Chapter 93: Chapter 93 Another Star Falls (Available tomorrow! Everyone be sure to subscribe!)
Even Bayern fans were impressed with Deng Kai during this match.
"Did you watch the game?"
"The game? There wasn’t a match yesterday, was there?"
"Not the first team, the U15, the Youth Champions League."
"Oh, that. How did Lahm, Schweinsteiger, and Hitzlsperger perform? I feel these guys really have the makings of stars, especially Lahm, he should even go play for the U17 next year!"
"They did pretty well."
"Next up is the semi-finals, right? When is that?"
"There’s no next match."
"What?"
"The other team performed better, the Portuguese alien C. Ronaldo with two assists and a goal. Football Caesar Deng Kai scored a hat-trick, and nailed the winner in the last moments of the extra time!"
"Damn! Is it really that outrageous? This Deng Kai is too strong, right? I think the club should buy him!"
"That’s what I think too! We should all bring it up to the club, maybe they’ll take it into consideration."
There wasn’t just one or two fans who thought this way.
In the end, the famous German football media Bild even thought Bayern should buy Deng Kai, and published several articles about it:
"His Spirit Is What German Football Lacks the Most! Please Bring Back the Caesar Who Lies Forgotten Abroad!"
"After Beckenbauer and Rummenigge, Perhaps He Could Become the Third Emperor of Football!"
The German media was stirred.
On the Youth Champions League side, a new round of draws had started.
Sporting Lisbon was the last team to make it into the semi-finals, with the other three teams being Ajax, Atlético Madrid, and AC Milan.
The draw results were... Sporting Lisbon vs. Ajax, AC Milan vs. Atlético Madrid.
This matchup really was... highly targeted.
Feyenoord, Groningen, Sporting Lisbon had faced several Dutch youth academies on their way here, and now it’s Ajax.
Could it be that the Portuguese really want to compete with the Dutch for the title of the world’s number one in youth training?
UEFA sure knows how to play the game!
All of a sudden, the next match between Sporting Lisbon and Ajax in the Youth Champions League semi-final was dubbed "the battle of the world’s strongest youth academies"!
The winner would claim the title of "the strongest youth academy" for their club.
As for Atlético, their youth academy is also very famous, but it’s not quite the black shop route, so it’s not as intense as this match.
Atlético’s future is to be a powerhouse team.
...
Playing such an earth-shattering game against Bayern, Deng Kai undoubtedly received an SSS ranking.
The blue fragments hit directly, and he used forty fragments to gain two blue player skills.
Low Altitude Passing: Your long passing is slightly improved. The football flies faster in the air, but the probability of being intercepted in the initial and middle stages is also correspondingly increased.
Enhanced Spin Passing: Your long passing is slightly improved. The football spins in the air, making it precise and easier for teammates to receive and make the next move.
Both skills were very useful, especially for a midfield core like Deng Kai who excelled in making lethal passes.
Without these assist pass skills, "De Bruyne’s Conscious Flow Pass" wouldn’t be as effective, at best it would just look intimidating.
Because the opposition had three future famous players, it was no surprise that the "Star Drop" occurred.
Regrettably, it wasn’t Lahm-related, which Deng Kai had wanted the most.
It was Schweinsteiger’s.
And it was damn...
"Mediocre Winger Schweinsteiger: As a winger and wide midfielder, Schweinsteiger was so mediocre that the club almost gave up on him; he shares his understanding of these positions with you. Long pass +1, short pass +1, interception +1, tackling +1. When you play in the middle, your shooting ability and strength of footwork will get a certain improvement."
To grab or not to grab?
As a mediocre winger, can you not communicate with me?
Communicate what?
How to be pressed onto the bench by the club?
Can’t your non-mediocre midfield maestro personality come out and show off a little?
It’s bad enough the values given are so low, but they’re all about passing and interception skills needed by midfielders, what’s that got to do with a winger?
Ironically, as a winger and attacking midfielder, he was expected to perform best in the middle of the pitch...it’s almost too ironic to say.
Schweinsteiger would probably cry if he knew what this power-up did.
But speaking of which, this power-up suited Deng Kai quite well.
His main area of action was in the center of the field.
And long shots were definitely an enhancement he needed.
The increased power in his legs could boost Deng Kai’s long-range shots, long passes, through balls, and a variety of other performances, which was a good thing.
It kind of felt like a blessing in disguise.
Even if he had received Lahm’s power-up, it might not have suited Deng Kai better.
Back in Lisbon, the team quickly moved on to the next league game.
Deng Kai and Ronaldo rarely rested.
Their schedule was too packed and the game against Bayern had gone into extra time, so they had to take a break during one league match.
Unexpectedly, in the match against Maritimo, Sporting Lisbon’s U15 team performed well even without the two aces and their key player, drawing the game 1-1.
As a result, Sporting Lisbon U15 ended the suspense and became the champions of the Southern Division three rounds early, advancing to the final championship division.
They were also the first team to confirm their spot in the championship division.
This was something many hadn’t anticipated.
After all, Sporting Lisbon’s U15 had once fallen to the second-to-last place in the first stage, only to secure second place in the last stretch and advance to the second stage.
In the second stage, they haven’t lost a single game and have advanced to the third stage with three rounds to go.
They were getting stronger as they fought.
Following that game, as time moved into April.
News of major league matches became more significant.
This included the Champions League quarter-final second leg between Manchester United and Inter Milan.
Ronaldo, who had claimed he would stage a hat trick reversal against Manchester United, failed to deliver.
Manchester United drew with Inter one to one for the whole game.
With a total score of three to one, they advanced to the Champions League semi-finals.
Manchester United fans wept with joy, shedding happy tears.
But soon after, Manchester United fans shed tears of sorrow because their opponents in the semi-finals were none other than Juventus, currently seen as the strongest team.
On April 6th.
Sporting Lisbon welcomed Leiria’s U15 at home.
Ronaldo, back from a break, scored twice while Deng Kai netted one, helping the team defeat their opponents three to zero.
On April 9th.
Sporting Lisbon challenged Estoril away.
Ronaldo scored once.
Deng Kai assisted twice, bringing his league assist count up to twenty!
With that, he became the first player in the history of Portugal’s U15 league to break the twenty-assist mark!
It’s easy to rack up goals in the youth league, but assists are hard to come by.
Because goal-prolific youth players often stand out from the crowd, performing far above the current level of competition, carving through the opposition with ease, anyone passing to them could accumulate assists.
But an excellent midfielder would have difficulty dominating in such conditions because they couldn’t just keep passing to that unstoppable forward.
How could a midfielder be considered excellent if they only passed to one forward?
If they really did that, their overall view of the game, vision, and opportunity recognition would definitely be unsatisfactory.
Yet Deng Kai, as an outstanding young midfielder, had achieved ridiculous statistics.
What does that tell us?
Does it indicate he’s unqualified?
No, it shows that... Deng Kai was padding his stats!
But why was Deng Kai padding his stats?
Because Trigella had told him as early as two months before that he and Ronaldo had made it onto Antonio Violante’s observation list, the head coach of Portugal’s U16 team!
This summer, Violante would lead the Portuguese U16 players to compete in the UEFA European Under-17 Championship!
