Ronaldo: I Hope We Can Fight Soon

After the match, in the post-game press conference, Wenger was asked about Varane's mistake. The Old Man was very calm and said:

"There's no need to dwell on that one mistake, because it didn't affect Arsenal's ultimate victory in the match."

"You have to understand, Rafael is only seventeen years old. He has an endless future ahead of him."

"Aside from that mistake, Rafael played very well in this match."

"I'm very optimistic about his future. He'll become part of Arsenal's future, just like Frey."

Hearing Wenger bring up Li Yufei on his own, the media reporters pressed further:

"Mr. Arsene, Frey only scored one goal in this match. Does that mean he's hit a rookie bottleneck?"

The Old Man's face showed an expression that said, "Are you an idiot?" as he replied:

"I didn't know scoring a goal in a match was considered a rookie bottleneck. It seems everyone has very high expectations for Frey!"

"So here's the question: if the expectations are that high, why do most media outlets think Frey's claim that he'd become this season's Premier League Golden Boot is arrogant nonsense?"

"Isn't that a contradiction?"

Fleet Street's media reporters were caught off guard by Wenger's counter-question.

Good grief, they were usually the ones finding fault with others, but this time they'd been outflanked.

That said, Wenger's point wasn't entirely unreasonable.

Why had they all agreed Frey was bragging? Thinking it over carefully, it seemed to be only because of his age.

There wasn't much else to base it on.

But looking back now, Frey was far ahead on the Premier League Top Scorers List with eight goals.

Second-place Drogba had only scored four.

From that perspective, Frey really did have a shot at this season's Premier League Golden Boot, and even the European Golden Shoe wasn't out of the question.

With that thought, the Fleet Street media crew exchanged glances.

No way, no way—was the first player in football history to win the league's Golden Boot in his debut professional season about to be born?

Were they really about to witness an unprecedented legend?

To be honest, many in Fleet Street couldn't believe it.

It was too much like a myth—something that shouldn't happen in reality!

But regardless, Wenger's words that day were widely reported by the media.

And that counter-question actually got many media professionals thinking.

If they considered Li Yufei scoring a single goal in a match as underperforming, then why did they think he couldn't win the league's Golden Boot?

After all, looking at past Premier League Golden Boot scoring data, even Alan Shearer's record of 34 goals in a single season, when spread across each match, didn't average one goal per game.

Yet now, Li Yufei scoring a goal per match was instinctively seen by the media as hitting a bottleneck.

This contradiction in their own statements showed just how rapidly Li Yufei was improving.

Even the professionals in the media hadn't accurately assessed his strength yet, and then Li Yufei got stronger.

This bizarre situation where others' perceptions couldn't keep up with a player's actual growth was unprecedented in football history!

Even Ronaldo back in the day wasn't this absurd!

And so, news about Li Yufei exploded across England once again, and this time even other European countries took notice.

Because the question their colleagues had raised was simply too outrageous!

The Spanish, German, Italian, and French media were extremely curious about what had driven their counterparts to ask such a ridiculous question as "Is scoring one goal a bottleneck?"

When they looked into it, those media outlets also went into a frenzy!

What the hell? Four league matches, eight goals, averaging two per game?

If it were just that, they wouldn't be so shocked!

After all, Messi and Ronaldo could do that when they were in form.

But the key was that the person achieving this was a super-rich second-generation kid who wasn't even 18 yet and had just started his first professional season!

That topic had all the elements to blow up.

Especially when, through this news, other countries' media learned about Li Yufei's interview after winning the Premier League Player of the Month for August.

When they heard this minor, underage rookie who'd just started his career pointing fingers at the entire Premier League and even pre-ordering the Golden Boot, they were even more astonished!

What kind of person would say such arrogant things in front of the media?

Even Ibrahimović, famous in today's football world for his ego, wasn't this cocky back when he was unknown, was he?

Meanwhile, Li Yufei's rookie performance—arguably the most explosive in history—had also caught the attention of some sharp-eyed players.

Spain.

Madrid.

Cristiano Ronaldo, resting at home, was in a foul mood after Real Madrid were held to a 0-0 draw by Mallorca at home in the opening league match.

Just then, he came across news about Li Yufei, and the phrase "eight goals in four games" immediately grabbed his attention.

After skimming through the relevant content, Ronaldo let out a long breath, set down the newspaper, and headed into the gym.

He had to admit that Li Yufei was putting immense pressure on him—far more than the outside media could imagine!

Having played six years in the Premier League, he knew exactly how intense English football was.

A striker who could pull off the feat of eight goals in four games in the Premier League was undoubtedly among the world's elite.

And when you factored in that Li Yufei was under 18 when he accomplished this, the threat he posed to Ronaldo shot straight to the top.

Ronaldo wouldn't underestimate Li Yufei just because he hadn't won any trophies yet.

After all, he asked himself, at 18, could he have put up such an absurd performance?

For now, he could only take solace in the fact that Li Yufei was still young and lacked experience, making it unrealistic for him to catch up in the short term.

Even so, Ronaldo had already placed Li Yufei right behind Messi as his second biggest rival.

The thought that his own team was being suppressed by Messi's Barcelona, while a once-in-a-generation prodigy had emerged in England, weighed heavily on him.

The pressure was immense.

He needed to train to calm himself down.

Only by regaining his composure could he rationally figure out the path ahead.

"Fletch, I hope we can face each other soon..."