Chapter 117: Unexpected Gains at the Ballon d'Or Awards!
During the winter break, there was another major event: the Ballon d'Or awards ceremony.
On January 12th, the annual FIFA awards ceremony took place at the International Conference Center in Zurich, Switzerland.
Unlike the Ballon d'Or 16 years later, at this time, the Ballon d'Or was combined with FIFA's Best Men's Player award.
Winning the Ballon d'Or also meant winning FIFA's Best Men's Player title.
So, compared to later Ballon d'Or awards, the FIFA Ballon d'Or at this time had more prestige.
Although he had only played half a season, thanks to his excellent performances in league, cup, and national team matches, Lin Quan also received a nomination and successfully made it onto this year's Ballon d'Or shortlist of 23 players.
However, he knew very well in his heart that he was just keeping the seat warm, with little hope of winning any awards.
When he wins the Golden Boy award, wins the Champions League again, or lifts the World Cup trophy, maybe then he'll have a chance at winning awards for real.
As for now, he's just a spectator. The hot favorites for this year's Ballon d'Or are still the legendary duo—Messi and Ronaldo.
However, his national team teammate Iniesta, thanks to his outstanding performance in the European Championship, also made it into the top three, making him the most likely person to win the Ballon d'Or after Messi and Ronaldo.
Lin Quan arrived at the awards ceremony with Guardiola. One was nominated for the Ballon d'Or, and the other was competing for the FIFA Best Men's Coach award.
Their hopes of winning awards were slim; Lin Quan had only played half a season, and Guardiola had only managed for half a season.
But these two figures in the football world still garnered a lot of attention. When they appeared at the venue, reporters flocked to them, snapping away with their cameras.
The fans at the scene also screamed, with many shouting Lin Quan's name.
Guardiola had experienced this kind of scene many times before. He smiled for the cameras and waved to the fans, looking very relaxed.
"Go ahead and sign autographs for them, but don't take too much time!"
Guardiola patted Lin Quan on the shoulder and walked toward the fans holding up his fan sign, taking the paper and pen they offered to start signing autographs for them.
Lin Quan followed suit, walking over to the fans to sign autographs.
He currently speaks four languages: Spanish, German, English, and Chinese.
Among the fans supporting him at the scene, many were national team fans, wearing his national team's number 30 red jersey.
When signing autographs for these fans, he used Spanish.
As for the club fans who had come from afar, wearing Werder Bremen's number 10 green jersey, he signed autographs for them in German.
As for local Swiss fans and European fans from other places, he signed autographs for them in English.
After signing dozens of autographs, Lin Quan waved to the fans at the scene and prepared to enter the venue with Guardiola.
"Lin, I'm your fan. Can you sign for me?"
As he walked a few steps, he suddenly heard a familiar language.
Lin Quan felt a bit surprised and turned to look.
It was a Chinese fan with a red five-pointed star sticker on his face and wearing a Werder Bremen number 10 jersey.
Seeing that Lin Quan didn't react, the fan thought he couldn't understand Chinese and quickly said in English, "I am your fan, please give me your signature!"
Lin Quan smiled and nodded, taking the autograph book handed to him and neatly writing his name in Chinese characters.
After handing the autograph book back to the fan, the fan was particularly surprised to see these two Chinese characters:
"Wow, Lin Quan can actually write Chinese characters!"
"No way, I have to take a photo and post it on the forum to show off. Hehe, I got Lin Quan's autograph in person!"
Lin Quan twitched his mouth slightly. Is it really appropriate for you to call me "Lin Emperor" to my face? I should have known not to give you, this little rascal, my autograph!
Lin Quan had known about being called "Lin Emperor" by netizens in China for over a month.
Although he didn't often browse Chinese forums and fan clubs, occasionally, when he won a match and was in a good mood, he couldn't help but go online to see those posts praising him, seeking some joy.
And he saw himself being crowned with the title of "Emperor"...
...
After finishing signing autographs, Lin Quan was about to go find Guardiola.
Unexpectedly, Guardiola had already left. He met a few familiar old friends and wanted to chat with them for a bit. As they chatted, he forgot about Lin Quan outside and went straight into the venue with his friends.
It was Lin Quan's first time at such an event, and he was completely unfamiliar with the place, so he stood awkwardly in place for a while, not knowing where to go.
The reporters at the scene were puzzled. Why was Lin Quan hesitating to enter the venue?
Fortunately, another player arrived at this time and helped him out.
This person was none other than one of the legendary duo, Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo had just gotten out of the car and saw Lin Quan standing outside. He thought the other party was waiting for him specifically.
So he walked up and extended his hand, ready to shake hands with him.
Um...
Lin Quan didn't expect Ronaldo to be so enthusiastic, but he reacted quickly and quickly extended his hand as well.
The scene of the two shaking hands attracted the attention of most of the reporters present. They picked up their cameras and camcorders, recording this historic moment one after another.
This could probably be considered as the first official photo of Lin Quan and Ronaldo together, right?
It's a pity they weren't wearing jerseys, but suits. If they were both wearing jerseys, it would be even better.
After shaking hands, Ronaldo nodded to Lin Quan in acknowledgment and waved to the reporters and fans at the scene before heading straight into the venue.
Phew! Seeing Ronaldo's choice, Lin Quan breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, Ronaldo didn't stop outside to sign autographs for the fans. Otherwise, he might have had to wait awkwardly for a while longer.
Following Ronaldo's footsteps, Lin Quan walked through the entrance corridor of the venue and entered the huge interior.
Just like outside, it was packed with people inside, with many attendees.
But unlike outside, most of the people inside were invited celebrities from the football world, including journalists, players, coaches, and officials from various national football associations.
He knew quite a few people here, but they might not necessarily know him. Lin Quan didn't want to be a killjoy and didn't approach anyone to strike up a conversation.
He continued to follow Ronaldo's footsteps and came to the players' seating area, finding a seat toward the back and sat down.
Ronaldo sat in the front row, with an empty seat next to him reserved for Messi.
After Lin Quan had been sitting for a while, his national team teammates Iniesta, Xavi, Fabregas, and others appeared one after another.
Seeing him sitting in the back, they also chose to sit here.
For a moment, this originally inconspicuous corner became the center of attention, attracting the gaze of many people.
"Lin, why did you come so early? We were discussing whether to call you and come out together!"
"Yeah, us benchwarmers need to come out together to attract the attention of the reporters. Otherwise, no one will take photos of us!"
Little Fa made a joke, and everyone laughed heartily when they heard it.
Although they were all nominated for the Ballon d'Or, none of them felt they had a chance of winning. They came to the event just to spectate and see others win awards.
But with their fame, it was an exaggeration to say that no reporters would take photos of them.
"Who do you guys think will win the Ballon d'Or this year?"
As they chatted, the conversation naturally turned to the issue of who would win the Ballon d'Or.
While they themselves had no hope, they all hoped their teammates would win the trophy.
"Of course, it's going to be Messi!"
"I also think it should be Messi. Lin, you may not know this in the Bundesliga, but he's been incredible this year!"
"Leo scored 91 goals this year, breaking Gerd Muller's world record!"
"91 goals, I'm afraid I won't even score that many in my lifetime!"
Just thinking about this number, everyone felt it was terrifying, let alone actually achieving it in matches.
"But you never know, Ronaldo's performances in the league and Champions League have been good, and they even won the league title last season, while we only have a King's Cup trophy, which is a big difference in the value of the trophies!"
The performances of the two legends in recent years have been outstanding. Messi scored 91 goals in a year, which is indeed unprecedented, but he lacks in terms of honors.
Ronaldo scored more than twenty goals fewer than Messi, but he won one more league title, giving him an advantage in honors.
"Come on, that's a world record, how many people can break that?"
Little Fa looked incredulous. "I'm telling you, if Messi doesn't win the Ballon d'Or this year, I'll eat this chair!"
He pointed to the empty seat beside him, resolute in his statement.
Just as he finished speaking, Messi appeared at the venue and sat in the empty seat next to Fabregas, curious about what they were discussing.
...
The awards ceremony soon began, hosted by former FIFA World Player of the Year and one of the Dutch trio, Cruyff, and the beautiful host from Fox Sports, Kay Murray.
The first award announced was the 2012 Best XI.
Real Madrid and Spain goalkeeper Casillas won the best goalkeeper of the year.
The defensive line was dominated by Barcelona and Real Madrid's Alves, Pique, Ramos, and Marcelo.
The midfield trio consisted of Xabi Alonso, Xavi, and Iniesta.
All three of them came from Real Madrid and Barcelona.
In recent years, the strength of the two teams in La Liga has been impressive, at least in terms of the luxurious lineup, surpassing other powerhouses.
The best attacking trio went to Messi, Falcao, and Ronaldo.
These three have been wreaking havoc for their respective clubs and national teams over the past year, scoring goals aplenty!
After the Best XI, the next award presented was the Coach of the Year.
On the women's side, the best coach was awarded to Pia Sundhage, head coach of the US Women's National Team.
On the men's side, Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque beat Mourinho and Guardiola to win the award.
Guardiola sat beside Del Bosque and immediately applauded him upon winning.
As for the "Special One" Mourinho, although he received an invitation, he did not attend the awards ceremony.
Following that, awards such as the FIFA Fair Play Award, the FIFA Presidential Award, and the FIFA Women's World Player were presented.
Lin Quan was like an emotionless applause machine, clapping along with the audience whenever someone went on stage to receive an award.
Until the next round of awards, he finally couldn't continue being an emotionless applause machine.
When the Puskas Award was announced, he found out that his goal against Bayern Munich in the Telekom Cup had been shortlisted as one of the final three candidates.
The screen at the venue played the splendid footage of that goal, showing the young man in the green jersey speeding down the wing, dribbling past four opponents, leaving the defenders and the goalkeeper behind, and scoring an incredible goal single-handedly.
The audience at the venue, seeing this goal, all had incredulous expressions on their faces.
This wasn't a goal scored against some weak team; the opponent was the mighty Bayern Munich, the runners-up in last season's Champions League.
Such feats of skill and goals, usually only found in novels, were actually achieved on the field by someone.
Thinking of this, they all applauded Lin Quan.
Several of Lin Quan's national team teammates, including Barcelona's top star Messi, also applauded Lin Quan at this moment.
Although they had seen this goal several times before, seeing it again, Messi still seemed somewhat incredulous.
This kid's dribbling ability is really strong, feeling like he's no longer inferior to me.
With this goal, Lin Quan defeated Neymar and Falcao to win the Puskas Award.
Lin Quan was a bit surprised. He walked up to the stage, received the trophy from Colombian legend Carlos Valderrama, and gave an acceptance speech:
"Thanks to those who voted for me and supported me. To be honest, I'm very surprised to receive this award."
Although he had won against Neymar and Falcao in the competition, Lin Quan didn't feel proud.
Falcao's difficult sideways volley was of high difficulty, and there aren't many players who can complete such a move and score. If he had won the award with that goal, Lin Quan would have been equally respectful.
As for Neymar, his goal against five opponents in the Brazilian league was equally brilliant, but because the opponent was weaker, it didn't carry the same weight as Lin Quan's goal against Bayern.
The audience laughed when they heard his words. A player who is both strong and humble easily wins the favor of onlookers.
Some people who knew about his relationship with Guardiola looked towards Guardiola. Guardiola was always known for his humility.
It wasn't surprising that his students would have such character.
"Hehe, Lin Quan is very humble, but I think he's a bit too humble. In fact, he has two more goals that are equally brilliant, making it difficult for our judges to choose."
Seeing Lin Quan's humility and modesty, Cruyff interjected: "In the match between Werder Bremen and Bayern Munich, Lin Quan scored two more goals that were equally brilliant, if not more so!"
The camera at the venue shifted to Bayern Munich's manager Hoeness, who looked a bit embarrassed.
He carefully recalled that Lin Quan had scored in all three matches against Bayern, and each goal was brilliant.
This was embarrassing!
Why is it always us Bayern who suffer injuries?
The backstage staff also cooperatively played the footage of Lin Quan's six goals against Bayern on the big screen.
As expected, as Cruyff said, Lin Quan's goal in the sixth round of the Bundesliga and the third round of the German Cup against Bayern were equally brilliant, if not more so than the winning goal.
Wait a minute, this kid scored six goals against Bayern in three matches? An average of 2 goals per game? That's Bayern! Everyone thought of something terrible and their gaze towards Lin Quan began to change.
From this moment on, they all reached a consensus: Lin Quan couldn't be treated as just a seventeen-year-old young player anymore!
(End of this chapter)