Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 159 I wish I could score more goals than him

The ninth round of the Premier League resumes, with Manchester City hosting Arsenal at home.

Arsenal's performance this season has been quite good; after eight rounds, they are ranked third in the league, a rather impressive showing.

Although star striker Robin van Persie was injured at the start of the season, Cesc Fabregas has matured and is now showing great leadership qualities. In addition, Tsar Rafael Arsène Luis Al-Shakespeare has improved his performance this season, which has made Arsenal a formidable force.

Mancini was on high alert, but just then, Shan Yongzhuo received some good news.

France Football has released the 23-man shortlist for the Ballon d'Or, and Shan Yongzhuo is among them.

The news didn't bother the European football community, given Shan Yongzhuo's impressive performance last season: 60 goals in Serie A, 33 in the Europa League, and 4 in the Italian Cup, totaling an astonishing 97 goals in one season, surpassing second-place Messi by 50 goals.

Moreover, these 97 goals helped Roma achieve an unprecedented mini-treble, a truly outstanding performance.

Even so, mainstream media are still not very optimistic about Shan Yongzhuo winning the Ballon d'Or.

After all, 2010 was a World Cup year. Not to mention Messi, who helped Barcelona win five titles, and Sneijder, who helped Inter Milan win the Champions League and helped the Netherlands win the World Cup runner-up, there was also Iniesta, who scored the winning goal in the World Cup final.

Compared to these champions, Shan Yongzhuo's 97 goals are a clear advantage, but the triple crown seems less glorious.

Of course, many media outlets also support Shan Yongzhuo winning the Ballon d'Or, with Italian media being the most prominent. After all, Shan Yongzhuo achieved these accomplishments with Roma, and winning the Ballon d'Or would be a shot in the arm for Serie A.

Furthermore, the English media also strongly supported Shan Yongzhuo winning the Ballon d'Or.

Although Shan Yongzhuo's achievements were made in Serie A, he is now a Premier League player. Last season, the Premier League was really too dismal. If Shan Yongzhuo wins the Ballon d'Or, the Premier League can be considered to have received some consolation.

Furthermore, the Chinese media and fans naturally have the highest expectations for Shan Yongzhuo to win the Ballon d'Or.

When the list was released, China was in an uproar.

After all, this is the first Chinese player to be shortlisted for the Ballon d'Or, an unprecedented achievement, and Chinese media have already begun to hype it up in various ways.

However, these things are not of much concern to Shan Yongzhuo, and he is not particularly interested in the Ballon d'Or.

glory?

What's the use of that? Will it help me improve my stamina?
cannot?

What use are you then?
Of course, this was just his opinion. In the interview, Shan Yongzhuo said that he was very happy to be included in the list and hoped to win the Ballon d'Or. He added that it wouldn't matter too much if he didn't win it and that he would continue to work hard in the future.

He felt that he had shown maximum emotional intelligence in this move, right?
However, the ever-curious English media did not let him off the hook.

Shan Yongzhuo aims for the Golden Globe!

I really want to win, and I'm sure I can win, the Golden Globe!

The Golden Globe is mine!

"..."

Various reports were published, and when Shan Yongzhuo saw them, he was stunned.

"Shan, that's awesome!" Boateng flipped through the newspaper and gave Shan Yongzhuo a thumbs up.

"Of course, I don't respect anyone else when it comes to the Ballon d'Or except for the singles," Balotelli chimed in, adding fuel to the fire.

"Shan, you're right, the Ballon d'Or should be yours," Kompany chimed in. Shan Yongzhuo looked at his unscrupulous teammates, speechless. "Damn it, that's not what I said!"

While feeling helpless, I mentally cursed these unscrupulous English media outlets a thousand times over.

The controversies surrounding the Ballon d'Or are just beginning; there are still several rounds of voting to come. Right now, the most important thing for Manchester City is their next match against Arsenal.

Mancini is taking this match very seriously. If they can win, they will not only maintain their top spot in the standings, but also widen the gap with Arsenal.

Nine points is not an easy score to catch up with. Winning this game would give us a significant advantage in the league.

On the other hand, Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger also attaches great importance to this match.

What he values ​​most is the opponent's number 10 jersey, Shan Yongzhuo.

During the summer, Arsenal was one of the teams that were very keen to pursue Shan Yongzhuo.

Wenger has high hopes for Shan Yongzhuo. In Wenger's vision, if he can sign Shan Yongzhuo, the partnership between him and Van Persie will undoubtedly become the world's best attacking duo.

With the addition of Fabregas in midfield, Arsenal will truly have the strength to reclaim the league title and even win the Champions League with this trio.

But in the end, Arsenal failed.

Wenger was also helpless about this. There was nothing he could do; Arsenal was simply too poor. Not to mention compared to the wealthy Manchester City, even compared to teams like Bayern Munich and Juventus, Arsenal's financial resources were not sufficient.

In recent years, Arsenal has been criticized for selling its captains, from Vieira to Henry, and even now Fabregas has been coveted by Barcelona. Arsenal seems to have become a club that has fallen into a money pit and is not making any progress in people's eyes.

But there's nothing we can do about it.

The Emirates Stadium has drained Arsenal of too much energy, leaving them still struggling to recover. Wenger is now forced to live frugally and carefully manage his finances.

As for a player like Shan Yongzhuo, Wenger understands that if Arsenal misses this opportunity, they are unlikely to have another chance to acquire him.

Wenger shook his head with a wry smile, contemplating tomorrow's match.

However, he discovered that the most important factor was still Shan Yongzhuo. To defeat Manchester City, the first step was to defeat Shan Yongzhuo, which had become a consensus among Premier League teams.

If they can't stop Shan Yongzhuo's goal, beating Manchester City is out of the question.

Arsenal currently has a number of capable defenders, including Squillaci, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Djourou, and even Alex Song, who can fill in at center-back.

However, no matter how he arranged his lineup, Wenger felt that he couldn't stop Shan Yongzhuo. Even Chelsea's defense had no way to deal with Shan Yongzhuo. He didn't think Arsenal's defense could be stronger than Chelsea's.

For Wenger, the only good news in this match seemed to be the return of Van Persie from injury.

Thus, an idea slowly took shape in Wenger's mind.

"Since we can't defend against it, why don't we just go for an offensive counterattack?"

"Manchester City's defense doesn't seem to be that solid either..."

"That's right. Since we can't stop Shan Yongzhuo, then we just need to score more goals than him. I believe our team's attacking power will definitely not be inferior to his alone!"

(End of this chapter)