Chapter 68: Chapter 68 CD’s Masterpiece
"It’s coming, it’s coming, I’m in the zone!"
"I feel like my whole body is full of power."
"The football is so obedient today; it feels like it’s turned into my other foot!"
Ronaldo was incredibly excited.
He’s the quintessential big game player.
He quickly proved that his words were not just empty talk.
Just two minutes later.
Ronaldo, after receiving a pass from Araujo on the flank, blazed down the left side, leaving the defending players in his dust.
Overtaking, cutting inside, creating space, shooting from distance, goal!
All in one fluid motion!
He had scored twice!
Everyone in the stands couldn’t help but applaud his spectacular end-to-end performance.
Casabia decisively chose to mark Ronaldo closely.
But Ronaldo still managed to create two dangerous opportunities on the wing, especially the second time where the opposing defender received a yellow card.
In the 19th minute.
The active Ronaldo even completed a front-of-field steal.
He passed the football to Deng Kai and made a run forward.
Deng Kai met the football and fired a heavy cannon.
One of Casabia’s center-backs blocked the football with his body.
The football flew back towards Deng Kai.
Deng Kai didn’t stop the ball, instead delivering a direct volleyed through pass.
An advancing Ronaldo chested the ball forward, bypassing Casabia’s center-back.
The Casabia goalkeeper came out to attack.
But the football had already slipped from Ronaldo’s chest to his shin.
Without waiting for the football to fall further, Ronaldo powered a shot with his shin, and the ball rocketed into the net.
"My goodness! Worth it! The ticket price for this match is absolutely worth it!"
"Nineteenth minute of the match, Sporting Lisbon is leading three to zero against their rivals!"
"That player called Ronaldo by Deng Kai didn’t let Caesar down! From his first goal to completing a hat-trick, he took only twelve minutes!"
"With his flamboyant positioning and stable one-on-ones, unmatched speed, and sharp cuts inside and powerful long shots among his peers, as well as his smart handling of the football while sprinting... I truly believe now that he could become the next extraterrestrial!"
"This is so far the most beautiful goal of the match. Both Deng Kai’s pass and Ronaldo’s handling were filled with freestyle!"
"Fans at the venue are chanting ’CD, CD,’ which stands for the combo of Ronaldo and Deng Kai."
"I feel like their performance just now was indeed a high-quality impromptu CD!"
From that moment on, no one doubted that Sporting Lisbon would claim victory today.
The only question remaining was... how many more could they score?
In the 23rd minute, Sporting Lisbon went berserk.
Ronaldo on the left was frantically asking for the ball, in a great position, but surrounded by defensive players.
Deng Kai looked at Ronaldo and... used the outside of his foot!
The football flew towards Marcelino’s direction on the right.
His position was even better than Ronaldo’s!
After dribbling forward two steps, Marcelino didn’t hog the ball and made a cross of not bad quality.
Lorenzo leaped high, but unfortunately, he was not as tall as the opposing center-back.
The opposing center-back cleared the football out of the penalty area through his header.
Bang!
The next moment, the football shot out again and drilled into the net.
The fans erupted in joy.
"Caesar!"
"Caesar!"
"Caesar!"
At the top of the penalty area arc, Deng Kai met the football with a volleyed shot. Under his ’Black Panther Hunt,’ this world-beater shot was of the highest quality and directly broke through the goal.
The score, four to zero!
The whole venue was boiling hot.
But on Casabia’s side, the players were seeing red and their actions became more forceful.
Deng Kai now truly started to slow down the pace to protect his teammates.
Only then did Casabia manage to claw back a bit of control.
In the thirty-ninth minute, Casabia launched their only truly threatening attack so far.
A cross from the wing found the advancing attacking midfielder.
The attacking midfielder swept the ball from the right side of the penalty area.
Semedo, a defensive midfielder who had hurried back to defend, touched the football and kicked it into his own net.
An own goal.
Casabia pulled back a point.
After that, they played even more fiercely.
At this point, even if Deng Kai wanted to speed up the pace of the game, he found himself somewhat powerless to do so.
This was the embarrassing predicament of a midfielder.
Being able to control the game was certainly excellent, but you also had to be able to pick up the pace when necessary.
Picking up the pace wasn’t just about naively passing or dribbling the ball forward.
You had to motivate every player’s offensive enthusiasm, letting them know and be able to move forward when they should.
Deng Kai was not yet capable of doing this.
Ultimately, the first half ended with Casabia’s onslaught.
During the half-time break, Deng Kai communicated with his teammates and clarified the team’s mindset.
Keep attacking!
Although his ability to adjust on the fly was lacking, with the help of the half-time break, he could regain control of the team.
Some lower-level coaches could only influence their teams during this interval.
Whereas the more impressive coaches could clearly change the course and outcome of the game through substitutions and side-line coaching.
Back to the game.
In the forty-ninth minute, Deng Kai carried out a midfield interception with a slide tackle and then booted a long pass to Ronaldo on the left flank.
Ronaldo, completely fired up, succeeded in another dribble past a defender, cut inside, and earned a corner with his shot.
Sporting Lisbon’s midfielder Sergio took the corner kick.
Ronaldo shook off his marker with a feint and leapt high, scoring with a header.
He completed a grand slam of goals!
At this moment, many scouts in the stands couldn’t contain themselves.
They began to review Ronaldo’s profile again and again, and they unanimously wrote in their recommendation notes things like: "Has the makings of a star, highly likely to increase in value, recommend immediate signing."
Then they appended their suggested transfer fees.
They ranged from two hundred thousand to one million euros.
Don’t think that this was cheap.
At this stage of the trade for young players, tens of thousands were not considered inexpensive.
Many players in the top five leagues had values of only one or two million euros.
The sixty-fourth minute.
After receiving a pass from a teammate, Deng Kai delivered a no-look through ball to the advancing midfielder Sergio.
Sergio, after receiving the ball, passed it decisively across.
Striker Lorenzo followed up with a shot and scored.
Six to one!
Sporting Lisbon made Casabia, the league’s second-placed team, feel like they were bottom-dwellers.
And Sergio, who had already provided two assists, also caught the eye of some scouts in the stands.
Most of these scouts were from within Portugal, unlike the batch from all over Europe who were watching Ronaldo and Deng Kai.
Their employers were almost all Primeira Liga teams, without huge financial power, nor could they afford to sign young players for large sums.
They were accustomed to finding bargains.
"Sergio is a very decent midfielder; on some average teams, he could even be the midfield core," a scout from Boavista explained to a club executive nearby, "He was also once the core of Sporting Lisbon’s U15 midfield."
"But after Deng Kai arrived, he became more of a utility player. This is not beneficial for his development."
The Boavista executive asked, "So you think Deng Kai should be assisting Sergio instead of the other way around as it is now?"
The scout shook his head; Sergio and Deng Kai were simply not on the same level, there was no comparability.
In the eyes of those who were knowledgeable, Deng Kai was not just one or two times, but several times more advanced than Sergio!
