Chapter 481: Chapter 480: Unreliable
Manchester Evening News: "This season’s Champions League, Deng Kai with eight goals and seven assists, Ronaldo with eight goals and two assists, both together scored over 60% of the team’s total goals in the Champions League! They contributed to over 70% of the team’s total key plays in the Champions League!"
The Sun Newspaper: "Sporting Lisbon may have a glimmer of hope! Hathaway’s close friend revealed: Hathaway once said personally that Deng Kai has an incredible recovery ability! He can do hundreds of... push-ups in one night!"
Essentially, this is the opinion of the mainstream European media.
No one is optimistic about Sporting Lisbon.
This is the advantage and disadvantage of having a super-core leader in the team.
The advantage lies in, as long as this super-core player is not injured, it hardly matters who else is injured; it won’t shake the foundation of the team.
In the last two seasons, Ronaldo, Drogba, Ibrahimovic, Matthaus, Viana, Quaresma, Kaka, and Ronaldinho—who hasn’t been injured?
But what about the performance of Sporting Lisbon?
Even with fluctuations, they always managed to adjust quickly.
To say it’s all due to Deng Kai might be somewhat inaccurate.
But it’s definitely at least 50% due to him.
The disadvantage, however, lies in the fact that once the super-core is injured, then...
This scenario had already been previewed this season when Deng Kai was suspended for three matches in the Champions League at the beginning of the season.
Three rounds without a win, two losses and one draw.
Due to this, various institutions were so confident in their prediction of Sporting Lisbon’s defeat.
March 23, Portugal’s 28th league round.
Sporting Lisbon vs Salgueiros.
The team narrowly won 1-0.
Although they won, the disorganization was visibly apparent.
March 30, Portugal’s 29th league round.
Sporting Lisbon vs Boavista.
Then the problems started to show.
Despite Ronaldo’s outstanding performance, Sporting Lisbon’s midfield weaknesses were exploited by the opponent.
Eventually, both sides exploded, ending in a 3-3 draw.
Sporting Lisbon’s six consecutive wins across all competitions came to an end.
The only good news was that the league’s second-place Porto also slipped up.
They lost their match this round, thereby increasing the points difference between the two sides.
But there was no commotion at Porto.
Because Mourinho had already declared when the team entered the quarterfinals of the UEFA Cup that Porto would focus on the UEFA Cup.
He wanted to show all of Europe that there’s not just Sporting Lisbon that can compete in European competitions.
Media dug up Mourinho’s previous statements and found this man always audacious.
When he defeated the four-time European champion, Sporting Lisbon, at the beginning of the season, he not only said that the reign of the champions was over but also stated that there was nothing spectacular about Sporting Lisbon, claiming the only reason they won the UEFA Cup last season was because Porto did not participate in it.
If Porto had participated, they would have won the championship as well.
Later, Porto finished third in the Champions League group stages and entered the UEFA Cup competitions.
And they indeed made it into the quarterfinals of the Cup.
Really... although arrogant, it seems he really has something substantial.
April 1, the sports-themed movie "Bend It Like Beckham," starring Keira Knightley, premiered in Europe.
The film achieved quite impressive box office numbers on its opening day.
According to initial estimates, ideally, the movie could make around thirty million US dollars in the North American market.
The global box office was estimated to be between sixty and eighty million US dollars.
But with the release of the first weekend’s numbers, unexpectedly, the film was set to earn over fifty million US dollars in the North American market.
Global box office receipts could potentially double!
Of this, Beckham, the soul of the movie, probably contributed one third of the influence.
Keira Knightley’s recent surge in popularity also contributed another third.
The remaining third was contributed by Deng Kai.
Almost all soccer fans had either seen or heard about Deng Kai’s goal at Barcelona and the subsequent celebration and controversy; many were touched by the spirit of the Sporting Lisbon youths and were willing to buy a ticket for them.
Unfortunately, tickets were hard to secure, and moreover... the quarterfinal home game of Sporting Lisbon was played in an empty stadium. It was almost their last song in the Champions League for this season, so...
Many people chose to watch the movie "I Love Beckham" that Deng Kai strongly supported and shared.
Outside the cinema, many reporters interviewed people who had watched the movie, asking if they were fans of Beckham.
Over one third of the fans said they knew Beckham, but they came to the cinema because of Deng Kai’s promotion.
On the same day, Sporting Lisbon’s arch-rival Porto defeated their opponent 2-0 and almost secured their spot in the semifinals of the Europa League!
After the win, Mourinho said to the camera, "I don’t know if Sporting Lisbon can reach the semifinals for Deng Kai, but we Porto will be waiting for him in the semifinals!"
"Although it’s a different competition, this time, we will go farther than them!"
Mourinho’s remote shout created an instant sense of rivalry between the two Portuguese giants.
While people lamented their fierce competition, they also felt a sense of mutual admiration.
It is fair to say that Mourinho’s move to attract attention was both clever and ruthless!
If Sporting Lisbon could hold on, they would be able to attract attention alongside Porto.
If they couldn’t.
They would become a stepping stone for Porto to further their reputation in European football.
On April 2, the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals, Leverkusen vs Sporting Lisbon.
In the first half, Ze Roberto, highly regarded by Bayern, delivered a brilliant assist, and the young Berbatov scored a goal that could be described as dashing.
In the second half, Shi Naide passed across to assist, and German superstar Ballack scored a long shot, making the score 2-0.
In the 80th minute, Kaka and Ronaldinho created a threat, but it was stopped by Lucio with a foul.
2-0.
The young players of Sporting Lisbon broke their word.
They were too naive, thinking they could do it.
But only after really trying did they realize, without Deng Kai, they indeed couldn’t.
So, Deng was that important.
Indeed, Feng Te was right.
Such a Deng, it’s never too much to praise him.
Unfortunately, some realizations come too late.
Sporting Lisbon no longer had a chance.
Ronaldo: ??
Ronaldo: You guys don’t think it’s because of my suspension and thus our lack of scoring power that we didn’t score any goals?
Feng Te: Brother C, you can bring goals, but only Deng Kai can bring victory!
...
"As dark as Sporting Lisbon, the super dark horse — Leverkusen!"
"The super team competing with Bayern in Bundesliga, no less youthful than Sporting Lisbon!"
"Triple threat! Champions League, Bundesliga, German Cup! Leverkusen might become the next European treble winner!"
"Dual cores of Leverkusen! The legendary lives of Ze Roberto and Michael Ballack!"
"Former Royal Madrid player Ze Roberto reborn in Bundesliga! Delivering a season total of more than twenty assists! The Champions League semifinals might see a showdown with his old team!"
