Chapter 103 — Boomerang Strike, Hat-trick by Half-time
Per Mertesacker played the ball.
Xia Qi received it with his back to goal; as he turned, Sergio Busquets was already blocking him like a mountain.
If Xia Qi kept charging forward, he would run right into him.
Because Busquets had pre-positioned himself, if the two collided, more often than not the referee would not call Busquets for obstruction; instead he would whistle Xia Qi for charging into the defender.
Busquets' positioning was truly exquisite!
Some Barca fans who understand the game applauded him.
When people talk about Xavi and Iniesta, they often give the applause to those two, but in truth Busquets' importance is no less than theirs.
Like Casemiro in a ceremonial midfield, he is the anchor.
When Barcelona go all out to attack, Busquets is the trusted screen for their back line.
Busquets is excellent and his calculations usually ring true — but tonight he met an opponent his numbers couldn't fully account for.
AI-level calculation for this kind of behavior far surpasses human intuition.
As Xia Qi turned, he poked the ball forward with his left foot, and it slipped neatly through Busquets' legs.
Then he exploded off with both feet, leaping like a cheetah.
Busquets suffered a tragedy!
His cunning made him look like a joke.
Against the nimble Xia Qi, Busquets' pre-judged block position looked like an unmanned checkpoint — just for show.
Xia Qi received with his back to goal, turned, threaded between the defenders, dribbled, and sprinted — all in one fluid motion!
The long-quiet Emirates exploded; the suppressed emotion released at once and Arsenal fans roared like an earthquake.
In an instant, chants of "Xia Qi! Xia Qi!" echoed between heaven and earth.
In the Penguin broadcast booth, Zhan Jun and Zhang Lu came to life.
Zhan Jun, his voice cracking from excitement, shouted:
"Go for it!"
Zhang Lu loudly cried: "Counterattack!"
"After Barcelona's nearly eight minutes of ineffective possession, Arsenal win the ball and start a counterattack!"
Xia Qi burst through Busquets and sprinted forward. Mario Balotelli, seeing Xia Qi drive into the center, immediately cleared a path and simultaneously made a furious forward run on the other side to pull defenders and create space — and perhaps a chance for himself.
Fueled by the home crowd, Xia Qi quickly reached Barcelona's defensive line.
The defender who stepped up to stop him was Gerard Piqué — the same one who earlier had told Xia Qi to "enjoy the match."
Xia Qi did not slow; he charged straight at the Piqué who had earlier appeared so high-and-mighty.
Piqué no longer wore that pre-match composed, masterly expression.
He was a little panicked!
Normally, when a player dribbles past someone, you slow down; Xia Qi didn't — which meant a collision was coming.
Piqué had competed with Xia Qi for headers before and knew how absurdly strong Xia Qi was; he didn't want to be embarrassed. Despair crept in.
But he also couldn't step aside!
He had to grit his teeth and block Xia Qi's path.
As Piqué's heart raced, Xia Qi lifted his right leg to feint, as if to push the ball left.
Piqué felt the hairs raise, but his defensive instincts remained razor-sharp.
He judged quickly that it was a feint and decided to stay put.
Sure enough, Xia Qi's right foot skimmed over the ball and landed on its left side — a dummy.
Immediately, Xia Qi planted his left foot, leaned his body to the right, and his right foot, which had landed on the left side of the ball, was about to push it with the outside of his foot.
Was he going to push the ball to the right?
Piqué replayed Xia Qi's planting, right-lean, and push movements in his mind like slides and rapidly concluded:
Xia Qi would break to the right!
He shifted left.
Trying to out-think an AI-style opponent is just asking to get hurt!
Xia Qi's outside-foot fake was itself a fake. Just before his boot would touch the ball, he lifted his right leg and swept it over the ball, landing on its right side.
Then, with the inside of his right foot, he flicked the ball — the body went left.
Panic!
Piqué saw Xia Qi and the ball burst through in the opposite direction. He tried to change direction, but a tall player's center of gravity isn't as easy to control as a smaller one's.
As he adjusted, Piqué's tall frame suddenly tipped back and gravity unkindly sent him sprawling onto the turf.
At the Emirates, laughter unexpectedly rose amongst the cheers for Xia Qi — but no one felt it was out of place.
"Piqué got toyed by Xia Qi!"
"Xia Qi's successive dummies were like willows in the spring wind; his balance flickered and Piqué couldn't lock onto his center."
As Zhan Jun narrated, Xia Qi drove straight at the Barcelona penalty area.
A single stone sent a thousand waves!
Other defenders rushed at Xia Qi like piranhas fighting for bait.
Marc Bartra quickly covered for his partner.
Jordi Alba crept up from Xia Qi's side, trying to squeeze in a surprise pincer with Bartra.
But such small maneuvers were useless against an AI-like opponent.
Xia Qi windmilled his right leg and viciously struck the ball with the outside of his right foot.
Boom!
The Emirates trembled with a shocking blast!
It felt like a heavy hammer struck the chest!
In an instant!
The ball traced a white arc and rocketed toward the Barcelona goal.
In front of Barça's net Víctor Valdés had already been watching Xia Qi's footwork.
Since the Champions League quarterfinal draw, Valdés had been studying Xia Qi's shooting habits.
After Xia Qi beat Piqué, Valdés silently adjusted his position on the goal line.
Statistics showed Xia Qi aimed for the far corner 65% of the time.
So Valdés quietly adjusted his distance and weight relative to the far post.
And sure enough!
Data doesn't lie!
Xia Qi struck a bending trajectory with the outside of his foot toward Valdés' right.
Valdés dived to his right, opened his body in mid-air like a peacock fanning its tail, stretching his arms as far as they could go.
The movement was perfect — but Xia Qi's shot was even stranger.
From Valdés' vantage, the ball actually looked like it was heading for the byline!
Off target!
And this was a Champions League golden boot contender?
Valdés gave a flat little snort!
In the stands behind Valdés, Barcelona fans also saw the ball appear to be sailing out wide — a wildly inaccurate smash!
They refused to control their emotions; they magnified the moment, making the mocking laughter aimed at Piqué even louder as payback.
Valdés' airborne form began to drop!
But then, at that very moment, the seemingly wild shot bent back.
"A C-shaped ball!"
"A rainbow! A planar rainbow!"
"A boomerang shot — Xia Qi has completed a hat-trick before half-time!"
Holy crap!
Valdés began swearing in Spanish, Portuguese, English — whatever he knew came out as curses!
Holy crap!
The laughter behind the goal choked off. For a moment it sounded like male ducks in mating season.
The louder they had laughed before, the more embarrassed they now were; a few Barcelona fans had laughed so hard they suddenly fell silent, choking and even tearing up.
This is maddening!
Barcelona fans and Valdés prayed to God in their hearts: merciful Lord, don't let Xia Qi score — at least not this time!
But God had knocked off work and was watching the Champions League.
The bending ball didn't just come back toward goal — it slipped in just in front of Valdés' outstretched fingertips!
This drove Barcelona people insane!
If Valdés had hung in the air one more second — but there are no ifs in this world…
"Lovely strike!"
"A splendid outside-foot curve — even Ricardo Quaresma would shout: authentic!"
"After Barcelona completed a full 21-pass buildup, Arsenal countered. Xia Qi broke through Busquets and Piqué, got ahead of Bartra's cover, and with the outside of his right foot curled in a Quaresma-esque arc to complete a hat-trick!"
"Before half-time ended, Xia Qi had already netted a hat-trick. This is the Xia Qi we know, but this is not the Barcelona we are used to."
"In fact, Barcelona didn't play badly; they dominated most of the ball phases. Yet tonight Arsenal's defense was excellent, or perhaps Barcelona's effective possession was lacking."
Online:
"Damn, 65% possession, more than twenty exquisite short passes, and it falls apart under one counterattack."
"The era changed. With Guardiola gone, the cosmic team kept the skeleton but lost the essence."
"Why does Xia Qi score as if drinking water, while our players find it so hard? We're all from Greater China!"
"Fixed match! Didn't people say Barça is Arsenal's nemesis? Why is it zero for Barça and three for Arsenal? Impossible — absolutely impossible!"
"The era where possession equals victory is over. Playing pretty means nothing now; practicality prevails."
"Yes, only time could beat the cosmic team — that saying no longer holds."
The Emirates boiled over.
Although many Arsenal fans supported Xia Qi's chosen revenge, when the draw had actually yielded Barcelona they had mentally prepared to be bullied.
Instead, Barcelona became the ones bullied.
"I've become the person I hate!"
That feeling — awful!
Many on the terraces hopped like kids trick-or-treating for candy, making the whole stand vibrate; even the camera shook.
People watching on broadcast could feel the passion through the screen.
After the goal, Xia Qi ran to the south stand, performed a boxing-punch celebration, then fell to the turf as if he'd received a KO from the fans.
This celebration was a classic Wayne Rooney move.
Arsenal fans interpreted it as "I knocked Barça down!"
The stadium erupted once more in deafening cheers.
From the turf, a dazed Piqué got up. He caught sight of Xia Qi's interaction with the fans and recalled the words he had told him:
"Enjoy the match!"
Damn — how could I have said that?
Now those words felt like a slap in the face.
Piqué's expression was as ugly as Valdés'.
The greatest responsibility for this goal didn't lie with goalkeeper Víctor Valdés, but with him.
So the broadcast cut to a close-up.
Zhang Lu laughed: "Piqué getting humiliated like that will be replayed repeatedly on every TV station after the game."
"Honestly, it's rare to see Piqué so embarrassingly beaten, not even when defending Cristiano Ronaldo in El Clásico has he looked this bad…"
"Piqué usually defends Ronaldo quite well; fans call him 'Piqué the Insighter,' but tonight 'Piqué the Insighter' couldn't read Xia Qi."
"Holy crap! Listening to the two commentators, I look again at Xia Qi's feints and realize they're not simple at all — there's hidden craft. Don't say Piqué couldn't see through it, I can't either."
"Piqué's defense is solid, it's just Xia Qi's fakes are that genuine."
On the touchline, Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova angrily complained to his assistant: "I told him, this is how Balotelli got knocked over by Xia Qi before, don't take him lightly…"
"Well, it can't be entirely blamed on Gerard (Piqué) — Xia Qi is just too strong. Didn't Busquets also fail to stop him?"
Tito Vilanova shook himself from his initial venting and calmed down.
As a head coach he wouldn't vent for the sake of venting; that would be impotent. He had to think about the second half.
The current score was unfavorable to Barcelona, but remembering AC Milan's 2–0 precedent, Tito Vilanova was not desperate.
He believed there was little time left in the first half. Arsenal's morale was high; the first task was to steady the lines and not concede again.
Second, in the second half, they must strive to get an away goal.
Tito Vilanova made a quick decision: while Arsenal players were still celebrating, he moved to the touchline and used hand signals and whistles to remind his players to defend rigorously for the remaining minutes.
Of course Barcelona's defense wouldn't be parking the bus — that's not their style.
Their defense is to keep the ball at their feet and minimize forward passes.
With Barcelona's unique Tiki-Taka, as long as they don't risk the attack, basically no one can strip the ball from their feet.
Beep!
Messi restarted play.
The ball was recycled in Barcelona's half and boos rose across the Emirates…
But the Barça players were unmoved. Being three goals down had filled Arsenal with energy; the Arsenal players surged to win the ball.
Yet they could only chase the ball and became toys for Barcelona's players to dribble around.
When Barcelona play possession football, opponents really don't have much to do.
After being toyed for a while, Arsenal tightened up again.
Barcelona ground out the remaining time amid the home crowd's jeers.
Then they lowered their heads and quickly went back to the dressing room.
In their locker room Wenger affirmed his players' performance but still demanded they forget the score, defend cautiously, and counter boldly.
Wenger knew that simply sitting back wouldn't contain Barcelona — you must push up and strike.
Meanwhile, in Barcelona's dressing room:
Tito Vilanova held up an A4 sheet: "By the numbers, we didn't play badly. Possession: 70% vs 30%; shots: 12 vs 6; tackles…"
Barcelona's stats have always looked beautiful; for this style, ugly stats would be surprising.
No one wanted to be the spoilsport pointing out why 12 shots yielded zero goals while the opponent's six attempts produced three.
After his motivational talk Tito Vilanova continued: "Messi, we need you to be closer to the opponent's goal."
He picked up a marker and drew a zone on the whiteboard.
That area was about 10 to 20 meters from goal.
From there, Messi could shoot, dribble through, or combine with teammates.
To limit Messi, Arsenal would have to throw multiple defenders at him, leaving gaps elsewhere.
Pleased with his idea, Tito Vilanova wanted to ask Wenger: I've played this card — how will you respond, sir?
(END CHAPTER)
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