Chapter 163: Chapter 162: Go and Become Their King
The journalists from Financial World Newspaper could almost decisively assert at this moment, Deng Kai had won!
He defeated the Horn Newspaper.
As a competitor, although the revelation would tarnish the entire reputation of Argentina, Financial World Newspaper could take this opportunity to strike at the Horn Newspaper and then conquer and plunder.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take down an old rival!
At worst, they could issue an apology on behalf of the nation to Deng Kai afterward.
They even wanted to thank Deng Kai for the immense benefits they had discreetly snatched away.
Thus, the most explosive football news of the year in Argentina was born.
"I am Lionel Messi—the first beneficiary of the Deng Kai Youth Football Foundation!"
Boom!
Thunder roared!
The Argentinean football world was dumbfounded.
The news spread quickly to the European football circles, with all major media scrambling to report it.
This had more twists and turns than the super IP movie "Star Wars Prequel" released in North America before this summer.
"It was him! The fan sponsored by Deng Kai turned out to be the Argentinean youngster with the most natural football sense in history!"
"Fan stronger than the idol series! Messi admits he was sponsored by Deng Kai, enjoys watching him play, and is moved by his spirit!"
"A colossal blunder! The player the Argentinean media used to question Deng Kai turned out to be the very player Deng Kai sponsored!"
"The strongest face-slapping! Messi reveals his social media account, he is a die-hard fan of Lisboa Sport’s player Deng Kai!"
"Why did Deng Kai prefer to be doubted by the whole world rather than reveal Messi’s name? The heartwarming reason behind it!"
"Growth hormone deficiency! Messi reveals his condition to clear the air for his idol Deng Kai!"
"What kind of idols have such fans! Deng Kai endures slander and doubt alone, not exposing Messi’s growth hormone deficiency, while Messi cuts off his path in football to help clear Deng Kai’s name!"
"What is growth hormone deficiency? Messi’s future height might well be under 1.6 meters!"
"The exorbitant medical costs! Messi’s family couldn’t afford it, and the club chose to give up, but Deng Kai from a thousand miles away sent lifeline money!"
"Messi’s father: I’d rather Messi’s father were Maradona, because that way we wouldn’t have to worry about his medical expenses. We had already given up on treatment, but Deng Kai’s aid helped us."
"Deng Kai: Messi truly is a genius, but I wish the Horn Newspaper would solve his plight before using him to attack me. After the news from the Horn Newspaper came out, so many people praised Messi, but did anyone really care about him, really pay attention to him? Is this how you Argentineans treat your own heroes? Such things will never happen in Portugal and China!"
KO!
All the theories of the Horn Newspaper were built on the assertions Deng Kai did not sponsor Argentinean players and Messi was far superior to Deng Kai.
But now... Messi himself had invalidated both of these points.
Financial World Newspaper began to act as another voice within Argentina, to reflect—or rather, to set things right.
They represented the broader view of the Argentinean people, and offered Deng Kai their most sincere apologies.
They also made separate donations of twenty thousand euros to both the "Deng Kai Youth Football Foundation" and to Messi personally.
They publicly condemned the Argentinians who had initially fought over Deng Kai’s seat, causing them to fall into disrepute.
It’s reported that those who fought for the seats were even bagged and beaten more than once in their own hometowns.
Because they had brought shame to Argentina.
Some of them had even received death threats, and even though the police later confirmed them as jokes, this was enough to illustrate the harsh living environment they were in.
Their lives might well have been terribly changed forever because of this incident.
The Horn Newspaper thus lost its credibility within the country and its sales were cut in half.
It wasn’t just one month, but three consecutive months that revenues were halved!
A conflict over seating sparked a huge dispute, which brought an international newspaper to the brink of closure.
It even cemented the impression in Europe and Asia that "Argentinians are irrationally rude and lack manners."
The loss was considerable.
In Argentina, initially, some criticized Messi, believing his actions had emboldened outsiders.
But after Maradona said, "Messi did the right thing" and "Seeing Messi is like seeing a young version of myself," the public relations crisis surrounding Messi was resolved.
However, a very real problem was laid out before him.
That was because of his stepping forward, his "dwarfism" became known to everyone in the world.
Even if he took growth hormones, theoretically, he could only grow to a maximum height of one meter seventy.
A shadow was cast over his football career.
Before the first match of the new season, Deng Kai sent a message to encourage Messi, "Don’t worry, your talent makes many clubs eager, next year you can try your luck in Barcelona."
Messi: "I don’t like Barcelona."
Deng Kai: "?"
Messi: "Their fans always say they don’t welcome little dwarfs."
Deng Kai: "Then conquer them, become their king!"
Messi: "Like you, become the Caesar of those who doubt you!"
Deng Kai: "Keep it up!"
...
"The ball is in! Unbelievable! Ronaldo has completed a hat trick!"
"After jumping up to U17, Ronaldo still fits right in. No, he doesn’t need to adapt, he has directly become the king of this level!"
"Ronaldo has also become the first player in Sporting Lisbon’s U17 team to score a hat trick in his first official match."
"Deng Kai also made a double assist."
"They trounced their opponents decisively."
"Previously, some said the inclusion of Chinese players would weaken Sporting Lisbon’s U17 strength significantly, but it seems there has been no impact at all."
"Wu Xudong seems very comfortable in the position of right winger."
"Head coach Trigella is warming up new players, it seems he’s preparing to substitute a few players to get more people accustomed to the match. The warming-up players are Yu Shihao, Hao Junmin, and Shao Jiawei from China!"
"Today, we are very likely to witness four Chinese players plus one of Chinese descent, all appearing simultaneously on the Portuguese football field."
After Ronaldo scored, Deng Kai went over to celebrate with him.
But Ronaldo’s mood today was very strange, he rebuffed Deng Kai’s celebration.
"Are you targeting me?" Deng Kai saw Ronaldo high-fiving other teammates in celebration.
"Yes." Ronaldo did not deny it.
"Why? Is it that time of the month for you?" Deng Kai expressed his confusion.
"Your conversation with Messi makes me sick." Ronaldo’s facial expression was perfectly arrogant as he said, "So now Messi is your best friend, isn’t he? Go celebrate with him then!"
Pfft!
Deng Kai laughed: "Come on, Ronaldo, lacking in confidence much? You’re my comrade-in-arms, while he’s just my fan, my sister—no, crap... he’s my fan, that’s a completely different relationship."
