<h4>Chapter 246: Dark season</h4>


    Upon hearing his name, Wang Feng took a deep breath, hugged Ronaldinho and Henry beside him, then walked slowly towards FIFA President tter, and received the trophy from his hands.


    This golden trophy, resembling a semi-arched rectangr prism, was quite heavy. Whether it was made of pure gold or not, theoretically, the Ballon d''Or trophy should be pure gold. The trophy for the World Footballer of the Year couldn''t be much different, right?


    Wang Feng shook his head slightly, casting aside these distracting thoughts. He then calmly delivered his thank-you speech, much steadier in emotionpared tost year. In his speech, he thanked his teammates, club, and family, and dered confidently that he would continue striving for more awards.


    "I hope my trophy room will be filled with these trophies." The audience below chuckled knowingly, apuding and encouraging this young superstar.


    Wang Feng wins the FIFA World Footballer of the Year for the second consecutive time! This news quickly spread worldwide through the media, and no one was surprised. This year, almost no one could shake his position.


    In terms of the number of votes, he overwhelmingly defeated Ronaldihno and Henry. Even coaches and captains from traditional football powerhouses in Europe and South America gave their first-ce votes to Wang Feng.


    FIFA praised Wang Feng as the "leader of the new era of superstars" and stated, "Wang Feng is only 21 years old, with a long professional career ahead of him. We believe he will bring us many more brilliant performances and add many legends to the world football."


    Media outlets, news agencies, and online tforms all reported and spread the news. Fans in the country celebrated as if it were New Year''s Day. Moderators on forums and discussion boards had already madeprehensive preparations, but they still underestimated the power ofizens. Websites once again "sacrificed" and had to work overtime to maintain them.


    Winning the double title greatly boosted Wang Feng and Inter Mn''s morale. Even facing biased refereeing in the league, they continued to fiercelypete for victory in every match, firmly chasing Juventus, who held the top spot.


    This situation greatly drained the yers'' spirits. In the quarter-finals of the Italian Cup, Inter Mn was eliminated by Lazio with a total score of 3:4.


    In the round of 16 of the Champions League, they eliminated Porto with a score of 4:1, but in the quarter-finals against AC Mn, they tied 3:3, only barely advancing thanks to away goals.


    The league also reached a crucial round, with Inter Mn facing Juventus away in the 30th round. Currently, Juventus had 21 wins, 6 draws, 2 losses, with 69 points leading the table, while Inter Mn had 20 wins, 7 draws, 2 losses, with 67 points in second ce. In other words, if Inter Mn won now, they would top the table!


    In the drizzling rain of Turin, the game officially began! From the start, Juventusunched a fierce attack. In the 17th minute, Ibrahimovic received a cross from Nedved on the wing and headed the ball into the, opening the scoring for the Bianconeri.


    Towards the end of the first half, Inter Mnunched a counterattack. Civu intercepted the ball in the backfield and sent a long diagonal pass, the ball flew in a beautiful arc, finding Wang Feng who had run up the left nk.


    Wang Feng controlled the ball at his feet. Facing Tumore in front of him, he lifted his left foot as if to pass the ball to the bottom, but quickly flicked the ball inward with his right foot. His feint was too convincing, sessfully deceiving Tumore.


    Cannavaro, behind Tumore, hurriedly chased to defend, but Wang Feng had already elerated. He took two stepsterally, slightly pulling away from the defense before shooting directly.


    "Goooooooooooooooooal! The ball is in! Wang Feng equalizes the score!"


    "A powerful shot from outside the penalty area, the ball suddenly rose halfway, hanging directly into the upper right corner of the goal, the goalkeeper had no chance to save it!"


    "This crucial title showdown, both sides are back on level terms!"


    At the start of the second half, in the 55th minute, Inter Mn got a good chance. While Juventus pressed aggressively, Zti stole the ball from Pirlo and immediately passed it to Wang Feng in midfield.


    He dribbled the ball at high speed, with only Tumore, who kept retreating to defend, in front of him. When he reached the top of the penalty area, Tumore finally felt he couldn''t let him go any further and moved in to intercept.


    Wang Feng stepped on the ball with his right foot, swiftly rotated his body, and flicked the ball under his foot, sessfully getting past Tumore with a Marseille turn. At this moment, Buffon, who came out to close him down, was approaching, trying to block.


    In the critical moment, he poked the ball to the right with his right foot, dodging Buffon, and caught up with the ball near the goal line, then scored into the empty from a narrow angle.


    2:1! Inter Mn reversed the score! As time passed, the score on the field remained unchanged. Juventus'' frantic attacks left their defense vulnerable, and Wang Feng nearly expanded the lead several times.


    This made the yers of the Bianconeri somewhat anxious, and their movements gradually became more aggressive. Apart from Wang Feng, other yers also suffered injuries.


    In the 64th minute, Ribery was tackled on the shin by Zebina while dribbling. The Frenchman immediately fell to the ground in pain, and the yers from both sides almost erupted into a conflict. The referee managed to control the situation in time to prevent a major incident.


    Ribery''s injury was quite severe, and Mancini had to substitute him. But what was extremely confusing happened next: the main referee came to Wang Feng and showed him a red card! This was absolutely unreasonable and inexplicable because Wang Feng had been checking on Ribery''s injury and hadn''t been involved in the altercation. Even the TVmentators were eximing, "This red card is simply absurd, what''s wrong with De Santis?"


    After several protests, the main referee De Santis still maintained the decision to expel Wang Feng from the field. Inter Mn, suffering from a double blow, faltered and conceded two goals in the following time, losing 2:3 to Juventus.


    After the match, an angry Mancini directly criticized: "Zebina, whomitted a malicious foul, wasn''t sent off with a red card, but Wang Feng, who did nothing wrong, was expelled. This is absolutely uneptable!"


    A group of reporters surrounded De Santis, who exined that he hadn''t seen clearly at the time and thought Wang Feng was also involved in the conflict. But with such an obvious Asian face, mistaking him is simply unbelievable!


    The next day, major media outlets all reported that the main referee had ruined the match of the century. The Italian Football Federation also imposed thergest penalty ever, banning De Santis from officiating in all remaining matches of the season.


    But these punishments were futile. Inter Mn still lost to Juventus, increasing the point gap to 5. Ribery would be sidelined for at least a month, and Wang Feng received a red card and would be suspended for the next match, pushing them further away from the championship.


    Misfortunes nevere singly. In the Champions League semi-finals against Chelsea, facing a strong lineup of the Blues under Mourinho''s coaching, Inter Mn was eliminated with a score of 1:2 over two legs, missing the final!


    Unwilling to ept failure, Wang Feng then led Inter Mn in the league to make aeback, even achieving a seven-game winning streak. However, after 38 rounds, the point gap between Inter Mn and Juventus remained at 3 points, and the Nerazzurri had to settle for second ce without winning the championship.


    If it weren''t for that uneptable defeat in the 30th round, Inter Mn would surely have been able to reverse the situation and win the league title again, but now everything had be a pipe dream.