Chapter 493: Chapter 492: The Minor Five-Time Champion Has Become a Thing of the Past
But Deng Kai had almost, with a hundred percent certainty, completed his mission.
This summer, Mansour believed that Manchester City would shock the entire football world.
Because they would welcome the number one superstar (youth version) of the era!
Deng Kai!
...
As the information spread, the work of a video editor with the handle "Fleeting Shadows" on "Soccer Guru" went viral.
Their video was titled "Highlights of the Most Exciting Matches at Different Stages of the 2001-2002 Champions League."
"Fleeting Shadows" believed that the most exciting match of the first group stage was Sporting Lisbon’s do-or-die battle against Lazio.
Lazio was rich with stars, and their players were either at the pinnacle of their abilities or their fame, at the prime of their careers!
Sporting Lisbon featured a mix of old and new, with seasoned superstars and unknown, sharp newcomers causing a youth storm.
The result was a battle that shocked the world.
With a hat-trick, Deng Kai led the team to three consecutive wins in the Champions League group stage, causing Lazio’s home fans to switch sides.
They trampled over the corpse of Lazio to enter the last sixteen of the Champions League.
In terms of significance, that battle effectively broke Lazio and arguably ended their season half a year early.
The collapsing Lazio went downhill, currently placed sixth in Serie A, and might not even play in the European League next year.
On the competitive level, the Serie A Seven Sisters were thoroughly history.
The team that Sporting Lisbon crushed wasn’t just Lazio, but also the glory of Serie A, the world’s number one league!
In the second group stage, "Fleeting Shadows" believed the most exciting match was undoubtedly Sporting Lisbon’s five-all barrage with Arsenal in the first leg.
In this stage, Sporting Lisbon fought Juventus, battled Barcelona, and encountered the madly attacking Arsenal!
It was the most beautiful form of offensive football.
And the five-all draw between Sporting Lisbon and Arsenal encapsulated all the elements that this stage of the competition should have had.
Ibrahimovic, who "never trials," scored twice to slap Wenger in the face.
Ronaldo, who "can’t pass," assisted twice in a commanding performance to set the record straight.
Deng Kai made assists and scored, with the Brazilian duo of Kaka and Ronaldinho each reaping rewards.
Chinese youngster Wu Xudong made history, becoming the first Chinese player in a single match to score and assist in the Champions League, earning the domineering nickname "Chengji Sihan of the Portuguese League."
This battle truly earned Sporting Lisbon the recognition of European fans, especially for their crazy attacking capabilities that could match the English powerhouse Arsenal.
It also proved internally that Chinese players had the ability to appear on the world football’s highest stage, greatly enhancing the fans’ football confidence and making more kids fall in love with football.
And the most exciting match of the quarter-final stage was undoubtedly the just-concluded seven-zero slaughter of Leverkusen by Sporting Lisbon.
Deng Kai made a king’s return, helping the team to take the lead within nine minutes of coming on, and within sixty minutes, he led the team to score seven goals, creating an extreme efficiency record in the Champions League.
Even in Manchester United’s 99 final, when Solskjaer and Sheringham scored two goals in one minute to turn the game around against Bayern, both their substitute appearances exceeded twenty minutes.
By comparison, their efficiency was far from "Deng Kai-style Lisbon."
In the end, "Fleeting Shadows" made a prediction that the Manchester United vs. Sporting Lisbon series would be more exciting to watch than the Real Madrid vs. Bayern series.
And the reason they were so popular was that...most fans across the internet thought so, too.
Except for a notorious Deng Kai critic account named "Old Grubber Kai."
Old Grubber Kai: "Lazio was at the end of its tether, already broken by Mendieta. Sporting Lisbon just happened upon a good time."
"Arsenal was in full control, only lightly testing the waters in the first leg against Sporting Lisbon. It was only in the second leg with the four to one thrashing at Estádio José Alvalade that they got serious."
"Leverkusen was a no-name opponent; their imbalance after winning the first match and the subsequent inevitable defeat was normal. Sporting Lisbon’s seven goals sound impressive but were merely the collective outstanding performance of the forwards, not much to do with Deng Kai."
"But one thing I do agree with is that the Sporting Lisbon and Manchester United series will be very exciting, because United will score a lot of goals."
"Van Nistelrooy has perfectly adapted to United’s rhythm, even surpassing Henry in terms of scoring ability."
"Fran, transferred during the winter window, although not yet adapted, still poses a great threat due to his inherent ability."
"No need to mention the others like Beckham, Giggs, Scholes, Keane, etc. What does Sporting Lisbon have to compare?"
Wow.
Believe it or not, the same result was cited by two different people.
Reasoning backwards, using selective historical narration—it’s hard to tell who’s right and who’s wrong for a while.
But time will eventually reveal the answer.
On April 13, during the 31st round of the Primeira Liga.
Lisbon Sporting continued their series of victories, triumphing 5-1 over Valsin.
They maintained a six-point lead at the top.
The time left for Porto was clearly running out.
On April 17, the semi-finals of the Portuguese Cup.
Lisbon Sporting vs Boavista.
The other semi-final saw Porto clashing with Benfica.
Mourinho had said in an interview the day before that Porto was under a lot of pressure fighting on three fronts.
Physical and injury crises had caused significant losses to the team.
Lisbon Sporting was in the same boat.
So, Porto wouldn’t put too much emphasis on the Portuguese Cup this season.
If things went as expected, they might even make a significant rotation.
Of course, Mourinho remarked that Lisbon Sporting would make the same choice and hoped that the Portuguese Football Federation would understand and support this.
After all, European competition is a more important honor.
The Portuguese Football Federation should support Lisbon Sporting and Porto in going all out for the UEFA Champions League semi-finals and the Europa League semi-finals.
Listen, isn’t Mourinho very far-sighted?
But earlier today, Porto fielded their main squad against Benfica.
They beat Benfica 1-0 to advance to the final of the Portuguese Cup.
Benfica, hit by this smokescreen, was left battered and bruised.
Lisbon Sporting, following suit, also played their main squad and comfortably defeated Boavista 3-1 to reach the final.
Suddenly, the rivalry between Lisbon Sporting and Porto for this season reached a fever pitch.
Last season, the Primeira Liga and the Portuguese Cup were taken from Porto by Lisbon Sporting.
This season, Porto claimed they would take them back!
Moreover, they aimed to replicate Lisbon Sporting’s last year’s treble miracle!
Porto was gaining momentum.
Fans began to boost their team in various ways to counter the soaring morale at Lisbon Sporting following the Alvalade Oath.
But Porto’s goal woke up the Lisbon Sporting fans.
A treble?
Holy shit!
If Porto can do it, could we also manage it this season?
This...
No way!
We’re talking about a genuine Champions League treble, and we, from merely the sixth or seventh-ranked league in the world, should...
Really?
Can we really consider it?
Wouldn’t that be desecrating the sport of football?
[PS: I’m going to Chengdu for business this weekend. Da Chan said he could finally go to Intime City to see the Ideal L8 leek car. But Ben Tao thought it was too expensive and planned to buy him a BYD Qin with all this year’s royalties. If that wasn’t enough, he would have to pay the rest himself, and now he’s feeling emo.]
