The Ballon d'Or Ceremony
Another big event during the winter break was the Ballon d'Or award ceremony.
On January 12, the annual FIFA award ceremony took place at the International Convention Center in Zurich, Switzerland.
Unlike the Ballon d'Or after 2016, at this time, the Ballon d'Or was tied with FIFA's World Player of the Year award.
Winning the Ballon d'Or also meant receiving the title of FIFA World Player of the Year.
So, the FIFA Ballon d'Or at this time was considered more prestigious than the later Ballon d'Or.
Although Lin only played half a season, his outstanding performances in league and cup competitions, as well as international matches, earned him a nomination and a spot on the shortlist of 23 candidates for this year's Ballon d'Or.
However, he was clear that his chances of winning were slim; he was merely there to accompany the event.
He thought that once he wins the Golden Boy award, the Champions League, or perhaps lifts the World Cup, he might actually stand a chance to win.
For now, he was just an observer, and this year's hot favorites for the Ballon d'Or were still the two greats—Messi and Ronaldo.
However, his national team colleague Iniesta, with his excellent performance in the European Championship, also made it into the top three, making him the most likely to win the Ballon d'Or besides Messi and Ronaldo.
Lin attended the ceremony with Guardiola; one was nominated for the Ballon d'Or, and the other was competing for FIFA's Best Men's Coach award.
Neither of them had high hopes of winning, as Lin had only played half a season, and so had Guardiola.
But their prominence in the football world was significant, and upon their arrival at the venue, journalists swarmed them, snapping photos incessantly.
The fans present also screamed, with many shouting Lin's name.
Guardiola was used to such scenes, smiling at the cameras and frequently waving to the fans, handling it all with ease.
"Go and sign some autographs for them, just don't take too long!" Guardiola patted Lin on the shoulder, then walked over to his fans holding banners of him, took a pen and paper handed to him by the fans, and began signing autographs.
Lin, following suit, went over to sign autographs for the fans.
He was fluent in four languages: Spanish, German, English, and Chinese.
Among the fans supporting him were many from his national team, wearing his number 30 red national team jersey, to whom he spoke in Spanish.
For those who had traveled far, wearing Werder Bremen's number 10 green jersey, he signed in German.
For Swiss locals and other European fans, he used English.
After signing dozens of autographs, Lin waved to the fans and prepared to enter the venue with Guardiola.
"Lin Ge, I'm your fan, can you sign for me?"
Just as he was walking away, he heard a familiar language.
Surprised, Lin turned his head to look.
It was a Chinese fan with a red star sticker on his face, wearing Werder Bremen's number 10 jersey.
Seeing that Lin did not respond, the fan, thinking he might not understand Chinese, quickly said in English:
"I am your fan, please give me the signature!"
Lin smiled, nodded, took the autograph book handed to him, and neatly wrote down his name in Chinese characters.
After handing back the autograph book, the fan, seeing the Chinese characters, was incredibly surprised:
"Wow, Lin Huang can actually write Chinese characters!"
"No way, I need to take a photo and brag about this on the forums, hehe, I got Lin Huang's autograph!"
Lin's lips twitched slightly: calling me Lin Huang right in front of me, is that really okay?
I shouldn't have signed for this guy!
The nickname "Lin Huang" was something Lin had become aware of a month ago.
Although he didn't often browse domestic forums and Tieba, occasionally after a win when he was in a good mood, he couldn't resist checking out the posts praising him for a bit of fun.
And that's when he saw that he'd been given the royal title of "Emperor"...
...
After signing autographs, Lin went to find Guardiola.
But Guardiola had already left, having run into some old friends and gotten caught up chatting with them, forgetting about Lin and heading straight into the venue.
It was Lin's first time at such an event, and unfamiliar with the place, he awkwardly stood not knowing where to go.
The journalists found it strange why Lin was not entering the venue yet.
Luckily, another player
arrived and helped him out.
It was none other than one of the greats, Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo had just gotten out of his car when he saw Lin standing outside, thinking he was waiting for him.
He approached Lin and extended his hand for a handshake.
Uh...
Lin did not expect Ronaldo's warmth but quickly reached out his hand in response.
The scene of their handshake attracted most of the journalists present, who captured this historic moment.
This was probably Lin and Ronaldo's first official photo together?
Too bad they were not in jerseys but in suits; it would have been even better if both were in their team jerseys.
After the handshake, Ronaldo nodded to Lin, waved to the journalists and fans, and headed straight into the venue.
Phew!
Seeing Ronaldo's choice, Lin breathed a sigh of relief.
Thankfully, Ronaldo did not stop to sign autographs outside, or else he might have had to awkwardly wait a bit longer.
Following Ronaldo's steps, Lin walked through the entrance of the venue and into the large interior.
Like outside, it was packed with people, many of whom had come.
However, the difference was that most people inside were invited football celebrities, including journalists, players, coaches, and officials from various football associations.
Lin recognized many people here, but not everyone knew him, and he did not bother to strike up conversations unnecessarily.
He continued following Ronaldo to the players' seating area and found a seat in the back.
Ronaldo sat in the front row, next to an empty seat meant for Messi.
Lin had just sat down when his national team teammates like Iniesta, Xavi, and Fabregas appeared.
Seeing him sitting in the back, they chose to sit there too.
Suddenly, this rather unnoticed corner became star-studded, attracting many people's attention.
"Lin, why did you come so early? We were just discussing whether to call you so we could enter together!"
"Yeah, we 'companions of the prince' should enter together to catch the journalists' attention, otherwise no one will take photos of us!"
Fabregas joked, and everyone laughed.
Although they were all nominated for the Ballon d'Or, none of them felt they had a chance to win.
They were there just to be part of the event, to watch others receive awards.
However, given their fame, it was obviously an exaggeration to say that no journalists would photograph them.
"Who do you think will win the Ballon d'Or this year?"
As they talked, the conversation naturally returned to who would take the Ballon d'Or.
They had no hope for themselves, but they all hoped a teammate would win the award.
"It has to be Messi!"
"I think so too, Lin, you might not know since you're in the Bundesliga, but he's been incredible this year!"
"Leo scored 91 goals this year, breaking Gerd Müller's world record!"
"91 goals, I probably won't score that many in my lifetime!"
Just thinking about the number was frightening, let alone achieving it in matches.
"But you never know, Ronaldo's performance in the league and Champions League has been good, and last season they even won the league title, we only have a Copa del Rey, so there's less prestige in our victories!"
The great performances of Messi and Ronaldo over the years have been remarkable; Messi's 91 goals indeed made him unparalleled, but he lacked trophies.
Ronaldo scored twenty-plus fewer goals than Messi but won a league title, giving him an edge in honors.
"Come on, that's a world record, how many people can break that?"
Fabregas looked incredulous: "I'll eat this chair if Messi doesn't win the Ballon d'Or!"
He pointed to the empty seat next to him, adamant.
Just then, Messi appeared at the venue and sat down next to Fabregas, curious:
"What are you guys talking about?"
...
The award ceremony began shortly after, hosted by the former World Player of the Year and one of the Dutch Trio, Ruud Gullit, and FOX Sports' host Kay Murray.
The first award announced was the 2012 Best XI.
The Best Goalkeeper award went to Iker Casillas of Real Madrid and the Spanish national team.
The defense line was dominated by Dani Alves, Pique, Ramos, and Marcelo from Barcelona and Real Madrid.
The midfield was comprised of Xavi Alonso, Xavi, and Iniesta, all from Real Madrid and Barcelona.
In these years, the strength of the two top Spanish clubs was indeed remarkable, at least in terms of the luxury of their line-ups.
The Best Forward line went to Messi, Falcao, and Ronaldo.
These three had dominated their respective clubs and national teams over the past year, scoring goals galore!
After the Best XI, the Best Coach of the Year was announced.
On the women's side, the award went to Pia
Sundhage, the coach of the U.S. women's team.
On the men's side, Spain's coach Vicente del Bosque beat Mourinho and Guardiola to the award.
Guardiola, sitting next to del Bosque, immediately applauded the old coach's win.
As for Mourinho, the 'Special One', although he was invited, he did not attend the ceremony.
Then the FIFA Presidential Award, Fair Play Award, and FIFA Women's World Player were also handed out.
Lin was like an unfeeling clapping machine, applauding with the audience whenever someone went up to receive an award.
It wasn't until the next round of awards that he could no longer just be an unfeeling clapping machine.
When the Puskás Award was being announced, he discovered that one of his goals from a match against Bayern in the Telekom Cup had made it to the final three nominees.
The big screen at the venue showed the amazing play where the young man in the green jersey dashed down the flank, dribbling past four players, fooling the opposing defenders and goalkeeper, and scoring an incredible solo goal.
The audience showed expressions of disbelief after seeing the goal.
This wasn't a goal scored against a weak team; his opponent was the formidable Bayern Munich, last season's Champions League runners-up.
This type of play, usually only seen in novels, was actually achieved on the pitch.
Thinking this, they all gave Lin an applause.
Even Lin's national team teammates, including Barcelona's top star Messi, also applauded him.
Although they had seen this goal several times before, it still seemed unbelievable to Messi each time.
This kid's dribbling ability is really strong, almost on par with his own.
With that goal, Lin beat Neymar and Falcao to win this edition of the Puskás Award.
Lin was a bit surprised as he walked up to the stage, took the trophy from Colombian legend Carlos Valderrama, and gave his acceptance speech:
"Thank you to those who voted for and supported me, to be honest, I'm quite surprised to receive this award."
While he had beaten Neymar and Falcao in the competition, Lin did not feel proud.
Falcao's volley was extremely difficult, and there are not many players who can execute such a move and score; if he had won with that goal, Lin would have been completely convinced.
As for Neymar, his goal where he dribbled past five players in a Brazilian league match was also spectacular, just less prestigious than Lin's goal against Bayern.
The audience laughed upon hearing his words; a strong player who is also humble easily wins the public's favor.
Some who knew of his relationship with Guardiola looked towards Guardiola, known for his humility.
The student reflecting the teacher's character was not surprising.
"Lin is very modest, but I think he's too modest. In fact, he scored two other goals that were just as spectacular, making it hard for our judges to decide."
Seeing how modest and low-key Lin was, Gullit interjected:
"In the Bundesliga games against Bayern, Lin scored two other goals that were even more spectacular than the one that won!"
The camera then focused on Uli Hoeness, Bayern Munich's manager, who looked somewhat embarrassed.
He recalled that Lin had scored in all three matches against Bayern, and each goal was spectacular.
This was indeed awkward!
Why is it always our Bayern?
The backstage crew cooperated by playing the six goals Lin scored against Bayern on the big screen.
Just as Gullit said, the goals from the sixth round of the Bundesliga and the third round of the German Cup that just ended were indeed spectacular, not inferior to the award-winning goal.
Wait, this kid scored 6 goals in three games against Bayern? An average of 2 goals per game?
That's Bayern!
The thought frightened everyone, and their view of Lin began to change.
From this moment on, they agreed: Lin should not be seen as just a seventeen-year-old young player!