Chapter 216: Heading to Germany… Again
**3rd August 2020**
Jason was at his ho packing his things into his bag as he was about to go on a trip.
No… it was more apt to say that the whole Porto team was going on a trip.
The Europa League had been scheduled to continue in the country of Germany and Porto had a match against Rangers, a Scottish team that competed in the Scottish Premiership, the top division of Scottish football.
It was a round of 16 match that should have been played much earlier but had been indefinitely postponed due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus.
Now that things were a bit more under control, the Europa had been scheduled to resu, and coming up for Jason and the Porto team was a match against Rangers in the round of 16 on the 6th of August 2020.
The results would be decided by a single match due to the new safety regulations as opposed to before where the results would be decided over ho and away matches.
The matches had also been scheduled to be held at neutral venues in Germany behind closed doors, which was why Jason was packing up as it ant that they would be in Germany until they either won the Europa League trophy or were eliminated.
He had to pack the essentials at least as going back and forth would be difficult due to the restrictions on travel.
As Jason packed, his eyes fell on the awards on the shelf in his bedroom.
He used to have a few MOTM awards, a Player of the Month award, and a dal from winning the league, but over the last week, he had had four more awards added to his collection.
Yes… four.
He had gotten another dal from winning the Taca de Portugal trophy and had just been chilling in his house when he received a ssage that told him of three more awards.
Normally it was around this ti that the Portuguese League for Professional Football (LPFP) gala would be held, but due to the restrictions on gathering, it could not be held.
The LPFP gala was a gathering where annual winners of specific awards were given after the winner had been chosen by votes amongst LPFP pairs.
Awards given at the LPFP gala were;
LPFP Prira Liga Player of the Year,
LPFP Prira Liga Young Player of the Year (for players under 23),
LPFP Prira Liga Goalkeeper of the Year,
LPFP Prira Liga Defender of the Year,
LPFP Prira Liga Midfielder of the Year,
LPFP Prira Liga Forward of the Year,
LPFP Prira Liga Manager of the Year,
LPFP Prira Liga Goal of the Year,
And LPFP Prira Team of the Year (a selection of the best players in each position).
These awards were usually given at the gala after the winner had been chosen through whatever ans were being used, but this year, the gala was bound not to be held due to the rules on social distancing.
However, the awards were sohow still given out this year and Jason was surprised to hear that he not only won the LPFP Prira Liga Young Player of the Year award, he had also won the LPFP Prira Liga Goal of the Year award, and he was even a part of the LPFP Prira Liga Team of the Year.
Not only that but he had even been nominated as forward of the year, Tiquinho Soares from his team ended up taking that award from him, however, Jason was too happy to be let down by that thought.
He hadn’t expected this much in his first season.
He had not only won two trophies already, but had already gotten a few more awards than so players who had been playing for much longer than he had.
His first season was already a blast and now he could not help but be expectant about his team’s chances in the upcoming Europa League.
It would definitely be even tougher than anything he’s faced so far and he didn’t know how much of a chance his team had at the Europa League trophy, but he didn’t think they were that high.
For example, the Rangers team that his team would be playing against in three days had been in their group during the group stage, and in the group stages, Porto had lost once and drew once against Rangers.
They hadn’t even been able to win against the Rangers team in the group stage, but now they would be facing them in the knockout stages and hoping to win sohow.
The worst part of this situation was that the Rangers team was probably one of the weakest opponents left in the Europa League at this point.
It was clear that the Europa League was a treacherous path forward for the Porto team and they could be swallowed up at any ti, but Jason didn’t mind the challenges that stood in his way.
Only by going through challenges and coming out on top could he really feel like he had improved his skills, otherwise he might beco stagnant without realizing it.
‘Anyway, it doesn’t really matter if we can’t win this season. Losing is also a valuable experience,’ Jason thought to himself as he got back to packing his stuff.
It was going to be very busy from that day forward.
After a while, Jason finished packing his luggage and began to prepare to leave his house.
The players were supposed to gather at CTFD Portogaia at 11 am that day so that they could head to Germany and settle in and rest so that they could start preparing for their Europa League campaign.
Quickly dressing up and throwing his stuff into the car before going back into the house to check if he hadn’t forgotten anything, Jason retraced his steps carefully while looking around to see if he missed anything, but he didn’t find anything and headed back to his car finally and got in.
Starting the car with a push of the button, the car ca to life with a barely audible hum that would almost never be heard on the road.
Taking a last glance at his house, Jason drove his car out with determination in his mind.
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