Chapter 209: Nominees for the Golden Boy Award and Ballon d'Or
After the match, Lin Quan received a text from Lily Collins, letting him know she was at Stamford Bridge.
At this point, Lin Quan was already on the bus back to Manchester, with no time to meet her in person.
So, they had to chat via their phones.
"How was the feeling of watching the game live?"
"It was alright, just that the stadium was too far, so it was a bit hard to see clearly!"
Lily Collins sent a laughing emoji.
"If the seats are too high up, you can bring binoculars. I saw quite a few people doing that!"
When Lin Quan was in Catalonia, he often went to watch live matches, mostly at Camp Nou.
Camp Nou is very large, accommodating up to a hundred thousand fans.
Sitting at the highest seats in Camp Nou, the distance from the pitch is quite far, making it hard for people with poor eyesight to see the players on the field clearly.
At that time, either you watch the game through the big screens or bring your own binoculars to watch.
To be honest, this experience might not necessarily be better than comfortably lying on the couch at home watching the game.
But going to watch the game live, you can feel the enthusiastic atmosphere of tens of thousands of fans in the stadium, which you can't experience through TV broadcasts.
Lily Collins being able to come to watch the game live meant she was gradually falling in love with football.
That was good news!
"Oh, how's that movie of yours?"
It had been half a month since that movie premiered, so the box office results should be out by now.
"It's a complete flop, according to the production and distribution companies, this movie is expected to lose over 90 million dollars!"
Thinking about this being her first movie as the lead, a box office failure would have a big impact on her acting career.
Lin Quan messaged to comfort her, "There, there, don't cry!"
"This way of comforting people is too perfunctory!"
"Then I'll invite you to watch a game this weekend and treat you to a big meal, is that alright?"
"Really?"
"Of course!"
...
After returning to Manchester, Pellegrini gave the players two days off.
After finishing three away games, Manchester City's tough schedule finally came to an end.
In the coming period, their schedule would not be as packed, and the key players who had missed games due to colds would gradually return to the team.
In the next game against Norwich, Manchester City could field their strongest lineup.
After the match between Manchester City and Chelsea, when discussions about Lin Quan's goal were still very intense outside.
On October 27th, the Turin Sports News took advantage of this wave of heat and announced the list of 40 nominees for this year's Golden Boy Award.
Among these forty players, more than half were from Serie A.
It was no wonder, being an Italian newspaper, the Turin Sports News was still very supportive of their own league.
However, most of these Serie A players were just there for the ride, with few that could really catch people's attention.
The top contenders for this year's Golden Boy Award were mainly focused on Lin Quan from Manchester City, Paul Pogba from Juventus, and Leroy Sane from Schalke 04.
Interestingly, thanks to his outstanding performance at Everton, Romelu Lukaku also made the list, and his ranking was not low, being in the top five.
In this round of the Premier League, Lukaku scored again. Since joining Everton, he had scored five goals in five Premier League matches.
This scoring efficiency surpassed many top strikers.
Of course, like everyone else, Lukaku's nomination was just to accompany Lin Quan.
Unlike previous years, this year's Golden Boy Award could be said to have the least suspense.
Among the forty selected players, Lin Quan was far ahead of all his competitors.
It could be said that although the award had not been given yet, the outside world had already assumed that this award would be won by Lin Quan.
Him winning the Golden Boy Award was not news; if he didn't win it, then that would be news.
Because Lin Quan's chances of winning were too high, the bookmakers had already closed the books and stopped taking bets.
Compared to the completely predictable Golden Boy Award, this year's Ballon d'Or was more anticipated.
Compared to the situation in previous years where the award alternated between the two superstars, this year, with his outstanding performance in the Champions League, Bayern Munich's attacking core, Ribery, had a good chance of breaking this monopoly and snatching a Ballon d'Or trophy from the hands of Messi and Ronaldo.
On October 29th, just two days after the announcement of the 40 nominees for the Golden Boy Award, FIFA and France Football Magazine also announced the
List of 23 nominees for the 2013 FIFA Ballon d'Or, awarded to the world's best male player.
While most players on the Golden Boy list are relatively unknown, all 23 nominees for the Ballon d'Or are prominent figures in football, arguably the best players on the planet!
As the defending champions of the Champions League, Bayern Munich is the frontrunner, with 6 players selected.
Barcelona, although failing to reach the final, has 4 players selected based on their outstanding historical record, La Liga title, and national team performance.
After Paris Saint-Germain's lavish spending spree, three of their stars made the cut.
As the second-generation Galacticos, Real Madrid has 2 players selected due to losing the league title and poor Champions League performance. One of them is Gareth Bale, who they spent £100 million on this summer.
Additionally, Monaco, Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester United, and Manchester City each have 1 player.
After FIFA announced the nominees for this year's Ballon d'Or, the focus quickly shifted from the Golden Boy Award to the Ballon d'Or.
"Ribery has a great chance!"
"I don't think so. Ribery only scored 3 goals in the Champions League, much fewer than Ronaldo. His team also lost to Manchester City, finishing second in the group. Why should he win the Ballon d'Or?"
"Ribery at least has a Champions League trophy. In terms of honors, he has a huge advantage over Ronaldo. Why shouldn't he win?"
"What's the use of a Champions League trophy? If it's so important, why didn't anyone from Chelsea win the Ballon d'Or two seasons ago?"
Fans of the two most likely winners argued on the internet.
Ribery's supporters felt that he deserved it, while Ronaldo's supporters believed Ribery wasn't worthy.
Just as there are Messi fans, there are definitely Ronaldo fans. While Ronaldo and Ribery's fans argued, Messi fans also raised doubts:
"Messi at least has a league title. Ronaldo has nothing. Why should Ronaldo rank ahead of Messi?"
"Exactly! In the recent Spanish national derby, Messi led the team to victory over Ronaldo's Real Madrid again, proving that Messi is stronger!"
"Heh, is it so hard to admit that Ronaldo is strong? Seven goals in three Champions League matches. How many goals did your shorty score?"
"Fun fact, Messi only played 2 matches in the Champions League but scored 4 goals. His goal efficiency is not worse than Ronaldo's, and Messi also scored two hat-tricks in the league!"
"Messi had more injuries this year. If his attendance rate were higher, he might not have scored fewer goals than Ronaldo in the Champions League!"
"Heh, then why don't you make Messi stop getting injured and absent? Why does your Messi get injured more often? Why doesn't Ronaldo have this problem?"
Seeing the rebuttals from Messi fans, Ronaldo fans were dismissive.
Having fewer injuries is also a manifestation of strength and luck.
Players with better physical fitness who are better at protecting themselves can effectively reduce the number of injuries, allowing for higher attendance rates, more shots, and more goals.
"Heh, Ronaldo and Messi are not even the same type of player. Messi's dribbling rate is unparalleled in La Liga, he makes more breakthroughs and dribbles more. His threat on the field is greater, so he gets fouled more. Isn't this normal?"
"To be fair, Messi is a ball-carrying player. He spends more time with the ball at his feet, so it's natural for him to be fouled more than Ronaldo, who is a shooter-type winger."
"Okay, even if what you're saying makes sense, what about Lin Huang? Isn't Lin Huang the same type of player as Messi? Moreover, he plays in the Premier League, where physical confrontation is more intense and fouls are more common. Why doesn't Lin Huang have injury problems?"
This statement silenced Messi fans. They couldn't understand why Lin Quan had so few injuries and such a high attendance rate.
Compared to the favorites, Lin Quan, although selected as one of the 23 nominees for the Ballon d'Or, is not highly regarded by the public.
His chances of winning are probably less than ten percent, ranking fifth below Ribery, Ronaldo, Messi, and Iniesta.
For this result, Lin Quan's fans are quite calm.
"No hurry, Lin Huang is still young. Let's win the Golden Boy Award this year. After winning the Champions League and the World Cup next year, we'll compete with the top players for the Ballon d'Or."
"Bro, you're really optimistic. Winning either the Champions League or the World Cup is not that easy!"
"The World Cup might be easier. The Spanish national team is very strong. But the Champions League..."
"The Champions League is still hopeful, right? After all, they once defeated the defending champions Bayern Munich!"
"Although Manchester City defeated Bayern Munich, the gap between them and Bayern is still evident. Guardiola's Bayern, I feel, is not as strong as during Heynckes' era. It lacks a certain champion's temperament."
"Why is that?"
"Guardiola and Heynckes have different styles, right? Under Heynckes, Bayern was full of vigor, never giving up, relying on impact to overwhelm opponents. But under Guardiola, the team seems to lack that dominance!"
"Maybe it's because Guardiola hasn't been here for long. After all, Guardiola has only been here for less than half a year. Give him some more time and see!"
...
Lin Quan has no ambition for this year's Ballon d'Or. He knows he has no hope.
So, being in the top five nominees, he's already very happy.
As for the Golden Boy Award, it was basically his from the beginning of the season, so there wasn't much of a surprise.
However, winning the Golden Boy Award would greatly boost his popularity and commercial value.
After the Turin Sports Newspaper announced the list of nominees, more and more sponsors came looking for Lin Quan to collaborate.
This time, the one who found Lin Quan was a well-known domestic mobile phone company.
This company has been thriving in the international market in recent years, with its market share in Europe steadily rising.
In order to enter the high-end market and challenge the leading positions of Apple and Samsung, they launched a high-end mobile phone.
To promote this phone, they specifically approached Lin Quan, hoping to leverage his influence in Europe for promotion.
Originally, they had approached a star from the Bundesliga, but compared to Lin Quan, that player only played in the Bundesliga, with limited influence limited to Germany and Poland, obviously not as good as Lin Quan's conditions.
Lin Quan tried the product they provided and found the quality to be good, coupled with the generous offer, so he had no reason to refuse such cooperation.
To avoid affecting Lin Quan's daily training and matches, they specially brought a photography team from China to Manchester to complete the on-site shooting.
"Hello, Lin Quan, I'm Guo Fan, nice to meet you, I'm your fan!"
The director in charge of the shoot was a thirty-something, six-foot-tall man from Shandong.
After seeing him, Lin Quan was stunned. Wasn't this guy Guo Fan, who later directed the peak masterpiece of domestic science fiction films? Why did he come to shoot commercials?
Lin Quan shook hands warmly with him: "Director Guo, hello, I'm your fan too. I'll follow your command for today's work."
Guo Fan had originally worried that the other party was a big-name star and would be difficult to deal with. He didn't expect the other party to be so approachable, and most of his worries were suddenly relieved.
But what did it mean when the other party said he was his fan? Had he seen his directed film The Adventures of Li Xianji?
But this film was very obscure, and its reputation wasn't good either! After thinking about it, he could only consider it as the other party's polite words, so he smiled and said:
"Hehe, you're too kind. Let me brief you on today's work."
...
Under Guo Fan's command, the team successively completed the shooting at Manchester's seaside road, Carrington training base, and Etihad Stadium.
At Manchester's seaside, Lin Quan jogged along the seaside road with a phone in his pocket and headphones on. The camera started from the phone logo slightly exposed from his pocket and extended all the way to the distance, implying that they were on the road.
At the Carrington training base, using the phone's sports function, Lin Quan tied the phone to his right arm during training to monitor various physical indicators of the athletes in real time, demonstrating its practicality.
At the Etihad Stadium, it was a scene of sharing joy with family and friends after a victory using the phone.
The shooting process went very smoothly, and it took less than half a day to complete the shooting from start to finish.
This made Guo Fan and his team very satisfied!
"Lin Quan, you're amazing. I didn't expect you to not only play football well but also act so well. I think you can debut as an actor!"
After the shooting, Guo Fan gave Lin Quan a thumbs-up and praised him.
Lin Quan didn't care much about the words of Cyborg, if he really believed this guy, he would be fooled! Moreover, professional players basically don't have time to shoot movies.
However, it's not wrong to maintain a good relationship with this guy. After all, the movies he directed were all blockbusters, the kind that made a steady profit.
The two may have opportunities for future cooperation.
After completing all the shots, it was already past six o'clock in the evening.
After bidding farewell to Lin Quan and the others, he was about to return to his residence when he saw some staff taking out instant noodles, preparing for dinner.
Considering that they were unfamiliar with the place, Lin Quan thought for a moment and said:
"You've come from afar as guests, why don't I treat you to a meal? Let's have dinner together!"
"Oh, how can that be? Everyone, what are you waiting for? Hurry up and thank Mr. Lin!" While saying that, Guo Fan immediately asked someone to pack up, afraid that Lin Quan would change his mind.
Lin Quan's mouth twitched. There were only wrong names, no wrong nicknames.
The title of Master of Charity wasn't wrong at all!
(End of this chapter)
PS: There was a minor mistake in the previous chapter. When writing the title, it was 5 million, but when checking the content, it was previously written as 3.5 million. Mainly because when checking the information, I found that Messi had only 420,000 fans on Twitter, which confused me. Later, I took a look and found that Messi didn't have a Twitter account at that time.
In 2013, the highest number of fans in football was Ronaldo's 22 million fans, and Neymar, who was good at packaging himself, also had 14 million fans.
So the protagonist's number of 5 million is not considered high, so I adopted this number.