Chapter 50
The battle horn for Manchester United vs. Arsenal has sounded.
The Manchester United Red Devils played away and wore blue jerseys.
Cristiano walked out of the player tunnel holding the hand of the little ball boy. The little boy looked excited and nervous. He couldn't help but look up at Cristiano who was holding his hand, but when he stood in the team, his whole body was stiff as a stone.
Cristiano noticed the appearance of the little boy. He stood behind the boy with amusement, pinched the little guy's shoulders jokingly, and then gently tapped the boy's shoulder from the left to the right as if massaging, making funny sounds from low to high notes from his mouth.
Rooney was standing next to Cristiano when he heard Chris: "Dililili..."
Rooney: "...What are you doing?" Why are you destroying my ears.
"Help him relax." Cristiano said, looking down at the caddy with a smile. The little guy's face was as red as a red apple, but obviously not as stiff as before. He was looking up, looking at Cristiano with a pair of bright eyes.
"I like you so much, Mr. Ronaldo, I wish you score a goal today." The little caddy's voice was soft and thin, and after saying this, his face turned even more incredibly red.
Cristiano smiled even more happily when he saw this. He quickly bent down and put his cheek against the little guy's: "Okay, then I have an appointment with you."
As he said this, he stretched out his little finger and hooked it with the caddy.
The surround sound broadcast in the stadium sounded, and the large swing arm of the camera slowly swung over from the main force of Arsenal. Cristiano met the gaze of Ferguson in the coaching booth who reminded him to stand straight. He immediately stood up straight and behaved very obediently.
Rooney covered his mouth with his hand and whispered to Cristiano: "You looked so maternal just now."
Cristiano rolled his eyes: "I can only say that you received a simple education, otherwise you would not use such an inappropriate word to describe a man - at best it is fatherly love."
Rooney: “…”
Soon, the two teams shook hands and went through a friendly courtesy, and with the whistle, the game officially began.
I don’t know if it was Cristiano’s illusion, but the cheers in this game seemed particularly loud and positive.
Every time he got the ball, the audience would cheer - of course, it was like this at other times, but this time the whistles were particularly obvious and concentrated, with a strange atmosphere that he couldn't describe - Cristiano stopped to catch his breath after the referee blew the whistle, and he couldn't help but look around.
Then the whistler became even louder.
Cristiano raised his eyebrows and looked at his teammates in confusion.
Fanny trotted over and grabbed a handful of Cristiano's hair: "What are you standing there for? The boss is calling you."
Cristiano only noticed Sir Alex Ferguson waving at him when he heard this, and he quickly ran over: "BOSS?"
"Ignore the fans, you're distracting, understand?" Ferguson grabbed his boy's arm and whispered into Cristiano's ear, "I want you to be like a spear and break up their team!"
Cristiano nodded quickly, "I understand, Boss."
Not long after he finished speaking, the referee signaled for the game to continue and Cristiano rushed out again.
In the first half, Arsenal created two corner kicks but failed to pose an effective threat or attack. The ball was kicked out by the goalkeeper with a long foot and went across most of the field and directly to the front court.
Cristiano stopped the ball accurately in front of his chest and then quickly broke through the left wing with the ball. Arsenal's defender was disrupted by Cristiano's sudden speed, but quickly adjusted and followed closely.
Cristiano made a clean and clever cross pass that went straight through the four returning players in the middle row and landed the ball at Rooney's feet with incredible precision!
Rooney shot the ball, and it went over the goal post and into the stands!
There was a round of boos from the field and Rooney spat.
"Rooney didn't stop the ball well. It would have been better if he adjusted it before kicking it." The commentator said with great regret, "Ronaldo's pass was of very high quality. He didn't choose to shoot himself. He was too closely marked in this game."
"Indeed, but despite this, Ronaldo still made a very beautiful pass under siege. It's a pity that he vomited..." His partner smiled. He looked at the broadcast screen and was about to praise Rooney's running awareness in this game, when he saw the situation on the field suddenly take a turn -
"Oh! Neville brought down Arsenal striker Van Persie! The referee gave a yellow card and a free kick!"
"This position is very close to the penalty area, it's a good location!" The commentator took a deep breath, "If Van Persie takes this free kick himself, he can shoot directly."
Cristiano watched the ball as it was shot high, brushed past the goalkeeper's palm, but still turned and hit the net diagonally.
"Shoot! Arsenal scores from a free kick! The score is 1:0!"
The fans in the stadium cheered and booed, and the score remained unchanged until the end of the first half.
When we returned to the locker room at halftime, everyone was bombarded by Sir Alex Ferguson's powerful and deafening attack.
The two commentators made some predictions about the game during the halftime break: "Arsenal has remained unbeaten in recent games, and this main lineup is perfect. It will be difficult for Manchester United to break their unbeaten record."
"No one can tell, dear. It all depends on their fighting spirit."
"But I heard that Arsenal's coach Wenger almost signed Ronaldo from Manchester United. I wonder how he feels now when he sees the other team competing with his team on the field?"
"That all depends on the final result of today's game," the commentator joked, earning a knowing smile from his partner.
The fifteen-minute break and adjustment ended quickly and both teams returned to the court.
Due to the disadvantage of being one goal behind, Manchester United was particularly aggressive in fighting for the ball at the start of the second half. Perhaps it was also because Ferguson's blower-style speech showed its power.
Giggs took the ball to the front court and passed it to Cristiano with a left pass. Cristiano started with the ball and used three or two fancy bicycle kicks to get past the defender.
He did not rush to shoot. Just when the Arsenal defenders thought Cristiano would shoot, he unexpectedly made a low pass and passed the ball to Van Nistelrooy who had advanced into the penalty area.
When Cristiano passed the ball, he lost balance and fell to the ground. He didn't have time to get up. He lay on the ground nervously, staring at the ball and Van Nistelrooy.
Arsenal's defense subconsciously jumped up to defend the moment Cristiano touched the ball, but was caught off guard. Van Nistelrooy, known as the "King of the Small Penalty Area", would never miss this opportunity.
"Van Nistelrooy shoots! The ball goes in! Five minutes into the second half! Manchester United equalized the score!" The commentator exclaimed, "An assist from Ronaldo! It can be said that he attracted most of the defensive firepower for Van Nistelrooy!"
Van Nistelrooy ran towards Cristiano joyfully and pulled the boy who assisted him up from the ground. Cristiano took the opportunity to jump onto his teammate's waist, hugged Van Nistelrooy, cheered and grinned, then raised his other loose arm and waved it vigorously to his teammates who were running towards him.
"This is Van Nistelrooy's 150th league goal in his career! It is also Van Nistelrooy's third goal in this season's league!" said the commentator.
The score was tied, and Wenger in the coaching booth was shouting instructions to his players. He clapped his hands to cheer everyone up.
However, no one expected that the ball hitting the net was like turning on a switch.
Keane made a long pass, and the ball flew across half the field to Giggs. Giggs dribbled the ball to the opposite frontcourt and passed it to Rooney on the wing in time.
Van Nistelrooy, Giggs and others were already in place in front of the penalty area, and Rooney kicked the ball to the front of the goal!
"Header! Oh my God! Who is it!?" The commentator took a breath and saw a blue figure suddenly appear in the camera screen, and then the ball unexpectedly hit the Arsenal goal!
"It's Ronaldo!" his partner exclaimed. "Oh my god, he's so fast! He wasn't even in the picture before! He just flew into the picture like Superman!"
"Let's take a look at the replay!" The commentator stared at the replay without blinking.
This time the camera showed a long shot of most of the game, including Keane's long pass, Giggs's transfer, and Rooney's assist from the wing...
Cristiano was at least forty or fifty yards away! With incredible starting speed, he rushed over like a cannonball, and the Arsenal defenders were completely unable to defend against him! Or rather, there was no time to react at all!
There is no doubt about the power of this header, the score became two to one!
But at the same time, Cristiano was knocked heavily to the ground by the recoil of this fierce charge.
In fact, even though no defender was able to stop him effectively, he still bumped into one of them. He didn't see who it was, all he had eyes for was the ball.
Cristiano lay on the ground for a long time without recovering from the shock. There was some chaotic buzzing sound in his ears, and his vision went black one after another. He was so dizzy that he didn't even want to move a finger.
This is normal.
He had gone for headers dozens of times in his career, if not dozens, and he closed his eyes and waited for the momentum to fade.
He knew that a team doctor would come up to check on him soon, and that he wouldn't be of much use. At most, he would confirm that he didn't have a mild concussion, and then he would do what he had to do.
Van Nistelrooy and Giggs were closest to Cristiano and were the first to notice that Cristiano did not jump up to celebrate like an agile little leopard after falling to the ground. The two of them quickly pushed away the players around them.
"Ronnie? Are you okay?" Giggs leaned over and asked. He noticed that Cristiano's eyes were still out of focus, and he frowned. He immediately signaled to Ferguson on the sidelines to ask the team doctor to come up.
Ruud patted Cristiano's face gently: "Hey, can you hear us? If you can, blink your eyes."
Cristiano took a few seconds to come back to his senses. He blinked slowly and snorted, "I can hear you."
Van Nistelrooy breathed a sigh of relief, and soon Ferdinand, Keane and others came over. The team doctor had to yell outside the crowd before squeezing in with the medical box.
The diagnosis was just as Cristiano had expected, there was nothing serious, but he had to take it easy.
The teammates around him breathed a sigh of relief when they heard this, and then they looked at Cristiano lying on the court with his eyes closed, gasping for breath, as if he was being lazy, and they couldn't help but laugh. They took the opportunity to be lazy and lie on Cristiano's body, one patting Chris' chest, and the other touching Chris' face.
The cheers of the fans in the stadium became louder, the team doctor was surrounded by teammates and couldn't get out, and even the commentator outside the stadium didn't know what was going on.
Until Cristiano recovered himself, he opened his eyes and saw his teammates lying around him. He supported himself with his arms and sat up, exhaling: "What are you doing?"
"I'm concerned about you." Ferdinand pulled Cristiano's curly hair twice in annoyance. He stood up on his knees and looked at Cristiano. "Are you recovered?"
Cristiano nodded in response, and Ferdinand then reached out to the boy and pulled Chris up.
He started jogging again, looked at Ferguson who was worried in the coaching booth, and gave him a thumbs up to indicate that he was fine.
The team doctor quickly returned to the sidelines and reported the situation to Ferguson. Ferguson nodded slightly and finally did not substituted Cristiano.
The game came to the final ten minutes.
Arsenal's defense and offense were both aggressive and open.
When Ferdinand was about to send another cannonball to Cristiano with the ball, Arsenal's defense saw his intention and also saw the extent of the threat posed by Cristiano to their goal - in the past thirty-five minutes, Cristiano had launched no less than five attacks on their goal!
Ferdinand was fouled and the opponent also received a yellow card and a free kick!
"Wow, this free kick is much farther than the one Arsenal got in the first half." The commentator took a look at the points drawn by the referee.
"Manchester United gave the free kick to Ronaldo." His partner narrowed his eyes when he saw Cristiano standing in front of the penalty spot. "I think everyone still remembers the last minute of the regular time of this year's European Cup final. Ronaldo relied on a strange falling free kick to successfully drag Portugal, which was supposed to end with regret, into overtime! And finally won the Delaunay Cup at home!"
Another commentator said: "That's right, but the penalty spot in the European Cup is much further forward."
He glanced at the screen as he spoke. Cristiano took a deep breath and was moving back step by step. The commentator continued, "This time the point is 35 yards away from the goal. Even for him, it is too far. It is impossible for him to just... Ugh!"
The commentator's voice suddenly stopped as if someone had strangled his throat. He was shocked to see Cristiano in the screen shooting straight at the goal, and the ball hit the far corner of the goal!
The next second, the two commentators in the broadcast room screamed almost at the same time—
"Oh!!!! What the Fuck...FANTASTIC GOAL!!" One of them almost lost his job because of a swear word. Fortunately, he reacted quickly and exclaimed, "A world wave! This is absolutely a phenomenal goal!!!"
"The ball went through an incredibly long distance and went straight into the goal! This goal completely stunned Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann! Unbelievable!"
"Ronaldo stunned the crowd with a tomahawk free kick!"
Ferguson also exclaimed and clenched his fists and danced excitedly, his face and neck flushed with excitement!
On the other side, Wenger was completely silent. He kept his lips tightly closed and his eyes followed the figure of boy number seven running wildly on the field.
"The game is over and the referee blew the whistle! In the end, Manchester United beat Arsenal 3-1. Congratulations to Manchester United!"
All the Manchester United fans are celebrating!
At this moment, a fanatical male fan jumped down from the railing of the stands at lightning speed. The security guards had no time to react before they saw him rushing straight into the stadium. The fans on the field all noticed this and immediately booed.
Three or four security guards immediately chased after him, but the man was like a slippery fish and managed to avoid the security guards' capture several times with clever moves!
Cristiano was thanking his teammates at the other end of the field. The cheers and applause from the field were mixed together, so no one noticed that something was wrong behind them.
The fanatical player ran straight towards Cristiano! He hugged Cristiano's back tightly from behind and stuck to him like a koala!
Cristiano was caught off guard when being hugged. He was stunned for two seconds, then subconsciously raised his hands to avoid further touches. The expression on his face quickly changed from surprise and astonishment to habit and expectation.
—Wait for security to rescue him.
He had encountered such situations many times in his previous life. He was even hugged by two different fans who broke into the stadium at different times during a game... He sued the security company in his heart.
At the same time, his teammates who were a few meters away from him noticed the movement.
Rooney saw the fan sniffing Cristiano's jersey with an intoxicated look on his face. He couldn't help but shiver violently. God knows how much sweat they have produced. He can guarantee that the sweaty jersey will not smell good at all.
- But in fact, Cristiano will change into a clean jersey in the midfield and spray it with long-lasting sports perfume. His jersey always has a faint fragrance, which has become a hot topic in a certain forum.
Rooney stepped forward and scolded the fan: "Hey! You! Stay away from him!"
Security arrived shortly afterwards and hurriedly pulled the fan away.
After a small post-match episode, Cristiano finally returned to the locker room smoothly and safely with his teammates.
Sir Alex Ferguson was happy with Cristiano's great performance today, but also angry about what happened off the field:
"Too dangerous! Too dangerous! Are the security guards of this stadium all vegetarians?! They can't even stop a fan!? And you, the famous and excellent defenders, have you forgotten your responsibility to protect the forward line without the whistle?!"
Cristiano couldn't help but grin.
"You're still laughing!" Ferguson glared at Cristiano. Seeing Cristiano's wide-eyed innocent look, he took a deep breath and patted the boy on the head helplessly. "Go take a shower. I won't say anything more about you because you performed well today."
Cristiano grinned, immediately turned around, grabbed something from the closet and ran away.
…
The players were still tidying themselves up, and in the interview area, Ferguson was already happily accepting the interview with a flushed face.
The reporter pushed the microphone in front of Ferguson, who seemed to be in a good mood, and asked: "What do you think of Ronaldo's free kick today? Can it be included in the top ten free kicks of Manchester United in the Premier League?"
"I can assure you that there is no doubt about it! This free kick is the most exciting one. It is only two or three feet away from the goal post and hits the dead corner of the goal. It is unstoppable!" Ferguson said loudly, and he added, "There is no goalkeeper in the world who can save it!"
Ferguson's evaluation was undoubtedly better and more advanced than the reporters had imagined, and there was an immediate uproar off the field.
Just as Ferguson continued to brag about his favorite players with satisfaction, Arsenal coach Wenger happened to walk past him from behind. The two coaches, who were both enemies and friends, met and hugged each other in a friendly manner.
The media would not miss this opportunity and immediately asked Wenger: "What do you think of Ronaldo's performance tonight?"
Wenger paused, and spread his hands helplessly and amusedly: "You know, it was just a little bit short. This kid should be at Arsenal, not Manchester United."
Ferguson raised his eyebrows when he heard that, raised the microphone in his hand and laughed as if he was about to swing it over: "Come on, you're not just a little bit short, I'm determined to get Ronnie, even if it costs another 50 million I will buy him!"
Wenger became even more depressed. He curled his lips and rudely criticized in his heart: nouveau riche.
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