On the pitch.
Inter Milan's players swarmed toward Zidane.
You hit our teammate—did you really think we'd just let that go?
But as soon as the referee raised the red card behind Zidane's back, the Inter players froze.
So... are we just letting this go after all?
Materazzi: ???
The Real Madrid players were even more confused.
They had no idea what to do.
What on earth was happening?
Not even a novelist could write a scene like this.
Had Zidane gone mad?
Only Su Hang charged straight toward him.
"Sorry, I couldn't hold it in," Zidane said, keeping his eyes fixed ahead, though he knew Su Hang was coming. "It's over. My club career ends here."
"You don't need to apologize to me," Su Hang replied. "Because I'd have made the same choice."
Zidane shook his head. "You don't understand. You don't know what Materazzi said to me—or what it meant..."
"If someone insulted my closest family!" Su Hang's words made Zidane stop dead in his tracks.
By now, he had already stepped beyond the touchline.
"You…" Zidane turned back, staring at Su Hang still standing on the pitch.
"You did the right thing! You did what you truly wanted to do!" Su Hang struck his chest. "Leave the rest of this match to me."
"Of course, you know how hard it'll be from here on out. So... if we win this game, will you promise to follow my lead from now on?"
"I don't ever want to see my football idol sent off with a red card again in a crucial match."
Zidane squinted at Su Hang for a long moment, then finally nodded.
He turned and walked down the players' tunnel.
Good.
...
Within minutes, the news had spread everywhere.
"Zidane Headbutts Materazzi and Gets Sent Off! Ten-Man Real Madrid Battles Inter Milan in Chaos!"
"Zidane Rarely Loses His Temper These Years—What Did Materazzi Say?"
"Aggregate Now 3–3! Real Madrid in Danger of Elimination by Inter!"
"Champions League Drama! Zidane Ruins Real Madrid's Lead! Su Hang Says He Can't Carry the Team Alone!"
Countless viewers switched on their TVs, tuning in to the broadcast.
But what they saw was a 2–2 scoreline.
Inter had scored!
Right after Zidane's red card, Inter brought on Nigerian forward Obafemi Martins for Cruz.
Obafemi, a Nigerian international, had scored 23 goals in a single season for Inter's youth team—famous for his blistering speed.
He had become a near-regular starter this season.
He'd just recovered from injury and missed the previous match, but now looked sharp and ready.
Earlier in the season, Italian media had dubbed Obafemi and Adriano "Inter's strike duo for the next decade"!
And to be fair, at this stage, the two were a perfect pairing—one tall and powerful, the other lightning fast. Both were performing superbly.
But after that glowing prophecy, one plummeted the following year (Adriano), and the other left for England to join Newcastle United (Oba).
Their so-called "ten-year partnership" lasted one season.
We mention Obafemi not just because, four minutes after coming on, he latched onto a through ball from Verón and finished clinically—equalizing 2–2 for Inter and putting them 4–3 ahead on aggregate.
But also because this same player later joined Shanghai Greenland Shenhua in 2016...
and moved to Wuhan Zall in 2020.
In other words, a player who would later leave his mark on the Chinese Super League.
"Oh! Real Madrid are in real trouble now!"
"Down to ten men, they've just been punished by substitute Obafemi Martins!"
"That gives Inter two away goals!"
"For Real Madrid to turn this around, they'll have to score two more without conceding."
"That's no easy task—especially being a man down."
"This goal means there'll be no extra time. The match will be decided within ninety minutes!"
On the sidelines, Real Madrid started making changes.
The "Stepover Kid" Robinho replaced defensive midfielder Gravesen.
Raúl came on for Guti.
Real Madrid switched to a 4-1-3-1 formation!
Ronaldo as the lone striker.
Robinho and Su Hang on the wings, Raúl in the attacking midfield role.
Baptista sat as the single holding midfielder.
The defense remained unchanged.
This meant Real Madrid would no longer rely on a playmaker.
They'd attack down the flanks—simple, direct, and a quick fix for their lack of a central organizer.
But to many, it looked like a gamble.
With Su Hang moving to the right and pairing with Salgado, Madrid's right wing was effectively nullified.
Their left, however, had become the main attacking channel—
and it just so happened to target Inter's left side of Recoba and Zanetti.
Recoba, defensively, was practically nonexistent.
That meant Inter captain Zanetti would be under immense pressure.
Sure enough—
In the 75th minute, Robinho—fresh off the bench—dazzled with his stepovers, beating Zanetti down the flank and drawing a foul.
Yellow card for Zanetti.
In the 78th minute, Roberto Carlos overlapped Robinho, received the ball, and sent in a low cross.
Raúl made a run into the box and met it with a header—just over the bar.
In the 80th minute, Robinho dribbled past Zanetti again, winning a corner.
He took it himself.
Su Hang rose highest for the header—
and smacked it off the crossbar!
Mancini broke into a cold sweat on the sideline.
Even with one man down, Real Madrid were inching closer and closer to another goal.
Inter immediately took off the defensive liability Recoba and brought on Kily González.
Kily's career had been full of bad luck, but that didn't mean he lacked ability.
A few years earlier, Valencia had reached two straight Champions League finals and were one of Europe's hottest teams.
Their midfield maestro, Mendieta, had even won the European Midfielder of the Year award before securing a record-breaking move to Lazio.
In fact, Kily had also been set to join Lazio that same year, intended as the replacement for Nedvěd.
That alone proved his quality at the time.
Had Kily really made the move, with support around him, Mendieta might have adapted to Lazio's system—
and perhaps his career wouldn't have spiraled into that of a "world-class flop."
Unfortunately, Kily ran into Marcelo Salas—one of Chile's infamous "Transfer Backtracking Kings."
Salas backed out of the deal just as it was about to go through, which killed Kily's transfer.
And that wasn't Salas's first time.
The year before, he had already pulled out of a completed deal for Crespo, which weakened Lazio's squad.
Later, he did it again—this time blowing up Juventus's planned swap deal with Sporting Lisbon for an unknown youngster named Cristiano Ronaldo.
That same Cristiano Ronaldo now wears Manchester United's number 7 shirt and has been a Ballon d'Or top-30 nominee three years running.
In short, Kily González's career was completely derailed—
all thanks to Salas, the ultimate Transfer Backtracking King.
...
(35 Chapters Ahead)
p@treon com / GhostParser