This time, Real Madrid celebrated for quite a while.
Surprisingly, no one from Bayern stepped in to urge the referee to stop the celebration.
It wasn't until two minutes later that Hitzfeld finally snapped out of it and hurriedly substituted Scholl for Schweinsteiger.
It was a like-for-like change. As a veteran coming off the bench, Scholl was always likely to perform better than Schweinsteiger, who had been fairly ordinary in this match.
In truth, Hitzfeld should have made two substitutions and gone all in for one last gamble.
But he didn't react in time.
In the 73rd minute, the freshly substituted Scholl had little presence and went unnoticed by Ramos.
Lahm seized the moment and slipped the ball to Scholl.
Scholl carried it diagonally from the left half-space, creating danger and forcing Cannavaro to step up, abandoning his original defensive assignment on Makaay.
Scholl immediately threaded a through ball.
Cannavaro's aggressive step didn't alert Kompany, causing Kompany's positioning to lag behind.
Makaay seized the opportunity, bursting forward to receive the ball inside the box and going clean through on goal.
Bang!
Makaay blasted it home. Casillas couldn't get a touch.
Real Madrid's defenders threw up their arms, appealing for offside.
But the referee decisively signaled that the goal stood.
The replay confirmed it—Kompany's positioning error was the key reason Makaay was onside.
"Oh! Bayern finally score!"
"Makaay! A goal worth its weight in gold!"
"The score is now 4–4 on the night! Bayern lead 7–6 on aggregate thanks to Makaay's goal!"
"They've once again got half a foot into the Champions League quarterfinals!"
"But they dare not relax, because the past few minutes have been far too unbelievable."
On the pitch, Bayern's players looked less like they were celebrating a lead and more like they were savoring a narrow escape.
There was no momentum to their celebration at all.
Some players even stole glances at Su Hang while celebrating.
Afraid of how he might react.
It was a psychological shadow.
No matter how this match ended, that shadow wouldn't fade anytime soon.
In the 75th minute, play resumed.
Hitzfeld still didn't make another substitution.
Earlier, he had planned to bring on Pizarro for a midfielder and gamble everything.
But before he could commit to that gamble, Bayern had taken the lead.
So for the moment, he couldn't afford to use Pizarro.
This once again highlighted Hitzfeld's slight weakness in adapting during critical moments.
Back in the 1999 Champions League final, just one minute before Manchester United scored twice, he substituted the 1.80-meter Salihamidzic for the 1.86-meter Basler. It's hard to say whether those six centimeters played a part in United's dramatic winner.
On the pitch, Bayern no longer dared to press too aggressively.
They wanted stability. They feared Real Madrid's attack.
Real Madrid, on the other hand, pushed up as a unit, with their defenders almost at the halfway line.
At this moment, Makaay and Podolski stepped up instinctively to apply pressure.
But their movement instead exposed space behind them.
With the ball at his feet, center-back Kompany didn't switch play wide. Instead, as if possessed by Guti, he stabbed a through ball straight into Raúl, who had dropped deep.
This was classic El Maestro behavior.
One moment of carelessness, and the team could pay dearly.
No one expected Kompany to dare play like this.
Bayern underestimated Kompany's technique.
And they underestimated the nerve of this young, towering defender.
Bang!
Raúl took the ball and immediately played it out wide to Beckham.
Lahm rushed toward Beckham at once.
Beckham lifted his foot as if to cross.
Lahm jumped immediately.
But Beckham had only sold a feint.
The reputation of the "bending cross" was too intimidating—Lahm worried too much about the delivery and was sent flying by the fake.
Beckham then nudged the ball past Lahm with a single touch and glanced into the box.
Su Hang signaled to him.
Bang!
Beckham — laser guidance!
The ball was delivered precisely to the spot Su Hang had indicated.
"He's beaten him! Beckham completely shakes off Lahm!"
"Lahm has been excellent all match, but in front of Beckham he looks as green as a child!"
"Beckham with the cross!"
"This one isn't aimed at the six-yard box—it's toward the penalty spot!"
"That's not an ideal cross from Beckham. It's a bit far from goal. Even if Su Hang or Cassano get their head on it, it's hard to turn this into a real chance!"
After all, headers are notoriously hard to power.
As everyone knows, Su Hang's heading ability is elite.
So when Van Buyten defended him, he positioned himself directly in front, leaning into Su Hang.
Placing himself between Su Hang and the goal.
That way, he could head the ball outward.
Considering Van Buyten was a full thirteen centimeters taller, as long as Su Hang couldn't build momentum, he had no chance of winning the duel.
But with Beckham's ball aimed toward the penalty spot, Su Hang ended up wedged between Van Buyten and the ball.
Before, Van Buyten had pinned Su Hang.
Now, it was Su Hang pinning Van Buyten.
And with Su Hang's strength, Van Buyten couldn't move him for the moment.
As the two grappled, the ball arrived right on cue.
Van Buyten read the drop, eased off, and prepared to stretch his leg.
The ball didn't quite reach Su Hang—Beckham hadn't used enough power, and it landed about a meter and a half away.
Once the ball hit the ground, Van Buyten, who had extended his leg first, should have been able to clear it ahead of Su Hang.
This defensive exchange happened in a split second. In that brief moment, the two had already tussled two or three times.
Most fans couldn't see any of that.
They only saw the final result.
And that result was—
Bang!
Free of Van Buyten's interference, Su Hang twisted his body and launched himself to the right with a flying side kick.
At that instant, there were as many as six Bayern players inside the box.
Yet all they could do was watch as Su Hang struck a low airborne volley.
Moments earlier, Kahn had looked like the world's number one goalkeeper.
This time, he couldn't even make a save attempt.
Swish!
White waves of netting exploded outward!
On the touchline, two world-class managers reacted in astonishing unison.
Capello and Hitzfeld both clawed at their hair.
The difference was—
Capello's face was filled with ecstasy.
Hitzfeld's was frozen in horror.
It proved once again that human joys and sorrows are never shared.
After seeing the ball hit the net, Su Hang sprang to his feet and charged toward the corner flag.
He leapt into the air, spun 180 degrees mid-flight, arms hanging down, and crashed back to the turf like a god descending to the mortal world.
"Siuuuuu!"
Su Hang's roar, joined by the cheers of several thousand Real Madrid fans, conquered all of Germany.
And this was the second time they had done so.
The first was at last year's World Cup, when they conquered Germany—and even the entire world.
This time, they conquered Germany again.
And once more, they conquered the world.
"GOAL!"
"Five goals! Su Hang scores all five!"
"Nine minutes! Five goals in nine minutes! The Nine-Five Supreme! This is the true Nine-Five Supreme!"
"Other than saying Su Hang is unbelievable, I don't even have the words!"
"The madness continues, the goals keep coming! He's not just the world's best striker, not just a Ballon d'Or winner—he is God! The God of the Allianz Arena!"
Real Madrid's players surged toward Su Hang.
Celebrating without restraint.
...
(35 Chapters Ahead)
p@treon com / GhostParser