Farias received a call from his agent Augusto Ayala.
"We talked about it, Augusto."
"How was your discussion going? Does he still insist on you starting against Vesuvius?"
"We actually didn't talk about this..."
"Didn't talk about it? Then what did you talk about?"
"Uh..." Farias still felt a little unbelievable when he thought about it now, so his tone was a little hesitant.
Agent Ayala was keenly aware of the hesitation in Farias' tone: "What? Did you guys break up?"
"No, no... On the contrary, Augusto Parotti... showed me a video, and that video was all about my wonderful performances in the last three games... and then he took this
The video praised me a lot..."
"Ah?" Ayala exclaimed, probably with questions all over her head now. "He... praised you?"
"Yes, for every clip of a wonderful performance, he can give a bunch of reasons to prove that I did the right thing. You know, even the professional media, reporters and columnists think that I have done well in the past three games.
I behaved like a piece of shit, but Parotti picked out the good side of me..."
To Ayala, Farias's voice sounded a bit ethereal, and he didn't know whether it was due to poor cell phone signal or because Farias was in a rather erratic mood.
"So...will you start the next game?" Ayala planned to ask the result directly.
"He didn't say, but I think it should be."
Hearing this answer, Ayala was silent for a moment. He was a little confused about what Parotti wanted to do.
Although the relationship between the two people is obviously tense, they still praise Farias when everyone criticizes him.
Public opinion has already called for Farias to be substituted in the next game. This is simply a logical opportunity to remove Farias from the starting lineup.
Just like last season, everyone called for Farias to start, and Parotti let him start. But when he performed poorly in the game, public opinion began to turn, and he followed the call of public opinion and put Farias in the starting lineup.
Removed from the starting lineup.
This made it impossible for Farias to complain to the outside world, because not many people would support him at that time.
Judging from previous experience, Parotti is obviously a smart man who knows when to do things and will cause minimal controversy.
But this time, his choice was completely different from his previous style.
This cannot help but make Ayala think more.
Then he said to Farias: "Nestor, I am a little darker at heart..."
His words were interrupted by Farias: "No, it's not what you think."
"I haven't finished speaking yet. Do you know what I'm thinking?"
Farias did not answer his question: "Besides, we may not lose."
"Okay..." Ayala was speechless.
It seems Farias does know what he wants to say...
After hanging up the phone with his agent, Farias' cell phone screen returned to the screen that was displayed before the call came in - it was the highlight video that Parotti sent him today.
He clicked play and continued watching.
※※※
Wang Guangwei: "@Bitch, I suddenly thought of something."
Hu Lai: "What's going on?"
Wang Guangwei: "Your Farias has performed so poorly in these three league games. Will he not start in the next Champions League semi-finals?"
Hu Lai: "???No, is spying on military intelligence so open and aboveboard now? Lao Wang, you asked so naturally, I thought we weren't playing against you, Vesuvius, in the semifinals of the Champions League."
Chen Xingyi: "I also had this illusion for a moment - I thought we were not playing against the Kings of Madrid in the semifinals, but against the Madrid Pirates..."
Xia Xiaoyu: "[cover face]"
Morikawa Junpei, Zhang Qinghuan: "Hahahaha!"
Wang Guangwei: "You're just spying! I wouldn't have thought of this if you didn't tell me..."
Hu Lai: "The top spies often appear as harmless to humans and animals, pretending to be crazy and acting stupid."
Wang Guangwei: "..."
Xia Xiaoyu: "[cover face]"
Everyone: "Hahahaha!"
Hu Lai: "Don't waste your efforts, Lao Wang. I won't tell you whether Farias will start or not! You can't even try to pry my mouth open!"
Wang Guangwei: "...I'm just curious. Faced with this super genius who seems to be targeting you at first glance, you don't have any ideas?"
Hu Lai: "Good guy, if you can't spy on the military situation, you'll start sowing discord, right?"
Everyone: "Hahahaha!"
Xia Xiaoyu: "[cover face]"
Wang Guangwei: "Hu Lai, you are thirty years old, can you be more mature?"
Hu Lai: "'××What the hell' is Brother Huan's special sentence pattern. Lao Wang, you are plagiarizing! Plagiarism is shameful! Brother Huan, I am not a troublemaker!"
Zhang Qinghuan: "Don't touch me!"
Wang Guangwei: "Oh, you are talking about him. It seems that he is really keeping secrets. Farias really made you feel threatened. When he can not only pass people like Melli, but also score goals like you,
Younger than you, who do you think Madrid Pirates Club will favor in the end?"
Hu Lai: "Oh... Lao Wang, what you said makes sense. This is what I am worried about. Let me tell you the truth. I have told the general manager of the club that there is me without him, and there is him without me. The two of us.
In the locker room, we treat each other as if we are invisible. So you don’t have to worry about Farias being able to cooperate with me. In fact, our team is also very pessimistic about the semi-final against you..."
When Wang Guangwei saw Hu Lai typing such a long string of words, he could laugh at first, but then he stopped laughing.
He laughed at first because he thought Hu Lai was tricking him. The more he said this, the more it meant that he and Farias had no problem.
But just smiling like that... Wang Guangwei suddenly realized something was wrong.
Based on his understanding of Hu Lai, this bastard is particularly good at saying serious things in an informal tone.
Especially this kind of obvious nonsense, maybe his true intention is hidden...
Thinking of this, the smile on Wang Guangwei's face disappeared - is what he said true? Or, how much is true and how much is false? Which ones are true? Which ones are false?
He stared at the phone screen and frowned, lost in thought.
※※※
"Hmph! Fight with me!"
Seeing that there was no message from Wang Guangwei in the group, Hu Lai snorted triumphantly.
Li Qingqing, who was witnessing the battle of wits and courage between the two heart-throbs, heard Hu Lai's words and couldn't help but roll his eyes at him: "You guys are so boring! Smoke bombs of this level are useless at all..."
"What you see is that Lao Wang made the first move, and I was just forced to fight back in self-defense!" Hu Lai explained.
Li Qingqing ignored Hu Lai's strong words and asked: "Actually, I also want to ask, you should be able to see that Farias wants to replace your position in the team, why do I feel that you are completely dissatisfied with his actions?"
Worry, no, don’t care at all?”
"What do I need to care about?" Hu Lai spread his hands. "Just like I will never be able to make consecutive dribbles like Melli, Farias will never be able to score goals like me. I'm not bragging.
When it comes to scoring goals, no one can beat me."
Li Qingqing thought for a while: "That's right... With the Pirates team in such a good shape this season, you can still score more than fifty goals..."
At this point, she laughed again: "There are still people on the Internet who say that you have gone down the mountain, and you don't even have half of your peak strength."
"Listen to their nonsense!" Hu Lai curled his lips.
Some fans are like this. They only look at the surface and data when evaluating players, and do not explore the reasons behind them.
If you care too much about the fans' opinions, players will continue to fall into a cycle of "getting carried away" and "self-doubt".
Li Qingqing laughed and said: "But if Farias has always been like that, it will indeed be more dangerous for you to play against Vesuvius. Vesuvius has both the defense that Italy is good at and the passion for offense. Farias is off.
Will the game still start?"
"I feel so," Hu Lai said. "We didn't play well in the league before, and the head coach still insisted on starting him. And Yin Weng told me that the decision to start Farias was made by Toni himself to the head coach.
The request..."
"But Farias's performance on the court is not good. How can Parotti withstand the pressure and let him start? Isn't the relationship between him and Farias very tense?"
"I feel that the head coach has not given up on Farias. He may still feel that it would be a pity if Farias cannot fully realize his talent..."
Li Qingqing sighed: "Parotti is really a 'good person'. Even now, he is still thinking about Farias."
Hu Lai nodded and said: "Isn't it? He is indeed a very charismatic person... If not, how could I use the excuse of giving him a championship gift to regain everyone's fighting spirit and reverse the elimination in the second half?
What about Catalonia?”
※※※
"Honey, won't you give Farias a call?"
Sylvia Banega suddenly said this while eating dinner.
"Why did you call him?" Melly was surprised.
"If he can't perform well in the game and the Pirates are eliminated, wouldn't you be able to meet Hu again in the Champions League final?"
Melly smiled: "If I had just called and the problem would have been solved, I would have called long ago. It was useless for me to call him. He was very polite to me on the surface, but he never listened in his heart.
I took my advice. Farias has his own ideas, and I cannot and cannot interfere."
Sylvia sighed: "What a pity. You are in such good shape this season. If you can still meet Hu in the Champions League final, you will have a chance to take revenge on him..."
Since the UEFA Champions League final in the 2028-2029 season, Melly and Hu Lai have never met in the Champions League final.
This also gives Melli no chance to take revenge on Hu Lai - defeating Hu Lai in the knockout stage does not count as revenge. Only defeating Hu Lai in the Champions League final and stepping on his corpse to the championship podium counts.
Melly smiled and comforted his wife: "It's not that I'm only in good shape this year, nor that he or I will retire after this season. He and I will have many opportunities to play against each other in the future."
Sylvia was not easily persuaded by her husband this time. Instead, she asked a question that stunned Mellie.
"What about the World Cup? With Farias like this, can he still help you in this year's World Cup?"
Mellie was asked.
The problem my wife mentioned is indeed serious.
But Melly had never thought about it before.
This is because Farias' previous performance was not as extreme as the recent period.
Especially when it comes to the national team, although he can be willful sometimes, he didn't cause too many troubles in the South American qualifiers.
Although being alone is truly alone, it is still within the normal range of being alone - Farias, the player who played alone, is not alone, let alone the first in history.
Farias, who recently played for Madrid Pirates, behaved more like he plunged into a dead end and then couldn't turn out. He either broke through the wall blocking him or killed himself.
He thought about it and realized that Farias's transformation seemed to have occurred after the "Like Gate" incident.
Obviously, the kid was caught in a confrontation with the team and went a little crazy.
He seems to be holding back his energy and wants to prove to his teammates and coaches that he is right and that he can succeed in his own way and conquer them.
The goal against Catalonia seems to be strong evidence.
But in the next three league games, he was slapped three times.
Especially this last game, when Madrid Pirates challenged Valentia away from home.
Farias's problem is no longer "not fitting into the system" and "a lone wolf".
Rather, he was not in the state at all, almost like sleepwalking.
Until he was replaced, he didn't even have the performance of dribbling the ball into the dragon's den and the tiger's den alone in the first two games. In the past, everyone always scolded him for playing alone, and it went to the end of the world. Now he can't even be a "lone player"
Not even qualified.
This does prove that something is seriously wrong with Farias.
Sylvia is right, Farias like this cannot help him in the national team at all, but will drag down the whole team.
Just like now he is dragging down the entire Madrid Pirates team.
As a professional player, Melli has won all the championships that should be won at the club level.
Even in terms of honors for the national team, there is still zero. No Olympic gold medal, no America's Cup championship, no World Cup championship...even less.
Now four years have passed in the blink of an eye, and it is another World Cup year.
He doesn't know how many more World Cups he can participate in, and there are not many opportunities left for him to realize his wish.
He will be 35 years old in four years. Logically speaking, this World Cup will be the one in which he is most likely to win the World Cup championship.
If you can't realize your dream because of Farias...
Melly thought about it and felt that his previous attitude of watching the fire from the other side was wrong.
So he picked up the phone.
Sylvia saw his action and asked happily: "Are you going to call Farias?"
