Chapter 255: Chapter 254: You Deserve Your High Value (Thanks to the Alliance Hierarch for the bonus Chapter)
"It’s okay, I have no problem. I just feel the ball shouldn’t be played like that. We’re not mortal enemies," Matthaus felt better seeing so many people speaking up for him, and didn’t continue to argue with Ibrahimovic.
Only then did Ibrahimovic snap back to reality.
He was so furious!
But he dared not show it because now everyone was on Matthaus’ side.
This sense of injustice made Ibrahimovic’s eyes redden.
When had the Swedish genius ever been treated like this?
It felt so bad.
Whimper!
After calming Matthaus down, Deng Kai turned back to Ibrahimovic and said, "Matthaus is so old after all, high intensity can lead to easy injury, we need to understand that."
Ibrahimovic was quite unhappy, muttering, "But Jia De’er does the same, how come no one sees him getting scolded? Think I’m a soft target, huh!"
Well, well, well.
Once Matthaus left, Ibrahimovic dared to talk tough.
But when Matthaus confronted you to your face, you didn’t peep a word.
Deng Kai smiled and said nothing more.
But really, the more a person cares about something, often they themselves are more prone to that very thing.
Ibrahimovic cares about not being seen as a soft target, which shows that sometimes, he too likes to pick on the soft ones.
This is not quite like the more mature Ibrahimovic of the future.
It seems that a person’s character can change over time.
"Hm?" Deng Kai turned around and saw that Jia De’er had just turned away.
Given this distance, this position, Jia De’er couldn’t possibly have heard what Ibrahimovic said, right?
Well...
More than ten minutes later, Deng Kai was certain that Jia De’er had indeed heard Ibrahimovic’s words, "how come no one sees him getting scolded."
Because during a corner kick tussle, Jia De’er elbowed and knocked down Ibrahimovic.
Ibrahimovic curled up in pain inside the penalty area, finally unable to hold back his tears.
Half were because of the pain.
The other half were because of the grievance.
He really was having an off day.
This made him doubt his future at Sporting Lisbon.
Keep in mind, he was the most expensive one!
"What’s the matter? Can’t take it? You’re at least a star the club bought for three million. At your age, I didn’t have the price tag you have! So you’ve got to perform better than me, don’t you?" Jia De’er emphasized the word "star" with a sarcastic tone, mocking and taunting him.
Everyone was competing to begin with, and you freaking talk behind my back, hoping Matthaus would give me a talking-to.
So if I don’t teach you a lesson, who will?
Before this elbow strike, Jia De’er had already bumped into Ibrahimovic several times while falling back.
Ibrahimovic, thrown into disarray, thought this was just Jia De’er’s normal game intensity.
Actually, when did Jia De’er fall back in a game? It would be impressive if he retreated from the offensive third.
"Say that again!" Ibrahimovic got up, ready to unleash his karate skills.
But Jia De’er was quicker, flipping Ibrahimovic, who hadn’t fully risen, back down again: "I can say it as many times as you like. Don’t get cocky just because of your price tag! Young man, you’ve got a lot to learn!"
After talking, Jia De’er glanced at Quaresma as well.
The two had a falling out towards the end of the last season, and his words were also a dig at Quaresma, suggesting he had a price tag but not the fight to match it.
Still in pain in his rib area and unsteady on his feet, Ibrahimovic was flipped by Jia De’er and even rolled a couple of times, appearing extremely vulnerable.
"What’s going on? What’s the situation with you two?"
Matthaus stood on the sideline, chatting with Trigella and Maxa about some match-related things, causing the coaches to miss the incident as it unfolded. So Trigella, noticing the break in the game, walked over to inquire about the situation.
The players also felt awkward discussing it in front of Jia De’er.
In the end, the matter was dropped without any resolution.
The team atmosphere faced significant issues during this combined training session.
In fact, Ibrahimovic didn’t specifically want Matthaus to scold Jia De’er, he just felt that Matthaus was being unfair. Why could he freely lose his temper with the youngsters, with the newcomers?
But anyone used as a point of comparison by him wouldn’t be happy hearing such comments.
Simply put, the art of language, this mix of instructing, joking, and entertaining, was something Ibrahimovic still needed to refine.
...
In the evening, Ibrahimovic was packing up his things.
It was already an hour after the regular training had ended, yet there were still people training on the pitch.
Ronaldo and Pepe were still practicing one-on-ones.
Barzagli, Feng Te, and Drogba were also training headers, two competing to head the ball while one took the free kicks.
Most surprising was that the team’s chief assistant coach, Maxa, had not left either; he even provided service to the players by bringing them some food and drinks, helping to record valuable data, and so on.
No wonder he had such a good reputation in the Portugal coaching world; all the players who worked with him had nothing but praise for him.
There were good reasons for that.
"Heading back so early?" Deng Kai suddenly appeared beside Ibrahimovic.
"Yeah." Ibrahimovic didn’t say much and picked up his bag to leave.
"Want to join us for some extra practice?" Deng Kai watched Ibrahimovic’s retreating figure. "Don’t worry, we are the kind of opponents who can go all out against each other, no need to hold back when playing with us."
Ibrahimovic stopped in his tracks, "I don’t want to bring up this issue right now."
Deng Kai nodded, "I get it, I won’t mention your little mishap with Matthaus because you lacked tact, alright?"
Ibrahimovic walked over speechless, "You really have a way of making someone want to take you on, on the pitch!"
"Then come and try," Deng Kai headed towards the field.
Before long, Ibrahimovic followed.
The other players were not surprised by Ibrahimovic joining in.
The most important thing was whether he could stick with it.
So-called extra practice had two goals.
To cover weaknesses and strive for excellence.
By observing the content of a player’s extra practice, one could discern the player’s characteristics, as well as their direction for future development.
Take Barzagli, for example; he hadn’t been playing as a center back for long, so he focused more on the basics of the position. The intensity wasn’t high, and it was rather monotonous.
His goal was to turn these skills into muscle memory so he wouldn’t make basic mistakes during a game.
Players who commit many basic mistakes, barring the very few with attention deficit disorder, mostly have an attitude issue.
That is, they’re careless.
Plainly speaking, they haven’t practiced enough.
With sufficient practice, making mistakes becomes difficult.
Drogba, on the other hand, was constantly seeking confrontation and practicing various shots within the box.
It seemed clear that he understood his role and was deliberately enhancing his pivot ability, while maintaining his threat in the box to improve his finishing.
They were all addressing their specific needs, although their methods weren’t necessarily perfect.
For instance, Drogba obviously overlooked the difficulty of getting the ball in the box. Instead of shots within the box, he should have been practicing turning and shooting, as well as long shots.
And as for Ronaldo... never mind, he was getting into it with Pepe, lately focusing on practicing one-on-one dribbling skills.
[PS: No more updates tonight, one additional Chapter tomorrow. Dad tested positive, now he’s confined to his room, not leaving. But we’ve been eating together these past few days; I feel like COVID is getting closer to me. Amitofu!]
