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Any fan who watched the 2015-2016 Champions League Final live...
If interviewed ten or twenty years later and asked which goal left the deepest impression, the answers would probably differ from person to person.
But if they were forced to choose only one...
The answer would become surprisingly unanimous.
"Lance."
"The 2016 Champions League Final."
"The last-minute winner against Real Madrid."
"That divine goal."
"That was a moment I'll never forget for the rest of my life."
An older Lionel Messi smiled gently while speaking in front of the cameras during a football documentary years later.
May 29, 2016.
Milan, Italy.
The Meazza Stadium.
Just as Messi was preparing to leave his VIP box, he suddenly made the most important decision of the night.
For some reason...
He looked back at the field one final time.
And because of that single glance...
He witnessed a scene that would remain engraved in football history forever.
Lance charged through three defenders in the attacking half.
A Rainbow Flick eliminated Luka Modrić while simultaneously feeding the ball toward Fernando Torres.
Torres and Antoine Griezmann combined brilliantly.
Then Griezmann selflessly lifted the ball toward the back post.
The stage had already been prepared.
And finally...
The protagonist arrived.
At that moment, Lance truly looked like a superhero.
A god descending upon the Meazza.
The number 10 figure suspended in midair became perhaps the most beautiful image football had ever created.
The photographers on-site nearly shattered their camera shutters from pressing the capture buttons so desperately.
Then...
Like a flash of lightning...
Everything happened too quickly.
BANG!!!
The strike echoed through the entire stadium.
The football transformed into a streak of fire.
Vanishing instantly through the air before crashing violently into the net!
For a brief moment...
Every mind in the world went blank.
Even Messi stood frozen.
Let alone the tens of thousands of supporters inside the stadium.
It felt as though an immense force had erupted from beneath the earth itself.
A force powerful enough to shake mountains.
A force that pierced the clouds and nearly exploded beyond the solar system.
"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!"
"LANCE!!!"
"A BICYCLE KICK!!! IT'S IN!!!"
"A LAST-MINUTE WINNER!!!"
"A LAST-MINUTE WINNER AGAINST REAL MADRID!!!"
"IT'S OVER!!!"
"A MIRACLE HAS ACTUALLY HAPPENED!!!"
"LANCE COMPLETES THE WINNER IN THE MOST PERFECT WAY IMAGINABLE!!!"
"FOUR GOALS!!!"
"HE SCORES FOUR GOALS IN A CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL!!!"
"UNBELIEVABLE!!"
"INCREDIBLE!!"
"HE IS A GOD!!!"
"I'LL SAY IT AGAIN!!"
"LANCE IS GOD HIMSELF!!!"
"This goal belongs only in heaven itself!!"
"One sword against ten thousand enemies!!"
"This is Lance!!"
"He doesn't create miracles..."
"HE IS THE MIRACLE!!!"
"Dear viewers..."
"If you're struggling in work or life someday..."
"Remember Lance coming back from 0-4 against Real Madrid!!"
"Nothing is unbeatable!"
"Nothing is impossible!!"
"Believe in miracles..."
"And miracles will happen!!"
"The victory belongs to Atlético Madrid!!"
"And to Lance!!!"
"With four goals and that bicycle kick from the heavens..."
"Atlético Madrid completes a 5-4 comeback against Real Madrid in stoppage time!!!"
"THE CHAMPIONS ARE BORN!!!"
"LANCE HAS WON HIS FIRST CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TITLE!!!"
...
"What the hell..."
"So noisy..."
"Let me sleep a little longer..."
Lance slowly opened his eyes drowsily.
The entire world seemed to sway violently up and down around him, leaving him completely dizzy.
Only after regaining awareness did he realize...
He was being thrown repeatedly into the air by the completely insane Atlético Madrid players!
And they were all screaming incoherent nonsense at the top of their lungs.
"They're all savages..."
"If a teammate might be injured, shouldn't you check his condition first before tossing him around like this?"
"What kind of behavior is this..."
Lance couldn't help complaining internally.
Then suddenly...
He froze.
Wait.
That bicycle kick...
Actually went in?
That means...
We won?
The comeback succeeded?
We are...
Before Lance could even finish the thought, his teammates had already screamed the answer for him.
"Campione!!! Campione!!! Ole, Ole, Ole!!!"
"Campione!!! Campione!!! Ole, Ole, Ole!!!"
Champions.
We are the champions.
...
"You did it, Lance!!"
"Thank you, Lance!! Thank you!!"
"You're my God!!"
On the sidelines, Koke, Gabi, Diego Godín, and several injured teammates who couldn't play all rushed over and hugged Lance tightly.
The group collapsed into each other while crying tears of joy.
When Koke and the others were forced to miss the final...
When they watched helplessly as Atlético Madrid fell behind 4-0...
Godín's heart had already broken.
He hated being injured.
Hated not forcing himself to continue.
If Atlético Madrid had ultimately lost...
Godín would've blamed himself forever.
But Lance changed everything.
The brothers who fought side by side all season had reached the final together.
And Lance, facing a hopeless four-goal deficit, challenged the impossible itself...
And won.
At this moment, Lance truly had become a god in the hearts of every Atlético Madrid player.
Could praying to heaven win a Champions League title?
No.
Could praying to Lance win one?
The answer was obvious.
Yes.
"Treble!! Treble!! Treble!!"
The Atlético Madrid players had already gone completely insane with joy.
The previous unexpected Champions League triumph years earlier had only brought them one title.
They lost La Liga and the Copa del Rey to Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively.
But now...
Under Lance's leadership...
Atlético Madrid completed the first treble in club history!
They also became only the third club in football history to achieve the feat after Manchester United F.C. and FC Barcelona!
At the same time, on the opposite side of the planet, Jian Jun passionately informed viewers of the historic accomplishment.
Dawn had already begun appearing in the east.
Fans who stayed awake all night still showed no signs of sleepiness.
Even exhausted viewers remained glued to their screens, celebrating together with Lance.
"...And Atlético Madrid hasn't only completed the treble!"
"They also now have the opportunity to challenge for the second sextuple in football history!!"
Jian Jun's voice had become completely hoarse.
But he ignored the pain entirely and continued shouting wildly.
Tonight deserved madness.
Just like the sentence he screamed after Lance's bicycle kick winner.
"After witnessing such an insane final..."
"Such an insane last-minute winner..."
"And such an unprecedented bicycle kick goal..."
"Lance scores four goals in a Champions League Final!!"
"He leads Atlético Madrid from a four-goal deficit to a 5-4 miracle victory over Real Madrid!!"
"This is the charm of football itself!!"
"How could anyone possibly not love football?!"
Meanwhile...
The internet had already exploded beyond imagination.
It was impossible to describe the scale anymore.
The entire world seemed awake tonight.
And the endless rows of deep-red "EXPLODING" tags dominating Weibo's trending page proved only one thing.
This was a sleepless night.
A night of complete madness.
...
"This is already the third time. Why aren't you used to it yet?"
"Aren't you nervous?"
"What exactly do I have to be nervous about?"
Griezmann tried acting calm, but his trembling legs completely betrayed him.
UEFA president Gianni Infantino was moments away from placing a Champions League winner's medal around his neck.
His first Champions League title.
Just imagining it nearly made Griezmann faint from excitement.
When Atlético Madrid unexpectedly won the competition years earlier, he had still been playing for Real Sociedad.
Now...
He had finally become a Champions League winner himself.
And it was all thanks to Lance.
Coming back from four goals down.
Winning 5-4.
Playing ten against eleven.
Scoring every goal in the final twenty minutes.
Scoring the final three goals in the last two minutes.
Even God himself couldn't have scripted something this absurd.
If Griezmann once possessed even the tiniest competitive feelings toward Lance...
They had completely disappeared now.
Only admiration and worship remained.
Even though the European Championship was only half a month away, Griezmann genuinely couldn't imagine how France was supposed to defeat the Belgium side led by Lance.
"France probably has no chance at winning..."
While Griezmann lost himself in thought, Atlético Madrid had already climbed onto the podium together.
Even the injured Koke and Godín appeared on crutches.
Meanwhile, the Real Madrid players had already vanished after collecting their silver medals.
Cristiano Ronaldo didn't even lower his head anymore.
His expression remained pale and hollow as he grabbed the runners-up medal and walked away silently.
But nobody cared about Cristiano Ronaldo anymore.
The entire world's attention belonged only to Atlético Madrid.
And to Lance.
Only champions received the spotlight.
Before the official trophy lift, reporters quickly surrounded the undisputed Final MVP.
Four goals.
One assist.
Lance.
Nearly every major media outlet unanimously awarded him an almost perfect 9.9 rating.
"Excuse me, Lance, how does it feel to win the Champions League and complete the treble?"
"At only 18 years old, would you already consider yourself a success?"
The reporter looked at him with complete admiration.
After all...
Lance had already achieved things most footballers could never dream of during an entire career.
Yet Lance's expression remained surprisingly calm.
Nearby, the always-professional press officer Ms Hanna Müller already cried openly.
She genuinely worried Lance was about to say something outrageous again.
And unfortunately...
He did.
"Winning the Champions League and the treble definitely feels incredible..."
"But this is only the beginning."
"I want to challenge something football considers nearly impossible."
Defending the Champions League?
Many reporters subconsciously guessed the answer.
After all, since the Champions League rebrand, nobody had successfully defended the title.
Not even Messi.
Not even Cristiano Ronaldo.
A treble already represented the highest achievement possible for a club season.
The only remaining challenges were things like a sextuple or back-to-back European titles.
Yet the words that came out of Lance's mouth stunned everyone once again.
"A three-peat."
"I want to know what it feels like to win three consecutive Champions League titles."
"And ideally..."
"A Grand Slam three-peat."
"Winning the sextuple or septuple three years in a row wouldn't sound bad either."
"..."
Silence.
Complete silence.
Every reporter froze.
Yes, Lance was incredible.
But wasn't this getting slightly ridiculous?
Defending the Champions League was one thing.
But a three-peat?
What kind of fantasy was that?!
The reporters originally believed Lance wouldn't become arrogant after victory.
Instead, it turned out he had already floated directly into heaven.
Then again...
He was only eighteen years old.
If scoring four goals in a Champions League Final wasn't enough reason to get carried away, then what was?
In any case, Ms Hanna Müller had already completely given up trying to stop him.
Instead, she looked at Lance with tears in her eyes and a radiant smile on her face.
Tonight deserved celebration.
If Lance wanted to dream wildly...
Then let him dream to his heart's content.
A few minutes later, the entire Atlético Madrid squad gathered together on the podium.
Including Koke and Godín on crutches.
Standing at the very front, Lance rightfully lifted the shining silver Champions League trophy high into the air!
"We Are the Champions" echoed throughout the Meazza!
Golden confetti exploded across the sky!
Rainstorms of gold filled the stadium!
Accompanied by Jian Jun's hoarse shouting, countless fans around the world screamed together in unison.
"Everyone shout together!!"
"ATLÉTICO MADRID—ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!!"
"LANCE—IS THE CHAMPION!!!"