Chapter 366: Chapter 365 I, Ronaldo, Cried
"Pitch Brawl! Violence at Sporting Lisbon training involves Ronaldo and another player with ’en’ in his Chinese pinyin name!" was a headline that exploded onto the scene.
Fans saw this and thought, oh my God! That’s Ronaldo and Deng Kai fighting!
Look at this, it’s the traffic from the European finals.
This is the superiority of the Bayern route.
As long as you can make it to the semifinals, this route won’t fail.
Making it to the finals, this route becomes slightly profitable.
If they win the championship, this route will be hugely profitable.
Bayern has been profiting in this way for three years, which is why they could stand with or even surpass teams from the big leagues like Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Arsenal, Barcelona, Fiorentina, Lazio, Napoli, Liverpool, Newcastle United, coming from the Bundesliga, a "top league on the fringe."
Of course, the media wouldn’t totally make things up.
The violent incident on Sporting Lisbon’s pitch did indeed take place.
Ronaldo, half-joking and half-serious, threw a few light punches at Feng Te, blaming him for blocking his view of the trophy.
Feng te... Deng Kai, both of their Chinese version names indeed contain ’en.’ This media outlet is reliable and quite knowledgeable about Chinese—I wouldn’t believe it if you said it wasn’t The Sun Newspaper.
...
Estádio Alvalade.
"Boavista is playing fiercely today, they have no intention of playing a rigged game!"
"Porto fans must be very grateful to Boavista right at this moment—that’s true professional spirit! They want to pull off a block against Sporting Lisbon right in their home ground!"
"Sixty minutes have passed, and neither side has scored. But Sporting Lisbon’s possession is unusually lower than their opponent’s—they seem hesitant to play their game today!"
"This match is crucial for them to become the champions of Portugal, and the players seem to be tying their own hands."
"Porto has scored! They now lead Sporting Lisbon by one point in the scoreline! It’s Deco! Porto’s superstar Deco hasn’t given up!"
"Oh! Unbelievable! Deco scores twice within three minutes! Two to zero for Porto, it’s looking stable now!"
The few Boavista fans at the venue started cheering.
The players could be aware of the scores through these events.
In the 64th minute, Deng Kai, after dazzling past defenders with his "deep-fried meatball" move, took the ball forward in one stride and fired from long range!
The Boavista goalkeeper made a risky save on the goal line, punching the football out.
That shot was a bit far, lacking suddenness.
However, Drogba got to the first bounce and took a rebound shot.
Boavista’s center back turned with hands behind his back and blocked the football out of the area.
On the left side of the penalty area, Ronaldo gets ready to unleash... a pass across!
A fake shot turns into a real pass.
Deng Kai, unguarded at the top of the penalty arc, meets the ball with a powerful shot!
All sorts of buffs for long-range shots are activated, including "What’s Ronaldo compared to this."
Boavista paid the price for their Brazilian full-back.
"GOAL! Deng Kai! That’s a golden goal!"
"One to zero! Sporting Lisbon is back on top of the leaderboard! The Portugal champions, here comes Sporting Lisbon!"
In the end, the score of the match settled at one to zero, with Deng Kai scoring the only goal of the game.
On the other side, Deco, with two shots and one assist to his name, could only feel disheartened, securing his second Portuguese league runner-up spot with Porto. Throughout the past six years, the only two non-champion seasons for Porto had both been experienced by Deco.
Deco even doubted at one point whether it was because of his arrival and promotion to the team that Porto wasn’t performing well.
This point also became an attack vector for Deco’s detractors.
The Brazilian national team’s scouting staff, therefore, vetoed the proposal to call up Deco, citing the player’s lack of championship pedigree and inability to perform in tough matches.
His achievements in the Portuguese league seemed dazzling, but he never really helped Porto claim any significant honors.
The post-match celebration this time was even more grandiose than that of the Portuguese Cup, for this was a victory at home, and nothing could be more beautiful than that.
The fifty thousand fans at the venue sang Sporting Lisbon’s anthem continuously, right up until the official start of the award ceremony.
The host said, "In the history of the Portuguese league, there are three giants: Porto, Benfica, and Sporting Lisbon, which is nearly forgotten. It has been an entire twenty years—this is the twentieth year since Sporting Lisbon last laid hands on the Championship Trophy!"
"How many sets of twenty years does one have in a lifetime? Life..."
After a stirringly sentimental introduction, the host invited the president of the Portuguese Football Federation and other officials.
The first announcements were for the individual awards of the season.
Players not in attendance would have a brief award ceremony during the first home game of the next season to receive their trophies.
Those present, of course, could bask in the limelight alone.
The first award to be presented was the "Best Young Player" award.
This award carried considerable weight because the Portuguese league itself was known for nurturing talented players. To be called the best among a group of talents was no small feat.
The host said, "He is an indomitable fighter, bravely battling for the green and white stripes he wears. Opposing players consider him the most difficult to defend against. He weaves through players with ease, he achieves the fastest speeds of the season in the Portuguese league, and in his very first season, he has scored thirty goals!"
"Despite contributing only three assists throughout the season, despite his obsession with shooting over passing, despite his body not being strong enough and his propensity for diving, we believe that one day, he will be perfect!"
"Because at this moment, this player is just sixteen years and three months old! He has plenty of time to become the next ’extra-terrestrial’, yes, he is the forward from Sporting Lisbon’s academy, Cristiano..."
The host prolonged the ending.
The whole venue joined him in shouting, "Ronaldo!"
The camera quickly found CR7.
CR7 pursed his lips, trying to suppress his smile, but obviously failed.
He walked swiftly onto the stage to accept his award.
After shaking hands with the officials, he took hold of his trophy and, holding it against his chest, gave the cameras a perfectly reportable image with an eight-tooth smile.
This was the first major award of his professional career.
Despite having participated in youth leagues, the Uefa Youth League, and in the Portuguese second division before this, those were either underage events or not top-tier competitions, falling just short in terms of prestige.
But the Portuguese league, it definitely carried weight.
Over the years, the league produced several superstars, more than a dozen first-class players, and countless top-five European league quality players.
CR7 was following in the footsteps of his predecessors, heading towards the future.
"Uh..." As the award winner, CR7 was supposed to say a few words, but standing there so formally for the first time, he was clearly overwhelmed by the moment.
Before he could speak, he turned red around the eyes and burst into tears.
Deng Kai laughed out loud at that moment.
No way, crying over the Best Young Player award?
What would you do when you win the Golden Ball in the future?
