From the man behind the football king to the football king.

Chapter 893: Two Stars Compete for Glory
"I believe that after seeing this stop, we can clearly feel that Bruno's stopping skills are really excellent. He can handle such a difficult ball with ease. It's really It’s quite rare.”

"Bruno is like a player without any weaknesses. Whether it's ball control, passing, or even shooting, his skills are top-notch. Many people would say that Bruno rarely uses some fancy skills, but can you say that the stop just now was really not fancy enough?"

"Or maybe it's more appropriate to describe Bruno with a Chinese saying, which is to return to basics! After nine years of refinement, his skills have reached the point of returning to basics, as if every move has been engraved into his body and soul. In any position on the court, in any situation, he can immediately choose the most appropriate way to deal with it..."

"At the same time, this goal is also very important. It is a big blow to the Netherlands, but it greatly boosts the morale of Portugal and allows all Portuguese players and fans to regain confidence."

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"What's more worth mentioning is that this is Bruno's 10th goal in the European Cup. In the 2016 European Cup, Bruno scored 8 goals in a single tournament, almost tying Platini's record of 1984 goals in a single tournament in the European Cup set in 9."

"But for Platini, the 1984 European Cup was his last performance in the history of the European Cup. Four years later, he failed to score a single goal in the European Cup finals, and his total number of goals in the European Cup finals remained at 9."

"Bruno did not stop there. In the first game of this European Cup, he scored twice and showed his hot form."

"After scoring two goals today, he surpassed Michel Platini, who scored nine goals, and Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo, who also scored nine goals, to become the top scorer in the history of the European Cup!"

"The 26-year-old Bruno, the top scorer in the history of the European Cup, has rewritten the record set by Platini 37 years ago. At that time, even Ronaldo was not born yet..."

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The Portuguese fans at the Cruyff Arena were shouting Bruno's name. More than 20,000 fans were shouting the same name in unison, which made Bruno feel extremely proud.

He also found his family in the crowded stands, and they looked very proud. Although several of them were not Portuguese, such as Liu Yimei and Vanessa, they were proud of Bruno.

This time it was the Netherlands that took the initiative to put pressure on the referee, indicating that Portugal's celebration lasted too long.

The referee had to run over to remind Bruno and the Portuguese players to hurry back and prepare for the kick-off.

This made all the Portuguese players laugh out loud. The feeling of revenge... was so cool!

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"Look at this Portugal attack, passing it to the right."

"Who is this player?"

"William Carvalho!"

"Oh my God, William Carvalho actually rushed to the right side of the Dutch penalty area and sent it into the penalty area."

"C Ronaldo kicks the ball..."

"Ouch, it was just a little bit off. Ronaldo's shot was really below par."

"William Carvalho waved his hand towards Ronaldo, as if to say, buddy, I may not be able to make such a great pass in a year, and you actually wasted me, remember this, haha..."

"Ronaldo is old after all. If he was in his prime, this ball would have probably gone in."

"After all, they are all 36-year-old veterans. Many people have retired at this age. It is rare for Ronaldo to be able to maintain his current competitive state!"

……

"After Portugal reversed the Netherlands, they played very relaxed for a while and had a firm control over the situation on the field."

"Look, it's still the midfielder who initiated it, William Carvalho, passing it to Bruno..."

"Just hit the door..."

"It was really shocking. Bruno suddenly made a long shot from 30 meters away. The quality was quite high."

"Stekelenborg must have been scared out of his wits. The shot came too suddenly."

"Bruno was very active throughout the game and scored twice to help Portugal temporarily lead 2:1. Now it seems that he wants to score another goal and get a hat trick."

……

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"This Portuguese team is indeed very strong and has the potential to be champions."

"After all, it is a super strong team with two football kings, and the other Portuguese players are overshadowed by these two football kings. But if you look closely, these starting players of the Portuguese team are almost all the main players in the top five leagues or even the giants. If they were replaced by any other team, they would be able to serve as the core..." "Portugal has indeed had a talent spurt in recent years, with top players in every position. No wonder they have won the championship for four consecutive years, the 2016 European Cup, the 2017 Confederations Cup, the 2018 World Cup, the 2019 European Nations League... If they win the European Cup again, it will be five consecutive championships!"

"The Netherlands is considered a top team, but they were still suppressed by Portugal at home. This shows how strong Portugal is. No wonder they have been ranked first in the world for three consecutive years!"

……

De Boer certainly did not hear the comments from players all over the world, but he knew the situation on the court very well, and he was also very aware that his team was in a precarious situation.

After making substitutions at the start of the second half, the Netherlands changed their tactical play, but Portugal followed suit and made adjustments, continuing to control the advantage on the field, and the Netherlands was suppressed very badly.

A very obvious feature is that Portugal pushed the entire back line directly to the outside of the 30-meter area.

………………

After Bruno scored the lead goal, the Five Shields established a tactical advantage and gradually took control of the situation.

With the team in control of the situation, Portugal's two defensive midfielders took turns to move up.

First it was Danilo Pereira, and now it's William Carvalho's turn, which makes the Netherlands feel very painful but helpless.

The Netherlands was completely suppressed by the opponent in the midfield and didn't even have the ability to fight back. What else could they do?
Santos' team played very smartly, and they had more players in this European Cup. They directly attacked the Netherlands' weak points, forcing the Netherlands to retreat and be suppressed throughout the game.

Among them, Bruno undoubtedly played a key role. He was definitely the number one contributor to Portugal's game.

De Boer had to admit that he had misjudged Bruno's situation.

Originally, De Boer thought that Bruno had just played in the Champions League final with Manchester United. He played 57 games in the whole season, including 10 national team games. That means from the beginning of September last year to now, in 9 months, Bruno has played 9 games.

After such a high-density and high-intensity season, everyone would be in poor condition due to fatigue after the start of the European Cup, but I didn’t expect that it was already more than 60 minutes into the second half, and he was still so energetic.

Is this guy an iron man?

………………

In the 65th minute, taking advantage of a dead ball opportunity, the Netherlands replaced Frenkie de Jong with Gravenberch.

This was an obvious substitution to strengthen the defense. De Boer was obviously very worried. If Portugal continued to attack like this, the Dutch defense would sooner or later fail to withstand the pressure and make mistakes. At that time, the Netherlands would suffer a crushing defeat in front of more than 30,000 fans at home.

If Gravenberch can stabilize the midfield, especially the defense, after coming on the court, the Netherlands still has a chance to play.

De Boer replaced three players in a row, and Santos did not move a single player, but the situation on the field was still under Portugal's control, which shows how obvious Portugal's advantage is in this game.

Three minutes after Gravenberch came on, Portugal made a mistake in the frontcourt attack. Bernardo Silva made a mistake in passing the ball, and Wijnaldum intercepted the ball in the frontcourt and passed it to the left. Dumfries made a low cross from the right frontcourt to the penalty area, but goalkeeper Patricio rushed out to save the ball, and Wijnaldum followed up in the middle of the penalty area and shot the ball into the goal.

2:2, the Netherlands team unexpectedly equalized the score!

When the game reached the 72nd minute, the Dutch midfielder made a mistake in passing the ball back. After William Carvalho intercepted the ball, he dribbled forward, dribbled all the way from the right side of the penalty area to the bottom line, and forced his way through Gravenberch.

William Carvalho suddenly went crazy, leaving all the Portuguese fans in the stadium stunned.

Is this still the honest and dutiful midfielder they usually know of, who never easily crosses the half court?
But after breaking through Gravenberch, William Carvalho's subsequent handling proved that he was indeed a defensive midfielder, because his pass was easily blocked by De Vrij.

However, the Dutch center back failed to stop the ball after blocking William Carvalho's cross, and was quickly snatched away by Ronaldo.

After the Portugal captain stole the ball from De Vrij, he was about to shoot, but De Vrij pushed Ronaldo to the ground in nervousness.

The referee's whistle sounded in time and pointed to the penalty spot.

C Ronaldo took the penalty kick himself, deceived the goalkeeper and shot into the goal, changing the score to 3:2.

This was the 10th European Cup goal scored by Ronaldo in his career, tying him with Bruno who had just scored 10 goals, making the two of them once again the top scorers in the history of the European Cup.

It was obvious that the Portuguese captain did not want to let his younger brother have all the credit. In this world-renowned Cruyff Arena, he had been trying hard to chase the goal. Unfortunately, his condition was not very good today and he failed to seize several good scoring opportunities.

However, this time he finally did not miss the penalty opportunity he created himself.

(End of this chapter)