The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills

"I’m going to check the official Champions League handbook that UEFA sent our club. I want to see if there’s a rule that says away teams need Real Madrid’s approval to score at the Bernabéu."

After saying that, Wang Shuo couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

If this got out, it would definitely cause a huge uproar among the media and fans.

Ronaldo publicly admits the Champions League is fixed!

That line alone would probably cause huge trouble.

Ronaldo knew his words had been inappropriate, so he immediately changed the subject. "Let’s talk about the hat-tricks instead."

"I think we should change the group’s name again."

"To what?"

"How about the ’Champions League Semi-Final Hat-Trick Association’?"

"I support it!" Wang Shuo, of course, had no problem with that.

He immediately saw through Ronaldo’s "cunning" plan.

Has Messi ever scored a hat-trick in the Champions League?

He has.

Last season, in the Champions League quarter-finals against Arsenal, after a 2-2 draw away, they returned home and thrashed Arsenal 4-1, with Messi single-handedly scoring four goals.

But he’s never done it in a Champions League semi-final.

Ronaldo’s comment proved one thing yet again: with enough qualifiers, anyone can be the world’s number one!

"I don’t have a problem with it, but can we change it after tomorrow night’s match?" Messi readily agreed.

Tomorrow night, they were playing Ferguson’s Manchester United at Camp Nou.

"I’ll wait one day for you!" Ronaldo replied.

"But, Rio, you guys need to be careful with your defense when you play Manchester United. That ’artist’ backline of yours..."

"At least we won’t concede three goals to our opponents at home," Messi shot back.

"Who knows? What if you do?"

"There is no ’what if’!" Messi said decisively.

Then, he immediately sent another message, "I’m not talking to you guys anymore. I’m going to look at Manchester United’s tactical analysis. See you tomorrow night!"

...

「24 hours later...」

Ronaldo sent a picture he took of his TV screen while watching the live broadcast, capturing the moment Messi helplessly threw his hands up in the air.

The beauty of the photo was that the scoreboard behind Messi showed the score was 1-1.

That was also the final result of the battle at Camp Nou.

"Rio, your tiki-taka style of play... is so amazing!"

Wang Shuo burst out laughing on the spot.

Those two really never gave each other an inch.

A silence of about 20 minutes descended on the group chat.

"We tried a different playstyle today and worked really hard to create chances, but we wasted too many of them."

"That just proves your tactical analysis of Manchester United wasn’t deep enough. You should have asked me last night. I played for Manchester United for at least six years, so I know this team very well."

The group chat fell silent again.

After swearing up and down last night that he would score against Manchester United and get a hat-trick, Messi had been completely shut down by them today.

You could imagine he was definitely in a foul mood right now.

And now he had to take this from Ronaldo...

’Poor unlucky kid. Why’d you have to provoke him last night?’

"Cristiano, your TV is huge." Wang Shuo appeared just in time, tagging Ronaldo, trying to diffuse Messi’s embarrassment.

"You like it? If I make it to the Champions League final, I’ll send you one."

’Damn, being rich really means you can do whatever you want!’

"If you don’t want to give me one, just say so. Why beat around the bush and pretend to be so generous?" Wang Shuo retorted.

Messi clearly hadn’t moved on from the match yet and sent another message. "Van der Sar was ridiculous tonight. He saved 7 of our very dangerous shots. Seven shots!"

"If just one more had gone in, we’d feel a lot better."

Wang Shuo could understand his frustration. Pedro had scored for Barça and Rooney for Manchester United, but the scoreline didn’t tell the whole story. Throughout the entire match, Manchester United’s backline had been on the ropes and in a state of panic. It was just like their match against Inter Milan last season; Barça held an overwhelming advantage, pinning Manchester United back, but ultimately couldn’t find a way to score.

At that moment, Ronaldo sent another photo. It was clearly taken in a gym.

"Rio, this is the secret to scoring a hat-trick!"

Only then did Wang Shuo remember that this guy had a private gym set up in his house in Madrid.

No wonder he could casually snap a photo to show off.

"I’m jealous... Cristiano, I’d love to set up a gym at home too if I get the chance."

"Definitely. Pepe told me you still need to work on your physical-contact game."

"Pepe? Can you ask him for me if his ’physical-contact game’ did him any good when I put the ball through his legs?"

After saying that, Wang Shuo even let out a snort.

’That Portuguese center-back is clearly asking for it!’

...

「On the evening of May 3rd, at Dortmund’s Westfalen Stadium.」

After drawing 3-3 with Real Madrid in the first leg away, Dortmund had returned home and beaten Nuremberg 2-0 with goals from Lewandowski and Antonio Da Silva.

Now, in the second leg of the semi-final, they were hosting Real Madrid. The match was in its 8th minute.

Dortmund won the ball and launched a quick counter-attack.

As Piszczek charged down the right flank and crossed the halfway line, he looked to pass to Götze.

But Khedira got there a step ahead, shouldering Götze aside to intercept the ball.

Götze immediately tried to win it back, but as Khedira sent a through ball forward, it was intercepted on the right side of the center circle by Sven Bender.

As soon as Sven Bender won the ball, he immediately played a through ball to Wang Shuo’s feet at the edge of the 30-meter area.

With his back to the goal, Wang Shuo received the pass. He controlled it with a deft touch-and-turn, spinning to his right and breaking into the 30-meter area. Then, with an explosive burst of speed, he shook off Ramos and charged towards Pepe.