i want to be king

Chapter 120 His legs are weak

On the weekend, in the No.11 round of the Portuguese Super League, Sporting Lisbon played against Maritimo at home.

Pepe encountered his old club, and his partner Andre Cruz started.

The trident of Su Dong, Ronnie and Quaresma all sat on the bench.

Boloni's statement to the outside world is also very aboveboard. The three young players performed well in the UEFA Cup in the middle of the week. They did their best and needed more time to rest.

But the result of the Trident rest was embarrassing.

That is, Sporting Lisbon's offense was misfired throughout the game. It was not until the No.60 minute, when Quaresma was replaced, that the team's offense began to improve, and Ronnie was replaced in the No.704 minute to continue to strengthen the offense.

Su Dong replaced Tonito in the No.801 minute and partnered with Nikule as a double striker.

The stalemate continued until the end of the game.

No.809 minutes, from a cooperation between Su Dong and Quaresma on the right side, Quaresma dribbled the ball and broke into the penalty area forcibly, was blocked from the bottom line, and turned into a corner kick.

Albertini took the corner kick, Su Dong feinted a shot, Pepe grabbed the spot and hit the goal with a header.

The Brazilian centre-back scored the deadlock-breaking goal against his former club Maritimo.

Subsequently, the game entered overtime.

At the last moment, after Su Dong retreated to get the ball, he suddenly sped up and dribbled the ball in. At the front of the arc of the penalty area, he suddenly shot a cold arrow and hit a powerful Batty GOL, knocking on Maritimo's goal again.

Two to zero.

The entire Alvalade Stadium was cheering for Sudong's goal.

The fans of Sporting Lisbon are more and more fond of this Chinese teenager who came out of his own youth training camp.

Although, according to UEFA regulations, Su Dong is not yet a youth training player of Sporting Lisbon, and Su Dong has not even trained at the Sports Tower Stadium, but the fans don't care about the regulations. They only know that Su Dong is his own child who came out of the youth training camp.

……

After the game, media reporters once again spoke highly of Su Dong's performance after coming off the bench.

There is also a trident in the frontcourt.

So a media reporter asked Boloni, "Since all three substitutions were given to the frontcourt trident, why not arrange them to start?"

There was a burst of laughter in the press conference hall.

The three substitutions were given to Quaresma, Ronnie and Su Dong respectively, and it was these three players who changed the trend of the game. In this case, why not directly arrange the three of them to start?

Of course Boloni heard the ridicule and sarcasm from the media reporters, but he still maintained his demeanor.

The Romanian coach said that they were not arranged to start, more out of consideration of physical exertion.

"These three players are 17 and 19 years old respectively. At their age, many players are still playing as substitutes. I can't make a decision to let them play on two lines and play twice a week. I don't think it's good for them."

But these confident remarks are somewhat pale in the face of the fact that he suppressed Su Dong before and unconditionally supported Nikulei. After all, Nikulei played the whole game tonight and did nothing again.

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A week later, the Portuguese Super League was suspended and ushered in the fourth round of the Portuguese Cup.

This is also Sporting Lisbon's first Portuguese Cup of the season.

The opponent is an amateur team from the regional league, Estarrea.

Boloni did not pay too much attention to this game. The opponent's strength lies there. Sporting Lisbon has good luck in signing and is playing at home. The team still plays with a substitute lineup.

It's just that Nikolai started again.

Only 2 minutes into the game, Carlos Martins opened the scoring for Sporting Lisbon.

But in the No. 17 minute, Estarrea pulled a goal back.

Five minutes later, Nikule finally scored.

It was the Romanian center's first goal of the season.

He was so excited that he ran around the audience, venting his inner depression to his heart's content, and finally hugged the head coach Boloni vigorously in front of the head coach's bench to thank his compatriots for their unconditional trust in him over the past year.

But then, Nikule never scored again.

Ronnie and Danny, who came off the bench, scored two goals in a row, helping Sporting Lisbon beat their opponents [-]-[-] and advance smoothly.

……

After the promotion, Sporting Lisbon's signing luck is still good.

The opponent in the fifth round is Olivia from the third level.

After the game, the Portuguese media reported on Nikule's goal.

The Romanian center was once highly anticipated, but he has been living in the shadow of Jardel last season, but this season has not been able to break the scoring drought, and now he finally scored on an amateur team in the regional league.

"In fact, even against amateur teams from the regional leagues, he still struggled to score goals."

The implication is that Nikule wasted too many scoring opportunities.

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After playing the Portuguese Cup, Sporting Lisbon has been preparing non-stop for the first leg away game of the UEFA Cup.

The opponent is Thessaloniki from Greece.

Su Dong is not only in the list of 18 people, but also will be arranged to start.

But this time, he finally experienced the nightmare of playing away from home in Europe.

The voyage between Portugal and Greece is [-] kilometers, which is undoubtedly a very long journey.

But that's just the beginning.

There are no direct flights from Portugal to Greece, and you have to make a stopover, or Amsterdam, or Frankfurt, or Munich...

In order to hurry, Sporting Lisbon prepared a flight to Amsterdam for the team. The whole flight took more than eight hours, and it was already two o'clock in the morning when they arrived in Athens, the capital of Greece.

After staying in Athens for one night, I flew to Thessaloniki in the north the next day.

Not only that, but for the weekend's game, Sporting Lisbon had to fly back to Lisbon non-stop after playing the away game, and it still required such a long journey and back and forth.

When they actually got to the arena, everyone realized that the long journey had exhausted their energy.

Including Su Dong, Ronnie and Quaresma, as well as Nikule and others who came off the bench, all performed sluggishly.

Fortunately, Sporting Lisbon's defense was good, but in 1 minute, the opponent's striker broke the goal, and the away game lost [-]-[-].

Throughout the game, the three of Su and Dong performed sluggishly, and they really couldn't lift their spirits.

……

"Now I finally understand why they all say that the most terrifying enemy is not the opponent on the court, but the long journey."

On the return plane, Ronnie said with a sad face.

Not long after the start of the game, his legs became weak.

"Who says it's not?" Quaresma also felt devastated. "This is just Greece. If you encounter Turkey, or Georgia or Azerbaijan to the east, it will be even more terrifying."

Su Dong also smiled wryly, but he thought of another piece of news.

"Don't forget, there is also a more eastern Kazakhstan. They just left the AFC in April and officially became two UEFA member states in July. They will meet in the Champions League and UEFA Cup in the future."

In the end, Su Dong himself couldn't help being happy.

Although it was a loss, in fact, Thessaloniki's strength is not strong, mainly because the away game is too difficult.

Not to mention the two plane transfers, the distance is still very long, and the conditions are very poor, which makes the players unbearable.

The main reason is that Sporting Lisbon is too poor. If it is like other rich teams, it can charter a flight directly.

Firstly, there was no money, and secondly, it took only half a month from the result of the draw to the away game. It was difficult for the club to prepare in all aspects. One can imagine how much torture the players suffered along the way.

However, after going back to recharge their batteries, in the second round of the Lisbon battle, it will be the opponent's turn to have a nightmare.

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Traveling long distances and running back and forth not only affected the first round of the UEFA Cup, but also the derby in the Portuguese Super League.

In the No.12 round, Sporting Lisbon faced the rival Benfica in the same city.

The team's performance is still in the doldrums.

In the No. 12 minute of the first half, the team's defense made a mistake and conceded a goal first.

No.40 In the second minute, Thiago scored another goal to help Benfica lead [-]-[-].

Su Dong came off the bench in 4 minutes, but his performance was not outstanding and failed to help the team reverse the situation.

In the end, in this city derby, Sporting Lisbon lost [-]-[-] to Benfica.

……

Whether it is the media, fans, or the club's management, they all understand the result of the team's two-game losing streak.

The team traveled long distances to go to the away game, and the consumption and pressure were indeed very high. After returning to Lisbon, they immediately welcomed Benfica. The team even had an afternoon of recovery training the day before the game, and there was no time to prepare and adjust.

On the contrary, Benfica is recharging their energy in Lisbon and waiting for their rivals in the same city.

One ebbs and another, losing is also quite normal.

However, in an interview with Morning Post, Su Dong said that he was not worried about the team's state at all.

"I know it's hard to take two losses in a row, but the trip to Greece really affected us a lot."

Su Dong took the initiative to mention his incompatibility. He had been running back and forth for a whole week, and he couldn't even maintain normal training. This was undoubtedly quite uncomfortable, and it was also the reason for the team's sluggish state.

"In the next week, we can have a good rest. The team will have two days off. I believe this will help us get back to our state as soon as possible and achieve better results in the next few games."

As for the UEFA Cup match against Thessaloniki at home, Su Dong said confidently, "We will definitely reverse the opponent!"

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Sure enough, after a week of rest, Sporting Lisbon's performance has indeed improved a lot.

But in the No.13 round, when they challenged Beiramar in the away game, in just 7 minutes of the opening, a mistake by Pepe caused the opponent's goal, and then the game fell into a stalemate.

Sudong came off the bench at halftime and assisted Nikule to score in the 4th minute.

Two minutes later, Nikolai reciprocated and sent an assist for Su Dong.

The two center forwards finally broke the embarrassing situation, each assisting the other.

No.709 minutes, Ronnie assisted Tonito to make another victory.

In the end, Sporting Lisbon reversed Bellamar [-]-[-] and took all three points.

(End of this chapter)