Chapter 695: A Debate and Huge Controversy (Second Perspective)
As the Europa League qualifiers progressed intensively, the 2014-2015 Bundesliga season slowly kicked off.
Werder Bremen was very unfortunate to be scheduled to play away in the first round against the newly crowned league champions Bayern Munich. The Southern King was in high spirits and aimed to make a strong start, launching an attack on the league title.
Moreover, this game also attracted the attention of many domestic fans. Nowadays, there are many European players with diverse backgrounds, but there aren't many matchups with significant highlights, and the Bundesliga competition is one of them.
With a new season comes new opportunities, and Yellow Tiger was also eager to compete with the top teams. Perhaps their own team had the hope of becoming another young storm as well.
Dreams are plentiful, but reality is harsh. The gap between the two teams in the match was fully reflected in all aspects, whether it was ball control organization or offensive threat, Werder Bremen was far below Bayern Munich.
Muller and substitute Lewandowski each scored a goal for the home team. Yellow Tiger, eager to equalize, fell into a slump, wasting several opportunities in succession.
Especially in the 44th minute, Hayirovic failed to break through horizontally in the penalty area, so he passed the ball back to De Bruyne outside the penalty area.
The latter made a feint with his right foot to create space for a shot, causing Rafinha to shift his weight to block, and then suddenly dribbled with his left foot to break through.
There was chaos in the Bayern penalty area. The defensive focus inevitably concentrated on the Belgian who had entered the heart of the defense, and with just a glance at the situation, he decisively used his left foot to curve the ball towards the back post.
After bypassing the defensive line consecutively, the ball found Yellow Tiger accurately. He almost faced an open goal opportunity, but even so, the Chinese youngster's airborne shot sent the ball directly into the stands.
"Hey, what's going on with this shot?" The commentator in the live broadcast room exclaimed in disbelief, "Yellow Tiger was completely in an undisturbed situation. How could he still miss?"
"A stab, a push, or even just a stop forward could all send the ball into Bayern's goal, but he chose to shoot with force. The point of contact with the ball was too low, causing it to fly over the crossbar."
"His mentality is still a bit impatient, which is a common problem for young people. I hope Yellow Tiger can adjust himself and stabilize."
Although this was the case, the Chinese youngster on the field could not realize that, as he became more and more anxious, he even clashed with opponents and received a yellow card.
In the end, coach Schaaf chose to replace him with Diasanto in the 65th minute. Yellow Tiger sat on the bench dejectedly with his head down, watching the team lose 0-2 to Bayern Munich.
This game caused a heated discussion on domestic internet platforms. Both highly anticipated Chinese players from both teams failed to perform well. It was understandable that Dongfang Zuo's state declined near the age of 30; generally, the peak period for Asian players is relatively short, although there are exceptions like Wang Feng.
But Yellow Tiger disappointed many people. It should be noted that he was considered one of the future pillars of the national team, and such a performance obviously did not meet expectations.
For a while, there were endless criticisms and insults, even his Werder Bremen teammates couldn't bear to see it. "It's just a league match, why are your fans so harsh on you?" De Bruyne said angrily.
"After all, the base is too large, and it's easy to be influenced." Yellow Tiger smiled bitterly. It was a fact that he did not perform well in the game, but such excessive criticism was also not desirable.
This game made Yellow Tiger see his own limitations. He did not have the innate talent like Wang Feng and Dongfang Zuo, but through continuous tempering and growth, he could still thrive in European football.
But as long as he persisted in cultivating his strengths, such as awareness of positioning and ability to perform in critical moments, coupled with accumulated experience, it would not be a problem for him to continue to stand firm in the top teams in the league.
This year's UEFA Super Cup was much earlier than in previous years. On August 13th, at the Cardiff City Stadium in Wales, the preseason match between Real Madrid and Europa League champions Sevilla kicked off.
With Wang Feng scoring in the 30th and 49th minutes to secure a brace, the Galacticos ultimately defeated the fellow La Liga powerhouse 2-0, winning the first trophy of the season before the start of the season.
After that, the team went to Shanghai, China, to participate in the Spanish Super Cup, competing against last year's runner-up, Atletico Madrid. This event has been held in China for the second consecutive year.
For Real Madrid, competing against Atletico Madrid is always a struggle, coupled with many key players showing signs of fatigue after the World Cup and the fatigue of travel, head coach Ancelotti decided to send out a rotated squad.
Wang Feng played for about forty minutes before being substituted, failing to score. The new signing for Los Rojiblancos, Griezmann, scored the only goal of the match, helping the team win 1-0 against the Galacticos.
Although Real Madrid's defeat left many supporters feeling regretful, the impressive performance of Atletico Madrid also received warm praise, allowing them to taste the sweetness of the domestic market.
"Maybe we should pay attention to some potential Chinese players?" Atletico Madrid chairman Cerezo thought to himself.
At the end of the month, the annual UEFA awards ceremony and the draw for the Champions League group stage were also held as scheduled.
The three candidates for the UEFA Best Player Award were Wang Feng, Thomas Muller, and Cristiano Ronaldo, which was not surprising. Messi, who performed poorly in the World Cup knockout stage, did not make it to the top three, ranking fourth.
Before the ceremony, many media speculated that the Chinese superstar still had a great chance to win the award again, after all, with the club winning the quintuple crown and the European Golden Boot honor, even without participating in the World Cup, he still had strong competitiveness.
However, the result was unexpected. In the on-site voting, Wang Feng received 23 votes, while Thomas Muller received 24 votes, and the Chinese superstar narrowly lost by one vote!
The guests present looked at each other in astonishment, and the atmosphere fell into a strange calmness for a while. Even the Germans were full of disbelief, but Wang Feng was the first to react, hugging Muller generously and congratulating him.
Then applause broke out, and Muller went up to receive the "Silver Shorts." He became the second player to receive this honor since its establishment in 2011, breaking Wang Feng's monopoly.
This result was not unexpected for the Chinese superstar, after all, it was a World Cup year, but losing by just one vote was somewhat regrettable.
However, it caused a huge controversy worldwide. "Is the World Cup everything?" Leading media outlets such as Spain's "National Newspaper" strongly questioned the voting results.
They believed that with 51 league goals and 19 assists, as well as 19 goals and 7 assists in the Champions League, helping the team achieve the quadruple crown in a single season, not to mention the added value of eight consecutive league and Champions League titles, such achievements were undoubtedly worthy of the title of the best player of the season.
Only winning the World Cup trophy was simply not enough to compare. "Perhaps this year will be the most controversial year for the UEFA Best Player Award!"
On the other hand, media outlets led by Germany's "Bild" admitted that Wang Feng's individual performance was undoubtedly much stronger than Muller's. "He is the kind of player who continuously improves everyone's understanding and expectations."
Having experienced a hundred goals in a season and winning the sextuple crown, as well as having won the European Best Player ten times (including seven times as the former UEFA Club Footballer of the Year), the judges are also human and naturally stand at a higher position to evaluate the Chinese superstar.
In this situation, Muller stepped forward to become the alternative choice. His performance reached the peak of his career, winning the Bundesliga title, the World Cup, and scoring second only to the Golden Boot winner J-Rodriguez in the World Cup.
The difference in votes between the two sides was only one, which also proved the struggle of the judges. Muller's surprising victory was not a fantasy, but a reality.
The sourc𝗲 of this content is free(w)ebnov(𝒆)l