Chapter 275

With Christmas approaching, the club gave the players a two-week winter break.

As the holiday approaches, the much-anticipated Golden Globe Awards also approaches.

Almost all the players on the candidate list know very well that this year's Ballon d'Or is destined to belong to Cristiano Ronaldo.

Even though Barcelona has performed very well this season, defeating Real Madrid in the pre-season to win a trophy, the championship is more valuable than Real Madrid's four consecutive titles last season and Cristiano, who became the top scorer in the Champions League, are the undisputed winners of the Ballon d'Or.

And the Golden Globe night was indeed not surprising.

Overnight, there was overwhelming news about the Golden Globe Awards.

#Ronaldo wins the Ballon d'Or again! #

#The man who dominates the Ballon d'Or, Cristiano Ronaldo! #

#UEFAEurope'sBestPlayer! Ronaldo! #

#The night when superstars shine! Messi, Buffon, Kaka and other superstars watched Ronaldo win the Golden Ball from the audience! #

#Messi: I am very happy that I share this football stage with Ronaldo in the 21st century#

#Buffon: Champions League goals are engraved in Cristiano's DNA, he is the best shooter#

#Kaka: The Golden Ball belongs to Chris, and Chris belongs to our football world. This is a particularly happy and glorious fact#

#Ronaldo, the Ballon d'Or winner, commented on the three players: Kaka is the best midfielder, he and I have a tacit understanding; I believe I will have more matches with Gigi in the future, I am looking forward to it; Messi is not bad#

…

In stark contrast to the media's excitement, the weather began to turn cooler.

With the end of the winter break, La Liga has ushered in a small wave of intensive peaks, whether it is the revived Champions League, the Copa del Rey in the middle of the week, or the league, the pace of the second half of the competition has obviously become tighter.

Benzema and Bale have suffered significantly more injuries this season, resulting in frequent absences from games. Even if they recover from their injuries, it will not be entirely satisfactory for them to immediately play well together on the field.

This situation makes every game of Real Madrid seem bumpy, and even winning is difficult and timid.

Compared to Barcelona, ​​last summer, Barcelona's new signings included Uruguayan player Suarez and Brazilian player Neymar.

Messi, Suarez and Neymar quickly became very successful, and their cooperation on the field became more and more tacit and smooth, soon becoming a trident combination with a strong presence in the La Liga.

In the league standings, Barcelona is far ahead.

The pressure is on Real Madrid.

Not only has the situation become difficult on the field due to absences, but off the field as well. The news that Benzema and Bale will not be able to start has become increasingly outrageous, and claims of discord in the Real Madrid dressing room have made headlines in sports newspapers seven or eight times a season.

Benzema missed the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final against Manchester United.

At the pre-match press conference, Cristiano was once again asked about the relationship between the three players. The highly anticipated relationship between the three players in Barcelona was like the other end of the scale, and was naturally used for comparison and discussion.

The good mood of meeting Sir Alex Ferguson and his old teammates was ruined by the pre-match interview. Cristiano pursed his lower lip to suppress the boredom in his heart, glanced at the reporter in front of him and said: "We can score goals and win the game on the field, that's enough."

"I didn't talk to Giggs, Ferdinand and the others very often, but our results were pretty good back then, weren't they?"

"This Real Madrid team is still on the table, still in the game, you can continue to watch its performance and then make your own judgement."

After the Portuguese finished speaking, he picked up his coat, stood up, pushed away his chair and walked out.

Zidane laughed softly, even though he knew he really shouldn't laugh at this moment, he really couldn't help it. Cristiano's temper was as straightforward and direct as his goals. Look at those media, they were all choked and speechless. To be honest, it was too satisfying.

He took the microphone and cleared his throat. Of course, he had to finish for the boy.

"Okay ladies and gentlemen, do you have any questions?"

“…”

Not long after Real Madrid's pre-match interview ended, Manchester United's pre-match interview also synced with the news next door. Almost impatiently, or just to watch the fun, before the pre-match interview was about to end, a reporter suddenly raised his hand high and interrupted the team's closing words -

"In the pre-match interview of Real Madrid Club that just ended, Ronaldo was asked about BBC and MSN. He mentioned how he got along with Manchester United -"

The reporter's words successfully attracted the attention of Ferguson and Giggs, and they tacitly allowed the other party to continue asking questions.

"He mentioned that he, Giggs and Ferdinand didn't talk often in private, but that didn't stop them from winning the Champions League together in the end."

Giggs and Ferdinand choked when they were mentioned. Don’t they often chat in private? So who is that Portuguese guy who talks so much all day long? Ronnie is getting more and more adept at dealing with the media.

Ferguson smiled a little, he could almost imagine how impatient his little Portuguese was when answering that question.

Ferdinand spread his hands and showed a sad look to the reporter: "Yes, he left me. He no longer has the same feelings for me as before. He used to live in my house, but he didn't like the food I cooked."

As soon as he finished speaking, several players on the Manchester United side had to cover their faces to hold back their laughter.

"I have to correct one thing." Giggs cleared his throat and looked serious, which made the reporters move their microphones closer as if they had received some big news.

Then Giggs said: "Not only the Champions League, I remember we won three consecutive championships, four championships and defended the Champions League together."

Reporters: “…”

Ferguson grinned and indicated that the pre-match interview could be over.

The first leg of this Champions League knockout match was played by Manchester United at the Bernabeu. During the warm-up at the Bernabeu, Cristiano frequently looked towards Manchester United.

There are already a few familiar figures missing from that team. Keane, Neville, Van der Sar... have all announced their retirement or left Manchester United, but there are still some familiar people there.

Marcelo poked Cristiano's arm jokingly: "If you want to go over there to say hello, go over there. You look like a husband waiting for his wife now."

"Go to hell." Cristiano pushed Marcelo away with a curse.

"Just don't forget that you are on our side." Ramos also joked.

Kaka pushed Ramos and Marcelo aside without leaving a trace, and lowered his voice and said, "Don't you have anything to do?"

Ramos clicked his tongue when he heard the sound: "The mother hen is here to protect her chicks again."

Cristiano kicked Ramos' butt lightly: "Get out of the way, Sergio."

Ramos ran away happily, as if he would feel uncomfortable if he didn't make some noise.

Cristiano turned to Kaka and said, "I'll come over after the game. Now we all have to focus on the game, right Kaka?"

Kaka nodded and gave Cristiano a light hug: "Of course, you can go whenever you want. Sir Alex Ferguson will definitely welcome you."

Cristiano smiled.

He is still very nervous, no matter how many times he has faced his former club, whether it is Sporting Lisbon or Manchester United, the feeling is very complicated.

Manchester United scored the first away goal at the Bernabeu in the first leg, a goal from Giggs, an unexpected long-range shot that opened the scoring.

Ferguson was standing in the coaching area on the sidelines, chewing gum and clapping with satisfaction, then turned his gaze to Cristiano.

He saw that Cristiano's eyes were bright and sharp, as always, and his ambition and desire for scoring goals were written all over his face.

Ferguson asked Ferdinand, Evra and others to tighten their defense. The game had been going on for 70 minutes and it was time for them to defend the fruits of victory.

Ferdinand took advantage of the time when Real Madrid was making substitutions and trotted past Cristiano. He quickly rubbed Cristiano's little curly hair a few times, then ran away quickly with a smile on his face.

Marcelo muttered to the side, wondering if this counted as an attack on their forward? Then no one paid any attention to him.

The game continued, and it was another attack by Manchester United. Scholes and Rooney quickly moved the ball through the frontcourt and compressed the penalty area near Real Madrid. Scholes passed the ball to Alan who was closer to the penalty area.

Cristiano retreated to his own side earlier, and when he saw Alan get the ball, he immediately accelerated and pressed forward, sticking closely to Alan, forcing him to kick the ball out of the sideline before stopping.

Alan pursed his lips, his face gloomy as if he was about to hit someone, and when he raised his head, he met the corner of Cristiano's mouth that had just raised.

He paused, then pushed the annoying Portuguese away and quickly asked Cristiano as he ran past him: "Why are you even more annoying than when you were a kid?"

"There's nothing we can do about that." Cristiano quickly replied, covering his mouth with his hands and smiling.

Alan rolled his eyes.

Real Madrid won the ball from midfield and passed it to Cristiano.

Ferguson was standing on the sidelines watching, seeing Cristiano like a rocket, running through the defense so quickly, teasing and playing in front of their defensive players so agilely, and heading straight for the baseline.

"Real Madrid has a corner kick opportunity!"

The ball at Cristiano's feet was cleared by Evra, who retracted his legs to relieve inertia and jogged two steps.

It's a corner kick, and it's still Kroos who is in the penalty kick position.

Evra and Jones stood on both sides of Cristiano. Their task today was to defend Cristiano and not give him the chance to score.

"Kroos took a tactical corner kick! Smoothly passed it to Kaka! Kaka kicked a high ball directly in front of the goal!"

Kroos' tactical corner kick caused the defense in front of Manchester United to instantly run and loosen up.

Cristiano jogged forward to the back of the penalty area, then jumped high!

The whole stadium suddenly burst into amazing cheers, and Cristiano jumped very high, then swung his head and hit the net just under the bottom edge of the crossbar. Manchester United goalkeeper De Gea had no way to intercept this header.

"With the score trailing 0-1, Ronaldo scored the equalizer against Manchester United!!"

"This goal helped Real Madrid avoid losing at home! The score is one to one!"

"Ronaldo's jumping height is really amazing! It's about 2.7 meters? Or 2.8 meters? It's almost as high as the goal post!"

This score continued until the end of the game, and Real Madrid failed to further expand the score advantage at their home court.

After all the players thanked the audience and returned to the player tunnel, Cristiano took a quick shower to make sure he was not covered in stinky sweat, then wrapped himself in a large bath towel and ran out.

Ramos stared at Cristiano's back and pulled the corner of his mouth in confusion: "He is too anxious."

Marcelo said: "I'm really worried if he goes there now, he might get beaten up. Those Manchester United defenders look tough."

"Come on, let alone the defenders, their forward is also very fierce, the one called Alan." Ramos said immediately after hearing this. He was actually tackled twice by a forward, and the opponent even received a yellow card. This was really a bit "insulting".

"That's not easy for us." Pepe said suddenly, wiping his hair. "Don't worry if Cristiano goes there. It's not Atletico Madrid or Barcelona."

Ramos curled his lips and Atletico Madrid gave up. He is not worried about Barcelona either. At least there is a big guy who will take Chris away first. He is very sure of that.

"I'm worried that Manchester United will take Cristiano away," Modric said.

After he finished speaking, the locker room fell silent.

"Oh, Luca, you are right, it makes sense." Ramos had to nod.

Cristiano strode towards Manchester United's locker room. Before he reached the door, he heard Ferguson's roar from inside.

He touched the tip of his nose, stopped, and awkwardly poked his head towards the locker room.

Giggs met Cristiano's gaze, looked at Ferguson, and then whispered: "Boss, Ronnie is here to see you."

Ferguson turned around and saw Cristiano running towards him with a big towel draped over him. He forgot all the words he wanted to say to scold the locker room.

Cristiano chuckled, raised his arm and waved at Ferguson, showing a big smile.

Ferguson paused, then waved to Cristiano, and the boy immediately strode in obediently and gave him a big hug as if he was crawling into his arms.

"I missed you so much!" Cristiano said softly.

In many programs, he never tired of saying it again and again - Ferguson is like the father of his football world.

He looked at Ferguson as if he were his own father, and the help, teaching, protection, love - and even favoritism - that he received always had a profound impact on him.

And after he came to Spain and encountered all kinds of targeted and unfriendly treatment, he missed these things even more.

Once he left Manchester and came to Madrid, he faced those embarrassing public opinions with more and more fighting spirit. He was eager to prove himself to the world. He wanted to be the best. Even if his epitaph after his death, he wanted it to say "No. 1" instead of "No. 7".

But now, he thought to himself, he had already proved it. Cristiano Ronaldo didn't need to prove anything to the world anymore. He just needed to be good to himself.

He lowered his eyes and closed his arms around Ferguson. He sighed softly and suddenly felt a little impulsive, but he suppressed the impulse in his throat and just said softly again: "I really miss you."

"Of course, me too, my child." Ferguson's heart softened, and he replied, patting Cristiano's back. The boy's back had become fuller, but when he looked at Cristiano's face, it still looked the same as it did a few years ago.

He even felt that Cristiano was still in their team, like a restless boy who had just run out of the shower after the game.

I really want to bring him back to Manchester. Ferguson thought to himself.

He gave Cristiano a big hug: "You know, my arms are always open to you, Ronnie."

Cristiano blinked and nodded: "The most important thing is that you are here."

Ferguson laughed: "Of course, where else can I go?"

In the post-match interview, Ferguson took the initiative to mention Cristiano. He said: "When I saw Cristiano walk straight to our locker room, it felt like going back to the old days."

"I wanted to sneak him back to Old Trafford in a laundry basket."

"That header by Cristiano? Yes, it was incredible. I was angry and wanted to scold Evra for not marking him, but then I saw the boy jump up and Evra was only at his waist.

Some reporters in the audience burst into laughter, and someone else added loudly, "Two meters, eighty-eight! He jumped two meters, eighty-eight!"

"Two meters eighty-eight? Wow, this is really, this is really..." Ferguson blinked, the height was staggering, he smiled and spread his hands, "Then what else can I blame? Evra has done what he can."

"If there are two things in the world that cannot be stopped, one is death, and the other is Cristiano's goal."

The next day, after seeing the news, all the Real Madrid stars were in an uproar in the training locker room.

"I said that the Manchester United people seemed to want to kidnap Cristiano." The Croatian touched his chin calmly. He flicked the newspaper with such force that he almost poked a hole in the paper.

"What's going on! Put it in the laundry basket? Don't go too far!"

"He really knows how to speak... Are the English as good at language as the Italians?"

"Chris Chris, you're not going to go with the old man, are you?" Marcelo came over and nudged Cristiano.

Cristiano read the headline, smiled, folded the paper and put it away - he had to put it away - and said to Marcelo: "You're not going to training? Then I have to go."

He said as he strode out of the locker room.

"Cristiano!!"