Chapter 761: Let's Go Together Next Year
"Manchester City defeated Bucharest Stars and advanced to the Champions League group stage." Inside the office of the Real Madrid president, Báldano said to Florentino.
"The result is obvious," the Spaniard tapped his fingers lightly on the table. "We know Wang's power better than anyone else. Perhaps we should have included a buy-back clause in the transfer deal?"
"Manchester City will never agree to that. They are also an important rival on our path to winning the league."
"Let's not talk about that. How's the team recently? Losing both the Spanish Super Cup and the UEFA Super Cup consecutively, what's the coaching staff's plan?"
"Zinedine believes it's mainly a team integration issue. The strategy of making Cristiano the focal point of the attack is definitely correct, but Ronaldo is not Wang Feng. He needs more support and time to adapt."
Florentino rubbed his eyes. "I understand, but Cristiano is not getting any younger. We must ensure that he returns to the peak within three years."
"I can give the team time, but I'm afraid the patience of the fans and members is running thin."
On the other hand, many former teammates of the Galacticos contacted Wang Feng, congratulating him on his victory while complaining about the current atmosphere in the team.
"It's too depressing. Consecutive losses to Barcelona and Sevilla have made the atmosphere in the locker room seem stagnant. I've never experienced such a bad feeling at Real Madrid," Modric said in frustration.
The situation was even more severe than he described. The once harmonious atmosphere had completely disappeared, and everyone formed cliques, such as the Spanish faction, the Portuguese faction, and so on.
In fact, this was a common occurrence in top clubs, just like how Barcelona had always had the European faction and the South American faction internally.
In the past, Wang Feng's dominant status within the Galacticos suppressed everything, and everyone chose to rally around him, ensuring harmony and unity within the team, resulting in unimaginable success.
And now everything was back to normal, various factions and power struggles emerged inevitably, which was obviously a heavy blow to the old players, especially players like Modric who wanted to continue pursuing victory.
The Chinese superstar could only comfort Modric, advising him to act as a lubricant, balancing all sides to ensure the stability of the team.
With the dust settled on the Champions League spot, Wang Feng and the club staff set off for Monaco to attend the annual UEFA Awards Ceremony and the Champions League group stage draw.
Unlike previous years where a group of teammates traveled together, only the Chinese superstar from the entire club qualified this year. Looking at his teammates' envious and expectant eyes, he couldn't help but say, "Guys, let's strive to go together next year!"
Everyone nodded eagerly, understanding what that meant. As long as they reached the summit of Europe, everyone would qualify for this grand event!
On the evening of August 25th, at 8 o'clock, the ceremony began as scheduled, with the eyes of the world's media and fans focused on the Grimaldi Forum.
The two final awards, the UEFA Women's Player of the Year, was unsurprisingly awarded to the Norwegian youngster Hegerberg.
The competition for the UEFA Men's Player of the Year, the "Silver Pants," was more intense, with three candidates: Wang Feng, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Higuaín, each with their own characteristics.
The Chinese superstar, needless to say, was the absolute core of the consecutive championship club, with comprehensive data of 31 goals and 24 assists in the league, and the top scorer in the Champions League.
The Portuguese star was the winner of the European Championship, similar to Thomas Müller in 2014, and the Argentine forward was the European Golden Boot winner and the runner-up in the Copa America.
After a tense and exciting live vote, the 55 judges had selected their preferred candidates.
UEFA President Ceferin announced the final result, with Wang Feng winning the title of the 15-16 season UEFA Men's Player of the Year with 27 votes, surpassing Cristiano's 17 votes!
Standing up with a smile in the front row, Wang Feng hugged Mansour behind him, looking very excited. "Manchester City has the best in Europe too!"
He then hugged Florentino beside him, expressing his gratitude, "You deserve this award, there's no second choice besides you."
On the side, Cristiano listened with a strained face, reluctantly offering his congratulations to the Chinese superstar. At this moment, all he could think about was stabilizing his position at Real Madrid as soon as possible and striving for the double awards at the end of the year.
Higuaín generously congratulated his old friend, feeling very grateful to Wang Feng for helping him win the European Golden Boot in the last year, otherwise he wouldn't have the current value and treatment.
The guests felt that it was well-deserved while also feeling sorry for Cristiano. The European Championship ultimately couldn't match the influence of the World Cup, and his club performance last season was indeed very poor.
Taking the silver trophy with his name and time engraved on it from the hands of the UEFA President, the Chinese superstar thanked both the Real Madrid team of the past season and the current Manchester City team.
They were both outstanding teams in European football, and he was honored to represent them on the field.
Wang Feng also mentioned his former teammate Higuaín, calling him a great player, and saying that he had a very happy time playing with him. The Argentine star below the stage touched the back of his head and smiled shyly.
"Cristiano is a talented superstar. I watched every one of your European Championship games, and you were really outstanding, helping Portugal win the championship for the first time. It's all very impressive."
Listening to Wang Feng's praise, Cristiano slightly bowed, thanking him for his recognition.
At this moment, the Portuguese's heart was mixed. He had once seen Wang Feng as a target, but the gap between them was getting wider and wider. Wang Feng's achievements were something he could never catch up with in his lifetime.
So Cristiano had changed his mindset early on, only aiming to surpass all players except Wang Feng. He didn't care if others said he was not as good as Wang Feng, otherwise he wouldn't have tried so hard to join the Galacticos.
Moreover, the Chinese superstar was slowly aging, and one day he would inevitably relinquish his position as the world's number one. By then, no one would be able to take away this position from him!
Manchester City was placed in the second pot in the Champions League group draw, while the first pot teams included Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Leicester City, Benfica, Paris Saint-Germain, and CSKA Moscow.
As Ceferin drew the Manchester City logo and placed them in Group C, Wang Feng clearly heard the word starting with "F" uttered by Mansour behind him.
The Blue Moon was to meet Barcelona head-on!
It should be noted that almost half of the teams in the first pot were relatively easy to deal with, yet they drew one of the most difficult opponents.
In fact, Premier League teams in the Champions League often face some subtle targeting, which is related to England's geopolitical situation and the strong commercial value of the Premier League.
Of course, in most cases, this kind of targeting only stays at the level of being annoying and doesn't cause much substantive damage.
The other two teams in Group C with Manchester City were Bundesliga's Borussia M?nchengladbach and Scottish Premiership's Celtic.
Arsenal was grouped with Paris Saint-Germain, Bulgarian League's Ludogorets Razgrad, and Basel.
Tottenham Hotspur was drawn with AS Monaco, Bayer Leverkusen, and CSKA Moscow.
Leicester City's opponents were Porto, Copenhagen, and Club Brugge, arguably the luckiest club among the Premier League teams in the draw.
The sourc𝗲 of this content is fre(e)webnovel