Chapter 52: Chapter 52: Center Forward Ronaldo
"Ronaldo, you play as the striker. Lorenzo, go to the left and keep pulling."
On the big screen, Deng Kai pointed here and there, and quickly completed a repositioning of the players.
He exuded leadership.
Benfica’s coach, seeing this, didn’t have much of a reaction.
Even though Ronaldo moving to the center would render their pre-game planning ineffective.
But wasn’t the team winning now?
This Sporting Lisbon wasn’t as strong as everyone imagined.
The so-called targeting was just a testament to Benfica’s professionalism, not out of fear.
In the fifteenth minute, facing pressure from Amorim, Deng Kai decisively passed back.
Amorim smiled.
Pressed back!
That’s right!
Once his own midfield had rendered the opposing midfield into a "pass-back" type, the victory in this game was secured.
Amorim had won the past twelve games in exactly this manner.
Indeed, receiving Deng Kai’s pass-back, the team’s center-back Angelo distributed the football to the right-back Duarte.
Duarte then shifted the football to Deng Kai, who had run to the right to receive it.
Seeing the ball rolling towards Deng Kai, Amorim also started moving toward him.
He didn’t need to intercept, he just needed to put pressure on Deng Kai, and Deng Kai would pass back again.
Bang!
The football flew past Amorim, its trajectory not tricky, but fast and catching Amorim off guard.
This is... a pass!
Amorim looked at Deng Kai.
He’s not passing back? This...he’s not scared yet?
Deng Kai looked at Amorim staring at him.
He was scared, but he was pretending not to be.
"Deng Kai completes a pass without stopping the ball."
"And it’s a long pass!"
"A long pass from the right midfield directly to the central area up front."
"Beautiful! Deng Kai isn’t just a pass-back player, he has a strong desire to push forward, regardless of his own position or the position of the football!" Trigella applauded from the stands!
Today, all the senior management of Sporting Lisbon were present at Luz Stadium.
Kind of like the atmosphere when the first team plays a derby.
"Chris! Deng Kai is looking for Chris with that kick!"
"Chris starts sprinting!"
Watching Ronaldo burst into action, Benfica’s center-back Veloso moved towards him immediately, even using his hands to jostle and pull, preventing Ronaldo from getting past him.
After running three to five meters, Ronaldo still couldn’t pass Veloso.
Veloso was pleased with himself.
This was his advantage as a center-back... speed!
He might not be that tall, but he was fast!
"Huh? This is..." Benfica’s defensive midfielder Alexandre, coming back to help tackle Ronaldo, noticed something was wrong right away.
He wanted to warn Veloso.
But everything happened too quickly.
Ronaldo sprinted for a while, then suddenly slowed down, changed direction, moving from Veloso’s right side to his left.
Sprint, cut back, sprint again, all in one fluid motion.
This time, Ronaldo floored the gas, his speed instantly off the charts, breezing past Veloso and into the penalty area.
"A perfect run! Veloso has lost him!"
"Alexandre is still a bit far from Chris."
"He swings his leg to shoot! A volley from mid-air! Nicely done!"
"One to one! The superhero of Sporting Lisbon has appeared! Chris found an unguarded spot in the penalty area with a beautiful run and scored with one lethal strike!"
"Veloso was like a wooden stake in front of him!"
"Of course, the biggest credit for the goal doesn’t even go to Chris, but to Deng Kai who directed it accurately right from the midfield!"
"His pass was so sharp, he’s the player who has created the most shooting opportunities in the last five U15 league matches!"
"I even see a shadow of Rui Costa in him!"
The fans of Benfica were not happy with this commentary.
Because Rui Costa is a star from their own ranks.
Don’t randomly compare them to legends, okay?
Don’t be cheeky!
"He’s so lucky to have found such a huge gap!" Maxa hadn’t expected Deng Kai’s move to let Ronaldo play as a striker to actually work out.
At almost the exact same moment, Trigella was explaining to the higher-ups in the stands: "I’ve always been skeptical about the idea that Chris could become the next Simon. He relies too much on his speed, and his style of play isn’t smart enough."
"But now I’ve changed my mind because I see a goal-scoring instinct in him. He might indeed not be able to become an attacking midfielder like Simon, excellent in both passing and shooting."
"But he can definitely become a superb finisher! He hasn’t specifically trained for striker runs, but just now he made a feint sprint, disrupting Veloso’s judgement, then sprinted again to the real point where the football was expected to drop."
"On one hand, he’s confident in his speed, and he has all the time to do something on his way to the dropping point."
"On the other hand, he also has his own thinking; he knows what to do on his way to the dropping point."
The executives nodded, but one of them said, "A finisher has no future."
Trigella was momentarily stunned, then nodded in agreement.
The best finisher in Primeira Liga, Jia De’er is awesome, right? Yet he still couldn’t make it into the Brazil national team?
But the promising young wingers from Brazil could squeeze into the squad and even get a starting chance.
The market has already told Sporting Lisbon how to train their players.
So, even though Ronaldo had shown impressive talent as a striker, Sporting Lisbon would only train him to be a valuable winger.
Of course, Trigella and the executives who had just made up their minds soon fell silent.
Because...
In the 19th minute, Sporting Lisbon’s defensive midfielder Semedo, facing a press, passed the ball shortly and directly to Deng Kai.
Deng Kai, carrying the ball against Amorim, was at risk of losing the ball at any moment.
But the strength he had in his arms, boosted by the strength of Johann Cruyff, allowed him to pat and hold off the bigger and stronger Amorim behind him.
Of course, ultimately Deng Kai couldn’t hold on.
The strength in a confrontation doesn’t just come from the arms but also from the legs and the core, and Deng Kai was still weak in the latter two.
But before he fell, Deng Kai sent the football away.
An unexpected through pass!
It rolled straight down the middle towards the front, piercing through Benfica’s defense.
This kick was almost identical to the pass Kroos made while fighting against Busquets and going to ground in the first leg of the 2022-2023 La Liga El Clásico.
Benfica’s defensive midfielder Alexandre was caught completely off guard by the football, and he couldn’t express his frustration.
Just before that scene, anyone with a bit of experience knew that Deng Kai would certainly go down and Amorim would most likely take the ball away.
But who could have expected... that he would pass the football out of control.
And it was a surgical through pass, no less!
Up front, Ronaldo controlled the ball, flicked it, and accelerated all in one go.
He simply outpaced Veloso with his speed, not bothering with any tricks or feints.
He tore Benfica’s backline apart in an instant with both man and ball.
In this age group, Veloso is already considered fast among central defenders, but compared to Ronaldo, his speed just isn’t enough.
Facing Benfica’s goalkeeper Vieirinha, Ronaldo took a calm shot, with impeccable speed, power, and angle.
The football whizzed into the net!
Two goals up!
