"Heart disease? Cristiano Ronaldo's career is ruined!"
"Jealous of talent? Cristiano Ronaldo, Quaresma's successor, may never play football again!"
"So tragic! Without heart problems, Ronaldo could have joined giants like Manchester United or Real Madrid in the future!"
"Rumors denied! Cristiano Ronaldo's heart condition can be cured—surgery scheduled soon!"
"Trigueira: Most reports about Ronaldo's condition are false. He will recover after surgery!"
"Sporting Lisbon: Before news of Ronaldo's illness broke, many clubs sent offers. But now, they've all gone silent. We won't name them, but it's disappointing."
"Barcelona: We never considered signing Ronaldo! We prefer technical players like Messi!"
Guardiola covered his face, speechless: "I don't understand Barcelona's youth academy. Sporting Lisbon didn't even mention you—why jump out and embarrass yourselves?"
"Surgery successful! Doctor: Cristiano Ronaldo will fully recover in two to three months. His physique is outstanding—once fully developed, his athletic ability will be terrifying!"
"Three straight losses! Sporting Lisbon U17, without Cristiano Ronaldo, seems to have lost its soul!"
"The fraud exposed! Deng Kai—zero goals, zero assists in three games—doesn't deserve to be called the best midfielder!"
"Top forwards make mediocre midfielders look good. Ronaldo without 'Caesar' is still Ronaldo—but 'Caesar' without Ronaldo is just Deng Kai!"
"Best midfielder in history? With a pass success rate below 80%, Deng Kai's disaster-level performances are being slammed by fans!"
No one expected that the biggest victim of Cristiano Ronaldo's absence due to heart surgery wouldn't be Ronaldo—but Deng Kai.
After winning their opening match, Sporting Lisbon U17 suffered three straight defeats.
A complete collapse.
Even Trigueira was affected.
Many fans said it was lucky he wasn't coaching the first team—otherwise, they'd be screwed.
Meanwhile, the first team had two wins, one draw, and one loss. They weren't top of the table, but Jardel and Quaresma were performing brilliantly.
Fan morale was high—what more could they want?
Marquesa, who backed Jardel and Quaresma, was praised as "the man behind Augustus," "Sporting Lisbon's Mouri Kogoro," and "Portugal's real tactician!"
…
Alcochete training base.
Sporting Lisbon U17 players were training.
Another match day was approaching.
The young players were nervous.
Many didn't even know if they'd make the squad.
In the past three games, Trigueira had tried multiple lineups—but the results were terrible.
Deng Kai's stats looked awful—zero goals, zero assists.
But in reality, he created plenty of dangerous chances.
His teammates just couldn't convert them.
After wasting so many opportunities, some teammates were even starting to fear his passes.
No one wants to keep screwing up chances for the team.
In this regard, they needed to learn from Ronaldo.
No matter how many chances he wasted, Ronaldo never felt guilty—because he always believed the next shot would go in.
That mentality was similar to Kobe Bryant in basketball—miss twenty shots, still take the twenty-first without hesitation.
That kind of shameless—no, that kind of mentality—can't be taught.
It's pure confidence, competitiveness, and killer instinct.
When players fear wasting chances—or know they'll lose the ball—they instinctively fall back to defend.
That's responsible—but it also crippled Sporting Lisbon U17's wings.
If the wingers don't push forward during attacks, possession becomes meaningless.
Lots of control, no real threat.
Always holding the ball, rarely killing the game.
Even the future Portuguese national team would suffer from this issue—lacking explosive wing play.
Even with fast players like Leão or Mendes, rigid tactics often suppress that explosiveness.
That's on the coach.
At Sporting Lisbon U17, the issue wasn't tactics.
They had a tactically capable coach and fast wingers like Kai and Yu Shihao.
But the players lacked confidence—they didn't dare to push forward.
Different reasons, same problem.
While Trigueira continued searching for solutions, Deng Kai approached him.
He proposed his own ideas for the team's formation and tactics.
Trigueira supported him—but didn't expect much.
Because although the Chinese players weren't worse than others at this stage, their fundamentals—like coordination—were weaker.
How could results improve if they were heavily relied on?
He agreed mainly because he wanted to see how far Deng Kai could go.
Could he turn things around when everything looked doomed?
Besides, most of Trigueira's focus was still on higher-level matters—his backers and studying Primeira Liga teams.
If his connections regained influence in the club, he could return to coaching the first team and fight for the title.
So in the fifth round of the Portuguese U17 League—
Everyone witnessed something shocking.
…
"Oh! I think many people don't understand this lineup."
"If Trigueira doesn't want to coach U17, he should step aside. Why mess around like this?"
"I even think Deng Kai is the real coach—using nepotism to field all his Chinese teammates."
"Maybe this is his reward for them helping him beat up those Argentinians. Loyalty? Sure. Football? Hell no!"
"Seriously, these Chinese players should leave."
"Deng Kai too. He has no real ability—just an opportunist midfielder clinging to Ronaldo."
"At least now he's proven he's not fit to be a core midfielder."
"The club has Cristiano Ronaldo, and the national youth team has Quaresma. Deng Kai got lucky winning a treble last year!"
"He even stole Ronaldo's UEFA Youth League Golden Boot and Viana's assist title in the European Youth Championship!"
The outrage came from the lineup.
It was a 4-2-3-1.
The lone striker wasn't Miguel Paixão, but Yu Shihao—a registered left winger.
Left midfield wasn't Carlos Matias, but Hao Junmin—originally a right midfielder.
Right midfield was Kai, who had been playing full-back earlier.
Attacking midfielder—Deng Kai.
Double pivot—Veloso and Nuno Tavares.
Back four—João Câmara, Shao Jiawei, Angelo, and Duarte.
Goalkeeper—Márcio Santos.
The entire attacking line… Chinese.
Can Chinese players lead the attack?
No chance!
Do you even know your limits?
"Wake up!" Deng Kai shouted after stepping onto the pitch, feeling the pressure from the crowd. He began rallying his teammates.
"Don't forget our training—run more, pass more, break through when you should, and when you shouldn't, release the ball early!"
"Either let the ball move—or let it explode forward at full speed."
"There's no third option. Got it?"
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