I AM the Football Star-Chapter 481 - 132: Makabaka Stadium and the Croatian Tour Group_3
This kind of grand occasion, don’t even mention those entertainment circle fans, after all, a concert with ten thousand attendees is an impressive achievement in the entertainment world.
Thirty thousand people, won’t that be the talk of the town?
Even the retired National Team players felt a bit nostalgic, like a dream back to the past.
Back in those days, when the National Team played, there were also tens of thousands watching.
There’s even a rumor going around that some matches had over a hundred thousand spectators! Leaving later fans unsure if it’s true or not.
"Why are there so many fans this time? What’s going on?" A few fan leaders were confused at the time, thinking today’s biggest opponents were the Four Returning Sons and KunKun, but now it seems, what’s up with the overwhelming blue and white jerseys?
Number 24?
Michael Kobe?
Jordan Bryant?
Aren’t they basketball players?
Gotta say, in the entertainment world, fans with all sorts of support signs and uniform color glow sticks do create some scale.
But compared to almost uniform jerseys across the venue, the momentum is still lacking.
After all, it’s the allure of uniforms!
Moreover, the ratio of fans to entertainment fans in this venue is about ten to one!
The sea of blue and white jerseys left these star-chasing little fans bewildered.
Where’s this traffic coming from?
Why are there so many real-life fans?
So-called top traffic can easily gather thousands of fans offline.
But now, they can easily organize tens of thousands of fans, won’t this explode in popularity online? Won’t their Weibo followers exceed tens of millions?
"Blue and white, has a star from Argentina come? Heard there are foreign stars participating in the celebrity match this year."
"I don’t know, but I heard he’s handsome."
"Pfft, can he be handsomer than my brother?"
Female fans buzzed with discussion.
Then suddenly, the stadium erupted!
On the big screen, two players wearing different colored jerseys walked out from the player tunnel.
The one on the left, wearing a white jersey, is Sotu!
Today, he’s teamed up with the retired veteran players.
The one on the right, wearing a red jersey, is Lu Yang!
Today, he’s teamed up with those celebrities.
Their appearance directly stunned the fans on the stands.
Because everyone only knew Lu Yang was coming, they didn’t know Sotu would appear!
Sotu!
That’s Sotu!
One of the main contributors to Italy’s glorious World Cup win back then!
A legendary veteran of Serie A!
One of the top 100 stars in the world football!
Just look at the retired legendary National Team players’ attitudes, you’d basically know how moved old fans are with Sotu’s appearance today.
Any football superstar coming to this football desert gets the king treatment.
Of course, Lu Yang’s popularity isn’t low either, even higher than Sotu’s.
On one hand, Lu Yang is more handsome!
Uh...
Heart-wrenching!
On the other hand, Lu Yang is a football star of China’s own.
His image of running with the red flag during the European Youth Championship moved countless fans.
Ever since, no matter where he plays, he’s always a hero of Chinese football!
"Sotu, Sotu!"
"Lu Yang, Lu Yang!"
For a moment, the stands only had the sound of these two names.
Other names like "brother" or "giegie" simply didn’t matter.
Among the chanting of thirty thousand people, the noise from three to five thousand people was insignificant.
Soon, the match began.
The celebrity match had each half lasting twenty minutes.
Sotu played in the first half, and Lu Yang played the entire match.
Sotu contributed a goal and an assist.
The veteran team played against the celebrity team without much difficulty, among these stars, some genuinely liked football or could actually play, but some were there just for hype, or to build an image, without any football skills.
Fortunately, with Lu Yang there, he easily scored five goals throughout the match and assisted the only football-skilled Xiao Lu twice, leading the team to a seven-to-five victory.
This is the only time in recent years that the celebrity team beat the veteran team in the Shanghai football celebrity invitational match.
During the game, Lu Yang also met the organizer’s requirements by performing some miracle balls.
Three attempts at shooting from the midfield, succeeding in one, driving the crowd wild.
Long shots from outside the penalty area.
High volley goals within the box.
Goals after dribbling past five players.
After faking out the goalkeeper, he carried the ball into the goal.
Pretty much covered all the impressive moves.
Honestly, playing against these retired National Team players, Lu Yang didn’t feel much pressure.
Their current level of skill is probably around just fifty-something.
Yet, the heartbreaking part is, according to domestic media predictions, these retired veterans’ current skill level isn’t much weaker than the National Team.
This... really speaks volumes about the National Team’s level.
With such a team, let alone adding Lu Yang, even nine more Lu Yangs wouldn’t fill that remaining huge gap, let alone now it’s like eleven huge gaps!
The celebrity match was impactful, and Lu Yang and Sotu earned handsomely.
However, Lu Yang arranged for Tang Yuqin to donate the ticket proceeds back to previous football projects.
He doesn’t earn money from fans.
What he gains from fans, he uses for the fans.
He has other ways to earn money, no need to exploit fans.
Truth be told, about ninety-five percent of today’s spectators don’t have as good living conditions as Lu Yang.
Of course, this isn’t moral coercion, Sotu’s money, Sotu can arrange it however he likes.
Sotu almost spat out a mouthful of old blood.
Because when Lu Yang announced this decision, he said it to all the fans with a microphone. He even specially said it once in Italian, what does that mean?
