Chapter 104 — Plum May Yield Three Degrees of Whiteness to Snow, But Snow Loses a Bit of Fragrance to the Plum
After the halftime break, the players walked out of the tunnel.
Lionel Messi took the kickoff at the center circle, and Xia Qi involuntarily locked eyes with him.
They had shared such a look before the match, but then Messi's gaze had been more of a senior's appreciation of a junior.
Now his look was full of rivalry between peers, the stare of a lion king intent on driving out the rival stallion.
There can only be one king in every forest; the same is true in competitive sport.
Xia Qi smiled — who said Mr. Messi was easy-going?
Shave off the beard,
and Lionel is eighteen.
At this moment Messi's small universe was on the verge of exploding. He was both tender and fierce!
Xia Qi didn't not care about Messi; he simply couldn't affect him — he was just someone "watching the match for free"… whether Messi erupted or not had nothing to do with him.
Shortly after the second half began,
Barcelona launched a furious onslaught on Arsenal.
Messi cut inside from the right; after a shot from the right channel went wide, Dani Alves made a run to the near post and hooked a shot that grazed the post and flew out for a goal kick.
Then Andrés Iniesta struck a world-class shot from the edge of the box that smashed against the crossbar.
Barcelona's relentless bombardment didn't produce a goal but it put enormous pressure on Arsenal.
Even the laughter in the stands had died down; Arsenal supporters could see that Barcelona's fighting spirit was stronger than in the first half — the entire team seemed determined to succeed at all costs.
During the opening five minutes, Arsenal fans watched with clenched hearts; although Arsenal led by three, the shadow Barcelona cast was huge.
Arsenal fans feared Barcelona would come back from three down to equalize.
The one capable of such a great turnaround, of course, was Lionel Messi!
People of all ages fixed their eyes on Messi.
On the pitch,
Messi received the ball at the edge of Arsenal's box again, and there were nine defenders between him and goal.
Those nine had packed the penalty area full, as if erecting a wall in front of Messi.
Bounding into the box, Messi refused to stop at the wall; he didn't pass but chose to force his way through!
One feint, then another, then with his right foot he pushed the ball to his left, then with his left nudged it back to his right — the ball was back on his right foot.
After two feints it was just a shift between left and right feet, but Mikel Arteta and Santi Cazorla, who were doubling up on Messi, fell into the trap of inertia — the third change of direction fooled them.
They hurried to recover but weren't on the same page:
one braked suddenly, the other was already changing direction — the result was predictable, they collided with each other.
The wall in front of Messi instantly opened a gap; Messi immediately threaded the ball behind it and Pedro made a diagonal run into the vacated space to receive it.
After Messi laid the pass, he sped forward. Pedro didn't run at goal himself; instead he returned the ball to Messi.
Messi, surging into the box, checked it, halted sharply, feinted, and sent Umtiti sprawling.
Nine defenders had converged, leaving three against Messi, one left marking Pedro, and the rest swarming the Argentine.
Messi didn't try to force his way in any further.
Instead, he suddenly unleashed a shot!
The strike was extremely sneaky — the windup was minimal and the power came mostly from the ankle.
Not very powerful, but utterly unexpected!
The mob ready to swarm didn't notice Messi's subtle movement.
Only when someone first realized the ball at Messi's feet had vanished did someone cry out, and everyone turned toward their own goal.
Martínez was also fooled; by the time the ball ran past five defenders straight at goal, he belatedly reacted to make a save,
but it was too late!
"Messi!"
"At the crucial moment, Messi is still the reliable one!"
Zhan the commentator shouted:
"Messi toyed with Arsenal's entire defense, dancing a tango in a tiny space. Nine men of defense in front of him looked like scarecrows."
"The most brilliant part was the final touch. In martial arts, to make heavy things seem light and light things seem heavy is the mark of a grandmaster; football is no different."
"The ultimate aim in football is to get the ball into the net. If an attacker can't score in the end, everything before it was meaningless."
"Messi's goal came from making the heavy seem light — a hidden action that struck unexpectedly. Don't be fooled by the ordinary speed and angle; this shot was complicated and highly difficult, driven by the ankle."
On the live comments:
"Proof: Zhan is a Messi fan! In terms of sheer brilliance, it doesn't beat Xia Qi's three goals. But the scorer is Messi, you know how that changes things."
"Why say it's not brilliant? Did it not beat Arteta and Cazorla? Or was it not a miraculous strike in heavy pressure? Ronaldo fans, can't we be objective?"
"Why drag the boss into this? Stop fishing for trouble! It's just about whose goal was prettier, Messi or Xia Qi — what does that have to do with us Ronaldo fans? By the way, that shot isn't prettier than Xia Qi's."
"Does Messi really need people defending him?…"
Online the argument shifted… into a battle among Messi and Ronaldo fans.
On the touchline Wenger looked helpless.
There was nothing wrong with his tactics, and his players had done their jobs.
This goal could not be blamed on anyone.
You had to admit — Messi was unsolvable tonight!
Beside the field, Tito Vilanova saw Messi's goal and, elated, ran along the sideline toward the corner flag where Messi and his teammates were celebrating.
"At 62 minutes, Messi helps Barcelona pull one back and the score is now 3–1! That's a precious away goal. If the match ends 3–1, Barcelona returning to Camp Nou would have an easier path to qualification than their previous tie versus AC Milan. Considering Barcelona's home strength, Arsenal must find a way to further increase the lead at home."
"Wenger is making a substitution: Kevin De Bruyne on for Jack Wilshere, a like-for-like swap. Compared with Wilshere, Kevin De Bruyne's passing is sharper; Wenger wants to strengthen the attack."
Play resumed. After scoring, Barcelona's momentum rose — not just Messi but other players too were outstanding.
Particularly Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniesta.
Soon after Arsenal's restart, De Bruyne lost the ball under pressure from Xavi and Iniesta.
Barcelona began another attacking display; their proactive style was causing Arsenal a lot of trouble.
But compared with Pep Guardiola's cosmic Barcelona, something was missing — like thunder in a storm: loud at first, but mostly just noise.
In the 65th minute Pedro cut inside past Serge Aurier and passed into the center; Messi took a decisive shot near the penalty spot but Martínez held it.
In the 68th minute Barcelona struck again: Messi played to Gerard Piqué arriving at the far post, and his header smacked the crossbar.
By the 70th minute…
Under Barcelona's ferocious attack, Arsenal couldn't even get the ball past the halfway line, let alone threaten Barcelona's goal.
During that stretch Arsenal fans watched in terror, but fortunately Arsenal's defense held up.
After a string of fruitless sieges, Barcelona had to slow down a bit.
Arsenal survived their toughest spell.
In the 78th minute, Kevin De Bruyne delivered a lethal through-ball — precise as a scalpel splitting Barcelona's defense.
Xia Qi and Mario Balotelli accelerated simultaneously, creating a double threat.
"A beautiful through ball, a perfect timing that beats the offside trap!"
"Xia Qi receives and shoots!"
"Ah! Offside?"
"The linesman raised his flag after Xia Qi's goal — if it was offside, why didn't he flag earlier?"
Discontented boos rose around the Emirates.
On the slow-motion replay, Zhang Lu said: "This is a wrong call — the referee has just taken away Xia Qi's near-quadruple."
"From the angle to Piqué's right it's clear Xia Qi was in front of Piqué the moment De Bruyne released the pass. Head, foot… no line crossed. A brilliant counter and perfectly timed run, yet it was ruled out."
Online:
"The Champions League is getting more corrupt. Used to be hairline offsides — now it's ghost offsides!"
"It's rigged. He's the favored son: disallowing a goal is nothing, not even a yellow card. You know what I mean."
On the field Valdés quickly took the goal kick.
Xavi intelligently launched a long pass — a direct cross into Arsenal's box.
"Holy crap! Shameless, a sneak attack!"
"Xavi the boss! Didn't expect you, big-browed one, to betray Tiki-Taka!"
Messi returned the favor by breaking Arsenal's offside trap: he slipped through the defensive line and chased the ball down on the right side near the byline.
The shooting angle was tiny.
Messi still chose to guide it toward goal.
Martínez parried it out for a corner.
The Emirates gave Martínez warm applause for the block.
…
Barcelona as a team lacked aerial height,
Iniesta took a set piece; after Xavi received outside the box he played a ground pass to Messi.
Seeing Alexis Sánchez make a sudden run, Messi pivoted his body and stroked with his right foot.
Sánchez ghosted out from behind Kieran Gibbs's marking.
"Arsenal left a man free!"
Sánchez reaching the ball did not immediately stab it in but checked it, adjusting his body to strike with either foot.
That adjustment proved critical.
Samuel Umtiti rushed back and, at a crucial moment, went to ground to block; the ball hit Umtiti's shin and bounced to Serge Aurier.
Barcelona immediately pressed high.
Aurier saw Andrés Iniesta and Pedro closing in on him.
He cursed — his specialty is overlapping and feeding assists, but now he found himself sandwiched.
Unable to run the whole route, he hoofed it clear.
The ball flew upfield.
De Bruyne received it, and Xia Qi immediately made a sprint forward.
De Bruyne chipped a pass;
Sergio Busquets once again showed crafty positioning and blocked Xia Qi's forward path.
Last time Xia Qi had threaded the ball through Busquets' legs; this time the ball was in the air so an in-between-the-legs nutmeg wasn't possible.
Fans, players, and coaches all assumed Xia Qi would have to leap high to deal with the aerial ball.
Balotelli and Theo Walcott thought the same and rushed forward to wait for Xia Qi's header to knock it down.
Busquets prepared for an aerial clash with Xia Qi — a chance to settle the earlier nutmeg score.
But the AI offered Xia Qi a different solution than human thinking.
It controlled Xia Qi's body to brake in front of Busquets, pivot, and turn with his back to the big midfielder!
Using his back, Xia Qi pinned the tall Busquets firmly.
"Eat that!"
Busquets snorted; some professors are not like others — not every "professor" is frail like Wenger.
Busquets threw his whole weight forward to shove; the imagined stumble did not occur.
Again!
Busquets clawed forward with both arms and shoulders, trying to shove Xia Qi, but Xia Qi was like a flying rock — seemingly frail yet immovable no matter how they pushed or pulled.
Left with no choice, Busquets had to go around to defend, but Xia Qi seemed to have eyes in the back of his head; as Busquets adjusted his position, Xia Qi altered his stance accordingly.
He remained blocked behind Xia Qi!
It was incredible!
Busquets and his teammates were stunned; no one from Barcelona's back line stepped up to double.
Tito Vilanova on the touchline forgot to shout instructions; his face showed such worry one might think he was otherwise unconcerned.
Seeing their acknowledged muscle man Busquets dominated, Piqué felt strangely relieved.
Happiness doesn't always require revenge; someone worse off than you can also lift your spirits.
Xia Qi leaned on Busquets and lifted his leg to chest the ball down.
"Like Didier Drogba receiving with his back to goal!"
"Xia Qi's strength is no weaker than the beast's — Busquets couldn't budge him from behind."
Just as Piqué remembered he shouldn't be gloating and charged forward, Xia Qi had already released the pass.
Arsenal's right side — right-back Serge Aurier burst forward.
Xia Qi passed to the right and immediately turned and sprinted, leaving Busquets stranded and bewildered.
Aurier was fast; his dribbling simple and effective.
As Jordi Alba charged in, Aurier checked the ball, rolled it from his right to his left, cut inside and the ball and player brushed past Alba.
"Oh! That's a lovely dribble!"
"The move is simple — just speed!"
After getting past Alba, Aurier didn't drive into the box; he saw Xia Qi now at the edge of Barcelona's area.
Returning the favor, Aurier shaped his body and struck the ball.
The ball launched up and arced toward the top of the penalty area.
Xia Qi didn't stop — he kept sprinting forward, with Piqué glued in front.
Suddenly!
Xia Qi slammed the brakes!
He immediately retreated,
and Piqué hurried to keep up.
Just as Piqué surged forward, Xia Qi braked again and then leapt.
In midair Xia Qi quickly leaned back, lowering his center of gravity with head-heavy and feet-light balance, then swung his right leg up.
In the air, Xia Qi's movement was fluid and powerful, as if one with heaven and earth, achieving the unity of man and ball.
This was no longer simply a shot — it was a work of performance art!
Softness of body, beauty of force!
Explosive aesthetics!
"An overhead bicycle kick!"
Zhan Jun cried out, triggering the fans' adrenaline.
Viewers at home held their breath and widened their eyes as the ball flew from Xia Qi's boot with fierce speed and a perfect curve toward the top left corner.
Víctor Valdés, judging from Xia Qi's leap, had already anticipated an overhead kick.
He fixed his eyes on Xia Qi, not daring to miss a single frame.
A beautiful arc arrived, and Valdés launched himself.
But the ball's arc was high — if not for seeing Xia Qi's instep overhead flick, Valdés might have thought it was a curled shot!
It was just short!
Valdés was speechless!
Why was it always missing by that little bit — frustrating!
The ball squeezed past Valdés' fingertips and slipped into the net.
"Goal! After Messi's reply, Xia Qi stubbornly stretches the lead again."
"Plum may concede three degrees of whiteness to snow, but snow loses a bit of fragrance to the plum. Here 'plum' refers to Xia Qi! As Barcelona and Messi were gaining momentum, Xia Qi was like the lone plum blossom in severe winter, proud and unbowed against the powerful…"
Live comments:
"Zhan, where's your integrity? You're a Messi supporter — how can you switch sides like this?"
"Disappointed! Messi isn't subdued yet, but the Messi fans have already defected. That says something about how spectacular that bicycle was."
"Can someone praise Xia Qi?"
"Does he even need praising?..."
(END CHAPTER)
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