It's cheating, but Hazard

Chapter 39: Kick Away 39 Million Euros
Sitting next to the water dispenser in the locker room, watching the live broadcast on TV, Charles felt the uneasiness in his heart spread.

Barcelona is one man short.

Although Barcelona still has the upper hand on the field, the teammates seem to have not recovered from the FIFA virus.

After the change of sides, Barcelona became increasingly anxious.

50 minutes.

In the first half, the Spaniards were almost suppressed by Barcelona and had few shooting opportunities, but they fought back in the tenth minute of the second half.

Nene broke away from Pique's defense on the left side of the penalty area and turned to make a cross.

The ball turned into cold wind under Charles' feet, and under Nene's feet, it flew forward with a whistling sound as if it was possessed by a magic.

In the past two seasons, De La Pena, who has been plagued by injuries and has greatly reduced his appearances, is like a fairy guiding the way, running in both directions with the ball without any defense.

As Valdes' eyes were filled with anger, the abandoned Barcelona player jumped high.

"boom--"

De La Pena is not good at heading.

But at this moment, all his heading abilities seemed to become question marks.

"De La Pena attacks—"

"Pretty!"

The ball hit De La Pena's bald head, turned into a stray arrow, and rushed towards the goal unpredictably.

"Wow—"

Valdes got up from the ground in a panic, only to feel a chill on his body.

It's like the waves created by the ball hitting the net splashing onto your body.

"The last time De La Pena scored in La Liga was in the 04/05 season. At the Camp Nou, where he once enjoyed great glory, Florentino finally broke his four-year league goal drought."

"De La Pena joined the Barcelona youth training camp at the age of 15 and was promoted to the Barcelona first team by Cruyff at the age of 19."

"In the 95/96 season, De La Pena made 31 appearances in La Liga and scored seven goals."

"A year later, De La Pena's soul-stirring through pass helped Ronaldo to score 34 goals in a season."

"But in the 97/98 season, Louis van Gaal, who loved iron-blooded defensive midfielders, took over Barcelona and De La Pena immediately became a marginal figure."

"In the summer of 02, he joined Barcelona's arch-rivals Espanyol."

"The financial resources and fame of the Spaniards doomed De La Pena's future to be dull. This talented player who was praised as a teenager alongside Raúl will only be gradually forgotten by people."

"But in today's game, De La Pena used his experience to tell me a story of self-redemption."

After scoring the goal, De La Pena roared, half-raised his hands and clenched his fists tightly.

The Espanyol fans crowded in the small away stands cheered and raised their scarves high in their hands like floating clouds.

"What's the point of ganar por el emblema de nuestro equipo!
Para el azul y el blanco en el cuerpo, debemos ganar!”

For our team badge, we must win!
For the blue and white we have, we must win!

Ciel had no idea how he felt.

I just saw him smile, then open his arms and run on the court.

It seems that all the unwillingness and regrets are slowly dissipating in the wind like this.

The game starts again.

In the 53rd minute, Halke received a yellow card for handball in front of the penalty area, and Xavi took the free kick but missed the goal.

But what Charles didn't expect was that the plot of "David and Goliath" seemed to be really happening today.

54 minutes.

When Valdés received the pass from Pique, he kicked the ball with a big kick, but the ball failed to be kicked and was easily intercepted by De La Pena.

It seemed that at this moment, God finally realized that fate had not been kind enough to him.

So today, God decided to let him play the role of a lone hero.

After receiving the ball, De La Pena made a slight adjustment and lobbed the ball from 20 meters away. Like David shooting a marble at Goliath with a slingshot, the ball mercilessly broke through Valdés' goal.

Valdez could only watch the ball go into the net

"Barcelona 2:2 Espanyol!"

"Before the 150th Barcelona derby, all public opinion leaned towards Barcelona."

"The biggest points difference in history of 42 points, the battle between the newly promoted team and the runner-up, Espanyol has not won against Barcelona away in 26 years."

"Espanyol has not won a game in 14 consecutive games. These statistics almost killed the suspense of the game before the game."

"So far, the Spaniards, who have only had two shots on goal in the entire match, are about to defeat the invincible Barcelona in front of 76942 fans at Camp Nou!"

“A football is round!”

"Just like last year's Copa del Rey, when Benedetto's Charles led the team alone in both home and away games, and despite everyone's pessimism, they defeated Barcelona with a weak team."

"Benedo is just a fourth-tier club."

"If there was no King's Cup, not many people would know about its existence."

"Just when we thought this would be the last time the David and Goliath triumphed over the Goliath, a new Ciel appeared."

"No, he is not the new Charles, he is the Spanish little Buddha - De La Pena."

"Life at Barcelona was a mixture of glory and obscure pain."

"The Lazio years were a nightmare."

"Spanish time is eternal. Genius never fades and veterans never die."

Ciel shook his head.

This is not the first time Valdés has made a similar mistake.

In the 2005rd round of the 2006-23 season, Barcelona challenged Valencia away.

After receiving a pass from defender Van Bronckhorst, Valdés kicked the ball with a long kick, and the ball flew straight to the opponent's forward Villa, who scored with an easy lob shot.

Also in the 4th round of this season, the opponent is Valencia.

Valdes had a nerve short circuit when he kicked the ball - the ball hit Villa's butt directly, and then bounced into the goal.

Recently, the club has basically been negotiating contracts with the players.

Not only Charr, Messi, Xavi and Eto'o are negotiating contract renewal with the club, but Valdes is also doing so.

His current annual salary is 300 million.

Barcelona is ready to give him a salary increase of 200 million.

But Valdes wants a pay raise of 300 million, for a total annual salary of 600 million, the same as Casillas.

But now it seems that it will be difficult for him to negotiate a salary increase.

On the last national team match day, Valdes failed to be selected for the Spanish national team.

This incident also attracted collective criticism from Barcelona.

But now, it is estimated that Laporta and Begiristain may have to start considering whether to introduce a high-level goalkeeper to stimulate Valdes.

It's not just 100 million euros that was kicked away.

The game starts again.

But after conceding two goals in a row, Barcelona became more and more chaotic.

Messi was still rushing left and right, but there were always two or three opponents double-teaming him.

In the 60th minute, Eto'o's powerful shot from outside the penalty area went wide.

In the 62nd minute, Sergio Sanchez pulled down Eto'o in front of the penalty area and received a yellow card.

Messi passed the free kick into the penalty area, the Espanyol defender made a mistake in clearing the ball, and Toure half-turned and volleyed the ball into the net from 12 meters away.

Barcelona 3:2 Espanyol.

(End of this chapter)