Chapter 153
Manchester United beat Newcastle 6-0, which made everyone who followed Cristiano's game tonight explode.
[Six to zero!] Six to zero! The Red Devils are awesome! The Red Devils with Cristiano Ronaldo are awesome! 】
[In the first half, he was still fighting against the black players, but in the second half, he was the most powerful one in the world. Who would understand? 】
[The greatest confidence comes from CR7! ! 】
[My family, I’m so happy, it’s a hat trick! ! Before the game, I was just praying that I could score one goal today, but I didn’t expect to get a hat-trick.]
[That heel goal was too good!] I remember I went in with my heels once before? ? But this time it’s a little far! The angle is also off! 】
[Push forward at a small angle!] ! What kind of ball sense is this! ! 】
[Sir Ferguson's vision is as sharp as ever! We actually found such a talented No. 7! 】
[Manchester United fans are blessed, as they have won many trophies and championships in a row]
[I am dying of laughter, thinking back to the World Cup, there were still rumors that CR was going to Real Madrid in the summer transfer window, and that Manchester United was going to sell CR. If this were true, they would be at a loss.]
[Real Madrid woke up laughing in their dream]
[CR7 goes to Real Madrid? Please, you would only choose Niannian Shiliulang if you can't figure it out. Hahaha, wouldn't it be better to stay in Manchester United? 】
[You have an old man who loves you at Manchester United, so why go to Real Madrid? Doing charity? 】
[But Real Madrid has Van Nistelrooy. Remember the World Cup match against the Netherlands? ? CR was targeted by the Dutch team in the first half, but during the halftime break, he saw Ruud van Nistelrooy and rushed over eagerly.
[11111 was very impressed. Among the crowd of white clothes, the Portuguese strawberry color was particularly eye-catching...]
[Fanni seems to have also pasted CR? The two of them smiled so hard that they didn’t look like rivals at all. I still saved the picture! 】
【Saved animated picture (doge)】
[When CR first came to Manchester United, he liked to stick to Van Nistelrooy. Isn't this well known? 】
[If Real Madrid uses Van Nistelrooy to lure CR…]
[I recently heard that AC Milan wants to sell Kaka, and Real Madrid is also interested in bringing him in? 】
[Grass Kaka? ? 】
[AC Milan seems to be so poor recently. Some time ago, fans exposed the cracks in the pillars and walls of the home stadium, and it seems that they have no money to maintain the lawn.]
[…Is AC Milan already known to everyone for being so poor?]
[Wow, I believed what the above person said about Real Madrid trying to hook CR. With a Van Nistelrooy and a Kaka, they are in danger. CR is in danger, and Manchester United is in danger! 】
[CR7, your face-obsessed nature will hurt you, you hear? Real Madrid is definitely not a good son-in-law...]
[Don’t panic, we have Alan at Manchester United! The mainstay of appearance! 】
[Rooney, I warn you, stay away from CR! If CR is ugly, it's your turn to cry! ! 】
There is a lively discussion online, but the focus of the topic is still on training, taking care of children, and competing.
The FA Cup and League Cup schedules are interspersed with the league, and Manchester United is competing on four fronts in parallel. It seems that Ferguson wants to win every championship.
There is also considerable controversy online about Manchester United's plan to compete for the title on four fronts. As the season progresses, the players' accumulated injuries during the season will erupt one after another, and it would be terrible if the results do not outweigh the gains.
But obviously, the king of Old Trafford has his own plans and arrangements, and the rotation and substitution of players are arranged exactly in his schedule.
And with Manchester United winning their first championship 1-0 against University of Quito in the League Cup final, Manchester United ushered in a brilliant season of rapid progress.
After the schedule for the Champions League quarter-finals was decided, the final draw results were announced. Manchester United played against Lyon, with the first leg at Lyon's home ground, while AC Milan played against Barcelona, with the first leg at Camp Nou.
"Lyon has won the French Ligue 1 title for six consecutive years. This is a record that is difficult for any team to replicate and should not be underestimated." In the conference room, Queiroz was briefly introducing the next Champions League opponent to all the main players. "Lyon's top scorer is Karim Benzema, a very young 19-year-old who has scored 16 goals for the club this season."
Cristiano saw the photos of the players on the roster stuck on the information wall, and the top scorer Benzema was highlighted with a mark.
He couldn't help but grin. His short, bullet-shaped hair style seemed to have never changed. The biggest change was probably the furry beard.
"The top scorer in Ligue 1? He's quite young and has a handsome look." Rooney took a look and commented.
Giggs tilted his head to look at Rooney, raised his eyebrows slightly and said jokingly: "What's going on? Has Ronnie's problem of looking at faces been passed on to you?"
Rooney pumped his fist in protest.
Cristiano agreed with Rooney's comments: "You are right, Wazza, he looks quite reserved and shy."
"Shy?" Rooney glanced at the photos on the wall again. "How do you tell?"
"Intuition," Cristiano evaded.
Queiroz laughed when he heard this: "Don't just look at his appearance, Ronnie, he is the little bully of Ligue 1."
Cristiano shrugged and said nothing, because he knew Karim.
On the other side, after AC Milan received the results of the draw, they began to explain the Barcelona player roster in detail one by one.
"Barcelona has been extremely strong in La Liga in recent years and has shattered Real Madrid's desire to win multiple titles." Ancelotti looked at his players.
The frontcourt is composed of Lyon Messi, Ronaldinho and Eto'o, while Xavi, Iniesta and Portugal's Deco guard the midfield. Puyol, as the leader of the defenders, firmly guards the last line of defense in front of the goal.
Kaka's eyes fell on the information wall. This team once brought them many challenges and setbacks, and it was not until today that he once again had the opportunity to face off against this Barcelona team.
He felt the excitement roaring in his blood. He was looking forward to the game and wanted to see whether their collision with Barcelona in AC Milan would create different sparks.
///
Olympic Park Stadium.
Manchester United's main players arrived in Lyon, France, one day in advance to carry out pre-match adaptation training. Lyon's main players trained with them on each half of the field.
"See? Karim, that's the Premier League's top scorer, Cristiano Ronaldo." On Lyon's half of the training ground, defender Grosso gently greeted their young forward and nodded towards Manchester United, "That's the pretty boy who headed the ball."
"I recognize him." Benzema looked over and answered his teammate.
Of course he knew this guy who had just won the European Golden Boy Award not long ago.
Benzema narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at the young man with curly black hair on the other half of the court. He's heard enough about Cristiano Ronaldo and is tired of people comparing him to Ronaldo.
Who is better, the Premier League's top scorer or the Ligue 1's top scorer?
Benzema wanted to know if Ronaldo was really the "big man", "clutch man", "game-killer" as those people said...
He thought to himself and unconsciously stared at the Portuguese man on the other side for several minutes.
"Ronnie, why is that Frenchman staring at you for so long? Could it be that you two know each other?" Rooney noticed that Benzema's eyes were always lingering on their number seven, and he couldn't help but approach Cristiano and muttered.
He recalled that Cristiano had previously said that Benzema was introverted and shy, and such an evaluation did not sound like something that could be drawn based on appearance alone.
Cristiano turned his head and looked over as Rooney said, and then met Benzema's gaze.
The young Frenchman was caught off guard and looked directly into their eyes, then quickly turned his head away.
Seeing this, Rooney burst out laughing: "Ronnie! He is really looking at you."
Benzema didn't expect Cristiano to suddenly turn around and look at him, which made him feel guilty as if he was caught peeping, so he quickly turned his head away, but soon he realized that this was a stupid thing to do - it was normal for him to look at his opponent, so why should he feel guilty?
So Benzema quickly turned his head and looked at Cristiano.
But he didn't expect that Cristiano still kept looking at him, and even nodded and smiled at him when he saw him turn his head again.
Benzema: “…”
He wasn't sure if he smiled and nodded back, but he was pretty sure he turned his head back without even a second, and even bumped into a wall of people.
"Karim?! You scared me. How could you move so much? You almost knocked me out!" Grosso complained. He looked at Benzema and took a breath in surprise. "Are your ears allergic? Or were they bitten by mosquitoes? Why are they so red?"
"What?" Benzema rubbed his ears subconsciously. His ears were hot. Damn it, he knew he shouldn't look at people from behind. It was neither polite nor appropriate, and he was discovered by the person involved.
Benzema pinched his nose and followed back to the team's training awkwardly.
Rooney, for his part, fell on top of Cristiano, laughing: "Is that guy some kind of clockwork robot? Look at him twisting his head around! What on earth is he trying to do?"
Cristiano pushed Rooney's sweaty head, then shook his hands and said, "Nonsense, I've already said it, Karim is just a little reserved, maybe he wants to say hello."
"Kareem?" Rooney yelled again.
Alan and Ferdinand both looked over, and Cristiano rolled his eyes: "Karim Benzema, what's the problem? Wazza, practice your passing and don't bother me."
Cristiano thought to himself, maybe he should wait until the training is over and then take the initiative to find his good friend?
After all, Karim is really... not very good at expressing his true thoughts.
Cristiano touched his chin, but before he could make up his mind, Ferdinand called him. He immediately put the idea aside, trotted over and joined the two-person grabbing game.
Benzema trained with the team nonchalantly, glancing towards Manchester United from time to time.
This time, he was more secretive than before, and looked at the Portuguese more carefully.
Mainly, he was wondering if his behavior just now was too rude and unfriendly? Would the Portuguese think him strange? Damn it, he would have to observe.
…
…
…
Benzema observed a Portuguese who could grin with his neat white teeth and laugh happily and excitedly even when playing basic training games.
He wondered in his heart, is this the Ronaldo who is said to have a bad temper, be conceited and unpopular? He clearly saw that his teammates from Manchester United were deliberately letting the Portuguese win the game.
After the evening training, both clubs withdrew their teams.
Benzema walked to the sidelines to pick up a towel and water, and then someone suddenly touched his shoulder.
Benzema almost threw out the towel and the water. He doesn't like physical contact, and his teammates at the club all know this, and no one will suddenly "attack" him.
He frowned and turned his head to look over, and then saw that extremely familiar face.
Cristiano Ronaldo.
Benzema was stunned. Could it be about what happened just now?
"Hey, nice to meet you, I'm Cristiano Ronaldo." Cristiano decided to look for his old friend first. He observed the young version of his old friend closely and couldn't help grinning more clearly, "Bonsoir! (Good evening)"
Benzema replied subconsciously: "Bonsoir——"
"Karim Benzema." He came back to his senses and shook the hand that Cristiano extended to him, but soon he didn't know what else to say.
He wasn't good at making new friends, especially in such an awkward situation.
"I know your name, Karim. See you on the court. I'm looking forward to it." Cristiano knew Benzema, so he simply controlled the entire conversation to avoid making his friend more embarrassed.
He patted the other person's shoulder decisively, left a few words and turned away.
It has to be said that Cristiano's quick appearance and quick departure made Benzema feel relieved.
He held the towel and water bottle in his hand, lowered his head and thought, is there anyone who would call the other person by their Christian name when they first met and just exchanged names? Ronaldo is such a strange person.
Cristiano returned to the hotel in Lyon on the club bus. The hotel room was very beautiful, with a bit of French court style. He took a few photos with his mobile phone and then sent them to Kaka who was far away in Italy.
"Is the training over?" Kaka called after receiving the message.
Cristiano picked up the phone and immediately saw his roommate, Junior's first godfather, Ferdinand, who rolled his eyes and waved his hand to indicate that Cristiano should go to the balcony if he wanted to make a couple's phone call, and not to ruin his ears and eyes here.
Cristiano pushed open the balcony door with a smile, and the evening breeze in Lyon immediately made him sneeze.
"It's over, and I got to meet Karim, he's so young," Cristiano said.
Kaka laughed softly when he heard this: "Cris, you are still very young now, we are all very young, remember?"
Cristiano laughed too.
He lay on the balcony railing, lazily leaning half of his body out, looking at the night in Lyon. The lights in the cafe downstairs of the hotel were still on, a few passers-by were sitting on the sofa chairs chatting, and cheerful French songs were playing in the air. The whole atmosphere made people feel relaxed and comfortable.
He withdrew his gaze and suddenly stopped when it fell on the outer edge of the balcony directly below -
Cristiano was somewhat surprised to see Benzema also there, and the other party was even looking up at him. After meeting Cristiano's gaze, Benzema tried hard to resist the urge to avoid him.
Benzema calmly nodded slightly to Cristiano upstairs: "Hello, Ronaldo."
He paused after he finished speaking. His limited English made him frown as he thought about how to explain: "...My name."
He uttered two words stiffly and then pointed to his ears.
Cristiano realized that he must have talked about Karim with Kaka on the phone and the other party happened to hear it.
He laughed: "Kaka, what a coincidence, Karim lives downstairs from me, guess what happened? I was talking to you on the balcony, and he happened to be enjoying the breeze on the balcony right below us."
"That's a coincidence, but the temperature in Lyon is very low at night now? Cris, you should go inside to avoid catching a cold." Kaka said.
"Okay, Kaka." Cristiano touched his nose. He couldn't tell his lover that he was kicked out because he was on the phone with her?
He chatted with Kaka for a few more words, quickly hung up the phone, then waved to Benzema downstairs and greeted him with a smile: "Karim, I'm going in, you too, it's too cold outside, be careful not to catch a cold, we still have a game to play."
Cristiano knows a little French, Evra taught him a little, and then there is Benzema. They worked together as strikers in Real Madrid for nine years in their previous life. He learned a lot of useful things and even taught him a little Portuguese.
Benzema heard what Cristiano said to him in French, although it was a little awkward, but he still understood it. He widened his eyes slightly, surprised and astonished.
"Karim, are you still on the balcony? Oh my God, I'm almost freezing to death, please, or close the balcony door and stay outside alone?" It was still Grosso, his teammate, who had just come out of the bathroom after taking a shower, wailing loudly.
Benzema came back slowly from the balcony. He glanced at his teammate lying on the bed, picked up a pillow from the sofa and threw it at him: "Put on your clothes and stop being a hooligan."
He is not as good as Ronaldo, who I have only known for less than half a day, and can speak human language. He thought to himself and turned into the bathroom.
"Hey!" Grosso complained in dissatisfaction after being hit hard by the pillow.
the next day.
Olympic Park Stadium.
The game starts at five o'clock in the afternoon, and the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals will be between Lyon and Manchester United.
"This is a head-to-head match between the top scorer in Ligue 1 and the top scorer in the Premier League!" the commentator in the broadcast room said excitedly, "You can see that the 60,000 seats in the Olympic Park Stadium are almost all full!"
堉Ｊ熈＝
As soon as the whistle to start the game sounded, the pace of the fight on both sides became noticeably faster.
In just the first half, Lyon launched no less than ten shots at Manchester United's goal, but none of them scored.
On the other hand, Manchester United's attack and midfield coordination were strictly restricted, and they rarely had the opportunity to enter the opponent's penalty area. They could only rely on corner kicks and unexpected shots outside the penalty area to make threatening shots.
The score between the two sides remained unchanged throughout the first half.
Cristiano's two shots hit the crossbar and flew out, and he covered his face with his hands in frustration.
In the second half, just after ten minutes, Grosso cleared the ball and made a long pass to Benzema's feet.
Benzema ran across the half court with the ball and Cristiano immediately caught up with him.
He quickly blocked the opponent's running position, forcing Benzema to dribble the ball in an even more awkward posture. The next second, the ball was shoveled away by Neville who followed closely.
Benzema stopped in frustration, he looked at Cristiano who was stuck beside him with a heavy breath, he frowned in frustration, said nothing, and quickly trotted away.
This guy must have watched a lot of my games. He thought to himself, how else would he seem to know exactly how he likes to dribble the ball?
In the 57th minute of the game, Benzema received a pass from the midfield again.
This time Cristiano was on the far wing and couldn't repeat the same trick as last time. Benzema quickly looked ahead, then dribbled the ball and broke through Manchester United's three-man double team, broke into the penalty area and shot.
"Benzema scored the first point!!! Manchester United fell behind!!"
"In this game, Lyon's defense was like an iron wall! If Manchester United can't find an effective way to attack, I'm afraid this game will be really dangerous."
The commentator in the broadcast room said that the game was coming to an end, but Manchester United's number of organized shots was only in the single digits. Ferguson made two substitutions, replacing Rooney and Giggs, who had just recovered from injury, with Saha and Scholes.
"The game is approaching the 88th minute!" said the commentator. "The result of the first round is basically a foregone conclusion—"
"Wait, let's take a look at this round first--!" The guest suddenly interrupted the other person and leaned forward to look at the screen.
Cristiano got the ball in the backcourt, ran forward a few steps, and then made a long pass. The arc of the outside of his foot quickly drew a C shape on the court. Saha and Alan in the frontcourt started almost at the same time.
The ball passed the players in the midfield and went straight to the front court!
"The attack was led directly by Cristiano! Manchester United launched an extremely quick counterattack! This may be Manchester United's last attack in regular time! Both sides played very smoothly in this game, and I'm afraid the injury time will not exceed three minutes..." the commentator said quickly.
This is almost the final blow for Manchester United.
Cristiano immediately chased after the long pass. Saha was a little slower to catch up with the ball, and Lyon's two defensive players had already pressed up!
He quickly passed the ball back to Alan who was behind him. Alan adjusted quickly and stared calmly at the defensive player in front of him. From the corner of his eye, he saw a familiar figure passing behind them and heading to the left wing.
Alan's eyes sank slightly. He shook his body slightly, made a fake move to get past the defense in front of him, and then passed the ball to the left without hesitation.
Cristiano rushed out from the left side like a nimble leopard and hit the ball with a head. The ball went straight into the net like a sharp arrow and fell into the lower right corner of the goal!
"The ball goes in!!! In the final seconds!!! Cristiano equalized the game!! Alan Smith made the key assist!!"
The whole stadium suddenly became boiling! It's like the pot has exploded!
Cristiano quickly got up from the ground, opened his arms excitedly and ran towards his teammates. Alan and Saha rushed towards him and hugged Cristiano.
Benzema panted and looked towards the celebration, then he silently looked away.
Well, he had personally witnessed the so-called "Mr. Key", and now he was beginning to hate these terms.
"The game is over! Lyon vs. Manchester United, first leg of the quarter-finals, tied 1-1! Benzema and Ronaldo each scored a goal! Ronaldo equalized the score for Manchester United in the final moments of the game!"
"In the next game, Lyon will play away at Old Trafford, Manchester United's home ground. This will be an even more difficult confrontation!"
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