Football: Starting from the 05 World Youth Championship

Chapter 319: Ronaldo can’t laugh anymore, Manchester United drew with Inter Milan!

After hearing what Ronaldo said, Lin Feng almost wondered if there was something wrong with his ears!
Is this something that someone who says I am number one, second, and third in the world can say?
Uh, it seems that Ronaldo hasn’t said such crazy words at this time!

If I remember correctly, he said this to the reporters who were interviewing him at the award ceremony when he led Manchester United to win the Champions League and won his first Ballon d'Or.

Compared with the high-spirited him at that time, Ronaldo was still in the early stages of his breakout. His personal data was not so explosive yet, and he did not have any outstanding honors.

In the past three seasons, Ronaldo's league goals and assists have hovered in the single digits.

During this period, Manchester United's performance also fell into a trough, winning only one FA Cup and one League Cup in three years.

Not even a Premier League title, let alone the more difficult Champions League.

Although Manchester United has a high probability of winning the Premier League this season, Ronaldo's personal data has also seen an explosion.

But this only gave him some confidence, not to the point where he was overconfident.

Moreover, compared with the twin stars of Serie A, his achievements are not particularly outstanding.

So that's why Ronaldo wanted to find someone to join forces with, right?
Manchester United lacks a good midfield, which is a recognized problem in the entire football world.

Since Cantona retired, Manchester United's midfield, especially the attacking midfielder organizer position, has no qualified people.

What kind of midfielder is Scholes? Can he play as a playmaker?

I can’t fight. I don’t have the ability, you know?

Of course, this is not Scholes' own problem, but the fact that the development system of British football is different from the mainstream football system in the world.

Because of the Heysel disaster, British teams were banned from participating in European competitions for five years.

In five years, the development of British football has become out of touch with that of European football, and the level has lagged behind or even regressed across the board. Then some strange things began to appear.

Not to mention the British tradition of long passes, both sides have different understandings of football.

Premier League teams like to pass the ball quickly through the midfield. Instead of organizing the attack through the midfield, they pass the ball into the penalty area through crosses from players on both wings and find their own forwards to complete the attack.

The football thinking in continental Europe is to use the passes from the midfield, especially the attacking midfielder, to find loopholes in the opponent's defense and then complete the attack.

In the British football system, Scholes does not need particularly strong organizational skills. Instead, he needs to have the ability to finish the attack from behind. Scholes does this very well, and the two D'Antoni do it even better.

But after the ban on British football began to be lifted and the trend of learning football from continental Europe was followed, Scholes' weaknesses were exposed, and the problems of Lampard and Gerrard were also exposed.

The entire England national team cannot find a suitable organizer. All the midfielders have rushed forward to attack. Who will pass the ball?

If Manchester United had not been in urgent need of a central midfielder, they would not have spent a high price to sign Lin Feng’s former teammate Veron, and then been cheated out of a huge sum of money!
Although Ronaldo's attitude is very sincere, Lin Feng does not want to go to the Premier League to suffer for the time being.

"I'm looking forward to working with you, but I'm afraid it's not possible now. It was Inter Milan that brought me to the top league. I can't be ungrateful. I have to leave something for them!"

I thought this kind of rejection would make Ronaldo angry, but after listening to Lin Feng's explanation, Ronaldo nodded repeatedly like a chicken pecking at rice:
"I really didn't make a mistake. You are a trustworthy person!"

In fact, Ronaldo’s thoughts are similar to Lin Feng’s. Although he also wants to go to a higher-level stage like Real Madrid, he has not forgotten who brought him from the Portuguese Super League to the top league.

He doesn't want to just walk away before bringing enough returns to Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United. That would be too ungrateful!

Therefore, Ronaldo fully expressed his understanding of Lin Feng's explanation and did not continue the topic.

"Although I really want to wish you to achieve your wish soon, I'm afraid it won't be possible this year. Manchester United is determined to win the Champions League this year!"

Although Manchester United may not have the strength to win the Champions League, they must not lose in momentum, and Ronaldo is well aware of this.

Hearing Ronaldo's words, Lin Feng joked:
"Aren't you afraid that we will be picked in the next round and be swept out?"

C Luo showed a confident smile:

"Tsk, if you really draw Inter Milan, then you're just unlucky. My teammates and I are incredibly strong!"

Lin Feng continued to speak harshly: "I heard that the fans at the Theatre of Dreams are very enthusiastic. I wonder if they will applaud me when I complete a hat trick at Old Trafford?"

The corners of Ronaldo's mouth twitched. Completed a hat trick at Old Trafford?
This guy is such a boaster!
……

Kaka also came today. He had seen Lin Feng's position and was about to go find Lin Feng, but he didn't expect someone to be one step faster than him and snatch the empty seat next to Lin Feng.

So Kaka had to pretend to pass by and take a look at who was taking his place.

Kaka is not familiar with Ronaldo. The two had played against each other once in the Champions League, but Manchester United was swept out by the powerful AC Milan at that time, and Ronaldo did not leave a deep impression on Kaka.

But I heard that he suddenly came to his senses this season and was incredibly strong in both the league and the Champions League. If they were drawn against them, it might cause considerable trouble for AC Milan.

As soon as Kaka sat down, AC Milan was the first team drawn by the lottery guest.

This made Kaka's heart tighten, and he stared at the number pool intently, wanting to see who their opponent was!

Lin Feng and Ronaldo also stopped chatting and started watching attentively.

There were rumors before that UEFA would arrange Inter Milan and AC Milan together in order to circumvent the rules that are usually avoided.

Lin Feng was skeptical about this, as he remembered that AC Milan's opponent in the quarterfinals was Manchester United.

However, Inter Milan failed to advance to the quarterfinals that time, so UEFA can arrange the draw normally.

And this time, because Inter Milan is included in the list of the quarterfinals, it will definitely trigger a series of chain reactions!
Now is the time to test whether this statement is correct!

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, AC Milan's opponent was drawn out.

However, what surprised Lin Feng was that this team was neither Inter Milan nor Manchester United, but the Bundesliga champion Bayern Munich, which was previously in the same group as Inter Milan!
Bayern is very strong, and this is not a good signing for AC Milan.

Especially since the schedule they drew was home games first and away games later, this is even more troublesome!

Just when everyone was privately discussing who was stronger between AC Milan and Bayern, Liverpool, a team from the Premier League, was drawn second.

Seeing Liverpool being drawn, Lin Feng could clearly feel that Ronaldo, who was sitting next to him, straightened his body.

I looked at Chelsea again and found that their reaction was similar.

Liverpool plays tough and has a strong fighting spirit, making them a very troublesome team.

Although due to the lack of squad depth and poor performance in the league, they have not won the Premier League title for many years.

But in cup competitions like the Champions League, Liverpool's shortcomings do not exist and they can often burst out with amazing fighting power.

Chelsea was so strong in the 04-05 season, but when they met Liverpool in the Champions League, weren't they still beaten helplessly?
The two teams met again in the semi-finals this season, but Chelsea still failed to get past this level and fell to Liverpool again. The Blues' Champions League dream was destroyed twice by the Reds.

If we have to say who is the culprit for Mourinho's resignation, it must be Benítez and the Liverpool team he coached.

But what relieved the Premier League teams was that Liverpool did not draw Chelsea or Manchester United, but instead drew Serie A's third seed Roma.

This result made Premier League fans collectively breathe a sigh of relief, as long as it was not a civil war in the Premier League, they could accept it.

And it is also a good signing for Liverpool.

Roma's strength is relatively weak among the top eight, and Liverpool's chances of advancing are very high when facing them.

For Roma, unless they draw Valencia, it will be difficult to play against any other opponent.

So Roma doesn't really care about this result.

What makes them unlucky is that, like AC Milan, Roma's schedule is also to play at home first and then away.

The opponents are stronger than them, and the schedule is not favorable for them, so there is a high probability that Roma will be eliminated in the quarterfinals.

……

We saw that neither Inter Milan nor Manchester United were among the four teams drawn.

Ronaldo, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, started to get nervous again.

Lin Feng also sensed something was wrong and glanced at Ronaldo:
Could it be that this guy's bad words really came true?
Just then, the third team was drawn.

It’s still a Premier League team, this time it’s the Blues Chelsea.

And their opponent was quickly drawn out - Valencia, the only team from La Liga.

When Chelsea's opponent was Valencia, there was a burst of discussion at the scene.

Valencia's popularity is not very high. Apart from the fans of the two teams, their match with Chelsea does not attract many people.

The focus of everyone's attention is still the last two teams that were not drawn - Inter Milan vs. Manchester United!
After seeing this result on the Internet, fans were also arguing:
"Inter Milan's luck is incredible. First they faced Bayern, then Real Madrid, and now Manchester United. If Barcelona hadn't been eliminated, I would have suspected that they would have faced Barcelona in the next round!"

"Every opponent is a tough one. It's not easy to get here!"

"If Inter Milan can win the championship under such circumstances, then this championship is really valuable!"

"It's difficult, it's not easy just to get past Manchester United!"

"Yes, Manchester United is in very good form in the Premier League this season and is likely to return to the championship throne. It is much more difficult to maintain a leading position in the fiercely competitive Premier League for a long time than Inter Milan dominating Serie A!"

"Besides, they have the twin stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Rooney in their team, while Inter Milan only has Lin Feng. Two fists cannot beat four hands!"

"What you said, Torres is not a human being? I don't think he is worse than Rooney and Ronaldo!"

"Does Manchester United have another Korean? Will there be an Asian derby in the next game?"

"There is a Korean named Park Ji-sung, but if we talk about the Asian derby, he doesn't seem to be that good. His strength and influence are far behind Lin Feng. Manchester United should compare C Ronaldo and Rooney with Lin Feng to be equal, right?"

If it were two years ago, Chinese fans might still envy Koreans for having players who can become starters in top clubs like Manchester United.

But times have changed. After experiencing all the surprises brought to them by Lin Feng, the threshold of Chinese fans has been raised a lot. Now they don’t think it’s strange to see Asian players in top clubs, let alone envy!

So what if you are a starter? Do you have the ability to become the core of the team?
But to be honest, Park Ji-sung's performance during his time at Manchester United was still good.

Thanks to his ability to run non-stop and his versatility in playing in multiple positions, he was highly valued by Ferguson.

The fact that he was able to play for Manchester United for seven seasons despite his not-so-outstanding offensive and defensive abilities is the best proof.

Before Son Heung-min's rise, Park Ji-sung was considered one of the most successful representatives of Asian players studying abroad in Europe.

……

Seeing that his "prediction" came true and Inter Milan really became Manchester United's next opponent, Ronaldo could no longer smile.

Honestly, if given a choice, he would rather play for Chelsea or even Liverpool than Inter Milan.

The defensive capabilities of Serie A teams are very abnormal, and it will be very painful for offensive players to encounter them.

Moreover, Inter Milan not only has strong defense, but also fierce offense.

In the previous quarter-finals, Manchester United met the underdog Lille in Ligue 1 and only scored two goals in two rounds.

But Inter Milan scored five goals against the stronger Real Madrid, especially in the second game, which almost led to a tragedy.

Facing such an opponent, Manchester United really doesn't have much confidence that they can defeat the opponent.

In addition, the UK is relatively far away from Italy. Flying from Manchester to Milan takes much longer than flying to Liverpool and London.

As the league enters its final stage, the schedule is dense and extremely tense, and every bit of physical strength is very precious.

It is already tiring enough, and then they have to endure the torment of a long journey, which is a test both physically and mentally for the players.

Manchester United doesn't want to play against Inter Milan, and the same goes for Inter Milan.

In addition to the above objective reasons, Manchester United is also the leader of the league and its strength should not be underestimated.

In addition, Manchester United's upward momentum this season is very strong. After Ferguson completed the transition from old to new players in the team, Manchester United has clearly shown a trend of rising.

Now the composition of the three generations of players in Manchester United is very reasonable. They have the experience of veterans and the drive of young people. Coupled with an experienced head coach, there are almost no shortcomings!

It will be very troublesome to play against such a team in the Champions League.

What’s interesting is that Inter Milan’s strength is in the midfield and their weakness is in the flanks, while Manchester United’s strength is in the flanks and their weakness is in the midfield.

When these two teams meet on the field, it will depend on who can better play to their strengths and who can protect their weaknesses from being breached.

In order to avoid the embarrassing situation of waiting for a venue, UEFA's invisible hand began to take action.

After AC Milan was arranged to play at home first and away later, Inter Milan indeed got the schedule of playing away first and home later.

This is good news for Inter Milan!
(End of this chapter)