"You did your best, the goal was your teammate’s fault,"
Huang Kaiwen said, draping his arm around Messi’s shoulder.
Seeing Huang Kaiwen’s teammate coming up to celebrate, Messi looked up, managed a forced smile and stepped aside.
Huang Kaiwen looked resentfully at the approaching Robinho.
The kid just didn’t get it.
What was there to celebrate when cultivating a relationship with the King of the Ball was so much more important?
For every comforting word he now said to Messi, he might save tens or even hundreds of thousands of Euros a year.
Having run several laps in front of the TV, Kaka saw Robinho embracing Huang Kaiwen and felt he should make another trip to Madrid during the holidays.
Rijkaard turned his head and nodded twice, saying, "Get up and warm up."
The Barca substitutes were surprised that the coach asked the Chinese kid to warm up, but no one wanted to jinx it at a time , especially when Rijkaard was clearly not pleased.
Li Changlong took off his training gear to warm up, but he didn’t want to go on the field at all.
He wasn’t like his cousin; what if he was found out and got returned like a defective product?
Also, he really did feel exhilarated from what Rijkaard gave him, but it seemed not in the right way.
"The young player Li Changlong is warming up, he’s about to go on the pitch."
"Hehe, this is the first time in history that Asian players are on the field at the same time in the Spanish national derby. It is common for two brothers to be professional footballers, but cousins are a bit rarer."
"Yes, it’s also rare for real brothers to play for arch-rival teams. I remember the Charlton brothers who played for Leeds United and Manchester United, and the Baresi brothers who were with the Milan giants."
"No one else comes to mind—the De Boer brothers both played for Barca, the elder Laudrup played for both Barca and Real Madrid, while the younger Laudrup played for Bayern and AC Milan. Huang Kaiwen and Li Changlong, although cousins, count as brothers, hehe, and they must be the first pair of brothers to play in the Spanish national derby at the same time."
There was a chorus of groans in the fan forums.
"Damn, Big Cousin is actually going on the pitch."
"Could we have been wrong about Big Cousin all along? Is he really a football genius?"
"Huang Kaiwen’s grandmother’s feng shui must be amazing, producing two professional footballers."
"Where’s the brother who said he’d streak if Big Cousin plays? Someone tag him."
"I’ll try, but I bet he won’t admit it now."
"What position does Big Cousin play?"
"Who knows? To this day, I’ve only seen a few photos of Big Cousin joining the attack, never even a video."
"Can Big Cousin replace Messi and face off against Huang Kaiwen at the peak of their powers?"
"Don’t get your hopes up. Even if he can play, he probably isn’t as good as Huang Kaiwen."
In the 79th minute, Rijkaard took advantage of a dead ball to make a substitution.
Li Changlong came on for Gudjohnsen, Giuly replacing Deco.
Huang Kaiwen, hands on hips, asked, "Is your coach out of his mind?"
Messi said hesitantly, "He seems fine."
The fact that Li Changlong couldn’t play football was a well-concealed secret among the Barca higher-ups, but it was no secret in the youth team.
Messi was acquainted with several of the youth team players and had previously trained with Li Changlong; he knew all too well about Li’s lack of football skills.
He also felt there was something wrong with Rijkaard’s substitution.
Still, it wasn’t good to speak ill of the coach, especially when the player coming on was Huang Kaiwen’s cousin.
In the VIP box, Laporta, who was watching the game with Calderon, looked grim as death, standing up and pushing the door open to leave the box.
When the team got back to Catalonia, he would definitely give that Surinamese a piece of his mind.
Rijkaard was obviously challenging him. He had been clear about securing the victory before putting that kid in, so what the hell was he thinking by substituting him when they were 0:3 down? Did he really expect him to score?