Chapter 298: Chapter 297: If There is a Faster Brake than the Foot Brake, It Must Be the Hand Brake
Maxa’s statement, a real wake-up call!
As the mightiest powerhouse in Portugal’s top league, FC Porto’s contributions to the national team are barely worth mentioning.
When in position, not seeking its politics.
FC Porto is nearly becoming a traitor, a crime that deserves execution.
Suddenly, there’s immense pressure within FC Porto.
The club’s upper echelons have made it clear that this year, they must develop Postiga at all costs.
The goal is to get Postiga on the 2002 World Cup national team roster, to give an explanation to all the Portuguese people.
...
"Ding! You have earned the title ’King of the Outside of the Boot’! You have obtained Ricardo Quaresma’s purple-player-level skill—Manual Dribbling."
"Manual Dribbling: If anything can brake faster than foot brakes, it has to be hand brakes. Besides short track speed skaters, no one else can claim to use hand brakes better than you. Your manual dribbling allows you to maintain maximum speed, even though the movement might look awkward. After the turn, your burst power will increase, and the increase is positively correlated with the strength of your arms. When you perform manual dribbling, you are less likely to slip and your arms are less likely to get injured. Every ninety degrees of manual dribbling is equivalent to a full rotation."
What a move!
The linkage is on.
The spinning top can be used too.
This skill... is truly a blessing for the short guys.
The pitch is actually quite slippery.
When players quickly stop and start, they often stumble.
That’s when the unique advantage of short players comes into play—just a hand on the ground, and I’m good.
Using their palms to support themselves on the ground, they can minimize the turning radius frighteningly, shaking off any defenders.
On November 26th, during the fourth round of the UEFA Cup.
Sporting Lisbon’s second encounter with Rosenborg.
Quaresma crosses from the wing, and Ronaldo heads the ball into the goal at the back post.
Viana slides a through ball, Drogba rises to the occasion and performs a violent shot into the net after chasing down the ball.
The team wins 2-0, easily defeating Rosenborg without the aid of the main referee.
On November 29th, in the twelfth round of the Portuguese league.
Sporting Lisbon challenges Alverca.
In the first half, Drogba shows his role as a pivot, holding off defenders to assist, and Quaresma cuts in and shoots with the outside of his boot.
Beautiful as it is, unfortunately, the ’King of the Outside of the Boot’ title belongs to someone else now.
During the halftime break, Ibrahimovic replaces Drogba who played in the midweek European match.
Ibrahimovic is on fire this match, with Viana and Deng Kai each providing assists, helping him, the substitute player, score a brace.
Eventually, the team wins 3-0.
On December 6th in the thirteenth round of the Portuguese league, Sporting Lisbon welcomed an old friend... Moreirense!
Last season, Ronaldo and Deng Kai were the true pillars for Moreirense to taste the flavor of championship.
However, so far this season, they are struggling among the bottom three, most likely to fall back to the second division.
In this match, Sporting Lisbon gave them some respect.
Deng Kai and Ronaldo score early and don’t continue the onslaught.
Quaresma contributes with a goal and an assist.
In the final moments, Matthaus, not knowing any better, assists a hungry Drogba to score.
Thankfully, Alex pulls one back for Moreirense, striking an incredible long shot for a world-class goal.
Four to one, each side taking what they needed.
After the match, players from both sides had a friendly dinner, hosted by Deng Kai who invited his former teammates from Moreirense for dumplings.
On December 10th, in the fifth round of the UEFA Cup, Sporting Lisbon vs. Anderlecht.
These are the only two teams still with a chance to advance from the group stage.
Sporting Lisbon, with four draws in four matches, just need one more win to advance to the next stage as group leaders.
Anderlecht, facing stiff resistance from a Turkish team, has managed to secure a draw, with three wins and one draw.
If they don’t lose this game, they’ll be able to stretch the suspense to the last round.
They kept a close watch on Quaresma, Ronaldo, and Deng Kai throughout the game.
Whether it was in domestic league or European competitions, these three players’ data and performance stood out on the team.
But Anderlecht overlooked the fact that this was a team with multiple cores.
There were two reasons why Viana’s stats seemed mediocre.
The first was that, compared to his mirror-positioned Deng Kai, his numbers were average, but for a midfielder, with three goals and six assists in the league, and one goal and one assist in European competitions, were those stats really so bad?
Absolutely not.
If you extrapolate that, it’s almost seven to eight goals and nearly twenty assists for a single season—doesn’t that make him a midfield boss?
The second reason was that Viana played further back on the field, and didn’t have as many opportunities to finish.
But when other options fell silent, Viana could undoubtedly step up.
In this game, Viana was exceptionally active, and with deliberate passes from his teammates, he had the highest number of touches and passes in the team.
And he did not disappoint with the trust placed in him.
First, he assisted Drogba in breaking the deadlock.
Then he created a corner kick and, delivering it himself, the football ended up in the net from Terry amidst the chaos.
Two-nil!
Sporting Lisbon qualified for the knockout stages of the UEFA Cup with a game to spare!
Anderlecht could only wrestle with teams dropping from being third in the Champions League groups.
And that was going to be brutal.
Because this year’s Champions League third-place finishers were exceptionally tough.
When you see the list, you’d think you were playing in a Champions League final, not a Europa League qualifier.
La Liga champions Barcelona!
Premier League powerhouses Liverpool!
Serie A’s super team Inter Milan!
Especially the last one, that’s the team with the nine hundred billion lire Mr. Vieri and the world’s top star Ronaldo!
Oh... Ronaldo was injured...
And it was the most serious injury of his career.
Isn’t Jia De’er called up to the Brazil team because of that?
December 13th, round fourteen of the Portuguese league.
Sporting Lisbon faced another tough nut to crack.
Their opponents were also a newly promoted team, Rio Ave.
But compared to last year’s Primeira Liga champions Moreirense, Rio Ave fared much better, at least they were out of the relegation zone.
This somewhat proved the huge impact that Deng Kai and Ronaldo had on Moreirense.
In this game, Ronaldo held back due to nostalgia, missing two one-on-ones.
But Drogba was on a roll, scoring a brace, exchanging goals with Ibrahimovic from a distance.
Quaresma scored and provided assists.
Deng Kai supplied a through pass assist to Drogba.
Drogba’s goals were becoming so simple that his two goals barely made an impression on the fans.
With these three goals, Sporting Lisbon easily defeated Rio Ave three-nil.
December 17th, the final round of the group stage in the UEFA Cup was a mere formality.
Sporting Lisbon not only fielded a rotated squad but also started Drogba and Ibrahimovic.
The result was... dreadful to witness!
There was no semblance of attacking efficiency.
If it weren’t for Ronaldo’s breathtaking long-range shot at the last moment, the game would have ended in a draw.
December 20th, the last game before Christmas.
It was also Sporting Lisbon’s final match before the winter break.
Sporting Lisbon faced Maritimo.
