As soon as play restarted, Real Madrid launched a ferocious, all-out offensive.
If they didn't go all in now, there would truly be no chance left to fight for.
In the second minute, Su Hang cut inside, shook off Sagnol, and curled a shot toward the far corner.
The ball bent past Van Buyten and Lucio—but not past Kahn.
Trying to score with three defenders in front of you was simply too difficult.
Between the three of them, they covered most of the shooting angles.
That left Su Hang with very little room to work with.
And for a top-class goalkeeper like Kahn, aside from the rare, outrageous wonder goal, as long as he could read the trajectory, he could almost always get a hand to it.
In the ninth minute, Bayern launched a counterattack.
After Lahm won the ball, he passed to Hargreaves, who carried it forward before finding Schweinsteiger on the left.
Schweinsteiger squared it into the middle, where Makaay once again got to it first and fired a shot—only to be denied by a brilliant save from Casillas.
The ball rebounded straight back to Makaay, who followed up with a header, completing a quick double attempt.
Bayern coach Hitzfeld was already getting ready to celebrate.
But Casillas somehow sprang back up from the ground with a miraculous, almost supernatural movement, pulling off a second save.
The Yashin Award winner proved his class.
In the eleventh minute, Su Hang dropped deep to receive the ball. Surrounded by Hargreaves, Demichelis, and Salihamidžić, he used a tight spin to shield possession before slipping through a perfectly weighted pass.
Robinho was suddenly clean through on goal.
But faced with the charging Lion King Kahn, Robinho's finishing let him down. Kahn read the shot and saved it cleanly.
"Oh! Robinho is committing a crime out there!"
"What a waste! That was easily a top-tier assist!"
"Kahn's reading of the play was spot-on—he's still operating at a world-class level!"
"Yes, Kahn could easily keep playing for another three years!"
Su Hang didn't scold Robinho. Instead, he turned his head and glanced toward Higuaín on the bench.
Could anxiety be contagious?
On the bench, Modrić watched with barely concealed amusement.
Modrić: "He's looking at you."
Higuaín: "He's not looking at me."
Modrić: "He's frowning."
Higuaín: "He's not frowning… okay, fine, he's looking at me—and he's frowning."
Higuaín's depressive tendency, which had improved after psychological intervention, began to worsen again.
Modrić: "It's fine, don't put pressure on yourself. Relax. I heard you've been feeling pretty bad lately—try thinking about something happy."
Higuaín: "I could have… but now that you've said that…"
Modrić: "Hey! I'm helping you, buddy. You need to know who actually means well for you. Understand your situation—sometimes choices matter more than effort, got it?"
Higuaín immediately admitted his mistake, nearly misunderstanding his big brother's good intentions.
On the pitch, Su Hang didn't blame anyone.
Even the best chances aren't guaranteed goals. That was normal.
He was just a little resigned—Robinho really wasn't going to make it anymore.
In terms of speed and dribbling alone, plenty of players were operating at an extremely high level.
Take Mbappé in later years, for example.
Vinícius, Sterling, Sané, Coman, Leão, Martinelli, Rashford, Kvaratskhelia, Chiesa Jr., Rodrygo… were they really that far off?
Not really. Some of them were actually quite close to Mbappé.
But those tiny gaps often require enormous effort to close—or simply can't be closed at all.
And those gaps are exactly what separate legends, superstars, and ordinary stars.
Early on, Robinho was criticized for being overly obsessed with dribbling.
But that kind of problem was actually easy to fix.
As long as management and the coaching staff were clear in their stance, and imposed limits through tactics and training, even the worst ball-hog could correct the habit to a large extent.
Problems like Bayern's Sané refusing to pass, or Milan's Leão strolling around when he doesn't have the ball, were mainly attitude issues—and attitude issues can be fixed.
Robinho's physical weakness also hurt him, rooted partly in the deprivation of his upbringing.
But blaming everything on innate factors was irresponsible. Physical development was always a kind of mystery.
Some kids grow up in slums and end up with godlike physiques.
Others enjoy every material advantage and scientific training, yet still end up injury-prone and unremarkable.
If Robinho had applied Modrić's training methods to himself, he wouldn't become injury-proof, but his core strength would improve dramatically, and his physicality would visibly increase.
But he didn't.
That kind of training was extremely painful.
You could tell just by looking at Modrić himself—once a diehard admirer and fanboy of Su Hang, he had now turned into a scheming character who half-jokingly wanted revenge on him.
Training had changed him.
As for attacking awareness, movement, reading the game, and tactical understanding—those were even harder to change in the short term, though not impossible.
Through long seasons and countless matches, many players slowly turned those things into instinct.
That's why some players who looked dull when young became more and more dangerous with age.
Ashley Young was a classic example.
But there were still some things that time couldn't fix.
Finishing, decision-making in key moments, and mental toughness.
When Mbappé converted multiple penalties in a World Cup final, he had already destined himself to become a footballing legend.
That big-game mentality was exactly like that of his idol.
By that logic, Sterling, Rodrygo, and Rashford would struggle to ever become true superstars.
Leão and Sané would face the same fate unless they encountered a genuine mentor.
Chiesa Jr. actually had the most promise—but unfortunately, he was already too old, his potential nearly exhausted, and he barely even qualified for the list anymore.
Vinícius had great potential. He wasn't nearly as bad as people claimed, and his overall profile was the closest to Mbappé's.
But getting trapped in unhealthy emotions like racial conflict and constantly provoking opponents posed serious risks to his future.
And so, Robinho was essentially Real Madrid's future Rodrygo.
He looked like he had limitless potential, but in reality, the odds were slim.
If Real Madrid were smart, they would have to sign a winger next season.
And it was said that Calderón was indeed actively in contact with Robben's agent.
Su Hang supported the idea.
In the fourteenth minute, Su Hang fired a long-range shot that earned a corner.
After Roberto Carlos delivered it, Van Nistelrooy's header was miraculously saved by Kahn, and Lucio cleared the ball away.
Guti controlled it immediately and played a flat pass to Raúl.
Raúl turned halfway and curled a shot that crashed off the crossbar and bounced out, missing a golden chance.
That miss dealt a blow to Real Madrid's morale no less severe than Robinho's earlier miss.
Perhaps even worse.
Robinho's chance made people lose faith in Robinho.
Raúl's miss made people realize that Real Madrid had lost God's favor.
But Su Hang still held one final card in reserve.
To prevent Real Madrid's recent pattern of second-half collapses from repeating itself,
he planned to drag the match into the 60th or 70th minute—
and then show the world what a real match looked like.
All in on a single bet, times five.
All or nothing.
...
(35 Chapters Ahead)
p@treon com / GhostParser