Chapter 275: Chapter 274 The Only Weak Point of Lisbon Athletic
"Matthaus rejuvenates, bringing his timeless magic to Liga NOS! This hat-trick proves he’s still at the peak of his game!"
"Five to nil! Sporting Lisbon is so dominant. Just one game, and people can already see their chances of advancing in the Europa League!"
Drogba watched the goal in astonishment.
Is this understanding?
Was it possible that Matthaus hadn’t thought Drogba would duck?
Could he have shot the ball with the thought, "Though it’s highly likely I’ll smash Drogba’s head, what if the football goes past?"
That’s treating your own teammate like an enemy on the field.
Drogba felt disheartened—not only did he not score, but he also nearly got his head blown off.
He felt himself getting closer and closer to the bench.
As expected.
After the goal, Trigella used up his last substitution.
Ibrahimovic replaced Drogba.
"Well done!" Trigella patted Drogba on the shoulder after he came off.
Maxa then sat with Drogba, praising him for a long time and concluded with a sigh that it was a pity he didn’t score; otherwise, it would have been perfect.
But Drogba only remembered the phrase "it’s a pity you didn’t score."
He thought Maxa was hinting at him.
A striker who doesn’t score is not a good striker.
Had his rank in Coach Trigella’s strategy dropped again?
Drogba’s heart was filled with anxiety.
On the other side, Ibrahimovic, who had just been brought on, seemed too eager to perform.
He immediately tried to pull off some fancy footwork and break into the penalty area.
But how could Gaziantepspor tolerate such antics now?
Quaresma had already been cut down.
Did you think you could run away with such a big frame?
They went for a slide tackle.
Fortunately, they got the ball first, resulting in a beautiful steal.
Gaziantepspor immediately launched a counterattack, moving the football to the outside of the Sporting Lisbon penalty area with just four passes.
Pepe mispositioned during the movement, Feng Te was too slow to cover, and the opponent got a clear shot at goal.
A deadly strike!
One to five!
Gaziantepspor pulled one back.
After that, neither side made any further impact, and the score ended at one to five.
Sporting Lisbon claimed another big victory, especially for Matthaus, who enjoyed it immensely.
As a result, the usually under-the-radar group phase of the UEFA Cup received widespread coverage in European media this time.
The German media, in particular, were almost going mad.
Bild: "Matthaus ecstatic with a hat-trick! Three goals and an assist lead Sporting Lisbon’s young troops to their first European victory!"
Kicker: "Bayern loses in the Champions League, Matthaus wins in the Europa League—whose fault is it that Matthaus left Bayern? We need to reflect!"
Transfermarkt: "The European Cup failure was not Matthaus’ fault; Germany’s talent gap is the root cause. Matthaus’ current performance is still worth tens of millions!"
Der Spiegel: "Sporting Lisbon triumphs with a five-to-one victory, with Matthaus single-handedly holding up half the sky for Sporting Lisbon!"
Matthaus’ fans finally had something to cheer about.
They had been criticized since last winter’s transfer window began.
First by Bayern fans, then by the German fans.
Matthaus had now finally vindicated himself.
It wasn’t that Matthaus wasn’t strong enough; it was that he couldn’t carry the team of German younglings!
Perhaps because the topic of Matthaus’ resurgence was too popular, the performances of others were somewhat overshadowed.
Especially Drogba.
Matthaus’ pass was a wonderful blunder from him.
But unfortunately, his actions had nothing to do with ’wonderful’ and even seemed very frantic.
It gives the illusion that he wanted to control the ball but missed it.
And then there was Matthaus’ last shot.
Drogba’s cringing posture, bending over with his back hunched, was as awkward as it could get. As majestic as Matthaus was, that’s how destitute Drogba looked.
This made Drogba, who was browsing the news, blush with shame.
So embarrassing!
...
September 21, the third round of the Portuguese league.
Sporting Lisbon drew 3-3 with Estrela.
Deng Kai and Viana both provided assists.
Terry scored with a header.
Ronaldo scored a brace.
Quaresma was absent due to injury this game, and it was obvious that his absence had a significant impact on the team.
With both wings flying, Large Circle Tactics deserved a "holy" descriptor.
Without both wings flying, Large Circle Tactics could easily become a "high" joke.
Don’t look at Ronaldo’s two goals as a good performance, but he also wasted just as many opportunities in this match. Without the two goals, his rating would definitely be in the bottom three of the team.
Fonte was the worst, followed by Schmeichel.
September 27, the fourth round of the Portuguese league.
Sporting Lisbon won 4-1 against Sargedush.
The recovered Quaresma contributed with a goal and an assist.
Viana, in hot form, also had a goal and assist.
Ronaldo scored in consecutive matches.
Ibrahimovic scored as a substitute.
Deng Kai provided a clever assist.
Since the official start of the new season, Drogba played five matches, starting four, without scoring a single goal.
He was facing the most frightening goal drought of his career.
At this point, internal strife occurred.
When a team seems impregnable, people, while praising them, naturally look for players whose performances aren’t as good.
Drogba, the only one in the midfield and attack who hadn’t scored, became the focus of media criticism.
Even many fans claimed that Sporting Lisbon would be stronger if Drogba was replaced.
Despite everyone being distracted by Deng Kai’s stellar performance of three goals and eight assists in five matches and Ronaldo’s six goals, and no longer mentioning the incident of Deng Kai and Ronaldo driving Jia De’er away,
it seemed only right to compare Jia De’er and Drogba, didn’t it?
What if Jia De’er or Nuno Gomes from Benfica were to play instead? How strong could this front line be?
It felt like they would rank high even in the top five leagues!
Drogba was being cyberbullied.
To top it off, the candid African was PUA’d by these public opinions and truly believed he was inferior to the rest.
It wasn’t just the talk; it was also about Ibrahimovic’s formidable talent showing during training as Drogba’s competition for the same position.
Ibrahimovic’s ball sense, ball control, dribbling skills, shooting technique and methods, as well as his passing abilities really were all superior to Drogba’s.
Even in terms of physicality, Drogba felt his own strength was limited.
Once Ibrahimovic was willing to use his body to play, Drogba’s advantages were gone, especially since Ibrahimovic was taller.
Drogba could see no hope.
That’s why, even if it was a bit hard or painful, he put up with it and kept training.
Until...
"Hold on, Drogba. Yes, you, stop for a moment..."
Deng Kai called a halt during the team’s regular training.
Ordinary people could probably get scolded by the coach for doing this.
But Deng Kai clearly wouldn’t.
Maxa immediately motioned for everyone to stop and then rushed over to Deng Kai, worried that Deng Kai was either too tired or thirsty.
His youngest-ever Top Grade Chef was on standby at all times!
