The strongest winger

Chapter 383 A Victim of Politics ([-]rd)
*****
After drawing the third-tier team group, as a guest, UEFA CEO Lars Christ Olsen walked to the stage of the conference cultural center holding the sealed card of the winner of the best striker in the UEFA Champions League last season.

A VCR was shown on the big screen, and the three candidates for the best striker were Valencia's Aiello, Barcelona's Eto'o and Arsenal's Thierry Henry.

Although the latter two are the shooters who entered the final team, Aiello brought the team to the semi-finals by virtue of his personal ability, and also refreshed the scoring record of 62 goals in a single season created by AC Milan star Altafini in the 63-[-] season.

Everyone thinks that this award is undisputed, and the focus of the media is also on Ai Luo, all kinds of flashing lights are constantly flashing, and the most excited is the Chinese media, this is an award!

Even UEFA CEO Lars Krist Olsen, holding a sealed card, thinks so, because second-ranked Eto'o has only scored six goals, only reaching the single digits of Aiello, and Henry has even fewer goals, with only five goals.

In other words, the combined number of goals scored by the two of them is not as many as that scored by Ai Luo alone.

So the best striker is undisputed, including Eto'o and Henry also think so.

Henry, who was sitting not far behind Ai Luo, even asked the Roman Prince Totti in front to pat Ai Luo on the shoulder, and congratulated Ai Luo on the award in advance.

But at this moment, Lars Christ Olsen opened the sealed card. He was taken aback when he saw the name, and then turned the card over helplessly.

Eto'o!
boom---
Immediately, the head coaches, players and media of the top 32 teams in the conference center let out a burst of exclamation at the same time.

No one expected this result.

Of course, there was one person in the entire venue who didn't rush to marvel, but smiled as a matter of course.

The media present began to discuss, is the European championship more important than scoring goals and setting records? ?
But... this is the selection of the best striker, not the best player!
What is the criterion for measuring a striker?It's a goal! !

So... what's the matter with the champion?

If this is the case, what else should be selected for the best forward, best midfielder, and best defender?Wouldn't it be enough to just give these awards directly to the championship team?
Divide love as you like.

Even media people with a keen sense of smell smelled a conspiracy.

Ai Luo, who was still smiling before, now has a completely different expression.

Not because he lost the best forward award, but because he was upset!All fools know that the criterion for selecting a striker is the number of goals scored.

This shows that someone is targeting him!

Then Eto'o was quite embarrassed when he came to the stage to give his acceptance speech. Anyone with a discerning eye knew that he didn't deserve his name. How can a player who scored six goals be more capable of being the best striker than a player who scored sixteen goals?
So he could only scratch the back of his head with a bitter smile, and finally said firmly: "A striker's job is to help his teammates, not just to score. I don't know if the goal in the Champions League final is the most important goal of my career, but it must be one of the most important."

……

……

The lottery ceremony continued, but all the media people present were not thinking about it, because no one played better than Ai Luo in the entire 05-06 season.

If you have to follow the gold content, there is only Cannavaro who helped Italy win the World Cup.

But Cannavaro only played in one summer, while Ai Luo played well all year long.

But this has nothing to do with the Champions League, so it can only be discussed separately.

It is worth pondering that Aiello also helped Rencia win the league championship and the Copa del Rey by himself. If it weren't for the bad luck in the second round of the semi-finals, whether Barcelona could enter the final is another matter.

Even if these media think with their toes, they can think that someone does not want Ai Luo to win the award, but who is this person?Current UEFA President Johansson?This is obviously impossible. Although the relationship between the two is not particularly good, it is still very good!

Moreover, the current UEFA President Johansson has praised Aiello many times in public, which is obviously impossible!

Who would that be?
The lottery ceremony was still going on, and the media had already regarded themselves as Sherlock Holmes, and they refused to let go of any clues.

The final selection is the UEFA Champions League's Most Valuable Player selection. The three candidates are: Valencia's Aiello, Barcelona's Ronaldinho and Arsenal's Henry.

Henry can simply ignore that no runner-up player has ever won the Most Valuable Player, and Aiello should also be excluded. He has not won the best striker he is most sure of.
So the last most valuable player is just going through the motions, and Ronaldinho won the award without dispute.

In the end, the reporters at the scene began to question UEFA's selection, because they looked at a series of selection lists. Except for the goalkeeper Lehmann who won the best goalkeeper, the other four best were won by Barcelona. This is not the best coach Frank Rijkaard.

Then here comes the controversy.

As soon as the draw ceremony was announced, the reporters at the scene surrounded the UEFA executives separately.

Some reporters also found Ai Luo.

"He scored 2005 goals in the UEFA Champions League in the 2006-16 season, breaking the 43-year Champions League single-season record in one fell swoop. Do you have anything to say about not being selected as the best striker?"

As soon as Ai Luo was about to leave, he was surrounded by reporters. In addition, he was really upset today, so he looked impatient and replied: "Didn't you say the best striker just now? A striker's job is not just to score goals, but to help his teammates score! I think I'm not doing well, right... I seem to have more assists than him, right?"

After speaking, he left the Grimaldi Conference and Culture Center without looking back, leaving a group of reporters looking at each other in blank dismay.

*****
That night, Platini, who was running for the UEFA president, mentioned in an interview with reporters that Eto'o unexpectedly won the best striker in the UEFA Champions League last season. "As Eto'o said, the task of a striker is not only to score goals, but also to help his teammates score. This is why Barcelona won the Champions League and Valencia was eliminated..."

Platini's answer immediately aroused the suspicion of reporters.

After hearing Platini's answer, the local reporter in Valencia was very dissatisfied with his answer, and continued to ask, "As you said, the task of a striker is not only to score goals, but also to assist teammates to score. But in the statistics of last season, Ai scored much more goals than Eto'o, and also led Eto'o by two in assists..."

Platini's face darkened immediately, and he said sharply, "Football is a team sport, and success can never be achieved by relying on one person's performance. Last season's Champions League proved this point!"

Reporters are not fools, on the contrary, most of them draw inferences or draw inferences from one instance.

If Platini's previous answer seemed to be an excuse, then the answer just now is completely an excuse.

It is true that football is a team sport, but every team must have a player who is stronger than the team, because only in this way will the team rely on personal ability to score goals when they cannot break the deadlock.

The next day, all kinds of rumors were flying in the sky.

"Torino Sport", which has always had a good relationship with Aiello, raised its own doubts, "During the UEFA Champions League draw ceremony at the Grimaldi Convention and Cultural Center in Monaco yesterday afternoon, the award for the best striker caused controversy. Valencia's head star Ai played miraculously last season. He scored 16 goals in [-] UEFA Champions League games, breaking the dust-laden single-season scoring record for many years, but such a result cannot become the best striker of the season...

Once upon a time, the selection of an excellent striker was based on the number of assists to reflect the value of the striker, but what makes people ponder is --- Ai has more goals and assists than Eto Odou, then the question comes, is the championship...is it really that important?So in the future, all the best will be given to the champion, right?What else is there to choose?Isn't it just once and for all to win the championship once and for all? "

This summer, Italy encountered the Calciopoli incident, which made the entire Italian media realize the importance of fairness. Gazzetta dello Sport also publicly questioned UEFA's selection, "Since the UEFA Champions League was restructured in the 92-93 season, such a thing has never happened. Such an unbelievable thing will happen. Scoring 16 goals in a single season, but not being able to win the best striker award. There is no doubt that this will be a shame for UEFA, a scandal!"

England's authoritative newspaper "The Times" also gave its own judgment on this selection in its sports column, "It's the first time I heard that the element of selecting the best striker is not goals but assists. I don't know if we are ignorant or someone deliberately did it. Of course, we don't know these things, but this selection of the best striker left us with a big regret, because when we look back many years later when Ai broke Altafini's Champions League scoring record in a single season, we will find that the best striker this year is Ai who scored 6 goals. Too..."

Just when many newspapers were questioning UEFA, the Telegraph from the Netherlands suddenly broke the news, "In the eyes of most people, this selection has a lot of water, and it is true, because everyone knows that the current UEFA president Johansson has good relations with China, and he has praised Aiello many times in public, so this will inevitably lead to Platini, who is competing for UEFA president, secretly wrestling with Johansson in private... From another point of view, the change of ownership of the best striker also represents the current UEFA. The strength distribution of the top management of the Football Federation, it has to be said that such an outstanding young player has become a political victim..."

So, when the "Telegraph" swept across Europe, everyone suddenly realized that there is such a relationship, but... Platini is too political, right?Before he was elected as the UEFA president, he began to suppress the deployment of the current president.

PS: This book exchange group: 426343867
(End of this chapter)