Chapter 638: Chapter 637: Manchester United has only one number seven
Ribery took the ball and after a one-on-one with Phil, he passed it across to Maicon who was cutting in from the flank.
Maicon took a long shot, which just went slightly over the crossbar.
The fans saw that Maicon’s shot didn’t go in.
But what professional players saw was the high quality of Maicon’s shot.
The 14th minute.
Ribery continued to cut across and make direct runs on the right wing.
Phil Neville just had no way to deal with him.
Keane could only join in to help defend against Ribery.
Ribery immediately passed the ball back to Deng Kai.
Keane turned and rushed towards Deng Kai.
Bang!
Deng Kai made a through pass without stopping the ball.
Adriano, who was in the center, suddenly accelerated, making a run without the ball, and after breaking into the box, he got the ball, facing a semi one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
Adriano flicked the ball with his left foot to create an angle to the right.
Howard charged out!
Bang!
Adriano made a sideways pass with his right foot.
The melancholic Prince Baggio arrived in time and slotted the ball into the open net.
Whistle!
The referee blew the whistle.
Adriano and Baggio looked towards the linesman.
The linesman signaled that Adriano was offside when he received the ball.
The goal was disallowed.
Upon replay, it was found that Adriano’s offside was a matter of millimeters.
One could only say that he was slightly unlucky.
Otherwise, with three goals in the 14th minute, Manchester United would have truly been in collapse.
In his mind, Deng Kai had a clearer understanding of Adriano’s current ability.
Adriano’s shooting technique was at a high level, but his acceleration couldn’t match that of top forwards.
Just now, not to mention a top forward, even a first-rate forward known for his positioning would have been able to avoid offside.
Running forward, crossing over, stepping back, and hunching the shoulders, that was the essence of beating the offside trap.
Adriano still needed to learn a lot.
The 15th minute.
Manchester City still had possession of the ball.
Deng Kai made a routine pass to Toure.
Toure would usually pass it directly to Ribery, acting as an intermediary without making a profit.
But this time, Keane made a mistake due to his experience.
Toure’s signature move got him past Keane, and he carried the ball forward on the right side, posing a huge threat.
The Manchester United players quickly moved towards Toure.
Toure made a diagonal pass.
He sent the ball from the right side to the left through the gap created by Keane’s mispositioning.
Baggio received the ball.
Bang!
Baggio didn’t stop the ball and directly chipped it into the box with the outside of his foot.
This pass had a bit of Deng Kai’s style.
Baggio: ???
Adriano broke into the penalty area, engaging in a fierce jostling with Ferdinand.
Adriano gained the advantage.
Thud!
After the intense struggle, Adriano fell to the ground.
The referee blew his whistle and firmly pointed to the penalty spot.
He also showed Ferdinand a yellow card.
"Oh! A penalty! This is bad!"
"This is definitely the most troublesome thing for Manchester United!"
"Fifteen minutes, two goals down, and now Manchester United faces another penalty!"
"Adriano has done it! So far, his performance has been outstanding!"
"Aside from scoring, his abilities in all other aspects have reached the top tier of the Premier League!"
"Manchester City might possibly break even on this deal with Adriano. But of course, this transaction is definitely not premium quality unless Adriano’s value exceeds forty million euros!"
Under the watchful eyes of the fans anticipating his move, Deng Kai slowly approached the penalty spot.
His gaze intersected with Ronaldo’s for a moment.
In Ronaldo’s eyes, he saw boundaries.
In this match, Ronaldo’s performance was mediocre so far.
But this had a lot to do with his constant presence in the penalty area.
Wasting the team’s resources is the privilege of a striker, a reflection of tactical status.
Ronaldo had that privilege.
But the best isn’t necessarily the most suitable for him.
Ronaldo’s impact was greatly reduced due to not frequently dropping back to receive passes or often appearing on the wings.
Based solely on his shooting skills, he was no different from Diego Forlan on the bench.
Forlan: Does that mean I’m bad???
Bang!
With Deng Kai’s powerful shot.
The football decisively found the net.
Howard guessed the right direction, but Deng Kai’s penalty was decisive and the ball was incredibly fast.
"GOAL! Three to zero!"
"Fifteen minutes! I think we have witnessed a miracle!"
"Manchester United has never suffered such a heavy defeat! Never!"
"Manchester City is as if reborn! Now let’s recall Deng Kai’s challenge to Manchester United at the end of last season. He actually did it!"
"He wanted to overturn Manchester United like they overturned Liverpool and Arsenal!"
"By comparison, Manchester United seems to have not been prepared for the challenge; they are like a team that cannot play football without Beckham!"
"Berrion obviously cannot replace Beckham, at least not based on this match."
"Moreover, Berrion’s passing is far inferior to Beckham’s. He seems more like a winger with attacking strength, but what Manchester United needs is a top-class playmaker."
"Without Beckham, Ronaldo and Van Nistelrooy just aren’t scoring!"
"Especially Ronaldo! Since the beginning of his career, he has been working with top midfielders like Deng Kai, Beckham, and Scholes!"
"In fact, his scoring ability might have been overestimated by many!"
"His performance today is a far cry from the true Ronaldo and is lacking a Henry!"
The commentators’ critique was piercingly sharp.
They were aware of Ronaldo’s "confusion" today.
The host of Sky Sports even said, "This summer, two players have been very active in commercial activities."
"One is Deng Kai."
"He attended several business events with Mansour regarding Manchester City, bringing in a youth training center that will be top-notch worldwide upon completion."
"The other is Ronaldo."
"He inherited all of Manchester United’s commercial resources related to Beckham! He helped Manchester United to rake in money crazily this summer, but so far, we have not seen them use this money to strengthen the team or invest in youth training."
"People have always said Ferguson favors Ronaldo over Van Nistelrooy, and I agree with this view. Because Ronaldo can become the next Beckham in commercial terms, but Van Nistelrooy cannot."
"But Ferguson didn’t foresee that Ronaldo would have a hard time becoming the next Beckham in a competitive sense. He cannot bring victory to Manchester United!"
The screen showed the Manchester United fans’ section.
Many Manchester United fans were leaving the stands.
Fifteen minutes into the game!
Seventy-five minutes were left to play!
Manchester United’s fans couldn’t sit still anymore.
This was their specific display of disappointment in the match.
One of the fans, wearing a Beckham jersey, upon realizing he was on the big screen, gave the finger to the camera.
And also made a ’7’ sign with his hand.
He yelled, "Manchester United has only one number seven! That’s Beckham!"
After Beckham’s departure, the one to take over his number seven jersey was Ronaldo!
Perhaps most people think that the number nine jersey represents the quintessential striker.
But for Ronaldo, he has been wearing number seven since his youth days.
When playing football with Deng Kai in the past, Deng Kai would occasionally call Ronaldo CR7!
And Ronaldo would call Deng Kai DK10!
So Ronaldo prefers the number seven.
And because Ferguson wanted Ronaldo to inherit Beckham’s resources, he also hoped Ronaldo would take the number seven.
