Kuroko no Basket: Honored One

Chapter 509 211: The Champion's Journeyman

"That's all for the starting eleven for this match."

"Tendou's role will be the same as the last game. So, fight for your time to express yourselves."

In the Manchester City locker room, Prince announced the same starting lineup as the previous match, with no changes.

Opportunities are reserved for those who are prepared; they don't just fall into the laps of those who aren't.

If you can't impress the head coach in training, you don't deserve playing time.

Survival of the fittest. It's the same in any sport.

Those who were selected were naturally overjoyed, while those who weren't could only work harder.

"Anything to add, Tendou?"

"No."

"Then let's go out there. Let the Italians have a good look at our football."

Prince showed Tendou full respect; this was the successor he had his eye on.

The only unfortunate thing was that Tendou was still in a "wild" state and had not yet accepted Manchester City's offer.

He couldn't make decisions on the contract terms, but he could show his sincerity in other ways first.

Prince led the team out of the tunnel with Tendou right behind him, looking every bit the team's second-in-command.

Following Tendou was Agi, and then Nagi and the others.

At almost the same time, the Juventus players, led by their master striker Snuffy, also walked out of the tunnel.

The moment Barou Shoei saw Tendou take his seat on the bench, he let out a disgruntled "Tch," then turned his head towards Nagi.

Chigiri and the others, however, noticed something different.

His Majesty the King had dyed his hair.

"What's going on, Barou? Why did you dye your hair? And it's red!" Chigiri thought Barou's current hairstyle was incredibly bizarre.

"Shut up, you rookie! These are red highlights to commemorate my 100 million annual salary!" Barou said loudly, emphasizing the words "one hundred million."

He then turned his gaze to Nagi. "Your goal in the last match wasn't bad, but you're only at 88 million, right? Low-income kid!"

"..."

Everyone was speechless. This guy was using his market value to crush people; it was utterly despicable.

But as it stood, in all of Blue Lock, only he and Tendou had broken the 100 million mark.

Itoshi Rin and Isagi Yoichi, because of Tendou, had still not broken 100 million either.

But Barou was clearly not going to let them off so easily.

"My value is 120 million, that's almost double yours!"

"My value is twice yours, Nagi Seishiro!"

Barou had every reason to be cocky.

Thinking back to before the Neo Egoist League, he wasn't one of Blue Lock's top six; he couldn't even start in the match against the U-20 team.

And now, he, King Barou, was second to only one man, leaving all those geniuses behind him!

"So annoying!"

"I'll take you down as soon as the match starts!"

"You just wait, Mr. 100 Million!"

Reo and the others were even more annoyed than Barou.

They felt that if it weren't for Tendou on their team, the offers they received would be even higher.

Hearing the commotion, Aryu Jyubei also came over. "I was the one who dyed it for him yesterday. I made him trendy!"

As he spoke, Aryu was accompanied by his usual sparkling effects.

He was the only man in the entire series who came with his own special effects.

"Haha, it's because Barou suddenly said he wanted to boost his morale before seeing Tendou," Aiku also walked over and teased.

"Shut up, you low-income crowd!" His thoughts exposed, Barou became angry from embarrassment and grabbed Aryu and Niko.

Oliver Aiku was his senior, so he didn't lay a hand on him!

Aiku found it amusing but immediately turned his head to look at the Man City bench.

"Still not planning to start? We're really being looked down upon."

"Hmph, within 10 minutes, I will definitely force him onto the field," Barou said, letting go of Niko and the others.

In his eyes, there was no longer Itoshi Rin, Isagi Yoichi, or the others. He wasn't even looking at Itoshi Sae anymore.

Barou's goal now was to defeat monsters like Tendou and Loki, become the world's number one of the young generation, and then become the true world's number one.

"Give it up, Barou. Tendou won't have a chance to play in this match," Chigiri Hyoma snorted.

He hadn't scored in the last match. For the past ten days, he had trained even harder, vowing to score a goal in this game.

...

TWEEET~

With a whistle, amidst the cheers of countless spectators in front of their screens, the match began.

Man City's starting lineup was unchanged, deploying a 4-3-3 attacking formation, but when defending, their formation would contract to a 4-5-1.

Juventus Starting Lineup:

Goalkeeper: Connelly.

Defenders: Aryu Jyubei, Don Lorenzo, Peron, Oliver Aiku.

Midfielders: Niko Ikki, Sendou Shuto, Drago, Abdi, Rico.

Forward: Barou Shoei.

A 4-5-1, with Barou as the lone striker.

Of course, that was on the surface.

Anyone who had watched their previous matches would know that Juventus's formation was actually a 4-1-4-1!

Their offensive and defensive hub was not Niko, but the New Generation World XI defender, Lorenzo...

When Juventus launched a counter-attack, Lorenzo would move up from his defender position to the midfield.

And at this time, Niko would often drop back to fill the space Lorenzo had vacated.

However, in the previous two matches, Juventus had played a 4-4-2. Changing the formation for this match and packing the midfield was probably to counter Man City's attack.

['Brothers, the betting market is open! Place your bets!']

['I'm all-in on Man City to win outright!']

['The odds for a Man City win are 1 to 0.01!']

['Screw you!']

['Hahaha, you goofballs are at it again.']

['Don't be so sure, Man City might not necessarily win. If Man City doesn't score, Tendou won't play.']

['True, and Barou is on fire. A hat-trick in one game shot his value to 100 million. Maybe Man City will really suffer an upset in this match.']

['It depends on Tendou. His skill is improving too fast. At 17, he's already at a professional level. It's pure smurfing.']

['...']

The match was about to begin. Unexpectedly, Tendou got some screen time again.

Seeing this, Tendou immediately struck a cool pose.

Because he remembered that there was also a Bayern match today, and Isagi Yoichi would be playing.

Sure enough, after the Juventus vs. Man City match began, the camera quickly cut to the Bayern side.

TWEEET~

The electronic referee blew the whistle, and the Zebras kicked off.

Barou Shoei received the ball and kicked it with a long pass to the sideline in Man City's half, voluntarily giving up possession.

Tendou raised an eyebrow. Isn't this a tactic that PSG likes to use later on?

Voluntarily giving up possession to immediately press into the opponent's half.

Tendou's gaze shifted to Snuffy next to him.

Unlike Prince, who was a die-hard Man City man, Snuffy was a professional who had moved through five different leagues in his career and had won the league title with every team he played for.

Serie A, Premier League, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, La Liga—he had won them all.

Juventus was his last stop.

This year he even had the idea of retiring, because Juventus had spent 100 million to bring back CR7.

Snuffy felt he could leave with peace of mind.

"You've figured out his tactical intent?" Tendou felt that Prince probably wouldn't know such an advanced tactic.

"That's Snuffy, nicknamed the Champion's Journeyman. He's also one of the most intelligent players in Europe," Prince explained to Tendou.

"I don't know, but Snuffy never does anything without a reason."

Then what's with your profound expression?

Tendou couldn't help but roll his eyes.

...

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