Chapter 61: Chapter 61 The Plot Exposed
Manchester Evening News: "Man United fans fiercely confront the media, proclaiming Man United is the most badass!"
Football Caesar Raves about Man United, Has Deng Kai, a Thirteen-Year-Red Devil Fan, Stopped Pretending?
Manchester United’s Far-Reaching Influence, Portugal’s U15 Top Supernova Chris Raises the Red Devils’ Banner High!
"As a Portuguese journalist, here’s my buying advice for Man United’s youth academy: Cristiano Ronaldo and Deng Kai!"
Suddenly, Man United fans flocked to look up information about these two young players.
Without searching, they had no idea; with a search, they were moved to tears.
When did these kids become blinded?
This year, even the most loyal Man United fans wouldn’t dare claim the team could win any championship in either the league or the Champions League.
Let alone a treble?
This... who exactly gave those two kids the courage?
Fell in love, I have!
But compared to the excitement of Manchester Evening,
other English media seemed somewhat less enthusiastic.
442: "A treble? How amusing! This Premier League season belongs to Arsenal! And the Champions League is for Juventus, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, and Inter Milan!"
exudes professionalism.
And The Sun Newspaper, notorious in England and the polar opposite of 442, grabbed the juicy bit: "Chris lives with Deng Kai, and boys of this age are in their developmental stage, too much intimate contact could potentially affect their future sexual orientation!"
Between these two reports, The Sun Newspaper’s story garnered more attention and successfully went viral.
is crying in the restroom.
Some media even went so as to ask Deng Kai if he still liked girls.
To this, Deng Kai’s response was, "Your use of ’still’ has earned my last shred of respect for your profession as journalists."
"Is the editor-in-chief of The Sun Newspaper an only child without siblings? Or a wild species without a father or grandfather? He doesn’t know if his father and grandfather or his brothers have influenced his orientation."
"On the pitch, Chris is the most reliable comrade I have. Off the pitch, he’s my best friend in life. Our friendship will continue forever."
Facing such rude interviews, Ronaldo never responded, as he poured all his concentration into training.
Yet Deng Kai still found the page of the interview that said "Chris is my best friend" in Ronaldo’s diary, where Ronaldo had clipped out and pasted the newspaper article.
Deng Kai shook his head.
He never expected someone would take it seriously just by speaking casually.
Afterward, Deng Kai flipped through his own diary.
It was full of interviews celebrating his victories over Ronaldo and outshining him.
Ronaldo, you’ve got to step it up.
My future status in football depends on you!
...
On December 8th, Sporting Lisbon faced off against Cada at home in a league match.
With Ronaldo’s goal and assist and Deng Kai’s support, the team won three to one.
On December 14th, Sporting Lisbon visited Aivaca, dominating the host four to nil and grabbing three points.
Ronaldo scored twice in the match, with Deng Kai again providing an assist.
With that, Deng Kai climbed to the top of the Portugal U15 league assist leaderboard!
And Ronaldo, still blazing down the path to becoming the top scorer, began to widen the gap with the second-ranked.
The small Sporting Lisbon U15 team unexpectedly had both a sleeping dragon and a rising phoenix among its talents.
They gradually became one of the focal points of Portuguese football discourse.
And Deng Kai, after the matches in Turin and Aivaca, respectively, obtained a blue player level skill.
"Surgical Pass: Your through pass ability is slightly improved."
"Wing Cross: Your ability to cross from the flanks is slightly improved."
Both are standard skills, both enhancing Deng Kai’s passing, but neither could create a drastic change in him.
It seemed he had entered a bottleneck period, needing accumulation before a quantitative change could lead to a qualitative leap.
On a gloomy training day,
the training ground suddenly became noisy.
Before Deng Kai and the others had time to see what was happening, Maxa directly called Deng Kai and Ronaldo aside, mysteriously led them through the changing room, the basement, and away from the training base.
They were directly delivered to the Trigella family home.
The Trigela family’s television was broadcasting a news report: "The Portugal Anti-Football Corruption Association today cracked a match-fixing case..."
"This was originally a routine case in the lower leagues, but as the suspects began to confess, the situation took an unexpected turn. And that is... the wonderkid from the youth academy of Portuguese giants Sporting Lisbon, U15 top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo, may be involved!"
"Currently, the Anti-Football Corruption Association, the Portuguese Football Federation, and the local Lisbon police have launched a joint investigation."
"The Madeira police have already notified Chris’s brother Hugo to assist in the investigation. As for Chris, with the assurance of Sporting Lisbon, he will also assist in solving the case."
Ronaldo was stunned.
This... one of the criminals shown on TV was the "friend" who had incited his brother to fix matches.
These people were really bastards.
They started spilling everything once they got caught.
"I need to know what exactly happened!" Trigella said gravely, "A professional player must never be associated with the words ’match-fixing’. Chris, I trust your integrity."
"But I also know, something must have happened."
"Deng Kai, you were there when Hugo came looking for Chris, right?"
Deng Kai nodded.
Trigella continued, "In the confessions of the criminals, there are statements about Hugo conspiring with Chris to fix matches. The police have already found the bettors involved at the time, and they have all confirmed the incident."
"We’re in a passive position!"
"If the worst happens, we might... have to give up on Chris."
Ronaldo’s face turned pale with fright.
Being abandoned by a club in such a situation meant there would be no other clubs willing to take him.
The precedent set by Andoya was still fresh in his mind.
Ronaldo did not want to find himself without a team to play for at such a young age, he still had to repay his parents for their struggles and sacrifices!
He could not imagine how he would face his parents, his brother and sisters if he couldn’t earn big money in the future!
He was the hope of the entire family!
He carried the future of a large clan on his shoulders!
"I didn’t do it! I really didn’t!" Ronaldo cried like a child.
The last time Deng Kai saw Ronaldo cry like this was probably... during the future European Championship final when Ronaldo was forced to leave the game due to injury.
"It’s okay." Deng Kai comforted Ronaldo and looked at Trigella, "Hugo did indeed come to see Chris, and he did want to snoop around..."
Deng Kai relayed the entire incident to Trigella.
Trigella and Maxa were both dumbfounded.
This is fucking... Was that move really that brilliant?
If what Deng Kai said was true, then Chris was absolutely innocent.
Hugo might be fined for purchasing unlicensed gambling products, but the fine wouldn’t be too hefty. That would be the extent of it; it wouldn’t even amount to a criminal record.
Beep beep beep!
Trigella’s phone rang.
As he listened to the other party, his expression changed from sunny to cloudy.
"That’s too much, it’s irresponsible of them. They can come at me, why involve a child in this fight!" Trigella argued with the person on the other end for a few sentences before hanging up.
Internal struggles had existed within Sporting Lisbon for years.
Trigella was an important figure on the side of those currently in power.
But the opposing faction had surged in strength this year, wanting to seize control.
Ronaldo and Maxa were achievements of Trigella’s faction.
The other side wanted to use this incident to bring down Trigella and the higher-ups behind him.
So they would try to make the club give up on Ronaldo.
To confirm Ronaldo’s guilt in match-fixing, regardless of what the truth actually was.
What?
Pity?
No, to these people, it wasn’t a shame at all to ruin a talent that wasn’t theirs to begin with.
Thus, before the dust had settled, the head of Sporting Lisbon’s Development Planning Department accepted a media interview, stating: "Sporting Lisbon has zero tolerance for such misconduct! We will deal with Chris severely!"
"Please rest assured, the public, not only Chris but anyone who has offered him help in this matter, we will deal with them all, without leniency!"
Suddenly, a towering wave crashed down upon Ronaldo.
The media bombarded him relentlessly, turning the whole world into shades of grey.
