Super Wingstorm

Raul Bravo was badly injured.

Real Madrid’s medical staff carried him directly to the sidelines. Queiroz seemed to get the report quickly and immediately substituted Pavin for Raul Bravo, but by then, the match had already entered stoppage time.

Twenty-four-year-old Francisco Pavan was once a world-famous center-back. His fame, however, came not from his on-field performance, but from the ”Zidane + Pavin” policy established by Real Madrid’s president, Florentino.

However, after the resignation of former head coach Bosque, who had promoted and trusted him, Pavin’s own unconvincing performances led to his gradual demotion to the bench. For this match, Queiroz had even chosen to start Mejia over him.

After Pavin came on, the match restarted, but Ajax’s rhythm had already been disrupted.

The momentum they had been building dissipated into thin air, and in the end, they failed to recapture their previous form.

The match ended with a final score of 4-2. Relying on a tidal wave of an offensive that lasted less than thirty minutes, Real Madrid defeated Ajax 4-2, basically securing an early ticket to the Champions League semi-finals.

The moment the final whistle blew, Yang Yang pulled off his shirt and repeatedly wiped his face, head, and the back of his neck. He felt soaked, completely covered in sweat. More importantly, he felt he needed something to do, or else the frustration would eat at him. So, he kept wiping.

Unlike the jubilant scene at the end of the first half, by the end of the full match, the Ajax players were like withered flowers, completely wilted. Many of them looked dispirited, their heads hanging low like beaten dogs.

Including Yang Yang.

He had come on as a substitute in the final stages. In theory, this devastating loss had nothing to do with him. No matter who was held responsible, he wouldn’t face any blame. Head coach Ronald Koeman would likely be the first to take the heat, followed by the starting players.

Based on Yang Yang’s performance after coming on, not only was he blameless, he would likely be praised.

Especially the fact that he’d juked Raul Bravo so badly he injured him. That would surely become an amusing anecdote for the media.

But Yang Yang was still deeply upset. He felt they could have at least clawed back one more goal.

A 4-2 score and a 4-3 score were two completely different realities. The former left little hope, while the latter offered a considerable chance.

But the match was over, and now, there was no more uncertainty.

”Don’t hang your head. You played very well,” Ronald Koeman said, the first to approach him.

Yang Yang walked over and shook his hand but couldn’t say a single word.

”Go on.” Ronald Koeman patted Yang Yang’s young and slight shoulders.

’It was only then that he suddenly realized Yang was just seventeen, still growing. Yet his performance on the pitch didn’t resemble a teenager’s at all; on the contrary, he gave off a sense of calm composure and experience.’

Yang Yang parted ways with the head coach and turned towards the players’ tunnel.

Today, Bernabéu Stadium belonged to the victors, to Real Madrid. He didn’t want to stay here any longer.

He had originally been looking forward to this matchup with Ronaldo. He had even planned it all out: regardless of the outcome, he would find Ronaldo for an autograph and a photo. He had everything prepared. But now that the match was over, he suddenly found he had lost all enthusiasm.

Losing 2-4 to Real Madrid, he felt as if all the energy had been drained from his body.

He loathed this feeling of losing. It made him not want to linger for even a moment longer. It would be best if he could instantly leave Bernabéu Stadium, leave this heartbreaking place.

But just as Yang Yang was about to enter the players’ tunnel, a shout suddenly came from the home team’s coaching area.

”Hey, number ninety-nine.”

Yang Yang heard the voice and looked up, just in time to see Ronaldo walking towards him, wearing his iconic smile and revealing his trademark buck teeth.

His idol, once a distant figure, was suddenly right in front of him. Yang Yang was at a loss for what to do. The feeling was just like the first time he met Van Basten; he was actually a little flustered.

”Yang? Your name is Yang?” Ronaldo asked with a smile.

Yang Yang nodded, but what blurted out was, ”I... I’m your fan. Your biggest fan.”

The moment he said it, he felt the urge to strangle himself.

’Didn’t I just decide not to go look for him?’

’How can I be so flustered now that I’m meeting him? This is so embarrassing!’

Ronaldo chuckled. ”I’ve seen quite a few reports about you in the papers. They all call you Ronaldo II.”

”No, no, no,” Yang Yang shook his head vigorously. ”I... I think... I’m still very, very far from that.”

”But you’re only seventeen,” Ronaldo encouraged. ”I saw your pendulum just now. Hmm... how should I put it? It’s not quite like mine. The swing is very wide, very fast, very convincing. But it’s got something extra, and it’s also missing something. Did you come up with it on your own?”

Yang Yang swallowed. He had always been an honest person, but he couldn’t bring himself to say no right now. He couldn’t possibly tell people that he had something called the Super Training in his mind, where an artificial intelligence named Old Ice had taught him the move.

If he said that, Ronaldo would surely walk away on the spot, because the Alien would think he was being mocked.

”Yeah, I just sort of figured it out myself,” Yang Yang said, blushing with shame.

He had never been good at lying; the base of his ears would turn red whenever he lied.

But in Ronaldo’s eyes, this looked more like shyness, completely fitting for a seventeen-year-old, especially one who was his fan. So he smiled, patted Yang Yang’s shoulder, and encouraged him, ”It’s great, even better than mine. You know, mine can get you injured easily, but yours won’t.”

”Really?”

”Trust me, I’ve been dealing with it my whole life.” Ronaldo smiled again, revealing those big buck teeth. ”But what I want to say is, don’t worry about that ’Ronaldo II’ stuff. Don’t care what other people think. You have to be yourself. Don’t live in anyone’s shadow, understand?”

Yang Yang nodded vigorously. He could feel the sincerity in Ronaldo’s words.

This was the advice of a senior player to a promising junior.

”Well... that’s all then,” Ronaldo said with a laugh.

He had scored a brace in this match and seemed to be in a very good mood.

”Wait,” Yang Yang suddenly called out just as he was about to turn away.

”Something else?”

Yang Yang chuckled and pointed to the jersey Ronaldo was wearing. ”Can I swap with you?”

”Of course, no problem,” Ronaldo said with a smile, taking off his shirt without hesitation.

”And can you give me an autograph and take a picture with me?”

”Sure,” Ronaldo agreed readily.

Yang Yang immediately called over Vermaelen, who had been on the bench the entire match. In no time, they had gone through the whole routine: swapping jerseys, signing autographs, and taking a photo as a souvenir.

Just as Ronaldo was about to leave, Beckham, on his way back to the locker room, ran into Yang Yang. Seeing Ronaldo was also there, Beckham joined them for a chat. He was mainly interested in the curving pass Yang Yang had made to Ibrahimovic earlier.

Yang Yang frankly admitted he had studied tapes of Beckham’s matches at Manchester United. This delighted the English superstar, who immediately started discussing his own insights on training crosses and set pieces with Yang Yang. Upon hearing that Yang Yang had been practicing crosses diligently for nearly a year, he encouraged him to stick with it.

”To put it bluntly, soccer is just endless training, training, and more training. Even now, I don’t dare to slack off.”

But Ronaldo clearly had some objections to this, as he was famous for not liking this kind of hard training. But you couldn’t argue with his extraordinary talent; he was born a once-in-a-century soccer genius.

As players from both teams started heading back to the locker rooms after the match, the conversation between Beckham, Ronaldo, and Yang Yang at the tunnel entrance quickly drew the attention of Raul, Figo, Zidane, and Guti. They all gathered around to chime in with their opinions. The spectacle also caught the eyes of the media reporters on the sidelines.

By the time Yang Yang finally walked into the players’ tunnel, he had collected match-worn jerseys from many of Real Madrid’s superstars, everyone except Roberto Carlos.

Vermaelen was originally there to take photos for Yang Yang, but he also managed to snag some autographs and photos with the stars, and was ecstatic.

When Yang Yang returned to the locker room, as soon as his Ajax teammates heard about his unexpected haul, they were all incredibly envious. Many of them had long wanted to go and swap jerseys with the superstars but just didn’t have the guts. Who would have thought that in the end, Yang Yang would get them all? It was so infuriating, wasn’t it?

”I don’t care about the others, just give me Ronaldo’s,” Ibrahimovic threatened, pointing at Yang Yang.

”I want Zidane’s. Name your price.”

”You’re a right winger, just keep Figo’s. Give me Raul’s.”

”I want Guti’s.”

”I’m claiming Sergado’s. Give me his jersey.”

”Beckham, I’m a Beckham fan.”

Even substitute goalkeeper Stekelenburg gathered around, staring eagerly at the number one Casillas jersey in Yang Yang’s hands.

Ignoring everyone, Yang Yang stuffed the jerseys into his duffel bag, slung it over his shoulder, and sat down in front of his locker. He faced them all down with an air that said, ”You can’t have the jerseys, but you can take my life.”

Seeing his determined look, everyone dispersed. That bastard Ibrahimovic was the first to verbally attack Yang Yang, believing he should be reflecting on the loss instead of running off to get jerseys from the opponents. It was outrageous.

What was even more outrageous was that not only did Talabesi, De Jong, and Sneijder join in, but even Van der Vaart backed him up.

’For a few jerseys, these guys are really trying everything, from threats to persuasion. They’ll stop at nothing.’

Fortunately, Yang Yang wasn’t stupid. Swapping jerseys with opponents after a match was normal, and there was no rule saying you couldn’t do it after a loss. Besides, it was the Real Madrid superstars who had approached him first. Could you really blame Yang Yang?

”In my home country, there’s a saying that describes you guys perfectly.”

”What is it?”

”You’re just saying the grapes are sour because you can’t reach them.”

For a moment, the voices in the locker room denouncing Yang Yang grew even louder.

But in a way, all of this swept away the gloom and dejection from their 2-4 loss to Real Madrid.