Chapter 129

After returning to Manchester, Cristiano missed the first league game due to injury.

He sat on the bench and watched the game with his teammates.

This season Leeds United returned to the Premier League and faced Manchester United in the first game.

This was Alan's first game against his old club Leeds United on the field after he moved to Manchester United.

It was a derby between two arch-rivals. Even without Cristiano playing, the match was still full of tension.

Before the game started, Cristiano noticed that various banners were raised at the scene:

In addition to the flags and banners supporting their respective teams, the rest are, in part, the still tireless "anti-Ronaldoism", with various pictures and texts with bad implications, and in part, Leeds United fans.

They held up photos of Alan, with a bright red cross drawn on his back wearing the former Leeds United home jersey, and the words "Alan Smith = Judas" visible everywhere.

Even though a whole season has passed since Alan's transfer, Leeds United fans still haven't gotten over it.

Cristiano frowned. He kept paying attention to Alan during the pre-match warm-up. His friend received, passed and stopped the ball with an expressionless face, as if he was not affected at all.

Maybe because Cristiano looked over too many times, Alan finally interrupted Cristiano's gaze and said, "This is no different from any previous league game, Ronnie, if that's what you want to ask."

"Okay." Cristiano touched the tip of his nose. He guessed that their fierce striker didn't need much comfort.

Alan looked at him. He paused and whispered, "This is no different from your situation, Ronnie. If you can get through it, then so can I."

Cristiano responded, but before he could say anything, Rooney stepped in between them and asked, "Why don't I see you care about me? Those fans are holding up banners cursing me, didn't you see that?"

"You've moved into Alan's house. Isn't that enough to show that I care about you?" Cristiano asked. He raised his chin and motioned Rooney to look at the field. At a glance, apart from the logos of the two teams, there were photos of him and Alan. "Besides, where are you? Forget it. Protests from corners and corners can be ignored."

Rooney choked up. He had to admit that since Cristiano returned to Manchester, he had indeed taken away most of the firepower for him. He whispered: "That was when they scolded me, you were not there."

"Besides, living in Alan's house..." Rooney swallowed the second half of his sentence under Alan's glance and said dryly, "I am really touched."

No, that's really not caring or comforting at all.

He even felt that it was a disguised form of mental torture - every time he brought back some takeout chicken legs, burgers and the like, he would have to endure Alan's silent contemptuous gaze, and his chicken legs no longer tasted good!

He dared to say that only Ronnie and Alan could be the best roommates because these two people had surprisingly low demands and standards for food!

Cristiano grinned and patted Rooney on the shoulder: "Waza, perform well later, you can't lose this game."

"Don't put pressure on me," Rooney muttered.

After the starting lineup returned to the player tunnel, Cristiano sat on the bench.

At the beginning of the game, the tension between the two sides was directly reflected in their playing style. Leeds United tried their best to get three points from Manchester United. Cristiano, sitting on the sidelines, was more nervous than the players on the field.

He bit his fingers subconsciously, his eyes fixed intently on the white elf that was passing back and forth on the court. The expressions on his face became rapidly and richly changed with the changes on the court.

Ferguson was sitting next to Cristiano. The Scottish head coach was chewing gum, with his arms crossed over his chest. He sat on a chair and watched the cooperation and performance of the players on the field expressionlessly.

Whether the ball was intercepted or a beautiful counterattack was launched, the head coach's expression remained unchanged. Compared with Cristiano next to him, who frowned from time to time or shook his arms in excitement or frustration, the two looked like a static picture and a dynamic picture respectively.

The screen in the broadcast room occasionally cut to Ferguson and Cristiano, and the two of them were seen sitting together with completely different expressions.

Cristiano couldn't help but stand on the sidelines and greet his teammates, while Ferguson on the side did not show any dissatisfaction with the challenge to his authority. Instead, he looked at Cristiano with interest and a smile.

The commentator couldn't help but say: "Ronaldo looks more like a coach than Ferguson next to him, but surprisingly, Sir Alex Ferguson didn't express any opinion on Ronaldo's interference on the sidelines."

"If Ronaldo plans to become a coach in the future, he will definitely be the one with the richest body language and facial expressions on the sidelines." His partner laughed.

Neville couldn't stand it anymore and glared at the boy as he ran past Cristiano: "Why didn't I notice you were so nagging on the sidelines?"

Cristiano waved his arms at Neville: "Run! Run!"

Neville: “…”

"Leeds United gets a corner kick." The commentator checked the time and saw that the game was at the 44th minute. "This is basically Leeds United's last chance to score in the first half—"

As soon as the commentator finished speaking, the ball in the screen drew an arc from the left penalty area, and then there was chaos in front of the goal. Several pairs of feet were fighting in front of the goal, and then the net shook violently:

"The ball goes in!" The commentator suddenly jumped up, "The last scoring opportunity in the first half! Leeds United seized it!"

The ball hit the net right in front of Alan.

His pupils shrank slightly, and then he heard cheers from the audience.

Some water bottle plastic and wrapping paper were balled up and thrown down like raindrops.

He tightened his jaw, his lips pressed into a straight line, and the Leeds United fans in front of the net were celebrating, holding up those banners excitedly at him and shouting: "We don't need Alan Smith!"

Before Manchester United's counterattack could even start, the referee blew the whistle to end the first half.

Alan and others slowly walked from the field to the player tunnel, where Cristiano was standing waiting.

He waved when Alan approached, but before he could greet him, he heard the curses from Manchester United fans behind him: "Smith! You are a traitor! Did you hear that! Traitor! Did Leeds United let you come in to give them points?!"

Cristiano turned around abruptly and raised his arm angrily at the man: "Hey! Watch your mouth!"

"Traitor! Ronaldo! You are a pair of traitors! Get out together!" The fan shouted back and threw a bottle cap at Cristiano.

Ferdinand and Alan heard the commotion and immediately trotted over.

Ferdinand immediately stood in front of Cristiano and stretched out his hand to block the hands of the opposing fans who were pushing him. Alan quickly grabbed Cristiano, pursed his lips and pulled Chris into the player tunnel without saying a word.

Cristiano's face was gloomy, his chest rising and falling violently: "Those people shouldn't use the game to lie and stigmatize anyone."

He could endure the fans roaring at him to get out of England and Manchester United, and he didn't care how those people booed or ridiculed him, but he hated any behavior that used the performance on the field as a rumor to attack players.

Those fans were spreading rumors that they had fixed the match and deliberately let the ball roll into their own goal. This was a complete insult to fair play and an insult to every player. He was extremely angry. Neither Alan nor himself should be stigmatized like this.

Alan grabbed his arm tightly, almost knocking Cristiano into the corner. He lowered his platinum blond head and whispered patiently, "Ronnie, don't get involved. This has nothing to do with you today."

"Fuck it, it has nothing to do with me. They're not just talking about you, they're talking about our entire team. I can't just stand there and listen to them say that and be indifferent. That's not me." Cristiano pushed Alan, he shook his hand off and took a deep breath.

Alan looked at him, was silent for a few seconds, then turned and walked away.

Cristiano pursed his lips.

Rooney came over and put his arm around his shoulders: "Come on, don't just stand there. Are you two arguing again?"

Cristiano tilted his head in frustration: "What do you mean 'again'? We all just need to calm down."

Rooney shrugged his shoulders: "To be honest, Alan is right. You really shouldn't have gotten involved. Finally, they didn't scold you in this game. Now, I guarantee that in the second half, your presence in the stands will be higher than Alan's."

"I don't care about that," Cristiano said sternly, looking at Rooney. "Am I supposed to listen to them calling us match-fixing and pretend I didn't hear anything?"

Rooney choked, what could he say? He felt that this was a safe approach, and as long as Alan didn't care about it, it would be fine.

He glanced at Alan, who was standing motionless in front of his locker in the dressing room, and paused. It was obvious that Alan cared.

Well, it seems Alan is not as tough as he appears. Rooney thought to himself that when he realized that he was not the only one who was booed by the fans and had lost his balance, he suddenly felt better.

Before the start of the second half of the game, Alan walked past Cristiano. He slowed down and looked at Chris, who was walking forward with a stern face and a frown. He paused, walked over and gently bumped Cristiano with his shoulder.

"Thank you," he whispered.

Cristiano pursed his lips and said nothing. After a few seconds, he heard Alan say again: "Ronnie, I know this is you, so we like you, but the fans will not be happy."

"Either love me or hate me, I don't care whether they are happy or not, it's that simple." Cristiano looked at Alan, he let go, and gently pushed Alan out of the player tunnel, "Just like playing football, either score or lose, I like simple things."

"Win it back in the second half, Alan." He said to Alan in a deep voice.

Alan paused and nodded.

Cristiano sat back in his seat in the substitute stands. As soon as he sat down, a laser light shone towards his face. He dodged left and right, as if he was playing hide-and-seek with the person opposite him. He sneered, what a childish trick.

Ferguson frowned and called the security guard to point to the opposite side. Soon, the laser pen's beam disappeared.

As the second half of the game began, the fans in the stands began to shout in unison - "Judas!", "Judas!", "Judas!"

The sounds were low and dull, as if surrounding the stadium, making people feel annoyed.

Cristiano looked at the field. Those noises now seemed to have no effect on Alan. He and Giggs pressed towards the opponent's penalty area in the frontcourt. Less than five minutes into the game, the two cooperated to launch a smooth attack.

Alan's powerful shot from outside the penalty area was blocked by the goalkeeper, resulting in a corner kick.

"Neville took the corner kick, and the ball landed in front of the penalty area! Giggs' shot was blocked by the defender!"

"Alan made a follow-up shot from a small angle!!! The ball went in!!"

"The second minute of the second half! Alan Smith scored a point!! Too fast! Leeds United didn't get to enjoy the lead for too long! This goal was scored by their former captain! How does it feel?!" the commentator shouted, slamming the table.

Alan clenched his fists and roared. He ignored the sounds of people cheering for the goal and cursing him on the field, but he strode to the bench and hugged Cristiano.

"This ball is for you, thank you, Ronnie." He hugged Cristiano tightly and whispered.

Cristiano smiled and patted Alan on the back. He grinned and had to shout louder to be heard over the noisy fans: "No, this belongs to you, Alan! This is what you proved for yourself! I am very happy!"

Alan laughed, rubbed Cristiano's head, and then quickly returned to the court.

Less than ten minutes after the last goal, Alan assisted Giggs to score another goal. The pass and the shot completely shut up the fans on the field.

At the end of the game, they overtook Leeds United with a score of 2-1 and won their first three points in the Premier League.

During the post-match interview, Ferguson sat next to Alan, and reporters asked them: "After the first half, Cristiano Ronaldo seemed to have a conflict with the fans in the stands? Sir Ferguson, will you punish Ronaldo for his behavior?"

Alan frowned when he heard this: "That can't be considered a conflict..."

Ferguson interrupted Alan and said: "Punishment warning? I don't think so. What I saw was that Cristiano defended his teammates and the reputation of the club. I appreciate it. Is this worthy of punishment warning? I think it deserves praise."

Alan relaxed his shoulders and curled the corners of his mouth slightly.

After the group finished the interview, the bus took them back to their residence one by one.

Cristiano returned to his villa. Although he was unable to play on the field tonight, he felt that he had exercised a lot on the sidelines. He was more nervous and active than those players who played on the field.

He prepared a bath for himself to soothe his muscles, then settled back into his soft bed.

He had just turned on the bedside lamp and had no time to do anything when he heard a sharp "clang" sound coming from downstairs, which was particularly loud in the already quiet night.

Immediately, the alarm in his villa sounded a "woosh" warning.

Cristiano went downstairs quickly and saw that the floor-to-ceiling glass of the restaurant on the side closest to the outer door was smashed.

A large brick penetrated the glass and hit his glass dining table. The table didn't break, but the sharp corner of the brick was stuck in the tabletop. Spider-web cracks covered the table, and it looked like it would break at any time.

Cristiano had to put on his clothes and wait for the police to come to his house.

Good man, Marca better have all the staff work overtime tonight, they have to publish an urgent issue - "Football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo's mansion was smashed, from Manchester United prince to everyone hates him"

Cristiano sat on the steps and watched the police car with red lights flashing and sirens blaring pull up to his doorstep.

He sneezed involuntarily as the Manchester night wind blew, and he cursed in his heart: What the hell, the historical traces have been closed.