The second penalty taker was between Viana and Ronaldo, which was not easy to decide.
Viana was a senior product of the youth academy. In terms of being promoted and hyped up as a future star, he had even been chosen before Ronaldo, and he entered the first team a year earlier.
But as rising stars, Ronaldo and Kai were truly in the spotlight now.
In terms of popularity, only Quaresma could definitely suppress these two demon-star youngsters.
And that was only individually. If Ronaldo and Kai were grouped together as the "CD combo," their momentum was absolutely not inferior to Quaresma's.
Giving it to Ronaldo would make sense too. He was also a super scorer, but Viana's side would definitely lose face a little.
So in the end, Triguera chose Ballon d'Or winner Matthäus as the first penalty taker, and nobody had any objections.
As for the third penalty taker, Viana wasn't interested in it, so Ronaldo benefited from the situation.
Considering that Matthäus was usually substituted out unless it was an important match, Ronaldo, the third penalty taker, was basically the actual second penalty taker.
Quaresma nodded after taking the football from Kai, then calmly scored the penalty with one strike.
He became the team's top scorer with three goals.
At the moment, Sporting Lisbon's midfield and frontline were blooming everywhere. Other than Drogba, everyone had scored!
After the match, the media went crazy with publicity.
Sporting Lisbon secured another 4-1 victory and continued sitting at the top of the table.
With a goal difference of ten, it would be very difficult for any team to surpass them in a short time.
…
"The truth behind Hathaway's relationship exposed! Is it the three stripes, or Kai's fatal attraction?"
Logically speaking, an ordinary Portuguese Super League match should not attract outside attention.
But once this news came out, North America exploded.
Many American men openly spread rumors, insisting that Kai couldn't possibly be that strong.
But American women were more willing to believe that Kai had used all his nutrients to grow taller somewhere else. Suddenly, everything made sense.
Fortunately, Hathaway had already joined a film set and isolated herself from the outside world, otherwise reporters would definitely have swarmed her for answers.
As for Hathaway herself, she also wanted to know the truth as soon as possible.
After the second round of the league, Sporting Lisbon did not get a holiday.
Just three days later, they welcomed their first European match.
Or rather... this group of youngsters welcomed their first European war.
Kai, Ronaldo, Drogba, Ibrahimović, Barzagli, Pepe, Fonte, Terry, and the others, including Viana.
As for Quaresma, he had already played in the UEFA Cup with the team last season.
The team had made it out of the group stage, but then collapsed afterward.
Viana had been recovering from injury during the first half of last season. By the time he returned in the second half, Sporting Lisbon had already been eliminated from the UEFA Cup, so he missed the chance to play in Europe.
At this time, the UEFA Cup was still called the UEFA Cup, having only recently absorbed the European Cup Winners' Cup. It was not yet the Europa League people would later become familiar with, though the meaning was roughly the same.
The difference was mainly in the competition format and qualification threshold.
Sporting Lisbon was placed in the same group as Turkish Super League side Gaziantepspor, Norwegian champions Lillestrøm, and Belgian First Division powerhouse Anderlecht.
There would be a double round-robin within the group.
Each team would play home and away against the other three teams.
That meant six matches in total, with the group winner advancing directly to the knockout stage.
The second-place team in each group would play a playoff against the third-place team eliminated from a Champions League group, and the winner would advance to the knockout rounds.
Over the past ten years, Inter Milan had reached the UEFA Cup final four times and won the trophy three times. Serie A clubs had won five titles and reached the finals eleven times, demonstrating the dominance of Serie A football.
But last year, no Serie A team even reached the final.
The finalists were Arsenal and Galatasaray.
And in the end, it was the Turkish champions who lifted the trophy!
Arsenal lost 4-1 in the penalty shootout!
Among a series of wealthy giants, this was undoubtedly the most low-profile name.
Because of that, people paid special attention to Turkish Super League teams this season.
As for Sporting CP... over the past ten or even twenty years, no Portuguese club had reached the UEFA Cup final.
Their European performances had not earned people's trust.
Moreover, the Portuguese Super League was not considered a mainstream league, so the outside world's understanding of it updated rather slowly.
Thanks to Jardel's transfer this summer, people now knew that Sporting Lisbon had sold their top striker, brought in a large number of young players, and completely rebuilt the squad.
As for the combat strength of such a team... if the rebuild went smoothly, returning to the top four within three years and competing for the title within five years would already be considered excellent.
So talking about winning European trophies right now?
Forget it.
September 16th.
Sporting Lisbon welcomed European opponent Gaziantepspor to the Alvalade Stadium.
There were not many changes in Sporting Lisbon's lineup today, with Drogba continuing at center forward.
Despite failing to score in two consecutive games, Drogba's role on the pitch was obvious to everyone.
Choosing him to start this game was also a signal from Triguera.
For now, Drogba was more helpful to the team than Ibrahimović.
Inside the player tunnel, both teams lined up waiting to enter the pitch.
Standing behind Kai, Ronaldo suddenly felt something strange.
"Hey, Kai... have you gotten taller?"
Kai froze.
He originally thought he wouldn't grow again until his second growth spurt arrived, so why was he growing earlier than expected? He'd have to go back and measure himself. He had to be at least 1.7 meters now, right?
"What should I say?" Kai turned around and looked at Ronaldo.
Ronaldo said, "I can't see the second swirl on the top of your head anymore. I have to stand on tiptoe now. I didn't need to before."
Kai: "Fuck off!"
Gaziantepspor was also considered a strong team in the Turkish Super League, but their style focused on defense and counterattacks, willingly handing possession over to Sporting Lisbon.
That was because the top three clubs in Turkey — Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe, and Beşiktaş — were famously known as retirement homes for football stars.
Top stars from Europe's five major leagues would often go to the Turkish league one or two years before retirement to make money.
The salaries there were often three to ten times their normal wages!
If you don't take the money, you're an idiot.
Those stars from Europe's top leagues were often on a completely different level from ordinary Turkish Super League players.
As a result, aside from the three giants, most other Turkish teams mainly played defensive counterattacks.
Otherwise what? Were they supposed to steal the ball from several versions of Zidane and fight them head-on?
Zidane himself would probably say, "I'm not going to the Turkish league, thanks."
During the first twenty minutes, Sporting Lisbon launched wave after wave of attacks while remaining extremely solid defensively.
The big-circle tactic might not have many advantages elsewhere, but defensively it was stable as hell, making it very difficult for weaker teams to steal the ball.
Terry, Barzagli, and Matthäus easily resolved the few dangerous situations that appeared. It never even reached Fonte's level.
Of course, if the football ever really reached Fonte's area under pressure, he probably wouldn't be able to handle it anyway.
At that point, it would be Schmeichel's problem.
Twenty-third minute.
Seeing that neither wing could break through, Drogba proactively dropped deep and pulled wide.
Ronaldo and Quaresma simultaneously cut toward the center.
Viana drifted out to the left.
Gaziantepspor's defensive coordination immediately came under pressure.
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