Chapter 55: Chapter 55: Fight Until Class Dismissal, Fight Until Contract Termination
Bang!
Deng Kai flicked the ball back without stopping it!
Man, he’s just playing around!
The football flew back and forth over Veloso’s head, and he had never despised his own height so much.
Ronaldo broke into the penalty area, engaging in a fierce confrontation with another Benfica center-back.
During the confrontation, he got a touch on the ball but wasn’t in a position to shoot. He could only hold off the opponent and passed the ball diagonally to Deng Kai, who also made his way forward.
Bang!
An angry Veloso lunged in with a flying tackle, finally making contact with the football, proving himself.
He poked the football away, and then it rolled into Benfica’s own goal with a force and angle rivaling a precise and tricky shot.
Veloso had scored an own goal.
The score once again turned around, becoming five to two!
Veloso lay on the ground, covering his face, unwilling to get up for a long time.
Goalkeeper Vieirinha, also fuming, kicked the football inside the goal away and even refused to help Veloso up.
There was no doubt, Benfica had fallen apart.
"Old Veloso" sitting next to Gomes and Pinto was losing face.
He heard the executives next to him cursing Veloso as a piece of trash raised by a "biaozi".
But he could not argue.
Because Veloso had indeed been utterly destroyed.
After this, even Benfica’s attacks were weak and spiritless.
The players had lost their belief in victory; they were just killing time with their play.
In the 79th minute, faced with the disheartened Benfica players, Deng Kai made a beautiful sliding interception against Amorim’s pass, then faced the goalkeeper and shot powerfully.
Black Panther Hunt!
The football went straight into the net.
Six to two!
Deng Kai dominated the match with one shot and four assists from all angles!
After this goal, Deng Kai raised his arms high and turned around to scan the entire stadium.
Asking, is there anyone else?
But then, a bizarre scene unfolded—at least thirty thousand Benfica fans at Luz Stadium did not hurl abuse at Deng Kai, instead, applause broke out.
It started sparsely, grew louder, and finally became overwhelming!
"Caesar!"
"Caesar!"
"Caesar!"
The home crowd switched allegiances!
The mentality of the Benfica fans was completely shattered.
They were cheering for Deng Kai’s spectacular goal and also using this way to express their dissatisfaction with their own home players.
The way to retaliate against you isn’t necessarily to kill you... it can also be to cuckold you!
In the 82nd minute, a Benfica forward was brought down in the penalty area by Angelo who received a yellow card and conceded a penalty kick.
Amorim took the penalty and scored, achieving his second goal of the match.
Six to three, Benfica pulled one back.
But there was no applause from the stands.
Amorim didn’t celebrate either, instead, he turned and walked back to his own half with his head down.
He didn’t bother to make a show of fetching the ball.
They don’t have a player named Cristiano Ronaldo in the team, who can score three goals in ten minutes to equalize the score.
They certainly don’t have a player named Deng Kai, who could enter and exit at will in ten minutes, delivering three perfect assists on demand.
Amorim’s premonition was correct.
They couldn’t catch up with the score.
Even...
In the 88th minute, after a fast cross from the flank by Deng Kai, who then continued his run forward, the football was passed twice and reached Lorenzo. Lorenzo dribbled the ball wide and then crossed from the flank.
But his cross was terribly poor, failing to find Ronaldo and instead drifting towards the far post.
Veloso clearly had Deng Kai blocked, but Deng Kai suddenly leaped high into the air.
Veloso was stunned!
Come on, brother!
It’s already six to three!
And you’re still fighting so hard?
Bang!
"Beautiful! That’s the most gorgeous diving header I’ve seen so far!"
"Header goal! Deng Kai scores a brace!"
"In this match, he has two goals and four assists, sparked the own goal for Benfica, and even had a passive hand in Benfica’s first goal!"
"Except for the first ten minutes, his performance has been nothing short of godlike!"
"Though he’s small in stature, he dares to fight and charge, brave and strategic!"
"Sporting Lisbon has truly struck gold! A top student from the University of Lisbon playing football, how could he not have real skills?"
"The calls for Caesar resound once again in Luz Stadium!"
"It’s as if the real Caesar himself has descended upon Luz Stadium!"
At the ninetieth minute, the main referee blew the final whistle without a second of added time.
He simply couldn’t bear to watch the Benfica youngsters in such agony.
If his whistle had been delayed by a second, Portugal’s football scene might have lost one or several professional players.
This grand match surely left deep psychological scars on Benfica’s young players.
Especially... Veloso.
...
"Sporting Lisbon’s dynamic duo causes a stir at Luz Stadium, winning by seven goals to set a new record for the fixture!"
"Benfica’s twelve-match winning streak comes to a grinding halt! Is the season’s championship proclamation over before it even began?"
"A U15 match removes the suspense from Primeira Liga! Porto should thank Sporting Lisbon for dealing a heavy blow to their fierce rivals Benfica!"
"Supernova Chris scores his first double hat-trick! Not the next Simon, but the next Gomes?"
"Joao Pinto: We should sign Chris, he has the potential to be a super striker!"
"Caesar arrives at Luz Stadium! Deng Kai’s two goals and four assists turn Benfica’s home ground against them!"
"Caesar! Caesar! Caesar! Sporting Lisbon climbs to third in the league table, just three points behind second place!"
"With such form, Sporting Lisbon’s entry into the regional championships is all but secured!"
"Maxa: Having Chris as a striker and Deng Kai playing on the right wing was my adjustment, but there’s nothing to brag about. The important point is how well Deng Kai and Chris adapted to their new positions!"
"Benfica’s hierarchy fumes, U15 coach sacked on the spot!"
"Former Benfica U15 coach: We won almost all of our games this season, but we lost the one we couldn’t afford to lose. That’s the nature of youth football; their consistency can never be compared to the senior team."
"Bombshell! Miguel Veloso disastrously kicked out of the academy!"
"Controversy! Poor performance by young Veloso leads to widespread criticism of his father, Antonio Veloso from the first team!"
"Antonio Veloso and fans clash, and blows are exchanged, sparking controversy!"
"Antonio: They cursed my son! He played well for half the season, but people are fixating on this one game!"
"Benfica’s first team strips Antonio Veloso of his captain’s armband and suspends him from the team for two matches!"
After the Lisbon derby, a flurry of news followed.
Portuguese football media experienced the joy of Fleet Street for the first time.
It turns out you can write whatever you want, and people will still read it!
That’s outrageous!
There is competition among football media. The market for football news in Europe is well established.
If you sell 30,000 more papers, I’m bound to sell 30,000 less.
But now, Lisbon’s media have noticed that everyone’s sales are up.
This indicates that the whole football news market has been expanded.
The contribution from the Chinese community was unexpectedly significant.
In other parts of Portugal, increased attention to Benfica and Sporting Lisbon also played a major role.
Suddenly, Sporting Lisbon’s youth team and Veloso, discarded by Benfica, became media darlings.
But the interviews and reviews they received were vastly different.
