Chapter 692: Chapter 691: Opening Fire at Deng Kai
Abu’s humorous remarks put great pressure on Manchester City.
After Barcelona arrived in Manchester, many Barcelona fans displayed banners with the slogan "The Law of Conservation of Victory and Defeat".
Manchester City hadn’t lost a single match this season!
Not a single one!
It was outrageous!
The world of football didn’t allow such a domineering team to exist.
Thus, it was certain that Manchester City would lose this match!
Marca: "The facts proved that the Premier League battle between Manchester City and Arsenal was a lose-lose game. They didn’t manage to change anything on the leaderboard, but it’s very likely that they’ll both fall behind in the European competition."
AS Newspaper: "Perhaps the only good news for Manchester City is that the previously injured Chiellini and Thiago Silva have returned to the team."
Diario Sport: "In front of Ronaldinho and Quaresma, the devilish wings, it doesn’t matter who Manchester City’s defenders are!"
World Sports Daily: "It’s always hard for players returning from injuries to perform well, and it’s not certain that Manchester City will start with Chiellini."
Kicker: "Ronaldinho is confident in helping the team to victory at Etihad Stadium!"
Bild: "Quaresma is looking forward to facing Deng Kai, and he’s ready!"
On April 8th, the UEFA Europa League quarterfinals first leg kicked off.
For Manchester City, Kompany and Chiellini formed the starting center-back pair.
Desailly and Thiago Silva sat on the substitutes’ bench.
In the thirtieth minute of the first half.
Tu Lei scored a Heavy Cannon, giving Manchester City the lead.
But soon after, Quaresma, receiving a pass from Ronaldinho, cut inside, bypassed Lahm, and struck from outside the box to score.
One to one.
In the second half, Ronaldinho scored directly from a free kick, giving Barcelona the lead.
In the eighty-fifth minute.
Deng Kai took the corner, and Kompany headed it in to even the score.
But the Barcelona players left with smiles on their faces.
Because they had secured two away goals.
Back at Camp Nou, all they needed to do was defend tightly and maintain the balance of the score to advance.
They had the upper hand in reaching the final!
That’s what all the media believed.
And the result of this game confirmed everyone’s predictions earlier.
Manchester City and Arsenal... indeed both lost!
If only one of them had been willing to ease up in the league and field a reserve lineup.
The one that backed down would’ve had a greater chance to progress further in Europe.
Because whether it was Arsenal versus Chelsea or Manchester City against Barcelona, the former was supposed to have the advantage.
And the side that didn’t ease up would still have won the league.
One for each, nobody would’ve lost.
Why did they both want to fight on two fronts?
They couldn’t escape the word "greed"!
...
On April 9th, a controversial scene occurred.
Deng Kai’s personal feed featured a promotional message.
Because today, Hathaway’s movie "Magic Cinderella" premiered.
Based on past behavior, Deng Kai definitely would have attended the event with Hathaway to help boost her exposure.
At the very least, he would have gone to the cinema and then shown off the movie ticket.
But Manchester City’s schedule this season was too tight.
Deng Kai just posted one update.
And unexpectedly, even this post got him sprayed with criticism.
"Is Deng Kai mistaken? With such a tight schedule, he actually had the mind to promote Hathaway’s movie?"
"It’s getting tough to hold back! So what does Manchester City really mean to Deng Kai?"
"It seems Deng Kai doesn’t take the Manchester City games seriously, right? Makes sense, as football fans don’t seem to make up more than forty percent of his social media followers?"
"Heh, thinks he’s the number one in the world and starts playing around, huh? Wants to cross over, does he? Wants to act in movies?"
"No matter what, Deng Kai’s attitude is far too casual. He owes the other team members an explanation."
"If his heart isn’t in football, his performance is bound to suffer. It seems there’s a reason why Manchester City has been weak lately."
"Just watch, with Deng Kai’s attitude, Manchester City’s loss won’t be far off!"
???
This wave of public opinion made it seem as though Deng Kai had committed a grave error.
April 10th, the thirty-second round of the Premier League.
Manchester City narrowly beat Charlton one to zero.
After the match, reporters swarmed Deng Kai, asking how he planned to explain the "Cinderella incident."
See, it had already become an ’incident.’
Feng Te was the first to snap back, "I don’t know where all these discussions started from outside. But one thing, I hope everyone can be clear about."
"That is, as one of the representatives of Manchester City’s players, I can confidently tell you, we have no dissatisfaction with Captain Kai."
"He is always the hardest-working person on the field and at the training ground."
"He knows better than anyone how he should organize his time."
"I don’t want anyone to attack Captain Kai using the words Manchester City player. Because we don’t dare; ah spit... because we always believe in and respect Deng Kai!"
Of course, some reporters were still not convinced and continued to challenge Deng Kai, insisting he provide an answer.
Deng Kai, worn out by the pestering, nodded, "Okay, it seems everyone wants to hear a few words from me."
"First, I did send that message. But I regret that I wasn’t able to go to the cinema to watch the movie straight away."
"I hope friends who saw the movie can share the content with me later, as my intuition tells me, this is a great film."
"Second, when people question my and Manchester City’s tight schedule, has no one considered the real reason behind such a packed season for the club?"
"It’s not just Manchester City; Arsenal can’t keep up either."
"Isn’t Chelsea the same?"
"There’s something wrong with the Premier League’s scheduling, or maybe UEFA’s schedule needs coordination."
"Players, including the clubs, are just victims."
"And yet you try to make a victim take all the responsibility."
"I can take it, but I feel the fans should know the truth, should think more deeply. They should ensure future schedules are reasonable."
"That way, perhaps when there are no matches, people can see the players in more places. Join events with them and genuinely understand what your favorite players are like outside of football."
"I think that’s important, both from a football and a non-football perspective!"
"Finally, about this wave of discussion. My law firm has already commissioned a professional agency to investigate, and I can now reveal some details to you all."
"I will file a lawsuit against the commercial marketing department and the sports department of Barcelona Football Club."
"They got World Sports Daily, Diario Sport, and several other outlets to malign and slander me. I will fight for my reputation."
"At the same time, Manchester City will also file an appeal to UEFA. The reason being, we believe Barcelona is trying to manipulate the outcome of the match through illegal means outside the game."
Ssss!
The reporters were stunned.
This...
So it was Barcelona that was smearing Deng Kai?
Is Deng Kai this tough?
Barcelona can’t even criticize him?
But the media present were mostly from England.
They were annoyed at the thought of being used by the Spanish media.
And for an English Premier League team to win important trophies, that’s good news for all outlets.
Being close to the source gives one an advantage.
They’d have more exclusive interviews to splash around.
If a Spanish team ends up with the championship, the English media would just have to syndicate someone else’s news and help them earn revenue.
So in England, public opinion reversed very swiftly and completely!
