Football: My AI System Provides Max-Level Predictions-Chapter 716 - 507: C Luo’s Unwillingness: Facing Tang Long’s Divine Skill, He Wants to Defend the Champions League King’s Reputation!
After listening to Raymond’s brief explanation, Guardiola asked him to take out some videos to watch.
Raymond was prepared, and he had specifically made a few highlight reels.
The highlight reel for goalkeepers is quite insightful; if you make a highlight reel focusing on saves, every goalkeeper seems like a divine guardian;
if you only focus on goals conceded, every goalkeeper seems like a mere shadow.
The key lies in the support provided by the data.
After looking through the data, Guardiola found that these three were evenly matched, of course, this was also related to the level of the leagues they were in.
"Raymond, what do you think, who is the best?"
Goalkeepers are not Guardiola’s strong suit; he focuses more on a goalkeeper’s footwork, while goal-line technology is not his expertise.
"Let’s talk about feasibility first. Alisson was just bought by Rome from Internacional and has only played a few months. It’s unlikely Rome will let him go in the winter unless we offer an astronomical fee," Raymond said.
Guardiola shook his head, "What astronomical fee? Our budget is only 70 million British Pounds, should we use it all on one goalkeeper? Rome won’t let him go; they are currently third in Serie A and fighting for the Champions League, it’s impossible to let their main goalkeeper leave mid-season."
Raymond laughed as if he anticipated Guardiola’s response, then pointed out the names of Edson and Onana.
"Edson is with Benfica, Onana is with Ajax, these two are much easier to get, it’s just a matter of your preference. I believe neither Benfica nor Ajax would refuse to negotiate; these two clubs live off youth training."
"Also, Pep," Raymond frowned, "do you really dislike Bravo? His number of goals conceded isn’t that high."
Bravo’s number of goals conceded is indeed not high.
In fact, in the first four rounds of the Premier League, he conceded none. It wasn’t until the fifth round against Arsenal that Manchester City’s clean sheet streak in the major leagues was broken.
Although they conceded goals afterward, Manchester City’s total number of goals conceded was still the best in the entire Premier League.
Many media figures also considered Manchester City to truly be the Premier League team with the best defense.
However, Guardiola had a different view.
"The team’s defense is indeed good, as can be seen from the goal count conceded. But this is more due to Chiwo’s help after joining the team. However, we cannot forget one thing, Bravo’s save success rate ranks only 14th in the entire Premier League. This is very inconsistent with our goals conceded count, what does this mean? It means the defense did well, but his contribution is not that significant!"
Bravo in Manchester City indeed showcased some footwork, but his saving performance was really poor.
Perhaps it’s because of his age, his physical condition has declined;
Or maybe it’s because his height of 184 is too short for the Premier League;
So his save rate is very low, and some have nicknamed him "Prince Regent."
Guardiola was well aware of this.
With Manchester City’s current personnel configuration, Bravo is ultimately just a transitional choice.
Actually, this summer, he initially wanted to bring Bayern’s Neuer or Barça’s Ter Stegen to Manchester City, but it was too difficult to get these two, neither Bayern nor Barça would release them, so he had no choice but to choose Bravo.
Guardiola has bigger ambitions, he thinks if he wants to lead this Manchester City to the Premier League champion, Bravo might suffice, but looking at the Champions League, he really isn’t good enough.
Moreover, Bravo’s age is really too old, at this stage of his career, he can’t possibly improve, maintaining his current level is already lucky.
No matter from which perspective, Guardiola urgently needs to bring in a fighting capable goalkeeper in this winter window.
Not to immediately replace Bravo, but at least to create some competition with him.
...
Madrid, inside C Luo’s house.
After finishing a day of training.
C Luo was still in his home gym doing extra training.
"Hey-ho!"
"Hey-ho!"
After completing five sets of bench presses, C Luo picked up a towel from the rack to wipe his sweat.
When he picked up the kettle to take a sip, he realized there was no water in it.
"Irina, could you bring me some water?"
No one responded.
"Irina!"
After instinctively calling out a few times, C Luo froze, then realized.
The woman named Irina had already left him forever.
"Ah, this is really funny, why am I calling her, ha-ha." C Luo chuckled helplessly.
At the end of last year, he broke up with the supermodel Irina.
Although he has a lovely son, and his mother would take care of him, C Luo has become accustomed to handling his own life.
His mother knocked and came in, seeing C Luo drenched in sweat, wiping his head with a towel.
"Child, you are 31 years old, not a 20-year-old youth anymore, why do you have to push so hard?"
His mother filled C Luo’s bottle with water, returned to the gym, and saw C Luo doing crunches, feeling deeply pained.
"When your father was alive, he couldn’t have imagined in ten lifetimes that his son would achieve this much. What I mean is, we’ve already earned enough money, when it’s time to rest, you should rest."
Irina had tried to persuade C Luo like this before, and back then, C Luo would retort mercilessly.
But facing his mother, C Luo showed a lot of patience, he explained:
"Dear Mom, do you know, at this stage of my life, I’ve already won everything, I stopped caring about how much money I can earn long ago."
"So why are you doing all this?" his mom sat down, puzzled.
C Luo grew up in a poor household, his mother knew the importance of money deeply.
"To prove that I am forever the best player in the world, especially in the Champions League, I am the undisputed king of the Champions League, I am the champion!"
C Luo’s voice deepened unconsciously, he was initially trying to vent his emotions, but it startled his mother, who stood up, gave her son a stern look, and left.
"Continue!" C Luo returned to his solitary training, the air filled with the scent of his sweat.
"Tang, you’ve really motivated me," C Luo muttered to himself, "if we can meet again in the Champions League knockout stages, I swear, no matter how supreme your performance, I will outshine you!"
These words were uttered through clenched teeth by the Portuguese.
In the Champions League match against Monchengladbach, Tang Long’s moment of perfect ball control followed by a forced goal attempt truly shook C Luo’s core!
But what shocked him wasn’t Tang Long’s football skills — a five-year-younger C Luo could have done the same, but now he is 31 years old, with his knee injury, he was forced to transform from an all-around forward to a striker.
Di Maria, Modric, Ozil, Marcelo, Benzema... countless teammates have set up countless opportunities for him, and C Luo did not let everyone down, scoring countless goals.
Golden Boots came one after another, he became the top scorer in the history of Real Madrid.
But when he saw Tang Long’s lively performance in the Champions League, it was simply the perfect blend of power and skill, C Luo couldn’t help but feel a wave of depression.
Whether it’s extreme ball control or forcing a goal attempt under double team coverage, C Luo now finds it difficult to achieve.
He even started to question himself: "If I were Tang, in that situation, would I attempt such an extreme trial?"
Even C Luo knew the answer was no!
He wouldn’t even try to make such attempts, let alone do it genuinely like Tang Long did.
With his current physical condition, it’s infeasible for C Luo to do so, the Portuguese kid who once dashed fiercely and danced along the sidelines like a tiger, will never come back.
So, C Luo’s depression wasn’t out of jealousy of Tang Long, but rather a reflection on his youthful years past.
If Tang Long’s divine performance appeared in the league, it would be one thing, but it happened in the Champions League!
However, this kind of depression was only temporary, fleeting.
"I am the best player in the world, I am the king of the Champions League!"
Two 30KG dumbbells were steadily lifted, lying on the gym bench, C Luo’s massive chest muscles twitched.
He glanced at his sculpture-like, perfect reflection in the mirror, a confident smile emerged on his face.
