"Goal! Kai scores again! This is his seventh goal in this competition!"
"It's another long-range strike! The quality of Kai's shot is much higher than Deco's just now!"
"Maybe Deco is better in other aspects, but when it comes to shooting, Kai is better than anyone!"
"A powerful strike from distance, smashing into the ground! Kai, a long-range specialist, helps his team extend the lead!"
"This goal even reminds me of Gabriel Batistuta in his prime! Pure violent aesthetics!"
"Oh! Kai has taken off his shirt to celebrate! He's absolutely pumped—he thinks the result is sealed! He doesn't even care about getting a yellow card!"
However, in reality, it was very dangerous for Kai to receive a yellow card.
Because for the rest of the match, his main responsibility would be on the defensive end—especially restricting Deco.
But he still had to take off his shirt to celebrate.
In addition to triggering the special yellow-card effect from "Gabby's Red Card" to boost his abilities…
Kai also wanted to further crush Porto's confidence.
Teams that believe they are stronger will immediately try to counterattack after falling behind.
But when that counterattack fails and they fall further behind, most players start thinking: "We didn't play well this time. Let's try again next match."
Because when you're two goals down, your chance of winning might be less than 10%.
But next time, when everything resets, your chances could be as high as 80%.
Everyone knows which option feels easier.
Because they're optimistic about the future, it becomes easy to give up.
On the other hand, for a weaker team trailing by two goals, their chance of winning might only be 5%.
And even next time, it might only rise to 10%.
If possible, they'll still give everything in the current match—because they don't want to experience that pain again.
Because they are pessimistic about the future, they refuse to give up.
In the 83rd minute, Kai tackled Deco and nearly received a second yellow card.
If his technique hadn't been clean enough, it would've been dangerous.
In the 87th minute, Cordeiro brought down Deco and received a yellow card.
Porto won a well-placed free kick.
This time, Deco made no mistake.
He proved that while his shooting from open play might not be great, his technique was solid, and his free kicks were genuinely excellent.
In football terms—he hit it perfectly and scored directly!
One–two!
Does Porto still have a chance?
Only Deco believed so.
Even if he got another free kick… could he really score again?
Impossible!
Football doesn't produce that many miracles.
In the 93rd minute, as Cristiano Ronaldo headed the ball clear, Kai kicked it toward midfield, and the referee blew the final whistle.
Deco's energy drained instantly.
He was drenched in sweat as he looked at the Moreirense players rushing onto the pitch to celebrate, suddenly feeling like everything was unreal.
Porto… had actually lost to a second-division team.
More importantly, when he looked at his teammates, they didn't even seem regretful.
Maybe they had already used up all their regret when they lost the league title.
Deco glanced at Cristiano Ronaldo celebrating wildly and sighed.
Looks like this kid has never won a championship before.
"Hey… can I get your jersey? I'm your fan."
Someone walked up to him.
Deco turned around.
Kai.
Deco gave a bitter smile. "You're my fan too? Do you even know my full name?"
"Can I refuse?"
It was obvious Deco was still annoyed at Kai.
Kai took off his shirt and exchanged jerseys with him. "Don't be like that. Your shirt's pretty valuable, you know… besides, I think we're kind of destined."
Deco replied, "What, are we playing in the same league next season? You're really good. At your age, I hadn't even gone pro yet—let alone played in the Portuguese top flight."
Kai shook his head. "That's not what I mean. Your name—Deco—in China, the abbreviation is the same as mine. We're both DK!"
"Really?" Deco laughed. "Then that's fate. From now on, you'll be Portuguese Deco, and I'll be Brazilian Kai? Hahaha…"
Kai laughed too, but thought to himself…
I might not be Portugal's Deco… and you might not be Brazil's Kai, brother.
After that, Kai, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Deco each gave interviews to reporters.
Then Moreirense once again lifted the trophy on the prepared stage.
This Portuguese Cup was the first top-tier domestic trophy in the club's history!
It was also their first-ever cup title.
Compared to the league title, the Portuguese Cup carried even more weight.
Winning the league mainly granted promotion to the top division.
But winning the cup meant qualification for the UEFA Cup—the future Europa League.
Only teams finishing third to fifth in the top division usually qualified for it.
This year, the UEFA Cup had also absorbed the Cup Winners' Cup, further increasing its prestige. It was now the second most important European competition after the Champions League.
Just qualifying for such tournaments was equivalent to earning huge value.
This alone made Moreirense a lot of money.
However, both Kai and Triguera advised the club owner to stay grounded.
Just because they qualified for Europe and reached the top division didn't mean they should go crazy in the transfer market.
It would be useless.
This squad had already reached its structural ceiling.
Even replacing Kai with Zinedine Zidane or Cristiano Ronaldo with Christian Vieri wouldn't solve everything.
Unless you replaced Kirop with Fabio Cannavaro, Alex with Paolo Maldini, Flavio with David Beckham…
—and at that point, wouldn't you just be rebuilding the entire team?
Better to take the money, strengthen a few positions, and aim to survive in the top division.
If relegation couldn't be avoided, the funds would still allow Moreirense to dominate the second division for the next three to five years.
That was already enough.
You can't expect one miracle to completely transform everything.
Whether it's a top club or a top player, they are built on one miracle after another.
…
"Portuguese Liga side Moreirense create a miracle and break Portugal's ten-year monopoly on the Portuguese Cup!"
"Portuguese League DK defeats Portuguese League DK! Kai leads his team past Porto—best midfielder beats best midfielder!"
"Portuguese Cup awards announced—Moreirense emerge as the biggest winners!"
"Portuguese Cup assist leader! Who said Cristiano Ronaldo can't pass?"
"Porto lose two trophies in a row! Mário Jardel's absence exposed—fans demand his return!"
"Furious Porto fans burn jerseys, saying everyone except Deco played like bullshit!"
"Miracle! Moreirense will play in both the top division and the UEFA Cup next season!"
"Best XI announced: Kai, Cristiano Ronaldo, Deco, Gomez, Sasso, Kirop, Fonte… all selected!"
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