Chapter 959: Crowned with the Golden Ball
Manchester City's epic 4-3 reversal of Manchester United at home has not yet completely dissipated the shock caused by the world, and the annual FIFA Golden Ball Award ceremony has also begun to enter the fans' field of vision.
Like previous years, this year's awards ceremony was still held at the Zurich Opera House in Switzerland.
The difference is that this year's Manchester City is obviously more powerful.
In the list of the best eleven players announced early on, Manchester City occupied three seats.
The goalkeeper is Casillas, the defense is Pepe, Ramos, Kompany and Alves, the midfield is Iniesta, Xabi Alonso and Xavi, and the frontcourt is Cristiano Ronaldo, Sudon and Messi.
Three players were shortlisted for the best team, which is enough to show Manchester City's progress.
You know, before this, let alone being shortlisted for three people, even being shortlisted for one person was something that people could not even think about.
When has a Manchester City player ever been nominated for the Ballon d'Or or the FIFA World Player of the Year? In addition to being nominated for the best team, Guardiola was also nominated for the best men's football coach of the year. Unfortunately, although his coaching career at Manchester City was outstanding and his treble was indeed a brilliant achievement, he still failed to beat Mourinho in the end.
Barcelona's performance last season was also quite outstanding. Mourinho finally got his first Champions League title in his career. This was also the first time he had reached the Champions League final for three consecutive seasons and it took him a lot of effort to get one. It can be said that he had fulfilled his long-cherished wish.
In this case, the title of Men's Football Coach of the Year will naturally go to others, and Guardiola and Ferguson can only be runners-up.
However, Ferguson, who has been rumored to retire recently, won the FIFA President's Award this year. This can be regarded as a recognition of the Red Devils' godfather's outstanding contributions to European football and Manchester United over the past few decades.
In the selection of the Puskas Award for the best goal of the year, Su Dong had a total of three goals shortlisted, and he eventually defeated Neymar from Brazil and won the award.
These were all revealed by the media long before the award ceremony, so there was no suspense.
There is also no suspense about this year's FIFA Ballon d'Or, which basically belongs to Messi. There is also no suspense about this.
Precisely because there was not much suspense, the biggest suspense before the awards ceremony was whether Su Dong would attend the event?
You know, although he was shortlisted in the top three, it is basically impossible for him to win the award this year because he joined Manchester City.
After playing La Liga, Messi once called Su Dong and said that he had called Su Dong and Su Dong promised to come to the scene to congratulate him.
The Barcelona superstar said that he believed Su Dong was a man of his word and would definitely fulfill his promise.
And the facts have proved that Su Dong not only came to Zurich in person as he said, but also specially invited Cristiano Ronaldo to the scene.
The Real Madrid superstar had previously said in an interview with the media that he had not yet decided whether to go to Zurich, which was seen as a signal that he refused to attend the event because he would get basically nothing except a useless best lineup.
But Su Dong still managed to convince him.
…
"What can I do to convince Ronnie?"
At the press conference before the awards ceremony, when the media asked Su Dong how he persuaded Ronnie to come to the scene, he smiled and said, "I reimbursed all his expenses for this trip."
Ronnie was of course upset when he heard this and hit back: "He threatened me that if I didn't come, he wouldn't ask me to be his best man at his wedding."
The media reporters below were all amused by the bickering between the two.
The whole world knows how good the relationship between the two is, just like brothers.
"In fact, even if I hadn't called, I know he would have come. I know him. Appearing here, whether he wins an award or not, is an encouragement to him." After joking, Su Dong clarified.
Ronnie nodded silently, agreeing with Su Dong's statement.
Messi acted like a host, thanking Su Dong and Ronaldo for coming to the scene.
Although it has not been announced to the public yet, everyone basically knows the result, so it is not offensive for him to say so.
Messi said that Sudon and Ronnie are the best players in the world, and he feels extremely honored to be able to become friends with such players and become opponents on the court.
"Su and I were teammates. He helped me a lot. I will always remember everything he did for me."
"If you ask me if I have any wishes, personally, I hope that one day in the future, I can become teammates with Su again. I especially miss the time when I played football with him."
Messi's smile was particularly sincere when he spoke at the end.
Su Dong naturally gave Messi enough face and praised him a lot, saying that Messi was growing very fast and was already the world's top superstar and was no longer the rookie he was back then.
"I want to tell him," Su Dong looked at Messi sitting in the middle and said seriously, "Leo, ignore those doubts from outside. Their biggest role is to make you stronger, and you are already the strongest in the world, and even one of the strongest players in the history of world football."
Su Dong's comments were very important and Messi was very grateful.
…………
…………
In front of the media, they are relatively restrained with each other, but in places where the media cannot see, the three of them get along with each other in private, which is a completely different scene that will never be known to outsiders.
The award ceremony started on time at 7:00 p.m.
First, the King of Football Pele came out and announced the list of the best eleven players of the year selected by the World Professional Players Association, and Pele presented trophies to these eleven players.
All eleven players wore black suits and white shirts, looking uniform and very imposing.
Later, FIFA President Blatter presented the FIFA President's Award to the 70-year-old Ferguson.
The godfather of Manchester United is indeed worthy of this honor.
At the press conference before the award ceremony, Ferguson focused on praising Guardiola's team. He did not mind at all that Manchester United, which he coached, had just been defeated by Manchester City. He even said that Manchester City is indeed the strongest team in the Premier League and a strong contender for this year's Champions League.
After Ferguson was announced as the winner of the award, a short film carefully produced by FIFA was played on the spot. It included head coaches such as Guardiola, Mourinho, Redknapp, and all the players coached by Ferguson, expressing their approval and affirmation of his winning the award.
The most special one is Beckham.
After the boot incident, Beckham left for Spain and the two have been strangers ever since. But this time, Beckham put aside his past grudges and talked about Ferguson in the video, "He is like a father to me."
Ferguson was obviously very moved. In his acceptance speech, he clarified for the first time the news that he would retire.
"The great thing about Manchester United is that we always strive to win."
"I will not and cannot accept retiring in this way. If I want to retire in the future, it must be when I win the championship again."
It is clear that Ferguson remains ambitious.
After that are the best men's football coach and the best women's football coach, which are basically no suspense.
It was announced early on that the Goal of the Year award went to Su Dong.
As for the FIFA Ballon d'Or, it was also given to Messi without any suspense.
When Messi gave his speech, he thanked Barcelona and his teammates very much, and also mentioned Su Dong and his family.
…
Both the media and fans generally gave positive comments on Messi being crowned the Golden Ball.
But there is still a lot of controversy about the first three.
Judging from the ranking, Messi, Sudon and Cristiano Ronaldo are in the top three, and Xavi is in fourth place. This has aroused opposition from many fans and media. They believe that Xavi should be in the top three. Even if he cannot challenge Sudon who is in second place, it will not be a problem for him to suppress Ronaldo.
However, there are also many questioning voices that believe that although Xavi plays a significant role in Barcelona's midfield, it is basically unrealistic for him to squeeze into the top three in front of the three top superstars Su Dong, Messi and Ronaldo.
After all, midfielders are still at a disadvantage in this regard.
But this is also normal.
Almost every year, the selection results are accompanied by some controversy. Many media and fans will speak up for their favorite stars, which has become a norm.
There are only a few awards and the rankings are there. There will always be some at the front and some at the back.
And as long as there are rankings, there will be controversy.
You just have to get used to this kind of thing.
…………
…………
The award ceremony in Zurich was still very grand.
FIFA has invested heavily in this area, which has increased the influence of the FIFA Ballon d'Or year by year. It has now become the most influential annual event in world football.
After attending the FIFA awards ceremony and returning to Manchester, Manchester City went straight to Liverpool, visiting Anfield to challenge the Red Army Liverpool.
This is the first leg of the League Cup semi-final.
Guardiola led the team himself, but Sudong and Pepe, the two players who went to Zurich, were rotated and excluded from the roster to allow them to have a good rest.
Although Manchester City has rotated its players, its overall strength is still above Liverpool.
But at Anfield, Manchester City encountered Liverpool's tenacious attack. They took the lead twice but were equalized by Liverpool twice. First, Gerrard equalized with a penalty kick, and then Bellamy scored against Manchester City again in a counterattack in the final stage of the game.
Joe Hart actually cried!
He is like a scourge to Manchester City. Whenever he comes on the field, Manchester City will definitely lose the ball.
This is simply outrageous!
Although we failed to take a victory away from Anfield, a 2-2 draw is not bad.
Guardiola expressed confidence that upon returning to the Etihad Stadium, Manchester City would successfully secure a ticket to the final and head to London's Wembley Stadium.
But Dalglish is obviously also eager to advance to the final and said Liverpool will do their best to snipe Manchester City away.
Both sides are determined to get a ticket to the final.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
