Chapter 142 breaks the record, the youngest Golden Boy Award in history!
On December 12, the results of the Golden Globe Awards were the first to come out.
Barcelona superstar Ronaldinho defeated Henry, Gerrard and other stars with an overwhelming advantage and won the 2005 Golden Ball trophy as he wished.
In recent years, the Ballon d'Or has been clearly divided into strong and weak winners from the very beginning. It is far from the suspense of the Messi and Ronaldo era where everyone was competing against each other and the final result was unknown until the last moment.
Ronaldinho has been highly regarded this year. In the national team, he helped Brazil win the Confederations Cup.
At the club, he led Barcelona to great success on three fronts, becoming the biggest favorite to win this year's Champions League.
Therefore, the outside world felt that Ronaldinho's award was well deserved, and no one questioned his winning the award.
After the Golden Globe Award was settled, the outside world's attention was focused on the upcoming Golden Boy Award.
Compared to the basically unpredictable Golden Globe Award, this year's Golden Boy Award is full of suspense!
The competition between two talented players, Messi and Lin Feng, alone makes the final winner of this award full of suspense.
Not to mention that the organizers were involved in the end, which completely muddied the waters and whetted the appetite of the spectators.
The day before the Golden Boy Award results were announced, well-known European media outlets including Bild, Kicker, Marca, Mundo Deportivo, The Times and the Guardian all rushed to report on this year's Golden Boy Award competition.
The German Bild newspaper, which has a huge readership throughout Europe, reported the incident with the title "Barcelona genius or Asian prodigy, the most suspenseful Golden Boy Award in history is about to be announced!"
"Everyone who has seen Messi play football calls him a genius. Ronaldinho, the new winner of the Ballon d'Or, even said when introducing Messi to Kobe that Messi would be the best in history.
No one can deny Messi's talent. Although he is only 18 years old, he will definitely have a place in the future football world.
As for Lin Feng, he is more like a genius who fell from the sky.
His sudden rise in the World Youth Championship and his continued outstanding performance after joining Inter Milan dropped everyone's jaw.
Maybe he doesn't have the sharp breakthroughs and dribbling as Messi, but his speed will definitely surprise people.
Every team that has played against Inter Milan is deeply afraid of his speed.
But Lin Feng's power is not limited to his speed. His superb basketball IQ, deadly passing, outstanding defensive awareness and never-surrendering fighting spirit all leave a very deep impression on people.
In the latest player value ranking just released by the German transfer market, Lin Feng's value has surpassed Hidetoshi Nakata, becoming the value ceiling for Asian players.
Given the potential and strength shown by the two, whoever wins the award is well-deserved.
But there is only one Golden Boy Award, and there will always be losers.
But both of them are young, so even if they miss this year, they will still have a chance next year."
Lin Feng and Messi are neither German nor play in the German league.
Therefore, Bild was able to report the incident from an objective and neutral perspective, and their reporting was recognized by many people in the industry.
But not every media outlet can be impartial.
As the mouthpiece of Barcelona, the report of Mundo Deportivo is quite subjective, almost mindlessly supporting Messi - "If Messi does not win the award, it will be a shame for the entire football world!"
The reason why Mundo Deportivo holds this view is very simple. They think Messi's talent is invincible, and football is extremely dependent on talent!
"In the football circle, there is a saying that goes, 'Effort determines the lower limit, talent determines the upper limit.'
As long as you have seen Messi play football live, you will be attracted to him and exclaim for him: What a genius!
This is a player with extremely high talent, who may even become the successor to the new generation of football king.
We must not be blinded by temporary data!"
Mundo Deportivo did not mention the two players' statistics in various competitions this season, but only focused on their talent.
If they don't say it, someone else will.
As an Italian media, and with a good relationship with Inter Milan, Gazzetta dello Sport naturally stands on Lin Feng's side.
The reasons they gave to support Lin Feng were also very convincing - "16 goals and 9 assists, Lin Feng's statistics completely crushed Messi!"
"Since joining Inter Milan, Lin Feng has played 18 games for Inter Milan.
Among them, there are 12 league games, 1 cup game and 5 Champions League games.
In these 18 games, Lin Feng scored a total of 16 goals for the team and also provided 9 assists.
At the same time, Messi only scored 2 goals and completed 2 assists. "
Gazzetta dello Sport did not conduct too much analysis, but simply listed the data of the two players, which was convincing enough.
16 goals and 9 assists, almost a double-double, compared to 2 goals and 2 assists, it is a complete crushing!
Even for a football fan who doesn't understand football, it's hard to put these two players on the same level.
Because the former are statistics that only phenomenal players can possess, while the latter can also be achieved by ordinary players.
The data listed by Gazzetta dello Sport severely slapped Mundo Deportivo in the face.
Real Madrid's mouthpieces, Marca and AS, which have a grudge against Barcelona, also came to get involved:
"Lin Feng is already the absolute core of Inter Milan, and his performance directly affects Inter Milan's results.
Messi is currently only a rotation player in Barcelona and cannot determine Barcelona's results. Barcelona's star player is Ronaldinho, not Messi."
The backstab by AS and Marca has made the situation even more difficult for Messi and Barcelona media, who were already at a disadvantage in the war of public opinion.
But Barcelona has many famous players and stars!
At Barcelona's call, Cruyff, Maradona, Rijkaard, Guardiola, Rilavado, and Ronaldinho, who is currently playing for Barcelona, all came out to express their support for Messi.
The appeal and influence of these stars are still very strong. With their support, the voices supporting Messi have become louder.
Although the famous players of the Chinese national team and some players and famous players of Inter Milan also came out to support Lin Feng.
But their voices obviously cannot compare with Barcelona's luxurious band.
"Alas, our national team still has too few famous players, and its influence around the world is still too weak!"
"Who says it's not true? Our influence on public opinion is not as strong as that in Europe. Fan Zhiyi and other celebrities still have some influence in Asia, but in Europe, who knows who they are!?"
"It doesn't matter. Although our celebrities have little influence, we have more people. Argentina only has a few people. Even if we include Spain, they don't have even one-tenth of our number!"
"That's right, let's go to the Golden Boy Awards' official website and vote for Lin Feng. Let the world hear our voices!"
"Count in my vote. We can't just sit there and let others steal the honor that our players deserve!"
"Where is the voting website? Can anyone give me a link?"
"Why is the voting website in Italian? Does anyone know this? Can someone translate it for us? Which one should we vote for?"
...It's not just Chinese fans who are canvassing for votes, Argentines are doing the same.
The Golden Boy Award was established not long ago and has only been held twice so far.
So no one, whether Argentine or Chinese, has ever received this honor before.
This may not be a big deal for football powerhouse Argentina. Even if Messi does not win the Golden Boy Award this time, there will definitely be other Argentine players who can make up for this shortcoming in the future.
But for Chinese fans from a football-poor country, things are completely different.
This is the closest a Chinese player or even an Asian player has ever been to the Golden Boy Award. If you miss it, you may never have another chance!
As a result, domestic fans voted enthusiastically, and the official website was even overwhelmed at one point!
Although online voting can only reflect the popularity of the players and the support of the fans, it cannot determine the final result.
But even though they knew it was a futile effort, a large number of Chinese fans still flocked to this website to vote for Lin Feng.
There is strength in numbers. Compared to Argentina, which has a population of only tens of millions, the power of the billion people behind Lin Feng is obviously overwhelming!
With the support of these enthusiastic fans in the country, Lin Feng's support for the Golden Boy Award candidates has soared. Not only does he top the list, but his votes are even several times higher than all the other candidates combined!
You have to know that this was still 2005, and the popularity of computers in China was not high.
But even so, Lin Feng's votes still reached an appalling number!
Looking at Lin Feng's soaring popularity on the official website, the people at Turin Sports became even more worried.
The Golden Boy Award is selected mainly through votes from reporters from 20 authoritative media outlets, with the final result calculated based on weighted scores.
Although Turin Sports Daily is the organizer, the selection is not decided by Turin Sports Daily alone, and their weight in the voting is not high.
As the Golden Boy Award attracted a lot of attention and discussion from the outside world, and with major media competing to report on it, the popularity of Lin Feng and Messi continued to increase.
Messi might be easier to talk about, as many people have already heard of this genius from the La Masia youth training camp.
However, there is much less information about Lin Feng. For people who do not watch Serie A or pay attention to Asian football, many of them are hearing the name Lin Feng for the first time.
After reading the media reports on Lin Feng's performance this season, the fans were stunned.
What kind of monster is this?
Can he become a starter for a Serie A giant at the age of 17?
It's okay to be a main player in a wealthy club, but can he actually have such an incredible performance?
So many goals in just half a season!
After the entire season, wouldn't he be able to perform at a high level?
Many fans even feel that if Lin Feng continues his current outstanding performance in the second half of the season, he might compete for the Golden Globe Award next year.
The youngest Ballon d’Or winner in history is the alien Ronaldo, but even he was 21 years old when he won the Ballon d’Or!
Lin Feng is only 17 years old this year. If he can continue his current crazy performance, he has a great chance of breaking the aliens' record.
This inference shocked the fans.
When did such a terrifying monster emerge in the football world?
Think of young players in their early 20s like Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka.
Fans couldn’t help but sigh: This is truly a golden age for football!
……
“This is truly the worst time!”
"Who says it's not true? Messi is so talented, but he can't even win the Golden Boy Award. I think the judges are all blind!"
"Shh, stop talking, Messi is coming!"
At Barcelona's training ground, several young players stopped whispering and pretended to train after seeing Messi arrive.
"Ignore them. Even if you don't get it this year, it will still be yours next year. It's just a year later. It's no big deal!"
Iniesta noticed that Messi looked unhappy and quickly comforted him.
Messi had a gloomy face and did not respond to his friend's comfort. He picked up the football from the ground and kicked it hard towards the goal, repeating this action over and over again.
He looked like he was practicing his shot, but it felt more like he was venting his anger.
Looking at Messi's back, Iniesta couldn't help but sigh.
He could understand why Messi was so angry because today was the Golden Boy Award ceremony day.
But Messi himself did not receive an invitation from Turin.
This means that he lost the Golden Boy Award this year.
As for who won the award, the answer is obvious!
……
"Let's plug a short message!"
"In the final round of voting for the 2005 Golden Boy Award, Chinese player Lin Feng scored a high score of 225 points, beating the Argentine genius Leo Messi's 127 points, and was successfully elected as the new European Golden Boy with an absolute advantage of 98 points.
This is also the first time that a Chinese and Asian player has won this honor, breaking the Asian record.
It is worth mentioning that when Lin Feng won the award, he was only 17 years and 7 months old, making him the youngest player to have won the European Golden Boy Award so far.
The sudden interruption of this news by CCTV shocked the football fans and the Chinese people.
People's first reaction was disbelief:
"Is this true? Did Lin Feng really win the award?"
"Didn't you say there was something fishy going on before?"
"Are there any reporters out there? Please connect with us and do a live broadcast!"
As if in response to the audience's call, the host immediately connected with the reporter sent by CCTV to Italy.
In the reporter's camera, the audience saw Lin Feng's figure.
Under the guidance of the Turin Sports Daily staff, he walked into the Turin Sports Daily office building with a smile on his face.
Franchi, editor of Turin Sports Daily, was already waiting there with the trophy. A large number of reporters came to the scene, filling the space below the podium.
Although deep down, Frankie and his colleagues were extremely reluctant to give the Golden Boy Award to Lin Feng.
But at this moment, in front of countless reporters' cameras, he could only force a smile, try hard to squeeze out a smile, take the initiative to extend his hand to Lin Feng, and congratulate him.
Lin Feng felt the frustration of the other person's forced smile and felt a little amused.
But at this moment, he had no intention of mocking or taking advantage of the situation. He took the trophy from the other party, held the trophy base with both hands, and showed it to the countless reporters present.
Click, click, click! The reporters at the scene quickly pressed the shutter buttons to freeze this scene.
Soon, this photo made the front page headlines of media around the world: The winner of the 2005 Golden Boy Award is - Lin Feng!
(End of this chapter)
