Chapter 408: Chapter 407: Kai Shao Treats Ronaldo, Begins Happiness
Kaka employs a spinning playing style, not one that relies solely on speed.
Ronaldinho’s even worse, a "super spinner," playing too delicately and severely impeding the team’s progress.
Based on Sporting Lisbon’s style last season, in evenly matched conditions, they could usually try five or six threatening attacks in twenty minutes.
But now, just two, and neither resulted in a goal.
While quality remained the same, the frequency decreased, which is an indication of weakening.
Guardiola was keen to see what Deng Kai would do.
Would he scold Ronaldinho?
This is a method every core player tries when the team loses its grip, but at the early stages of team integration, it can easily sow seeds of discord within the squad.
"Hmm? What’s this... switching flanks?" Guardiola was somewhat surprised.
Deng Kai had actually taken the initiative to swap wings with Kaka.
He was planning to...
"Guardiola, find me!"
"Maicon, pass the football to me as much as possible, and slow down the rhythm a bit."
"Kaka, try to create threats on the left side, and pass the ball to me in other areas. I’ll coordinate, ok?"
"Drogba, got it?"
Deng Kai communicated his strategy, and his teammates gradually responded.
Unbeknownst to Ronaldinho, he had been cut off by the team.
In the following minutes, Ronaldinho’s time on the ball significantly decreased... no, he had none.
He was connected to Deng Kai by a single thread; without Deng Kai’s passes, he could hardly get the ball.
Even when Ronaldinho actively asked for the ball, his teammates always passed it to Deng Kai first.
Guardiola smirked from the backfield.
Good fellow.
Ronaldinho wouldn’t play tactically, and Kaka couldn’t deal with him, so Deng Kai personally set out to handle Ronaldinho.
But would Trigella and Maxa allow Deng Kai to do that?
During this period, Sporting Lisbon had not launched an attack at all, the rhythm was slow, and it no longer met the team’s requirements for "fast transmission."
On the sidelines, Maxa kept nodding, "This damned organizing ability, it’s just too strong!"
"Look at Sporting Lisbon’s midfield and defense playing the ball back and forth like flowing clouds and flowing water, unhurried, with the game well in hand!"
"It feels like last season Kai was never as composed against Deco as he is now."
Yaya Toure and Reina shuddered as they listened; they knew that if they played like this in their team, they’d be mocked by fans as "masters of safe play," scolded by the media for "negative play," and berated by the head coach for "delaying opportunities."
In contrast, Trigella was much more principled, "Slowing it down is a good thing. If you want to deliver a heavy blow, you’ve got to pull your punch back first. Kai’s greatest strength is not his technical ability to be a metronome."
"But his mental capacity to take on that role, he doesn’t care about what others think of him."
Yes, Deng Kai didn’t care about Ronaldinho enviously watching him.
Envious of his freedom on the pitch, jealous that his teammates all passed to him, angry that he didn’t pass to himself.
In the twenty-ninth minute.
Bang!
Just when many were about to nod off, Deng Kai suddenly flicked the ball and accelerated straight at Alenichev.
Confronted by Alenichev’s hurried block, Deng Kai performed a Marseille Turn, breezing past at high speed, with a lethal intent!
"Middle! Defense! Everyone, to the middle!"
Porto’s alarm bells rang, and Mourinho urgently shouted, herding his players to the middle to defend.
Ronaldinho started to speed up and kept asking for the ball.
He realized that his chance had come.
Bang!
Deng Kai’s professionalism was no joke.
He was there to "assist" Ronaldinho, not to "punish" him.
Of course, he was willing to pass to Ronaldinho now.
But just...
"Oh, Deng Kai’s pass was too strong!"
With one kick, many fans could see the "mistake" in this pass-and-play.
Ronaldinho was cutting inside, but Deng Kai passed as if aiming for the bottom line.
This...
MMP!
Ronaldo cursed under his breath and turned to sprint towards the sideline, frantically chasing the ball.
He was starting to feel a bit dissatisfied with Deng Kai’s "rigid" thinking—as a midfielder, how could you just assume that the right winger can only go down the line?
With a through pass from you, I cut inside, dribble past one player, and then I have a chance to shoot!
Get past another one, and it’s basically a rhythm of facing the goalkeeper inside the box!
If I get past the goalkeeper too, I can even dance in front of the goal, for heaven’s sake!
Bang!
After Ronaldo caught up with the ball, his teammates were already positioned in the box.
Porto’s defense was also basically in place; all he could do was cross it.
The difference between imagination and reality is the difference between plumpness and skinniness.
Bang!
Drogba leapt high and headed for the goal.
However, under the influence of Carvalho, the ball went over the bar without posing much of a threat.
In Ronaldo’s view, this was a bland attack, lacking in exquisite short-range combinations, without the thrilling fancy dribbling that gets the blood pumping—utterly disappointing.
However, in the face of professional data, this attack went from Deng Kai’s initiation to Drogba’s attempt on goal with only two passes and took a mere seven seconds.
Compared to the average attacks initiated by Ronaldo, which could last two minutes and possibly repeat several times, the excitement level had dropped, but the thrill was not any less intense.
The thirty-fourth minute.
Vidic, overpowering the European Golden Shoe Jia De’er, made a key clearance.
The ball then came to Deng Kai’s feet, and noticing Ronaldo in a good position, he passed directly to him.
Ronaldo was worried Deng Kai would play it down the line, so he didn’t cut inside in anticipation.
Sure enough, it was another damned-line pass.
This time, after Ronaldo caught up with the ball, Valente stuck close to him, aiming to muscle Ronaldo off by pushing him beyond the baseline.
But Ronaldo flicked the ball along the baseline, overtaking Valente on the outside and then back-passed to Deng Kai.
Then he surged towards the penalty area.
This was his second stunning play of the match.
Previously, it was a combination with Kaka, ending with a fancy shot on goal; this time...
Bang!
Ronaldo hadn’t even reached the penalty area when Deng Kai met the ball and crossed it directly without stopping.
In the center, Drogba rose high, drawing all the attention of Porto’s defense in the box.
But he failed to make contact with the ball.
The curve of the ball was significant.
If Baía had positioned himself slightly forward, he could have caught it directly.
But Baía, wary of Drogba’s aerial threat, stayed back, ready to save Drogba’s header instead of clearing the ball before Drogba, thus missing the chance.
Bang!
As expected, Cristiano appeared at the far post, pouncing to push the ball into the net.
"GOAL! Cristiano Ronaldo times a hundred!"
"One-nil! With the assist from Deng Kai!"
"This is the CD connection!"
"They’re sprinting down the road to becoming European Quadruple Champions!"
"Deng Kai and Cristiano have landed a heavy blow on Mourinho!"
"With assists and goals, they told Porto who’s the boss in Portugal!"
Ronaldo jogged over to Cristiano mechanically, thinking that today’s match commentary was truly toxic.
Hadn’t Deng Kai just used that assist to tell the Brazilian who was the boss of Sporting Lisbon?
They had delivered a heavy blow to an unrestrained Ronaldo.
And that ’Ronaldo times a hundred’ part, you think you’re a machine gun or something, rattling on... don’t you know that my name, Ronaldo, also contains ’Ronaldo’?
Who are you mocking?
By the time Ronaldo arrived at the celebration, he hadn’t even time to feel awkward before Deng Kai grabbed around his neck.
"Beautiful pass! You played it brilliantly!"
Ronaldo was full of question marks—brilliant? I was?
Just now, I hadn’t even started showing off before you passed the ball away, did I?
If you passed like Kaka did, I could’ve sliced through the entirety of Porto along the baseline, moving from right to left, passing the goal three times without scoring!
Deng Kai: No, no, no, I’ve seen the future twenty years later with Lukaku, Sterling, Lautaro, and Nunes. Although you all come from the same joyful football lineage, you as the founder actually give joy to the fans, while those successors bring joy amidst the suffering.
