A five-goal thrashing of Barcelona once again made Real Madrid the focus of discussion across European football.
Yang Yang scored four goals in this crucial match, earning himself even more applause.
The day after playing Barcelona, the team gathered at noon and flew to Monaco on a chartered plane to prepare for the European Super Cup. At the same time, several core players, including Yang Yang, had been invited to attend UEFA's annual awards ceremony.
After the European Golden Ball Award and FIFA's World Footballer of the Year had been merged into the FIFA Golden Ball Award, UEFA began vigorously promoting the Best Player in Europe Award, while the individual awards for the other four positions were canceled.
This undoubtedly made the award even more eye-catching. Many people even said that it was the prelude to the FIFA Golden Ball Award. Whoever won this award would basically have the FIFA Golden Ball Award locked up in advance.
2012 was a year of major tournaments for national teams. According to past practice, the award usually went to a player who had won a major international tournament and performed outstandingly. That year, the European Cup champions were Spain.
However, that pattern had gradually been broken since 2008, because Yang Yang had simply been too incredible in recent years.
Yang Yang's outrageous performances had broken the tradition of awarding honors in even-numbered years to players from major-tournament-winning teams. As a result, no one believed that the 2012 Best Player in Europe Award would go to a Spanish national-team player.
The top three in UEFA's first round of voting had already been announced: Real Madrid's Yang Yang, Barcelona's Messi, and Iniesta.
But who would ultimately stand out would depend on the second round of voting in Monaco.
Real Madrid's delegation to Monaco was