Chapter 298: It Is Necessary to Create Momentum, but Showing Toughness Is the Real Toughness
Ronaldo was not too disappointed at the celebration ceremony that day, even though he did not make it into the top three of the Ballon d'Or this year.
At first, Li Ang thought that Ronaldo had already expected it, and he had already accepted the result after learning the news in advance.
At least when Li Ang was chatting with Ronaldo, he did not feel that he was emotionally wrong.
But it was not until he had afternoon tea with Ronaldo that Li Ang learned from Ronaldo the main reason why he did not care much about the Ballon d'Or this time.
"Messi is third, I am fourth, in fact, they are just foils... Looking at personal performance, I think you deserve this Ballon d'Or more, little lion, of course, Ribery deserves the award."
Li Ang automatically filtered out Ronaldo's words of praise for him, and he finally understood that Ronaldo really only had Messi as his opponent in his eyes.
If neither Messi nor he could win this Ballon d'Or, then for him, his competition with Messi last year did not have much meaning.
Ribery won this Ballon d'Or, and it is impossible for him to directly enter the top two among the active players in football.
So Ronaldo didn't care about the fact that he didn't even make the top three of the Ballon d'Or. In his eyes, there was only Messi and the first place.
The two spoke freely during this short meeting.
Ronaldo was still so straightforward. He not only asked Li Ang about the current ecological pattern of the Premier League and the recent situation of Manchester United.
He even complained to Li Ang directly about the small conflicts between the Real Madrid management, or the old man and himself in the past season.
In private conversations, Li Ang's position on Ronaldo's side has always been firm.
It's no wonder that he has been away for a season and a half, and Ronaldo still regards him as one of his few best friends.
After all, some things are not about whether they make sense or not, and whether they are right or wrong based on reality.
Many times, the direction of the butt is more important than the clarity of the mind, and it can win the trust of others.
And Li Ang's mouth is tight enough. When he was still in Real Madrid, he could handle the relationship with the Spanish gang and the Portuguese gang teammates very well.
He can do this not just because he speaks well.
Good at communication, good at listening, and even better at keeping secrets.
This is the important reason why he is successful in expanding interpersonal relationships.
"Sometimes... I'm telling the truth, little lion, I really hope you are still in the team. James is good, he is good... but you are completely different. I miss the days when I played with you."
Before parting, Ronaldo and Li Ang hugged each other and expressed their true feelings.
In fact, as early as last season, after losing to Atletico Madrid in the two rounds of the Champions League semi-finals, Ronaldo expressed similar statements very frankly in an interview with a Marca reporter.
At that time, Atletico Madrid fans also mocked Ronaldo, saying that he couldn't afford to lose.
But in the dominant public opinion environment, no Atletico Madrid fan dared to boldly say that even if Li Ang was still in Real Madrid, they could still win the two rounds of tough battles with Real Madrid.
It can be said that Ronaldo's regret at that time was the regret of all Real Madrid fans.
Li Ang could no longer remain silent about this.
He patted Ronaldo on the shoulder.
"I also miss the days of fighting side by side with you..."
After saying goodbye, the two smiled at each other.
After tacitly ending the discussion on this topic, Ronaldo and Li Ang parted ways in Zurich.
Their private friendship remains, but in the struggle for the highest position in football, they are one of each other's opponents after all.
Of course, their competition is still ongoing, but it does not mean that it will be like this in the future.
After all, Ronaldo is six years older than Li Ang, and his mentality will eventually change with age.
Never say "impossible" in the world of football.
Maybe one day in the future, they can still work together and fight together. Who can say for sure about such things?
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Li Ang returned to London with the halo of the Silver Ball, but the major media in England gave him an extra-standard welcome in the publicity.
Passersby who didn't know the situation thought that Li Ang won the 2014 Golden Ball on behalf of the Premier League.
This situation made Li Ang somewhat helpless.
But there is no way. The Silver Ball Award that Li Ang won this year is the highest personal honor won by a Premier League player since Cristiano Ronaldo in early 2009.
It took six years to finally see such a superstar who is capable of competing for the Golden Ball Award. It is understandable that the British media is boiling over this.
However, due to the media's exaggerated hype, the number of fans who have a bad impression of Li Ang or Chelsea has increased in the past few days.
Many of them are fans of Bayern and Ribery.
Li Ang's performance last season was indeed very good, and his data at the beginning of this season was also explosive.
But after all, it was Ribery who won the Champions League and the treble last season.
While the European public opinion environment praised Ribery and Bayern's achievements last season, the media in England were very disrespectful and sarcastic.
Anyone would find this unbearable and want to launch a public opinion counterattack.
At this moment when the group emotions are aroused, rationality naturally becomes a luxury.
Many Bayern fans accidentally hurt Li Ang when they scolded the English media, and Chelsea fans naturally launched a counterattack.
The economic team behind Li Ang saw that the situation was not right and decisively started the public relations mode.
However, Li Ang himself was very quiet in such a public opinion storm.
Li Ang, who has experienced many public opinion waves, has not changed his psychological awareness when he first entered the professional arena.
A star, his reputation, his status in football, often requires media hype and public opinion.
But as a professional player, his reputation among the fan group has always been very intuitive.
It is better to play well than to boast well, and it is better to play well for many years than to play well for a period of time.
Show your performance on the field, be able to fight hard battles and win games.
Then public opinion will naturally help you gain the upper hand.
For Li Ang now, it is not difficult to "play well in the game", and what he does not need is exaggerated flattery.
After automatically blocking the increasingly fierce public opinion attacks from the outside world, Li Ang also devoted himself to the preparation and training for subsequent events.
He won the Silver Ball with his outstanding performance and team performance last season, which is also a very morale-boosting thing for the entire Chelsea team.
Mourinho saw the positive changes in the team.
Now there is no need for the coaching staff to give chicken soup.
Whether it is the older players or the younger players in the Chelsea team, they all have a strong heart now.
Last season, they were a long way from the top of European football, but they have gone far enough, and this season they have also completed a major lineup reinforcement.
Many regretful experiences are enough to have once, and the pain of failure will prompt them to start again and move towards a higher peak.
Now, whether it is Li Ang personally or the honor goal of the Chelsea team, the only one left is to reach the top of the football world.
So whether it is for themselves, for the Chelsea team, or to help Li Ang, they have a more eager motivation and determination to reach the top.
After completing the last three days of preparation training step by step, the Chelsea team once again embarked on the journey of the Premier League.
On January 17, Mourinho led the team to Swansea to meet the challenge from the 22nd round of the Premier League.
Swansea's performance and ranking in the Premier League this season are quite good. At the beginning of the season, it even rushed to the top six of the league, approaching the top four.
However, after the arrival of the Christmas devil schedule, their ranking began to fluctuate and decline all the way, just like many similar mid- and lower-level teams in previous years.
Since the 19th round of the league, Swansea has lost two games and tied one game, and has not won three consecutive league games.
This caused their league ranking to slide directly from sixth to tenth.
At present, it seems that Swansea, which has lost many main players due to the winter devil schedule, will continue to have a hard time with its ranking declining.
Chelsea did not show mercy to Swansea because of their recent tragic experience.
After a full week of rest, Terry and Ibrahimovic played again with full blood.
The other young main players in Chelsea are even more energetic and physically fit.
Chelsea, who used a 433 starting formation, took the lead at the Liberty Stadium and launched a strong pressure and attack on the home team Swansea from the beginning of the game!
Compared with the two teams when they met in the first half of the league, Swansea's head coach Garry Monk is now much more pragmatic.
He did not think about creating a miracle in this game and defeating Chelsea.
After all, when the two teams competed for the first time this season, Swansea's main players were all out, and they had no good way to deal with Chelsea's strong midfield.
Now Swansea's two main midfielders Ji Chengyueng and Shelvey are both absent due to injuries, and Garry Monk can only choose to play a pragmatic counterattack.
It's a pity that he has already lowered his tactical posture today, but the players of the Chelsea team are unwilling to let go of the weak Swansea easily.
Li Ang was basically responsible for guiding the attack in the frontcourt today, and he did not do any work on the defensive end.
Matic and Kroos were enough to kill Swansea's counterattack, which was not threatening.
Li Ang, who was concentrating on tearing open Swansea's defense, did not let Chelsea fans wait too long.
In the thirteenth minute of the first half, he used a back-to-back pass in the frontcourt, turned around and passed Sigurdsson, who played as a defensive midfielder today, into a Muggle.
Sigurdsson was also very helpless. He was not originally a defensive midfielder, but the team was short of people in the backcourt, so he had to play as a guest player temporarily.
His defensive awareness was not a little bit poor.
Although he tried very hard to chase and defend afterwards, he still couldn't stop Li Ang from sending a diagonal pass, assisting Hazard to break into the penalty area and shoot low into the near corner!
Fabianski failed to save the ball, and was so angry that he wanted to curse.
But when he looked up, he didn't see the familiar captain Ashley Williams in front of him, and he swallowed the swear words that had already come to his mouth.
"...Swansea's injuries in the midfield and backcourt are too serious. None of the two main midfielders can play, and the main central defender Ashley Williams is also absent due to injury. Their current defense line is really difficult to resist Chelsea's offensive!"
After Zhan Jun passionately celebrated the successful connection between Li Ang and Hazard in the studio, he couldn't help but say a few words for Swansea.
If the Premier League schedule is arranged more reasonably, and one of the two domestic cup competitions is cancelled.
Then Swansea, which created a magical record at the beginning of this season, should still be ranked in the top six or even in the top four.
And it was because of the unreasonable winter devil schedule and heavy cup tasks.
Such a Swansea team that could have created miracles was cruelly destroyed by the wave of injuries.
As a spectator and commentator who loves the Premier League, Zhan Jun naturally feels sorry for small and medium-sized teams like Swansea from the bottom of his heart.
But there is no way, the tight schedule and fast-paced game mode have also created the development and prosperity of the Premier League.
Only by surviving can you create miracles and become Leicester City. If you can't survive, Swansea will just be Swansea.
The nearly crushed game situation made the Swansea fans at the scene feel distressed.
At this moment, Li Ang was like a merciless executioner, still tirelessly looking for opportunities to further open Swansea's wounds!
The game was played in the 22nd minute of the first half, and it was less than ten minutes before Chelsea scored the first goal.
It was Li Ang who faked a shot and dunked on the right side of the Swansea penalty area, performing a wonderful performance!
After shaking off Swansea's young defensive midfielder Tom Carroll, Li Ang picked up the ball lightly into the middle of Swansea's penalty area before Swansea's central defender Amat could defend!
With Li Ang's tacit cooperation, Ibrahimovic, who completed the forward run, held off Swansea's other central defender Fernandez, and then chose to shoot directly without stopping the ball!
Under such a close-range powerful volley, Fabianski only slightly touched one side of the ball, changing the trajectory of the ball, but still failed to prevent the ball from crossing the line and entering the net!
In just less than half an hour of game time, Li Ang made two assists with his superior personal ability.
The rhythm of the game made Chelsea and Li Ang's fans feel comfortable.
However, after the end of the first half of the game, Li Ang's personal data was still fixed at two assists, and he did not gain anything else.
It was not until the 68th minute of the second half that Li Ang got his third assist data of the game.
After receiving the pass from Ibrahimovic at the front of the penalty area, Li Ang chose to advance directly with the ball and broke into Swansea's penalty area.
Amat was afraid that Li Ang would shoot directly in the penalty area, so he pressed over to interfere with Li Ang's shot.
But Li Ang made a simple cross pass, helping Ibrahimovic to easily push the ball into the goal!
When Li Ang completed the assist hat trick, even though the game was not over yet, the public opinion disputes surrounding him were directly settled.
It is necessary to create public opinion, but hard performance is really hard.