Awakening the Messi template, Florentino Pérez begs me to join Real Madrid

The locker room was in complete chaos after the game.

Champagne was sprayed everywhere, and Feng Xiaoting's shirt was soaked from Zhang Linpeng's spray.

Feng Xiaoting took off his shirt, baring his chest, and stuffed ice cubes into Zhang Linpeng's crotch.

Sun Xiang was making a phone call in a corner, his tone relaxed.

Wu Shi sat in front of his locker, still wearing his jersey.

He did not participate in the celebration.

Holding an unopened bottle of champagne, he stared blankly at the floor.

Gao Lin walked over wrapped in a bath towel, his lip still bleeding and covered with a band-aid.

"What's wrong, Stone?"

"You won and you're still looking so long-faced? Did you get that red card for nothing?"

Wu Shi looked up at him, opened his mouth, then lowered it again.

Gao Lin sat down next to him and nudged him with his shoulder: "About the penalty kick?"

Wu Shi remained silent.

Gao Lin leaned against the cabinet.

"Tch! Do you know when I missed my first penalty in my professional career? I was nineteen, playing for Shanghai Shenhua against Shandong Luneng. I kicked it straight into the stands. That ball is still being kept at some fan's house in Jinan."

Wu Shi couldn't help but chuckle.

"That's right." Gao Lin stood up and rubbed his head.

"A win is a win. Those two goals were the key. Penalty shootout? That's a gamble. Nobody should pretend to be a big shot."

Before he walked away, he turned back and added:

"By the way, Li Shuai is surrounded by reporters outside. He was just praising you on camera, saying you're today's hero."

Wu Shi was stunned for a moment.

It was almost 1 a.m. when I got back to the apartment.

After taking a shower, Wu Shi collapsed onto the sofa, his phone screen displaying 99+ WeChat messages.

My mom sent me a message saying, "Son, you're amazing!"

There are also 99+ unread messages in the teammates' group chat, and several congratulatory text messages from unfamiliar numbers.

He was too lazy to look and tossed his phone aside.

Yin emerged from the void, this time not floating, but sitting directly on the coffee table, swinging her legs back and forth.

"What's wrong? Still being emo here?"

Takeshi didn't move.

Silver's voice was unusually not so harsh.

"Alright, alright, stop pretending."

"If it weren't for that shot you took today, we wouldn't have even made it into overtime. Gao Lin is right, a win is a win."

Wu Shi turned over, his back to her.

Yin pursed her lips and snapped her fingers.

A system panel pops up in front of you.

[Comprehensive statistics for both legs of the FA Cup semi-final]

Playing time: 210 minutes (90 minutes in the first leg + 120 minutes in the second leg)

Goals: 2 (Over two legs: 2 goals, 1 assist)

[Statistics: 120 minutes played in the second leg, 2 goals, 1 key pass, fouled 7 times, running distance 13.8 kilometers.]

[Integration Update]

Current integration level: 9.30% → 9.60% (+0.30%)

[Global ranking for this age group: 74]

[Special Note: Key performance in the FA Cup semi-final + mental experience in the penalty shootout, additional bonus 0.1% integration rate]

Wu Shi stared at the number 9.60% and remained silent for a few seconds.

"Only a 0.3% increase?"

银翻了个白眼：「雀氏，0.3已经不少了大哥。你知道0.3意味着什幺吗？意味着你再踢两场好球就能破10%了。10%啊，你刚来的时候才多少？0.001%？」

"New features will be available after 10% completion."

"Okay, I'll give you a heads-up: you can start the lucky draw after you reach 10%. The specific rewards will be available when you reach 10%. Now you can celebrate a little."

Silver jumped down from the coffee table and stood in front of him.

"You've improved by almost 10% in the past year or so. At this rate, you'll be able to catch up with Messi in another two years."

Wu Shi didn't respond.

Yin looked at him and suddenly sighed.

"I said, are you still thinking about that penalty kick?"

Wu Shi turned over and stared at the ceiling.

"If it weren't for Li Shuai's final save..."

"Then why don't you come in?" Yin's tone was a little sharp again, but she quickly regained her composure. "...Fine, I won't argue with you. But you need to understand one thing."

She paused.

"You missed that penalty today not because you're bad, but because you wanted to win too much. You wanted to prove yourself too much. You were afraid of being told 'Wu Shi only plays well when they're winning' or 'They're spineless in crucial moments'."

"So you tried so hard to hit a complete dead end, but you overdid it."

Wu Shi didn't say anything.

Silver moved closer to him

"But do you know what's the funniest thing?"

What?!

"If you hadn't missed that penalty today, you wouldn't be sitting here reflecting on it. You would think you were so great, and next time there's a penalty shootout, you would just go for it anyway."

She leaned back.

"Some things you have to learn by stumbling. That's called tuition, you know? You've paid your tuition today, so you're a subscriber now."

Wu Shi finally smiled.

"What kind of ridiculous analogy is that?"

"Even a broken metaphor is still a metaphor." Yin crossed her arms.

"Anyway, figure it out yourself. What I want to remind you is that the league roster is out tomorrow, and you're not on it."

Wu Shi was taken aback: "Huh?"

"Look at your phone yourself."

Wu Shi picked up his phone and opened the notification sent by the teaching assistant.

Sure enough, he wasn't on the roster for tomorrow's home game against Tianjin.

Not only him, but Conca, Muriqui, Elkeson, Zheng Zhi, Feng Xiaoting... every single one of the key players failed to score.

The bench was filled with reserve team kids.

"Because they've already won the championship?" Takeshi asked.

"Otherwise what?" Yin tilted his head. "Do you think Lippi is stupid? There's the second leg of the AFC Champions League semi-final this weekend. Are you going to send him to play in the league? What if he gets tackled by those big guys from Tianjin and breaks his leg? Who's going to take responsibility?"

Wu Shi remained silent.

"So, tomorrow you'd better stay home and watch the live stream, give the reserve team guys a thumbs up." Yin floated up and hovered in mid-air. "And while you're at it, think carefully about how to play that game this weekend."

Wu Shi nodded.

He suddenly remembered something: "By the way, what were you thinking when I missed my penalty in today's shootout?"

Yin was stunned for a moment.

"What were you thinking?"

"So...don't you think I'm incredibly useless?"

Yin stared at him for a few seconds.

Then, unusually, she didn't use a sharp tongue.

"My thought at the time was that this kid had to get through this on his own. I could help him analyze the data and give him advice, but there were some hurdles he had to overcome on his own."

Wu Shi didn't say anything.

"But your final move towards Li Shuai was alright," Yin's voice lowered. "At least you didn't dodge."

Outside the window, the night in Guangzhou gradually faded, and the sky in the distance began to lighten.

Wu Shi stood up and walked to the window.

"silver."

"Um?"

Thanks.

"Don't give me that." Yin's voice returned to its usual tone. "Go to sleep, we have extra training tomorrow. You think we don't have AFC Champions League matches this weekend?"

Wu Shi smiled.

He drew the curtains and lay back down on the bed.

Silver looks a little different today than usual.

After chatting with her normally.

I always get so angry I could die.

I was only thinking about proving myself and showing her what I was capable of, and I had the urge to "slap her in the face".

I thought I'd made such a big mistake today, but...

Forget it, I don't want to think about it anymore.

I need to take a good rest. I'll be scoring goals in the AFC Champions League semi-final on Saturday.