Football: I am only 16 years old, and you want me to retire and make a comeback?

Chapter 816 Tang Ye VS Wu Lei?

"Um, this..."

The commentator fell silent.

There were a total of 8 teams participating in the quarterfinals, and the team with the weakest overall strength was drawn against Manchester United.

【66666】

[Awesome, Tang Ye is beating Wu Lei, huh?]

[Does Lei have a chance to come on as a substitute? Anyone who watches La Liga, please share your thoughts.]

This is a domestic battle within the Chinese national team. Of course, this is all contingent on Wu Lei getting playing time; it all depends on whether Emery gives him the opportunity.

Whether Emery is willing to give Wu Lei a chance is a question, but it's clearly not the focus today.

The camera focused on Emery, the Villarreal manager, who sat in his seat without saying a word, his face full of surprise at the draw results.

Although he didn't finish speaking, fans can probably imagine what Emery is thinking right now.

This is ridiculous! Why did they put the first white ball they took out back...?

"Manchester United vs. Villarreal... that means Tang Ye has a chance to face Wu Lei in the Champions League knockout stage!"

"Hiss... This draw result is indeed not so friendly to Villarreal, but I'm still looking forward to the match between Manchester United and Villarreal."

The commentators and fans watching the broadcast were surprised, but Manchester United were even more surprised when they learned of the draw results.

"Didn't you say UEFA would target us?"

Rodri looked at Tang Ye beside him.

Clearly, the great Manchester United captain has just made the wrong judgment.

Tang Ye stated that Manchester United would be targeted by UEFA and drawn against very strong teams.

As a result, Manchester United drew the weakest opponent on paper among all their opponents, making Tang Ye's judgment completely wrong.

"I do not know."

Tang Ye covered the back of his head with both hands.

Although the outcome was different from what he had predicted, he was actually quite happy.

Playing Villarreal in the quarterfinals is indeed a very easy match.

It's just a pity about his brother Lei.

Manchester United are in a good position, but Villarreal are in a bad position.

"Do you have a national team teammate in Huangqian?"

Rodri suddenly realized something: "Then you're not feeling well."

Haha, actually not.

Tang Ye sat up straight, continuing to watch the lottery draw on the TV screen while answering Rodri's question: "Mainly because there's no other way."

"So we have no choice but to sacrifice him."

"Ha ha!"

Tang Ye's joke made Rhodes and Rashford laugh: "Alright, but this draw result is indeed acceptable."

"No, it's not possible."

Van der Gach interjected, "It is quite possible."

"Yes, we can just lie down and kick them. Isn't Huang Qian really bad?"

No kidding, Dembele has already collapsed.

"Your attitude will cause trouble."

Van der Gach stood with his arms crossed over his chest, his body ramrod straight, and his expression terrifyingly serious.

"Okay, but Huang Qian is really bad, I won't say anything else."

Manchester United players were already under a lot of pressure, and now that they've drawn Villarreal in the quarterfinals, they're in an incredibly comfortable position.

It's definitely much more comfortable than the Champions League knockout stage during the 2019-20 season due to the pandemic.

The right time, right place and right people!

Everything is ready!

……

Pinned post: Champions League quarter-final draw results: Bayern Munich vs. Liverpool, Manchester City vs. Real Madrid, Emery's Villarreal vs. Manchester United.

About three days later, Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal finally qualified for the World Cup finals.

The draw for the World Cup group stage will begin on April 1st, and Portugal's advancement can be described as very timely.

Although they qualified relatively late, Portugal is a top-ten team in the FIFA rankings, so even though they qualified for the main tournament at the last minute, they are still a seeded team.

This is really unfair, at least to the Chinese team!

In this Asian Cup qualifier, the Chinese national football team made a series of impressive moves, ranking first in the group stage, having the most points in Asia, and even becoming the first team in the world, apart from the host country Qatar, to qualify for the main tournament.

It's utterly outrageous that such a strong team can't be the number one seed just because of its low FIFA ranking.

In response, the Chinese newspaper Titan Sports published an article that, in addition to complaining about the seeding system for the World Cup group stage, also made a small prediction about the seeding of the Chinese team.

According to an analysis by Titan Sports, the Chinese national football team's ranking should see a slight increase after the FIFA rankings are updated in a few days.

If all goes well, the Chinese national football team should be able to secure the second seed, which means they will be considered a second-tier team.

The worst-case scenario is a third-tier team, which would be a rather bad situation for the Chinese national football team.

Because once you get to the third and fourth tiers, the difference isn't that significant. Everyone's an unseeded team; after a round of draws, you'll get a French team first, then a Dutch team, and then you'll be completely outmatched.

……

Manchester Evening News – FIFA tweet hints at an upcoming update to the national team points world rankings, TY liked and retweeted.

The next few days are non-match days, with the closest being the World Cup group stage draw ceremony on April 1st.

But this doesn't mean Manchester United players can relax.

In April, Manchester United will face Liverpool, Arsenal, and Chelsea in the Premier League, making it the most stressful month for the club since the start of the season.

Maintaining an unbeaten record against Liverpool, Arsenal, and Chelsea is no easy feat.

Due to the April schedule, Ten Hag made a very radical decision: to temporarily reduce his research on Villarreal and shift his focus back to the Premier League.

The meaning is quite clear: Ten Hag doesn't take Villarreal seriously at all.

At least in the eyes of the Manchester United manager, maintaining an unbeaten record in the Premier League is the top priority, and defeating their Champions League quarter-final opponent is just a side effect.

At lunchtime in the cafeteria, Tang Ye squatted on a chair, his phone on the table displaying the list of teams that had advanced to the World Cup group stage.

You look like you're under a lot of pressure.

Mata whispered, "To be honest, I've never seen you under this much pressure before."

Tang Ye turned off his phone screen and shook his head: "There's nothing we can do, probably because the World Cup only comes around once every four years."

"It's probably because you haven't participated enough times. If you had won a championship once, you probably wouldn't be so nervous, haha!"

“Hey, Mata, I think you’re absolutely right.”

Tang Ye's eyes lit up.

indeed.

Actually, there's not much difference between the World Cup and the Champions League.

When Tang Ye first participated in the Champions League, he only felt that the Champions League was a great competition, so he was naturally nervous.

He has now won the Champions League twice, so he is naturally in a very comfortable position when playing in the Champions League knockout stage.

Simply put, you need to get a good enough result once!
"But good grades are so hard to get..."

Tang Ye shook his head: "I've played in the World Cup once, and my best result was the round of 16. In the round of 16 in Russia, we were completely thrashed by Brazil. I can't even imagine how we'll play in Qatar."

"Relax, it's nothing..."

Mata suddenly stopped talking halfway through his sentence.

Because he noticed Tang Ye suddenly looking up with a serious expression, the Manchester United midfielder's eyes followed Cristiano Ronaldo and Dalot as they entered through the door.

Mata and Ronaldo have a fairly good relationship.

However, knowing the strained relationship between Tang Ye and Cristiano Ronaldo, he wisely refrained from continuing the conversation with Tang Ye.

……

Oriental Football Network reposted: The latest world rankings of the national team have been released. The Chinese national team is ranked second in Asia and has failed to overtake Japan.

Asia rankings:
1. Japan, 29th. (↑2)

2、中国，第30位（↑4）    3、伊朗，第45位（↓3）

Before the rankings were updated, Japan and China were closely linked, and they remain closely linked after the rankings were updated.

China's world ranking improved by two places, but it still lags behind Japan and has failed to return to its glory of being ranked first in Asia in the 2019 Asian Cup.

30th in the world...

Actually, this ranking is rather awkward.

If you take a closer look at the rankings of the other teams that have already qualified for the Qatar World Cup, you'll find something very bad.

That means the Chinese team will most likely be placed in the third tier!
It seems the Japanese team is also in the third tier!

It's quite possible that there won't be a single seeded team in the entire Asia region!

Of course, the results of the North and South American playoffs are not yet available. You don't know the FIFA rankings of the teams that advanced from the Americas playoffs, so you can't make an overall comparison. Therefore, it's hard to say whether there are any seeded teams in Asia.

Football data media outlet FootballMeetsData predicts the Asian seeding for the Qatar World Cup: Japan, China, South Korea, and Iran will be in the third tier, while Saudi Arabia and Australia will be in the fourth tier if they advance through the playoffs.

……

That evening, at Cristiano Ronaldo's mansion in Manchester.

The Portuguese player and his agent have once again clashed, and this time the conflict is more serious than ever before.

"Okay, so tell me what I should do now?"

Cristiano Ronaldo paced back and forth, spreading his hands: "You know what? I'm a complete fringe player right now. I played less than 10 minutes in the Champions League Round of 16. I was clearly in great form, but I just didn't get any playing time."

"And the League Cup!"

"I won't be there for the championship match!"

Cristiano Ronaldo is furious that he failed to lift the EFL Cup trophy after the final.

"..."

Mendes said awkwardly, "I know about the Champions League, but the EFL Cup... that's just a scheduling conflict. If there weren't European Championship qualifiers, you could have played in the final."

As an agent, Mendes naturally wanted to calm his player down, but he was quickly refuted by Ronaldo: "No! Impossible! You have no idea what I'm going through right now. I assure you, even without the European Championship qualifiers, Ten Hag wouldn't have let me play against Liverpool."

"I've told you many times, Eric is pure, pure scoundrel! He won't give me any chance to prove myself!"

Cristiano Ronaldo's facial veins were clearly visible.

You might think the Portuguese are exaggerating a bit.

However, objectively speaking, Ten Hag's actions towards Ronaldo this season were indeed quite nonsensical.

When Ronaldo was out of form, Ten Hag immediately benched him, citing his poor form as the reason.

When Ronaldo is in good form, Ten Hag will substitute him, because he doesn't want Ronaldo to continue his good form.

That's just how he is.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Mendes emphasized Ten Hag's petty nature: "He thinks that if I play well, it's a slap in his face!"

"My goal was a slap in the face to him!"

Cristiano Ronaldo practically shouted it out.

"..."

Mendes appeared calm, but he was actually quite frightened.

He took a half step back: "That's what I meant. You still need to ask Rhodes for help."

"Don't say that anymore."

Cristiano Ronaldo interrupted him directly: "Your advice is wrong."

"You said asking Rodri and Dembele for help would solve the problem, but let me tell you, it won't solve it at all. Nobody is willing to help or talk to Eric, do you know why? Because they're all afraid of offending TY! I don't know why these professional players are so cowardly, they're beyond saving."

Mendes sighed: "I... I said before that it might solve the problem, I didn't guarantee it would definitely."

"That's no longer the point!"

Cristiano Ronaldo flicked his hand and then kicked away the chair that was in the way next to him.

boom!
After kicking the chair, look at Ronaldo's expression. The Portuguese player's face was completely red, like his facial blood vessels were congested.

"You told me that coming to Manchester United would guarantee a Champions League title, and even a chance to win the Ballon d'Or again. But what happened?"

Cristiano Ronaldo burst out laughing: "If I can't even play in the Champions League knockout stages, what does it have to do with me if Manchester United wins the Champions League? Can I go up there and lift the trophy with them?"

"I've already wasted half a season here! And the next half season will be wasted too!"

"It has ended!"

"Asking Rhodes and his group for help was a mistake from the very beginning!"

Cristiano Ronaldo was furious, especially at Mendes's advice to him.

After much hesitation, he bowed his head in humiliation.

He had already lowered his head, but he received no response.

A marginal figure remains a marginal figure.

He's always been a marginal figure!
……

"Cristiano, do you know your mistake?"

For some unknown reason, Ronaldo found himself inexplicably suspended in mid-air again, with Tang Ye holding a whip in front of him, and the Manchester United midfielder wearing a beautiful crown on his head.

“TY… what is this…”

pia!

"what!!"

There was no physical pain, but for some reason, Ronaldo couldn't help but make a sound.

"audacious in the extreme!"

pia!

"what!!!"

With another lash, Tang Ye left two bloody marks on Ronaldo in less than half a minute.

"TY! Don't do this! Please stop! Tell me, what did I do wrong?"

Without further ado, Tang Ye lashed out with his whip again.

pia!

"What did you do wrong?"

"You don't even know what you did wrong?"

pia!

"what!!!"

"Thinking you can just come to Manchester United and win the Champions League by doing nothing? Do you think you can just sit back and do nothing in the Champions League?"

pia!

"Ah, I... I was wrong, I was wrong, TY! Stop it, don't do this!"

"Damn it, I won't stop."

pia!

"You want to dethrone me at Manchester United? Do you think that's possible, with your lousy, pathetic pressing?"

"Today I'm going to show you what I'm capable of."

"Osman, Rodri!"

"Here! Your Majesty, what are your orders?"

"This whip is too thin, get a thicker one. Also, remember to keep an eye on this kid; he actually wants to start for Manchester United, he's incredibly audacious!"

“Osman, if you sense he's trying to get into the starting lineup, give him two lashes. That's an order!”

"No, no! Hey, TY!"

She sat up abruptly, next to a completely bewildered Georgina.

"..."

"Fuck!"

boom!
Cristiano Ronaldo punched the blanket hard.

This is the fourth time he's had this dream!
……

(End of this chapter)