"History's Five-Peat!"
Early the next morning, France Team Report ran the news of Yang Yang winning the Golden Ball Award for five consecutive years as its front-page headline. The entire front page was filled with photos of Yang Yang holding the trophy aloft at the ceremony, while Ronaldo, who presented the award, was reduced to a supporting role.
France Team Report believed that there had never been any suspense over Yang Yang winning the award. Last season, he had helped Real Madrid successfully defend their Champions League title, becoming the first team in nearly twenty years—and since the Champions League reformat—to successfully retain the trophy. Yang Yang had played the greatest role in that achievement.
After winning the Golden Ball Award five times in a row, Yang Yang had defeated Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. This showed that the balance of power in European Football remained unchanged: Yang Yang was still the greatest and most outstanding superstar on the planet.
"Scenes of Yang Yang winning the award have happened in the past, are happening now, and will certainly happen again in the future."
"He is only twenty-five, yet he has already dominated European Football for five years. He has achieved countless results and honors that countless predecessors and legendary superstars could not accomplish throughout their entire careers."
"The past five years of European Football belonged to Yang Yang, and the next five years may well belong to Yang Yang too."
"Perhaps many years from now, when Yang Yang retires and we look back on the present, we will suddenly realize with pride that we lived through and witnessed a magnificent football era that belonged to Yang Yang!"
Spanish Marca also published a celebratory article at the first opportunity, using "Yang Yang's Fifth Golden Ball Award" as its headline.
Marca believed