When playing football, you should call it GOAT.

Chapter 18 Who is the consensus? (Please continue reading!)

"A great story!"

Marcelo Gallardo was completely captivated by the heroism of "Marcelo" in the story, and the 27-year-old Argentine even shed a few tears.

But he refused to acknowledge that in this fictional story, the Argentine coach would betray his country.

"All Argentinians will fight for Maradona; they will never betray him for personal gain!"

"Just like when we faced the British!"

Roy suppressed a laugh and nodded in agreement.

Yes, it will happen.

He recalled a president who had provided him with cheap, good beef; it would have been different if it had been an American.

Heathlen followed behind them the whole time, and as Roy sensed, he was a "silent presence."

"He lives in the dormitory at the training center, which is quite far away."

Roy patted Heisler on the back and introduced him to Gallardo again, who was probably Roy's sidekick in the eyes of the Argentine.

"Would it be convenient to find him a place to stay in your palace?"

Roy whispered to Gallardo.

He rents a boutique studio apartment, which is not convenient for guests to stay overnight.

"of course."

Gallardo readily agreed, and he also liked Roy calling his villa a palace.

"I can also arrange for two pretty girls to sleep with him. You come with me too, and you can choose whichever you like."

Roy smiled and said, "You are truly a generous king."

He declined.

“That’s not necessary, Nicholas.”

The two-week off-season passed quickly, and the noisy locker room was filled with the smell of gunpowder.

Roy took the water that Heathlen handed him.

A thought suddenly popped into his head: "Do you think I can't get water myself?"
This atmosphere is too Korean, making Roy feel uncomfortable.

"We are teammates."

Roy said.

Heathlen's life has changed.

Gallardo became polite to him that day, simply because he had been Roy's sparring partner for a day?

“You’re Roy’s man, so you can tell me if you need anything.”

Gallardo sees this as perfectly normal; when a South American player rises to prominence, all his underlings benefit from it.

These people will flock around him, like stars surrounding the moon, while the moon will be responsible for providing for the stars' basic needs.

People always need emotional support.

In his view, Roy just needed a handyman, so he chose Heathlen.

For the two weeks of the offseason, he served as Roy's sparring partner.

When his vacation ended, Hitzlsperger found himself labeled as "Roy's man" and thus earned the "respect" of some in the first team.

Originally, he was an invisible figure that few people paid attention to, known by the nickname "that guy". The team's big stars completely ignored him, while some young professional players would ask him to do things.

To gain a sense of superiority from having others below them in their social class.

Now, the younger players don't dare to ask Hitzlsperger to do much work because "he's Roy's man."

Little brother? Follower? It doesn't matter, and Roy has never even commented on it.

Even if it's just rumors, they have to consider whether "spanking him is slapping Roy in the face."

It's absurd, yet also very real.

Roy had no idea what he had changed.

After the holiday, everyone in the locker room underwent subtle changes.

During his vacation, Giuly took his wife and four-year-old son to the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco. When they returned, he hung a plastic shark toy he had bought from the museum's gift shop on the shelf.

This is a locker room mascot that his son gave him.

Rothen, shaking his blond head adorned with a diamond earring, recounted his story in a fit of exasperation.

The paparazzi captured images of him and his girlfriend eating truffle pasta at the Louis XV restaurant, feeding each other sweetly, which made headlines.

The reason he was furious was that his girlfriend had seen the news.

"Gentlemen—"

Deschamps, who has led his team to an eleven-game unbeaten run, looks much more relaxed than ever.

With his hands in his pockets and a slight smile on his lips, he began his pre-battle pep talk.

"First of all, congratulations! In these two weeks without any matches, some of you have gotten so tanned you look like lobsters (looking at Flavio Roma), some have gained three kilograms (staring at Gallardo), and some have finally learned how to tie their shoelaces (Roy, who was tying his shoelaces, looked up)." The locker room erupted in laughter, and the tension instantly dissipated.

“Auxerre? They are indeed working very hard and are currently third in the league standings, but we are in first place!”

“Oh là là!”

A response rang out from the locker room.

"Gibral Cissé is fast! Extremely fast! He might be the undisputed fastest player in Ligue 1?"

Deschamps gave Roy a meaningful look, Giuly and Rothen also looked over, and Pulso burst into laughter.

Max roared sarcastically, "Who agrees?!"

Roy, unusually, didn't feign modesty. He touched his hair and revealed a relaxed and unrestrained smile.

He said, "I'm faster!"

“Hhhhhhh, Oh là là!”

Deschamps smiled upon hearing this, and as he walked to the door, he suddenly turned back.

"Ninety minutes from now, only two types of people will be able to shower in the locker room! Either the beast that makes Auxerre cry for its mother, or the good-for-nothing who has already booked a train ticket to Ligue 2!"

The whole team formed a circle, their strong arms linked together, shouting cheers to show their unity, and then the "beasts" rushed out of the locker room.

“Sur le stade Louis II” (at the Stade Louis II)
Les rouges et blancs sont réunis, (Red and white merge into the ocean)

Pour chanter, pour gagner (Sing for victory)
Allez Monaco, allez! (Go Monaco!)

This was Roy's first start at the Stade Louis II, and he saw Cissé in the players' tunnel.

With her short, curly hair dyed milky white, she looked like a black middle-aged woman over 1.8 meters tall from behind.

At this time, his two long, muscular legs had not yet been broken, and he was still the green field running forward nicknamed "Black Whirlwind".

Cisse stared at Roy with his tiger-like eyes for a long time without saying a word.

But just when Roy thought it was a demonstration, Cissé smiled, revealing a set of white teeth.

He walked out of the players' tunnel holding the caddie's hand.

The sea of ​​red and white filled his eyes, and the sound waves exploded in an instant. The men's fierce roars, the children's hysterical whistles, and the female fans' trembling shouts blended into a complex clamor like the ocean tide, piercing the sky.

The entire stands vibrated up and down in rhythm.

This stadium is different now. Roy turned to look at the fans' stands, where his mark was beginning to appear on the banners held up by the fan groups.

"ROI EST EN FEU! (Roy is on fire!)"

The girl holding up the sign noticed Roy looking in their direction and immediately screamed, "Marry me!"

The sound was immediately drowned out by the surrounding laughter.

"VENDRE? JAMAIS! (Sell it? No way!)"

His recent performance has attracted the attention of many clubs, and there have been frequent rumors in the sports media that foreign clubs are interested in signing Roy, especially when a striker is out of form or injured.

As the announcer finished reading "Ro-Yi-" with a drawn-out tone, the last syllable was swallowed up by cheers.

As the camera panned across the VIP boxes, Canal+ commentator Thierry Rolland's voice rang out on the television: "Today we see many familiar faces here. Monaco's former 'King George' has returned to the Stade Louis II. Even though he has been retired for many years, some fans are still holding up banners to welcome him."

Inside the private room, a bald, bearded, bespectacled Black man was holding a glass of champagne.

George Weah began preparing to form his own political group, the Congress for Democratic Change, in Liberia this year, and has recently started to frequently travel to Europe to raise political funds.

"Jean-Luc Ettori, the key player in the 1988 Ligue 1 championship, Monaco's all-time leading goalkeeper in appearances, played for Monaco for 19 years and made 602 appearances!"

The legendary goalkeeper, who always had a toothpick in his mouth when making saves, still keeps the ball locker in the locker room exactly as it was, and no one dares to touch it.

What? How legendary is it?

A goalkeeper who is 175cm tall is a legend in himself.

"French national team coach Jacques Santini was also present, sitting next to team president Campora. Was he there to assess Giuly's form? Or Rothen's? It couldn't be that he was there to assess Reus. Before the Confederations Cup held in mid-June, the French team will face Malta and Israel in the European Championship qualifiers. Perhaps we will see Reus don the national team jersey for the first time!"

He had a round face that never smiled, short, iron-gray hair, puffy eyes, and wore a double-breasted dark blue suit with a miniature French flag pinned to his left lapel.

Santini's coaching style is quite controversial; he excels at structure rather than tactics.

On the one hand, as the sporting director, he nurtured key players such as Juninho and Govou at Lyon, personally winning the first of Lyon's seven consecutive championships and laying the foundation for their dominance.

On the other hand, he overemphasized discipline and execution, treating the team like a precision instrument to be fine-tuned, and insisted on not using Trezeguet in the 2004 European Championship.

As a result, this precision instrument was smashed to pieces by the Greeks with a single hammer blow.

After being eliminated, they were heavily criticized by L'Équipe: "Their tactics are still in the Stone Age."

On the field, Monaco lost possession of the ball during a forward pass shortly after kickoff.

Auxerre midfielder Lionel Mathis delivered a through ball, and forward Djibril Cissé launched a lightning-fast attack, with another center forward, Halillou Fadiga, close behind.

Monaco's defenses were instantly on the verge of collapse.

"Lightning-fast counter-attacks! Monaco are too used to winning; a fatal mistake could have cost them a goal early in the game!"

From now on, we'll have two chapters at this fixed time.



(End of this chapter)