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Barcelona, playing at Camp Nou with the hopes of Catalonia, had a...
0-2 scoreline in the first half. Back in the locker room, the Barcelona players were stunned.
Messi, as the team's leader, was not like Cristiano Ronaldo. Messi just huddled in a corner, his expression grave, lost in thought.
Luis Enrique felt the helplessness of a manager for the first time. He didn't know what tactical adjustments to make or how to motivate the team. He could only utter some commonplace platitudes. The expressions on the Barcelona players' faces told him that these words had no effect whatsoever. Everyone's eyes were filled with confusion.
But what else could they do?
Was Barcelona not trying hard enough? Was Barcelona not strong enough? Was possession football outdated?
No, Barcelona played fine — they still had top-tier dominance in world football. However, Atlético Madrid had a Humanoid Gundam.
Even when Lance's off-ball movement wasn't strong, it was hard to contain him. A slight lapse in attention would result in Lance breaking through with unbelievable skills, occasionally delivering a couple of bizarre passes. Today, they had rarely allowed Lance to receive the ball, trying to limit his passing opportunities as much as possible. Yet he still found two chances. With almost unsolvable off-ball movement, he found that unique 0.5-second window out of the impossible.
The second goal was very clear. The penalty area was full of Barcelona players. Griezmann's pass from the left was actually difficult to pose a threat — just an ordinary ball to the near post. Barcelona's defenders were about to clear it.
But a ghost story appeared in the box!
Lance!
Like a ghost, he suddenly appeared in the most dangerous position. Without stopping the ball with his left foot, he fired a shot from a tight angle! The ball pierced the top corner like lightning and went in!
One offside trap breakthrough, one instinctive tap-in inside the box!
The most terrifying story had emerged. Lance, who was previously "not good at off-ball movement," had become a world-class poacher comparable to Inzaghi, Hernández, Thomas Müller, Robin van Persie, and others! World-class dribbling and evasion plus world-class poaching plus world-class shooting equaled a perfect all-around forward. Such an opponent is despair-inducing.
As a result, in the second half, Barcelona had to prevent Lance's runs with the ball and defend against his off-ball movement simultaneously.
Under such strain...
In the 59th minute, Atlético Madrid got another counter-attacking opportunity. Griezmann originally passed diagonally to Fernando Torres, intending for Torres to drop back and lay off the ball. But Barcelona defended well, seemingly about to intercept the pass.
Something even stranger happened.
Lance suddenly appeared out of nowhere. He intercepted Barcelona's interception! He took one touch into the penalty area, then performed the "Lance-Style Dance," a horizontal Marseille Turn to evade Piqué.
A powerful shot inside the box!
Tiger!
Bang.
The ball, with immense momentum, breached Barcelona's goal for the third time!
"Lance's 48th league goal of the season!"
"A hat-trick!"
"In his debut season in La Liga, Lance has scored 48 goals in 35 matches, already making him the player with the second-highest single-season goal tally in La Liga history!"
"With only 2 goals difference, he can break the La Liga single-season record of 50 goals!"
"It's worth mentioning that the creator of the 50-goal record is Messi, who is in the opposing team."
Commentator Jian Jun's smile was harder to suppress than an AK. Approaching Messi's record right in front of him. It felt like a stimulating moment.
After Lance's hat-trick, the Spanish director maliciously zoomed in on Messi. Messi appeared expressionless, hands on hips, spitting to the side.
In reality, Messi was already a bit dazed.
"Hehe, hehehehe..."
"Could it be that I'm really getting old?"
"Wait, if this guy scores two more goals, won't he break the record?"
"Never mind, records don't matter. If the championship is gone, do records still matter?"
"How will we play the Champions League semi-final?"
Messi's mind was in turmoil, already thinking about the upcoming Champions League semi-final. Barcelona's opponent was still Atlético Madrid.
After Atlético Madrid eliminated Manchester City, Barcelona also eliminated Paris Saint-Germain to reach the Champions League semi-finals.
In the other half of the bracket, Real Madrid easily eliminated Wolfsburg 5-1, reaching the semi-finals again. Bayern Munich narrowly eliminated Bayer Leverkusen 3-2, setting up a clash with Real Madrid. Seeing Bayern Munich's dwindling form, Guardiola was on the verge of being sacked. Messi didn't expect Bayern to stop Real Madrid from reaching the final.
Therefore, Barcelona was about to face the most dreaded scenario. Assuming they were eliminated by Atlético Madrid again in the Champions League semi-finals, Barcelona would watch helplessly as the two Madrid clubs met in the Champions League Final, staging the Madrid Derby for the second time in the final. The last time had been the 2013-14 season Champions League Final, exactly like this. Messi almost lost his appetite for a week. That time, it was also Lance who caused Barcelona to fall in the quarterfinals, allowing their two arch-rivals to reach the final.
Was the nightmare going to repeat itself?
Messi had already lost his fighting spirit. Neymar and Suárez, beside him, also lost their invincible form in the face of a 0-3 deficit at home.
Atlético Madrid ultimately relied on their ironclad defense to withstand Barcelona's final fightback.
0-3!
Beep! Beep!
Beep.
The moment the referee blew the final whistle, Simeone shook hands with Luis Enrique on the sideline, then ran passionately for 40 meters onto the field. He and the Atlético Madrid players lifted the hero Lance onto their shoulders!
"Atlético Madrid fans, come worship your king!"
Simeone's fierce face wore a simple, honest smile. Generally, coaches don't allow a player's prestige to overshadow their own. But Simeone didn't care at all! With a monstrous player like Lance, he wished he could pamper him and keep him at Atlético Madrid for ten years — until he retired himself!
As expected, after Atlético Madrid took the lead today, they would steadily maintain a 2-point advantage in the final 3 rounds, driving Barcelona to despair. The La Liga title was basically secured! Next up were the Copa del Rey and the Champions League!
"Hey, hey, hey, put me down!"
Lance was more nervous than he had been during the game against Barcelona. Simeone and Godín were carrying him on their shoulders, singing and dancing excitedly. Lance was afraid they might lose their grip and drop him. The match was over, and the [Substitute Paper Figurine] couldn't be used. Wouldn't it be an eternal injustice if he broke his neck?
After cautiously finishing the celebration, Lance even felt a bit weak in the knees when they put him down.
"Oh my god, it's scarier than the Champions League Final."
He was surrounded by a group of Spanish reporters, like zombies seeing a bleeding person.
"Excuse me, Lance, how does it feel to score a hat-trick and defeat Barcelona today?"
"Do you personally believe you are stronger than Messi?"
"Do you think you are the world's number one player right now?"
"If you win La Liga, are you confident of winning the treble this season?"
Lance was bombarded with this barrage of questions. He simply couldn't answer them all.
Now was not the time to discuss being the world's number one. What if he was stronger than Messi, or weaker? Did he have a championship trophy? No. Lance only cared about the final championship trophy. So, before lifting the trophy, he wouldn't pop champagne prematurely.
After hastily deflecting a few questions, Lance quickly fled back to the player tunnel, leaving the reporters to be handled by the professional, Ms Hanna Müller.
What Lance cared more about was: any new discoveries after the system upgrade!