Chapter 462. The Light in the Darkness

Chapter 462: 462. The Light in the Darkness

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Inside the Atlético Madrid locker room, there was a deathly silence.

The hot-tempered Simeone didn’t even bother to scold anyone, staring blankly at the group of players.

Compared to the "Gangster Coach" Simeone of 2011, who was full of spirit in his black suit, today’s Simeone, wearing training gear, clearly had many more gray hairs and many more wrinkles on his face.

Simeone had grown old too.

Lance felt quite a bit of emotion.

"Look at Lance, then look at yourselves! With this kind of form, are you worthy of Lance? Are you worthy of your hard work last season?"

Simeone looked around, his gaze lingering on Saúl, Giménez, and others, making everyone fall silent with fear, not daring to make a sound.

Although Atlético Madrid was still ranked 8th in points and hadn’t accelerated its slide down the table, it was simply too embarrassing for last season’s treble winners to fall to this level!

Moreover, a while ago, Atlético Madrid lost 0-3 at home to Real Madrid, suffering revenge at the hands of their crosstown rivals.

Real Madrid fans had been suppressed for an entire year, and now they could finally let loose, almost all of them were taunting Atlético Madrid fans to their faces.

This led Atlético Madrid fans to gradually start protesting with signs at the base entrance, demanding the coaching staff come out and speak, to take responsibility.

In such a turbulent time, Atlético Madrid still had to fly to the island nation of Japan, to participate in the Club World Cup held there.

Although Lance’s injury hadn’t fully recovered and he had only been doing ordinary warm-up training with the team recently, he still set off with the squad.

In the first match of the Club World Cup, Lance watched the entire game from the stands.

The semi-final opponent was Club América from Mexico, the CONCACAF champions, who almost crushed Atlético Madrid.

If not for goalkeeper Oblak’s high saves and low blocks, Lance might not have had a chance to do anything, as Atlético Madrid would have been sent home after a one-round trip in the Club World Cup.

For a European giant, this would have been an absolute humiliation, they would have been the laughingstock of teams like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern, Inter Milan, and Chelsea for an entire year!

Fortunately, ángel Correa finally stepped up, launching a beautiful counterattack in the 80th minute, and scoring with a shot from a tight angle inside the box!

"Beautiful!!!"

Seeing the goal, Lance suddenly stood up from the stands and cheered, nearly pulling his painful knee.

The team doctor’s words were still echoing in his mind.

"Based on my assessment, it’s possible for you to recover early. However, you’ll have to endure pain that’s unbearable for ordinary people these few days, and there’s a certain risk of relapse... are you willing?"

"Of course!"

"Even if the injury might recur later? Even if it costs you your career? Even if the special training these days will be agonizing?"

"That’s right, I won’t regret it."

Lance’s expression now was just as determined as it was then.

Accelerating his rehabilitation during this period had indeed caused him immense pain.

After every training session, Lance’s training gear was soaked, not from exhaustion, but mostly from the sweat of enduring intense pain.

"Can I do it?"

Lance wasn’t sure if he would make it in time!

The Club World Cup final was only 3 days away!

..."Recently, the Club World Cup has been in full swing. The AFC Champions League winners, Kashima Antlers, defeated the Copa Libertadores champions, Atlético Nacional, 3-0 to successfully reach the Club World Cup final. Their opponent will be the Champions League winners, Atlético Madrid!

Since the Club World Cup was founded in 2000, in 16 editions, only 4 champions have been non-European teams, while the other 12 titles were all swept by Champions League winners.

Therefore, many media outlets and fans predicted before the match that Atlético Madrid would win the title easily.

However, before the game, major betting sites gave surprising odds.

The majority of people actually favored the hosts, Kashima Antlers, with Kashima Antlers’ winning odds reaching 1.87, while Atlético Madrid’s odds actually reached 2.15!

Combined with Atlético Madrid’s recent widespread injury troubles and the absence of their star player Lance due to injury, Kashima Antlers might become the 5th team in Club World Cup history to defeat the Kings of Europe and become champions!"

Two hours before the match, distressing news for Atlético Madrid fans kept emerging.

And when the starting lineup was announced, Lance was... not on the list.

Atlético Madrid fans had long since gotten used to it.

"Didn’t they say God Lance had recovered from his injury? Why isn’t he starting yet?"

"It’s all rumors, don’t believe them."

"Is God Lance really unable to get the sextuple winner?"

"It depends on whether his teammates step up."

If the whole Atlético Madrid team could step up a bit, maybe they could let Lance win the sextuple winner while "coasting"... the whole Atlético Madrid team thought so too.

None of them wanted Lance’s efforts to go to waste, or for the sextuple winner they dreamed of to become a five-trophy haul, especially with only the easiest trophy left, if they lost this to a Japanese team, the rest of the Atlético Madrid players wouldn’t be able to hold their heads up.

So everyone was full of fighting spirit and was more serious than ever when taking the field!

Unfortunately... "Oh oh oh oh oh, the Atlético Madrid defense made a mistake under pressure, giving Kashima Antlers a huge gift!!"

"Giménez and Juanfran collided, allowing the Kashima Antlers forward to easily take a shot in the box!!"

"A super, super, massive, massive low-level error!"

"Kashima Antlers are temporarily leading by 1 goal!"

Seeing this, the fans were helpless.

The two Atlético Madrid defenders weren’t playing poorly; they were trying too hard, which led to a counterproductive result.

Conceding early dealt a blow to the entire Atlético Madrid team, and the more anxious the attacking players became, the harder it was to score.

"ángel Correa!!! A shot from point-blank range!"

"He hit it high!!!"

"Another chance for Atlético Madrid, Gaitán passes to the front..."

"Gameiro!!!"

"Even that didn’t go in?"

Commentator Jian Jun was stunned.

French forward Gameiro was standing in the six-yard box for a header, and he still put it over!

Atlético Madrid besieged them for half an hour in the first half, with as many as 11 shots, yet they failed to score!

Kashima Antlers succeeded with their only shot, and in the latter part of the first half, they even had several counterattack opportunities that almost extended their lead.

"Our neighbors’ football is progressing so fast..."

"Yeah, look at us by comparison."

Jian Jun and Instructor Zhang looked at each other, seeing each other’s helplessness.

Japan’s international ranking has been getting higher and higher lately, and a large number of players playing abroad have emerged.

In terms of quality, Lance is definitely the strongest in Asia, the undisputed number one in Asia.

Son Heung-min is arguably the number two in Asia.

But in terms of quantity, even if you combine China and Korea, they don’t have as many players playing abroad as the Japanese.

Currently, their entire national first team plays overseas, and their second and third-tier players are as numerous as ox hairs.

An era of talent explosion is coming!

The development of domestic football is also reflected in their clubs, Kashima Antlers are actually leading Atlético Madrid!

The AFC Champions League winners have a hope of defeating the Champions League winners!

The scene was filled with the cheers and shouts of Japanese girls.

The first half ended quickly, and by the 75th minute of the second half, Kashima Antlers still led 1-0.

Atlético Madrid played with increasing urgency, and forwards Gaitán and Gameiro had started taking wild shots.

"What should we do?"

The assistant coach looked at Simeone.

Simeone’s face was ashen.

"Is it really only going to be five trophies?"

Simeone couldn’t imagine how Barcelona had managed to win the sextuple winner back then.

Just as the entire Atlético Madrid team was at a loss, Simeone heard a voice.

"Why don’t you let me try?"

Five minutes later.

The match entered the 80th minute, and Atlético Madrid fans were on the verge of despair.

Jian Jun’s voice suddenly became excited!

"Eh? What am I seeing?"

"Is that Lance on the sidelines?"

"At this critical moment when Atlético Madrid is about to lose this Club World Cup title, is the injured Lance going to play through the injury?"

At this moment, fans all over the world who supported Atlético Madrid seemed to see the only glimmer of light in the darkness!

No!

It was the sun!

A dazzling sun!