Chapter 141 How are stars made?

After their shameless and unbridled lovemaking, Ricardo and Chiara lay side by side on the bed, savoring the afterglow of their passion... Seeing that it was still early, the two leaned against the head of the bed, placed their laptop on the plaster cast where Ricardo was sitting with his legs crossed, to facilitate heat dissipation, and read the news together, waiting for Ricardo's sage time to cool down before they could have another shot...

However, as soon as they opened the sports news, they saw the front page headlines of today's sports news. They were stunned to see the huge bright red headline "Was it a malicious foul or hired injury? The latest revelations about the broken leg of Italian genius star Li Qi!"

This headline of Yahu is a reprint of the big news that was revealed by The Sun, the most shameless and famous newspaper in the UK, early this morning. It is said that the source of the news is an anonymous letter from Georgia. The content of the news is not complicated, mainly consisting of two recordings.

Not only did The Sun put the original audio recording on its official website for download and appreciation, it also hired professional translators to translate the original content, which was a mixture of Georgian and German, into multiple languages ​​including English, French, Italian and Spanish.

The first paragraph is from the European Cup qualifier match between Italy and Georgia away. The owner of the voice should be the Georgian coach - Topmuller, who was directing the battle at the top of his lungs.

The main content of the audio is the beeping content that needs to be muted. Translated into understandable expressions, it means: Damn it, stop him, it's a foul! What are you sissies raised by your mothers doing? Hurry up and make a tackle! You must break his legs! Aim for his ankles...

Although the expression of this audio clip is a bit rough, it is okay. After all, it is during the game. Any excited words will be understood as impulsive and exaggerated words under the background of adrenaline surge. Most fans and spectators who do not know the truth will just have fun after being surprised, and will not be too sensitive to exaggerate the matter.

However, when the second audio clip is combined with the on-site command of the first audio clip, it is a bit unacceptable. The second audio clip is much longer than the first audio clip. It is certain that it should also be related to the European Cup qualifier between Italy and Georgia, but it is not certain whether the audio clip is from the tactical mobilization meeting before the game or the tactical adjustment meeting during the halftime break.

The protagonist of the audio is also Topmuller, and there are also some responses from Georgian players:

Topmuller: "...the Italian bastards are so proud of themselves after winning the World Cup. They are so weak. If you fight like men and intercept fiercely, they will be scared to death...

The only troublesome one is the young guy Ricardo Liqi, so we must adopt the closest defense and the most fierce tackle on him. Don't be afraid of fouling, we just want to cause damage!

If we can get rid of Li Qi, we will basically be invincible! Even if we lose one person, they will be afraid of getting hurt again and hesitate to act...

Even if we can’t win this game, it will definitely affect their performance in the subsequent qualifiers, and other teams will even be cautious when facing us, so we will have a chance in the subsequent games...

Kvilkvilya, you are responsible for closely guarding Li Qi. When there is a chance, you must be decisive in both your moves and your goal is to cripple him, whether it is the ankle, shin or the corner of the eye, whatever you choose...

And Kizanishvili, you are responsible for protection. Once Li Qi breaks through Kverkvilia's defense, you must rush up and knock him down immediately. Don't hesitate. Don't worry about the ball. Stop him first and knock him down. If you can touch the ball, touch it. If you can't touch it, you must cause damage. Don't get a card for nothing. If you can injure Li Qi and continue to fight, you will have made a contribution..."

It was not clear whether it was Kverkvilia or Kizanishvili: "But, boss, this is not a good idea. After all, this is an important match like the European Cup qualifiers. Malicious fouls will be investigated..."

Topmuller: "Coward! What are you afraid of? The financial backers and the bosses behind us have already confirmed that we must get points in this game. Even if we lose, we will lose at most one point, but the prerequisite is that Ricardo Liqi must be injured and leave the field. As long as you do as I ask, you will definitely get benefits after the game..."

The audio ends here, but it is this last sentence that makes the nature of the two audio clips completely different. Originally, the Georgian team was only suspected of a malicious foul, but now they are suspected of gambling, manipulating the game, and hiring someone to injure someone!

Ricardo originally thought that after the media reports on his injury, it would only be a hot topic for two or three days, and then it would die down. Unexpectedly, on the third day after the race, such a shocking news suddenly broke out...

After Ricardo and Chiara finished listening to the audio and reading the translation, they looked at each other, both of them with disbelief and shock in their eyes.

Chiara was thinking: Damn! Can Ricardo's family be any more awesome? They can even get this kind of insider audio?!

Ricardo was thinking: Damn! Can Raiola be any better? He can even get this? How much does it cost?!

Immediately, Ricardo called Raiola to inquire about the situation...

All I could hear was Lapang's hoarse voice full of fatigue on the phone: "Good morning, Ricardo... You've heard it, right? Don't worry about the rest. It's not good for you to know too much about this matter. Anyway, it's all within the budget and control... I'll let you know later... There will be big moves next!"

……

So, Ricardo and Chiara had no mood to continue waiting for CD; if Chiara didn't leave, the paparazzi would surround the door.

Soon after Chiara disguised herself and left in a hurry, a number of unidentified people came hurriedly with cameras and surrounded Ricardo's villa, as if they wanted to catch any family member who came in or out, and then get new and explosive information from them.

But before the nanny of Ricardo's house could go out to buy groceries and help Ricardo release the smoke bomb to get out of trouble; Ricardo, who was about to check the news before taking a nap after lunch, was shocked by another big piece of news - "It is certain that hiring a killer to injure people, the Georgian coach accepted huge sums of money before and after the game"!

The most authoritative French media, Agence France-Presse, which broke the news this time, also used an anonymous letter as its source of information, but the information was a very complete bank statement - the bank statement of the Georgian coach before and three days after the game.

Topmuller received several transfers of hundreds of thousands of euros from unknown accounts within three days before and after the game, but he did not note whether it was gambling money, compensation for hiring assassins, or some other form of huge income. In any case, he certainly did not file a tax return. This is really a mess, it's shit...

This had a huge impact on Ricardo's original social outlook. Topmuller is a German, and Raiola got his account statements?

(Old Li Qi: Hey, what's the fuss? In a few years, you can buy the material that shows the German Chancellor is under 24-hour audio-visual surveillance!)

As Topmuller's bank statements were exposed, the incident escalated again. The Italian Football Association and the European Football Association, which had already expressed their support for Ricciardo, once again publicly expressed their views, and even FIFA spoke out.

The Italian Football Association once again publicly issued a statement, criticizing the management and supervision capabilities of the Georgian Football Association, demanding a thorough investigation and severe punishment of the criminals; and reported to UEFA, demanding a thorough investigation of the matter and that it must not be tolerated!

UEFA also followed up with official statements almost simultaneously. First, it comforted and supported Li Qi and the Italian Football Association, and then stated that the UEFA Disciplinary Committee had set up a special task force to thoroughly investigate all the details of the game, and would definitely give Li Qi and the Italian Football Association an explanation, and would never let a bad guy get away...

FIFA urged UEFA and the Georgian Football Association to complete self-inspections strictly and quickly and give a satisfactory explanation to the victims and the public.

The Georgian Football Association immediately issued a public apology and said it would investigate the incident. But before the official statement of the Georgian Football Association was reprinted by the media, the British newspaper The Guardian directly reported that the latest news was that the Georgian Criminal Supervision Department had taken over the case and had filed a case of intentional injury based on the evidence of anonymous reports and arrested two players who deliberately fouled and Topmuller...

This completely set the media and the public on fire. However, the ignoring public often cares more about gossip than the truth: Wow, this Italian guy, Ricardo Richie, is so awesome. What kind of family background does he have? He probably doesn’t even have a mine. If someone breaks a rule, they will dig up his family’s privacy and ask the police to arrest him! And he happened overseas! You can’t afford to offend him…

Let's fast forward to see the result. This incident was eventually tacitly named by the media as the 10.11 Li Qi broken leg incident. The incident broke out suddenly and fermented very quickly, reaching its climax three days after the game. However, the final investigation and punishment results were not announced until the following year.

Of course, the three arrested people were released on bail one after another after being detained for a few days, but they are temporarily not allowed to leave Georgia or engage in business related to the football industry.

First, the Georgian prosecutor's office released the results of the criminal investigation:

1. The foul-doers Kverkvilia and Kizanishvili were not aware of the situation and simply followed the coach's instructions. They did not benefit from it. After obtaining Ricardo's criminal forgiveness, the procuratorate decided not to prosecute them.

2. The letter of apology from the former Georgian head coach Topmuler was useless because he participated in gambling and instigated others to commit malicious harm by illegal means; therefore, he was charged with suspected intentional harm and was transferred for prosecution;

3. Topmuller admitted that the huge sum of money he received was gambling money. Before the game, it was a deposit transferred by a mysterious dealer, and after the game, it was a thank-you reward for the success. However, the bet was not on the score or the outcome, but on the number of fouls in the game exceeding 20 and the inevitable red card. However, Topmuller did not know the identity of the mysterious dealer, and it was impossible to judge whether Topmuller's confession was true.

Then at the end of the year, the Georgian court also gave Topmuller's verdict:

Because gambling is not illegal in Georgia, but instigating intentional injury and concealing income and failing to pay taxes are real crimes; therefore, Topmuller was sentenced to two years of probation after paying an back tax of 20 euros and a fine of 20 euros.

Only the three members of the Georgian team involved in the case did not have to go to jail, and in fact no compensation was given to the victim, Li Qi. Instead, Ricardo issued three criminal pardons...

However, the European Football Association and the Georgian Football Association helped Li Qi breathe a sigh of relief, and also completely put an end to the 10.11 Li Qi broken leg incident:

1. Kverkvilja's foul was relatively minor and he also opposed the coach's arrangement beforehand. He was forced to commit a malicious foul and was banned for 12 months, fined 2 euros, and compensated Li Qi for medical expenses of 2 euros;

2. Kizanishvili was the main perpetrator of the malicious foul, which had an extremely bad impact. Although he opposed the coach's arrangement beforehand, it was not obvious that he was forced to commit the malicious foul. He is banned for 24 months, fined 5 euros, and compensated Li Qi for medical expenses of 5 euros;

3. Topmuller participated in football gambling and instigated players to commit malicious fouls, which seriously violated sports ethics and professional norms. He was banned from playing for life and prohibited from engaging in any career related to professional football. He was fined 10 euros and was ordered to pay Li Qi 10 euros in medical expenses.

FIFA also sent a letter approving the handling results of UEFA and the Georgian Football Association.

……

Later, Raiola also found an opportunity to secretly tell Ricardo that several of his representative brands and sponsors were also contributing to and fanning the flames of Li Qi's broken leg incident on October 10.11. Although they all had their own agenda in the process - using this wave of exposure to advertise their own products, they did contribute greatly to Ricardo's final good social effect, allowing Ricardo to successfully serve as a foil and build a memorial archway...

Moreover, several major brands also responded tacitly to Ricardo's proposal during the airport interview to set up a European Football Fair and Healthy Development Foundation, and expressed their willingness to contribute money and effort; this immediately created momentum and made up for Ricardo's shortcomings in social influence.

Ricardo thought, this is great, the original proposal to set up a foundation was just a cover for his personal setting, but he didn't expect a major opportunity to arise!

Once the European Football Fair and Healthy Development Foundation is established, not to mention the future commercial opportunities in promoting VAR equipment, it will also be of great significance in establishing good relations with referees and football associations in various countries!

All of a sudden even Raiola wanted to actively participate, but Ricardo was certainly not unwilling to give up the initiative, after all, it was obtained by breaking his leg - although it was only a suspicion, after all, it was his own idea and he proposed it for the first time in public.

So after receiving responses from Nike and Coca-Cola, Ricardo immediately contacted Uncle Charles to help set up a related non-profit organization in his own name. At the same time, he contacted Chiara to let UBS arrange withdrawals. For the first time, he invested 100 million euros in his own name to be responsible for the establishment of related institutions and recruitment of personnel.

As for the fundraising after the establishment, in addition to the participation and help of the endorsement brands, it can also promote it through the acquired Twitter, so as to achieve a win-win situation for both parties. Can the Ice Bucket Challenge be staged in advance? Of course it can be done!

In addition, many years later, Raiola also solved the mystery. It was Raiola who arranged for the anonymous audio to be provided to The Sun, and the audio was also fake, made using the latest electronic synthesis technology at the time.

However, the content is basically true. Raiola spent a lot of money to bribe the Georgian coaching staff to get the general information, and then made the simulated audio.

In addition, Raiola found out that Topmuller, the bearded German, had a habit of drinking. He couldn't remember whether he had said it or what he had said. He had something to hide, so he thought he had said it and someone secretly recorded it...

However, the bank statements were real, and it seemed that someone was setting him up at the same time. As soon as he leaked the news, a bank employee who had just resigned sent him the materials... No one believed such a coincidence, but they just happened to take advantage of each other, and each got what he needed.

As for who was setting him up, Raiola didn't check because it wasn't important. It was unnecessary and of no benefit to know so clearly...

Anyway, the power of capital in Europe can sweep away everything!

Without the backing of capital, it is impossible to become a top football star; even if you are lucky enough to succeed, it will only be a flash in the pan at best...