Chapter 510: Chapter 509: The Two Giants of Portuguese Football, Meet in the Final
However, the surprises brought to the world of football by the Primeira Liga this year did not stop there.
The day after Lisbon Sporting made it to the UEFA Champions League final, another Primeira Liga giant, Porto, also brought good news.
Mourinho led Deco and Jia De’er to defeat the Bundesliga’s Borussia Dortmund and reach the UEFA Europa League final.
Tomas Rosicky, Jan Koller, Marcio Amoroso, Torsten Frings, and others shed tears on the field.
These players now or in the future will all become famous, with real merit.
This Dortmund team has played fiercely this year, currently locked in a fierce battle with Bayer Leverkusen for the Bundesliga title.
The usually sharp Bayern Munich could only sit in third place in the league this year.
However, Bayern had made it to the UEFA Champions League semi-finals earlier, somewhat redeeming their season.
But everyone knew that this aging Bayern team had reached the point where it had to rejuvenate.
This was also historically the first time a team from the Primeira Liga had made it to the final of the UEFA Europa League two years in a row.
For a moment, people recalled the bold vision Mourinho laid out at the beginning of the season.
At the start of the season, Porto, having defeated Lisbon Sporting, said that the age of the triple and quadruple champions had fallen.
Mourinho even scorned Lisbon Sporting’s performance in last season’s Europa League, bluntly stating that if Porto were in the Europa League, they would win it too.
That statement seemed more like a boast since Porto played in the Champions League every year.
And Lisbon Sporting had not qualified for the Champions League for several seasons in a row.
Yet this season, Porto, having dropped out of the Champions League, made it all the way to the final of the Europa League.
This was a case of words being followed by actions.
Of course, the media was not particularly optimistic about Porto’s chances in the final.
Bild believed that Porto’s final opponent, Feyenoord, was superior this year.
Although Feyenoord was unable to shake Ajax’s top position in the Eredivisie, their players truly shined this year.
On the front line, the young Fan Peixi was impressive, and without any surprises, he is another striker to watch.
There were also Shinji Ono, Thomassen, Van Hooijdonk, and others, each delivering star-level performances.
In comparison, apart from Deco and Jia De’er, the rest of the Porto team was not particularly impressive.
In fact, Dortmund’s competitiveness was stronger than Porto’s.
That Porto was able to defeat Dortmund, just as Lisbon Sporting’s win over Manchester United, was unexpected.
Underdogs have a hard time going all the way through.
Two underdogs, likewise, rarely go all the way through.
But "Understanding Football" didn’t see it that way.
Jiang Yunzhu published an in-depth analysis, focusing on retracing the Primeira Liga giants’ journey of turning the tables.
"Porto and Lisbon Sporting play two completely different styles; Porto has perfected the art of defensive counter-attack, and they’ve used defense to make their way into the final of the Europa League."
"Most of their matches ended with scores like one–nil, nil–nil, one–one, or one–two."
"Lisbon Athletics adopted a rather uncommon style, fully unleashing their offensive talent. Almost every player contributed to the offense."
"They don’t have world-class defense but have world-class offense. It’s through their attacking play that they made it into the Champions League Final."
"It’s hard to imagine, in a secondary league such as the Portuguese league, to have teams with these two extreme styles at the same time. Now I feel a bit sorry for the other teams in the Portuguese league, facing one terrifying opponent is tough enough, but two..."
CCTV commentator Huang Jianxiang also registered and verified his account on "Understand The Ball Emperor" and agreed with Jiang Yunzhu’s point of view, "The match between Feyenoord and Porto was a clash of contradictions."
"Whether Feyenoord can score is the key to this game. The young Fan Peixi has already done very well, but compared to Ronaldo last season, he obviously has a gap."
Ronaldo himself was very satisfied with this report.
If he remembered correctly, when he and Deng Kai encountered Fan Peixi in the Youth Champions League back then, they were nobodies, while Fan Peixi was already the favored child of the heavens.
The same was true for players like Robben, Van der Vaart, and Sneijder.
Moreover, these players were mostly born around ’83, a couple of years older than Ronaldo and Deng Kai.
The thought that he, once considered quite ordinary, had become the goal that these former favored children of the heavens strive to reach made Ronaldo very pleased.
Huang Jianxiang: "Of course, in the final between Real Madrid and Lisbon Athletics, I believe the more critical players are Zidane and Deng Kai."
"He who controls the midfield controls the game. With support from players like Kaka, Ronaldinho, Drogba and others, Deng Kai now has the ability to arm-wrestle with world-class midfielders."
"But Zidane is different, Zidane is the world’s first midfielder."
"Some might wonder why I didn’t mention Ronaldo. That’s because Ronaldo hardly provides any support to the midfield. He can’t help Deng Kai, he can only make the most of every chance Deng Kai gives him."
"In fact, just as it was with Ronaldo and Fan Peixi. There was also a huge gap between Deng Kai and Ronaldo initially, Deng Kai was far from as dazzling as Ronaldo at that time."
"But over three years, Deng Kai has indeed become the leader of Lisbon Athletics. Now, when people assess Ronaldo and Deng Kai, they tend to place Deng Kai ahead of Ronaldo."
"This shows just how great Deng Kai’s progress has been, truly the pride of the Chinese people!"
Shit!
Ronaldo unfollowed Huang Jianxiang.
Another Deng booster.
Wait, hold on...
Ronaldo found an account named "Kai Old Scavenger" on "Understand The Ball Emperor" that seemed very reasonable.
Kai Old Scavenger: "Deng Kai’s quick passing is indeed skillful, but that’s under the premise of facing average midfielders. Many football fans who don’t understand football techniques might be deceived by Deng Kai’s technical moves."
"Actually, football skills are the same as basketball skills, the impact varies greatly against different opponents."
"Some players who are very impressive against amateurs turn into chickens in front of professional players. Speed, movement range, core strength, intensity of confrontation, and the opponent’s vision abilities, all these factors influence a player’s performance."
"Therefore, some players aren’t as bad as they seem, like the national football team. Some players aren’t as strong as they appear, like Deng Kai."
"He will be facing the world’s best midfielders, the most glamorous lineup in the world!"
"If we’re really talking about threats, actually, it’s Ronaldo’s explosive goal-scoring ability that should be deemed the greatest threat for Lisbon Athletics. Scoring 30+ goals in consecutive league seasons, that’s no joke!"
Ronaldo liked Kai Old Scavenger’s comment, he felt this person really knew football.
Similarly, He Wei was exhilarated by the like he received for his commentary.
In this harsh mainland environment where everyone’s going crazy over Deng, he finally found an ally with the same convictions.
