I AM the Football Star

"Thank you." Izalelt was very polite.

"Thinking back to the first time I heard your name... it’s only been a few years. Young people are really incredible now." Zidane spoke.

Izalelt nodded and said, "Yes, it’s a pity Lu didn’t come today. I have a premonition that it won’t be long before he joins us sitting here."

Zidane chuckled helplessly, "That might not happen. That guy has a tough temper, it will be hard to invite him after the Golden Ball Award."

A few minutes later, the most glorious moment of this award ceremony arrived.

Firstly, the top three were announced.

They were Lima, Robben, and Izalelt!

Moreira and Zidane were fourth and fifth, making their exit upfront.

But Zidane had a beaming smile.

This round, his loss wasn’t shameful.

He had called on many to vote for Robben, effectively making an early exit from the race himself.

However, Moreira’s expression wasn’t good.

Last year, Barça... had better results than Real Madrid!

With Lima’s injury, Moreira’s personal stats were slightly better than Lima’s.

On the national team front, they were all mainstays, the stats were outstanding, and honors should be equally shared.

Why didn’t Moreira make it to the top three?

This was clearly due to differing levels of club support.

After Zidane advocated for Robben, he effectively announced his early withdrawal from the competition, giving Real Madrid a sigh of relief. This meant Real Madrid’s PR work had reduced from three people to two.

This is why Real Madrid’s Old Buddha appreciates Zidane; he never makes things difficult for Real Madrid.

The Golden Ball Award was like this, and Izalelt joining Real Madrid was the same.

Did Zidane have opinions on these two matters?

Definitely.

But Zidane didn’t create trouble for Lord Buddha, instead using it as a bargaining chip, constantly upping the ante, just to someday sway Lord Buddha on some decision, even if just once!

And over on Barça’s side, most PR support was given to Mateo, propelling him into the top ten.

It’s worth noting, in terms of achievements, last year’s results for Mateo were slightly worse than those of Lu Yang.

Though Mateo had the seniority, having long been in the list of thirty, this breakthrough into the top ten was still a significant leap.

The cost, naturally, was substantial.

As for Moreira, he received almost no support from Barça’s side.

From players, the field, to the club and upper management’s attitude, Moreira now fully understands his situation.

He’s out.

Not in the Golden Ball Award, but on Barça’s soon-to-launch Cosmic Team.

As a member of Barça, Moreira knew well how strong Barça was now, always waiting for an opportunity to evolve.

Perhaps the team will need one or two more seasons to gel, or maybe a standout player will be brought in, or perhaps they’ll learn it themselves without guidance, in any case, that day is not far away.

For this, Moreira was willing to accept piloting this Cosmic Team with Mateo.

He handed over half of his throne.

But he didn’t expect... the team’s upper management, for internal stability, wanted to take the other half too.

Or rather... it had already been taken.

Moreira felt ashamed and angry, the ever-present smile on his face disappeared completely for the first time.

Unknowing people might think he had a huge grudge against Izalelt.

Yes, Izalelt!

The biggest winner of the Golden Ball Award was Izalelt!

Lima was third, with a very low score.

Robben was second, far surpassing Lima, but still far from Izalelt.

Izalelt’s score was even higher than that of Lima and Robben combined.

From the voting scores, Izalelt’s Golden Ball Award was without suspense.

But those who knew the process of this year’s Golden Ball Award were all feeling for Robben.

Robben lost a war he was already likely to lose, but simultaneously, he also lost his future!

Without accident, it’s very hard for Robben to win the Golden Ball Award in his life.

Unless the France Team wins the World Cup, and Robben delivers an outstanding heroic performance.

Even requiring Zizola to fail for contrast, while Bayern needs to at least reach the semifinals in the Champions League.

Such achievements are surprises to anyone.

Rarely encountered even once in a lifetime.

The Golden Ball Award concluded perfectly.

But their troubles came the next day.

Lu Yang, this year’s thirtieth place in the Golden Ball Award, openly congratulated the winning players including Izalelt on social media, but unapologetically announced that he would sue the Golden Ball Award!

The reason was that despite his warnings, the Golden Ball Award still used his image, name, personal data, etc.

Some of it belongs to public data or arena data, for which the Golden Ball Award has authorization.

But for their hundred-person vote initiation and the announcement of the thirty-person candidate list photos, they used Lu Yang’s personal photo, not his team photo.

The distinction being, using personal photos means... they... violated Lu Yang’s portrait rights!