novellk Chapter 30 What is the meaning of football?
Chapter 30 What is the meaning of football?
Suburbs of Madrid.
Li Jing pushed open the door and locked it from the inside.
He walked to the bedside, lay down on his back, and looked at the ceiling, taking a deep breath.
He brought up the system panel.
55000 points can be used for special training hours and remain in the center of your line of sight.
These are all gains they reaped from Di Maria and Higuain in the previous match against Real Madrid.
Li Jing quickly sorted out the current situation in his mind.
La Liga has an extremely fast pace, and relying solely on physical strength to withstand the pressure is a significant disadvantage.
This morning I listened to Simeone's tactical instructions. Defense not only requires toughness, but also absolutely precise coverage.
We must improve our ball intelligence and tactical awareness.
Li Jing made the decision.
Football is a sport where twelve people form a barrel; what's needed isn't versatility, but rather making one's own plank long enough.
"System, allocate all 55000 hours to tactical training!"
The mechanical prompt tone responded quickly.
【…】
He opened his eyes and brought up the final settlement panel.
[Tactical Category: Legendary (Legendary off-the-ball movement, world-class positional awareness, world-class game reading, world-class transition offense and defense)]
Li Jing clenched his fists tightly and sat up straight.
This experience was extremely powerful.
He looked around the room, and what was originally an ordinary spatial distance now appeared to be calculated with extreme precision by his brain.
Just by glancing at the gap between the TV and the sofa, one can deduce whether a player can pass through it.
The complex dynamics of the field—defensive zones, opponents' habitual movement routes, and gaps in defense—have all been transformed into an extremely clear coordinate system.
"Wow, that's impressive. I'm currently..."
Li Jing breathed a sigh of relief and stared blankly at the ceiling.
Actually, his feelings about La Liga are a bit off track right now.
Perhaps it's because their first match was against Real Madrid.
Actually, he was a little curious too.
"What level are we at in La Liga now, and at Atletico Madrid after we've added ourselves?"
……
It's 2 PM Beijing time.
Office area of a major domestic sports portal website.
The editor-in-chief, sitting in front of the computer, took off his headphones and typed with a look of shock on his face.
"Yang Fengying, has Simone really gone mad?"
The editor-in-chief pointed to the list of foreign media outlets appearing on the screen and shouted loudly,
"Li Jing is trending on social media in China, all the fuss about him. His 'rolling around and pretending to be dead' incident during a friendly match has caused such a huge scandal, our comment section is about to be bombarded. How could that bastard Simeone even put this kid in the starting lineup?"
Meanwhile, on the computer...
Yang Fengying typed a response with both hands on the keyboard.
"Editor-in-chief, the harsher the netizens' criticism, the higher the level of popularity."
Yang Fengying took a sip of hot coffee.
"As long as he can start, this is the ready-made code to generate traffic! You just need to have the traffic!"
Just send the batches as I suggested, and I'll report the expenses to the editor-in-chief. This guy's commercial value will exceed your imagination.
Yang Fengying moved her chair forward a little and placed the two annoying super-heavy planet cups on the table, feeling much more relaxed.
The editor-in-chief paused, then asked, "What title should we use for the homepage?"
Yang Fengying's keyboard clattered under her fingers, and a few seconds later she typed out the title.
"Look at this, 'A crucial La Liga match, Atletico Madrid's nepotism player starts again! Will the Chinese player on Calderon's first appearance witness humiliation tonight?' Isn't that explosive enough?" Yang Fengying asked.
Then came a dozen or so more titles.
Yang Fengying now routinely uses this type of UC title.
We have as many as you want.
The editor-in-chief slapped his thigh:
"Go! Push it to the top of the app's homepage immediately! Open up the comment section completely!"
……
A few hours later. Madrid, Spain.
The sports news editorial department of Marca.
The editor-in-chief, sporting a thick beard, grabbed a stack of pre-match starting lineups from various La Liga clubs and casually tossed them onto his desk.
The deputy editor in charge of layout came over and looked through it.
"Boss, Simeone is keeping that troublemaker in the starting lineup despite pressure from their sponsors to withdraw their funding."
The deputy editor pointed to Atletico Madrid's roster.
"That's incredibly audacious! Should we give them half a page on the front page tonight?"
The editor waved his hand dismissively, pulled out Atletico Madrid's list page, and threw it into the trash can.
"Are you out of your mind?"
The editor-in-chief scoffed.
"This round of league matches includes Real Madrid vs. Valencia, and an important game between Barcelona. What's the buzz surrounding Atletico Madrid vs. Villarreal, who are third from bottom?"
The deputy editor picked up the page:
"But Li Jing, that troublemaker, is a hot topic."
"What a topic of discussion. Simeone will definitely deploy his disgusting defensive formation again. Villarreal are even afraid to push past the midfielders in their fight to avoid relegation."
The editor-in-chief crossed his legs.
"Both sides are playing a defensive, back-and-forth tactic, and you might not even get a single shot on target in ninety minutes. Nobody likes watching this kind of sleep-inducing match. Just give Atletico Madrid a small corner of the page, and move all the photographers to Real Madrid's side."
……
Our gaze now turns to the town of Villarreal.
The streets were filled with fans wearing yellow jerseys. The town of 50,000 people was now deserted as fans beat drums and sang team songs to send off the away team bus that was about to depart for the away game.
Inside a classroom at the town's central high school.
The gray-haired physics professor, Anderson, stepped down from the podium and slammed ten thick review papers onto the desk.
Sitting behind the desk was fifteen-year-old Rodri.
"Rodri, I've already checked your placement test score."
The professor pressed the exam paper, looking at the boy who was already 1.82 meters tall.
"With your grades, getting into the best university in Madrid next year will be a piece of cake. You need to understand that watching football is just a hobby; don't go to away games with the fan buses. Your study time is very precious."
Rodri stood up and picked up the ten physics exam papers.
He folded the test paper neatly, carefully stuffed it into his slightly faded schoolbag, and zipped it up.
"Professor," Rhodes looked up at him, "if you grant me leave today to go to Calderon to watch Mr. Sant's match, I promise you, I'll finish all ten exam papers as soon as I get back!"
Rodri gave him a serious look, assuring him that he knew Professor Anderson liked him very much.
He also greatly admired the professor, André, who held a high position in Villarreal and had achieved considerable success in Spanish academia.
Having gained the professor's appreciation, Rodri didn't want to disappoint him.
Although he likes football, he also tries his best to balance his studies.
The professor frowned: "What is the point of football, anyway?"
"A truly meaningful professor!" Rodri raised his voice. "This match is our town's hope for staying in the league! Mr. Santi said he will definitely lead the team to points! This is Villarreal's belief, and it's my football dream! I have to go see him in person!"
The professor sighed and waved for him to leave.
"Go ahead, go ahead, remember what you promised me."
Rhodesley, having received the promise, seemed overjoyed.
He slung his backpack over his shoulder, rushed out of the classroom without looking back, and ran towards the bus in the town square.
Rodri gripped the ticket tightly.
The travel expenses and accommodation costs were all saved up over several months.
This is all for his football dream!
……