Chapter 144
After the pre-match warm-up, Cristiano and his teammates returned to the locker room.
Cristiano let out a light breath, walked into the player tunnel, turned his head and looked at the stadium behind him. The huge Real Madrid flag almost covered the entire east stand, which was majestic and spectacular.
The crowd was like the sea.
"Are you waiting for someone?" Alan saw Cristiano stopped at the entrance of the passage and asked casually as he walked past Cristiano.
Cristiano withdrew his gaze upon hearing this. His feelings towards Real Madrid were too complicated to express in words, and he couldn't explain it to others.
He shook his head and joked, "Waiting for you to see if you can catch up."
Alan sneered. He didn't believe Cristiano's nonsense. He clearly saw Cristiano staring at the court with concentration and complexity. He almost thought that one of his ex was there.
Neville heard their conversation and interrupted, "Oh, so you're not waiting for Luther? I have to go back and tell him that Ronnie has forgotten about him!"
Van Nistelrooy was about to walk towards the player tunnel on the sidelines when he suddenly sneezed.
"It seems someone is thinking about you." Ramos, who had long hair, walked up to their forward and teased.
Van Nistelrooy subconsciously looked towards the Manchester United Red Devils when he heard this, and saw his former teammates huddled together, laughing and joking in the player tunnel. He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Who knows, those guys."
He narrowed his eyes, but the corners of his mouth raised slightly.
Ramos followed Van Nistelrooy's gaze and hummed. He had some impression of his old Manchester United teammate whom Van Nistelrooy had mentioned several times before.
He originally thought that Van Nistelrooy's departure from Manchester United was not very pleasant, but later found that it seemed not entirely true.
Ramos joked: "Maybe they are discussing how to defend you."
"Just like I told you how to defend against Ronnie." Fanny raised his eyebrows, "But he has grown a lot since I met him. Maybe you have a deep understanding of this?"
Ramos thought back to the first leg when he was almost running out of oxygen while chasing after Cristiano's butt. Damn it, are all the previous No. 7 players of Manchester United physically fit monsters?
He curled his lips, fortunately the number seven failed to score a goal.
"Ronnie, tsk, Luther, you haven't gotten over the habit of calling me that yet?" Ramos pinched his nose and teased in a sarcastic tone.
Fanny rolled his eyes: "Does it bother you?"
"Just goose bumps," Ramos said.
Fanny forced a fake smile: "Then you just have to get used to it."
Ramos: “…”
At the other end of the player tunnel, Neville's words made the old players laugh. Everyone knew that in the first two years after Cristiano came to Manchester United, the people he liked to stick to the most were either Ferdinand, Keane and Van Nistelrooy. When celebrating goals on the court, Cristiano was always with Van Nistelrooy - of course, this was also due to objective factors of positional relationship.
But there is no doubt that everyone knows that Cristiano likes Van Nistelrooy.
Cristiano shook his fist at Neville and muttered: "If the British tabloids say that Luther and I are not getting along again in a few days, then I will think it's all your fault."
"Hey, that's not fair. You know how much the tabloids love to talk about you. This is almost a nine out of ten chance!" Neville laughed. "You should get used to it!"
Cristiano curled his lips and said, "No one can get used to this kind of thing, Gary. Even if another 20 years pass, I won't get used to it."
Neville looked at the other party and scratched his hair: "But Ronnie, this is life..."
He paused after he finished speaking, guessing that this kind of understanding was too distant for a boy who was just in his early twenties and had just started his life.
So he changed the subject and said, "Don't be so sure. Maybe in twenty years you will have become numb and let go of all this."
He laughed and patted Cristiano on the shoulder nonchalantly: "This is what I learned from experience."
Cristiano looked at Neville, who said nothing more, but changed the subject: "I'm going to take a shower."
"Wait for me, wait for me." Rooney greeted and picked up his jersey.
The two walked towards the bathroom, and Rooney casually asked Cristiano: "By the way, Junior, when are you going to make it public?"
Ferdinand has been photographed several times going to the hypermarket to buy baby products - the two grown men always forget to buy some baby products and don't put them on the shopping list given to the buyer William, and when they are often short of something it is always late at night or even in the middle of the night, so they have to go out to buy it themselves. Fortunately, there is a 24-hour store nearby.
Therefore, the British tabloids have speculated for several rounds that Ferdinand secretly has a child. Even the child's biological mother has been discussed in a serious manner, and Ferdinand's ex-girlfriends have all been speculated.
Cristiano also thought that the time had come to make it public. He couldn't let Ferdinand always be subject to speculation, which would be detrimental to his roommate's possible new relationship.
Ferdinand rolled his eyes at this. He has no plans in this regard at the moment. The speculation and discussion in the tabloids does not matter to him. He insists that he should at least wait until Junior is older before exposing him.
——He is Junior’s godfather, so he has the right to have an opinion on this matter!
So the two of them took a step back and temporarily decided that even if they wanted to publicly announce the existence of the child, they would try to avoid the child appearing in front of the media.
Cristiano planned that if he scored a goal in this game, he would announce the existence of Junior. At least he contributed a goal to Manchester United's entry into the quarterfinals, and the fans would always be more friendly.
He touched the tip of his nose. Although he thought so, he didn't have much hope in his heart.
///
The second leg of the quarter-finals started at 8 a.m. local time in Spain. The spotlights of the Bernabeu Stadium reflected on the white sea of flags, making the entire stadium look like daylight.
The players of the two teams met in the aisle. There was a solid wall between the two sides of the aisle, and the two teams entered the field separately.
Cristiano exhaled lightly. He stood at the end of the line on the Bernabeu stadium, listening to the theme song of the Champions League resounding in the sky. After the song ended, Real Madrid's starting main players shook hands with them one by one.
Cristiano looked at the young, familiar yet somewhat unfamiliar faces approaching him. He blinked and smiled at his former teammates.
"That guy smiled at me again. It felt weird." Guti whispered to Raul, "It was the same last time in Manchester."
Raul, who was adjusting his captain's armband, said: "He smiled at everyone. He was just being friendly. It's nothing."
Guti sighed, thinking that their captain was too slow.
He clearly felt that the guy named Ronaldo was hiding something. The way he looked at them seemed very familiar - but not like a really familiar friend. It was as if there was something in between, looking through them and seeing someone.
This feeling became even more obvious when the game officially started.
Cristiano seemed to know what he was going to do and always appeared in that position, which made Guti play extremely awkwardly.
"Ronaldo intercepted the ball and quickly counterattacked! He made a long pass!"
Cristiano kicked the ball slightly with the instep, and after it stopped at his feet, he made a slight adjustment, and it became an extremely smooth and beautiful long pass parabola. Rooney quickly received the ball on the wing.
"Ronaldo's beautiful long pass! Strong spatial reading ability! He fed the ball directly across half the field to Rooney's feet!"
"Rooney has a one-on-one chance! Shoots from a small angle--!"
The ball was caught by Real Madrid goalkeeper Casillas.
Rooney spat regretfully.
The miss of the ball made Real Madrid sweat. Casillas held the ball and directed the defense line to pay attention to something, while gently flicking the ball and passing it to Ramos.
Ramos nodded slightly. After receiving the ball, he quickly looked at his teammates on the field and then kicked the ball out.
After his teammates on the wing received the ball, Ferdinand and Neville from Manchester United quickly pressed forward, forcing the opponent to quickly pass the ball back to Ramos.
Cristiano ran slowly and steadily on the field, like a leopard looking for opportunities and waiting to ambush.
The black and white elf was seen passing the ball back and forth between the three defenders of Real Madrid in this half, and the fans on the field gradually booed in dissatisfaction.
Cristiano stared at the ball. From time to time, he cooperated with Alan and others to compress the opponent's defensive space, while observing the cooperation of Ramos and others.
"Sneijder made a mistake in receiving the ball! The ball was intercepted by Alan!"
"Ronaldo dribbled past Brazilian Cicinho! Real Madrid's defence is threatened once again!"
When Ramos noticed a gap on his teammate's side, he immediately accelerated to catch up. He flew over and made a tackle without hesitation. The large-scale tackle made everyone sweat.
Cristiano noticed from the corner of his eye that Ramos was approaching him quickly.
He immediately adjusted his steps, as if he had anticipated the opponent's move. He gently pushed the ball forward, and then his feet staggered slightly due to Ramos' move.
But quickly, he maintained his balance, jumped over Ramos who was standing in front of him lightly and quickly, quickly took the ball back, and rushed into the opponent's penalty area without hesitation.
At this time, the two defenders of Real Madrid also quickly came to the defense, and they immediately double-teamed Cristiano from the left and right.
"Cisinho quickly turned back to defend Ronaldo - there was a small pulling motion with his hands! Ronaldo was pulled down into the penalty area!"
"Does this action count as occurring in the restricted area?"
The commentator in the broadcast room leaned forward and stared at the broadcast screen, and saw that after Cicinho pulled Cristiano and fell, he quickly spread his hands to signal.
Ramos and Raul quickly surrounded the referee, who signaled that the game was suspended and he needed to reconfirm the action.
Cristiano sat on the grass, turned his head to see Ramos and his teammates arguing around the referee. He bent his knees, adjusted his breathing, and pulled his socks neatly over his knees again.
Casillas put his hands on his hips and observed the situation on the referee's side. He noticed from the corner of his eye that Manchester United's No. 7 was still sitting on the grass. He reached out his hand to the boy and pulled him up from the ground.
Cristiano grinned at Casillas: "Thank you, Igor."
Casillas paused, looked at Cristiano, and wondered, are they familiar with each other?
Soon, the referee returned to the court, he blew the whistle, and pointed to the penalty spot with both hands!
“Penalty!!”
The guests and commentators in the broadcast room all took a breath. This was even worse for Real Madrid, who were already one goal behind in an away game and in a precarious situation!
In the slow-motion footage of the broadcast, Cristiano dribbled into the penalty area and pulled the ball almost simultaneously. It can only be said that Cicinho's sense of position and luck were slightly lacking.
Cristiano stood at the penalty spot holding the ball. He bent down to kiss the ball, then placed it steadily on the white dot.
He stood in front of the ball, exhaled heavily, and looked at the goalkeeper in front of the goal.
Casillas met Cristiano's eyes, and he froze for a moment, only to see the shocking calmness and extremely strong belief in the other's eyes.
The other person looked at him, as if sizing him up, and as if he already knew him well. That look gave him a strange feeling of uncertainty in his heart.
Casillas quickly cleared his mind of distracting thoughts, slightly arched his back, opened his arms, and prepared to strike.
"Ronaldo takes a run-up and shoots! The ball goes in! He completely fooled the goalkeeper!"
"Ronaldo scored the first goal in this Champions League knockout match! Manchester United leads Real Madrid 1-0!!"
Cristiano turned happily and ran to the sidelines, with his teammates running towards him with open arms behind him.
He raised the corners of his mouth and smiled at the audience, then sucked his thumb, as if he was imitating a baby sucking on a bottle. Seeing this, the audience on the sidelines immediately burst into excited cheers.
Ferdinand ran up the fastest, put his arm around Cristiano's neck, and rubbed it happily: "Beautiful! Ronnie!"
Cristiano put down his hands and opened his arms to hug Ferdinand and his teammates who rushed up to him one after another.
Rooney excitedly hugged Cristiano's face with both hands and pressed his forehead against his. Cristiano's goal made up for his poor performance of missing the empty goal just now. At least it prevented him from being scolded too badly after the game!
At the end of the first half, Real Madrid players walked towards the player tunnel in twos and threes.
Raul patted Casillas on the shoulder to comfort their goalkeeper.
"To be honest, when this guy stood in front of my goal and looked at me one-on-one, I even felt that he was familiar with all my defensive and ball-saving moves, but I knew nothing about him." Casillas curled his lips in frustration and said in a low voice.
Guti clapped his hands and shouted, "I told you! That guy is weird!"
Ramos interrupted: "Agree, he even seemed to predict me? It's a very strange feeling, he seems to be very familiar with my movements, even my thinking patterns!"
"You still have a thinking mode? I thought you had nothing but violence and physical combat." A teammate next to him joked.
Ramos waved his arms as if ready to fight.
Guti was even more confident. He glared at his captain and said, "Listen! Raul! What did I say before the game? Everyone thinks so!"
Raul shook his head in silence and amusement: "So what? All we can say is that he has learned a lot about us, Maria. This means that this game will be more difficult."
"…Raul!"
The halftime break ended quickly and the second half began.
Not long after the second half started, Real Madrid made a midfield substitution strategy, replacing Sneijder in the midfield with Beckham on the bench.
"Real Madrid made a positional swap," the commentator said. "Beckham will leave Real Madrid after the end of this season, but facing the current dire disadvantage, Real Madrid coach Capello had to use Beckham, hoping that this superstar can stage a big turnaround."
As soon as Beckham came on the field, cheers immediately rang out from the audience. There were even Real Madrid fans who sang the songs that Beckham was sung by fans when he was still at Manchester United, in an effort to disrupt the mentality of the Manchester United players.
Ferguson turned his head to look at the audience behind him, then turned back to the court. His eyes passed over Beckham in a white jersey, looked at Cristiano behind the man, and waved to the boy.
After Cristiano noticed it, he immediately trotted over to Ferguson and said, "You called me? Boss?"
Ferguson nodded and made an attacking gesture: "Ronnie, just attack and conserve your energy. I want you to launch more shots at Real Madrid's goal in this game."
He didn't need Cristiano to drop back so deep.
——Xi and
He knew very well how strong David's physical strength was. If they followed the opponent in returning to defense, their advantage would be quickly dragged down without them realizing it. Only attacking at their own rhythm would be the best weapon.
Cristiano nodded.
Soon, Ferguson also made personnel adjustments. He replaced Rooney and added a midfielder - because he asked Cristiano not to participate in the defense, so he had to add a player in the midfield.
"Both teams have made personnel adjustments! Let us look forward to whether there will be some changes in the game situation?" said the commentator.
Cristiano and Alan both received Ferguson's signal. The two looked at each other not far away and nodded in tacit understanding.
"Sir Ferguson abandoned Manchester United's front trident tactics, added Carrick to the midfield, and moved Cristiano Ronaldo forward. He should be planning to use the twin connection of Alan and Cristiano!" The commentator explained quickly as the ball returned to Manchester United.
"Manchester United's twin stars! Are they Ronaldo and Rooney, or Ronaldo and Alan? There are still different opinions, but there is no doubt that judging from the statistics, Alan has assisted Ronaldo with more goals!"
As the commentator was speaking, Manchester United once again launched an attack on Real Madrid's goal.
Alan rushed towards the penalty area with the ball. Seeing that the opponent was about to enter the penalty area with the ball, Ramos immediately pressed forward and knocked the opponent down neatly.
The referee immediately blew the whistle, showing a yellow card and a free kick in the frontcourt with a bad angle.
Ramos got up from the ground and accepted the yellow card without any objection.
Nothing will mean anything if Real Madrid is eliminated.
"Ramos' tactical foul interrupted Manchester United's attack! Manchester United won a free kick!"
Alan and Cristiano stood in the penalty area, talking in low voices with their hands covering their mouths, and soon, the ball was handed to Alan.
"The free kick is given to Alan! The distance between this position and the goal is not bad, but the angle is a bit off! Should he shoot directly or use tactical coordination?" The commentator shouted with some surprise, as if he was used to the fact that the right to shoot from free kicks was in Cristiano's hands.
Alan stood in front of the ball, took a deep breath, and stared at the goal behind the human wall.
"Looks like he's going to shoot directly at the goal!" the commentator said.
The referee blew the whistle!
Alan took two jogs forward. Everyone thought that the opponent was going to shoot directly. The wall of people jumped up at the same time. But when Alan got in front of the ball, he suddenly stopped and lightly pushed the ball to Cristiano who was ready to shoot.
Cristiano just raised his foot and shot! A high arc flew in the air as fast as an afterimage, and then suddenly fell straight down!
The ball was so powerful that it took a split second for the human wall to jump up, and it passed over the human wall in a beautiful arc, landed heavily in front of Casillas, and then bounced straight into the net!
Casillas didn't even have time to react!
“GOOOOOOOOAAAALLL!” The guests and commentators in the broadcast room screamed at almost the same time, “Beautiful free kick tactical coordination! God’s kick!! Cristiano shot from outside the penalty area and scored!!!”
"Ronaldo scored twice! Manchester United leads Real Madrid 2-0 away!!!"
This goal almost directly secured the victory in the knockout round, and the Manchester United fans in the stadium sang excitedly!
"RONALDO! RONALDO! RONALDO!"
Ferguson nodded with satisfaction and joy, then turned around and sat back in his seat.
By the 80th minute of the game, Real Madrid's attack had shown signs of fatigue, but similarly, Manchester United's defense, which had played the full 80 minutes, also had loopholes.
Beckham dribbled the ball and broke through the defense on the wing. Neville's physical strength was not enough to catch up with Beckham's speed. He could only watch the back of the opponent's jersey quickly rush towards his own front court.
Van Nistelrooy and Raul moved forward in tacit understanding. Raul quickly drew the attention of the two defenders in the penalty area. Then Beckham made a high cross and Van Nistelrooy shot in front of the goal in time, pushing the ball into the opponent's gap right in front of Van der Sar!
"Beckham assists! Van Nistelrooy shoots! Real Madrid finally equalizes in the 83rd minute!"
Although Real Madrid scored a goal in the final minutes of the game, they were still far behind Manchester United in the total score and ultimately had to stop in the round of 16.
The commentator watched the referee blow the whistle, the game ended, and said with regret: "Real Madrid once again looked at the quarterfinals without success. It's a pity that this is the consecutive years that Real Madrid has been eliminated in the round of 16. Is the problem of Real Madrid the players or the coach? No matter what the correct answer is, it points to the same outcome - it must undergo drastic reforms and changes."
"Hopefully, the summer window before the new season will inject some fresh blood into this galactico."
All the players lay exhausted on the grass, and soon Cristiano was pounced on by his excited teammates one after another and was pressed to the bottom.
"Hey! I can't breathe! Don't you know how heavy you are?!" Cristiano's protest was suppressed and no one responded.
Fortunately, Queiroz was reliable and pulled Cristiano out of the crowd.
Beckham was still standing on the court. He felt he could still run, even very fast, but his club didn't need him to play and kept him on the bench.
He silently watched the laughter from Manchester United. His eyes met with those of his former mentor and coach, but he quickly and awkwardly avoided them.
He didn't say a word, but just walked quickly to the sidelines, trying to get around the celebrating Manchester United Red Devils as quickly as possible and walk into the player tunnel.
Cristiano noticed Beckham, his eyes followed him into the player tunnel, and his back disappeared around the corner.
He opened his mouth slightly, but in the end said nothing - he and the other party did not have much in common, and although he could empathize with the other party's feelings at this moment, he thought that No. 7 would not need pity or sympathy.
"Come back to your senses!" Giggs waved his hand in front of Cristiano's eyes, watching him staring at Real Madrid's David in a trance, "You idiot..."
Do you have to always stare at the most handsome guy on the field? More accurate than radar?
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