agree with this view."
"This year's FIFA World Player selection also has a controversy, that is, Messi ranked ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo, and even Pelé himself made a big mistake, but he couldn't help but defend his South American compatriot."
" Messi's talent is almost overflowing. He is so young and talented. It's understandable that coaches and captains from various countries prefer him a bit."
"Both he and Cristiano Ronaldo are leading figures among the new generation of stars. I think we can have fewer meaningless arguments and work together towards the distant Wang Feng is the right way."
Pelé's interview caused a huge response worldwide, with countless media outlets reprinting it. When Wang Feng surpassed the record to win the Ballon d'Or and the FIFA World Player Award for the fourth time, it meant that the football world was undergoing earth-shaking changes.
Various disputes over historical status, the battle for the football king, emerged endlessly. People seem very keen on ranking players, comparing current players with past stars, and even spawning two distinct camps: "ancient blow" and "modern football intensity theory."
But all of this has nothing to do with Wang Feng. He remains humble and maintains his own pace. After the awards ceremony, he returned to Madrid the next day to start training, declining more interview requests.
Everything is just for the Centennial Derby on Christmas Eve. The Galaxy battleship will face Barcelona at the Bernabéu, and on the day before the match, Wang Feng will show his Ballon d'Or trophy and FIFA World Player trophy to all fans.
So this game must not be lost. Otherwise, both the club and Wang Feng will lose face. Although Barcelona's league performance has been very poor this season, the forms of Messi, Eto'o, and Henry are gradually improving. They will not easily give up the opportunity to strike Real Madrid.
At La Masia Training Base in the center of Barcelona, the Barcelona players are preparing intensively for the Centennial Derby. Iniesta said to Messi, who had just returned to the team, "I heard that Real Madrid will celebrate Wang Feng's double title before the next round of matches. Let's take the spotlight away from them at the Bernabéu and avenge you for missing the trophy."
Messi nodded, but then shook his head and said, "Wang Feng deserves this award, and I'm far from it yet. But we can indeed strike at Real Madrid, especially when they are exhausted from continuous battles."
Captain Puyol also stood up to cheer for his teammates, "Yes, think about the humiliation Wang Feng left us with. Now is a good opportunity for revenge!" Everyone nodded, especially Iniesta. Wang Feng's injury to him was too deep.
Henry, who didn't understand Spanish very well, could tell from the atmosphere that he should stand up against Real Madrid with everyone else. His performance this season was not outstanding, and he hadn't adapted to the La Liga environment quickly enough as a newcomer.
However, the young coach Guardiola trusted him very much and gave the Frenchman a high tactical position. Henry was very grateful and wanted to contribute to the team.
Before the Centennial Derby, Real Madrid still had a Copa del Rey match to play. Their opponent was Alacantano from Segunda Division B, and it was an away game.
Head coach Schuster repeated his tactics, letting the assistant coach lead the substitute lineup to compete, leaving the main lineup to train and rest well in Madrid. They couldn't afford to be tossed around everywhere.
Nevertheless, the Galaxy battleship still won 2-1 against Alacantano, even though the substitute players' strength was still stronger than that of the Segunda Division B team.
As the Centennial Derby approached, the team led by Guardiola finally arrived in Madrid. After checking in at the hotel, they immediately started closed-door training without accepting any media interviews or paying attention to the enthusiastic Real Madrid fans outside the hotel.
Because the match was on Christmas Eve night, the scale of the audience was unprecedentedly large. Many citizens on vacation chose to watch the game as entertainment, and then celebrate Christmas with like-minded companions in bars or restaurants.
Tickets for the event were always insufficient, and this time, they were even sold at a sky-high price of 4000 euros, leaving many spectators astonished. In order not to disappoint enthusiastic fans, La Liga decided to cooperate with cinema chains to broadcast the game on the big screen.
This was definitely a new attempt. More than seventy cinemas nationwide were very interested and agreed to allocate precious Christmas slots for the game. Therefore, everyone could enjoy the high-definition game on the big screen, and at the same time, the commentary sound quality would be excellent, giving people a strong audio-visual impact.
Of course, traditional TV broadcasts would not be neglected either. According to statistics, the audience rating for the Centennial Derby is increasing year by year. Due to the direct confrontation between Wang Feng, the world's number one, and Messi, the gifted, more and more people around the world are becoming interested in the game.
The Asian region is needless to say, the overall audience share of La Liga is increasing, and for this reason, the league has specially discussed the timing of the matches, planning to hold some matches in the afternoon to better accommodate Asian fans' time.
Europe and South America are also paying special attention. What's even more surprising is that in a country like the United States, which doesn't value football much, there is also nearly tens of millions of viewership.
These people seem to not care who wins or loses, nor are they die-hard fans of a certain person or team. They just want to see heavyweight matches, the strong dialogue between superstars.
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