Chapter 358: Chapter 357: The Calamity Day of Camp Nou
"We simply cannot accept such an unfair penalty! The obvious rule violations here are even more chilling than any controversy on the pitch!"
"I’m a Barça fan, but I think this is extremely unfair to Liverpool."
"Uh... friend from above, we Liverpool fans have no complaints. With or without Deng Kai, we will become the champions of the Europa League! Don’t start calling us out."
"Yeah, us Reds always play the strongest. We’re very relieved that Deng Kai can play."
Barça fans continued to lash out against the decision about Deng Kai.
In the end, it was UEFA itself that came forward to clarify, "Regarding the decision about Deng Kai, many Barça fans have expressed their disagreement, so let us clarify once more and hope Barça fans will stop making unfounded accusations."
"Deng Kai was born on August 5, 1985, and he won’t officially turn sixteen until this August 5. When he completed his header hat-trick at Camp Nou, he was only fifteen years and 225 days old."
"According to the United Nations Minor Protection Outline, UEFA’s related sanctions concerning Deng Kai can officially take effect only after he turns sixteen."
"Therefore, before then, Deng Kai can participate normally in the UEFA-related competitions, which means in the Europa League final."
WTF?
Minors Protection Law?
You...
The explanation from UEFA silenced the Barça fans.
Stacking buffs is very effective in Europe and America.
The more special and niche the group, the more privileges it has. It’s like if you’re a normal and ordinary person, you’re supposed to be treated like a beast of burden. Such an attitude becoming prevalent is outrageous.
Barça dares to blast Deng Kai, Lisbon Athletics, and even UEFA, but they definitely don’t dare to badmouth groups like the Minors Association, Vegetarian Societies, Genderless Love Organizations, or the Fat Peach Book Fans Club.
But just because Barça quieted down didn’t mean the matter was settled.
The subsequent punishment for the Barça side made Barça fans wail everywhere.
Verdict number four: the Spanish-born Catalan Barça fan XXXX·XXX, for committing an act of aggressive harm against the player Deng Kai and violating several fan conventions, is sentenced to a lifetime ban from entering stadiums to watch all UEFA matches. He is prohibited from entering Camp Nou for any reason for the next three years.
Regarding the racial abuse that occurred at Camp Nou following Deng Kai’s goal, Barça is responsible. Barça’s lack of proper control and guidance over their fans resulted in a fine of a hundred thousand euros! Next season, Barça’s European matches during the group stage will be played without fans at Camp Nou—behind closed doors!
UEFA and the Spanish Primera División have reached an agreement that in the next home game of the La Liga, Barça must display large banners all around the stands denouncing racial discrimination and apologize to Deng Kai and all Asian fans.
In particular, the die-hard Barça fans in the north stand must continue to display the apology banners during regular matches, without allowing fans to damage them. Otherwise, the punishment will be extended to the next game, and then the one after that, consecutively.
Additionally, due to the actions of Barça players Enrique and Deboer on the pitch, an additional one-match ban is added.
This decision virtually nailed Barça to the pillar of historical shame.
How many times heavier is the punishment for Barça compared to that for Lisbon Athletics?
After all, the ones suffering at Lisbon Athletics were individuals—insignificant individuals.
But on Barça’s side, it’s the club that is being penalized, and this is essentially a slap in the face for Barça.
Would Barça be pummeled like this if they didn’t have something hanging over them at UEFA?
Barça fans went around spreading the news, calling on fans to file appeals.
But the Barcelona club officials, in turn, remained silent.
This only added to the frustration of Barça’s fans.
The day the decision was published became known as the Camp Nou Day of Suffering.
It served to express the "injustice" endured by Barça.
Barça fans could only vent their anger on their own, like Simon, cyberbullying him on social media.
With the club officials not daring to appeal or challenge UEFA, they pushed Simon out to be the scapegoat.
A player transfer was the perfect scapegoat.
Barça transferred Simon from the first team to the reserves.
For the remaining time of this season, it was clear they had no intention of giving Simon any playing time.
At the same time, in the transfer market, Barcelona was letting it be known that they wanted to sell Simon.
They believed that with the ability Simon had shown this season, breaking even should not be a problem.
Fifteen million euros was their asking price for Simon.
And soon, someone submitted an offer that satisfied Barcelona.
It was Benfica, who was willing to take Simon for thirteen million euros, a figure infinitely close to Barcelona’s psychological price.
However, Simon publicly stated that he had fallen out with Barcelona, and that sending him to play for the reserve team despite his excellent performance was an insult to a professional player, one Simon absolutely refused to accept.
Facing the furious insults from Barcelona fans, Simon couldn’t bear it anymore, there was no need to endure any longer.
The media captured footage of Simon clashing with Barcelona fans outside the training ground.
A large number of non-Spanish fans gave their likes to Simon.
In an interview with the media, Simon even said, "Deng Kai once said that players who proactively join Barcelona rarely have a good ending. I feel my experience has proven him right, but it’s not a matter of my ability."
"All of Europe knows how excellent I am. In the series of matches where Barcelona lost to Sporting Lisbon, I had a showdown with Quaresma, contributing goals, assists, earned penalties, and breakthroughs. No one could stop me."
"If I’m going back to Portugal, I will only accept an offer from Sporting Lisbon. I won’t go anywhere else."
Simon rejected the generous terms offered by Benfica.
His life trajectory took a huge tangent.
Similarly, the clubs that admired Simon also underwent a huge change.
Many teams, including Manchester United and Liverpool, wanted to get Simon, but they tacitly offered ridiculously low bids.
Three million, three and a half million euros – these figures made Barcelona want to vomit blood.
Without a doubt, Barcelona was going to suffer a huge loss on the transaction involving Simon.
Besides Simon, reporters also frequently wanted to interview Overmars and Gerard Lopez.
These two players also had controversial performances in that match and were "caught red-handed" by Simon’s recording.
Both of them avoided talking about that match and refused all forms of related interviews.
It looked even more incriminating.
...
At last, Article Five of UEFA’s judgement became the climax of the verdict.
UEFA stated that Gandour’s officiating had serious misjudgments and decided to ban Gandour indefinitely.
From that day on, Gandour would forever lose the qualifications to officiate any UEFA event and all football matches in Europe.
The fewer the words, the bigger the issue.
Gandour was essentially being blacklisted by UEFA.
Football fans in his home country of Egypt expressed strong protests.
They didn’t understand football or the rules; they only recognized their nationality and felt Gandour was being bullied abroad.
But a nine-year-old ball boy named Mohamed Salah lifted the veil of shame from Egyptian football: "I support Deng Kai; I’m his fan. He played a very exciting match."
"The referee’s decisions were extremely unfair. I really dislike Gandour, and am ashamed of him!"
The ball boy’s comments received a like from his football idol, Deng Kai.
Suddenly, Gandour became a rat crossing the street, everybody shouting ’hit him!’
Except for Barcelona fans and most Egyptian fans, everyone detested him.
