Chapter 335 - 328: I Finally Saw Him

While the two teams trained on the field, fans began filing into the stands.

Ajax players like Ibrahimovic, Van der Vaart, and Sneijder also entered the stadium. This time, even Ajax captain Galasek and their top striker, Charisteas, had come along.

The Ajax players’ arrival drew a warm welcome from the fans in Koegenwaard Stadium.

Amsterdam and Utrecht are only forty to fifty kilometers apart, so they had made a special trip to cheer on their teammate, Yang Yang.

The commotion in the stands naturally caught the attention of the players on the field. Yang Yang spotted his teammates and waved to them from a distance.

"Go for it, brother! Play hard and crush Argentina!" Ibrahimovic roared in his booming voice.

"You’ve got this! Come on, Yang Yang!"

"I’m rooting for you, Yang Yang!"

"Don’t give them any chances!"

This group of young Ajax players was particularly energetic in their shouting, their cheers even carrying a hint of provocation.

This annoyed the Argentinian fans on the other side of the stands, who began to shout back. On this side, the fans from the Netherlands and China cheered loudly, and as soon as the Argentinian fans retorted, they immediately launched a counter-barrage of their own.

The poor Argentinian fans, caught between the Dutch and Chinese supporters, were at an absolute disadvantage in both numbers and volume.

The game hadn’t even started, but they had already lost a battle.

Seeing their fans overpower the Argentinian supporters, Ibrahimovic burst out laughing. He found it incredibly amusing.

But just as he was about to stir up more trouble, Maxwell nudged his arm, then gestured for Vermaelen, Sneijder, and the others to look, pointing toward a spot not far from them.

"Whoa, Maxwell, you’re checking out the girls now?"

"I gotta say, you’ve got good taste. She’s gorgeous!"

"An innocent-looking student type. A total knockout."

"She’s even prettier than those Hollywood starlets. I had no idea girls in China were this beautiful."

Hearing that his teammates had completely missed the point, Maxwell grew frustrated.

"’Take a closer look.’ As he spoke, he pulled out his phone, which had a photo on it."

Everyone crowded around to look. They saw the photo, then glanced back at the young Chinese woman nearby. It was the same person. What was going on?

Just as everyone was still looking puzzled, Niklas Bendtner was the first to shout, "Isn’t that the girlfriend Yang Yang has been keeping under wraps?"

"Shhh!" Maxwell immediately motioned for him to quiet down. There were reporters and fans everywhere; they couldn’t be too conspicuous.

Bendtner immediately clamped a hand over his mouth and glanced around. Fortunately, the stadium was so loud that no one seemed to have noticed what he’d just yelled.

"She’s Yang Yang’s girlfriend?" Ibrahimovic’s eyes widened.

Maxwell nodded eagerly. "He won’t admit it, but we’re pretty sure she is."

"That’s right," Vermaelen chimed in. "They chat online every night and call each other often. Before, she even gave him a hand-woven bracelet that Yang Yang cherishes like it’s his most prized possession. He says she’s not his girlfriend, but do you guys believe that?"

Everyone shook their heads. Of course not.

"Still, you’ve got to admit, Yang has amazing taste. His girlfriend is gorgeous. No wonder he turned down that so-called campus belle from his old school who wrote him a love letter. Compared to this girl, is she even worth a second look?"

"Uh... Zlatan, that campus belle was actually pretty hot," Vermaelen said wistfully. "It’s just that, compared to this girl, she really pales in comparison."

It just goes to show you: comparisons are brutal.

Huddled together, the group of young Ajax lads chattered away, completely uninterested in the match about to start below. They were far more invested in Yang Yang’s love life.

Heitinga even used the occasion to prod Sneijder. "See? Even Yang Yang’s found a girlfriend. You’re the only one on the whole team who’s still single. You’d better get with the program, Wesley."

Sneijder was speechless. He wanted to cry.

But as they kept talking, doubts began to creep in. Was a girl this beautiful *really* Yang Yang’s girlfriend?

"Holy crap, so after all this time, it turns out you guys don’t actually know anything," Ibrahimovic said, giving them a look of utter disdain.

"He keeps it too close to his chest. He absolutely refuses to admit it."

"Looks like you guys haven’t gotten any smarter while I’ve been away," the Swede said, shaking his head in disappointment. "He won’t admit it, so you can’t think of a way to make him?"

"Like what?" Maxwell retorted, his expression clearly saying, ’If you’re so smart, you do it.’

And wouldn’t you know it, Ibrahimovic shot to his feet. He singled out Maxwell, Vermaelen, Sneijder, and Maicon—a few of the guys closest to Yang Yang. "You lot, with me."

With that, the Swedish Striker strode off with the air of a mafia don.

Her seat wasn’t far, and they reached her in just a few steps.

At nearly two meters tall, Ibrahimovic stood out even in the packed stands, not to mention that he was followed by other Ajax players. People kept greeting them along the way.

Their movements quickly caught the attention of Su Ye, Wei Zhen, and the others with them.

Soon, Ibrahimovic and his group arrived in front of them.

From a distance, they had thought Su Ye was beautiful. Up close, she was even more stunning.

Su Ye recognized them as Yang Yang’s closest teammates. She immediately stood up and, with a poised and gentle smile, asked, "Hello, can I help you with something?"

Her clear, melodious voice, her figure, her air of grace—it all made Ibrahimovic hesitate, the question he had come to ask suddenly caught in his throat.

Seeing him flustered, Maxwell and the others behind him covered their faces to hide their laughter.

The lethality of this absolute beauty was simply too high; she had rendered Ibrahimovic speechless with a single sentence. This would surely become another amusing anecdote at Ajax, something to brag about in their autobiographies after retirement.

"Hmm?" Su Ye asked, a little curious.

"Uh, it’s nothing. We just saw you and wanted to come over and say hi," Ibrahimovic said, surprisingly flustered.

In truth, he didn’t really know how to talk to girls; he was usually all talk and no action.

"Yeah, that’s right, that’s right. We just came over to say hi," Maxwell added.

"Yang Yang talks about you to us all the time, but I didn’t expect you to be even prettier in person than in your picture," said Vermaelen, the smooth-talker of the group.

Su Ye’s cheeks flushed. She realized they must have misunderstood something.

Before she could explain, Ibrahimovic forced himself to calm down, remembering the purpose of his visit.

"Don’t you worry," he said. "While Yang Yang is in the Netherlands, we’ll keep an eye on him for you. We’ll make sure he doesn’t mess around. Those campus belles writing him love letters, the movie stars trying every trick to seduce him—none of them will get a chance."

As soon as the Swede spoke, the others caught on and began nodding furiously.

"That’s right, that’s right! We definitely won’t let him go to the Red Light District either."

"All he does in the Netherlands is focus on soccer. He doesn’t even know how to chase girls. He’s so innocent!"

"I think he’s a super dependable guy. If I were a girl, I’d totally marry him."

"Hold on, Douglas, what are you talking about? You’re a guy, and you’re so dark. Yang Yang’s not interested in you."

"I’m speaking hypothetically!"

"There is no hypothetical!"

"But you were the one who just brought up the Red Light District."

"I..."

Su Ye couldn’t help but giggle, and the sound made all the players’ eyes go wide. "He really wasn’t wrong about you at all."

"What did he say?" Ibrahimovic’s intuition told him that whatever came next, it wouldn’t be good.

’With Yang’s personality, could he possibly have a high opinion of them?’

Su Ye knew they were all used to constantly teasing one another. Once, when Maxwell and Vermaelen were eavesdropping on one of his calls, Yang Yang had deliberately said into the phone—right in front of them—that a couple of weirdos were interrupting him, which led to a playful squabble.

Maxwell and Ibrahimovic would also tease their friends in front of their own wives and girlfriends. It was a habit for all of them.

"I don’t dare say it," Su Ye said, stifling a giggle.

"Tell us! We’re going to get even with him anyway," Maxwell urged, getting excited.

"You’re the one who asked me to say it," Su Ye said, deliberately drawing out the suspense.

"Go on, it’s fine."

"He said... you’re all a bunch of weirdos!"

After saying it, Su Ye burst into a fit of laughter.

Ibrahimovic and the others retreated in defeat.

From now on, they could never hope to show their faces in front of Su Ye again!

...

...

「In the Argentina locker room.」

Back from the training field, Messi sat in front of his locker, leaning the back of his head against the cool metal door. He closed his eyes, lost in thought. The other players in the room were too busy with their own final pre-game preparations to pay him any mind.

Team psychologist Marcelo Roffi walked over to Messi’s side, sat down, and asked softly, "What’s wrong?"

Messi opened his eyes, looked at Marcelo Roffi, and shook his head.

In the past, the Argentina National Youth Team had never been assigned a psychologist.

But before this FIFA U-20 World Cup, the Argentina Football Association had organized a forty-day training camp. During that time, the mental state of both Messi and his roommate Aguero had been poor due to immense pressure. So, National Team head coach Pekerman suggested assigning a psychologist to get close to the National Youth Team’s players.

At first, Messi had been wary and guarded around Marcelo Roffi, but gradually, he came to realize the value of a psychologist.

Throughout the National Youth Team’s training camp, Marcelo Roffi had consistently played the role of a soothing presence for his mind.

Now at the FIFA U-20 World Cup, he made it a point to speak with Marcelo Roffi before every single match to vent and release his inner pressure, so he could enter the game with a better mindset and psychological state.

"It’s alright, talk to me," Marcelo Roffi encouraged.

Messi opened his eyes again, staring straight ahead as if his gaze could pierce the thick walls, enter the Chinese Team’s locker room, and find the player he had always considered his arch-rival.

He had imagined his reaction to seeing Yang Yang countless times, but when it actually happened, he found it was completely different from how he’d pictured it. Both Yang Yang’s reaction and his own were not what he’d expected.

"I finally saw him," Messi said out loud.