Chapter 191: Chapter 190: Return to Maternal Home
"This is a good thing," Deng Kai reassured a somewhat fearful Hathaway over the phone, "You don’t have to do anything special during this process, and of course, you shouldn’t foolishly chant the slogans the media has crafted for you."
"Before any heavyweight figures come into contact with you, you don’t need to express your standpoint or opinions on this matter. When asked, just steer the conversation towards our personal relationship, discussing your feelings and thoughts about me, and so forth."
"When you become an important symbol, you must understand how to hold out for the best price, speaking what people want to hear at the most appropriate moment. An Oscar is clearly not that moment."
Hathaway was somewhat puzzled, "Then when is it?"
Deng Kai: "It’s when you have established your own major enterprise, which isn’t exactly cost-effective. It’s when you’re ready to enter politics and have a quite decent starting point. Or when such a figure needs you the most during an election."
"Before you make a statement, you will never ever be abandoned by Hollywood. Even if you are abandoned, you can come back whenever you want as long as you are willing."
That night, Hathaway didn’t entirely understand what Deng Kai had told her.
But she understood a part of it.
That was, she had started a boxing match, but she wouldn’t go out to fight herself unless it came to the final championship bout.
She also didn’t have to feel guilty for the opponent’s help in the Oscar award competition, as the favor was negligible compared to her real role—it didn’t even count as interest.
The huge benefits brought about by this wave were much greater than what the black people’s movement had achieved after decades of struggle!
But in fact, they had won shortly after a very brief struggle.
...
February 18th.
Benfica player Maniche had an interview.
The context was that as the season progressed, everyone realized Benfica’s opponent in the quarterfinals of the Portugal Cup turned out to be Moreirense!
This outcome had been decided in the first half of the season.
But back then, nobody paid attention to Moreirense.
And now... who could not pay attention to Moreirense?
Especially since Moreirense had previously hoped to bring in Maniche.
Maniche: "I don’t care about Deng Kai’s girlfriend, what kind of leading figure she is in North American sports, a campus goddess, Oscar lead actress nominee, and so on."
"I am a football player."
"I just hope to use this game to show Deng Kai and Trigella what the right winger, Machini, really is, as opposed to the ’nothing at all’ that Deng Kai describes!"
Maniche harbored a grudge over Deng Kai’s assessment.
Similarly, the Moreirense players also gave interviews.
Old captain Altino said, "Benfica is a very strong team; they are contenders for the Portuguese championship. We have just escaped the relegation zone in the Primeira Liga."
"We just hope to play a game that does ourselves justice."
Altino’s underdog nature was completely on display.
Even though he spoke in the toughest tone he thought possible.
This was also the true feeling of the regular players and fans of Moreirense.
The winning rate for any Primeira Liga team against a Primeira Division team never exceeds ten percent.
And if this Primeira Division team is one of Porto, Benfica, Sporting Lisbon, or Boavista, the winning rate is further reduced.
But Ronaldo stated in the same interview, "No matter who the opponent is, even if it’s an Italian Serie A team, we will win in the end. I play football with only one goal, which is to score and win the match."
Journalist: "That... is two goals, isn’t it?"
Ronaldo: "For me, it’s the same thing."
And Deng Kai also added to Ronaldo’s comments, expressing from an unexpected confidence standpoint why they might win, "Nuno Gomes has some minor injuries and has not been included in the squad."
"Joao Pinto is an excellent forward, but as he’s gotten older, he is no longer the forward who can solve opponents by himself, he needs partners, which he doesn’t have for this match."
"Maniche will be an outstanding defensive midfielder in the future, but at the right wing position, I can only say I have confidence in our left-back."
"Moreover, Benfica is under league pressure and will use a half-reserve lineup for this match, which is our best opportunity."
Reporter: "Don’t you have league pressure?"
Deng Kai: "If you’ve followed our recent matches you would know that, if our goal is to avoid relegation, then indeed we have no league pressure."
The reporter missed the subtext in Deng Kai’s words, that their goal wasn’t just to avoid relegation, and missed a headline opportunity.
But the content of today was enough.
On February 19th, Estadio da Luz in Lisbon.
The quarter-finals of the Portugal Cup kicked off.
Today, over forty thousand fans arrived at the venue to watch the match.
Because this is a joyous day for Deng Kai and Ronaldo to return to Lisbon.
Benfica would split today’s ticket revenue with Moreirense, which would become Moreirense’s biggest income this year.
This was also the reason why Moreirense had fought desperately not to focus on the league but to go all out in the Portugal Cup in the first half of the season.
Teams aiming for the championship always hope to face weaker opponents.
But teams like Moreirense, who were looking to make a profit, couldn’t like Benfica too much.
Many weak teams in the Champions League also hope to be placed into the group of death, to be dominated by the giants, then take the money and continue dominating their national leagues with big budgets, and go for another round of gold next year.
"Don’t get nervous entering the stadium later, just pretend the surrounding fans don’t exist, okay?" Coach Altino, as the veteran captain, was giving the other players reassurance.
Benfica’s home ground, forty thousand fans.
That momentum was not something Moreirense’s atmosphere, surrounded by merely a few thousand fans, could compare to.
Many players become overly nervous in such a scenario, to the point where even juggling the ball becomes a challenge, and they perform extremely poorly.
Isn’t that right, Dembele?
Today Benfica’s players wore their home jerseys, red.
Moreirense’s jerseys heavily resembled Sporting Lisbon’s, with both in green and white tones.
The difference is that Sporting Lisbon has green and white stripes.
Moreirense has a green and white checkerboard pattern, like a green version of Croatia.
However, as soon as he entered the stadium, Altino immediately felt lost.
He thought he must be seeing things.
"Oh, damn! Am I colorblind?" Altino exclaimed excitedly as he looked at the clearly divided red and green fans.
Moreirense’s top homegrown talent Kilop was also a bit excited, "This has nothing to do with whether you are colorblind or not. Benfica’s fans are only half, the other half are ours? Does Moreirense have so many fans?"
But as the players entered the field, those fans wearing green jerseys, under the lead of their team captains, started shouting their support.
"The successors to Simon and Quaresma, Cristiano..."
"Ronaldo!!!"
"Sporting Lisbon’s football Caesar..."
"Deng Kai!!!"
