Chapter 81: Chapter 81 Dispute Celebration
"Let’s congratulate Veloso, this is his first match after joining Sporting Lisbon, and he has undoubtedly integrated into this great collective! This is a good start!"
"Veloso’s header has ended the suspense, a betrayal of his old club! This is the revenge of the discarded!"
The fans of Sporting Lisbon went wild with celebration.
But the goal scorer, Veloso, did not celebrate immediately.
Deng Kai rushed towards Veloso the moment the goal was scored, "Aren’t you celebrating?"
"Ah? I... Is that okay?" Veloso’s face showed a touch of confusion; he didn’t know whether he should celebrate.
"Don’t be like that, a real man should bravely say goodbye to the past! Besides, it’s not you who wronged them, it’s them who wronged you. A true man should reciprocate openly, keeping it inside is not forthright," Deng Kai pulled Veloso towards the area where Benfica’s fans were, which was silent.
Deng Kai grabbed Veloso’s jersey and lifted it up from the bottom, expertly taking off Veloso’s shirt.
"He once belonged to you," Deng Kai threw the jersey toward the Benfica fan stand with force, "but now he’s ours!"
Instantaneously, the stand was filled with countless jeers!
The fans of Benfica were enraged!
They cursed at Deng Kai and Veloso continuously, the language extremely offensive.
Veloso, looking at the furious Benfica fans in front of him, felt a surge of grievances welling up and finally let out an angry roar, "Ah! Fuck Benfica!"
"Fuck you!"
"You say I’m overweight?!"
"You can cast me aside, but you can’t insult me!"
"Fuck!"
Magnanimity?
Loyalty?
Fuck that!
It’s all deceitful!
With club executives changing one after another, to whom does a fan owe loyalty?
To the team?
Stop lying to yourselves.
The team’s policies, the team’s direction, the team’s earnings; it’s all decided by the higher-ups, a new ruler brings a new regime.
Loyalty to the team is just a lie.
Being loyal to, trusting in, and respecting an individual or a group of people is understandable; they have the charisma or you have such an emotional foundation with them, having shared a period of your life and memories, deserving your dedication.
But doing the same for an "entity with frequently changing leadership" is foolish.
Unless you have a certain degree of control over this "entity with frequently changing leadership," capable of influencing its decisions and progress.
In the past, European fans had such a privilege, so they remained loyal to their teams.
But now they are gradually losing this right.
In the future, they will lose it completely.
It’s not difficult to understand this principle, but many fans are unwilling to think this way.
Unless they experience betrayal by the club.
Veloso is one such die-hard Benfica fan who has faced betrayal.
If being abandoned by the home team is something Veloso can understand,
Then the fans, the club’s executives attacking his father, his family, his clan members for his performance, is something Veloso absolutely cannot accept!
He’s had an epiphany!
The Benfica fans were about to explode with anger due to Veloso’s celebration and cursing.
Some fans were even considering jumping down from the stands to deal with Veloso, the brat.
And Benfica’s players were also infuriated by the provocation from Veloso and Deng Kai.
Provoking their fans was the same as provoking them.
Players from both sides flocked together, and it looked like a new conflict was about to erupt.
Beep beep beep!
The referee blew his whistle incessantly and took a firm stand.
He did not hesitate to show Deng Kai a red card.
Then he issued a yellow card to Veloso, who had already received a yellow card earlier, so two yellows turned into one red!
This penalty provoked the dissatisfaction of the Sporting Lisbon fans.
But from an objective point of view... there was nothing wrong with it.
It was indeed Deng Kai and Veloso who first provoked the visiting team’s fans, thereby triggering this clash.
Maxa, of course, rushed to argue with the main referee, but to no avail.
In the following ten minutes, Sporting Lisbon fought with nine men.
But with steely determination, they fended off Benfica’s comeback, miraculously keeping the score at 4-1, conceding not an inch.
This put a perfect end to the match.
After the game, many players were interviewed.
There was a lot of resentment on the side of Benfica.
Amorim: "Veloso is a very good friend of mine, but I will never forgive such behavior. Has he forgotten that it was Benfica who gave him the opportunity to start his professional career?"
Pereira: "Deng Kai’s behavior was inappropriate. He can do that to us because we are the opposition, but the fans should not be provoked in such a manner. I hope Deng Kai can deal with this properly, I know he’s actually a good person and doesn’t do these things in his life."
Vieira: "This is a despicable act, Veloso has lost face for Benfica’s youth training, he will never be worthy of entering Luz Stadium!"
Vieirinha: "One red card is not enough, Deng Kai should be banned for more games, and so should Veloso!"
The Portuguese football media also had a big discussion about this incident.
Benfica star Pinto said, "It’s shocking and disappointing. Players should never do such things to the fans, no matter what!"
Nuno Gomes: "Veloso wasn’t celebrating at first, but after Deng Kai said something to him he clearly got carried away. It’s very shameful to incite a teammate to do the wrong thing like this, and now my view of Deng Kai is very poor."
"When I played, if I came across such a person, I would tackle him!"
Even Porto’s superstar Jia De’er criticized Deng Kai: "It’s outrageous! He didn’t even score that goal, but his celebration was so provocative!"
"Veloso’s behavior was inappropriate, but his emotions are understandable. However, Deng Kai had no justification to act that way, he should even be banned for an entire year! Such an attitude must not spread among young players! It is a great harm to football!"
For a time, Deng Kai became a target of public criticism.
Rumors were that the Portuguese Football Federation held an extraordinary meeting regarding the "Deng Kai attacking fans" incident.
Seeing that a storm was coming, things were going to escalate.
Trigella held a press conference on behalf of Sporting Lisbon.
At the conference, Trigella emphasized that Sporting Lisbon would not impose any sanctions on Deng Kai, because his actions were "heroic"!
This viewpoint received wide support from Sporting Lisbon fans.
Furthermore, Trigella stated: "We have reason to believe that Benfica is shifting the focus of public opinion onto Deng Kai, attacking such an innocent and excellent young player, merely to divert attention from their failure in youth training!"
"Let’s not forget, more important than points and scores in this game is the comparison of both clubs’ youth training systems! Clearly, we are the winning side."
"Benfica, despite having a better pool of talent, was clearly inferior in team strength. I can’t say that their youth training is bad, but ours is definitely better!"
"Secondly, I personally think there’s nothing wrong with Veloso’s action. He was raised in Benfica’s youth system, and his father, grandfather, siblings, and entire family are hardcore Benfica fans."
"But what has Benfica brought them? Do you know the official reason Benfica gave for dismissing Veloso? Nobody knows? Then let me tell you—it was... being overweight!"
The reporters at the scene were astonished.
They knew nothing about this.
But if that was indeed the case, Veloso’s anger was absolutely understandable.
Because such an accusation was extremely insulting.
