Chapter 576: Baggio Tells the Story

UEFA announced the 10-man shortlist for last season's European Player of the Year last season, including Manuel Neuer, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Diego Costa, Di Maria, Lahm, Muller, James Rodriguez, Suarez and Li Zihan.

Among them, James Rodriguez's table in the club is good, but he can't keep up with the other nine, but he is very good in the World Cup, beating the major stars to win the World Cup top scorer award, so he was selected into the ten-man lineup, otherwise it is likely that the eleventh Dutch striker Robben will be selected

After the first round of voting, Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, Bayern Munich's Manuel Neuer and Arsenal's Li Zihan made it to the top three.

And today, the top three rankings are finally being announced.

In the 2010-2011 season, UEFA decided to create the "European Player of the Year" award after the merger of the European Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Footballer of the Year, which is the fourth consecutive year that Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has been selected in the top three, but so far he has not been involved in this award.

In the 2010-2011 season, Messi was the first to win this award with 39 votes, becoming the first person to eat crabs. Messi's club team-mate Xavi was second with eleven votes, while Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo had a measly three.

The 2011-2012 season was the most competitive. Andres Iniesta won the title with 19 votes, while Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, old enemies and rivals, were tied with 17 votes.

From the 2012 season to the 2013 season, Ribery was elected without suspense with 36 votes, Messi was ranked second with 14 votes, and the Portuguese superstar was 3 votes.

The sad Cristiano Ronaldo has reached the top three for four consecutive years, but has not been elected once. He has previously said that if he is not selected this time, he will not attend this season and all subsequent seasons will not attend the award ceremony.

Such remarks made UEFA President Michel Platini very faceless.

In the end, the host stepped back and gave up the stage to the guests who announced the awards.

Normally, the best player in Europe is presented to UEFA president Michel Platini, but sometimes you will be asked to announce the winners of the awards and warm up early.

This year's arrival was made by the legendary Italian footballer.

Even though the hair on his head was short and almost flat, he still had a small braid at the back of his neck. Still so melancholy and charming blue eyes.

The audience burst into exclamations, apparently the guests and spectators did not expect him to come, and UEFA and the organisers had not revealed it before.

Robert Baggio walked slowly to the podium, he smiled at everyone and greeted everyone friendly but very natural: "Good evening, everyone, I am very happy to enjoy such a wonderful evening with all of you"

"To be honest, I didn't want to come over as a guest, I just wanted to sit in the audience and watch the excitement like you, after all, an old man like us should have 'sat down' a long time ago." Baggio made a joke, and the guests and audience burst into friendly laughter.

"But when I knew I had the opportunity to stand on this stage, I didn't hesitate to come. But if I had known that I wasn't here to receive the award, but to announce it, I wouldn't have come. Actually, I thought I was going to win the award until three minutes before I took the stage," Baggio joked again.

The laughter was louder, of course it was not a mockery, but a good-natured laugh, and no one was stupid enough to think that Baggio was telling the truth.

"Well, since I can't get this award, let's look at the vigorous posture of these winners who can win this great award." Baggio took a slight half-step back, focusing his attention on the big screen behind him.

The huge screen starts playing.

First of all, "UEFA European Player of the Year 2013-2014!" The name of the award, and then the intense and compact music began to sound.

The first set of images belongs to Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, which contains all kinds of wonderful footage of his city derby with Atletico Madrid, Barcelona's national derby, the Champions League and the indispensable World Cup.

The second set of pictures belongs to the German goalkeeper Neuer, which shows his various high-end and low-end blocks, as well as the world-famous "doorman" watch Xiàn in the World Cup.

The last group is Li Zihan, unlike before, there is no shadow of him wearing the national team jersey in this group of MVs. However, its wonderful journey is not at all lower than the previous two, with the Etihad's shocking reversal, the Anfield Stadium's reversal, and the domineering side leakage of Stamford Bridge, it is naturally indispensable in the Champions League, in the Allianz Stadium and the Bernabeu staged an incomparable imperial performance, so that fans of the king's division such as Real Madrid and Bayern Munich surrendered to this, and finally in the final battle between the Stadium of Light and Atletico Madrid in Lisbon, the picture was fixed on the photo of Li Zihan lifting the St. Burred Cup.

After watching these three sets of MVs, everyone's first feeling is that the plot is wrong again, because Li Zihan's table in the MV obviously overwhelms the first two. I didn't feel it before, everyone thought that Neuer, who helped the German team win the World Cup, was basically elected safely, although the goalkeeper position did not have an advantage in such an individual award selection, but the gold content of the World Cup championship was too heavy.

But when Li Zihan's MV was played, everyone remembered how rebellious Li Zihan was last season.

Baggio didn't make everyone wait long, and as soon as the lights in the conference hall came on, Baggio opened the wax-sealed envelope in his hand.

He quietly lifted a corner and peeked at it. This kind of action is more funny and funny, and everyone's hearts are shaken by him again.

Li Zihan touched his nose, I don't know when the "strange uncle" was so humorous. He wanted to roar loudly: "Uncle, are you a tease sent by the monkey?" ”

Seeing the answer, Baggio quickly closed the envelope and said with a smile: "One year, a good friend of mine called me and he said he had spotted a talented player. I'm very interested in that, because there's only one young player today who can be so admired as a talent in his decades-long career, and I'm curious to see who the second talent of his life is. ”

"I went to the club that day and I met him in the honour room of the stadium. It's the genius that my friend said, and I'm standing in front of him, and he doesn't even know me! It was a surprise to me, and although I wasn't narcissistic, I thought that no one in that place should not know me, even if he wasn't a fan."

Li Zihan suddenly shuddered, the picture of brain supplement was so familiar.

"Later, we became good friends. We played soccer together during breaks, with my old friends. I remember the first time I played on the lawn behind my house, Fabio oh, sorry. Fabio Cannavaro also joked that he would not take him when he played in the future, because he was young and fast, Fabio felt that he was not respected as an old man, and he was angry that Fabio did not love young hahaha. Baggio laughed at this.

And everyone seems to have a premonition when they hear this, and at the same time, Cristiano Ronaldo's face suddenly shrugged, obviously, this is not his experience! Neuer, on the other hand, glanced at the young man sitting not far behind Cristiano Ronaldo.

"Like my friend said, he's a real genius. But he didn't realize it, he thought that his starting point was low, even lower than those fifteen or sixteen-year-old children in the academy, so he trained hard, never went to nightclubs, bars and other places, and at the same time he didn't miss any opportunity to become stronger. Free kicks, headers, and physical confrontations with many weaknesses that we could see at the beginning have become his strengths today. ”

"I knew he wouldn't be low in the future, but I didn't expect it to come so quickly, so fast that this was his third professional season"

Everyone's attention was focused on Li Zihan, because only Li Zihan had such an experience in the top three selections.

Li Zihan started in Serie A, and he has a good relationship with many Italian stars, such as Baggio, Maldini, Cannavaro, Nedved, Piero, Pirlo and others

Many media often photographed him visiting the homes of these stars, and even a local Italian tabloid photographed him playing with Baggio and Batistuta

"The friend who recommended me was Andrea Pirlo, and the first young genius he recommended was Paul Pogba. And the second talented young player he recommended was the winner of this year's European Player of the Year - Li Zihan!! Baggio finished his story and pronounced the name aloud at the end.

Then the big screen behind Baggio began to repeat the highlights of Li Zihan's last season in the league and the Champions League.

The audience and guests at the scene gave warm applause, in the applause, Li Zihan stood up, realistically straightened his suit, and then walked to the podium with a smile.

Li Zihan's smile was more shy, as if he was embarrassed by so many people. Many people at the scene whistled, which made Li Zihan's face even redder.