Chapter 413: Chapter 412: The Mansour Consortium Makes a Move, Kai Launches a Flexible Suspension System
August 18, the second round of matches in the Primeira Liga.
Lisbon Athletic faced back-to-back misfortunes as they were held to a draw at home by Belenenses.
As a result, their ranking in the Primeira Liga remained fixed just outside the top ten.
"Lisbon Athletic with a draw and a loss, where exactly is the problem?"
"Weak in transfers! Lisbon Athletic fails to replicate last year’s transfer brilliance, this year’s recruits are mediocre!"
"Aside from Ronaldinho, the entire Lisbon Athletic squad is in poor form!"
"Did the four-title triumph drain all of the players’ enthusiasm? Ronaldo misses a one-on-one, Deng Kai misses a penalty, Guardiola flaccid!"
"Four million? The invisible midfielder Kaka isn’t even worth one million!"
"Impotent rage? Over the past two games, Deng Kai furiously thumped the turf, no teammate dared to approach!"
"Five-title champions a far-fetched idea, Bayern Munich holds the winning ticket for the European Super Cup!"
Lisbon Athletic’s performance made people even more optimistic about Bayern.
Over ninety-two percent of fans believed Bayern would defeat Lisbon Athletic to lift the trophy.
However, soon there were some changes regarding this event that spread quickly.
That is the issue with the venue of the match.
Since 1998, the European Super Cup has always been held at Louis II Stadium.
This stadium is the home ground for both the Monaco football team and the Monaco national team.
Located on land reclaimed from the sea, it has a small area and many space restrictions.
Its underground parking lot is even right beneath the pitch.
Amongst the well-known stadiums in Europe, the Louis II Stadium is very small, only able to accommodate eighteen thousand five hundred spectators for a match.
Even with the addition of temporary seating, the capacity is hard to exceed twenty-five thousand.
This used to suffice, as the European Super Cup wasn’t considered a major honor and was just a single annual match with no continuity.
But this year is different.
This year’s European Super Cup, although most people favor Bayern, the biggest draw has nothing to do with Bayern at all.
It’s not even the grudges between Matthaus and the Bayern medical staff and teammates.
It’s that if Lisbon Athletic wins, they will become the first team to achieve a five-title victory in thirty years!
Second only to the Ajax led by Johann Cruyff in 1972.
According to the data obtained by UEFA, at least fifty thousand fans definitely would spend money to watch the match live.
Additionally, more than one hundred thousand fans expressed willingness to attend, and even from this group, at least twenty to thirty thousand fans could be expected to follow through.
The potential ticket revenue from this match could be nearly as much as last season’s Europa League final and exceeded the level of last season’s Champions League quarterfinals.
Can you believe it!
If only twenty thousand people could be seated, how much would be lost?
UEFA wanted to solve this problem immediately and chose a new venue.
The Mansour Financial Group, which had officially initiated the acquisition of Manchester City, played an active role by conducting extensive communications between UEFA and Man City, paying to satisfy the needs of both parties.
Eventually, this year’s European Super Cup venue was switched from Louis II Stadium to the home ground of Man City—Maine Road Stadium.
This stadium can hold over eighty thousand fans, making it the second largest stadium in England after Wembley, known as the "Wembley of the North."
This matter struck a chord with Man City fans.
Before the emergence of the Abu Dhabi Group and the Qatar Investment Authority, people had relatively low financial expectations of football club owners.
To English fans, the Mansour Group was already considered quite wealthy.
Of course, there were many club owners in England richer than the Mansour Group.
But in terms of investment, they did far less than Mansour.
Mansour’s performance in stadium operations this time showed a complete willingness to invest in the team.
He even gave off the impression of being the "English Moratti."
This was very likely to win the fans’ favor.
Not only that, but Mansour also revealed in private that if he took over Man City, he would push forward the construction plan for a new stadium for Man City within two years of completing the acquisition.
This was a huge boost to the local economy, employment, visibility, team prestige, and team configuration.
Thus, as it currently appeared, the Mansour consortium’s acquisition of Manchester City was proceeding in an orderly fashion.
Perhaps all that was needed was the final push to bring this matter to a satisfactory conclusion.
Of course, outside opinion on Mansour’s acquisition was generally pessimistic.
Because Manchester City had just suffered two consecutive defeats in the English First Division.
They didn’t at all resemble a team that had played in the Premier League last season.
If Mansour really did succeed in the acquisition, they feared they would still be in the First Division next season.
Then the purchase price they were offering now would be much higher than Manchester City’s value.
They would lose money.
...
As one problem subsided, another arose.
After resolving the stadium issue, UEFA immediately encountered a second problem.
That was a "small request" from the Mansour consortium that made the resolution possible.
With the match fast approaching, the Mansour consortium hoped that some key players from Sporting Lisbon wouldn’t be missing from the game.
On one hand, it was a consideration for ticket sales.
On the other hand, it was also due to Mansour’s personal taste.
He was a fan of a certain player on Sporting Lisbon.
UEFA officials had already become friends with Mansour after taking so much of his money. How could they refuse such a small request?
They readily agreed and then went back to check, only to find the player Mansour had requested.
Deng Kai!
In last season’s UEFA Europa League semi-final, during the game between Sporting Lisbon and Barcelona, Deng Kai received a red card and, due to his egregious behavior, was given an additional three-match suspension.
However, after an appeal by Sporting Lisbon, Deng Kai managed to appear on the field for the UEFA Europa League final and led the team to defeat Liverpool to win the treble.
The rationale at the time was that Deng Kai was under sixteen years old, and out of protection for minors, the relevant punishment would not take effect until after he turned sixteen.
Now, Deng Kai was sixteen years and nineteen days old!
The UEFA Super Cup was also a UEFA event, and in theory, Deng Kai should have been suspended.
This was indeed a problem.
But money had changed hands and UEFA quickly came up with a solution after a meeting.
They made some reforms and explorations for this year’s UEFA Super Cup.
The aim was to present the most exciting game to the fans.
The aspects of reform and exploration included:
Choosing a larger stadium so that more fans could watch the game.
Expanding the types of broadcast media, such as preferential treatment for new online media led by "All Football".
Increasing the quota for traditional broadcast media to widen international influence.
Adding more sponsorship channels to give more sponsors opportunities.
And a temporary relaxation of disciplinary regulations, among others.
As is well known, the fewer words, the more significant the content.
Sometimes the things listed last are the core.
Concerning the "temporary relaxation of disciplinary regulations", media went to do thorough research and discovered an unsettling fact.
"Without altering the nature of the UEFA Super Cup, give a temporary amnesty to suspensions of players from both teams, suspensions of coaching staff members, bans on fans from attending the game, and the like."
What does that mean?
It means that suspended players like Deng Kai, Pepe, and Maxa could all participate in the match.
Suddenly, the German media cried foul.
Bild publicly criticized UEFA for creating a flexible employment system for Deng Kai—oh no... a flexible suspension system!
They believed it was a destruction of UEFA’s credibility.
