Ground football: Ronaldo thought I was going to assist him

European fans are thrilled.

I thought the only highlight this year would be the Champions League.

Let's see if Bayern Munich can finally achieve their goal of reaching the Champions League semi-finals for the third consecutive year.

Will Valencia, the Bats, who suddenly rose to prominence and reached the Champions League final for two consecutive years, be able to win their first Champions League trophy in club history?

To my surprise, the UEFA Cup was actually quite interesting.

It's even more interesting.

Liverpool and Sporting Lisbon, whoever wins the title, could become the next "treble winner" after Manchester United.

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Of course, all of this is based on the assumption that the final round of the Portuguese league will go smoothly four days later.

It is rumored that Sporting Lisbon requested to postpone the final round of the Portuguese Primeira Liga matches in order to make fuller preparations for the UEFA Cup final.

Because these two match days are only two days apart.

It was such a rush.

However, the application was ultimately rejected by the Portuguese Football Federation.

The Portuguese league has its own considerations.

The final round must start simultaneously. Postponing more than a dozen matches for one team would be too costly.

Moreover, considering viewership ratings and attendance, it's not worthwhile.

Portuguese media outlet A Bola explained the schedule of the Portuguese Primeira Liga: "Although the Primeira Liga only has 34 rounds, according to past data analysis, matches closer to the Champions League final tend to have higher viewership and generate more discussion."

"This is also why almost all leagues with shorter schedules finish around the same time as leagues with more rounds, such as Serie A and La Liga."

"The last few matches of the league are actually the most important. If these matches were moved forward by half a month or even a month, the event organizers would suffer huge losses."

To put it bluntly, "end of the season" is a shared sentiment among the group.

While others are still celebrating New Year's Day, you're already celebrating the Spring Festival. Obviously, the latter doesn't have the proper atmosphere of the Spring Festival.

The festive atmosphere of the Spring Festival is only truly strong when everyone is celebrating it.

Among the major leagues, only the Bundesliga has the courage to end the season early.

This has significantly reduced the prestige, discussion, and recognition of the Bundesliga title.

The Bundesliga was considered outside the top leagues for a long time, largely due to its scheduling.

But that's exactly what the Bundesliga is going to do, because it gives Bundesliga teams plenty of time to prepare for European competitions.

Bayern Munich's run to the Champions League semi-finals for three consecutive years and their appearance in the Champions League final twice in three years are largely due to their favorable schedule.

But only the Bundesliga dares to do this.

No other competition dared to imitate this.

The Bundesliga model and other secondary league models actually have different betting methods.

Most local powerhouses in smaller leagues operate on a "black market" model, requiring a lot of attention to increase the value of their players.

Therefore, they dare not end their league before the "title race" begins, because that would mean losing viewership.

What are the bets on in the Bundesliga?

The bet is on Bundesliga teams, mainly Bayern Munich, to reach the European semi-finals, or even the final and win the title.

This generates more traffic than the "chasing for the championship" trend, and it's almost like monopolizing the traffic.

Not only will the players' value increase, but the club's brand image and the league's influence will also be enhanced.

But the prerequisite is that we must be able to take this step and win European competitions from time to time.

The former is a small bet for fun, a safe and sound business.

The latter is betting everything on a big gamble, believing that life and death are predestined and wealth is determined by fate.

The Bundesliga's brand power was once weak because this gambling strategy failed to produce enough titles and semi-final appearances in European competitions.

However, the Bundesliga's brand power later skyrocketed, also because Bayern Munich won a large number of Champions League titles through this kind of betting strategy.

The Bundesliga and Bayern Munich have this foundation.

The Portuguese league... doesn't qualify for such high-stakes betting.

The Portuguese league, despite pooling the resources of the entire league, can only produce teams that consistently reach the knockout stages of the Champions League. It doesn't attract a huge influx of talent, so it can only rely on the "league title race" route.

Many Portuguese league fans cannot understand these things, so they always complain that the league schedule is not reasonable enough.

They have 38 rounds, you have 34, but you insist on finishing at the same time as them. The early schedule was so dragged out that it completely ruined the time for preparing for European competitions.

……

The final round of the Portuguese league kicked off on May 22nd.

At the pre-match press conference, Deng Kai expressed his dissatisfaction with the Portuguese league's schedule: "I suggest that the Portuguese league optimize its league schedule for next season."

"I know the Portuguese league's schedule has its own logic, but the Portuguese Football Federation also needs to face the fact that Sporting Lisbon is becoming a top-tier European team."

"This season, next season... and even longer, Sporting Lisbon will have the potential to reach the semi-finals and finals of European competitions. Porto, too, could become a regular in the knockout stages of European competitions."

"So how to help these teams compete better in European competitions is a question that the Portuguese Football Federation must consider."

"I'm not saying we should give these teams the green light, but their victories in European competitions are a good thing for the overall environment of Portuguese football."

"Imagine if the Portuguese league's UEFA coefficient surpassed Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga, becoming fourth in Europe—wouldn't the salaries and market value of all our Portuguese league players, staff, and clubs skyrocket?"

"We don't need the Portuguese league to provide conveniences for teams in the UEFA Cup final, but at the very least, they shouldn't hold us back!"

"The Portuguese Football Federation, we really should consider the issue of Portuguese league teams winning European competitions! It's a happy problem, and you should be very motivated to solve it, right?"

The room erupted in laughter.

That's a very sophisticated way to offer feedback.

The key point is that it's very flashy.

Because this is something only final-level teams have the right to say.

Deng Kai's words were endorsed by many Portuguese media outlets.

They were the ones who felt it most deeply.

In previous years at this time, they would at most report who the Portuguese league champion was or who was about to be the champion.

Aside from the Portuguese, not many people pay attention to these things. The Portuguese league's influence is even weaker than that of the Dutch league, after all, the Portuguese league was once very wealthy.

But this year is different; all of Europe is watching Sporting Lisbon's form.

Even a simple article by a local media outlet titled "In passing practice, Ronaldo failed to stop Deng Kai's pass" would receive ten times more clicks and shares than usual.

Even after being reprinted by other media outlets, it led to headlines such as "Cristiano Ronaldo fails to receive Deng Kai's pass, is he in poor form and possibly injured?", "Even Ronaldo can't receive Deng Kai's pass, is there another subpar midfielder in the Portuguese league?", "Cristiano Ronaldo doesn't receive Deng Kai's pass, their relationship seems to be strained!", and "Finally, internal strife! Ronaldo is unhappy with Deng Kai raising the trophy after the Portuguese Cup final, the two refuse to pass the ball to each other!"

I like playing football on the ground: Ronaldo thought I was going to assist him.