Chapter 122: Even If Clouds Hide the Sun, I Will Draw My Sword and Cut Through the Sky
"Penguin Sports!"
"Penguin Sports!"
"Dear viewers, in the first leg of the semi-final, Xia Qi was suspended with a red card, and Real Madrid left the Emirates with five away goals after a 1–5 defeat.
That means for Arsenal to advance they need a +5 goal margin at the Bernabéu.
This is undoubtedly extremely difficult! One could pessimistically even say: this is impossible.
In Champions League history, the most goals Real Madrid have conceded at home in a single match is three — in the 2009–10 Champions League they lost 2–3 to AC Milan. In club history, in 2008–09, in the second leg of El Clásico they lost 2–6 to Barcelona, setting their club record for most home goals conceded.
From these records you can see that for Arsenal to get a +5 at the Bernabéu tonight is very hard.
But Arsenal fans shouldn't be too pessimistic.
In Champions League history Arsenal and Real Madrid met in the 2005–06 Round of 16.
In that tie, the King of Highbury Thierry Henry led Arsenal to a 1–0 win at the Bernabéu.
As everyone knows, Xia Qi's scoring efficiency far exceeds Henry's, so completing a miraculous comeback is not impossible."
"The referee is checking his watch; the match is about to start. We'll announce the starting lineups.
Home team Real Madrid wear white and attack from the left side of your screen to the right. Tonight's starting eleven is a balanced 4–4–2:
Goalkeeper: Diego López
Right-back: Dani Carvajal
Centre-backs: Sergio Ramos, Pepe
Left-back: Fábio Coentrão
Double pivot: Xabi Alonso, Casemiro
Two attacking midfielders: Luka Modrić, 272
Forwards: Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo
Substitutes: Iker Casillas, Ricardo Carvalho, Kaká, Ángel Di María, Michael Essien…
The visitors in red are Arsenal; they attack from the right of your screen to the left, playing a 4–5–1.
Goalkeeper is the in-form Martínez, while first-choice goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny is on the bench.
This shows how cruel professional careers can be: when you return from injury, even in your prime you can lose your spot.
Right-back: Serge Aurier
Centre-backs: Samuel Umtiti and Per Mertesacker
Left-back: Luke Shaw
Double pivot: Mikel Arteta, Santi Cazorla
Three attacking mids: Theo Walcott, Kevin De Bruyne, Xia Qi
Centre forward: Mario Balotelli.
Four or five seconds earlier:
"Ding dong"
"Please select 'Training' or 'Match' mode."
"Match"
"Please choose your pitch position: A Forward, B Midfield…"
"B"
"Please choose a midfield role: A Attacking Midfielder, B Central Midfielder, C Winger, D Deep-lying Playmaker, E Defensive Midfielder, F Box-to-Box All-Rounder."
Do I even need to choose?
"F"
"Detected that the host team is currently in difficulty; matching host with the attribute [King of Chaos]."
"The more opponents there are, the stronger the host becomes! One against ten, true heroism is shown…"
"Please choose 'Autonomous Mode' or 'One-Click AFK Mode'"
"Warm tip: During AFK, the system will automatically complete all action metrics for the host."
"One-Click AFK!"
"Relaxed AFK, one-click automatic completion, free your feet and bring the host a relaxed and joyful pitch experience! Match experience officially begins."
After that, Xia Qi's whole bearing became that of a commander…
…
"Home team Real Madrid kick off."
Amid the cheers of over sixty thousand Real fans, Karim Benzema passed to Luka Modrić.
Facing a press by Theo Walcott, Modrić first dropped his left shoulder, appearing to go past Walcott on the right.
When Walcott lunged right, Modrić lightly dragged the ball to the right with the tip of his foot.
"Nice little fried dumpling!"
Then he used his right foot to move the ball to Walcott's left.
Completing the whole "fried-dumpling" dribble, Walcott was beaten.
Kevin De Bruyne and Mikel Arteta immediately closed him down; Modrić didn't continue the run and passed to 272.
Xia Qi slid over to intercept, but 272, carrying the ball, slammed into him fiercely.
He intended to unsettle Xia Qi's footing and give him a hard knock.
One unstable foot,
one with added acceleration,
when these two collide, who wins seems like a done deal; Real fans cheered eagerly.
…
Before the match 272 was already displeased with Xia Qi; seeing Xia Qi make two steps into one to recover quickly — a lateral shift that would destabilize his balance — he saw a golden opportunity.
He immediately dribbled forward, shoulder-checking hard into Xia Qi's left chest.
That's where the human heart sits; youth coaches teach players to protect that position from childhood.
Most people wouldn't shove there, but 272 has no scruples!
People like 272 may shine briefly but won't last — doing dirty things often won't make you a winner.
Amid the cheers, the two of them collided solidly.
The dull thud of flesh hitting flesh, captured by the close-up microphones, made everyone's skin crawl; people felt as if some part of their own bodies ached.
On the pitch, 272 didn't feel pain — he felt an earthquake.
The ground shook, and after a dizzying spin the ball disappeared, Xia Qi disappeared, the sky in front of him looked beautiful, the floodlights dizzyingly bright, and why were fans hanging on the walls??
When did Bernabéu start selling hanging tickets?
The Bernabéu fell silent.
Seeing 272 lying flat on his back on the turf, Real fans were stunned; they forgot to boo Xia Qi and even forgot to shout "Foul."
"272 should bulk up — with that physique don't go charging at Xia Qi. Even if Xia Qi's balance is off he's not a skinny stick to be picked on. Like the old wolf king, not every rabbit can bully him."
The Arsenal fans who traveled with the team saw Xia Qi, like a lumberjack, easily floor 272, and they leapt from their seats:
"Xia Qi, charge!"
Cheered on, Xia Qi pushed the ball away and immediately sprinted toward the Real goal.
Real's mid-to-front were nearly beyond the halfway line; Casemiro remained deep and charged toward Xia Qi.
Real fans: "Knock him over!"
Arsenal fans: "Eat him alive!"
Casemiro really charged!
Hearing the Real fans' shouts, he bore down like a tank toward Xia Qi.
As Xia Qi sped forward, he decelerated and nudged the ball left with his foot, his body twisting right like a slithering snake:
ball ←, Casemiro ↓, Xia Qi →.
"A textbook body-and-ball separation."
Casemiro paid the price for his storming tackle.
He couldn't brake and turn; he just kept plowing forward.
Xia Qi, having separated from the ball, put on more pace and quickly caught up with it.
Xabi Alonso, coming to help, also arrived in time.
Xia Qi made no extra move; with a second burst of speed he took Alonso cleanly in stride.
[Dragon Brother, what's happening? Just let Xia Qi walk through like that?]
[Is Dragon Brother a traitor? Or was he clubbing last night?]
The live chat exploded; many couldn't accept that their beloved Alonso did nothing and was beaten by Xia Qi.
Alonso turned, looking resentful at the receding figure of Xia Qi.
"Xia Qi eats up Alonso! Ah! Danger!"
On the TV, Pepe charged in from the side and launched a sliding tackle.
This tackle wasn't to reach the ball — it was aimed directly at Xia Qi's ankle.
Pepe doesn't have a grudge against Xia Qi personally; his playing style is just dirty!
Which is why, being a Brazilian-born Portuguese, if this were an Asian player he'd likely be banned for good.
In a flash, Xia Qi used the tip of his left foot to nudge the ball away and then jumped up.
He avoided Pepe's tackle with the ball and his body together.
Pepe slid on the turf; he looked up at Xia Qi as the youngster leaped over him — from his angle, Xia Qi seemed to fly past…
"Fuck, another Ronaldo!"
Pepe saw in Xia Qi the same quality as Cristiano: "eyes only for the ball."
It seems all footballers should be like that, but most people love themselves more… and that's how Pepe survives.
Therefore Xia Qi's single-mindedness is what Pepe hates most…
"Xia Qi has beaten four in a row: 272, Casemiro, Alonso, Pepe; now before him Real's defense is in tatters…"
Arsenal fans all stood up, and Real fans clutched their chests in nervousness…
Two steps later, Xia Qi reached the edge of the penalty area.
Facing Sergio Ramos' defense, Xia Qi performed a "Messi shoulder drop" and dipped to the left.
In La Liga you get at least two chances a season to defend against Messi; theoretically Ramos shouldn't be easily fooled.
Yet he still gave up his balance so readily.
Xia Qi didn't hesitate: he pulled his shoulder back, and with the inside of his left foot nudged the ball to the right, bursting through the opposite way.
"Watch out!"
Arsenal fans screamed their lungs out, some voices even choked with tears…
Wenger also stormed out of the technical area.
It turned out Fábio Coentrão saw Xia Qi run past the whole defensive line and, in a panic, went in with a tackle from behind.
That's dirty!
Pepe's dirty is hidden, only clear on slow motion; Coentrão's chop from behind was dirty in the open.
Arsenal were furious!
At this moment, unless Xia Qi grew eyes at the back of his head, then…
Some female fans were so anxious they began to cry…
While Arsenal fans' hearts were in their throats,
the AI did something inhuman again!
It didn't directly manipulate Xia Qi's body to jump — that would waste the shooting chance.
It used the left toe to trap the ball on the instep and slightly cupped the sole so the ball held at the ankle.
Simply put: a Marcelo-style instep control!
Then Xia Qi jumped!
Coentrão slid past.
In mid-air,
Xia Qi's left ankle flicked; the ball rose slightly forward as he performed an aerial shuffle: after flicking the ball with his left foot he slid backward and then snapped his right leg forward.
From Xia Qi's side view it looked like the Bundesliga logo, in traditional martial arts the "double-kick."
The ball fell forward, and Xia Qi's right foot completed the kicking motion, striking the ball hard.
"Danger!"
"Xia Qi, watch out… wow! An unorthodox shot!"
"My God! Xia Qi not only avoided Coentrão's dirty play, he also pulled off a shot!"
Diego López saw Xia Qi clamped to the ball and leap and sensed something was off — when things are abnormal, trickery is nearby!
As Xia Qi struck, Diego López leapt sideways, giving everything he had.
A heroic save!
The ball made a big arc and skipped past the tips of Diego López's fingers.
Just as López despaired, a furry limb appeared in his vision and booted the ball out for a corner.
It was Sergio Ramos who had tracked back at the critical moment!
"Beep!"
The referee blew his whistle and rushed at Coentrão. Before he could pull a card he put a hand to his headset and then ran toward the touchline.
It turned out Wenger and José Mourinho were arguing at the sideline.
Wenger, seeing Coentrão's back-of-the-leg chop, had rushed out from the bench.
Seeing Xia Qi was fine, Mourinho didn't return; he walked toward Wenger and accused him of being unfit to be a coach — that he used such dirty tricks to win.
Mourinho's temper is such that he can argue his way into reason — much less would he accept such idiocy as a rub of the ruby coming from himself.
He's not taking that blame!
The two of them argued in front of eighty thousand people.
The referee ran between them and booked each with a yellow card and then ordered them back to their technical areas.
"This is the first time in Champions League history both managers have been booked, right?"
"The two of them had a grudge back in the Premier League; their coaching philosophies differ — they're rivals…"
"Real are playing dirty tonight!"
"I guess they've been so far ahead they subconsciously defended and counted on that to be enough; until they met Xia Qi, the muscle beast — their defensive technique couldn't cope, so they resorted to dirty play."
"The referee showed Coentrão a red card; a chop from behind is a straight red."
"I feel that tactic wasn't Mourinho's instruction; Coentrão must've lost his head on his own."
"Probably — Mourinho kept nagging Coentrão about the next match…"
"Coentrão was too hot-headed. With Arsenal 11 vs 10, a comeback really becomes possible."
On the pitch, Arsenal had a corner.
Kevin De Bruyne raised his arm; when the whistle sounded he delivered the left-sided corner.
De Bruyne struck at the ball, but pre-match Real had watered the pitch a lot. As his supporting foot stepped forward he slipped.
The ball was struck off-target.
The ball that was supposed to fly to Xia Qi headed toward the near post, and it was a tricky half-height delivery that's friendlier to defenders than attackers.
De Bruyne fell and pounded the turf in frustration.
A half-height ball is one that comes to waist height.
At that height a header is usually a diving header, while other options are awkward — too low for a volley, too high for a two-kick. It's an embarrassing cross.
Just as Real players and fans relaxed, a red figure appeared in front of the ball.
At the moment De Bruyne mis-hit, Xia Qi's mind: "Ding, [King of Chaos] attribute activated…"
So Xia Qi burst from the crowd, his body leaning 60 degrees to the right, on the verge of toppling.
Then his left leg extended diagonally backward, sweeping; at the instant the ball flew over, he whipped his tail!
The whole movement looked like a scorpion's sting.
"Xia Qi!"
"Scorpion kick!"
As commentator Zhan Jun exclaimed, Xia Qi's left heel struck the front of the ball hard.
The ball changed direction, tracing a rainbow past Diego López and into the far corner.
"Wow! Goal!"
"Tonight Xia Qi is unconventional! First a Bundesliga-logo kick, then a scorpion sting; his move is even harder than Ibrahimović's."
"Arsenal have had two shots and scored one, and they've got an extra man — knocking out Real and reaching the final is completely possible."
"To stop Xia Qi tonight, Real played very dirty, but even so Xia Qi scored. As the saying goes: Even if clouds hide the sun, I will draw my sword and cut through the sky. Xia Qi, mighty! Mighty, Xia Qi!"
(END CHAPTER)
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