Chapter 443: Chapter 442: To Enter the Field, First Read
"Speaking of football, one cannot help mentioning Matthaus, who is out due to injury and is expected to need more time to recover."
"The young player from Lisbon, Yaya Tu Lei, replaced Matthaus, appearing alongside Guardiola, forming a double pivot."
"The media dug up an interview from when Yaya Tu Lei had a trial at Arsenal, where he said Barcelona was his favorite team. This might be the reason why Wenger didn’t want him."
"Now facing Barcelona, one wonders what Yaya Tu Lei is thinking."
"Last season, Guardiola was one of the main players in the Barcelona first team; their elimination by Lisbon in the last season had a lot to do with him being substituted early."
"At that time, Xavi wasn’t ready to replace Guardiola, and even now, it’s quite difficult for Xavi to do so."
"Barcelona claimed that Guardiola’s refusal to take a pay cut was the main reason for their parting ways."
"Guardiola responded that he didn’t care about money; what mattered to him was playing time. If a player could be happy without playing, then that player lacks ambition."
"He would never like a player without ambition."
"Guardiola even stated that, if he were a head coach, and there was a player who would be unhappy not playing, he would make that player the core of the team, because that player’s spirit deserved it all!"
Cancelo: ???
Cancelo: So why am I now playing for Bayern?
With a whistle, the match officially began.
As two possession-oriented teams, their clash in the first ten minutes might be the most exciting part of the game.
The possession changed frequently, and the players from both sides seemed quite interested in the contesting.
But after ten minutes... they weren’t as aggressive in their pressing in the attacking half.
Because they knew they couldn’t win the ball.
From that perspective, Lisbon’s fighting power had actually become stronger than last season.
Last season, they only had a chance to play counter-attacking football in front of Barcelona, as the gap in player quality meant they couldn’t retain the ball.
But now... the fallbacks from Deng Kai and Ronaldo made it hard for Barcelona to get a touch in their attacking half.
Even...
In the twelfth minute, Ronaldo displayed astonishing individual skill.
After receiving a routine pass from Deng Kai, he immediately made a fake forward run, shouting, "Go for it! They can’t stop you!"
Having said that, Ronaldo dribbled past Cocu.
Xavi was drawn away by Deng Kai’s forward run, and as he moved a little towards Deng Kai, Deng Kai suddenly turned and moved back, filling in the gap left by Ronaldo’s run, to prevent Barcelona from countering should Ronaldo lose the ball.
Xavi was shocked; was this... both playing and covering?
Just as Xavi prepared to close down Ronaldo again, he realized something—where was Ronaldo?
There was Cocu on the ground, with Ronaldo already long gone past him.
Cocu had been tricked by Ronaldo!
Following that, Ronaldo delivered a through ball.
But Drogba’s touch was slightly rough, leading the ball too far ahead, which allowed Barcelona’s goalkeeper, Bonano, to collect it.
However, many Barcelona fans were still in shock at this point.
There was surprise all over the Barcelona bench as well.
Rijkaard pointed at Ronaldo on the field and said to his assistant coach, "Isn’t this the player we’ve been looking for?"
The assistant coach nodded repeatedly, "Yes, him! It’s him! The player we’ve been dreaming of!"
Ronaldo’s appearance made everyone in the Barcelona sports department unanimously believe that love at first sight truly exists.
All this time, be it Overmars, who was introduced before, or Saviola, brought in this season for over thirty million, they never quite met Barcelona’s requirements for a left winger.
The same went for Simon.
Currently, Quaresma was up to standard but could only play right winger; his trivela would be wasted on the left where what was needed was inside-out shots.
Ronaldo was always a left winger.
Even though he mostly played on the right wing for Sporting Lisbon, that didn’t affect his ability to display his talent at all.
Just look at that move just now, it’s so Barcelona’s taste.
It seemed as if he heard the silent cheers of Barcelona, and in the sixteenth minute, Ronaldo once again dazzled in the middle by shaking off Xavi with his flamboyant dribbling.
To say he shook him off is even disrespectful to Ronaldo’s dribbling skills.
He was like crossing the road at four in the morning, without any hindrance.
Xavi: Is this way of describing very respectful to me, then?
Deboer just couldn’t bear to watch any longer, and to avoid being shaken off by Ronaldo himself, Deboer brought Ronaldo down with brute force.
The referee held the whistle in his mouth but did not blow it.
That’s because Deng Kai sprang out from behind Ronaldo, picked up the football, and ran towards the right wing.
He was going to take it to the base.
After bringing Ronaldo down, Deboer had no strength left to chase after Deng Kai.
Bang!
Deng Kai delivered a cross from the wing.
Suddenly, Salih Hamidzic possessed him.
The cross was like the wing of an angel.
In the middle, Drogba and Christanval were entangled with each other, then suddenly the latter stumbled, while Drogba took off unobstructed.
An air raid siren sounded in Barcelona’s skies!
Bang!
Drogba’s header was strong and powerful, Bonano couldn’t make an effective save and just watched the football smash into the net.
"GOAL! Drogba! Drogba has scored the first goal of the second stage of the group phase this season for Sporting Lisbon!"
"Christanval’s muscular physique is like a minor witch in front of a grand sorcerer when facing Drogba!"
"After a season of training, Drogba has become even stronger!"
"Of course, Deng Kai’s beautiful cross and Ronaldo’s flamboyant dribbling are also essential parts of this goal."
Trigella was wildly celebrating on the sidelines.
Just from this one goal, he knew the game was in the bag!
Barcelona is still that Barcelona!
Evra, clueless on the bench, sought advice from Maxa: "Why is Mr. Trigella so excited just for a one-nil? Many times even at two-nil he wouldn’t celebrate like this."
Maxa laughed: "Because for Barcelona, this goal means they are one-nil down!"
To translate that means... if you don’t know, then why should I?
I’m just a lifestyle blogger, what do I know about football!
Evra was confused.
Maxa’s words... seemed to have a deeper meaning.
But unfortunately, his own understanding was too shallow to decipher it accurately, which was truly a pity.
If he asked any further, it would just show his lack of talent and make it easy for others to look down on him.
Maicon on the side had an epiphany: "I got it! In the study of wellness, it’s said the body is one, and one is the foundation. Zero represents all other various things. If there is no one, then no matter how many zeroes you have, it’s futile."
"But if you have a one, then the zeroes that follow have meaning."
"One begets two, two beget three, and three beget all things!"
"Maxa, am I right?"
