Chapter 41

"Manchester United made a substitution! The first half of the game hasn't even ended yet, but Ferguson sent out his favorite young player, who is said to have just stopped training due to an injury."

In the broadcast room, the young commentator was obviously interested and spoke immediately.

Manchester United's performance in the first half was really confusing. Two goals were scored into their own goal, which made the young commentator of the Manchester United home team almost exhausted.

"Cristiano Ronaldo is on the pitch! He might be able to open up a new situation for Manchester United!"

The other slightly older commentator took a neutral stance and disagreed with his colleague's eager expectations. The team played like this in the first half, and every main player was not innocent. He didn't think that simply replacing one person would change anything.

This game is a bit boring. The older narrator yawned nonchalantly, covering his mouth with his hands.

He watched the number seven jogging into the field on the screen and high-fiving his teammates who had been substituted in. It must be said that the moment Ronaldo, wearing the red home jersey, entered the screen, at least the entire broadcast screen was brighter.

The game is still worth watching.

The players on both sides of the court were running around, and there was nothing interesting worth explaining, so the older commentator began to talk about some gossip - this was also a major highlight of the game commentary, and many viewers enjoyed talking about it.

"I heard that this young player recently shared the headlines with the Champions League champion AC Milan. I have to say that his ability to create news is as good as his football skills," he said. "Even though it has been almost a week, I can still see tabloid reporters analyzing his motives for going to Turkey in the sports news."

"You're talking about the tabloids, right?" the young commentator said, trying not to roll his eyes at his partner. "Those reporters can't label Ronaldo as someone who likes gay players just because he's good-looking. That's too much."

"They need some topical stories." The older man replied pertinently, "At least I heard that the tabloid print run that analyzed who Ronaldo really likes broke the total print run this year."

"There's this?" The young commentator was a little surprised. He was not as keen on gossip as his partner.

He responded subconsciously and immediately noticed that the situation on the field had a different possibility of breaking through - "Ronaldo got the ball!"

The game has entered the injury time of the first half, and this is the only time left to decide whether we can score a point in the first half.

Cristiano dribbled the ball forward, he cleverly shook off a defender and heard Van Nistelrooy calling him. He looked up and passed the ball to Van Nistelrooy's feet. Van Nistelrooy's shot was on target, but was intercepted by the opposing goalkeeper.

Cristiano grinned, took a breath, and scratched his hair in frustration.

"Oh, the angle is too straight... What a pity, the ball was caught by the goalkeeper and Manchester United lost the chance to equalize a point. This puts more pressure on them in the second half." The older commentator said.

The first half of the game was over, and while the footage was replaying, he returned to the previous topic -

"Don't you know about the record-breaking print run? This has been trending on the forum for two days!"

"So what did the report say?" his partner asked casually when he saw the game was over, his eyes fixed on Cristiano who was walking towards the player tunnel.

Although he lost a goal assist, Manchester United's No. 7 did not seem to be worried at all, as if it would not be difficult to equalize the score in the second half.

The older commentator got excited when he mentioned this. He adjusted his sitting posture slightly and said, "First, they listed the evidence that Ronaldo might be gay."

"What?"

"Secondly, they counted the time Ronaldo's eyes stayed on each opponent and teammate, as well as many chemical reactions on the court - such as hugs, kisses, caresses, and the comments of his teammates and opponents, etc!"

The young commentator couldn't help but cover his eyes: "God...why don't other stars get this treatment?"

"Who said there isn't? Hernandez of Real Madrid has also been on the analysis list." His partner immediately added upon hearing this.

"Golden Wolf Guti?! Tabloids just won't let go of good-looking people, right?" The commentator waved his hands helplessly, "So what was the final result?"

"Who are you asking about? Guti? They think the first and second are tied, namely Raul, the Prince of Bernabeu, and Redondo who has gone to AC Milan. The third is..." The partner commentator talked endlessly.

The younger one had to interrupt the other, and he had to admit that he was still somewhat interested in the gossip about Ronaldo: "No, I mean Ronaldo."

"Oh!" The partner laughed. "Ronaldo, there are a lot of things to say. The first one is of course his Manchester United teammates. You know how they mention him, 'beautiful boy', 'make people want to cry', 'crybaby', 'mascot'... To be honest, doesn't Ronaldo think there are some problems with these words?"

The young commentator pondered it carefully and said, "Isn't that the truth?"

His partner paused for a moment and looked at his colleague with an indescribable look.

He didn't interrupt, but continued what he wanted to say: "It's a bit difficult for Ronaldo's Manchester United teammates to make it into the top three in this ranking. Since everyone knows that Ronaldo likes good-looking people, the first one is Van Nistelrooy, followed by Neville, Ferdinand, Keane, Rooney..."

The young commentator couldn't help but interrupt his partner: "Seriously?!"

"Oh... I forgot that ahead of Keane are AC Milan's Kaka and Maldini. Although they have only played against each other twice, it is well known that AC Milan's appearance is surprisingly superior to that of the Premier League, plus Ronaldo's recent news."

"Kaka ranked fourth? I thought he could at least be in the top three." said the young commentator.

"Except for watching the game, they have almost no interaction. It's great that they are ranked fourth. He and Maldini are ranked in the top five purely because of their looks - Maldini tackled Ronaldo several times in the game, and Ronaldo stared at him for almost the same time as Kaka." The partner replied, "Oh, I remember, Portugal's captain Figo is also ranked ahead of Keane."

The young commentator said dryly: "If the tabloids are to be believed, Ronaldo has many crushes on him..."

"Who says he isn't? He seems to be very good at acting cute to everyone." His partner shrugged. "So it's really hard to judge. The tabloids are planning to analyze them one by one. The last issue that broke the print volume only analyzed the top three. The next issue previews the analysis of the bottom three."

"...Then maybe it will break the printing volume record." said the young commentator.

He couldn't wait to get back to the topic: "The halftime break is almost over, let's take a look at the outstanding goal moments in the first half!"

The second half finally begins.

The goal posts on both sides are swapped.

Compared with the situation on the field in the first half, the stagnant situation on Manchester United's side has changed. Cristiano grabbed a high header to clear the ball, headed the ball to his teammate, and then quickly moved towards the opposite frontcourt.

A few passes back and forth tore through the opponent's defense. After Cristiano got the ball again, he looked at the situation on the field, seized the opportunity, and sent a cannon to Giggs who was in a better position, passing it straight to Giggs' feet.

"Ronaldo passes the ball straight into a great position! Giggs shoots!" The young commentator raised his voice, "Ah, the ball hits the post and flies out..."

Cristiano wrinkled his nose hard and ran away quickly.

"Manchester United's luck was really bad today. Maybe it's fate." The older commentator shook his head. They have watched too many games, and sometimes they are so mysterious. It is particularly obvious that the goddess of victory just stands on the other side.

The young man didn't want to reply, he just pursed his lips and stared at the screen.

"Cristiano has the ball!" he exclaimed. "Middlesbrough's defender has tackled him! The ball goes over the goal line and Manchester United gets a corner!"

"This is Manchester United's first corner opportunity so far!"

This corner kick was taken by captain Keane, and it landed in a good spot. Cristiano jumped high and headed the ball!

"GOOOOOOOOAL! It's a goal!!! Cristiano Ronaldo headed the ball and equalized a point for Manchester United!!" The young commentator jumped up from his chair and cheered.

"Very accurate spot!" His partner slapped the table excitedly and leaned forward to look at the screen, "Let's take a look at the replay!"

"We can see that Ruud van Nistelrooy, the king of the small penalty area, has already run into position. If Ronaldo hadn't headed the ball, Ruud van Nistelrooy would have had a great chance of making a follow-up shot!" the older partner analyzed. "It seems that the Red Devils, who had slept in the first half, have finally woken up. Their coordination is back!"

"It's hard to say who will win this game, Manchester United still has an advantage in points!"

Cristiano, Van Nistelrooy, Giggs and others hugged each other tightly. Rooney cheered and jumped up and pressed on Cristiano. They finally broke the situation!

The game continues.

Cristiano ran all over the field actively, as if he wanted to use up the energy he had accumulated in the first half.

The players on the opposing team couldn't help but tense up when they saw Cristiano's red figure passing by, and made another tackle!

Cristiano staggered and quickly regained his balance. With a small jump, he easily passed the player who had fallen in front of him like a hurdle, and moved forward with the ball!

"Beautiful!" The young commentator couldn't help but exclaimed, "In just 30 minutes of the second half, Ronaldo has been fouled no less than four times, but the referee didn't blow the whistle. Despite this, Ronaldo still didn't stop attacking!"

"Ronaldo breaks into the penalty area alone!"

"The opponent committed a foul! Oh my God, this is too obvious! This is simply murder!" The young commentator couldn't help but wave his arms angrily.

The defender in the picture elbowed Cristiano in the chest, and then kicked him intentionally to trip the boy's ankle, but Cristiano nimbly jumped over it and rolled to the ground.

He covered the part that was hit with a painful expression and curled up. Rooney and Van Nistelrooy were the closest to him, so they rushed up first.

The Manchester United fans on this side of the stadium all exclaimed, and the roars that came one after another were like a deafening storm.

Sir Alex Ferguson almost rushed out from the coaching bench. A string of words starting with F came out of his mouth and he stared at the field nervously.

Rooney immediately checked Cristiano's situation and saw Cristiano winking at him inconspicuously. He immediately understood what he meant and jumped up again, angrily venting his anger at the opposing player who committed the foul, while Van Nistelrooy asked the referee for a penalty.

Ferdinand, Keane and others also ran up quickly from the backcourt. A circle of people surrounded Cristiano and the referee, and the scene was extremely chaotic for a while.

Ferguson was relieved when he saw that his players did not signal for the team doctor to come on the field.

The linesman also breathed a sigh of relief, otherwise he would have been deafened by the blower.

Finally, the referee blew the whistle and gave the opponent a yellow card.

"Ronaldo created a penalty!" The older partner also joined in, shouting even more excitedly, "A penalty! Are the opponents going to watch the game go back to the starting point?!"

The penalty was given to Van Nistelrooy.

Van Nistelrooy made a subtle pause and change of speed, successfully deceiving the opposing goalkeeper and easily knocking the ball into the net.

“It’s tied at 2-2!!!”

Van Nistelrooy ran towards Cristiano, hugged the boy tightly, pinched Cristiano's cheek in appreciation, and pressed his forehead against his. Faint red finger marks immediately appeared on both sides of Cristiano's cheeks, but he just grinned and happily jumped together with all his teammates.

This scene was captured by the fans and cameras on the field, and immediately there was a burst of boos!

"My goodness, there was a lot of anger on the field. Manchester United fans were angry at the violent and malicious defense of the opposing team, while the fans of the opposing team were dissatisfied with Ronaldo's diving to get a penalty!" said the elderly commentator with relish.

His partner immediately retorted: "That can't be called cheating!"

"Anyway, the Red Devils got what they wanted."

In the last second of injury time, neither team was able to score another goal, and the game ended in a 2-2 tie, with each team accumulating one point.

"Ronaldo's coming on as a substitute brought a slight advantage to the tie in this game! Let's review Ronaldo's wonderful moments in this game!" As the screen was cut away, the commentator began his routine review of the overall game.

"Ronaldo ran 10 kilometers in this game! He didn't even come on the field until half an hour after the game!"

"What position does he play? You can see him in midfield, forward, winger, and even in the defensive position!"

“…”

The commentary in the broadcast room continues.

On the other side of the field, as soon as the game ended, media reporters gathered around to interview the coaches of both teams.

They were blocking the players' tunnel.

A reporter from the Manchester Guardian pointed to Sir Alex Ferguson: "Are you satisfied with the final result of this game?"

A BBC reporter asked the coach of the opposing team: "Do you think the penalty kick at the end of the game was a fraud?"

Ferguson's attention was completely drawn to the questions from the BBC reporter.

He had not yet recovered from the painful expression on Cristiano's face when he fell to the ground just now, and he knew very well how powerful a defender's elbow could be!

Even though the boy later stood up and happily celebrated the goal with Van Nistelrooy, he could not deny that the opponent was hit right in the heart by the elbow!

As a result, before he could get angry at the opposing defender who committed the foul, the short-sighted reporter threw the question to Cristiano first? !

Ferguson felt that his anger had never reached such a peak. His face turned red, and he snatched the other party's microphone and shouted: "Fraud?! If you have a pair of eyes, you can see that their defender is murder! Murder! Do you understand?!"

"Cristiano must protect himself properly! If the media can't tell the difference between a fake fall and a fake point, then I suggest you stop following sports news with your empty brains!"

The BBC reporter was suddenly bombarded by Ferguson, and he showed a trace of embarrassment on his face: "I am a professional reporter, I have the right to question like this!"

"Damn, shit professional journalists! Take your stuff and get out of my territory immediately!" Sir Alex Ferguson roared.

“…”

The player tunnel was bustling with activity, but the reporters, who were used to Ferguson's traditional bombardment, were not surprised by this scene. At most, they would occasionally sigh that the old Sir's lung capacity was still at its peak and had not deteriorated in the past few years.

In Manchester United's locker room, Cristiano came out of a cold shower with purple bruises on his chest where he was hit by the elbow.

Ferdinand and Giggs could not help but swear when they saw this: "That son of a bitch didn't hold back at all."

"Who said it wasn't?" Cristiano grinned. He felt a little painful when he stretched a little. He pulled the corners of his mouth, put his arms into his shirt, and buttoned it one by one.

Neville came over and pulled off the buttons that Cristiano had tied to his collar. Cristiano looked at his button that had been torn apart and widened his eyes: "Hey!"

"How is it?" Neville looked at Giggs and the others. "The angle is vague, right?"

Giggs immediately understood what Neville meant. He walked in front of Cristiano and changed a few angles, then nodded with satisfaction: "Almost, there are always three or four shots that can be captured."

"This has to be caught on camera," Giggs said to Cristiano. "You left early and didn't hear the BBC reporter already reporting on the public opinion. God knows how you've offended them before. Although I don't like to say this, occasionally you can show a little vulnerability to the media. They love to see this and it might work wonders."

Cristiano realized that Giggs and Neville were referring to the bruises on his chest. He helplessly pulled his collar closer. He had just tied himself up like a priest in a conservative way to avoid having the bruises photographed.

Damn it.

He had no extra clothes to wear, and his changed jerseys were given to the fans in the stadium. He had no choice but to walk out for the post-interview wearing the shirt with the buttons torn off by Neville.

So this time, all the media reporters waiting for post-match interviews accidentally captured a wet, freshly showered, sexy Cristiano Ronaldo with a torn shirt collar.

The flash captured the purple bruises that had already appeared on the fair chest that had not yet been tanned to a beautiful honey color.

Maybe it was because he had just done intense exercise, but Cristiano's face still had a red color that had not completely faded. It was evenly and lightly distributed around his beautiful round eyes. He looked as young and innocent as a college student, and easily aroused sympathy.

This was the first time that he was not troubled by the tricky questions from the reporters, and the rare good treatment made him a little dazed.

"Ronaldo, how do you think you performed in this game?"

"Don't let some asshole reports ruin your mood! You played really well!"

"Poor pretty boy..." - There was also a sigh of pity and sympathy from the crowd, and it was echoed by a round of boos of agreement.

Cristiano blinked and said, "Wow..."