[football] walk side by side

September 2005, 9, London, Cobham training ground.

As the sky in the distance darkened inch by inch, Nuoda's training ground gradually became clean.After the day's extra training, Cyril stood in front of Mourinho's office, very tangled in his heart.

Cristiano’s father, Dinis-Aveiro’s funeral was arranged on September 9th in Madeira, Lisbon, which is the weekend of this week—while in the UK, except for the summer and winter breaks, basically every weekend There will be a Premier League, and this weekend, Chelsea's opponent is the old rival Arsenal.

As early as a week ago, Mourinho was preparing for the game against Arsenal, and Cyril was undoubtedly a vital part of his tactics.

This made Cyril, who was planning to ask Mourinho for leave, a little confused about how to speak.

He wandered outside the office for a long time, even though he always thought he could speak well, now he also had a feeling that he couldn't speak well.No one knows Mourinho's concern for this game better than Cyril. It is precisely because of Cyril's frequent extra training that he can often see Mourinho bowing his head in the office when he leaves the field. Research figures and tactical figures.

At this moment, there is only one day left before tomorrow's game. Asking for leave at this time means that Mourinho's originally formulated tactics must be overthrown and restarted.

But it is obviously unrealistic for him to concentrate on the game and ignore the upcoming funeral in Madeira Island.

He was hesitating how to speak to Mourinho when the door that was originally closed was suddenly opened from the inside with a snap.He was greeted by a helpless physical coach, Rui Faria.Cyril looked at Faria, and then looked inside the door. It was the Chelsea coach with a depressed face.

"I've seen you hanging around the door since an hour ago," Faria said dumbfounded and confused. Considering Cyril's status in Mourinho's heart, many things don't need to be as usual. The players are so scruples that it is difficult for Cyril himself to speak to Mourinho, so what will happen? "If you have anything to say, just say it."

If you keep dangling around like this, you will probably be trained again :)

Stretching out the head is a knife, retracting the head is also a knife, and with the gentle and amiable Faria (?) standing here, Cyril felt a little more courageous, and simply explained the purpose of coming straight to the point: "I am... Sir is on leave."

As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he noticed with sharp eyes that Mourinho's face, which was not very good-looking, suddenly seemed to be soaked in ink.

……

Cristiano sat alone in his room.

He didn't stay with his mother, sister and brother, and the sad expressions of the family members made him unable to contain the urge to cry.However, he couldn't cry anymore.He said to himself, you have grown up, you can no longer cry like a child - to be a strong, dependable man, to be the support of your family, instead of crying childishly, let them cry worry.

He thought so and did it.

The father's funeral has almost been prepared, and the time has been officially confirmed to be held at [-] o'clock tomorrow afternoon. Most of the people present are relatives and friends. Most of Cristiano's team friends will not be present. His teammates at Manchester United, as well as Ferguson, I just sent a text message as condolences-for every league, the weekend is a very important game time, not to mention, what will happen on the weekend is a Manchester City derby.

They're under no obligation to give up such an important game to attend a friend's father's funeral.

Even Chelsea... the next opponent is Arsenal, right?

Cristiano thought silently, but turned his eyes out of the window involuntarily. I heard that Chelsea's head coach is very fierce, and Cyril has only recently secured his position as the main force. At this time, Cyril should also be training hard. Why... it's impossible to ask for leave, right?

but……

Although he also knows that this kind of thinking is very unrealistic, but at least, at this moment, a certain desire in his heart is really telling him——

want to see him.

Even one side is fine.

***

The flight from London to Lisbon is close to three hours, and it also takes at least two hours from downtown Lisbon to Madeira Island. In this way, by the time Cyril 10 arrived at Madeira Island that day, it was already ten o'clock in the evening. It's two o'clock.

The impulsive emotion seemed to only exist for a few hours. When Cyril got off the night bus, the night wind blowing against his face made him wake up a lot.

In terms of time, he can take tomorrow's flight and arrive on time before the funeral tomorrow afternoon, instead of rushing in the night before for no reason-at this point in time, the Cristiano family may have already I'm asleep, even if I arrive, it's probably just a waste of time.

Would he be crazy to make such a mindless decision?

Cyril thought with a wry smile, walking towards Cristiano's house.When he visited Lisbon before, Chris introduced him to the specific location of his home. He has always remembered it well, and he will not get lost when he recalls it now.

Although it is more likely to be shut down at this time, since everyone is here, I might as well take a look before leaving... I don't know if there is a hotel or something near Chris's house...

With the idea of ​​just taking a look, Cyril arrived at the destination very quickly.

He thought that the Chris family should have rested long ago, but it wasn't until he stood in front of the door that he realized that the lights in the room were still bright, and when his consciousness came back, he had already knocked on the door. He opened the door—it was only at this time that he realized that it was impolite to harass people in the middle of the night, but it was already too late.

"who is it?"

Soon, a vigilant female voice sounded from the other side of the door.That's right, knocking on the door in the middle of the night, it feels like some dangerous elements, right?Cyril was helpless in his heart, but the crowd came and knocked on the door. It would be senseless to retreat at this time, and he announced his name with some embarrassment: "I am Cyril Slade... I am sorry to be here at this time. Time to bother..."

Before he could finish his sentence, the closed door was readily opened, and it was Cristiano's mother, Dolores, who opened the door.

The face of the other party did not have the anger of being disturbed that Cyril thought, and the corners of the woman's eyes were still tear-stained, and there was a little helplessness in the grief, but at this time, she tried her best to squeeze out a smile: "It's okay, Come talk first."

Because of Cristiano, Cyril is no stranger to his family. When he was still in Porto, when he came to Lisbon occasionally, he would drop by the door. Although he didn’t meet much, the family members on both sides basically Everyone knew that the two were very good friends. When Dolores saw Cyril at this time, she was surprised, but she didn't mean to be disgusted.

You know, among Cristiano's friends, Cyril may be the only one who left the game and came all the way here.

Cyril hesitated for a while, and said in a low voice, "Then excuse me." Then he followed Dolores into the door.

The lights in the room were turned on extremely brightly, but Cristiano was nowhere to be seen. Maybe she had noticed Cyril's gaze. Dolores sighed and softly made a request: "If it's possible, Cyril, you Can you do me a favor?"

Under Cyril's confused eyes, Dolores explained with a wry smile: "Since knowing that Dinis is gone and Chris is in front of us, he has acted a little too strong. I don't know what he is trying to make me Don't worry, if it's something else, he won't say anything..." She said, seemingly incoherent: "It's just right, Cyril, can you see him for me?"

Compared with Cristiano, who used to cry at every turn, he has been too strong in front of people these days, but this kind of strength made Dolores worry and sad, and she couldn't dissuade him Indulge in your own fragility, because this kind of strength was originally born for the wish to "prove to your father that you can also become the support of your family."

Cyril was slightly taken aback, then nodded silently.

According to Dolores' instructions, when he found the room belonging to Cristiano, Cyril realized that compared to the whole house full of lights, Cristiano's room was completely dark.

He knocked on the door, but there was no response from inside. He was wondering if the other party had already fallen asleep, so he pushed the door tentatively—but he didn't want the door to be closed at all.

It was very dark at this moment, and Cristiano sat alone in a dark room. He didn't turn on the light, and he didn't want to turn on the light. The surrounding was so quiet that he could clearly hear what was coming from outside, his mother and who Whispering voices.

Then in the next second, the door of the room opened with a creak, and a ray of light suddenly poured into the haze from the gap of the half-open door.

He raised his head.

Cyril lowered his eyes, followed the faint light, looked at the only figure in the room, then closed the door without hesitation, and walked towards the direction of the figure.

For a moment, Cristiano was actually a little flustered.

Cristiano is not the kind of person who is so dull that he doesn’t understand anything. In many cases, it’s not so much that he doesn’t understand, it’s better to say that he doesn’t want to think about that possibility—for example, someone as sharp as Cyril Man, is he really unaware of his feelings?

It's not that he doesn't know how meticulously Cyril observes the details, he just doesn't want to think about that possibility.

It was as if—even though Cyril hadn't said anything, there was still an inexplicable self-consciousness that drove him to try his best to behave like a mature man in front of Cyril, instead of being immature and fragile like a child.

It was also for this reason that he was unwilling to let Cyril see such a vulnerable side of himself.

But Cyril said nothing.

He didn't say condolences or other comforting words in a proper manner, just like he did on the court a few days ago, he just approached him, then bent down, hugged him silently and gently, folded his arms tightly, and seriously hugged him tightly.

Cristiano didn't speak either.

The two remained silent at each other. No one spoke to break the calm, nor did they stretch out their hands to push each other away. As time passed by, the icy moonlight slowly crept in from the transparent window, reflecting a string of words in the dark room. Bright aperture.

Cyril couldn't see the other person's expression, but he clearly felt that the chest on the shirt was already wet without realizing it.

He pursed his lips, and his mood became extremely complicated for a while.

He was thinking of what Dolores had said.

It's hard to say whether Cristiano at this time has also begun to separate the childish and ignorant part of his mind, and has gradually become sensible. However, at this moment, facing this Cristiano who seems to have grown up in a day , but Cyril couldn't help but feel helpless and distressed.

Indeed, sometimes he really hopes that Chris can be a little more mature, and understand some other important things besides purity and innocence, but-if the price of maturity means that he must lose some crucial things. Things change step by step in suffering and pain, and even gradually mature.

He would rather he would always be that childish and naive Lisbon boy back then.