Chapter 333: Chapter 332: K God Unparalleled
"New stars arise as the old guard fades, Lisbon Athletic knocks out Kaiserslautern to march into the EU Cup semifinals!"
"EU Cup Semifinalist Spotlight: The Most Surprising Team—Lisbon Athletic!"
"A Wind Rises in the EU Cup! A youthful storm from Portugal is sweeping across Europe!"
"Astounding Quartet of Triumphs! How many more Figo + Rui Costa does Lisbon Athletic have up their sleeve?"
"This is a squad brimming with geniuses, Viana’s breakout led to Inter Milan’s elimination, while Deng Kai’s explosion directly resulted in the massacre of Kaiserslautern!"
"Scoring seven goals in two matches against Inter Milan is nothing, but eleven against Kaiserslautern in two legs is truly outrageous!"
"Four goals and an assist! The absolute core! Just five months shy of his sixteenth birthday, the young player Deng Kai tops the EU Cup in both goals and assists!"
"The craziest EU Cup edition ever! Both the top scorers and assist providers are from Lisbon Athletic, with one player dominating both lists!"
"Klose: Ronaldo’s goal-scoring ability is strong, at his age, I wasn’t even a tenth as good as him!"
"Djorkaeff: Deng Kai is an absolute big-game player, his handling of the football reminds me of Zidane!"
"Rehhagel: Trigella will become a great coach in the future, I wish them to go even further in the EU Cup this season!"
"Trigella: Rehhagel is a very excellent coach, and he can create more miracles. The scores of these two matches do not truly reflect the strength of the teams. We were lucky to witness the explosion of Kai."
"Maxa: I told everyone at halftime not to take it lightly, Kaiserslautern is a team that can turn things around under any circumstances. Perhaps that’s why we managed to score three more goals. Players are the foundation of all victories, and we have a strong foundation."
In all fairness, Lisbon Athletic making it to the semifinals of the EU Cup is definitely newsworthy.
But their hype shouldn’t surpass that of the other three teams.
Especially not more than Barcelona and Liverpool.
After all, those two are absolute powerhouses.
For now, we’ll leave Liverpool aside, but Barcelona really needs the news at this stage to bolster their fans’ confidence.
They’ve already been knocked out of the league and the King’s Cup this season.
They’re just one step away from a complete shutout.
They desperately need an EU Cup trophy to lift spirits.
Last season they performed poorly, and as a result, Van Gaal resigned.
The current Barcelona coach is Lorenzo Serra Ferrer, who used to be an assistant coach.
A coach of substance, he has managed Mallorca and Real Betis before and achieved very respectable results.
In 1997, he led Real Betis to the King’s Cup final, where they narrowly lost to Barcelona after extra time. Following that, he received an invitation from Barcelona and joined them as the coach of Barcelona B team.
But judging by this season’s results, he doesn’t suit as the Barcelona head coach.
Of course, this also has to do with the aging roster of the Barcelona team.
Several years ago, Guardiola, a core player in the midfield and defense, was a typical example.
Due to injuries and various other reasons, Guardiola’s relationship with Van Gaal became strained last season, even ending on a sour note.
But even this season, after Guardiola’s injury had healed, he had to admit that his form had indeed slipped quite a bit.
He also entered Barcelona’s rotation roster this season.
With so many topics to talk about, Barcelona was surprisingly outdone in online traffic by Sporting Lisbon.
It must be said, Sporting Lisbon’s eleven goals over two legs were indeed quite frightening.
...
"Ding! You have obtained the star drop ’K-God Unparalleled’!"
"K-God Unparalleled: There are many players who are good at heading, but Klose’s headers are the most unstoppable, especially his spectacular performances in the World Cup that cemented his career position. Acquire the purple star skill ’German Bomber’. Heading +2, Jumping +2, Offensive Positioning +2. Gain ’Klose’s forward somersault celebration gesture’."
"German Bomber: Klinsmann, Bierhoff, Klose, Germany will always produce the finest headers. Your jumping and heading abilities receive a minor boost. After you take off, your balance and physical confrontation abilities receive a certain enhancement. When attacking with headers, your jumping ability will be further improved in front of taller defensive players."
As it turned out, Deng Kai ultimately conquered the young Klose.
Later on, Klose made a name for himself at the World Cup and became the all-time top scorer in World Cup history. When talking about him, one must mention his headers.
Being able to drop his signature skill indicates how deeply Klose was moved by the match.
Of course, what made Klose famous in the World Cup wasn’t just his goals, but also his forward somersault celebration gesture after scoring.
This, like Drogba’s celebration gesture, is not something just anyone can do.
This damn thing is like a child-trained skill; it needs to be practiced.
So the system will give Drogba’s and Klose’s celebration gestures, but it won’t give certain people’s Siu celebration gesture.
Because for the latter, Deng Kai himself could imitate it—no, wait... now, it’s Ronaldo imitating Deng Kai’s gesture, which was highly praised at Sporting Lisbon. Many players would ask Deng Kai for permission before using it, as it was a move that Deng Kai used first.
And the German Bomber is quite interesting.
The Golden Bomber Klinsmann, the King of Headers Bierhoff, and K-God Klose, Germany truly produces a wealth of heading specialists.
It’s hard to imagine that such a German team would, in the future, find itself in the embarrassing situation of not having a viable striker for over a decade.
Even Timo Werner, that kind of ’Teemo’-caliber player, became the only hope for the German front line.
Returning to the German Bomber, the skill’s most impressive feature isn’t just the various enhancements it provides.
But it’s the last sentence, when the defender marking you is taller, your abilities will be further improved.
The system’s "further" is definitely a big step forward, especially since it’s on top of some enhancements already provided.
From the moment he acquired this skill, Deng Kai had already stepped into the ranks of header specialists.
Don’t look at his current height of one meter seventy-one (he grew another centimeter), but his heading can no longer be underestimated.
In history, there are many players who aren’t tall but are good at heading, from strikers to defenders.
Those players who can outjump taller opponents definitely have their reasons.
"Feng Te, Pepe, come with me, let’s go to the training field and practice heading. Pepe, you pass the balls; I’ll compete with Feng Te for the headers." With the new skill in hand, Deng Kai simply couldn’t wait to go out and practice.
