Chapter 360: Chapter 359: The Battle for the Portuguese Premier League Title
"The European Treble? A Youngster from Lisbon Athletics Issues Early Championship Declaration!"
"The Worthless Treble! Lisbon Athletics Could Sweep the Europa League, Primeira Liga, and the Portuguese Cup, Taking Home Three Championship Trophies This Season!"
"Four Games, Three Titles, Lisbon Athletics Embraces the Crowning Moment!"
"Beckham’s Successor Found! Man Utd Treble Winner Deng Kai and Schmeichel Bid to Recreate Treble Triumph in Primeira Liga?"
"Over Thirty Percent of Primeira Liga Fans Believe Lisbon Athletics Can Capture the Treble, Claiming They Have ’Treble DNA’!"
"The Youth Who Helped Manchester United Clinch the Treble Last Year Is Set to Become a Treble Winner Himself This Year! Perhaps It’s All About Legacy!"
"The Red Knife Goes in, the Green Knife Comes out! The Red Devils of Man Utd and the Green and White Army of Lisbon Athletics Could Pass on the Honor of the Treble!"
"So Full of Ambition! Overconfident Youngsters Don’t Value Stamina, and Lisbon Athletics Skydives Into Becoming Europe’s First ’Treble Runners-Up’!"
"Lisbon Athletics at a Huge Disadvantage Against Porto, with Two Draws and Five Losses in Seven Encounters Over the Past Three Years, What Makes Them Think They Can Claim the Throne?"
"Liverpool Fans in Tears of Laughter! Lisbon Athletics Should First Secure Those Two Insignificant Championship Trophies Before Dreaming of the European Treble!"
"Porto Fans Mock Deng Kai’s Remarks: A Single Draw in the First Half of the Season Let Deng Kai Lose His Head, Jia De’er Will Shatter Their Goal!"
Deng Kai: "The Next Match Is at Dragão Stadium, and It’ll Be Your Own Goals That Jia De’er Shatters!"
May 14 swiftly arrived.
Within ten days, Lisbon Athletics faced four matches, against Porto (league), Porto (Portuguese Cup), Boavista (league), and Liverpool (Europa League).
Three percent of football fans across Europe believed that Lisbon Athletics would be the new European Treble winners, albeit the junior version.
The Europa League is the second-tier club competition under UEFA.
The Champions League is the premier club competition in Europe.
But the Europa League is still a highly prestigious event.
Its status was even more significant than in the later Champions-League-or-nothing era.
Therefore, being a junior Treble winner holds substantial honor.
Furthermore, the junior Treble is rarer than the senior version since Europa League champions generally lack the dominance in domestic leagues and cups compared to Champions League winners.
The first European Treble was clinched by Manchester United amidst the big five leagues, and before that, PSV Eindhoven, Ajax, and Celtic outside the big five leagues also achieved the European Treble glory.
But the title of junior European Treble winner remains unclaimed, awaiting its first holder.
However, this junior Treble, unlike the later diluted ’any three trophies’, specifically refers to the honor of winning the Europa League, the domestic top tier league, and the domestic top tier cup.
Super Cups, Community Shields, Toyota Cups, FIFA Club World Cups, or even the English League Cup do not qualify.
The starting rosters of Porto and Lisbon Athletics left many feeling nostalgic.
Lisbon Athletics really intended to contest Porto for the league championship.
They fielded their full-strength lineup.
Ronaldo, Drogba, Quaresma
Viana, Deng Kai
Matthaus, Pepe
Terry, Feng Te, Barzagli
Schmeichel
Pepe had been consistently in the starting line-up for some time.
He had almost completely replaced Deschamps.
Many believed this was Lisbon Athletics’ silent reward for Pepe’s Europa League high-kick on Deboer.
Barcelona fans protested this.
But Lisbon Athletics unilaterally claimed the protests were invalid, "It’s my player, and I’ll arrange as I please!"
...
With the whistle blow, the match officially began.
The crowd in Dragão Stadium was thunderous, singing their team anthem for twelve straight minutes to showcase their determination to win the championship.
They were the team with the most Portuguese league titles in the past decade, the undisputed leading powerhouse of Primeira Liga!
But the fans’ singing stopped because...
In the twelfth minute, from at least thirty-two meters away from the goal, Deng Kai suddenly launched a thunderous long shot.
The football struck the crossbar, rebounded, and fired the first shot of the battle!
The entire Dragão Stadium shuddered in fear.
After that, Porto’s fans couldn’t sing any more songs.
For fear that at any syllable, Sporting Lisbon might launch another threatening attack.
That could choke the singers, causing them to catch their breath, and they’d probably need to go to the hospital.
The thirty-sixth minute of the first half.
Both sides were attacking each other.
This time it was Deng Kai with the ball, facing off against Deco’s pressure.
Earlier in the game, the two hadn’t directly clashed, as they both had defensive experts marking them.
This was their first confrontation of the match.
Deng Kai easily dodged Deco with a move akin to a "fried dumpling".
Deco’s pressure, mainly intended to buy time, didn’t matter much when he was bypassed.
But Deng Kai was so quick that Deco couldn’t delay him at all.
Porto’s right-back and defensive midfielder both had to cover Deng Kai.
Bang!
Deng Kai delivered a through pass.
Ronaldo received the ball, knocked it forward to cut inside, suddenly accelerated, and outpaced the Porto right-back, who had turned to chase him.
Bang!
After getting past his opponent, Ronaldo saw an opportunity in the penalty area and made a direct sideways pass.
Quaresma rushed to shoot... and fell to the ground!
The referee immediately blew the whistle, awarding a penalty kick.
The entire football referee community was now paying very close attention to enforcement concerning Sporting Lisbon.
After all, they were the brash team that had dared to stand up to Barcelona and UEFA and had just won.
Recently, any slight issue in their games would make headlines.
Gandour had the backing of dark forces to remain in his international refereeing position even after such an incident, but other normal referees didn’t have such thick skin.
Porto’s fans booed the decision.
But the players were more rational in accepting the penalty.
Especially the offending player, who knew he was at fault.
The slow-motion replay on the big screen also confirmed the referee’s correct decision.
Quaresma stood at the penalty spot, confidently making the kick and scoring for Sporting Lisbon.
On the real-time Primeira Liga leaderboard, Sporting Lisbon overtook Porto by two points, once again taking the lead in the league!
"Quaresma! A solid penalty! Could Sporting Lisbon really be winning the championship?!"
"This is a massive blow to Porto!"
"However, Porto still has time. They have over sixty minutes to rewrite the score."
After the game restarted, Porto launched a furious attack.
But they never managed to threaten Sporting Lisbon’s goal.
Until the end of the first half, the score remained one-nil.
The second half commenced.
Sporting Lisbon adeptly used the Large Circle Tactics to keep possession on their side, denying Porto any chance to bombard them.
