Chapter 154
After the game, both teams thanked the audience and returned to the player tunnel.
"Don't be discouraged, Karim, we played well, at least we tied. Their last cooperation was really beautiful." Grosso walked beside the silent young forward teammate, and he whispered to comfort him, "That kind of long pass and quick counterattack, cooperation in the penalty area, we..."
Benzema did not listen carefully to what his teammates were saying. He just heard them talking about the last goal, and he subconsciously looked up at Manchester United. He saw Cristiano and his teammates - a guy with a platinum head, a tall guy with strange dreadlocks, and a slightly shorter and a little fat guy - walking together, talking and laughing as they approached them.
Benzema quickly looked away. He didn't want to be caught by the Portuguese man staring at him again.
But he was still observing out of the corner of his eye.
He had a deep impression of the tall man with dreadlocks, who was the one who double-teamed him on the court, like a savage giant monster.
Cristiano saw Benzema walking not far in front of them. He greeted Alan, Ferdinand and others, then trotted towards Benzema.
He called out to Benzema, who was about to enter the player tunnel: "Karim!"
Benzema stopped. He had noticed Cristiano running towards him. He felt confused and nervous. What did the Portuguese man want to say to him? They're really not that familiar.
"Today's game was really exciting. Just now, Leo told me that you are a difficult guy to defend." Cristiano quickly caught up with Benzema, and his arm naturally wrapped around the Frenchman's neck. He tilted his head to cover his mouth, and laughed softly, imitating the original words Ferdinand had told him just now to Benzema. He paused and added, "Oh, Leo is the tall guy, the one wearing the number five jersey."
Benzema was slightly stiff as Cristiano led him forward. He could even feel the wet sweat from the other's arm against his neck, and he got goose bumps.
But he did not knock the opponent's arm off directly, and Cristiano did not hold him very tightly - unlike his previous teammates, who always liked to use force when hugging him, making him feel like he was being pressed down, which made him disgusted - and Cristiano's strength was easy and gentle, and Benzema found that he had no objection.
But I still can't adapt.
"Did you hear what I said?" Cristiano said, but there was no response from Benzema. Puzzled, he moved closer and raised his voice slightly. The noise on the field was indeed very noisy.
Benzema responded in a low voice: "I heard it, Ronaldo."
Cristiano blinked, loosened his arm and looked at Benzema. He suddenly realized that he seemed to have assumed their friendship too early, while his former French colleague still only knew him as "Ronaldo".
He paused and smiled awkwardly: "Oh... would you rather I call you Benzema?"
"What?" Benzema didn't understand why the Portuguese suddenly jumped to this topic again. He thought of several possibilities in his mind, but he replied, "But you call me Karim, it's nothing."
"Oh." Cristiano responded, but he didn't come closer like before.
Cristiano is a careful observer. He was just a little too excited to play with his former friend again and ignored it, but now he noticed that Benzema was actually a stranger to him and he was the only one who was happy.
Benzema had been watching Cristiano out of the corner of his eye. When he saw the Portuguese suddenly restrained and quietly distanced himself, he paused and began to recall what he had said.
He certainly didn't want to lose a European golden boy friend, and it wouldn't do him any harm.
He thought for a moment, and Benzema asked tentatively: "So, Cristiano? Is that what you came here to talk about?"
Cristiano was confused by the French, one moment "Ronaldo" and the next "Cristiano". What on earth was his friend thinking?
"Karim, if you are not used to calling me that, you can continue to call me Ronaldo," Cristiano said.
Benzema is now sure what the problem is.
He said, “You’ll get used to it after hearing it.”
Cristiano shrugged.
The two men walked into the player tunnel in silence, and Benzema was a little worried that he had messed things up.
He had been watching Cristiano out of the corner of his eye, and then he saw the boy suddenly lift up his jersey, cross his hands and try to take off his white long-sleeved jersey.
Are you planning to swap jerseys with him?
Benzema quickly took off his short-sleeved jersey, held it in his hand, turned around and waited for Cristiano to take off his long-sleeved jersey, straighten it, and then hand it to him.
As soon as Cristiano finished taking off his clothes, he saw Karim had already taken off his jersey and was waiting for him.
He grinned and handed over the jersey.
"Your teammates are calling you, Karim, go over quickly." Cristiano heard the movement at the corner of the player's tunnel. He nodded to Benzema, then waved the jersey in his hand and smiled, "See you next time."
"See you next time." Benzema said with a smile on his face. The two of them separated at the fork in the road. He saw Cristiano stride into the corner, then turned around and went back to his own locker room.
In the locker room, Grosso pinched his nose and looked at him, making a face at him: "You actually let that Portuguese guy put his hand on your neck. Is he one more horn than us, or is he the golden boy of Europe?"
Benzema paused and said, Oh, Grosso saw it, so what?
He raised his eyes to look at the other person: "Because he is beautiful and smells good."
He gave Grosso a wicked grin, and was satisfied to see the other's choked, stunned and frightened look.
Of course it’s not because Cristiano is beautiful and fragrant.
But he remembered that he had caught a glimpse of such a review on some pop-up website when he was surfing the Internet before, and his memory was damn good.
He even remembered that there were many unbelieving comments below, as no one thought that a sweaty player could smell good. But Benzema thought to himself that he could testify that Cristiano did smell good, probably because he used some perfume.
If Cristiano needs it, he can even introduce him to some French brands.
///
A few days after the match between Manchester United and Lyon ended, AC Milan's main players also flew to Spain.
On the pitch at Camp Nou, another prelude to the Champions League quarter-finals slowly began.
The Barcelona Dream Team II, wearing the red and blue home jerseys, met the AC Milan main players led by Maldini in the player tunnel.
The commentator in the broadcast room was excitedly saying, "This is a match between two strong teams! AC Milan, who just won the European Super Cup this year, will meet the La Liga champion Barcelona early in the Champions League for a place in the semi-finals! This is bound to be a fierce battle!"
Kaka walked out of the player tunnel holding the hand of the little ball boy, his eyes met the arrogant Barcelona team. This team nurtured by victory seemed to have never tasted the bitterness of frustration. There was a hint of incomparable pride on everyone's face.
——They do have the capital.
"Players from both teams enter the field, and the referee blows the whistle to start the game!"
The ball kicked off from midfield and Kaka took the lead in leading an attack from midfield.
Also as a midfielder, Cristiano has the highest firing rights in Manchester United. His shooting skills and keen sense of smell in front of the goal are unmatched. He can always launch a highly efficient on-the-spot counterattack in the midfield. Even as long as the game enters the first half, it is within Cristiano's shooting range. He can fire directly at the opponent's goal anytime and anywhere as long as there is a good opportunity.
Kaka, on the other hand, is more like a silent organizer, a shadow that delivers artillery shells to the striker. If the striker is a sharp blade unsheathed, then he is the shadow of the blade refracted by the light, always following and delivering threatening artillery fire at the right time.
"Kaka dribbled the ball with big strides! If he can run, he will never dribble past anyone, and if he can break through, he will never go around. Deco tried to intercept Kaka, but he couldn't, and was instead knocked down by Kaka!" The commentator laughed.
Kaka, wearing a white away jersey with red letters, ran all the way.
The Brazilian, who is over 1.85 meters tall, has long since gotten rid of the youthful and slender figure he had two years ago. Ancelotti's "Strong Kaka" plan has apparently worked very well. When his broad back and tall stature appear in the same picture with the Portuguese Deco, Deco looks even thinner.
——Especially when the opponent was trying to intercept Kaka, he was pulled back and staggered.
The narrator had to suppress a laugh.
Deco almost fell to the ground. He took a breath and cursed in his heart. This guy Kaka is totally not on the same level as Cristiano! This is simply... bullying.
No wonder Cristiano fell to the ground after being knocked down by Kaka. Now Deco understands his national team teammate very well.
Shevchenko exchanged the ball with Kaka tacitly, and quickly bypassed the double-team of Puyol and Van Bronckhorst with the ball.
Kaka made a quick high pass outside the penalty area, Shevchenko rushed into the penalty area like a bullet, and the ball landed in front of the goal. Shevchenko pushed the ball and the ball spun rapidly. This shot failed to stop the spinning ball, and the ball flew out of range and directly hit the audience seats.
Shevchenko trotted two steps and stopped. He turned around and covered his face with his hands, feeling extremely depressed and annoyed.
Kaka clapped his hands to show that the cooperation was very good. He shouted loudly to Shevchenko, and the two of them trotted back to the midfield.
The game was evenly split between the two teams in ball possession. At the end of the first half, neither side had posed many effective threats and the ball was confined to the midfield. The defense on both sides was extremely restrained and tight, so that neither side could see a temporary breakthrough.
"Half-time is over! Welcome back to the second half of the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals between Barcelona and AC Milan! The fans at Camp Nou are cheering loudly for their home team!" The commentator returned to the broadcast room, "Both sides exchanged goals——"
The commentator was just halfway through his speech when he suddenly paused and quickly changed the subject: "Barcelona took the lead in launching a fast break! Leo Messi got the ball on the right! Although this young Barcelona right winger is not tall and stands out among the players, his small stature contains huge energy! His passing is quite similar to that of Maradona back then-"
"Ugh! The ball at Messi's feet was intercepted by Maldini!!"
Suddenly, a white figure broke into the picture. Maldini intercepted the ball neatly, then hooked it back without stopping and passed it to Kaka very smoothly. Kaka then dribbled the ball quickly! Counterattack!
"Maldini has just returned from a calf strain this season and it looks like he's in amazing shape!" the commentator exclaimed. "Kaka is running really fast with the ball! Messi is trying his best to catch up with Kaka, trying to make up for the chance he gave to his opponent!"
"Kaka ran too fast! The distance between Messi and Kaka was not even effectively shortened!"
"Physical burst is still Messi's shortcoming. Although his performance in the first half is always like a walk, this often brings him outstanding and dazzling performances in the last 20 minutes of the second half and helps the team compete for a favorable competitive position! But now this kind of catching up is really a thankless task. He should stop and leave it to the defender!"
Kaka brought the ball to the frontcourt, took a quick look, and then passed the ball to Crespo.
The two defenders approached the forward at the same time. In just a few seconds, Shevchenko, Seedorf and others also pressed forward, and there was chaos all of a sudden!
The ball returned to Kaka's feet. Kaka no longer hesitated and shot the ball into the dead corner of the goal in front of the goal!
However, before the commentator could make a surprise announcement, he saw the linesman raising his flag almost simultaneously - offside!
Kaka picked up the ball, the excitement on his face frozen. He and his teammates looked at the referee first, trying to explain to the other side that this was not an offside ball, damn it, but words were pale and ineffective, the linesman's flag-raising decision ended everything.
"Kaka's goal was offside! The score is still zero to zero!" The commentator took a breath, "Let's take a look at the replay. It is indeed difficult to judge whether it is offside or not. Kaka's position is between the two..."
The referee blew the whistle, Kaka frowned and threw the ball heavily to the ground. He took a deep breath, looked at his teammates, and made a gesture to indicate that everything was normal.
Perhaps stimulated by that narrowly missed offside goal, Barcelona's attack became more ferocious in the second half of the game.
Eto'o, Ronaldinho and Leo Messi took turns attacking AC Milan's goal.
Ancenotti quickly changed tactics and made personnel adjustments - he replaced Shevchenko, added a defender, and defended the score.
In the 95th minute of the game, the referee blew the whistle and the entire Camp Nou stadium was filled with boos. This strong match that was highly anticipated by the fans ended in a 0-0 draw.
Maldini walked towards Kaka who was lying on the ground exhausted. He bent down and pulled the young man up.
"It's over, Kaka. Well played," he encouraged.
"That ball..." Kaka pursed his lips and looked at Barcelona's goal unwillingly.
Maldini patted the opponent on the shoulder: "The next round is our territory, we will kick it back."
"I'm afraid this 0-0 draw is more difficult for them to accept than for us." Nesta said as he walked over and drank from a bottle of water.
But we were tied with the opponent at home in Camp Nou and got nothing? This is too hard to accept for the Barcelona team.
After the game, a swarm of reporters rushed to the players.
"What level did you play in this game?"
"Have you just given up on the Champions League?"
"Eto'o wasted two assists Messi created for him!"
“…”
Kaka walked past the media. He heard the clamor of those blood-sucking media. He paused and couldn't help but twitch the corners of his mouth.
"Maldini's counterattack after stealing the ball from Messi was the most effective and threatening attack we launched in the entire game. Speed is everything." Kaka said in the post-match interview. If no one would mention this, then he would mention it.
He looked at the reporter with a serious look, and then continued: "Although that goal was called offside, I will go back and take a closer look, and try to learn the lesson of offside from it."
There was a small commotion among the Italian reporters below, and everyone understood the implication of the words.
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