Chapter 10 More Is Worthless

In the player's tunnel.

Deng Kai carried a bag full of footballs, ready to return to the locker room.

He had reaped a good harvest today.

"Your behavior makes me sick!"

Cristiano Ronaldo emerged from a corner, his eyes red from obvious tears, "Do you really like those football stars, or do you just want to turn these things into money?"

"Don't you think your behavior is despicable?"

"You've tarnished football!"

"A person like you doesn't deserve to win against me! You don't deserve to lift the Championship Trophy!"

Deng Kai shrugged his shoulders, "It wasn't easy for my parents to give birth to and raise me. If I wanted to play football, they would send me to play. If I wanted to go to school, they would pay the school fees."

"Although I am Portuguese by nationality, we are ultimately foreigners. A Chinese family doesn't have an easy life in Lisbon; my father's salary is below the average GDP in Portugal, and my mother earns even less."

"So I can completely put aside my dignity to beg those big football stars for autographs, telling lies that neither they nor I believe, and then sell these things."

"Do you think Guardiola and the rest don't know? They do, but they are still willing to sign for me because they understand the hardships of life."

"Of course, I do feel guilty and ashamed for doing this, but I'm willing to endure the torment."

"Because I know, when I bring that stack of cash home, my parents might be able to stay at home and rest their tired bodies and minds over the weekend, instead of going out for their second or third jobs."

"Does that make you sick?"

Deng Kai looked at Cristiano Ronaldo.

The latter's gaze gradually drifted away.

Cristiano Ronaldo had to admit that Deng Kai's words had stunned him.

Because these were issues he had yet to consider.

At this stage, Cristiano Ronaldo hadn't made any contributions or returns to his family.

His family was also struggling, and it wasn't easy for his parents to raise so many children.

But because of his talent in football, his parents were responsive to his needs and invested the most in him compared to his siblings.

So the financial difficulties that other family members could feel, Cristiano knew about but couldn't feel.

At worst, others would wear Adidas while he wore no-brand clothes, but at least he had clothes to wear.

The first time Cristiano Ronaldo was truly engulfed by a severe sense of inferiority and realized the hardships of his parents and siblings was after he left Madeira Island for Lisbon.

Which was going to happen in the next two or three months.

It caused a significant change in his character.

"I'm not talking about that; I'm talking about your behavior on the pitch!" Cristiano changed the subject, "You are a thief, you stole a penalty kick, you stole a victory that belonged to me!"

"Diving! Simulating! Is that all you've learned at school in these three years?"

"You've disappointed me too much!"

As he watched the agitated Cristiano, Deng Kai put down the things in his hands and approached Cristiano, asking, "Chris, you still don't understand?"

"This is all the same thing."

"To you, this match is just a glory, just a trophy."

"But for me, it's a job opportunity, the most important step on my path to becoming a professional player."

"And after I become a professional player, I can make it so my parents never have to work again, so they can return to their homeland to be with friends and family, and so Europeans know that players of Chinese descent can be nurtured… We carry completely different burdens."

"Moreover, my football, why should I play it the way you think I should?"

"Continue dribbling and wait for you to surpass and intercept me?"

"My speed is no match for yours, so I should let you surpass me and not think of any other way?"

"I'm also not as tall as you, so when we compete for a header, should I just stand by idly and let the ball go to you?"

"I'm not as strong as you either, so should I just let you break through unimpeded when you do?"

"My dribbling isn't as good as yours either, so when you flamboyantly trick your way past a player, should I just applaud you and watch you score?"

"If that's the case, why are we even playing this match?"

"Just hand the Championship Trophy to you guys! Because it's clear to the naked eye that your team is stronger than ours!"

"If that's what football is supposed to be like, then I wouldn't like football."

"The only reason I like football is that even though I'm short, even though I'm weak, even though I'm slow, even though my technique is poor, as long as I'm willing to run hard and think hard to find a way, I could possibly win a match I shouldn't be able to win!"

"The weak have their own way of playing, and the strong have theirs. Did I ever say that using your speed and physicality to overpower me was against the spirit of the game?"

"I wouldn't say that a wrong call is part of the game, and I won't deny that my last roll had an element of performance in it, but did I really break any rules?"

"If I did, then let the rules punish me, not your mouth!"

Cristiano Ronaldo tried to retort several times, but Deng Kai shut him down each time.

It wasn't until Deng Kai had finished speaking that Cristiano Ronaldo said, puffing with anger, "Weakness isn't an excuse for you, and at least your methods aren't fair and square!"

Deng Kai shook his head. "Do you really care about being fair and square? No, you think it's not fair and square simply because you can't use these methods yourself."

"But can you really never use them? Can you really always play like you're crushing peers of the same age, even in the Portuguese league, the top five leagues, the Champions League, the European Championship, or the World Cup?"

"No!"

"Even Ronaldo has to fake falls."

"Even Zidane has to deliberately trip opponents."

"Even Rivaldo has to waste time."

"Even Figo has to dive for penalties."

"Even Romario has to use his elbows."

"Even Batistuta has to collide with the goalkeeper."

"Can you always play without soiling your clothes? Who do you think you are?"

"I admire your pride, but if it turns into arrogance, then today's defeat won't be the most painful one in your career."

"Cristiano Ronaldo, you will become one of the strongest players on this planet. But first, you need to get rid of those bad habits of yours!"

"If you had just passed the ball to your teammates one more time today, the Championship Trophy would have been yours."

"Remember those four times I intercepted you?"

"You didn't pass me the ball, you passed me the trophy."

Once Deng Kai finished, he left, leaving Cristiano Ronaldo alone in the hall, his ears red as he reflected in silence.

Deng Kai turned the corner at the end of the hallway, only to see Guardiola.

He had obviously heard everything.

Tears streamed down Guardiola's face because, in Deng Kai's words, he heard the struggles of a youth with less physical talent, a mature kid carrying the weight of family responsibilities, just like Guardiola himself.

If only he had been a bit stronger, faster, taller, he wouldn't have been confined to the backfield; he could have been a key player at the front like Zidane, a contender for the Golden Ball.

These past few years, he wouldn't have been troubled by injuries and thus tagged by the Barça management as someone to wash out, missing out on the World Cup.

The things Deng Kai talked about, Cristiano Ronaldo might not understand yet, but Guardiola understood all too well.

"Do you need me to sign some more autographs for you? No matter how many, a hundred, all right?" Guardiola offered tenderly.

"Of course, thank you, but... just three or five will do," Deng Kai nodded.

"It's okay, kid, my hand isn't sore." Guardiola still wanted to sign a few more for Deng Kai.

"No, it's just that if there are too many autographed footballs in the market, they won't be worth much." Deng Kai politely declined, "Otherwise, could you have your teammates sign some and send them to me? My address is..."

A vein throbbed on Guardiola's bald head.

He really had a business mind.

So Guardiola reached out to the organizers, paid for some footballs, signed them all, and after packing them up, he personally accompanied Deng Kai and the footballs in the taxi.

Afterwards, Guardiola immediately called Van Gaal.

His relationship with this manager was complicated. Van Gaal had promoted him to be the captain of Barça and regarded him highly as the number four, the orchestrator at the heart of the team.

But at the same time, some of Van Gaal's concepts clashed with Guardiola's.

Moreover, the man wasn't exactly good at maintaining relationships with players; those who worked with him often fell out with him eventually, no matter how close they started out.

That's why Guardiola always kept a distance from Van Gaal.

But this time he couldn't care less about that.

He thought La Masia should take this kid in.

Although Deng Kai was not an abundantly talented player naturally gifted with flair, his win-at-all-costs mentality suited Barça perfectly.

For within Barcelona's possession-centric philosophy that saw the team fly from the youth ranks to the first team, they would, sooner or later, need this kind of non-technical player.

Once the call connected, Van Gaal said he would speak to the head of Barça's youth academy.

But it was clear, he wasn't very interested.