Chapter 757: If Tom Does Not Win the Ballon d'Or, We Will Refuse

Check Dongqiu Di match report: Manchester United defeated Chelsea 2-1 away, remaining undefeated across all competitions in November. Tang Ye scored twice, assisted by Cristiano Ronaldo.

This match was indeed played very well.

Alas, Tang Ye missed too many Premier League games in November, resulting in him ultimately failing to even make the shortlist for Player of the Month.

Recall that this is the first time since the January 2019 Asian Cup that Tang Ye has missed out on being a candidate for the league's best player.

However, for Tang Ye, none of this really matters.

The key point remains Manchester United's current total points.

So far this season, Manchester United has drawn only one match, winning all others, and stands far ahead in the Premier League table.

Even if Mancheng and Liwupu have high win rates, it is useless, because the boss, Manchester United, simply has not lost a single game!

Naturally, after November ends comes December.

This season's Champions League group stage will conclude in December, and currently, teams from the other four major leagues are under considerable pressure.

The logic is clear: drawing Manchester United in the knockout stage is no different from exploding on the spot.

This is where the advantage of the Premier League becomes apparent.

Although Mancheng and Liwupu are suppressed by Manchester United in the league, their status as fellow league members means they cannot meet Manchester United in the Round of 16.

To put it simply, Mancheng and Liwupu have essentially handed over their league points as protection money to Manchester United.

For some reason, this feels a bit heartbreaking!

However, compared to the Champions League knockout draw, fans are actually more concerned about another matter.

December is the month the Ballon d'Or is awarded!

Daily Mail front-page headline: With three days left in Ballon d'Or voting, TY holds the lead in both the 2020 and 2021 Ballon d'Or selections.

Argentine Sports Daily: Ronaldo refuses to vote for TY.

Anonymous French journalist: The news reported by the Daily Mail is untrue; there have been no breaches in the confidentiality of the Ballon d'Or voting, and all such messages are rumors.

"From the current situation, apart from France Football and FIFA officials, no one knows the voting results."

Analyzing this, if what this French journalist says is true, then many newspapers recently reporting on Ballon d'Or news will become clowns.

Many European and Nanmeizhou newspapers are showing off, claiming their informants are so powerful and can obtain such explosive news.

Actually, if you think deeper, you will realize.

Newspapers revealing the Ballon d'Or winner do not need to rely on informants providing information; they only need to look at the Ballon d'Or odds list.

Seeing Tang Ye far ahead in the 2020 and 2021 Ballon d'Or odds list, they immediately claim to have informants and have received advance news of Tang Ye winning the Ballon d'Or, when in reality these newspapers have no informants placed within FIFA at all.

When the results come out, if they happen to be correct, it becomes an opportunity for fame.

As for how many newspapers are doing this, you can just go to Twitter, type "#ty#ballond'or" into the search bar, and find out.

At least hundreds of newspapers are playing this game!

Of course, if all newspapers did this, it would lose its meaning.

Therefore, some newspapers have pointed out that the winners of the 2020 and 2021 Ballon d'Or are not Tang Ye, but Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo respectively, mainly adopting a contrarian persona.

But doing so also brings some problems for the newspapers.

Predicting that Tang Ye will win the Ballon d'Or is fine, because judging from the odds and the actual situation, this is indeed a high-probability event and is generally acknowledged.

But if you go against the trend and claim the Ballon d'Or winners are Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, you will inevitably be scolded thoroughly.

【Did the person who wrote this article not even finish elementary school?】

【Hahaha, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, dying of laughter, just let the two of them combined compete against TY.】

【Who is actually stronger can be seen from Escrivá; he went straight to the Chinese national team after winning the Champions League. So why didn't Ferran go to coach Portugal or Argentina? Use your brain.】

【Forget it, one of the duo is retiring in Ligue 1 while the other is being crushed by TY in the Premier League; you still push for a Ballon d'Or for them, do you really think FIFA has no shame?】

【Idiotic journalist, blocked.】

In response to the fans' mockery, the newspaper replied: Truth is held only by the minority.

Unsurprisingly, after making this response, the newspaper was scolded again.

Truth is truth, but this Ballon d'Or thing is decided by voting; the more people favor someone, the higher the success rate naturally is.

You can want to grasp the truth, but you cannot go against human thinking!

It snowed in Manchester.

Tang Ye, wearing a thin jacket, sat on the steps at the cafeteria entrance, counting the snowflakes drifting down from the sky.

"You are very resistant to the cold."

A voice came from behind; Tang Ye turned his head to see Cristiano Ronaldo sitting down beside him.

"What did you say?"

"I said, you are very resistant to the cold."

"Oh, haha!"

Tang Ye shook his head: "Actually, I am quite afraid of the cold, but having stayed in the Netherlands and Germany before, I now feel England is acceptable."

Snow arrived as soon as December began, but if Tang Ye were to say, England is far worse than the Netherlands and Germany, especially since the Netherlands is truly cold.

"Are you from Guangzhou? I seem to know this place; is it near the equator?"

Tang Ye did not want to explain the difference between Guangzhou and Guangdong to Cristiano Ronaldo anymore, so he simply nodded in agreement: "It is still a bit far from the equator, but quite warm."

"Oh!"

Cristiano Ronaldo nodded gently: "I like China; the people there are quite nice, and I have many fans there. You know, I went to China to play matches when I was at Juventus and Real Madrid."

"Then you could go once after this season ends."

Tang Ye offered a suggestion: "Chinese fans would hope you go there to play."

"Haha, it depends on the club's arrangements; mainly, next year is the World Cup."

Cristiano Ronaldo suddenly thought of something: "We could arrange a friendly match, I mean before the World Cup."

"However..."

Cristiano Ronaldo shook his head: "We haven't secured qualification yet; our initial results were poor, and many people said we wouldn't qualify. But they are all wrong; Portugal will definitely qualify, it's just a matter of time."

Portugal seemed to have encountered some problems in the European qualifiers.

"It's fine, it will definitely be resolved."

Tang Ye said.

Throughout the entire conversation, both men were very polite, showing not a hint of camaraderie between teammates.

However, Tang Ye now understood; there was no need for him to get along with Cristiano Ronaldo the way Rodri or Dembélé did, after all, the Portuguese man's mindset was indeed vastly different from his own.

Seeing Tang Ye fall silent for a moment, Cristiano Ronaldo turned his head away, gazing for a while at the snow drifting around them.

His gaze wandered back and forth, and amidst his hesitation, it shifted back onto Tang Ye.

"Any news?"

"Hmm... oh!"

Reacting quickly, Tang Ye knew what Cristiano Ronaldo was talking about.

"Not yet; I've already filmed the Ballon d'Or promotional video, but that thing includes anyone in the top three, so I still don't know the situation."

"Well..."

Cristiano Ronaldo nodded thoughtfully, gritting his teeth, feeling an indescribable envy in his heart.

He wanted to congratulate Tang Ye in advance, but amidst his hesitation, he gave up.

Cristiano Ronaldo stood up, preparing to leave: "Good luck in tomorrow's match."

"Of course!"

Match day, Old Trafford!

The first match of December, with Manchester United hosting Arsenal at home.

In Ten Hag's team tiering, Arsenal, like Chelsea, was only half a tier below Mancheng and Liwupu, not an easy opponent to handle.

However... despite saying this, Ten Hag and the Manchester United players shared the same mindset; they simply did not believe they would lose to Arsenal.

Just as Ten Hag had said in a previous interview: "This season, Manchester United stands alone in the first tier; don't ask me which other teams are in the first tier besides Manchester United, because besides Manchester United, there are none."