Seeing all this, Lin Quan was thrilled.
Just imagine how terrifying Messi would be with unlimited stamina and no injuries.
Retaining the explosiveness and dribbling ability he had twelve years ago while gaining the playmaking and orchestration skills he would have nineteen years later.
How complete would that make him?
He would be godlike, plain and simple!
And this was the strength Lin Quan would possess in the future at his full potential, empowered by the system.
He could practically see himself activating these talents and becoming the terrifying demon king everyone in football feared!
The match continued, with Werder Bremen's attacks coming in wave after wave.
After getting past their initial nerves, the team's young players visibly improved.
Especially De Bruyne, who was directing play from central midfield. His performance was outstanding.
The entire first half was practically De Bruyne's personal stage.
Time and again, he used his excellent vision and passing to create several dangerous opportunities.
However, Nils Petersen, the striker on loan from Bayern Munich, seemed to have forgotten his shooting boots. He squandered several golden chances in a row, making even De Bruyne clutch his head and sigh.
Besides serving as a crucial tempo-setter in attack, De Bruyne also made an outstanding contribution defensively.
After so many days of one-on-one training with Lin Quan, De Bruyne still could not defend against Lin Quan, but his defensive ability had improved tremendously compared to before.
His aggressive pressing and interceptions in the opposition half repeatedly smothered the opponents' counterattacks before they could develop.
Ordinary players would definitely not find it easy to get past him.
This left the coaches on Werder Bremen's bench utterly astonished!
"This kid seems even better than he was in training!"
"Yeah, his attacking ability is already first-class. Who would have thought he also had such excellent defensive ability!"
"He presses so aggressively, isn't afraid of physical battles, and never spares his stamina when running. He reminds me of a player!"
"Who?"
"Nedved!"
Hearing that name, everyone's hearts trembled.
The Czech Iron Man was a Hexagonal All-Rounder, the very symbol of Never Tire.
Did Coach Schaaf really rate De Bruyne that highly?
"This is only a friendly, after all. We still need to keep watching. If—I'm saying if—he can keep performing this well, then avoiding relegation next season may not be so difficult for us!"
Everyone nodded together. They had brought in three players on loan this season. Nils Petersen's performance had been passable at best, but De Bruyne had given them an enormous surprise.
Now, only the young player brought in from Barca had yet to make an appearance. If Lin Quan's performance could exceed expectations, then perhaps they really could achieve their survival target next season!
Cottbus quickly realized the threat De Bruyne posed and stepped up their marking on him.
This greatly reduced De Bruyne's ability to play dangerous passes. Not only that, but when counterattacking, they deliberately avoided the middle and launched their breaks down the flanks.
The tactic quickly paid off. After being hit by several highly dangerous counterattacks in succession, Werder Bremen's wide players began to hesitate.
They no longer dared to join the attack much, instead putting most of their energy into defending.
Without the involvement of their wide midfielders, Werder Bremen's attacks also began to lose their threat.
The match thus fell into a stalemate.
The first half ended with the score still 0:0. Neither side had been able to break through the other's goal.
On the sideline, Coach Schaaf stood up and was the first to head toward the locker room.
He had already identified the team's issues on the flanks and was preparing adjustments.
Friendlies at this level usually drew little attention in Asia.
Especially while the AFC U-23 Championship was in full swing, most viewers chose to watch matches featuring their own national team, since they felt more invested in them.
Thus, on a domestic online streaming platform, only one niche streamer who loved football was broadcasting this match.
At the same time, no fewer than ten streamers had chosen to broadcast the AFC U-23 Championship match between China U22 and North Korea. The attention the two matches received was nowhere near comparable.
The viewers watching this friendly were mainly Werder Bremen fans, along with longtime fans of European leagues who had nothing to watch because the Top Five Leagues had not started yet.
During halftime, the viewers and streamer chatted idly:
"Streamer, streamer, everyone else is broadcasting the Chinese National Football Team match. Why aren't you chasing the traffic? Why insist on streaming a Bundesliga team's friendly? Look, nobody's even watching!"
Seeing the question, the streamer answered with a smile:
"My heart isn't very strong. I'm afraid I couldn't take watching the Chinese National Football Team!"
The viewers in the stream all burst out laughing at his answer.
In recent years, the Chinese National Football Team's strength had steadily declined, and their results had fallen off a cliff.
Especially last year, when the highly anticipated Chinese National Football Team failed to even make it out of the Asian Cup Group Stage, deeply hurting the fans.
"Damn it, this trash Chinese National Football Team can't even beat North Korea!"
"Fuck, give us our money back!"
"Chinese National Football Team, have you done right by us?"
"Your skills are worse than others, your attitude is worse than others, so why even play football? Go home and raise pigs!"
"These losers piss me off just by playing!"
"I think the Chinese National Football Team is completely finished!"
"Guy above, you only realized that now? Wasn't the Chinese National Football Team finished ages ago?"
They had been chatting perfectly well when a huge wave of new viewers suddenly flooded into the stream.
After entering, these viewers did not even watch the match. They immediately started cursing furiously in the comments.
Seeing his viewer count rapidly soar, Huang Wei was initially quite happy.
But when he looked at the comments and saw nothing but insults, he was badly startled.
After looking more carefully, though, it seemed they were not cursing him, but the Chinese National Football Team. That left him rather puzzled.
So he checked the score in the other match.
Sure enough, the Chinese National Football Team was behind yet again!
In the 43rd minute of the first half, North Korea scored. The score in the Chinese National Football Team match was currently 1:0.
Over at the other streamers' channels, after seeing the Chinese National Football Team fall behind North Korea, large numbers of viewers watching that match cursed as they left their streams and flocked to this previously obscure one.
"Let's watch some high-level European football to cleanse our eyes!"
"Eye cleanse +1!"
"Eye cleanse +2!"
"Brothers, it's a Bundesliga team's preseason match. Isn't this level far more comfortable to watch than the Chinese National Football Team?"
"Seriously. Who would watch the Chinese National Football Team without fast-acting heart medicine?"
With so many new viewers arriving all at once, Huang Wei was both excited and nervous. He gathered himself and began commentating earnestly.
He looked through the two teams' information and suddenly gave a surprised sound.
"Werder Bremen's squad has a young player whose name looks Chinese, and it seems he's on loan from Barca!"
"Holy shit, seriously? A Barca player, Messi's teammate? That's awesome!"
"Heh, he was probably bought as a mascot, right?"
"Tch, guy above, he's a Barca player. Does Barca need to buy mascots?"
"Whether he's a mascot or not, won't we find out if he gets on the pitch?"
"That's right. If he can play for Werder Bremen, then he isn't a mascot. But if he stays on the bench and never gets a chance, then he's obviously a mascot!"
Amid the viewers' doubts and anticipation, the second half began.
Werder Bremen made the first substitution. Lin Quan, wearing the Number 10 Jersey, came on to replace the number 11 winger Elia.
The moment they saw Lin Quan's jersey number, the stream exploded.
"Holy shit, the Number 10 Jersey? Are they planning to develop him as the core?"
"La Masia academy product, a winger, and wearing number 10. Why does that sound so much like that man?"
"He's about the same height too!"
"He's exactly nine years younger than Boss Messi. A perfect successor!"
"Then let's see whether this Messi successor can really succeed Messi!"
Before you continue