Chapter 416 The Horrible Truth
Barcelona defeated Alaves 4-0 and got off to a good start in the new season!
Su Dong scored a hat trick and was named the best player of the match! These two pieces of news spread all over Spain immediately after the game, causing widespread heated discussions among the media and fans.
Real Madrid head coach Luxemburgo said that he would beat Barcelona in the first round of the new season, but now, this seems more like a joke unless Real Madrid can beat Cádiz by a large margin.
As for Sudon and Robinho, can the performances of two peers really be compared? The Catalan media also showed their bad taste at this time, mocking Real Madrid, especially the new signing Robinho. Daily Sports even said, "You don't need to surpass Sudon, as long as you also have a hat trick, you will win!"
This undoubtedly brought huge psychological pressure to Real Madrid.
Everyone knows that the first round of the league is not easy to play. Barcelona has played in the Spanish Super Cup and the European Super Cup before, and their condition has been adjusted quite well, which makes them seem at ease when facing Alaves.
But Real Madrid is playing in the first game. Although Cadiz is weaker than Alaves, who can be sure of a big win?
Amidst all the chaos, the next day, Real Madrid visited the Carranza Stadium, but ultimately failed to win a big victory over their opponents.
Robinho did not start the game as expected. Ronaldo scored a wonderful arc ball into the goal of Cadiz just four minutes into the game, opening the scoring for Real Madrid.
But then, for most of the game, Real Madrid played badly, lacking highlights and excitement.
On the contrary, Cadiz equalized the score with a sharp counterattack in the 63rd minute.
Luxemburg decisively replaced Robinho at this time.
After the young Brazilian player came on the pitch, he did give an eye-catching performance. His first touch of the ball was a very spectacular back-to-back lob. Then he immediately created the most threatening shot for Real Madrid at the start of the second half. Unfortunately, Carlos' shot was saved by the goalkeeper.
In the end, Ronaldo assisted Raul to increase the score again.
Real Madrid narrowly beat Cadiz 2-1 and hard-earned three points.
…
He played for 27 minutes, instigated the goal assisted by Ronaldo to Raul, made two wonderful passes that almost helped his teammates score, created two free kick opportunities in the frontcourt, all five of his dribbles in the frontcourt were successful, and four of them resulted in shots.
It should be said that Robinho's debut was indeed very beautiful.
If it were any other ordinary player, he would definitely win applause from the audience and everyone would sing praises for him.
But unfortunately, he chose the wrong opponent! Real Madrid's mouthpiece AS said after the game that Robinho's performance was perfect.
But the Catalan media immediately hit back, arguing that the truly perfect one was Eastern Europe.
Daily Sports even asked sarcastically, "After the first round of ten games, which team is at the top of the list? Who is at the top of the scorer list?"
Mundo Deportivo even harshly criticized Robinho, saying, "The 21-year-old Robinho is just a rookie who has just landed in La Liga, but the 20-year-old Su Dong is already Barcelona's most powerful fighter and the youngest double winner of the World Footballer of the Year and the Ballon d'Or in history!"
The implication is, are there any comparisons between these two people?
Real Madrid and the media close to Real Madrid also realized this and stopped comparing themselves with Su Dong.
Butragueno clarified in an interview with AS that Real Madrid never meant to compare Robinho with Su Dong. "Robinho is a genius with great talent and potential. Like me, he made his debut against Cadiz at the Carranza Stadium."
"The difference is that when I played for Real Madrid for the first time, I couldn't compare to Robinho now. He was better than I was 21 years ago."
Luxemburg also came out to clarify that there is no point in comparing Robinho with Su Dong.
"Su Dong has been a world footballer for many years and there is no comparison between the two."
Regarding Robinho, Luxemburg said that his contribution to the team is very great, "He is a player we can rely on."
Marca also revealed that the Brazilian head coach is creating a new 3R combination for Real Madrid, namely Ronaldo, Robinho and Raul. The first letter of the names of the three players is R, which is somewhat in line with the 3R combination of the Brazilian national team during the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan.
…………
…………
The turmoil in the outside world has no substantive significance to Su Dong.
He never participates in the media hype news, he only cares about himself and the team.
After the first round of La Liga, two weeks of national team matches began.
But during this period, Barcelona was also in turmoil.
First of all, Ronaldinho's contract renewal has finally been completed.
After Suarez renewed his contract with Barcelona, Ronaldinho's contract renewal also attracted attention from the outside world, because his brother Agassi often used Ronaldinho's scandal with Chelsea to hype the contract renewal. The reason was simple: they were very dissatisfied with the annual salary offered by Barcelona.
Before the contract renewal, Sudon and Ronaldinho had the same annual salary, but after the contract renewal, Barcelona was only willing to give Ronaldinho an annual salary of 8 million euros after tax, which was far lower than Ronaldinho's requirements. The Brazilian's attitude was that he wanted to at least be on par with Sudon.
But Laporta was very tough on this matter, so the contract renewal was delayed.
Until recently, after a long period of wrangling, both parties finally signed a contract extension.
Ronaldinho's annual salary after tax is 8 million euros, but he got back all his image rights.
From now on, he, like Su Dong, owns his own portrait rights.
…
When Su Dong heard the news from Mendes, he was a little surprised because Barcelona's concessions were huge.
One of the important reasons why he holds his own image rights is that during his time in Valencia, his image rights income was already catching up with Beckham, so Barcelona never dared to hope to get involved in Su Dong's image rights because they knew it was impossible.
But Ronaldinho is different. His image rights are still very valuable and were previously held by Barcelona.
"Why would they make such a big concession?" Su Dong felt puzzled.
Mendes smiled and said, "Barca has always been like this. We have had many presidents, but many things have never changed."
"What do you mean?" Su Dong asked with a frown.
"Remember, you asked me before why stars like Maradona, Ronaldo, Figo and Rivaldo couldn't stay in Barcelona for a long time?"
Su Dong nodded. This was indeed his doubt.
"Didn't Ronaldo tell you that it was a matter of contract renewal?"
When Su Dong was about to join Barcelona, Ronaldo did raise this issue with him. One of the important reasons why he switched to Inter Milan after only one year at Barcelona was contract renewal.
"Simply singling out Ronaldo's contract renewal is a confusing matter that cannot be explained clearly, but if you carefully analyze the departures of all the superstars from Barcelona, you will find that they all have a common problem, either the contract renewal was not agreed upon, or after the agreement was reached, Barcelona went back on its word!"
Su Dong still didn't understand what this meant. Why would he regret it when the contract was renewed successfully?
"Let me put it this way. I've heard a lot, more than one person, say that Barcelona management's negotiation ability is really terrible. For example, this season, Deco's annual salary after tax after the contract renewal is as high as 5 million euros. Puyol also wants a salary increase and renewal, as well as Xavi and Iniesta... Have you ever thought about what will happen to Barcelona's finances after this wave of contract renewals?"
Su Dong was silent. Although Barcelona's finances had improved, a large number of contracts were suddenly renewed at once, and the salary increase was very large, which was really worrying.
"Remember, in 2003, when Laporta just took office, the first thing he did was to take Gaspart's signing and contract renewal, thinking that he paid the players too much and too high a salary. Kluivert could get an annual salary of 10 million euros after the contract renewal. Can you imagine what that was like?"
"At that time, Laporta criticized Gaspart for signing a lot of stupid contracts, but now, he himself has to sign so many contracts because he wants to stabilize his position as chairman. To stabilize his position as chairman, he needs the support of the players and the results of the first team, so the contract renewal must try to satisfy the players."
"If he fails to do so, the presidential election next year or the year after will become the strongest weapon for the opposition to attack him, just like what he did two years ago, so he must do it, and as soon as possible."
Su Dong still didn't understand, "What does this have to do with the star player leaving the team?"
"It's very simple. Just think about it. Now that so many contracts have been signed, the financial pressure is huge. The purpose is to prepare for the election. After he is selected, the team's finances can no longer support it. What should we do?"
"Selling people?" Su Dong asked tentatively.
"Yes, if a star player doesn't perform well, that's fine, but if he performs well, how can he be sold? Wouldn't the fans just criticize him to death?"
Su Dong began to understand what Mendes meant.
"I've heard a theory, but never had any confirmation."
"Tell me about it."
"Every time before Barcelona sells a star player, they will first build up a wave of public opinion, and many media will come out to expose the star's negative materials, and then choose the right opportunity and the right seller to sell the star."
Su Dong figured it out.
"The reason I tell you all this is that I hope you can understand. Even though Laporta trusts you now and keeps saying that you are his best political achievement, you must know that you are just a bargaining chip for him to run for or keep the position of Barcelona president. In order to keep this position, anyone can be sacrificed, including you!"
Su Dong smiled bitterly. He had always known that the world was not that simple, but he never thought it would be so complicated and so sinister.
Is Mendes wrong? Probably not.
Barcelona has always hired a PR company to help players suppress some news. For example, Ronaldinho likes to go to nightclubs. He goes there almost every week, sometimes several times. Now Barcelona is suppressing it, but what if one day in the future, Barcelona does not suppress it, or even continues to expose it?
It's scary to think about it!
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
