Chapter 163: Still Can't Escape the "I Was Wrong — It's Great" Rule
Wembley Stadium rang with song!
"Glory to Manchester United" and "The Great Old Arsenal"
These two songs competed in the air above the pitch to see which could float higher and farther.
Don't be misled by the titles — both melodies are cheerful and playful; the Arsenal one even often includes a rap section in the middle, which is very entertaining.
That rap's lyrics are often improvised; at this moment the part that usually names Arsenal players had been twisted into: "Ferguson's retirement dream, Van Persie's championship dream…"
Of course it wasn't praise for them, but rather…
To drown out United's popularity, you can only express your anger with even louder singing.
In short, amid the joyful, energetic songs, fans nodded and swayed to the beat like attending a concert.
Arsenal fans had the upper hand in the sing-off, and Arsenal's players had the upper hand on the pitch.
The match had already gone half an hour. The score was still 1–1, but apart from that one goal United had shown nothing brilliant.
At one stretch they hadn't even entered Arsenal's penalty area.
Seeing his beloved United being dominated by their old rivals, Ferguson turned his head and stole a glance at the man he once called "a woman."
Damn!
So infuriating!!!
That calm, superior posture and expression — shouldn't that be me?
When did the tides turn?!!!
Damn Xia Qi!!!
Since that dark-haired youngster joined Arsenal, everything's changed!!!
Arsenal are starting to look like an invincible red force,
while United are increasingly looking like effeminate Gunners.
It pisses me off — I want a Xia Qi clone!!!
…
On the pitch,
every time Xia Qi had the ball, two or three defenders appeared around him.
Carrick in particular shadowed Xia Qi step for step.
Although in the last match Xia Qi took heavy media criticism, after studying the game Ferguson found Xia Qi was still Arsenal's most dangerous player.
He had planned to replicate the last game's pattern: first grab an equalizer, then a late winner.
But after Xia Qi scored the equalizer, Ferguson got scared — he saw Xia Qi was in much better form than before, so he set up defensively.
Carrick was assigned to man-mark Xia Qi all over the pitch.
"Fergie is still worried about Xia Qi! He's set up some targeted instructions against him."
"So far, Ferguson's strategy has worked; Xia Qi is somewhat restricted and not as outstanding as at kickoff."
"…"
Amid Henry and Solskjær's verbal jibes, the ball returned to Xia Qi's feet.
Carrick immediately closed in.
Xia Qi didn't show off tricks; he passed the ball out and ran forward.
Carrick doggedly followed Xia Qi…
The ball reached Kevin De Bruyne; De Bruyne drove the ball forward a few paces, then before Shinji Kagawa could press, he returned the ball to Xia Qi.
Xia Qi leaned on Carrick, flicked the ball with his heel and laid it off to the overlapping Luke Shaw. After the pass he angled forward, dragging Carrick with him and opening a lane for Shaw to run into.
Shaw's run arrived at the back post, overtaking Xia Qi, and at the same time Mario Balotelli was charging into the center, becoming Arsenal's leading spearhead.
Balotelli's sprint stretched Arsenal's attacking space.
Xia Qi moved out to the wing and exchanged runs with Shaw; just when the United players thought Xia Qi and Shaw were crossing and that Xia Qi would get the ball back,
Shaw laid the ball across to the near post where De Bruyne had timed his run.
De Bruyne feigned a pass to Balotelli but instead fed Xia Qi.
After a dazzling sequence of team interplay, the ball returned to Xia Qi's feet.
United's defensive line had been scrambled by Arsenal's movement; not a single defender was in their familiar position.
Central midfielder Carrick had become a left full-back, left-back Evra had moved up to a holding midfield role, and center-back Vidić was now at right-back…
Only Jones remained in position, guarding Balotelli in the box.
On the left flank, Xia Qi received the ball with his right foot and immediately rolled it behind him.
That feint removed the ball from Carrick's line of sight and made Carrick uneasy.
He dared not move rashly, eyes wide, studying Xia Qi's every motion.
…
Xia Qi
dragged the ball behind him, then
the controlling foot switched from right to left,
his center of gravity shifted slightly forward,
his left ankle trembled, and he explosively pushed the ball to the left. As Carrick tried to figure out what was happening, Xia Qi burst into acceleration and drove forward with the ball.
Like Figo dribbling past opponents.
Only the former right-wing maestro usually performed that on the right — Xia Qi did it on the left.
Carrick saw the ball roll left and only then realized Xia Qi intended to take it to the byline.
He hurriedly turned and chased him.
United's right-back Rafael saw Carrick beaten and rushed to cover.
The two of them, one ahead of the other, wanted to pin Xia Qi to the touchline.
Quickly, Xia Qi reached the ball,
as if he'd already decided his next move.
Without hesitation he flicked with his right foot.
In the blink of an eye, Carrick anticipated a cross and lightning-quick raised his leg to block Xia Qi's delivery.
But—
Xia Qi,
right-foot flick, left-foot touch,
deep-fried meatball!!!
As Carrick raised his leg, Xia Qi's left foot gently pushed the ball and it slid through the gap between him and Rafael.
Leg-raising Carrick couldn't reach the near ball, and the charging Rafael over-stretched trying to intercept and ended up in a massive split — luckily, doing splits as an athlete is a minor thing and won't injure ligaments.
Meanwhile, Xia Qi looped around Carrick and chased the ball.
From the stands you could see the ball pass between the defenders while Xia Qi ran a half-circle, avoiding giving the two a chance to foul!
A cunning separation of player and ball,
flawless!!!
Watching Xia Qi glide past defenders like silk, Arsenal fans cheered in triumph.
United fans clutched their chests nervously and stared toward their penalty area.
At this moment you could see the difference between Shaw laying off to De Bruyne — De Bruyne's movement and the one-touch change of play left only Jones as the central defender in the box.
Arsenal were two attackers against one defender in the box; Jones felt foolish for his teammates. He had no choice but to shout to his goalkeeper David de Gea to be alert,
and he threw himself toward Xia Qi.
Left-back Evra and center-back Vidić surged into the box; the next second Xia Qi supplying Balotelli an assist looked very likely.
"Ding-dong, [Assassin Jing Ke] attribute activated."
Xia Qi glanced at Balotelli,
sure enough!
Inevitably!
In full view of everyone, Xia Qi slightly shifted his body, pushed the ball up with the inside of his right foot, and the ball rose, sketching a beautiful arc in the air…
Vidić and Evra saw the ball bypass Jones and, thinking it was heading toward goal, accelerated toward Balotelli.
Evra, sprinting back from a midfield position, suddenly realized something was wrong;
the ball had actually fallen behind him — the arc in the sky had been shorter than expected and it dropped before reaching Balotelli.
Who's behind me???
On the goal line, De Gea first moved his feet toward Xia Qi in case of a close-angle shot,
then quickly shifted to cover Balotelli's likely finish.
As the ball fell behind Evra, De Gea had to keep moving,
but De Bruyne, occupying the space behind Evra, gave him no time.
As the ball dropped, De Bruyne struck with a volley, and the ball flew in a straight flat line over Jones' head into the top-left corner.
2–1!
De Bruyne was the real assassin of this Arsenal move!
Surprised?
Delighted?
"Goal!"
"Arsenal have come from behind to take the lead over United! A brilliant team move… Compared to my era, Xia Qi and his teammates are more clever in localized combinations — they don't deliberately unpick Man United's defense but naturally disturb the structure and strike decisively!"
For Henry, Arsenal's second goal was more exciting than Xia Qi's moment of individual heroism.
This team-crafted goal excited his adrenaline — the subtle lure without artificial traces was the essence of the attack.
Wenger leapt up from the bench, flung his arms wide and waved them hard.
Like Henry, he preferred this kind of team-goal.
His coaching staff behind him went wild with approval.
"Damn!"
Ferguson next door chewed his gum viciously, as if he were chewing Wenger himself.
Though unwilling to admit it, he had to concede that Wenger's left-side design was indeed brilliant — it reminded him of that flood-like terror!
Thinking of those days, Ferguson couldn't sit still; while Arsenal players celebrated he hurriedly called his players together…
His tactic: fight!
The Red Devils never "bow"!!!!
After that pep talk, it seemed to have an effect.
In the 38th minute United launched a quick counterattack.
Ryan Giggs sped down the left with Gustavo chasing close behind.
Breaking to the edge of Arsenal's box, Giggs suddenly shot; the ball curved oddly toward the far corner.
In front of Arsenal's goal, Emiliano Martínez made a fingertip, extreme save and pushed the ball out over the byline.
Danger averted!
A collective sigh of regret filled Wembley.
Giggs placed his hands on his hips and shook his head, a little helpless.
From ancient times great generals age like beauties — not allowing old age to show!
If he'd been younger, Giggs wouldn't have tried a blind strike; he would have cut inside and shot.
Why can Robben be called No.1 among wingers?
Because his cut-inside is unanswerable.
Cutting inside is a winger's killer move. Giggs is no exception, but time has passed and he wasn't confident he could beat Aurier before Gustavo recovered.
If he couldn't get past Aurier in time, he'd be caught in a double-team — so he might as well take a blind shot.
And it almost went in.
But regardless, you can't deny — he's getting older, especially watching Arsenal's many young players sprinting and pulling off tricks…
Giggs seemed to see his younger self; the feeling of age sharpened and suddenly retirement crossed his mind.
The veteran's thunderbolt almost pierced Arsenal's goal and gave United hope of an equalizer.
"Kagawa thread through, Rooney heads the flick-on, Van Persie!!!!"
"Van Persie, oh Van Persie! Missing a five-meter chance — don't blame the lack of a winner's medal, the fault is yours."
"Giggs crossed, Rooney flicked at the penalty spot — the contact wasn't clean and the shot lacked power."
"Arsenal counter — Walcott cuts inside into the box and shoots!!!"
"De Gea drops to his knees and holds the ball."
On the pitch, De Gea fed the ball forward, Shinji Kagawa stopped it only to be pressured by De Bruyne; Carrick moved to support but was being closely marked by Xia Qi.
Kagawa had no choice but to shield and pivot, preparing a back-heel to Vidic.
But near Vidic was a prowling Balotelli.
Assessing the situation, Kagawa opted to return the ball to De Gea.
As he struck it, Xia Qi dashed toward United's goal,
and Balotelli, like an arrow from a bow, shot at De Gea as well.
It was as if Kagawa was an Arsenal player, passing as if to Xia Qi and Balotelli.
At the moment of the pass, Kagawa went pale with fright and probably wanted to shout: I'm not a traitor.
Seeing the ball fly toward him,
seeing Xia Qi and Balotelli charging in to double up on him,
De Gea didn't dare delay a second; he abandoned his line, sprinted out and launched a flying save, punching the ball with both fists.
Balotelli, as Arsenal's spearhead, was closer and faster than Xia Qi; seeing De Gea rush out, Balotelli didn't hesitate.
He launched himself in the sprint.
Mid-charge, Xia Qi suddenly and inexplicably braked sharply and took a backwards step.
Just as everyone was bewildered, they watched the ball wobble toward Xia Qi.
Damn!
Top striker instinct!!!
Only then did everyone realize Xia Qi's sudden brake and retreat were the top-class goal sense that flows in a true striker's blood!
It turned out De Gea had punched the ball out over Balotelli's head, but the contact had grazed Balotelli's head so the ball lost outward momentum and fell to the spot Xia Qi had calculated.
Before anyone could marvel at Xia Qi's "luck," Xia Qi swung his right foot back and, at the moment the ball dropped, whipped it forward.
The ball became a white streak and flew into the unguarded net behind De Gea.
3–1!
Xia Qi's elite striker's intuition paid off — he guessed right and in first-half stoppage time extended Arsenal's lead.
This shot wasn't beautiful; the beauty was his nose for goal, all thanks to the [Assassin Jing Ke] attribute matched to him tonight.
The skill Xia Qi had once scorned was now truly delightful.
(END CHAPTER)
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