Chapter 250: La Liga's All-Time Single-Season Assist King, Heading to the Friendship Stadium!

Front page headline of "China Sports Daily"—Villarreal finished second in the 2016-17 La Liga season; based on comprehensive viewership ratings and social media comments, Villarreal was the football club most popular among Chinese fans over the past eight months.

Lobo Romero, editor-in-chief of "As": Tom > Messi; he should be this season's best player in La Liga. "Although Messi's statistics are magnificent, Tom's contribution to the team as a whole is extraordinarily exaggerated; serving the team as a whole is what a player on the field ought to do."

Front page headline of "Villarreal News"—By finishing second in the league, Villarreal secured an additional broadcasting revenue share of approximately 6 million euros. "Their broadcasting income will exceed Barcelona's by about 8 million euros."

Although Real Madrid won the championship, the fans' attention remained fixed on Villarreal.

Many fans said that Yellow Submarine and Real Madrid differed by only four points.

With just four more points, Villarreal could have won the La Liga title and created the Yellow Submarine miracle.

But thinking carefully, starting the season with a first-eleven value of less than 100 million euros and successively overtaking Atlético Madrid and Barcelona to become the second-place team in La Liga—how could this not be considered a miracle?

At this moment, anyone opening the Check Dongqiu Di app would immediately see Tang Ye's solo poster at the very top.

Tang Ye, wearing Villarreal's number 10 jersey, roared toward the stands of the Ceramic Stadium.

Above his head was a line of bold text: 【La Liga's All-Time Single-Season Assist King】.

Below the poster was the pinned news about Real Madrid's championship victory, but between the news and the poster were countless fan bullet comments.

【66666】

【Because of Tang Tang Qiuwang, I watched football for the first time; from now on, I am a Yellow Submarine fan.】

【Hiss, I'll support the national team first, then decide on the club later; Tang Ye might not even stay with Yellow Submarine next season.】

【Barcelona fans are thrilled.】

【Indeed, envying Barcelona fans!】

【Tang Ye: So I've transferred to Barcelona? Why don't I know about this?】

【The strongest player should belong to the strongest club; Tang Tang Qiuwang, come to Evergrande!】

The next morning, taking the train back to the base, Tang Ye hummed a tune while replying on his phone to text messages sent by friends.

Ramsey and the others had all sent Tang Ye congratulatory messages.

And of course, there was one from Mr. Eric!

The successful conclusion of the league season was a matter worthy of great joy, and such a joyful event could become even happier following blessings from friends.

This was when the importance of friends became evident.

The more blessings, the more happiness!

Tom had very, very many friends, which was precisely why he was so happy now!

"Rod."

Clutching his phone, Tang Ye turned to look at Rodri beside him: "My former captain asked me if I had a chance to win this season's Best Player award; do you think I have a chance?"

Hiss—

Taking a gentle breath, Rodri lowered his head: "Hmm... this is a question worth pondering; your statistics are excellent, but Messi's statistics are also very good."

"Do you really want the Season's Best trophy?"

"It's alright."

Tang Ye pondered: "But many of my teammates have asked me about this; if I could win it, that would be best."

"In July, I should return to the Netherlands; if I can win the Season's Best Player award, I will bring the trophy back to show them."

"You know, Rod, after I left, Utrecht brought in a new midfielder who is said to be very formidable, but I feel he shouldn't be as strong as me."

Tang Ye's expression was extremely serious, making Rodri burst into laughter.

Musacchio, sitting in front, turned around: "Tom, then who do you think is the most formidable midfielder in our team?"

"It's definitely Bruno."

Tang Ye's answer startled Bruno: "Why me?"

"Because Mr. Ferran said that a truly strong team is one that maintains its mentality after falling behind in score; you step up when we are behind in score, so you should be the strongest."

"I think what Tom said is very correct."

Bruno patted Musacchio's shoulder: "Who is the most formidable defender?"

"This..."

Tang Ye exhaled: "Jaume and Mateo are both very strong; hmm, Víctor is also very strong; I feel all our defenders are formidable, which is why I don't often track back to defend."

"Then who is the most formidable forward?"

Bruno pressed further.

"Sebastián's poaching is fierce, and Nikola's ball control is formidable."

"And also Cédric; Cédric always manages to run into suitable positions."

Regarding Villarreal's three starting forwards—Aleix, Sansone, and Bakambu—Tang Ye could be said to understand them best of all.

"Let me tell you, I can predict how Sebastián and the others will position themselves; I never lie."

"Alright, alright, then tell us who is the most formidable forward."

"It's me."

A smile graced Tang Ye's face.

The following afternoon, playing at home, Manchester United defeated Crystal Palace 2:0, staging a comeback in the final round of the league to secure a Champions League qualification spot.

Ten Hag, already canonized, was directly elevated to the pantheon!

Click-click!

Sitting in a chair in the press conference room, camera flashbulbs illuminated Ten Hag's head.

Fans watching the live broadcast felt only one thing.

That was a beam of guiding light above Ten Hag's head, a radiance awaiting Ten Hag's ascension to the upper realm.

But Ten Hag did not accept this beam of guiding light.

He chose to stay with Manchester United!

To be honest, Manchester United fans right now are quite relieved, relieved that the team has a manager who is both highly capable and so loyal!

Erik ten Hag, he is the future of Manchester United!

"Chelsea is very strong this season, and Tottenham is also very strong, but I can feel them weakening; next season they might not be so lucky."

"You ultimately finished fourth in the Premier League and thereby secured qualification for next season's Champions League. Do you consider your first season in charge a success?"

"Well..."

Ten Hag wore a thoughtful expression: "Many fans believe our results this season were excellent, even perfect, but I feel this is not enough, far from enough."

"Manchester United is a giant, one of the top giants in the Premier League; a team of this caliber should not merely remain in fourth place."

"This is just the beginning; as I said, this season is just the beginning."

Ten Hag propped both hands on the table before him, stood up, turned, and walked toward the door.

Click!

Click-click!

Through the reporters' lenses, Ten Hag's retreating figure gave off an indescribable feeling.

Hmm... it seemed to be a kind of resolve?

Yes, precisely resolve!

The resolve to lead the team to greater heights!

"Ahead, ahead!"

Tang Ye shouted loudly as Sansone quickly drove down the flank.

Musacchio was inside the penalty area; Tang Ye feinted toward the byline, then accelerated instantly the moment Sansone adjusted his shooting position.

Straight into the penalty area!

Thwack!

Sansone delivered the cross!

It was aimed precisely at Tang Ye arriving at the far post!

Leap up!

Thud!

A close-range header struck; goalkeeper Asenjo had absolutely no chance to react.

【Header: 49→50】

"Haha!"

Tang Ye spread his arms, ran over, and embraced Sansone.

Clap-clap-clap!

"That works!"

Escrivá on the sidelines clapped rapidly.

Actually, that header did not achieve a particularly good angle.

But considering Tang Ye's own heading ability, achieving this effect was already quite impressive.

"Vamos!"

Shouting toward Bruno and Ale, Tang Ye vented his excitement.

His Header attribute had officially broken through the 50 mark.

Although it seemed useless for now, in a few days Yellow Submarine would face the formidable opponent Manchester United.

At such a time, raising one's attributes a bit more could never hurt!

Who knows, perhaps during the official match Tang Ye might find an opportunity to contest a header!

"Ugh, so tired."

Break time had arrived; Tang Ye plopped down onto the grass.

Feeling the turf somewhat prickly, he then grabbed a ball and placed it beneath his buttocks.

This immediately felt much more comfortable!

Ale shook his head left and right, spotted Tang Ye, walked over, sat down, and lightly tapped Tang Ye's arm with his right fist: "Thanks, Tom!" "What for?"

Tang Ye, who had just been zoning out, turned his head, not understanding what Ale meant.

"The match the day before yesterday, the one against Valencia."

"Oh, oh, I get it now."

Tang Ye shook his head: "There's no need to thank me for that; we won the match together."

"I'm not talking about the result, but the goals; you gave me an assist at the very end, and then I secured the Silver Boot."

Ale held up his index finger: "I have one more goal than Suárez."

"I remember now."

Tang Ye broke into a smile: "Sebastián, I said I would get you the Silver Boot; I would have been very embarrassed if you hadn't won it."

"Haha!"

Ale clenched his fist and tapped Tang Ye's hand again: "We're about to play Manchester United, but you don't seem nervous at all."

!

"Mainly because I was too happy the past couple of days; I haven't quite come down from it yet."

Tang Ye shook his head and called out to Bruno, who was sitting on a chair in the distance: "Bruno, toss me a bottle of water."

"Sebastián, do you want one?"

"It's two bottles!"

Tang Ye added a sentence.

The positive emotions brought to the Yellow Submarine players by overtaking Barcelona in the standings were extremely exaggerated.

Even though they would be playing the Europa League final in a few days, the team's atmosphere remained very good.

"By the way, did Bart look for you?"

Tang Ye suddenly brought up his old captain, Ramseal: "Yesterday on the train, Bart told me that on the day of the final, they would gather to watch the live broadcast, just like we did together for the Champions League knockout matches back then."

"Oh, they told me."

Aleix smiled and shook his head: "Bart told me to score a few more goals."

"Haha, then what did you say?"

"I told him to come and play himself; if Manchester United's goal was that easy to score against, we wouldn't have been studying tactics non-stop these past few days."

"That's just how Bart is; he tends to think things are very simple."

"But this time I think he's very right; I feel like I should be able to get an assist in the final; I already have that feeling now."

Tang Ye stood up.

He had asked Bruno to toss the water over, but unexpectedly, Bruno walked over carrying the mineral water bottle himself.

"You two are isolating all of us, right?"

Bruno placed the water bottle on Aleix's shoulder, and the bottle stopped steadily.

Tang Ye found it very interesting, so he placed the water bottle in his hand on Aleix's other shoulder.

But he forgot that he had already unscrewed the cap.

"Damn!"

Aleix's shoulder jerked, and all the water in the bottle poured out.

"Haha, sorry Sebastian, sorry, haha!"

Aleix sat on the ground and spread his hands: "Tom!"

Fortunately, training was nearly over, and Aleix was wearing quick-dry training gear, so there wouldn't be any major problems.

The Yellow Submarine's tall striker took off his shirt, and Bruno sat down beside Tang Ye: "How many to win?"

"Win the championship, of course."

Tang Ye said it as a matter of course.

"You've already reserved it, have you? Then what about Ten Hag?"

Tang Ye said nothing, propping his hands on the grass behind him and looking at the sun about to set in the distance.

In the match three days later, only one of him and Mr. Eric could be the victor!

Check Dongqiu Di Match Preview: In the early hours of May 26, the Europa League final between Yellow Submarine and Manchester United kicks off; Tang Tang Qiuwang vs. Saint Ten, in this battle of saints and kings, who will lift the championship trophy?

To say it truly is a battle of saints and kings, with still two and a half days before the match begins, Check Dongqiu Di has already started the warm-up.

Of course, it wasn't just Check Dongqiu Di.

CCTV: The Europa League final between Villarreal and Manchester United will be broadcast on Channel 5.

【The last battle, brothers!】

【Already starting to look forward to it; Brother Meng still can't escape Saint Ten's grasp.】

【Tough; Saint Ten understands Tang Tang Qiuwang too well; the Yellow Submarine probably won't have an easy time in the final.】

【After Barcelona inspected the goods, Manchester United is also inspecting the goods, right?】

Time arrived on match day!

The bus carrying the Yellow Submarine players slowly drove toward the Friendship Stadium.

"Villarreal!"

"Villarreal!"

The Yellow Submarine fans who had traveled from afar ran alongside the team bus; Tang Ye pulled open the curtain and greeted the fans outside.

This was the third time Tang Ye had played in a neutral stadium, following the Dutch Cup and the King's Cup finals.

The circumstances of the King's Cup match were quite special and were not taken into consideration.

Today should be counted as Tang Ye's second experience playing in a neutral stadium.

However... last night at the hotel, Escrivá had said that Manchester United's fan base was itself much larger than the Yellow Submarine's; in this arrangement for a match in another country, their attending fans would very likely outnumber the Yellow Submarine's attending fans.

But that was not a problem.

Having more fans did not mean one would definitely win the match!

They had defeated Barcelona twice this season!

After climbing a small slope, the bus officially arrived at the Friendship Stadium.

At this moment, Ruiz, sitting next door, suddenly shouted: "Tom, look quickly outside the window!"

Hmm?

Tang Ye stuck his head out the window; the midfielder's excellent vision ability helped him quickly spot what Ruiz was talking about.

Outside the Friendship Stadium, a super-large poster about this match was displayed.

In the poster, Tang Ye, wearing a yellow jersey, and Ten Hag, wearing a suit, stood facing each other.

A familiar feeling!

During the semi-finals, UEFA had produced a similar warm-up poster, but the person standing in front of Tang Ye had changed from Bosch to Ten Hag.

Recalling the poster from the semi-finals carefully, Tang Ye quickly found the second difference.

In the semi-final poster, Tang Ye had a smile on his face.

But the poster for the final was different.

Both Tang Ye and Ten Hag wore extremely serious expressions!

They knew this was a great battle!

"They think we're under a lot of pressure,"

Tang Ye said seriously as he sat back down in his seat.

"Why do you say that?"

"In all those previous posters, I was smiling, but in today's match poster, my expression is very serious."

"You remember even that?"

Rodri looked somewhat surprised.

"Isn't that simple? I even remember the poster for last season's KNVB Cup final; Mr. Sitting Like and I appeared in it together."

"If your memory is so good, why do you always forget what Ferran says?"

According to Rodri's understanding of Tang Ye, this guy's memory wasn't supposed to be very good.

"That's different, that's different."

"Anyway, they just think we're under a lot of pressure, even though we actually are under quite a bit."

Clap, clap, clap!

Just as they were about to reach the entrance, Escrivá stood in the middle of the aisle, about to say a few words to the players, when suddenly a loud noise erupted from the distance.

"United! (Manchester United)"

"United!"

"Ten Hag! (Erik ten Hag)"

They're here!

It's them!

The most talked-about football club and the most talked-about football manager!

They have arrived!

……

(End of Chapter)