A True Man Should Be Thus!

Sporting Lisbon's Romanian head coach Boloni was a very serious man, known for his steady approach to tactics.

Facing Porto at home in the opening league match, he dared not take any chances. He deployed the popular 4-2-3-1 formation with two defensive midfielders, benching the newly signed top scorer Jardel and starting Niculae as the center forward.

This was a move for stability.

In contrast, Machado's Porto showed great aggression on the road, fielding a 4-3-3 formation with a trident of top scorer Pena, Postiga, and Nuno Capucho, displaying absolute confidence in their attacking firepower.

As sworn rivals in the Portuguese Super League, the clash between the two teams was explosive from the very first whistle.

Once the match began, everyone's attention was fixed on the pitch.

Watching a game live versus on TV are two completely different experiences. In a sense, the eyes capture fewer details—no replays, no slow-motion shots; everything flashes by in an instant.

But without the barrier of a TV broadcast, watching live lets you feel the fast pace of the game more intensely. It's exhilarating, thrilling, and highly stimulating, easily making you scream at a sudden move by a player.

For Rony, watching the match on the field stirred mostly defiance.

But for Su Dong, it was more about shock and a deep realization of the gap between himself and professional players.

Put him on that pitch, and he wouldn't even keep up with the tempo, let alone touch the ball.

"Boloni benching Jardel is a gamble on Niculae," Jose Semedo shouted loudly beside Su Dong.

The roar of the crowd was deafening; even sitting close, they had to raise their voices to be heard.

Niculae, like Boloni, was Romanian and a player the coach had pushed to sign.

"Niculae's style is very similar to Jardel's. Last season at Dinamo Bucharest, he scored twenty-three goals in thirty matches—twenty in twenty-seven league games, one in two Champions League matches, and two in one domestic cup game. That's a high efficiency. If he pans out, Jardel will be in a tough spot," Semedo analyzed.

Rony nodded. "That's the club's insurance policy. Word is, Jardel didn't want to come back to Lisbon."

Water flows downhill, people strive upward. Jardel was a European star, courted by top clubs like Inter Milan. If not for special circumstances, he'd never have wanted to return to Sporting Lisbon.

So, in a way, Boloni pushing to sign Niculae and giving the twenty-year-old Romanian center forward a key role in a high-stakes opener against Porto was also pressure on Jardel.

But after watching Niculae miss a great chance, Rony shook his head. "He's nowhere near Jardel's level."

Maybe it was being new, maybe it was adjustment, maybe...

Regardless, in the warm-ups, Jardel had been scoring and in form, while Niculae looked mediocre.

When the match reached the twenty-second minute, right midfielder Ricardo Sá Pinto got injured in a tackle, and the team doctor signaled for a substitution.

As Su Dong watched Sá Pinto being carried off on a stretcher, he immediately turned his gaze to Rony.

Sure enough, the Madeira Island prodigy's face turned grim.

The fourth official raised the substitution board: number twenty, Ricardo Quaresma, replacing number ten, Sá Pinto.

Alvalade Stadium erupted with cheers of encouragement from the fans.

Sporting Lisbon's supporters were no strangers to their youth academy's rising star, let alone a talent like Quaresma.

Now, making his first-team debut, expectations were sky-high.

Anyone seeing Quaresma play for the first time would gasp in admiration.

That's what a genius looks like!

Though Su Dong had marveled at Rony before, watching Quaresma take the field, dribbling down the right flank as if through an empty field, tearing Porto's entire left side apart, he truly grasped the terror of genius.

Just minutes earlier, number ten Sá Pinto had been completely stifled on the right.

With Sporting Lisbon's left side manned by young Jorge and defensively fragile, Porto focused their attacks on the right, while the left mostly played defensively.

Sá Pinto's right side hadn't applied enough pressure on Porto's left, leaving the team passive. But all that changed once Quaresma came on, shattering the deadlock.

Just fifteen minutes later, Porto's single defensive midfielder Costinha picked up his second yellow card and was sent off with a straight red.

Down a man, Porto fought hard, making two substitutions at halftime to bolster their midfield defense.

But that left Porto completely on the back foot.

Young Quaresma continued his stellar performance in the second half, earning thunderous applause and making a name for himself in a single match.

Predictably, a flood of praise from the media and fans would follow, and Quaresma might well secure a spot in the first-team starting lineup from this game.

Even if he didn't become a starter, he'd at least be a key development target for the first team.

That's professional football!

Years, even decades, of grinding on the training pitch all boil down to that fleeting ninety-minute brilliance on the field.

Su Dong envied Quaresma, but more than that, he admired him.

He had earned it.

There's no room for shortcuts on the pitch. If your skill level isn't there, even if opportunity knocks, you can't seize it.

Quaresma was a genius, even more talented than Rony.

Boloni finally couldn't hold back and substituted Niculae, who had been squandering chance after chance, in the sixtieth minute.

The performance of the Romanian center forward in this match was truly unsatisfactory, appearing quite clumsy. When Quaresma had torn the opposing defense to shreds, he failed to seize the opportunity.

Jardel naturally stood by the sidelines.

The entire stadium erupted with thunderous cheers.

Just a year ago, Jardel had been the darling of the Portuguese Super League. Although he had spent the past year playing for Galatasaray in Turkey, his legend still lived on here.

It could be said that Sporting Lisbon's lackluster attack last season had made everyone anticipate Jardel even more.

The Brazilian star did not disappoint the crowd's expectations. Just nine minutes after coming on, he surged forward from outside the penalty area, received a pass from forward João Pinto, used his body to shove aside Andrade, and blasted a powerful shot from inside the box, breaching Porto's goal.

In an instant, the entire Alvalade Stadium erupted!

Su Dong, Rony, Semedo, and all the Sporting Lisbon fans leaped from their seats, shouting loudly at Jardel as he sprinted across the pitch, endlessly roaring his name.

Su Dong, in particular, was so excited that he cheered loudly.

This goal came suddenly, but it was also incredibly crucial.

Although Porto had been down a man early on, their two center-backs had performed exceptionally well.

Andrade went without saying—he was a young international center-back on whom Portugal had pinned great hopes. Carvalho, despite a solid performance last season, was not widely known. Together, the two had completely neutralized Niculae.

But Jardel was clearly more impactful and more lethal than Niculae.

His crucial goal saved Sporting Lisbon, who were playing at home.

It wasn't that Andrade and Carvalho were weak; it was that Jardel was too strong!

Su Dong gripped the railing tightly, his eyes fixed on the Brazilian forward sprinting to the sidelines to celebrate, his ears filled with the deafening roar of the crowd.

Over fifty thousand people were all shouting the same name.

Jardel!

That feeling was utterly indescribable.

At that moment, Su Dong felt like Liu Bang in the history books, seeing the touring Qin Shi Huang, and he let out a heartfelt exclamation.

A true man should be like this!

A fierce desire surged from the depths of his heart. He wanted to become a professional player, one like Jardel, who stormed the enemy's gates for his team and earned the cheers of the entire stadium!

This longing was unprecedented in its intensity.

Before, he had liked Ronaldo and yearned to play like him, but that had been more of a young boy's fantasy, separated by an unreachable TV screen. Tonight, however, he felt this shock for the first time, experienced the overwhelming power of the live crowd.

One goal had conquered fifty thousand people!

The match ultimately ended with Sporting Lisbon narrowly defeating Porto by a single goal.

Jardel came off the bench to score one goal, but for the rest of the time, he was still contained by Andrade and Carvalho. Those two center-backs were incredibly formidable, and Carvalho even earned the Best Player award.

Sporting Lisbon also had another outstanding performer: the young talent Quaresma.

This match felt like a breakout for him. His ball-handling and dribbling on the wing, along with his dazzling technique, drew endless admiration. Although there were still issues with his decision-making and passing, overall, Quaresma truly lived up to his reputation as a genius.

In contrast, Postiga on Porto's side seemed somewhat overshadowed next to Quaresma.

He had to cede the central position to Pena, forcing him to play in Pena's shadow.

The duel between these two Portuguese prodigies was sure to become the focus of tomorrow's media reports.

As the three of them left Alvalade Stadium with the ebbing crowd, Su Dong was still immersed in the live match, especially the shock of Jardel's goal, while Rony mostly wore a look of bitter resentment.

His archrival had entered the first team before him, made his professional debut earlier, and performed brilliantly. Meanwhile, he himself was now one step behind, falling further and further back.

For someone as competitive as him, how could that sit well in his heart?

Each lost in their own thoughts, they said little on the way back and parted ways after reaching Marquis of Pombal Square.

Back in the dormitory, Su Dong still insisted on doing his physical training.

After a few days of practice, he could now complete three sets of forty reps each, which was an improvement over before.

But his mind was still full of the image of Jardel's goal.

That kind of shock was something watching a live broadcast could never provide. Only by being there, by seeing it with your own eyes, could you feel that power and impact.

I must become a professional player!

A professional player as excellent as Jardel!

The contract was just sent out today, letting everyone know!

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