Chapter 334: Chapter 333 Will Kai Shao get high altitude sickness if he jumps up?
Feng Te listened on the side, his heart pounding with fear. Why on earth had Deng Kai suddenly taken an interest in heading the ball?
Could it be that he’s become curious about the world above one meter seventy-one?
Would he experience altitude sickness when he jumped up?
So when I compete with Deng Kai for a header, should I actually let him win?
But with our adorable height difference, it would be really hard to lose on purpose.
If I don’t perform well and Deng Kai gets angry, what should I do?
Should I go to La Masia to brush up on my acting skills?
Maybe I should just squat when heading the ball against Deng Kai, so he doesn’t get mad and bench me?
In a flash, dozens of thoughts had raced through Feng Te’s mind.
"Deng, why don’t you let me help with your crosses? I need to practice my crossing too!" Ronaldo caught up.
Deng Kai didn’t even look back, "Scram. I wouldn’t dare use a winger who only delivers one assist per season. Can you even call that a cross? You might as well count all your crosses and sideways passes as shots from distance. Even those have resulted in more goals than your assists!"
Drogba, Ibrahimovic, Barzagli, Terry, and others clicked their tongues incessantly.
Deng Kai was too caustic.
This was sure to deter Ronaldo’s enthusiasm for assisting.
Even though Ronaldo’s passing was atrocious, it was a good thing he planned to practice.
It was definitely better than when he previously had no intention of assisting at all.
With Deng Kai saying that, wouldn’t Ronaldo get angry?
Everyone knew Ronaldo’s temper wasn’t the best, to put it mildly.
But three seconds later, they understood why Ronaldo could be good friends with Deng Kai.
Ronaldo: "F*ck! You’re right! If I take those balls and go for a shot, I could score at least three or five, right? I can also score from zero angles and corners. Isn’t that much simpler than assisting?"
"Deng, you really understand me! You’ve awakened me!"
"Being a striker, why assist at all! Passing is a dead end; only shooting will lead me to the pinnacle of life!"
Ronaldo had an epiphany!
He joined Deng Kai and others on the training field and started practicing shooting from the positions where he would usually cross from the left wing.
His resolute gaze revealed he was in no way joking.
...
After the Round of 16 of the UEFA Cup was completed, the next round’s draw began.
Spokespersons from Liverpool, Barcelona, and others hoped that their teams would encounter the gift that was Sporting Lisbon.
In the end, it was Barcelona who had a bit more pull in the relationships and snagged that soft target.
Moreover, the schedule was even more favorable for Barcelona as they would play away first and then at home.
In the first leg, as the away team, they wouldn’t lose if they scored; a draw would be as good as a win, because away goals counted for more.
Advantageous.
The second leg would be at home, which, with the home crowd’s support, familiarity with the field, and absence of travel fatigue, among other factors, would give them an even greater edge.
Still advantageous.
By comparison, Sporting Lisbon’s schedule seemed a bit disadvantageous.
At least that was the mainstream opinion.
But Sporting Lisbon themselves felt that playing at home first and then away suited them better, or rather, was more to their advantage.
They were a team led by young players, and their most significant trait was how easily they could crumble.
A lapse in attention could lead to being completely overwhelmed, one goal conceded could turn into a flurry.
With Deng Kai, such situations had become much less frequent, but they still occurred.
The more significant and critical the match, the more likely it is to occur.
If the first match was an away game, Trigella was really worried the team would be directly hammered by Barcelona with a score of four to zero.
Then what’s the point of playing a second leg, just waiting to be thrashed by the other side?
Wait, why does saying thrash in front of Barcelona feel oddly disrespectful?
However, having the first leg at their home ground, players could fully adapt to Barcelona’s players and playing style.
Even if they conceded goals, they could quickly recover their fighting spirit with the support of the home fans.
Going to their home for the second leg, perhaps they could burst with energy even stronger than they had in the first leg, like the match against Kaiserslautern.
So, although the draw was not favorable, the sequence was quite good.
A dark horse, a traditional powerhouse.
One team with high morale, another full of issues.
Both parties were highly topical.
When they met, public opinion would completely explode.
For a time, nearly half of Europe was saturated with news related to Barcelona.
If not careful, one might think they had made it to the Champions League semi-finals.
"Overmars also failed to fully adapt to Barcelona; considering Simon is also struggling, could this possibly not be a player’s issue?"
"Barcelona internally is a tangled mess, with a complex web of relations between the Dutch clique, the Brazilian clique, and the local clique!"
"Guardiola to return to the starting lineup in the league matches? After Van Gaal’s departure, the local clique rises again!"
"What’s really happening with Barcelona? Gerard Lopez underperforms, Barcelona’s signings this season are not ideal, with Petit even escaping Barcelona during the winter window!"
"Barcelona’s sports director: Barcelona has no problems whatsoever, someone is spending money to slander Barcelona, we believe this is Sporting Lisbon preparing for the semi-final!"
"Sporting Lisbon’s executives: We strongly condemn Barcelona’s defamation! We don’t have the money to engage in such public relation maneuvers, on the contrary, it seems Barcelona is quite experienced in this area."
"Daily Sports: Barcelona’s youth academy bears fruit, Javier Creus has become an important rotation player for the first team!"
"Guardiola: Xavi is an extremely talented midfielder, he will become a midfield master in the future!"
"Guardiola refuses to comment on Deng Kai while praising Xavi, is this about protecting Deng Kai, or protecting Xavi?"
"Rivaldo: We are facing some unfavorable things, but the European League has given us strength, we will launch an assault on the championship!"
"Cruyff: I’m really looking forward to scoring at Estádio Alvalade, we will not underestimate Sporting Lisbon, every team that makes it to the semi-finals is excellent, but we are confident in ourselves!"
Although Barcelona had many news stories, a large part of them were negative, which gave their public relations department quite a headache.
In preparation for the semi-final of the European League against Sporting Lisbon, and with no hopes for the championship, Barcelona rotated their players in the league.
However, Barcelona fans soon expressed great dissatisfaction.
Because Sporting Lisbon, who also had to play in the semi-final of the European League, had only rotated a few players!
Matthaus, Deschamps, and Schmeichel, the three old guys, were rotated.
Feng Te was also rested.
All the other players were starters.
And Viana, who had been injured previously, also came on as a substitute in the league match to get back into the rhythm of play.
This made the fans of Inter Milan extremely happy, as Viana’s performance showed no difference from before his injury.
He had indeed only sustained a minor injury.
Eventually, Ronaldo, who had broken his assist deadlock in the European League, also received an assist in the league this game, contributing one goal and one assist.
Deng Kai delivered a brilliant assist.
Drogba and Barzagli scored, and the team defeated their opponents with a score of three to zero.
And this, caused intense dissatisfaction from Barcelona!
