Chapter 95 Will this be your first European championship?

"Hey, Jiang, good luck in today's game!"

In the cafeteria in the morning, Casemiro rushed in and sat next to Jiang Yuan. The first team did not have a game, but Jiang Yuan's other team, Porto U19, would face Shakhtar Donetsk U19 in the UEFA Youth League semi-final this afternoon.

Logically speaking, as a Portuguese Super League player, Jiang Yuan really doesn't need to participate in the U series of competitions, but as Casemiro said before: he wants a championship.

"Thank you, Carlos, why don't you go over there and get some bread?"

Jiang Yuan looked at Casemiro who was sitting opposite him and smiled. Unknowingly, the two had known each other for more than four months.

Casemiro just took a bottle of Yakult: "Jiang, I already had it on the way to the base."

"All right!"

Jiang Yuan shrugged and joked: "You ran from the locker room to the cafeteria to cheer me up. I'm under a lot of pressure now."

"Hahaha, the UEFA Youth League game is a piece of cake for you. You have already surpassed me in the number of goals in the Portuguese Super League!"

Casemiro is right. He has scored a total of 4 goals so far this season, but Jiang Yuan has scored 7.

Hearing this, Jiang Yuan took a big sip of banana milk and rolled his eyes at Casemiro: "Dude, I'm a winger and you're a defensive midfielder, how can we compare the number of goals? Why don't we compare interceptions? I've played 19 games this season including the U15 team, and I've made 3 successful steals in total. You should have 10 times as many as me, right?"

Jiang Yuan smiled and said that when it comes to the number of steals, he remembers it more clearly than the number of goals he scored, because there are only three in total, namely the games against Belem SAD, Madeira Nacional, and Braga, with one steal in each game.

then……

Then there is no more.

It’s not that Jiang Yuan is not aggressive enough in defense, but that he simply doesn’t have this skill point. You can imagine an ordinary amateur high school player playing defense in the Portuguese Super League, without any strength, relying entirely on his luck with his kicks.

Casemiro curled his lips and said, "Jiang, you can't say that. Do you know that your current average goals per game is second in the team?"

"real or fake?"

Jiang Yuan's eyes widened when he heard the news.

Casemiro explained with a smile: "It's definitely true. The only ones who have scored more goals than you are Martinez, Brahimi, Quaresma and Tello, a total of four people, but you joined the team in the winter window and played the least games. In terms of average goals per game, only Captain Jackson has a higher score than you."

Jiang Yuan couldn't help but feel secretly delighted, it seemed that what he said was indeed true, rounding it off, he was also the second best scorer in the team!
"Haha, Carlos, now that you said that I suddenly have confidence in winning the championship. You must watch the live broadcast of the game."

"Match broadcast? I don't watch the match broadcast."

Casemiro shook his head.

"Man, you don't have to be like this. Don't you even want to watch your teammates' games?"

Jiang Yuan felt a little sad, but he was surprised by Casemiro's answer: "Jiang, I've seen it. You are playing at home today, and you are playing at the Dragon Stadium. It only takes me less than half an hour to drive there. Why do you have to watch the TV broadcast? I'll be there to cheer you on!"

"Man, no, Carlos, you are my brother! I must score a goal for you today!"

Jiang Yuan finished the salad on the plate in two or three bites and ran out excitedly.

As a result, just as Jiang Yuan was about to step out of the cafeteria door, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his right knee.

"Fuck!"

Jiang Yuan was so frightened that he blurted out his native language, then he jumped a few times with his left foot, and finally sat down on the ground.

Seeing this, the players in the cafeteria rushed over one by one, led by Casemiro, who had just stood up and was about to leave with Jiang Yuan.

"Jiang, what's wrong with you?"

"My knee hurt a little bit just now, but now it doesn't hurt anymore..."

Jiang Yuan touched the cat's head and tried to stand up, but was immediately pushed back to the ground by Casemiro with one hand: "Jiang, the problem with your knee is very serious, don't move for now, Mithras, go call the team doctor over, run faster!"

Porto's first team, women's team and B team share a cafeteria. The player named Mithras is the player of Porto B and he has rushed out to find the team doctor.

It was no small matter when a member of the first-team fell to the ground directly after eating.

Soon, the team doctor came over with a stretcher, and together with five or six team members, lifted Jiang Yuan onto the stretcher.

Jiang Yuan wanted to stop her: "I don't feel any pain now, it doesn't matter..."

But the team doctor didn't give Jiang Yuan any chance to stand up. Several people moved quickly and Jiang Yuan lay down before he could finish his words.

"Take him to the infirmary, I need to examine him."

In this way, the players of Team B were used as laborers by the team doctor, and Casemiro and Neves looked at each other in bewilderment.

Just as Neves was about to ask something, Quaresma and Lopetegui arrived at the scene: "Carlos, Ruben, what happened to Jiang?"

Neves shook his head and pointed at Casemiro beside him, meaning: I don't know, you ask him.

Casemiro explained: "He said he had a sudden sharp pain in his knee, but now it doesn't hurt anymore. I haven't experienced this before."

"Knee, stabbing pain?"

Quaresma and Lopetegui looked at each other, as if they knew something.

……

"This bastard, how many times have I told him not to practice extra? What a bastard!"

On the training ground, Lopetegui cursed Jiang Yuan in the air, his mind was not on the training content at all.

Similarly, the players' condition was similar to Lopetegui's, and they were all absent-minded.

Among them, the ones who are most distracted frequently are Casemiro, Quaresma, and Neves. These three have the best relationship with Jiang Yuan, and they must be the ones who are most worried about Jiang Yuan now.

During the shuttle run to warm up, Casemiro and Neves deliberately teamed up with Quaresma and took the opportunity to ask, "Ricardo, Jiang, what's going on? Is your knee hurting?"

Quaresma licked his lips and explained: "Let's wait for Dr. Jose's judgment, but I guess Jiang's meniscus is very likely to be worn out..."

“Meniscus wear!?”

Casemiro and Neves exclaimed. As professional players, they certainly knew what the meniscus Quaresma was talking about.

The meniscus is a small part of the knee that increases knee joint stability and cushions changes of direction, and is very important for athletes.

Casemiro suddenly realized. No wonder he and Neves didn't know about it. But Quaresma and Lopetegui had reactions on their faces after hearing Jiang Yuan's symptoms. Meniscus problems usually occur at the end of a professional athlete's career.

But there is still one thing Casemiro doesn’t understand. Why did Jiang Yuan have meniscus wear before he even reached adulthood?

"Wait!"

Casemiro's eyes lit up as if he suddenly thought of something.

Neves, who noticed the change in Casemiro, asked: "Carlos, do you know why?"

"Jiang's change of direction is too frequent, and his elevator ball is very harmful to the knees..."

Casemiro frowned.

...Now Jiang Yuan is lying on the treatment bed in the treatment room, waiting for the team doctor to treat his condition.

The knee joint CT scan results are out, and the meniscus is worn, but fortunately the degree is relatively mild.

"Mr. Achardo, there should be nothing wrong with my knee, right?"

The team doctor was a Spaniard in his thirties with a thick beard. He motioned for Jiang Yuan to sit up, and then said, "The meniscus wear was discovered long ago and it wouldn't be a big problem. You've been training too much, and your kicking style... elevator balls are very harmful to the knees. You should know that, right?"

Jiang Yuan nodded. Achardo was right. Every time he kicked the elevator ball, in order to reduce the rotation of the ball, he would control his knees as much as possible and use his knees to bear the impact force generated by the braking of the swinging leg. It was impossible for him to avoid injury in the long run.

But there is another problem here. Every time the system rewards cell regeneration, Jiang Yuan's physical skills will be refreshed. Logically speaking, it is impossible for him to get hurt.

Suddenly, Jiang Yuan thought of something, pulled up his pants and asked.

"Mr. Aciardo, can you tell from the CT scan how long my meniscus has been worn?"

The team doctor nodded: "Of course, about 5-8 days, you need to pay attention to your knee from now on, otherwise there will be big problems!"

When Jiang Yuan heard the team doctor say that he was injured about a week ago, he suddenly realized.

As he gradually adapted to the Portuguese Super League games, the frequency of his system cell regeneration rewards became lower and lower. He remembered that his last cell regeneration was 20 days ago.

"I see"

Jiang Yuan licked his lips. It turned out that he was injured because his training intensity was too low recently!
Achardo said to himself: "Starting today, you must apply ice to your knees after every training session to eliminate the inflammatory cells near the bursa, and then..."

"Thank you, Mr. Achardo!"

"You're welcome. Eh? Jiang, why are you running!!!"

Achardo found Jiang Yuan running away and wanted to catch him, but he was no match for Jiang Yuan and was thrown away by him in a few seconds.

Soon after running out of the medical room, Jiang Yuan bumped into Lopetegui who was walking towards him: "Mr. Hulun, good morning, are you feeling any pain in your knees?"

Lopetegui rolled his eyes at Jiang Yuan and said unhappily, "I came to visit you. You said there was something wrong with my knee? But you are right. I do have meniscus wear, but it doesn't matter now."

As a former professional player, Lopetegui must have had problems with his knees, but as long as the situation is not too serious, it will gradually get better after retirement. Now Lopetegui no longer feels the pain in his knees.

Jiang Yuan smiled and said, "Mr. Hu Lun, you know I have a meniscus problem. That's amazing! Um...bye!"

"?"

After saying that, Jiang Yuan walked around Lopetegui and prepared to go to the training ground, but Lopetegui reacted quickly and grabbed Jiang Yuan back.

"Jiang, what are you going to do?"

"Training, what else can I do? My teammates are waiting for me, and I have a UEFA Youth League match this afternoon."

Jiang Yuan said as a matter of course that he was now going to gather with the U19 team.

"Asshole, you're still thinking about training. You don't have to go to the U19 European Youth League. I've thought about it. You need to reduce the intensity of your training. I wasn't decisive enough before. I should have separated you from the European Youth League earlier."

Lopetegui sighed and called U19 head coach Hemiel in front of Jiang Yuan, preparing to have Jiang Yuan withdraw from today's UEFA Youth League match.

Jiang Yuan waved his hand: "Meniscus and the like are not a problem. This is the European Youth League. I want this championship. Doesn't the club want it too?"

What Jiang Yuan said was true, the UEFA Youth League has always been special. Although it is only a echelon competition, its importance is self-evident. If the echelon players make a name for themselves in Europe, it is equivalent to making a name for the club's youth training base.

At the same time, winning the UEFA Youth League will also attract more scouts to the championship club. More scouts mean more transfer competition, and more transfer competition means higher transfer income.

The most important thing is that the European Youth League is currently the championship that Jiang Yuan is most likely to win, so it is really difficult for him to give up.

Lopetegui shook his head: "Don't talk, I'll talk to Hermione"

After that, the call was connected, and Lopetegui briefly explained the situation to Hermione, that Jiang Yuan was injured and needed to reduce the intensity of training, so he should give up the UEFA Youth League competition.

As a result, there was a long silence from Hemir and no answer, so Lopetegui had to persuade Jiang Yuan first.

"Jiang, the UEFA Youth League championship is important, but I don't want you to gamble your career for a U-series match. Knees are important."

"Mr. Hullen, there is nothing wrong with my knee"

"Asshole, if you say there's no problem, then there's no problem?"

Lopetegui was furious. Young players are always like this. They think that minor injuries are nothing and they continue to train hard.

The result is that minor injuries gradually become major injuries, which have a greater and greater impact on the players.

"And, to be honest, our U19 can win the championship even without you, Hermione, am I right?"

Lopetegui picked up the phone and asked, and at this time Hermione on the other end of the phone finally stopped being silent.

"Hu Lun, I'm telling the truth. Without Jiang Yuan, we have no chance of winning the championship."

"Forehead……"

Lopetegui was so embarrassed that he wanted to pick his feet, but fortunately he didn't turn on the speakerphone, so Jiang Yuan couldn't hear Hermione's voice on the other end of the phone.

So Lopetegui simply hung up the phone and said to Jiang Yuan: "Hermier also said that they can still win the championship without you, so don't worry!"

Jiang Yuan stuck out his tongue and said, "Mr. Hu Lun, I need to play. At least let me finish the UEFA Youth League. It's already the semi-finals. I only need to play two more games at most. Just two games!"

"..."

Lopetegui didn't say anything, but Jiang Yuan understood that not refusing immediately meant that there was still room for negotiation on the matter.

So Jiang Yuan added:
"I will have a physical examination after the European Youth Championship. If the report shows that there are still problems with my knee, then I will not practice more in the future. Mr. Hu Lun, what do you think of this?"

Lopetegui knew that this kind of meniscus problem could not be cured in just a few steps. Thinking that Jiang Yuan would not be playing football alone on the court at eight or nine o'clock in the evening and damaging his body, Lopetegui was very tempted, so he nodded and agreed.

"Okay, you won't be able to practice any more now."

"Mr. Hullen, the results aren't in yet, are they?"

……

After 8 hours.

Porto U19 defeated Shakhtar Donetsk U3 1:19 at home. Jiang Yuan scored twice and currently has 7 goals and 2 assists, temporarily ranking third in the scorer list. The top two scorers on the list have 8 goals each, but their teams have been eliminated.

Since the top two teams had 1 and 2 penalties respectively, Jiang Yuan only needs to score a goal in open play in the final to top the UEFA Youth League scorer list this season.

During the post-match interview session, the reporter interviewed Jiang Yuan and coach Hemiel at the same time.

Facing the camera, the two insisted that the quarrel in the locker room was a rumor. The reporter behind them had no choice but to ask Hemiel alone and then handed the microphone to Jiang Yuan.

"Jiang, do you think this will be your first European championship?"

Jiang Yuan smiled: "I don't know if this will be the first one, but I guarantee that this will definitely not be the last one."

……

(End of this chapter)