How brutal was that tackle?
I believe Kira Ryosuke has a considerable right to speak on this. He was the first lucky person to be "ambushed" by Tendou. At that time, he was sent flying several meters and it hurt like hell.
The difference was, Kira and Loki were on completely different levels.
After rolling twice on the ground, Loki immediately got up and even had the presence of mind to smile and respond to Tendou, "Bonjour!"
His confidence and composure were palpable.
Tendou got up and patted the grass off his body, his estimation of this "turtle" rising a few notches in his heart. Although the anime has some discrepancies with reality—in the real world, the 2018 Mbappé was already 19 years old, but the anime, even more monstrously, compressed his age to 17—what this meant, Tendou knew very well. It was equivalent to raising Loki's ceiling even higher.
You have to know, in the real world, as soon as Mbappé came of age, he shocked the football world with his phenomenal performance. His talent and maturity far surpassed his peers, redefining the standard of "genius."
Mbappé's performance at eighteen was absolutely historic. 26 goals and 14 assists in all competitions, helping Monaco pull off an upset to win the Ligue 1 title and reach the semi-finals of the Champions League. In the knockout stages, he scored consecutively against Manchester City and Dortmund, becoming the youngest goalscorer in a Champions League semi-final. He achieved this record at 18 years and 140 days old.
Such a performance got him directly selected for the Gallic Roosters' national team. Later, in the World Cup Round of 16 against Messi's Argentina, he single-handedly scored two precious goals. At the same time, he also won a penalty for his team. At that time, he charged into the dragon's den alone, using his speed and explosive power to dominate Argentina's entire defensive line.
That was definitely a signature performance of Mbappé's career. You have to know, besides creativity and flair, South American football has another specialty product: iron-blooded defenders!
Don't be fooled by the whole football world currently praising England's defenders as being hard as iron. In South America, their defenders are not one bit inferior. Fans who often watch the Argentine league should know that goals are generally scarce in their matches, precisely because of a group of iron-blooded defenders.
And look at Brazil; in recent years, their performance in international competitions has been declining year by year. Some fans believe this is because after the retirement of people like Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, and Kaká, the Samba Legion has no successors, and Neymar is just prolonging their past glory.
In fact, that's not true. The reason the Samba Legion's performance has been poor in recent international competitions is actually because their defenders have been dragging them down. If you have time, go back and look at the years Brazil won the World Cup, and you will know that Brazil relied on pragmatic defense to win the World Cup, not some elegant art.
Compared to Brazil's poor defense, Argentina's iron defenders have always been online. So when the fans saw Mbappé single-handedly challenge the entire Argentine defense, forcing them to resort to fouling, at that moment, the whole world was stunned by his talent.
And all this had just happened not long ago in this world. And in the final against the "Plaid Army" led by the "shepherd boy," Loki scored again and was elected the Best Young Player of the World Cup.
In contrast, at the same age, Messi had 8 goals and 4 assists, while C-Ronaldo had 5 goals and 6 assists. Only Ronaldo, at the same age, with his 35 goals in a year at PSV... alright, even Ronaldo's performance couldn't suppress the 17-year-old Loki's. His performance in the World Cup was just too stunning. At this moment, the French had long since regarded Loki as the next captain of the national team.
L'Équipe had commented on him, saying that his performance at 17 was like bringing a wonderkid from a FIFA game into reality.
Of course.
These stats do not mean that Loki can become a football king of a generation, with talent higher than Messi and Ronaldo. It's more that Loki "matured early." If his talent ceiling is 95 points, then at seventeen, he has already realized about 89 points of his talent. He is only a stone's throw away from surpassing the limits. And people like Messi and Ronaldo realized their talent bit by bit; their ceilings are no lower than anyone else's. Some even believe that C-Ronaldo broke his own talent ceiling through his self-discipline and hard work.
But no matter what, the 18-year-old Mbappé already possessed explosive immediate combat power. Loki, who is based on him, is an even more heaven-defying existence. If Tendou remembered correctly, it was depicted in the manga that Loki, at this stage, had already set his sights on the world's number one, Noel Noa.
So.
Although Tendou's slide tackle had destroyed his goal, in Loki's heart, he only felt that his opponent's strength was not bad, with a bit of talent.
In fact, it wasn't just Loki. The other members of the World All-Star Team all looked down on the players of Blue Lock from the bottom of their hearts.
...
"Tendou, you actually know French in addition to English?"
That tackle from Tendou had scared Karasu and the others. Just a little bit more, and their goal would have been breached. And at this time, less than a minute had passed since Tendou's header goal.
"The teacher who taught me English back then was a Frenchman. We just chatted a bit," Tendou said perfunctorily, because his French was obtained from the lottery. His few teammates did not doubt him.
"Everyone mark your men! Try to delay their attack."
Tendou wasn't foolish enough to think that his teammates could defend against the opponents. What they needed to do was to delay the opponent's attack and buy a little time for himself. Karasu and the others all nodded. Not long ago, he had been eaten alive by Loki's speed, so thoroughly beaten that he had no temper left. Now, he no longer had any hope in his one-on-one defensive ability. Even though his opponent was the same age as him, the difference in talent was truly too great.
...
A throw-in.
The Brazilian wolf threw the ball with great force to Luna. Mikage Reo immediately pounced over. He didn't dare to stick out his leg easily, firmly remembering Tendou's words, mainly focusing on delaying.
"But what's the point of doing this?"
"Even if I delay for a little time, I still can't defend against him one-on-one."
What Karasu couldn't do, Reo didn't think he could do either. After just a few minutes of exchange, they had felt the gap between them.
"Losing focus in a match is not a good habit." Luna, seeing that he dared to be distracted, advanced with the ball.
Step-overs at high speed, so fast that Reo's scalp tingled, forcing him to continuously retreat. Bachira was already the forward he had seen with the best and fastest step-overs. But compared to Luna, it was like an adult versus a child. Those legs were so fast that even his eyes couldn't catch them.
"No, no. If you open your legs so easily, people will think you're a frivolous man."
Not only was Luna's style of play flashy, but his slick talk was also on another level.
Before Reo could see clearly what had happened, he found that he had been nutmegged. Luna smoothly passed him from his side.
However.
"You're right. Losing focus in a match is not a good habit."
Hmm?
Luna's first impression of Reo was not bad. He had originally planned to give him a few pointers, but who would have known that Tendou would have already assumed this posture.
"Wasn't he just next to Loki?" Luna clearly remembered Tendou's position just now, but now he had appeared in front of him and had even pushed him aside with his strong body.
...
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