Ground football: Ronaldo thought I was going to assist him

At the players' tunnel.

Deng Kai carried a bag of soccer balls and prepared to return to the locker room.

He had a very fruitful day.

"Your behavior disgusts me!"

Cristiano Ronaldo emerged from the corner, his eyes red, clearly having cried: "Do you really like those football stars? Or do you just want to turn that stuff into money?"

Don't you think your behavior is despicable?

"You have tarnished football!"

"Someone like you doesn't deserve to beat me! You don't deserve to lift the trophy!"

Deng Kai shrugged: "It wasn't easy for my parents to raise me. If I wanted to play football, they sent me to play football. If I wanted to study, they paid my tuition."

"Although we are Portuguese citizens, we are still outsiders. It is not easy for Chinese families in Lisbon. My father's salary is below the average GDP per capita in Portugal, and my mother's salary is even more meager."

"So I can completely put aside my dignity and beg those big stars for autographs, telling lies that neither they nor I believe, and then sell those things."

"Do you think Guardiola and the others didn't know? They did know, but they were still willing to sign autographs for me because they know how tough life is."

"Of course, I do feel guilty and ashamed because of this behavior, but I am willing to endure this torment."

"Because I know that when I bring that stack of money home, my parents can perhaps stay home and rest their tired bodies and minds on the weekend, instead of going out to do their second or third jobs."

"Is this disgusting?"

Deng Kai looked at Cristiano Ronaldo.

The latter's gaze gradually drifted away.

Cristiano Ronaldo had to admit that he was stunned by Deng Kai's words.

Because this is a question he hasn't considered yet.

At this stage, Cristiano Ronaldo is not making any contributions to or giving back to his family.

His family was also in difficult circumstances; it was not easy for his parents to raise so many children.

However, because of his talent in football, his parents granted his every request and invested the most in him among his siblings.

So Ronaldo knows about the financial difficulties that other family members feel, but he doesn't feel them.

Even if others wear Adidas, he might wear no-name brands, but at least he has something to wear.

Cristiano Ronaldo was truly overwhelmed by severe feelings of inferiority and realized the hardships his parents and siblings had endured after he moved from Madeira to Lisbon.

That is, in the next two or three months.

That greatly changed his personality.

"I wasn't saying that, I was talking about your behavior on the pitch!" Ronaldo changed the subject. "You were a thief, you stole a penalty, you stole a victory that was mine!"

"Diving! Diving! Is this all you learned in those three years of school?"

"You've disappointed me so much!"

Seeing the excited Ronaldo, Deng Kai put down what he was holding and walked over to Ronaldo, asking, "Chris, don't you understand?"

"That's one thing."

"This match is just an honor for you, just a trophy."

"But for me, it's a job opportunity, the most important step on my path to becoming a professional player."

"After I became a professional player, I was able to ensure that my parents would never have to work again, that they could return to their homeland to be with their relatives and friends, and that Europeans would know that players of Chinese descent can also be developed... The burdens we carry are completely different."

"Besides, why should I play my football the way you want?"

"Keep dribbling, and wait for you to overtake and steal the ball?"

"I'm nowhere near as fast as you, so I should just let you overtake me without trying anything else?"

"I'm not as tall as you, so when we're vying for a header, I should just stand by and give you possession?"

"My body isn't as strong as yours, so when you break through, I should just let you rush past without any hindrance?"

"My dribbling skills aren't as good as yours, so when you show off your fancy moves, all I can do is applaud and watch you score?"

"If that's the case, then why are we even playing this match?"

"Let's just give you the trophy! Your team is clearly stronger than ours!"

"If this is what football is supposed to be like, then I won't like football."

"The only reason I love football is that even if I'm short, physically weak, slow, or technically poor, as long as I'm willing to run hard and use my brain to think of solutions, I might be able to win a victory I shouldn't have won!"

"The weak have their own way of fighting, and the strong have their own way of fighting. Did I ever say that you're unsportsmanlike if you rely on speed and strength to overpower me?"

"I wouldn't say that misjudgments are part of the competition, nor would I deny that my final roll had an element of performance, but did I really violate the rules of the competition?"

"If I break the rules, let the rules punish me, not your words!"

Cristiano Ronaldo tried to refute Deng Kai several times, but each time he was rebuffed.

Only after Deng Kai finished speaking did Ronaldo angrily retort, "Being weak is not your excuse, at the very least your methods weren't honorable!"

Deng Kai shook his head: "Is what you really care about being upright and honorable? No, you think it's not upright and honorable simply because you don't need to use this method yourself."

"But will you really never need to? Will you really always be able to dominate your peers like that? Even in the Portuguese league, in the top five leagues, in the Champions League, in the European Championship, and in the World Cup?"

"No way!"

"Even Ronaldo dives."

"Zidane would deliberately bring down his opponents."

"Rivaldo is going to stall for time."

"Even Figo has to cheat a little."

"Even Romario elbows people."

"Batistuta was going to charge at the goalkeeper."

"Do you think you can always play football with your clothes never dirty? Who do you think you are?"

"I appreciate your pride, but if it turns into arrogance, then today's failure will not be the most painful failure of your career."

"Cristiano Ronaldo, you will become one of the greatest players on the planet. But only if you get rid of those bad habits!"

"If you had passed the ball to your teammates even once more today, you would have won the championship trophy."

"Do you remember those four times I stole the ball from you?"

"What you gave me wasn't possession of the ball, but a trophy."

Deng Kai left after speaking, leaving Ronaldo alone in the tunnel, his face flushed with worry.

Deng Kai turned at the end of the passage, but as soon as he turned, he saw Guardiola.

He clearly heard everything.

Tears streamed down Guardiola's face, for in Duncan's words he heard the struggle of a boy with limited physical talent, and the responsibility of a mature child towards his family, just like Guardiola himself.

If he were stronger, faster, and taller, he wouldn't be stuck in the backfield; he would be a key player in the attacking third like Zidane, a contender for the Ballon d'Or.

In recent years, he has also been free from injuries, which led to him being identified as a target for a purge by the Barcelona management, and he missed this World Cup.

What Deng Kai is saying, Ronaldo may not understand yet, but Guardiola understands it all too well.

"Do you need me to sign some more autographs for you? Any number is fine, even a hundred." Guardiola was extremely gentle.

"Of course, thank you, but... three or five is fine." Deng Kai nodded.

"It's okay, kid, my hand isn't sore." Guardiola still wanted to sign a few more players for Duncan.

"No, it's mainly because autographed footballs become worthless on the market," Deng Kai politely declined. "How about you have your teammates sign some and send them to me? My address is..."

Guardiola's bald head was covered in bulging veins.

That's some serious business sense.

So Guardiola approached the organizers, paid for some footballs, and after signing them all, personally packed them up and put them in a taxi along with Duncan.

After doing all that, Guardiola immediately called Van Gaal.

His relationship with this coach is complicated. The coach promoted him to captain of Barcelona and also valued him as a defensive midfielder in the number four position, regarding him as the team's playmaker.

However, some of Van Gaal's ideas are contrary to Guardiola's.

Moreover, he's not very good at building relationships with players; even if he gets very close to a player he's worked with at the beginning, they'll most likely fall out later.

Therefore, Guardiola has always kept his distance from Van Gaal.

But this time he couldn't care less about those things.

He felt that La Masia should take the child in.

Although Duncan is not a particularly talented player, his philosophy of doing everything he can to win is a perfect fit for Barcelona.

Because Barcelona, ​​which has made rapid progress from youth training to the first team under the philosophy of prioritizing ball possession, will eventually need non-technical players like these.

After answering the phone, Van Gaal said he would contact Barcelona's youth academy director.

But you could tell he wasn't really interested.