From Arsenal to the Ball God

No way around it; both players are extremely popular at their respective clubs, and when something happens, their fans are bound to step up as a support.

The two clubs have no inherent conflict; they even scheduled a friendly match at the start of the year, and the managements seem to have a good relationship.

However, these confrontations are inevitable. It’s normal for both sides to have some friction due to their different stances over a short period.

”I hold no ill will toward Arsenal fans, nor toward Ma’el... but I want to say that young people should remain humble, and some statements shouldn’t be so absolute—he’s still a long way off.

”Not to mention proving oneself consistently in top-level schedules; does he have two consecutive seasons of double digits in the Premier League? A single season burst doesn’t mean much.”

”Arsenal fans bear no ill will toward the Bayern Club, nor do they see Ribery with bias... What we’re trying to convey is to take things as they are, not escalate it to involve the two clubs.

”In terms of player performance alone, I think Ma’el replacing Ribery as the starter on the national team’s left flank is no problem.”

”Nonsense! Ribery’s excellence cannot be reflected merely in statistics. After the older generation of players retired, he became the new spiritual leader of the France team!”

”If you put it that way, Ma’el is the same; otherwise, why would Deschamps choose him? Because he’s blind?”

”&*%￥#!”

”%￥@%!”

At first, many people could remain rational during the discussion, but later, as emotions were stirred, this confrontation inevitably turned into a war of words.

Soon, stars from both clubs spoke out, supporting their players, which further fueled the incident.

”Hang in there, Ribery, you’re the best partner.”—Robben posted a photo of him and Ribery arm-in-arm on his social media.

”Number 7!”—Bayern Captain Lam

”Clang-clang-clang! I have a friend!”—Sagna on social media

”Ma’el is the strongest! Congrats, brother, on your debut!”—Gilbert on social media

”Congrats to Ma’el on scoring 3 goals and 1 assist in his debut for the French National Team! The team’s most dazzling talent!”—Van Persie posted a photo of himself sliding on his knees with Ma’el.

Many media outlets reposted their messages and spread them far and wide.

Besides online, in real life, many people also spread the story around, chatting about it with their friends and relatives during meals.

...

On October 22nd, many of the France team’s players had already returned to their clubs. Some were ready to continue competing in the league that very day.

Spain, Barcelona.

Camp Nou Stadium, where the 13th round of La Liga matches was about to kick off, faced with Barça competing against Zaragoza.

In the pre-match locker room, the players’ expressions were quite relaxed; as Dream Three Barça, they felt no pressure going up against a club of this level.

”That guy’s been quite the buzz lately.”

As Pique was putting on his shoes, he brought up the topic, asking, ”Abidal, you went to train with the France team last time, tell us about it?”

With that, Fabregas and a bunch of Barça players focused their attention on Abidal, all curious about the matter.

”Actually, there’s nothing much to it.”

Abidal said as he put on his socks, today he was on standby as a substitute, ”It wasn’t as serious as the media said, it was quite a simple matter, but the outside world turned it complex.”

”It’s just that a new player came in and directly took an old player’s spot. The old player’s way of protesting was a bit extreme, and both sides kept sparking things up, which only intensified the conflict.”

”Apart from that, there was nothing else. Many rumors said they came to blows, but it wasn’t true; they didn’t even speak to one another.”

Saying the last sentence, his voice weakened somewhat, remembering there was a player who had actually tangled with Ma’el sitting nearby.

Fabregas indeed had ’touched a nerve,’ lowered his head, scowling, and said, ”Wherever Ma’el goes, there’s always trouble; that guy is definitely a problem.”

”Not necessarily.”

In a conciliatory tone, Iniesta smiled and said, ”His capabilities might indeed be strong; ordinary players can’t even stir up such matters.”

”He’s that good?” Fabregas glanced at Messi, and said, ”Messi has scored 31 goals and 16 assists this season so far; whatever he’s done doesn’t even count.”

”Now that makes no sense.” Iniesta replied jokingly, as he turned and walked toward the door, ”There’s only one Messi.”

Messi’s expression remained unchanged; he had heard such comparisons countless times and was used to being matched against others.

Compared to that, he preferred listening to gossip, ”Abidal, how strong is he really?”

”In my personal opinion, he is very strong.” Abidal quickly replied, expressing his true sentiment, ”I had heard his name before and roughly knew what kind of player he was.

”But after seeing him in reality, I had a different feeling... he is indeed very fast and strong; his shooting and passing abilities are very dominant, decision-making is very swift, and his playing style is quite reasonable.

”Compared to the media’s reports, I am more impressed by his dribbling ability; nobody seemed to mention it before, but this time I saw it firsthand; he successfully broke through over 15 times in that match.”

”Competing with Ribery for the front core position seems indeed difficult at the moment; his advantages are more apparent, and his condition is better.”

Seeing Fabregas’s malicious gaze, he added another sentence, ”Of course, that doesn’t mean I am optimistic about him, just speaking from Deschamps’s perspective.”

Messi nodded slightly, feeling somewhat expectant about facing this player.