Chapter 207: Chapter 206: Ronaldo Starts to Show His Talent (Please Share on Moments and Weibo, haha)
"The feint shot just now was manageable, but the left-footed chip pass that followed was extremely difficult. The key is that he had to chip the ball without his right foot even touching the ground, almost doing a bent-over straight-leg jump, which makes it very hard to generate power. Yet, he managed to lift the football to the far post!"
"One to zero! Moreirense gets off to a dream start!"
"Oh! The fans at the stadium are calling out Ronaldo’s name continuously because Ronaldo declined Flavio’s invitation to celebrate. He didn’t celebrate against his former team."
Ronaldo’s act earned the respect of the Sporting Lisbon fans, who all burst into applause for him.
As Sporting Lisbon supporters firmly believed, a mere Moreirense could not possibly halt their march forward.
Indeed, it couldn’t.
Even though Jia De’er faced difficulties, Sporting Lisbon was not just about Jia De’er.
The ninth minute.
Quaresma was on the ball on the right flank. After a silent standoff with Emerson for three seconds, he suddenly executed a Rabona.
Emerson was easily bypassed by Quaresma.
Quaresma started cutting inside from the right wing.
Serafim kept retreating, but Quaresma showed no signs of stopping, suddenly accelerating.
Speeding up during a change of direction, changing direction while speeding up.
Quaresma successfully dribbled past Serafim with a clean move and headed towards the box.
Feng Te had no choice but to come out.
Bang!
Quaresma delivered a cross.
Jia De’er headed the ball into the net while overpowering Kilop.
Estádio Alvalade erupted with joy in an instant.
"Quaresma!"
"Quaresma!"
The fans shouted the name of their hero.
Quaresma spread his arms, thanking the fans and basking in their cheers.
Jia De’er frowned slightly.
Didn’t he score the goal?
Shouldn’t Quaresma be coming over to celebrate with him at this time?
Had it turned into him, the scorer, celebrating with Quaresma, who provided the assist?
Was there no sense of hierarchy and priority anymore?
The fans only recognized one of their own!
Ungrateful!
Jia De’er celebrated half-heartedly near the goal, and a few players surrounded him, but there was a clear distinction between him and Quaresma.
Afterward, Ronaldo and Quaresma each sparked an attacking frenzy.
It just so happened they were both on the same side, each tormenting the opposite full-back, neither participating or, rather, having the chance to participate in defending their side, thus they mutually enhanced each other’s performance.
Throughout this period, the commentator objectively appraised the performances of the two wingers.
Quaresma’s performance was undoubtedly more spectacular.
He had more opportunities on the attack, and his dribbling and ball-handling were more entertaining and varied.
On the other hand, Ronaldo’s play was mainly about speed, with relatively simple movements. You could say he lacked agility, or you could say his skill lay in its simplicity.
But when you compare Ronaldo and Quaresma side by side, Ronaldo is not lagging behind.
Don’t forget, Ronaldo is two years younger than Quaresma!
And Quaresma himself is far superior to his peers, a genius among geniuses.
"This Ronaldo actually has the capability to play in the Portuguese league," Matrazzi was very surprised.
Portugal has produced such a world-shocking talent!
It’s a pity that their style of playing football is too straightforward, which makes it difficult to catch the eye.
In this era, being flamboyant on the field is what really signifies talent.
You have to play football like the Brazilians do.
Zidane is already considered a master of subtlety.
But in fact, Zidane’s style of play, looking back in the future, is also at an impressive level.
"It’s not important how early someone has the ability to play in the Primeira Liga, the important thing is where they will be able to play in the future. If it’s still the Primeira Liga, then it’s hard to consider them a genius," Maxa gave his own opinion... uh, well, this was Deng Kai’s previous assessment of Ronaldo.
Deng Kai had explained in detail why Ronaldo is not considered a genius.
Overall, Ronaldo is the type of player where if he scores sixty points, you feel that he’s just a sixty-pointer; if he scores eighty points, then you think he’s just an eighty-pointer.
But a genius is someone who scores sixty points, yet you can see them with the potential for a hundred points.
"Right! I almost got confused; being young doesn’t mean unlimited potential. He might have already tapped out his potential, Ronaldo... just a Primeira Liga level player," Matrazzi reassured himself.
It seemed as if this helped the players on the field with their defense against Ronaldo.
In the eighteenth minute, while fierce skirmishes erupted on the flanks, the midfield also became lively.
Deng Kai’s slide tackle, seemingly exaggerated but actually precise, cut off the football at Viana’s feet.
Conversely, two minutes later, Viana, with a series of feints, turned Deng Kai inside out and sent a through pass; if it weren’t for Jia De’er being a bit too slow to keep up, this pass would likely have been an assist.
The two young midfield cores calculated their own schemes.
Although Deng Kai successfully interrupted the play, it was actually just a probe.
He wanted to see if Viana had any "fear of injuries," that is, lingering effects from a major injury, especially since Viana had returned from injury less than two months ago.
The result was not optimistic; Viana had no psychological shadow, making his ball handling more threatening.
Similarly, even though it looked like Viana turned Deng Kai around, he didn’t need two consecutive feints during the Euro youth tournament.
Deng Kai had become steadier than before.
If there was such improvement on the defensive end, what about the offensive end?
In the thirty-third minute.
Ronaldo once again cut in successfully and fired a long-range shot on goal.
But Schmeichel’s save was spectacular as he actually caught Ronaldo’s shot, rather than opting for the more conservative move of parrying the ball away.
This shows he was very confident.
He remains a world-class goalkeeper.
Against such a goalkeeper, conventional shots on goal are unlikely to succeed.
In the fortieth minute, thanks to Quaresma’s pull on the right flank, Kwame Ayew on the left found a great opportunity and delivered a high-quality cross.
Jia De’er, against two defenders, won the header despite the presence of Kilop and Feng Te, but the ball sailed over the crossbar, missing the chance to score.
However, if they continue to play this way, it’s only a matter of time before he scores.
The two young men could hardly contain the king of strikers anymore.
The time reached the forty-fourth minute.
Moreirense launched an attack.
Because the half was about to end, all teams would normally draw back in defense to avoid conceding goals at the last moment.
At the same time, it’s also an opportunity to lure the opposition into a full offensive push, looking for the chance to catch them on the counterattack.
Therefore, the end of the first and second halves is a prime time for scoring.
Deng Kai held the ball in the middle of the field, with no one stepping up to defend; naturally, he wouldn’t just attack for the sake of attacking.
"Oh! Deng Kai is holding the ball and turning in circles; this is his signature move, the ’spinning top,’ also called the ’compass turn’ by some."
"One circle, two circles, three circles... the fans are cheering, they seem to enjoy this."
"Such cheers are a pressure for the Sporting Lisbon players; allowing the opposition to perform like this in front of your home crowd, what would it say about your strength if this gets out?"
