Chapter 436: Chapter 435: Confucius is revered as Confucius, then Kai Shao should be respected as
Reporter: "So if Sporting Lisbon were to meet Juventus next, would you avenge Lazio?"
Nedved: "Whether as a former player for Lazio or as a player for Juventus, I will defeat our next opponent. It would be better, of course, to face Deng Kai, because we don’t want to meet Real Madrid or Bayern too early."
Bayern midfielder Scholl: "It’s hard to believe that Deng Kai actually paid tribute to my free kick in such an important game, I thought no one could do it but me."
"I like this kind of tribute, Deng Kai must be a fan of mine, and it makes me feel the responsibility of being a football idol! I know Deng Kai’s habits, so if he wants my autographed football, I can send it to him."
After dining with The Lord of the Rings crew and returning to his team, Deng Kai responded: "I appreciate Scholl’s kind offer, but I don’t really need his autographed football right now, I’ve stockpiled too much Guardiola..."
"Such unpopular autographed footballs aren’t worth much, if Scholl really wants to thank me, how about he helps me stock up on some from Kahn and Effenberg?"
"After we won the European Super Cup, considering their complexion wasn’t so good, I didn’t ask for more. But their autographed footballs are really in high demand, especially Kahn’s!"
Scholl immediately blocked Deng Kai.
The outside world wrote extensively about Sporting Lisbon making it to the last 16 of the Champions League.
The local media in Portugal went out of their way to praise each player.
There were particularly many headlines praising Kaká.
With Kaká’s good looks and temperament, he also successfully became another young star of Sporting Lisbon through this game, starting to be recognized by fans and noticed by other teams.
"One Shot, Two Passes! Brazilian new star Kaká finally starts to shine!"
"The DK combination is established! Kaká reminds people of last season’s Viana!"
Maxa: "Kaká’s talent is surprising; he is not exactly the same type of player as Viana, he can do things Viana can’t."
Maxa: "In Chinese traditional culture, the greatest individuals are often referred to as ’Zi’, and Deng Kai’s performance in this game was just that. I’d like to call him—Kai Zi!"
Deng Kai: ???
And so, in Lisbon, many people started addressing Deng Kai respectfully as "Kai Zi."
Deng Kai was "delighted" by this.
The day after the match ended, the complete lineup of the Champions League last 16 was out.
UEFA carried out the second group stage draw.
This year was the last for the two-group stage system in the Champions League.
Next year the last 16 will go directly into knockout stages.
But this year, the round of 16 to the quarter-finals still had to be divided into groups.
Four teams per group, divided into four groups, with the top two from each group advancing to become the last eight of the Champions League, and then going into head-to-head battles.
This way, each team would play six matches, four more than going directly into knockouts.
Even though it also meant some extra ticket revenue, for teams with bigger ambitions, this was just pure burden.
And for fans, two rounds of group stages were too cumbersome; following the regular league was enough, and too much Champions League could exhaust everyone, not to mention their wallets.
Perhaps the only benefit of this format was that it allowed UEFA to sell the sponsorship and shares of thirty more matches.
And as the second round of the group stages was announced, there was a buzz in the European football scene.
Countless people mourned for Lisbon Athletics.
France Football, "It’s evident that Lisbon Athletics’ questioning of the head referee last year has led to their punishment, their luck with draws this year is truly terrible!"
Kicker, "If Lisbon Athletics’ first group stage encounter was a ’group of death’ with one super team and several strong ones, then this group stage, they are facing a real dire situation with three super teams and one underdog!"
Sky Sports, "For Arsenal fans, this is another form of derby because Deng Kai is the one who helped the Red Devils, Manchester United, achieve the treble!"
Diario Sport, "Guardiola, who has become a substitute at Barcelona, can become a starting defensive midfielder at Lisbon Athletics; their victory over Barcelona last season was completely accidental. This time, Barcelona will go on a rampage!"
Torino Sport Newspaper, "For Lazio fans, losing to Lisbon Athletics is a disgrace, it has shamed the entire Serie A, and the Portuguese even brazenly claimed that Serie A has declined. Now, it’s time for Lisbon Athletics to see the might of the strongest team in Serie A!"
Yes, Lisbon Athletics really did have terrible luck this time.
In the second stage of the group matches, their opponents are Arsenal, Barcelona, and Juventus!
Record Report, "Using ’vegetable’ to describe Lisbon Athletics doesn’t respect the facts. Facing Serie A teams, Lisbon Athletics have beaten Internazionale, Lazio; Juventus is indeed strong, but it’s not to the point of despair."
"As for Barcelona, there’s even less to say; Lisbon Athletics could defeat them last year, and it’s still very possible this year!"
"Arsenal is the only strong opponent Lisbon Athletics haven’t faced yet, but defeating Liverpool has already proved that Lisbon Athletics deserves to think about reaching the Champions League quarter-finals!"
The expression of Record Report was quoted by the major media and then became a laughing stock.
The European media from other regions that had always strongly supported Deng Kai and Lisbon Athletics instantly turned their backs on them.
For a long time, people had the illusion that the European media were like they had taken Deng Kai’s money, crazily speaking for him, always very cooperative with him.
But now, the reason was revealed.
It was simply because Deng Kai and Lisbon Athletics had not truly been on the same competitive level as the mainstream teams.
So there was more tolerance toward Lisbon Athletics.
Now that Lisbon Athletics had truly stepped into the fierce competition of the Champions League, which all the teams and the media from those regions took very seriously, they began to lash out with harsh words.
Among them, the English media were the fastest to change their tune.
They even preemptively dug up dirt on Lisbon Athletics, aiming to weaken their opposition off the field to ensure Arsenal’s progression.
Fleet Street’s reputation for having no bottom line is indeed well-deserved.
The Guardian, "This is not about raking up the past, but rather a question of how far an autocratic team can go."
The accompanying image was of Ronaldinho coming out of the Alcochete Base.
It implied that even an excellent player like Ronaldinho, if not cooperating with Deng Kai’s rule, would have no choice but to join the reserve team.
This topic instantly exploded in England.
The English would not tolerate dictators.
They constantly criticized Deng Kai’s character.
Until Lisbon Athletics officially released a photo of Ronaldinho with the entire reserve team, captioned, "Thank you to Ronaldinho for his contributions to the reserve team over the past month; he has taken us from fourth in the league to first."
"Today is our last group photo with him because he is returning to the first team tomorrow!"
