Full-level pass, please call me the speaker of the Three Lions

Chapter 497: The first European Footballer of the Year born in the s!
In front of the live broadcast of countless fans and hundreds of reporters, Ling Feng had his first interview as the official leader of the Three Lions:

"Hello, Ling, what do you think makes a good captain?"

Why do you start with such a profound question?
Haha, it can’t faze me at all!

While complaining in his heart, Ling Feng thought for a moment and then answered:

"A good captain should be team-centric, have cohesiveness and appeal, and be able to lead the team forward."

"Do you think you are such a person?"

"I don't care what I think, I care what you think, and what countless fans think."

Facing Ling Feng's question, the reporter from The Times was stunned for a moment, then answered seriously:
"I think you're definitely a good captain!"

"David, thank you very much for your recognition. We can take a photo together after we finish."

Seeing Ling Feng winking at the reporters, cheerful laughter suddenly rang out in the media room.

"Ling, before you, Rooney also had the experience of being the captain of both the club and the national team. Will you ask him for some advice on how to be the captain?"

"Of course! I learned a lot from Wayne, Steven (Gerrard), Frank (Lampard), I am very lucky to have played alongside these great captains."

"As long as the team wins one more game, they will be able to qualify for the World Cup in Russia next year. Do you think your goal and the team's goal is to focus on the World Cup?"

"That's a must! My goal is to lead the team to success in the upcoming World Cup!"

This confident declaration of inauguration quickly became a hot topic on major search engines and social media in the UK.

The whole British football world was delighted that Ling Feng officially took over Rooney's captaincy.

There is no other reason, it is just that Ling Feng has already conquered fans all over the UK with his explosive phenomenal performance in the three seasons in the Premier League.

In the world of competitive football, the strong are always respected.

And Ling Feng is undoubtedly the best English player of this era!
If he doesn't become the captain, who will?!
However, as Ling Feng's inauguration interview was broadcast, it sparked heated discussions among the public:
Can Ling Feng lead the Three Lions to success in next year's World Cup as he said?
You know, England's best World Cup result in the past three decades was only fourth place in 1990.

In other words, Ling Feng must at least lead the team into the World Cup semi-finals to have a chance to challenge the top three, which can be considered a success!
The Three Lions, which had a golden generation of players including Beckham, Edwin Hitz, Ferdinand, Terry, Owen and Rooney, only reached the quarterfinals in the 02 and 06 World Cups.

Compared to that star-studded England team, the current England team seems too dull.

Even in the eyes of many English legends and fans, apart from Ling Feng, no player in the current Three Lions team can start in the lineup of that golden generation!

Your happy boys, aircraft carriers, and dancing kings are all starting players?

Can they kick?
Can't kick!
I don’t know if I don’t have the ability!
Therefore, the public holds different opinions on Ling Feng's bold words.

Some people think it is very difficult and the lineup is not strong enough;
Some people think that with Ling Feng around, everything is possible!
However, no one would think that Ling Feng was bragging.

Because when he joined Manchester United, he said he came for the championship.

And after the end of the season, he really helped Manchester United win three championship trophies including the Premier League and the Champions League!
Who knew that he couldn't lead the Three Lions to create a miracle? !
Ling Feng has long been accustomed to public discussions.

To say that I can lead the Three Lions to success is not bragging, but I am confident that I can do it.

In his opinion, although the current lineup and strength of the Three Lions are much worse than that of the golden generation of England.

However, the atmosphere and harmony within the team could not be better!
At that time, all the big stars were unwilling to submit to each other, there were many factions within the team, and with the difficulty of having two good players, it was basically a team in name only.

And now, the Manchester United gang headed by Ling Feng firmly controls the right to speak in the locker room of the Three Lions, and Ling Feng's superb personal ability and leadership charm have convinced everyone in the team.

In addition, he once served as captain of the U21 team and had a good relationship with some rising stars who won the European Youth Championship that year and were promoted to the adult team in the future.

For example, Kane, Ward Prowse
For Kane, Ling Feng is the captain who led him to win the first championship in his life.

Not to mention Lingard and Maguire, these two people are his younger brothers whether in Manchester United or in the Three Lions!
In this Three Lions team, he has a tactical position and voice that is no less than Rooney.

With the support of Hodgson and the English Football Association, he can be said to have the final say!

This is why, although this England team is a little bit ordinary, it can perform well in the European Cup and rank among the top three in the world!
. . .

After attending the press conference, Ling Feng immediately rushed to the airport and took a private plane with his girlfriend and agent to Monte Carlo, Monaco.

Because the new season's UEFA Champions League group stage draw ceremony and UEFA's annual awards ceremony will be held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monte Carlo!
"Nike sent us congratulations and gave us good news."

Hearing this, Ling Feng couldn't help but retract his gaze from the clouds outside the window and turned to look at Mendes opposite him:

"Oh? What is it?"

In order to congratulate Ling Feng on officially becoming the captain of the Three Lions, Nike immediately announced that it would specially make a pair of commemorative edition boots for Ling Feng.

Nike had done this before, when he officially became the captain of Manchester United.

And in the first round of the Premier League, Ling Feng also wore the Red Devils captain's special edition boots specially made for him by Nike for the first time.

It has to be said that Nike’s attention to Ling Feng is no less than that to Cristiano Ronaldo.

However, this is also expected.

With Neymar moving to Puma and Ronaldo getting older, Nike must also find a new brand face.

And in the entire football world, is there anyone more suitable than Ling Feng? !
She has good looks, good basketball skills, good character, and influence!

It is worth mentioning that after officially becoming the captain of England, Ling Feng also completed the milestone achievement of [Boss of the Three Lions] and received up to five free attribute points as a reward.

On the plane to Monaco, he added these five points to [Prediction] without hesitation, raising it from 85 to 90!

Excellent predictive ability allows Ling Feng to "predict the future"

In addition to predicting the opponent's next move, you can also predict your teammates' passes and movements, giving you more time to make decisions.

This is a very important attribute for any player!
Soon, as the plane arrived in Monte Carlo, Ling Feng and his girlfriend attended the UEFA's annual awards ceremony on time.

As the champions and runners-up of last season's Champions League, Manchester United and Real Madrid swept the best player, best forward, best midfielder and other individual awards: Ling Feng defeated Modric and was elected UEFA's best midfielder for the first time.

De Gea defeated Buffon and won the UEFA Best Goalkeeper award for the first time.

Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored 11 goals in the Champions League and won the Champions League Silver Boot, and Ramos, captain of the Champions League runner-up, were elected best forward and best defender.

In the final competition for UEFA Player of the Year, the 22-year-old Ling Feng defeated Ronaldo and Messi and was elected for the first time!
"The winner of UEFA Player of the Year is..."

"Ling Feng!!!"

When hearing his name, Ling Feng, who was sitting in the first row, was not surprised at all, but just smiled slightly.

Then he turned around, hugged his girlfriend Barbara, and kissed her hard.

The latter smiled like a flower and sent his blessings sincerely:

"Congratulations, honey."

"I can only do this with you by my side!"

Then, he walked onto the stage with confidence amid applause from the audience and received the trophy for UEFA's Player of the Year (European Footballer of the Year) from the smiling award presenter Kaka.

Ling Feng’s election is well deserved.

He led Manchester United to win the Champions League last season, scoring 12 goals to surpass Messi and Ronaldo to win the Golden Boot of the tournament, and even provided a record-breaking 13 assists in the Champions League!
It can be said that the best performer in the Champions League last season was the Red Devils No. 7!
In this game, neither Messi nor Ronaldo attended the award ceremony because they had to participate in the La Liga game.

However, this did not affect Ling Feng's first direct victory over Melo in the selection of individual football awards!

UEFA Player of the Year, also known as the "European Footballer of the Year"

This award, which resembles the upper body of a player, is said to be given to recognize the player who plays for a UEFA club and has the best overall performance in both club and national team in the previous season.

But it is basically linked to the results in the Champions League, and is usually awarded to the core players of last season's Champions League champion.

It is worth mentioning that since its establishment in 2011, all winners have been born in the s!

Messi in 2011, Iniesta in 2012, Ribery in 2013, Ronaldo in 2014, Messi in 2015, Ronaldo in 2016.
Then to Lingfeng in 2017!

At this point, Ling Feng also became the first post-90s player to win this award!
This is enough to prove that Ling Feng has now become a superstar who can stand shoulder to shoulder with the best in the world!

However, for Ling Feng, this European Footballer of the Year trophy is just a preview of the Golden Ball awards ceremony three months later!

His goal was clear:

Not only does he want to be the first person born in the 90s to win the European Footballer of the Year award, he also wants to be the first person born in the 90s to win the Ballon d'Or!
“I am very happy to receive this award. It represents my performance last season, which was really good.”

"I hope that in the new season, I can continue to achieve better results with Manchester United."

"Thank you!"

After Ling Feng won the award, Manchester United Club’s official website was the first to release photos and news of Ling Feng’s award.

Then add the title:

“The best in Europe!”

After UEFA's annual awards ceremony, the group draw for the new season of the Champions League will be held.

Since Manchester City qualified for the Champions League as the champion of last season's Europa League, and Liverpool also successfully passed the Champions League play-offs, this season is the first time in history that five Premier League teams will participate in the Champions League group stage!
For the Premier League, which has ranked first among the top five leagues in terms of commercial development and revenue in recent years, this is an opportunity to achieve good results and regain dominance in the Champions League.

UEFA also takes good care of the Premier League teams, and it is not difficult for most of them to qualify from the group stage.

As last season's Champions League champion, Manchester United was the first seeded team to be drawn into Group A.

Under the gaze of thousands of fans, Manchester United drew a great lot:

Manchester United's opponents in the same group are Portuguese Super League giants Benfica, Swiss giants Basel and Russian Premier League giants CSKA Moscow!
Seeing these three group opponents, the Red Devils fans either laughed out loud or slid on their knees in the living room:
The top spot in the group is secured!
Liverpool's group includes Spartak Moscow, Sevilla and Maribor;
Manchester City is in the same group as Shakhtar Donetsk, Napoli and Feyenoord.

Chelsea are in the same group as Atletico Madrid, Roma and Qarabag.

The team with the worst luck in signing a team is Tottenham.

They were actually placed in the "death group" with Real Madrid, Dortmund and APOEL.

Real Madrid basically has to fight hard with Dortmund in order to qualify from the group and advance to the knockout stage.

For the top teams, the result of the Champions League group stage draw is generally acceptable.

UEFA generally adopts the approach of two strong teams and two weak teams when grouping. This allows fans to see strong competition in the group stage, while not making it too difficult for the giants to qualify from the group.

It can be said that taking into account both the broadcast attractiveness and the care of the top teams is killing two birds with one stone!
In summary, it can be said that UEFA's arrangement for this draw was well-organized, and it can be regarded as the most sophisticated grouping in history!
For Manchester United, Benfica, Basel and CSKA Moscow, although they have some strength, can be considered regular visitors to the Champions League.

However, given the strength of their squad, they had no chance of threatening Manchester United's top spot in the group.

The opponents in the same group are relatively weak, so they will not consume too much energy in the group stage, which will affect the league and knockout stage.

After attending the UEFA awards ceremony and watching the Champions League group draw ceremony, Ling Feng returned to Manchester that night with the best European trophy.

The next afternoon, he led the team in high spirits to face the challenge of his old club Leicester City at Old Trafford.

Leicester City's start to the league has been a mixed bag.

In the opening match against Arsenal, they missed three points due to Giroud's last-minute goal.

In the second round, the Foxes returned to their home ground and showed excellent form, beating Brighton 2-0 to win their first league victory.

However, when they arrived at Old Trafford, the Foxes, who lost their main central defender Maguire this season, although made targeted reinforcements, still could not withstand the fierce offensive of the Red Devils!

(End of this chapter)