Chapter 246: Dark season
Upon hearing his name, Wang Feng took a deep breath, hugged Ronaldinho and Henry beside him, then walked slowly towards FIFA President Blatter, and received the trophy from his hands.
This golden trophy, resembling a semi-arched rectangular prism, was quite heavy. Whether it was made of pure gold or not, theoretically, the Ballon d'Or trophy should be pure gold. The trophy for the World Footballer of the Year couldn't be much different, right?
Wang Feng shook his head slightly, casting aside these distracting thoughts. He then calmly delivered his thank-you speech, much steadier in emotion compared to last year. In his speech, he thanked his teammates, club, and family, and declared confidently that he would continue striving for more awards.
"I hope my trophy room will be filled with these trophies." The audience below chuckled knowingly, applauding and encouraging this young superstar.
Wang Feng wins the FIFA World Footballer of the Year for the second consecutive time! This news quickly spread worldwide through the media, and no one was surprised. This year, almost no one could shake his position.
In terms of the number of votes, he overwhelmingly defeated Ronaldihno and Henry. Even coaches and captains from traditional football powerhouses in Europe and South America gave their first-place votes to Wang Feng.
FIFA praised Wang Feng as the "leader of the new era of superstars" and stated, "Wang Feng is only 21 years old, with a long professional career ahead of him. We believe he will bring us many more brilliant performances and add many legends to the world football."
Media outlets, news agencies, and online platforms all reported and spread the news. Fans in the country celebrated as if it were New Year's Day. Moderators on forums and discussion boards had already made comprehensive preparations, but they still underestimated the power of netizens. Websites once again "sacrificed" and had to work overtime to maintain them.
Winning the double title greatly boosted Wang Feng and Inter Milan's morale. Even facing biased refereeing in the league, they continued to fiercely compete for victory in every match, firmly chasing Juventus, who held the top spot.
This situation greatly drained the players' spirits. In the quarter-finals of the Italian Cup, Inter Milan was eliminated by Lazio with a total score of 3:4.
In the round of 16 of the Champions League, they eliminated Porto with a score of 4:1, but in the quarter-finals against AC Milan, they tied 3:3, only barely advancing thanks to away goals.
The league also reached a crucial round, with Inter Milan facing Juventus away in the 30th round. Currently, Juventus had 21 wins, 6 draws, 2 losses, with 69 points leading the table, while Inter Milan had 20 wins, 7 draws, 2 losses, with 67 points in second place. In other words, if Inter Milan won now, they would top the table!
In the drizzling rain of Turin, the game officially began! From the start, Juventus launched a fierce attack. In the 17th minute, Ibrahimovic received a cross from Nedved on the wing and headed the ball into the net, opening the scoring for the Bianconeri.
Towards the end of the first half, Inter Milan launched a counterattack. Civu intercepted the ball in the backfield and sent a long diagonal pass, the ball flew in a beautiful arc, finding Wang Feng who had run up the left flank.
Wang Feng controlled the ball at his feet. Facing Tullamore in front of him, he lifted his left foot as if to pass the ball to the bottom, but quickly flicked the ball inward with his right foot. His feint was too convincing, successfully deceiving Tullamore.
Cannavaro, behind Tullamore, hurriedly chased to defend, but Wang Feng had already accelerated. He took two steps laterally, slightly pulling away from the defense before shooting directly.
"Goooooooooooooooooal! The ball is in! Wang Feng equalizes the score!"
"A powerful shot from outside the penalty area, the ball suddenly rose halfway, hanging directly into the upper right corner of the goal, the goalkeeper had no chance to save it!"
"This crucial title showdown, both sides are back on level terms!"
At the start of the second half, in the 55th minute, Inter Milan got a good chance. While Juventus pressed aggressively, Zanetti stole the ball from Pirlo and immediately passed it to Wang Feng in midfield.
He dribbled the ball at high speed, with only Tullamore, who kept retreating to defend, in front of him. When he reached the top of the penalty area, Tullamore finally felt he couldn't let him go any further and moved in to intercept.
Wang Feng stepped on the ball with his right foot, swiftly rotated his body, and flicked the ball under his foot, successfully getting past Tullamore with a Marseille turn. At this moment, Buffon, who came out to close him down, was approaching, trying to block.
In the critical moment, he poked the ball to the right with his right foot, dodging Buffon, and caught up with the ball near the goal line, then scored into the empty net from a narrow angle.
2:1! Inter Milan reversed the score! As time passed, the score on the field remained unchanged. Juventus' frantic attacks left their defense vulnerable, and Wang Feng nearly expanded the lead several times.
This made the players of the Bianconeri somewhat anxious, and their movements gradually became more aggressive. Apart from Wang Feng, other players also suffered injuries.
In the 64th minute, Ribery was tackled on the shin by Zebina while dribbling. The Frenchman immediately fell to the ground in pain, and the players from both sides almost erupted into a conflict. The referee managed to control the situation in time to prevent a major incident.
Ribery's injury was quite severe, and Mancini had to substitute him. But what was extremely confusing happened next: the main referee came to Wang Feng and showed him a red card! This was absolutely unreasonable and inexplicable because Wang Feng had been checking on Ribery's injury and hadn't been involved in the altercation. Even the TV commentators were exclaiming, "This red card is simply absurd, what's wrong with De Santis?"
After several protests, the main referee De Santis still maintained the decision to expel Wang Feng from the field. Inter Milan, suffering from a double blow, faltered and conceded two goals in the following time, losing 2:3 to Juventus.
After the match, an angry Mancini directly criticized: "Zebina, who committed a malicious foul, wasn't sent off with a red card, but Wang Feng, who did nothing wrong, was expelled. This is absolutely unacceptable!"
A group of reporters surrounded De Santis, who explained that he hadn't seen clearly at the time and thought Wang Feng was also involved in the conflict. But with such an obvious Asian face, mistaking him is simply unbelievable!
The next day, major media outlets all reported that the main referee had ruined the match of the century. The Italian Football Federation also imposed the largest penalty ever, banning De Santis from officiating in all remaining matches of the season.
But these punishments were futile. Inter Milan still lost to Juventus, increasing the point gap to 5. Ribery would be sidelined for at least a month, and Wang Feng received a red card and would be suspended for the next match, pushing them further away from the championship.
Misfortunes never come singly. In the Champions League semi-finals against Chelsea, facing a strong lineup of the Blues under Mourinho's coaching, Inter Milan was eliminated with a score of 1:2 over two legs, missing the final!
Unwilling to accept failure, Wang Feng then led Inter Milan in the league to make a comeback, even achieving a seven-game winning streak. However, after 38 rounds, the point gap between Inter Milan and Juventus remained at 3 points, and the Nerazzurri had to settle for second place without winning the championship.
If it weren't for that unacceptable defeat in the 30th round, Inter Milan would surely have been able to reverse the situation and win the league title again, but now everything had become a pipe dream.
This chapter is updated by freew(e)bnovel.(c)om