From Arsenal to the Ball God

”Of course, I don’t mean to blame him for taking my chance. We still have to pray for our injured teammate.”

”Alright.” Ma’el high-fived him, waved his hand cheerfully toward Garrispeed on the sidelines, and extended five fingers.

Garrispeed understood, pretended to take out a wallet, flipped through it a few times, shook his head, and made a regrettable expression.

The two then exchanged a glance in mid-air, leaned back, and smiled, showing great tacit understanding.

As he walked back, Ma’el glanced at the soccer ball already placed in the center circle arc. Unless there was another throw-in or corner kick, this should be his prize.

With this, he would have three monthly bests, three commemorative balls, and nine individual match bests!

Quite an achievement.

Before returning to London, if he couldn’t take home the championship medal, he would take all these as the first batch of souvenirs for the honor room.

”Beep! Beep! Beep——!”

Not long after, the main referee blew the whistle to end the match, and the fans exploded into cheers once again.

64 points!

Whether or not they could enter the promotion zone wasn’t the point; the playoff spot seemed pretty secure, as this spot usually required around 80 points.

With 16 rounds left, it was almost impossible for Sheffield United to achieve less than 16 points!

”Guys.”

In the post-match locker room, Garrispeed shared his thoughts on the final sprint period with everyone, ”Having walked so far together, we need not worry about anything anymore; let’s play the rest of the matches with a calm mindset.

”Everything must be taken step by step. For now, let’s strive to reach 80 points as soon as possible and secure that playoff spot!”

He chose the prudent path. With Kevin’s past lessons, he dared not tread the old path at this juncture.

Breaking down the goals and accomplishing them one by one would avoid putting too much pressure on the players.

”Let’s go!!” He clenched his fist and shouted loudly.

”Let’s go, let’s go!!”

”Sheffield! Sheffield!”

The players, having just achieved a great victory, were in high spirits, clenched their fists, waved them about, and gathered in a circle to dance.

After all this ended, Ma’el took the football and the best individual match trophy home, placed the football in his little display cabinet, and stood beside it, admiring.

It was beginning to have a dazzling array feeling.

Unlike when it was first bought, it was now no longer awkward with only a few items on a vast display cabinet.

”Norwich 66 points, Queens Park Rangers 72 points.”

Gilbert, holding a mobile phone, sat beside him and read the other teams’ scores to him: ”Reading 64 points, behind us on goal difference, Swansea and Cardiff City aren’t too far behind us either.

”Ma’el, do you think we still have a chance for automatic promotion?”

”Automatic promotion?” Ma’el turned his head and looked at him in confusion, staring at Gilbert nervously just as he was about to speak before being interrupted: ”Isn’t that a certainty? What you should be asking is whether we’ll be champions.”

Gilbert: ”...”

He frowned and said, ”Ma’el, I’ve told you, your jokes are actually not funny.”

”I know.”

Ma’el took a few steps back, refocused on his display of honors, and looked satisfied, ”But this time, I’m serious.”

......

”Arsenal beat Wolves 2-0! Van Persie scored twice!” ——The Guardian

”Sheffield United defeated Millwall 4-1, closing the gap with Norwich!” Sky Sports Championship Column

”Double leaderboard leader! Record-breaking! A 17-year-old young star shines in the Championship League, achieving ’demon’ data! It is rumored that Barça and Real Madrid have also shown interest in the player and will contact the team during the summer window.” ——Spain Asi Bao

”If he can maintain the double leaderboard lead until the end of the season, Ma’el will become the first player to achieve this milestone in the England professional football system!” ——442 Rising Star Column

”Manchester United beat Manchester City 2-1! Winning the Manchester Derby! After the match, fans of both sides clashed, injuring four!” ——The Sun

After this round of the league, there was much more news about Ma’el.

Being at the top of both leaderboards is indeed a rare achievement.

Imagine a player acting as a front-line assassin with incredibly high efficiency, and often able to assist teammates with passes, outshining all top players!

What kind of monster is this?

”I generally have a cautious approach when evaluating people, but I really have to use ’the new Ronaldo’ to describe him. He’s too similar. Ronaldo debuted at Cruzeiro, entered the first team at 17, fought in the Brazilian lower league, and scored 44 goals in 44 appearances in his first season!

”See? Lower league, 17 years old, high efficiency, aren’t they the same person?”

”Uh... Ma’el looks a bit more handsome than Ronaldo, there’s still a difference.”

”Ronaldo had no assists, his first season was entirely as a shooter, 44 goals and 0 assists! Ma’el, meanwhile, has 25 goals along with 17 assists!”

”Goal-scoring-wise, Ma’el isn’t as effective as Ronaldo.”

”What nonsense are you talking about? Let alone the differences in football skills and tactics between the 90s and now, let’s first talk about the gap between Serie B and the Championship? As for goals and assists... it’s obviously better to be well-rounded.”

”Not to mention, Ma’el’s creation of 42 goals was much faster than Ronaldo, he only used 30 games, averaging nearly 1.5 per game.”

”.....”

Fans began to comment under these posts, and this time, not everyone supported Ma’el.

Because he was being compared with the Brazilian legendary star Ronaldo, a player who was still fondly remembered even before his retirement, Ronaldo’s peak abilities left a deep impression in European football.

Most who watched him play during that time were captivated by him and continued to reminisce to this day.

His peak was too high but also too short due to injuries, giving fans a lot of room for imagination.

Discussions about what heights he could have reached if not injured have never ceased.

When someone suddenly comes out and says there’s a player better than him... naturally, some die-hard Ronaldo supporters aren’t too pleased.

They will defend their love at the expense of some reason.

Because really, they don’t want to accept that a player representing their youth has become history, that their youth has faded away.

But no matter how the outside world quarreled.

At this moment in Vicarage Road Stadium, the home of Watford, sitting in the locker room, Graham had only one thought... the sky had fallen.

He had maintained the top scorer status for nearly a season, only to have it snatched away in this final phase of the league!

Most critically, he was substituted at halftime today because of a leg cramp, his body too fatigued.

He could confirm that the first 30 games were definitely the peak of his form this season.

Afterwards, he would no longer have any ability or confidence to compete with Ma’el.

”Argh!”

In his frustration, he stood up again and vented, kicking a trash can over and throwing his phone against the wall.

A teammate he’d recently acted out with came in just in time to see his rage.

”Ha... ha...” This time, the guy only offered an awkward laugh, it was a very awful laugh, genuinely scared of getting hit again for no reason.