Chapter 18
Scolari's preference for Cristiano is obvious to all. In the opening game, the young No. 17 player had the right to shoot at the goal.
The Portuguese national anthem sung loudly in the Dragon Stadium was like a coronation song for them in advance. The opening match was against the Greek dark horse that had defeated them in the final in the previous life. Cristiano still remembered them clearly.
In the first opening game, Cristiano scored a header for Portugal, just like in his previous life.
"Figo took the corner kick and Ronaldo scored with a header! He scored! " the commentator screamed excitedly.
Figo, Deco and a group of people rushed up and hugged their young player tightly, surrounding the boy in the middle. Seeing that their young main player's cheeks were red with excitement, they couldn't help but rub him hard twice.
Rui Costa, who was far away and could only stand outside the encirclement, stood on tiptoe and rubbed Chris's hair twice to satisfy his craving.
"Good job! Cristiano!" Figo hugged Cristiano's head and pushed it hard, "Keep playing like this! We will win!"
Cristiano grinned widely, the fire in his eyes bright astonishingly bright.
Yes, they will win, of course!
He felt the refreshing wind on the green field, felt the deafening cheers on the court, felt the ball rolling under his feet, felt his seemingly endless energy, and felt the power that Portugal's golden generation had to tear apart the game.
He was too young in his previous life, and he did not realize in time the joy of having such an outstanding golden generation fighting alongside him.
When he was young, he wanted so badly to jump off the stage and stand under the spotlight to pursue victory. It was not until later that he realized how lucky it was to have teammates who could fight side by side with him.
And now, he finally has the chance to fully enjoy a game of mutual respect, without any burden that could crush anyone, just as Figo said - purely to enjoy the green field.
Kaka, who was far away in Milan, Italy, watched the game with his teammates at the club.
Cafu's eyes lit up and he couldn't help but comment: "Kaka, your kid's jumping ability is really amazing. Heading will be his trump card in the future."
Kaka looked at his lover who was surrounded by his teammates, rubbed hard and grinning, feeling helpless and amused.
If they were teammates, he could justifiably use his body to hug the boy and block those guys' hands before they rushed up to touch Chris. At most, he would let those guys touch his hair and get his hands covered with hairspray.
Hearing Cafu's words, he curled up his lips, with a pride in his tone that he himself did not realize, and nodded slightly in agreement: "In fact, Cris is very comprehensive, not only in headers, but also in free kicks. In addition, his shots with both feet are very threatening."
Cafu raised his eyebrows and said, "I've never heard you praise us like this before."
"Come on, in his eyes, his friend is the best in the world," Shevchenko joked, "but for now, it's not bad."
"Tsk, it's hard to imagine that our proud little prince would ever recognize someone else as the best or number one in the world?" Cafu joked.
Brazilian golden boy Kaka, the little prince of Sao Paulo, the prince of Milan... Ricardo Leite is a well-deserved child of destiny.
Teammates who are familiar with him know that beneath his extremely beautiful and gentle appearance is an arrogance that matches his fame.
Such praise is indeed rare, but from Cristiano Ronaldo? There are simply too many exceptions. Although the media has not yet discovered this secret, his Milan teammates have seen it more than enough.
Kaka shrugged his shoulders without further explanation. What else could he say? Cristiano Ronaldo is indeed recognized as one of the greatest players in history.
In his heart, it is number one.
The game entered the second half.
The Greek team did not play in the opening match with the same desperate defense and attacking power as they did in the final.
As a world-class golden midfielder and winger, Figo has both strong offensiveness and a terrifying overall view and organizational ability.
He called out to his teammates loudly, and after a brief exchange of glances and gestures, everyone understood and organized wave after wave of powerful attacks towards the Greek goal.
The fans' inspiring shouts and drum beats resounded throughout the Dragon Stadium.
Cristiano ran quickly on the court. Having already run for 80 minutes, he seemed to have no sense of the loss of physical strength at all, and his speed was still astonishingly fast!
Even the commentator couldn't help but say: "As expected of a young man under 20 years old, Ronaldo's physical energy pool is incredibly abundant! The Greeks may not be able to defend him!"
"It's the last five minutes of injury time. Let's see if Portugal can maintain the score or expand their advantage!"
Portugal's wing operations were like a smooth and delicate Latin dance. Cristiano's fancy bicycle moves caught the opposing defender off guard.
He kicked the ball with the instep and accurately passed it to the attacking midfielder Deco who had arrived without anyone noticing. After receiving the ball, Deco did not stop but passed it directly to Figo's feet.
"Figo shot from long range! The ball went in!" the commentator exclaimed. The coordination of these three passes was incredibly quick and neat!
"Unparalleled tacit cooperation! Unimaginable! Figo and Deco are indeed a pair of veterans with tacit cooperation! And Cristiano Ronaldo, his performance was really an unexpected surprise! He didn't look like a newcomer at all!" There was no commentator who could not be moved by this beautiful pass and shot, and he talked excitedly.
Cristiano was undoubtedly the most excited. He ran over excitedly and jumped onto Figo's shoulders. His eyes were pink with excitement and he looked like he was about to cry.
Figo held the boy's ankles with both hands and allowed the extremely excited young player to ride on his shoulders. They ran all the way from the goal to the sidelines, colliding heavily with Scolari and his teammates on the bench.
After the most exciting celebration, Deco noticed Cristiano standing on the sidelines who seemed to be in a daze.
He actually saw the 19-year-old young player standing alone in the corner, even wiping his eyes with the back of his hand!
Oh my god, is this crying with excitement?
Deco couldn't help laughing and grabbed Chris' head, then hit Figo and Rui Costa next to him, motioning them to look over.
Deco was amused but confused. He ruffled Cristiano's messy curly hair in confusion: "Haha, our meritorious winger, why does he look more excited than when he scored the goal just now?"
Cristiano's header was his first goal for the national team and it was of great significance, and that's why they all celebrated for Cristiano.
But looking at it now, it is obvious that this ball has more weight in Cristiano's eyes, even though neither the assist nor the goal was scored by him.
The Portuguese teammates were all amused and confused, but at that moment on the field, everyone's brains were highly excited and no one could think about this problem.
They are celebrating and fighting for the common honor of their country, and nothing can bring them together more quickly and closely than this.
To be honest, Cristiano rarely loses control of his emotions like this, but this goal was of great significance - in the opening game of the previous life, his header was the only goal for Portugal, and this time, because of their cooperation, they scored a second goal that did not exist in history!
Destiny is not predetermined!
Cristiano's tear glands went out of control after the excitement. He didn't realize that he was pouting his lips and trying hard to control his expression, which made him look even more pitiful when crying.
"Hmm..." The Milan group who were watching the game on TV fell silent when they saw the broadcast.
Shevchenko smiled and broke the silence: "No wonder Kaka said before that he would cry when he was angry... He is indeed a crybaby."
Cafu and the others laughed when they heard this, but it must be said that Ronaldo's emotions were so strong that they all seemed to feel an indescribable excitement, which was wonderful.
Kaka closed his eyes and suppressed his emotions that were aroused by Cristiano.
Of course he knew why Cristiano lost control of his emotions, and he really wanted to be with Chris right now, to be proud of him and celebrate for him.
But he was also very sober.
They both have a tough battle to fight. Chris will overturn Greece's upset victory in the European Cup final, and he will also take back the Champions League title in the desperate comeback final against Liverpool.
The Delaunay Cup and the Big Ear Cup will witness the birth of two incredible legends.
Cafu noticed the change in his national teammate's mood. He patted Kaka on the shoulder. Kaka smiled and looked at Cafu: "Seeing that he is in such good shape, I can't fall behind."
"Of course. Next is the Champions League, maybe we can meet on the field." Cafu said, showing great interest in Kaka's friends.
Kaka smiled and nodded.
At the Dragon Stadium, the Greek team failed to score a goal in the final moments and was shut out by Portugal with a score of 2:0.
"Congratulations to Portugal! Portugal showed everyone in the opening match what a strong team this is that combines the golden generation with future stars!" the commentator said passionately.
The program cut into the wonderful replay of the last goal, and he immediately cheered up: "Okay, let's watch the replay again!"
The commentator watched and commented, and finally couldn't help clapping and summed up:
"It was so beautiful! Ronaldo and Deco's cooperation didn't look like a new player who had just joined the national team! He didn't even look in Deco's direction! Such a terrifying foresight and understanding! No wonder Scolari has extraordinary confidence in this young player!"
The camera on the field was turned to the victorious Portuguese team. At a glance, one could see Cristiano Ronaldo's red eye area and wet eyes. He had no intention of concealing it, or perhaps because it was too difficult to conceal, he simply gave up.
Scolari, Figo and other big brothers were celebrating with Cristiano.
With one goal and one assist, it is no exaggeration to say that Cristiano was a hero in this game.
And it was this bright young player who was less than 20 years old, who was grinning and looked like he was crying and laughing at the same time. In the end, even coach Scolari couldn't do anything about him. He reached out to wipe the boy's tears, but the more he wiped, the more tears there were. He had no choice but to wave his hand and let Figo and others take him back to the locker room after thanking the audience.
"Haha, this was Ronaldo's first match for the Portuguese national team, and he achieved very beautiful and outstanding results! Looking at this, he is indeed too young. He was so happy that he cried like this. It seems that the big brothers like Figo and Deco were amused and didn't know whether to laugh or cry." The commentator laughed mercilessly, "Oh, it seems that Scolari's suit sleeves need to be sent for dry cleaning."
…
Cristiano had almost calmed down after returning to the locker room. He went straight into the bathroom and turned a deaf ear to the teasing of the older brothers. Finally, it was Figo who called him and he came out of the bathroom reluctantly.
"I was really worried that you would get dehydrated in the bathroom, after all, you cried for so long just now," Rui Costa joked.
Cristiano waved his fist at Rui Costa, but no one paid attention to this unintimidating action, as everyone knew that Cristiano was not good at fighting.
Figo coughed lightly, interrupting his teammates' cheering: "Cristiano, are you ready to meet the media? You are the star today."
Cristiano raised an obvious smile, he knew he performed well today and he was also very satisfied with himself.
He looked at Figo. There was no gloom in the captain's eyes as if the limelight had been stolen. Instead, there was only relief and expectation for the future of Portugal. This was the Figo, the captain of the golden generation that he was familiar with.
"Of course," Cristiano replied, grinning proudly without hesitation.
——Then the older brothers in the team rubbed his head, so much so that he had to quickly use hairspray to re-style his hair.
Kaka must be watching, he has to be in perfect shape.
Figo looked at his little teammate carefully grooming himself in front of the mirror, and the corner of his mouth twitched. Is this kid too obsessed with beauty?
It took Cristiano a few minutes to get himself in shape and he followed the older brothers in the team to the back mining area.
Figo thought they would have to help Cristiano when he faced various media interviews - after all, these media are best at setting traps for them in their questions, especially in competitions like this that involve national honor. What they like to do most is to find language loopholes in the players and then exaggerate the content so that they can attack them.
But in fact, he found that Cristiano did a very good job. It seemed that he was already accustomed to facing these media interviews and traps. He answered very cleverly and people could not find any problems with him.
Figo once again felt that sense of disharmony with Cristiano. He was only a 19-year-old boy, but he had the calmness of a man who had experienced a lot.
"So, Ronaldo, was the reason you cried after the game because you were too happy?" Finally a reporter asked this.
Cristiano's expression froze, and then darkened: "What do you mean by crying after the game? I just shed a few tears to celebrate the victory!"
"Okay, that's all I want to say. For the rest, you can ask the captain and others. Goodbye." Cristiano turned around and left with his backpack on one shoulder.
Damn, crying? What does crying mean? This is too exaggerated!
Cristiano's teammates all opened their mouths in surprise, and then they were again at a loss whether to laugh or cry.
Figo shook his head. The calmness was just an illusion. He was obviously still an emotional little boy who was angry and embarrassed.
He took the microphone and said with a smile: "I think you can understand the little awkwardness of a 19-year-old adolescent boy? So, maybe be gentle when reporting?"
The reporters responded with friendly laughter, but as to whether the content released later would be "gentle", that was another matter.
Cristiano had returned to the bus early. He sat in the last seat as if he was familiar with the place, and started texting Kaka with his mobile phone.
【C: Kaka! We won, 2-0! 】
Cristiano thought for a moment and continued typing: This time the whole world is going to start saying that Cristiano Ronaldo is a crybaby. Although it has changed some trajectories, it doesn’t seem to have changed much…
Before Cristiano finished editing the message, a phone call came in.
"Cris." Kaka's voice came from the phone, "I saw it, Cris, you changed the score, this is a proof, I am proud of you."
Cristiano blinked, and heat welled up in his eyes again. He was suddenly very glad that there was someone in this world who could understand his tears.
"Kaka." Cristiano lowered his voice, biting the two overlapping syllables softly in his mouth, sounding like a spoiled child. He took a deep breath and said solemnly, "The Delaunay Cup will be ours."
"I believe it." Kaka smiled and kissed the phone, as if kissing a young partner's ear. "Cristiano, I want to see you hold the trophy, just like I held the Big Ear Cup. We will get what we want."
Cristiano could hear the obvious movement and his ears instantly felt hot.
"Yes, yes, we will get what we want." Cristiano answered subconsciously.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
