Chapter 315: Additions to the showroom
The news of Wang Feng winning the Ballon d'Or Award spread quickly around the world. The official websites of Real Madrid, the Asian Football Confederation, and FIFA all congratulated him immediately.
Real Madrid's official statement expressed that the Galacticos welcomed anotherBalon d'Or Award winner, which was an incredibly honorable achievement for the club.
Although they have won nine Champions League titles, dominating Europe, there haven't been many historical winners of the Ballon d'Or Award. Only four so far: Di Stefano, Copa, Figo, and Ronaldo. Wang Feng is the fifth.
"Although his performance during his time at Inter Milan was a key factor in Wang Feng's award, now he belongs to the Galacticos. We believe and look forward to him leading the team to more honors."
The AFC believes that Wang Feng is the pride of Asia. He has repeatedly proven to the world that Asians can play football well, continuously elevating the status of Asian football in the world.
"In the continent with the largest population in the world, many children who love Wang Feng devote themselves to football every day. Their growth will further enhance the strength of Asian football, all thanks to Wang Feng!"
FIFA believes that Wang Feng has become a phenomenal player. "He's only 23 years old this year, not yet at the peak age of a professional player. It's hard for us to guess how long he will dominate the football world."
But FIFA believes this isn't a bad thing. More and more young players are inspired by Wang Feng and work hard. As they chase their idols, they will contribute more exciting performances to the fans.
Many years later, looking back, everyone suddenly realized that 2006 was the year when the situation of "one dominating over many" in football formed.
On December 4th, in the 13th round of La Liga, Real Madrid welcomed Athletic Bilbao at home.
They are a team from the Basque Country, founded in 1898, the second oldest football club in Spanish history, after Vasco.
Since the establishment of La Liga in 1928, Athletic Bilbao has never been relegated, with only Real Madrid and Barcelona holding this honor.
This team has a characteristic different from other clubs: they only use players with Basque ancestry, a unique phenomenon throughout the European continent.
All of this stems from the regional factors of the Basque Country. They have their own official language and attach importance to ethnic ancestry, hence the policy of not using foreign reinforcements.
Restricted by recruitment goals, Athletic Bilbao has experienced a difficult period. After avoiding relegation last season, the team didn't make much progress in the transfer window in the summer.
They only brought in unknown minor roles but lost several key players, including the defensive leader Lacroix, the team's soul Caranka and Grero, and the main midfielder Gopeji was suspended for two years.
So, since the start of this season, the team's performance has declined straight to the bottom four, just a step away from the relegation zone. Even so, 72% of the fans still prefer relegation rather than breaking the tradition of using only Basque players.
This game was relatively easy for the Galacticos, as they always controlled the situation on the field. In the 5th minute, Wang Feng received a pass from Diarra on the left, and seeing Raul advancing into the penalty area, he crossed from the outside of the penalty area.
Athletic Bilbao defender Casas cleared the ball out of the penalty area at the near post, and Guti received the ball outside, passing it again to Wang Feng on the left to organize.
This time, Wang Feng pretended to shoot towards the penalty area. The defender Esposito in front of him immediately moved to block, but he didn't expect it was just a feint. The Chinese superstar easily dribbled past him and drove straight into the penalty area.
Arriving at the left side of the penalty area, Wang Feng directly shot from a narrow angle, aiming for the upper right corner of the goal. The ball curved around the front of the goal, avoiding the goalkeeper Lafont's palm, hitting the intersection of the crossbar and the post, and bounced into the net.
1:0! Real Madrid took the lead! After the goal, the home team continued to control the situation. In the 23rd minute, Wang Feng forced his way down the right and crossed to the middle for Raul, who made a low shot, but it was blocked by Athletic Bilbao defender Ustariz.
Then Reyes followed up with a shot, the ball hit Casas and deflected into the net, and Real Madrid expanded their lead!
With 5 minutes left in the first half, Wang Feng cooperated with Reyes on the sideline, the ball came near the baseline, and the Chinese superstar chased it into the penalty area, crossing to Raul at the back post, who made a low shot to make it 3-0.
The victory was almost secured in the first half, so Schuster made personnel changes in the second half. However, Athletic Bilbao was still suppressed. Substitute Ronaldo, as well as Guti and Cannavaro, each contributed a goal for the team.
6:0! The Galacticos secured a big win at the Bernabeu.
Midweek, there was the 6th round of the Champions League group stage. Real Madrid traveled to Ukraine to challenge Kiev Dynamo, so they flew to Kiev the next day.
But Wang Feng didn't travel with them. He took another private jet to Paris, France, to attend the European Ballon d'Or Award ceremony. Fortunately, Real Madrid had already secured the top spot in the group, so Wang Feng's absence wouldn't have any adverse effects.
After completing a familiar routine, he finally got his hands on the heavy trophy, which would be a new addition to his trophy room.
After buying a mansion in Madrid, Wang Feng specifically set aside a whole underground space as his football honor display room. From the Belgian Golden Boot at the beginning, to the Italian Golden Boot and even the European Golden Boot, UEFA Club Footballer of the Year, World Cup Golden Ball, and the most important European Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Footballer trophies, all were neatly arranged on wooden shelves.
In addition to these, trophies such as League Monthly Best Player, UEFA Best Forward, Season Best Player, and other honors were also displayed. The honors he received already exceeded the sum of many players' entire careers.
But Wang Feng is not satisfied with this. The current trophies only fill 10% of the entire display room. He hopes to increase this to 100% by the end of his career. At that time, regardless of how time passes, he will always be the man standing at the top of football, without any dispute!
While Wang Feng was adding new items to his display room, Real Madrid encountered a strong challenge from Kiev Dynamo. They were competing with Lyon for the second spot to advance, so they played exceptionally hard.
Home team forward Shatskih opened the scoring for Kiev Dynamo with a long shot in the 17th minute, and then he scored again in the 34th minute, completing a brace.
It wasn't until the 86th minute that Real Madrid pulled one back through Ronaldo, but Kiev Dynamo held onto the victory, defeating Real Madrid 2-1.
However, the Ukrainian powerhouse still couldn't secure the second spot because in another match, Lyon beat Bucharest Stars 4-0, laughing last with the advantage of goal difference.
Real Madrid's opponent in the round of 16 will be the Bundesliga powerhouse Bayern Munich. This result made many fans gasp in shock. Can the Galacticos really break the curse of the "Round of 16" in the Champions League?
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