Chapter 88
After successfully getting the photo, Cristiano even considered setting it as the screen saver, but thinking that it might be a bit too much for the "brotherhood", he had to give up with regret.
He also sent a copy to Kaka.
After finishing the shoot, Cristiano and Kaka separated.
Cristiano has to fly back to Manchester. His vacation time is about to end. He plans to go back a day in advance to warm up and train to find his form.
Mendes was extremely satisfied with the value for money of Cristiano's vacation. On the plane back to Manchester, he kept talking about how unique the significance and value of this cooperation was.
"That's Armani, Giorgio Armani."
"He is the leader and beacon in that circle."
“Your business value will take off.”
“…”
Cristiano finally had to interrupt Mendes. He pointed to his chest and looked at the other party: "Jorge, don't be so excited. Look clearly at who is in front of you."
Mendes looked at him in confusion. Before he could react, he heard the young man in front of him say:
"It's Cristiano Ronaldo."
Mendes: “?”
"In the future, the commercial value behind this name is beyond your imagination. We will have an empire, Jorge." Cristiano smiled and raised his chin. "Yes, it's 'we', Jorge. I can give you more."
Only then did Mendes realize what the other party meant.
He was stunned for a second, then couldn't help laughing. He nodded, wiping away the tears from his laughter, and nodded in agreement nonchalantly: "Okay Chris."
He didn't take the young boy's words to heart at all.
It was not until a few years later that he witnessed and participated in such a process with his own hands.
He still stayed in an inconspicuous corner, looking up slightly at the man standing in the center of the most dazzling stage. He thought in disbelief in his heart that he would never be able to replicate this legend in his lifetime.
He actually owns Cristiano Ronaldo, which any football agent would be crazy jealous of.
Cristiano just gave Mendes' performance an ambiguous smile. He thought mischievously in his heart, just wait, he will wait until the day when his agent is stunned.
Back at the club's training ground, Cristiano was greeted with a warm welcome by Pique and Rooney, so enthusiastic that he was a little confused.
"They were trained badly by Keane and Boss." Ferdinand came over to welcome Cristiano back. He pinched his neck, glanced at the two young men, and opened a mocking arc, "You and Alan will take turns to rest, and these two will be the focus of attention."
Cristiano understood, grinned, and looked at the two men with worthless sympathy.
He asked again: "When will Alan come back?"
"Tomorrow as well. I don't know if he will come back early today." Ferdinand said, patting Cristiano on the shoulder. "Go change your clothes. We will wait for you at the training ground."
Cristiano responded.
He changed into training clothes and returned to the court. Now he was doing one-on-one defensive training. Cristiano looked around, trying to find a suitable partner. Before he found anyone, Neville called out, "Come on, Ronnie, let me see if you have improved your footwork in the past few days."
Cristiano raised his eyebrows and immediately went over with the ball.
Rooney and Pique were training together. Seeing this, Rooney grinned and shook his head: "See, he's been aroused again. Damn it, how can he always maintain such a strong competitive desire?"
Pique looked at the short Englishman in front of him and shrugged his shoulders: "Maybe this is why the boss is always partial to him?"
"Just a little?" Rooney raised his eyebrows. "The boss's favoritism is enough to make everyone jealous of Ronnie. But if he can help us win the championship trophy, who the hell cares about that?"
Pique looked at Rooney and smiled, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
As for Cristiano, half an hour later, Neville regretted his provocation. The boy in front of him seemed to have had a vacation, as if he was full of energy and chicken blood.
After Neville was broken through by Cristiano, he simply lay down on the grass, panting heavily and muttering: "No, Ronnie, let me rest for a while and go find Ferdinand."
Cristiano laughed and walked over with the ball, then bent down and patted Neville on the chest: "That's it? Who lost their footwork?"
Neville cursed and laughed as he got up, waving his hand as if to hit someone, but in the end he just slapped Cristiano's waist lightly, "You little bastard, I'm either defending you or Giggs, it's killing me. You two are difficult guys. Oh yeah, we have to add Alan. That kid is also difficult to deal with."
"You have to be happy. This shows that we are threatening enough on the offensive end." Cristiano grinned and raised his eyebrows complacently.
They were taking a break when they turned around and saw Alan coming over with a ball. Cristiano waved in surprise: "You're here too? Over here!"
Alan was also a little surprised to see Cristiano on the training ground. He nodded and walked over quickly: "You also ended your vacation early? How was your vacation?"
"Very good." Cristiano curled his eyes.
Alan raised his eyes slightly, and he could tell that Cristiano looked as sweet as if he had been soaked in honey. He smiled and said casually, "Did you have a romantic encounter with love in Italy?"
Neville was holding a glass of water in his mouth, and he spat it out when he heard that, which earned Alan a look of surprise and a bit of disgust.
Neville coughed, turned his back, and winked at Keane and Ferdinand opposite him.
"Your reaction is too big." Alan looked at Neville speechlessly, "I'm not talking about you."
Cristiano touched the tip of his nose, with a guilty kindness, while glancing at Alan out of the corner of his eyes, and patting Neville's back nonchalantly: "Are you okay?"
Neville choked and waved his hands, grinning to avoid Cristiano's hand. He was fine, but if Ronnie hit him without knowing the severity of the situation again, it would be hard to say what would happen.
"What are you talking about?" Ferguson walked onto the training ground. He saw that the players were obviously slacking off again, and his voice was filled with a serious warning, "Next week's game, everyone, tighten up, I want you all to be in good shape!"
"Okay, BOSS!" Everyone on the field responded immediately with full energy.
Ferguson snorted coldly, he looked at the two boys who had just returned from vacation early, his expression softened a little, and he waved to Alan and Cristiano to come over.
"How was the vacation?" he asked.
Alan shrugged slightly and said nonchalantly, "That's it."
There was nothing interesting about his vacation. He played games, worked out, sat in a cafe for an afternoon, took a mountain bike ride, and broke up with his girlfriend who he had just been dating for a few months.
He rubbed his short hair. The vacation was really boring, so he came back early.
"It's great, the beach, the sunshine..." Cristiano replied with a bit of excitement, giving a completely different answer from Alan.
Alan tilted his head to look at Chris. He was sure that Cristiano had indeed had a good vacation, because he seemed to see the sunshine of the Apennine Peninsula in the other's eyes.
"There are still live matches." Ferguson's eyes were filled with smiles, and he interrupted Cristiano, "I'm glad to see that you didn't get involved in weird love gossips, and I'm even happier that you remembered not to leave yourself in the fans' seats this time."
Alan raised his eyebrows when he heard that, and recalled the gossip about the Champions League final night a long time ago. Even though he had not played against Cristiano at that time, the news was enough to leave a deep impression on him - throwing himself in such a crazy crowd of fans, and being photographed by the media with embarrassing photos of himself with a red face and almost crying. He guessed that was one of the photos Cristiano wanted to destroy the most.
He had to admit that when they met for the first time on the court, he didn't have a very good impression of Cristiano, and a large part of the reason was due to this. He thought that the player who would throw himself into that kind of environment was really stupid.
Some are weird and pitiful.
Alan grinned in his heart and suddenly felt like laughing.
Based on his current understanding of Cristiano and Manchester United's main players, I guess these people were eager to rush into the scene at that time, right?
He looked at Cristiano. Was he going to watch the game again? Wouldn't he get bored of the scene?
Cristiano coughed lightly, and obviously remembered the embarrassing incident last time. He smiled awkwardly and approached Ferguson, changing the subject like begging for mercy: "I have remembered everything you said!"
Ferguson let out a light click of his tongue, then he restrained his strength and patted the boy on the forehead, smiling with his eyes curved, looking very pleased.
"That's the best." Ferguson said, he looked at Alan and Cristiano, and got back to the point, "In the next FA Cup game, you two should cooperate well and use the tactics we agreed on. I want to see obvious results, understand?"
Cristiano nodded. The tactics Ferguson mentioned had been decided a long time ago. The next game would be used for the first time. The chemistry and results on the field would greatly affect their future style of play.
Ferguson said: "Practice well in the next few days. I want you two to understand each other's intentions with just one look."
"Okay, Boss." Alan and Cristiano responded in unison.
Ferguson waved his hand and sent the two back to the training ground.
Three or four people formed groups on the field and practiced shoveling the ball away from each other.
"What did the boss say when he called you away just now?" Pike asked curiously.
"It's about the next game." Cristiano answered casually, focusing on the ball.
He glanced at the curious Spaniard, grinned, and suddenly attacked Pique, successfully clearing the ball from under his feet.
"Hey!" Pieck yelled and muttered, "You sneak attack!"
Cristiano laughed as if he had gotten something good, and jumped behind Alan: "Who told you not to concentrate during training? Don't forget our bet. Whoever has the most balls tackled today will get to pay for dinner at the next party!"
Pike waved his arms: "Chris!"
Alan raised his eyebrows and looked at Pique: "Gerrard, if you have time to shout Cristiano, you might as well guard your ball carefully."
Cristiano laughed even louder, as if he had found a backer. He put his arm around Alan's shoulders and looked at Pique with his chin raised, full of provocation, and seemed extremely happy.
Pique: “…”
Ah, damned English!
In the end, it was Pique who had the most balls tackled. The Spaniard pouted and scratched his hair: "I'll treat you, but I'll choose the place."
"Whatever you say." Cristiano grinned.
When practicing tackles and dribbling, Cristiano always felt like he had forgotten something important.
He scratched the back of his head, unable to think of anything in these routine trainings that was worth his constant attention.
It was not until the evening training that Keane brought the data of the first-team main pool for the next game, gave each player a copy, and made targeted tactical explanations. Cristiano suddenly realized that he had forgotten something.
"This is the team they are most likely to line up for the next game at Anfield," Keane said. "The one player to keep an eye on is Bjorn Riise, the Norwegian heavyweight.
"A talented left-back who can play as a defender or a midfielder. He's tall, and not only that, his free kicks are powerful. He's an all-around player who can play both offense and defense." Keane looked at their goalkeeper.
Van der Sar nodded slightly to show that he understood.
Cristiano suddenly realized that this was the game.
He looked at Alan, the usually aggressive striker who was now concentrating on listening to Keane's emphasis.
Cristiano still remembers Alan falling on the green grass field with his face covered in pain in the previous life.
To be honest, that was the first time when he was young that he saw such a serious injury in a game. He couldn't even look at it any longer and turned his back as if to escape, but he could still hear the other party's painful groans. Even Liverpool's team doctor rushed to the field. Because the injury was too serious, he even had to rely on oxygen to stabilize his breathing rate.
Then, the forward, who was always fierce and proactive on the court, seemed to have put away all his sharpness after returning.
Alan calmly accepted the change in playing style, transforming from a forward to a defensive midfielder. He honestly admitted that he could no longer do some of the actions he used to do. He could only work hard to ensure that he could continue to play for the club, which was already good enough.
And Cristiano now knows very well what this means and how much self-torture this process can be.
- You have to break and overturn the glory and confidence that you once won as a striker, and then rebuild it, facing the unsatisfactory running-in period in the process, and facing the unforeseen future and doubts.
He knew the pain so well because he had been there too.
Since having his knee sealed in 2014, he has not been able to do many movements.
The pain bothered him, and he had to force himself to transform, change, and adapt again and again, because he still wanted to continue on the field. He not only had to fight against age, but also against injuries. What the outside world saw was that he still held the trophy high, but no one knew what he had been through.
Cristiano remembered that in his previous life, after he returned to Manchester United, Alan asked him to sit down in a cafe on a street corner.
They sat for an afternoon and talked a lot.
What impressed him most was the first time Alan met him, holding a warm cup of coffee. He didn't say hello, as if they hadn't seen each other for several years, but had always played football together. He said directly: "I know it's not easy, but you did it, you always did it."
Cristiano knew then that he still had this friend, and he pulled out a chair and sat down.
"When I see you still playing, I always feel like I'm seeing myself before I retire. To be honest, it feels weird, but it's a good thing," Alan said. "I believe this is probably the common thought of most players who retire after transitioning. We watch you continue to play and hope you continue to play. It seems that my regrets have been slightly relieved to some extent."
"Of course, it's just a little bit." Alan gestured and laughed jokingly, "You know, we can never let it go. But this is my career, I have to accept it. And yours is still going on, you know how far it can go, you have to let it go further."
It was like a spiritual force gathering from all directions and gathering behind Cristiano.
Cristiano always wondered, if there had not been such an accident in that game, or if he had not taken injections and forced himself to play in the World Cup in 2014, what would have become of them?
But then he thought, maybe there is no such if.
They may have regrets, but if they still go back to that choice, they will still make the same choice - to win and fight.
"What's wrong, Chris? You've been staring at me since the training." Alan stood in front of Cristiano, narrowing his eyes slightly, looking at his striker partner as if judging him. "The boss wants us to understand each other's thoughts with just a glance, but I can't understand you now."
Cristiano: "... we need more training, tacit understanding, skills, proficiency, and how to protect ourselves."
"Of course." Alan nodded in agreement, "I'll come early tomorrow, how about you?"
"Me too." Cristiano responded, his eyes fell on Alan's usual shooting support leg, and quickly moved his eyes away, "I plan to watch Riise's shooting collection in the next two days, do you want to come to my house and watch it together?"
"So serious?" Alan laughed. "I would have thought you wanted to become a goalkeeper. We are shooters, remember?"
Cristiano rolled his eyes slightly: "Are you coming or not?"
Yuxi
"...Okay. Come on. Tomorrow night?" Alan asked.
Cristiano nodded.
So the next day, after a day of training, Manchester United's main players unexpectedly found that their platinum striker, who always came and went alone, actually sat in Cristiano's co-pilot seat.
"When did they become so close?" Neville asked puzzledly.
Ferdinand narrowed his eyes, walked over and knocked on Chris's car window.
Cristiano rolled down the window and stuck his head out: "Leo? What's wrong?"
"What are your plans for tonight? The boss said that before the next game, all private entertainment activities should be stopped and you should not get caught," Ferdinand reminded.
These two people, each one looks more suitable for bars and nightclubs than the other.
"...What are you thinking about? I'm going to his house to watch the game highlights." Alan pulled the corner of his mouth, pointed his thumb to the side, and pursed his lips to signal Chris, "Bjorn Riise, this guy has set his sights on that Norwegian."
"Isn't this a little too far from Ronnie's usual aesthetic?" Neville also came over and couldn't help yelling when he heard Alan's words.
Keane, Pique, Rooney... the main players who "got off work" one after another passed by the gate of the training base. When they heard Neville's words, they stopped and looked at Cristiano curiously.
Cristiano: "...Seriously, Gary, he went to my house to study his ball."
Neville laughed, and he did it on purpose.
"Riise? The one the captain mentioned before? Serious enough." Neville scratched his hair and walked to the back seat of Cristiano's car. "That's great. You don't mind having me with you, do you?"
Cristiano didn't understand why a night of research between two people suddenly turned into a noisy meeting of all staff.
Keane and Pique each drove a car and arrived at Chris's villa with full passengers.
"Okay, okay, my house is big enough anyway..." Cristiano muttered softly, but Alan clearly felt that Cristiano was happy.
Cristiano has a professional viewing room dedicated to watching games.
It was the first time that he felt that the cinema seemed too small. Nearly ten men - some of whom did not come, such as Rooney - were crowded in it, and it seemed that even the air was thin.
"The Norwegian has both speed and power. He's got something." Pique said, "But Chris's free kick has a longer range than his, right?"
Neville nodded: "The goal scoring efficiency is higher."
Van der Sar closed his eyes, unwilling to recall the torturous extra training.
Cristiano didn't say anything. He turned to Alan and said, "... when he kicked the ball, the force must have been incredible."
Alan nodded: "With strength comes speed."
"Yes..." Cristiano choked, this was not the point, "I mean, be careful."
Alan raised his eyebrows and looked over.
"That's right. I feel like it would hurt a lot if it hit my body." Pique grinned. The screen happened to show a shot of a wall of people being hit by the opponent's free kick. He rubbed his arms as if he could experience it firsthand.
Cristiano immediately looked at Pique and patted him on the shoulder: "That's right, Gerrard, you hit the point!"
"Look, the ball even drew an arc in the air and hit the wall of people. The force must have been reduced a little. If it had just been kicked out, the force would have been even more terrifying." Cristiano said, "It could have penetrated several layers of glass! If it was by chance..."
"If it hits the foot bone, it might be broken." Pique rubbed his shoulder which was hurt by the hit and followed Chris' words.
"Oh my God, you are so right." Cristiano patted Pique's shoulders twice. He never thought that the understanding between him and Pique would be so good one day!
Pique: "...You are quite strong, Chris. Why can your fist hurt so much even though it is not that big?"
“……”Cristiano smiled and punched Pique again.
Alan listened to the conversation between the two and nodded. He looked at Cristiano, his eyes falling on Chris's overly thin wrists and ankles: "That's right, be careful."
He had long felt that Cristiano's ankles were too thin and looked like they couldn't withstand any force.
Keane, Ferdinand, Neville and the others nodded in agreement and looked at Cristiano.
"...No, I mean, everyone here, be careful, okay? Don't stare at me!" Cristiano emphasized, especially staring at Alan.
Alan guessed, maybe it was because he was the first one to target Chris? So now I'm receiving a childish return gift?
He nodded and shrugged: "Of course."
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