Chapter 149: Fire Scorches the Vajra, Smoke Smothers the Tai Sui
Mohamed Salah stood in the center circle with one foot on the ball, looking at Xia Qi with a complex expression.
Geniuses are proud!
Just look at the relationship between Cristiano Ronaldo and Yossi (Yo-si?) to understand it!
Among this batch of post-90s rising players, Xia Qi is the most valuable; the Golden Boy award this year is his almost without question, and on the Ballon d'Or he not only outpaced the post-90s but also outshone the post-80s duo of Messi and Ronaldo.
If Xia Qi ultimately wins the Ballon d'Or, he would be the first post-90s player to eclipse Messi and Ronaldo.
Salah didn't think he was that far behind Xia Qi; he felt the only difference between them was a scout who discovered him early.
If he'd been given the same career trajectory Xia Qi had, he could also have become the best of the post-90s.
Beep!
The whistle sounded, and play resumed.
Salah kicked off and surged forward.
Philippe Coutinho received the ball and immediately faced Arsenal's high press again — this time the presser was Xia Qi.
"Wenger is using Klopp's tactics to play against Klopp tonight."
"Klopp probably didn't expect this switch; Liverpool's players are clearly not used to Arsenal's aggressive pressing."
"Old heads still have the edge — in tactical setup Wenger slightly outmaneuvers him."
Coutinho first kept the ball at his feet and took a small step back to create some space from Xia Qi.
He rode a stepover, trying to fake Xia Qi out, but Xia Qi didn't budge.
Because Xia Qi didn't move, Coutinho dared not gamble. The coach's pre-match dossier made it clear: Xia Qi is a hexagonal warrior with no obvious weak points.
Seeing Coutinho's awkwardness, Salah dropped back to take the ball.
Xia Qi immediately abandoned marking Coutinho and chased Salah.
Salah didn't play the wall pass with Coutinho — young and confident, he didn't respect Xia Qi; now Xia Qi had come to him, so why hesitate?
He'd run to the byline all the way, leave Xia Qi behind eating turf, show the world there's another post-90s player who can match Xia Qi.
But reality is always cruel!
Xia Qi soon caught up and stopped him.
Salah's cross from the byline probably wasn't part of Liverpool's prearranged plan — Xia Qi's peripheral vision didn't see Liverpool players coming to link up with Salah.
Seeing this, Xia Qi didn't dilly-dally; he stepped closer, forced Salah toward the touchline, compressing his space.
Salah quickly faked an inside cut. Coutinho can't fool Xia Qi, and Salah couldn't either.
Xia Qi positioned himself on Salah's inside, turned his body to face him and held firm.
Salah then took the ball forward in a carrying movement; this carry and the feint were a single fluid action — Xia Qi was not fooled and the carry didn't free Salah.
Xia Qi took a long stride and stuck to him, further narrowing Salah's dribbling room.
Because Xia Qi was side-on and tight, if Salah continued forward he'd be forced to run diagonally — and running diagonally a few steps more would put him over the line.
With no choice, Salah who didn't want a mere throw-in had to do an abrupt stop and change of direction.
But that fell perfectly into Xia Qi's defensive trap.
Xia Qi never intended to force Salah out for a throw-in — at the moment of going out Salah would probably smash the ball at some part of Xia Qi's body to try to win a throw or a corner.
Salah didn't want that throw (or corner), and Xia Qi certainly didn't want to give it.
Forcing Salah to cut inside was Xia Qi's real goal.
Salah wanting to cut inside and Xia Qi wanting to force him to cut inside are two different things in defense — like bad news and good news in the stock market.
Xia Qi stayed side-on and advanced his step, only moving his left foot forward while keeping his right foot planted behind to trap Salah.
Salah was still young; he hadn't been beaten up by the five major leagues and didn't know the treacherousness of top-flight football.
He treated everyone like they were in the simple Swedish league.
A sudden stop —
a push to send the ball behind Xia Qi —
a change of direction —
a dribble!
The whole sequence flowed like water.
The man cleared Xia Qi with his body, but the ball didn't pass him.
At the moment he played the pass, Xia Qi's trailing right leg swept across and intercepted the ball.
After dribbling past, Salah realized the ball was gone, turned to reclaim it, only to be physically blocked by Xia Qi's solid back.
"Beautiful defending!"
"An experience-based crushing."
The Emirates thundered with applause!
On the sideline Jürgen Klopp allowed himself a wry smile: Salah is a few years older than Xia Qi in age, but in football experience he's inferior.
This turnover was lost through experience.
Amid the applause, Xia Qi tapped the ball to Gustavo and pointed upfield, motioning Gustavo not to combine with him.
Gustavo played a diagonal pass back to Serge Gnabry at the center circle. Gnabry received, drove forward on the left, and at the left corner of the penalty area played a one-two with Mario Balotelli, breaking into the box.
He lifted his leg to shoot, but because it was raining his footing slipped; the ball didn't catch the sweet spot and flew wildly off target.
Ridiculous to the extreme.
Arsenal fans who shouldn't have been laughing let out joyous chuckles.
"The Emirates drainage is great; rainwater quickly drains into the lower pipes, so the pitch won't be muddy or puddled. Ironically that makes the turf slick. When Gnabry cut and then braked, he couldn't get a grip; his supporting foot slithered and his aim completely skewed."
"Don't blame home fans for schadenfreude — this shot was hilarious; even Wenger was laughing."
"O'Neal would say: my eighty-year-old granny hits a cleaner shot than that…"
Gnabry climbed up red-faced from the turf and stamped his foot hard where he'd slipped — an almost childish gesture that reminded everyone this handsome lad was actually even younger than Xia Qi.
Eighteen!
A main striker at the Premier League giant Arsenal, who's even scored in the Champions League — what else could you want? When I was his age…
Thinking such thoughts, thunderous applause rolled through the Emirates.
…
Liverpool's players had played rain matches before, but never under such pressure in this kind of high-level game in awful weather.
Trailing by seven points added the pressure of "must win, mustn't lose"; a new season and a new lineup added another layer of stress…
Under dual pressure, Liverpool's players were a bit jittery.
In the first half at the 27th minute Steven Gerrard received the ball at the edge of the box, turned, and instead of following the tactical plan to pass to Salah, he unleashed a wild shot!
Under Gustavo's interference the ball flew straight up into the stands.
The Emirates stands are close to the pitch; a middle-aged man in the crowd sprang up, caught the ball, and tossed it to a freckle-faced little boy.
The boy stuffed the ball into his shirt and refused to give it to the staff.
This happens often; most balls kicked into the stands are never returned.
A ball boy tossed a replacement, and play resumed.
Gerrard's skyrocket — Martínez took a goal kick.
Per Mertesacker passed to Santi Cazorla; Cazorla didn't pass immediately but drove forward, shrugged past Jordan Henderson, and the ball reached Xia Qi.
Facing Gerrard pressed onto him, Xia Qi didn't even glance at him — he just cast a look over Gerrard's shoulder, lowered his head, and stroked the outside of the right foot.
Gerrard swore silently — he didn't need to look back to know Xia Qi had spotted the gap behind him.
Fuck!
You're a winger!
Attacking midfield was only a temporary role; was it necessary to be so sharp? You make me feel like my main job is the number 10.
All Gerrard's inner complaints couldn't change the fact: the ball described a strange arc, cunningly slicing through the gaps between Gerrard, Virgil van Dijk, and Jon Flanagan, and dropping precisely behind Flanagan.
Those three were not in a straight line — the arc had to fly an "S" shape to land that accurately.
The difficulty goes without saying!
But Xia Qi had seen it and executed it.
"A quasi-Archimedean curved scalpel pass."
"Walcott has cut inside!"
"One-on-one!"
"The chemistry between Xia Qi and the forwards is incredible!"
Another one-on-one!
The Emirates boiled over!
Beep!
Beep!
As Arsenal fans clapped in rhythm and cheered loudly, a sharp whistle suddenly sounded and cut through the noise.
Offside????!!!
Off your fucking offside!!!!
That's offside, I'll eat my boot.
Arsenal fans booed angrily, but strangely only half the stadium booed the referee.
The other half were blaming a freckled little boy.
It turned out the brat had, at some point, run from one end of the pitch to the other and tossed the ball back into play, perhaps thinking it was fun…
By the rules, if there are two balls on the pitch the referee should generally stop play, but if there's no interference they may not. Strictly speaking the boy hadn't thrown the ball in front of Liverpool's goal so it didn't have an effect and play could continue — external factors shouldn't wipe out the attacking side's effort, like in that England vs. Denmark match.
But the little boy had tossed a ball onto the side where the attack was developing; although it didn't obstruct Walcott's one-on-one with the keeper, the referee judged it had interfered with Liverpool's defense…
A flimsy excuse!
And the brat happened to be an Arsenal fan.
Arsenal could only swallow the bitter pill.
Wenger rose and paced over to protest to the fourth official. The protest wouldn't change the result, but it was necessary.
The little boy was unafraid — making faces at those berating him as he happily walked back.
You could tell he'd enjoyed his prank.
Xia Qi watched his brazen manner and guessed the boy must have a brazen parent.
Sure enough, up in the stand behind Arsenal's goal the middle-aged man and the youngster gave each other a high-five in celebration.
The Emirates resounded with discontented boos.
"That kid is either malicious or dumb! Don't mess around until Liverpool are attacking — and that parent…"
"There are brat kids and awful parents everywhere, nationality doesn't matter…"
Play resumed.
Simon Mignolet took the goal kick.
Arsenal continued their high press. Facing Arsenal's ferocity, Liverpool recycled the ball in their own half.
Knowing the essence of high pressing, Klopp stood at the touchline urging his men to push up.
If they were turned over near their box from a backpass, they could end up with a packed lunch.
Liverpool's players knew this, but Arsenal players were venting all their anger at the little boy onto them.
Fortunately, although Liverpool aren't TiKi-TaKa specialists, as a big club their passing game was still solid.
For five or six minutes the ball stayed under Liverpool's control.
The jeers in the Emirates grew louder, but Arsenal's pressing started to lag.
At this moment Gerrard raised his hand for the ball — he's Liverpool's captain and absolute core.
Coutinho didn't dare delay for a second and slid the ball to him.
Gerrard didn't receive to drive at goal but played a diagonal pass to Sadio Mané.
Mané carried forward, Gerrard closely following. When Mané met Serge Gnabry's press,
Gerrard called, "Here."
Although Mané could have taken Gnabry, he instead played a wall pass with Gerrard, receiving the ball on the other side after the one-two.
Xia Qi covered Gnabry and began to mark Mané.
Mané didn't bother tangling with Xia Qi; he willingly slipped the ball back to Gerrard. Gerrard received and shifted the field, moving the play from the right to the left.
Mohamed Salah burst forward on the left wing.
Cazorla and Gustavo alternately helped "Egyptian Yossi" evolve toward an Egyptian pharaoh.
A sequence of gasps rippled around the Emirates — they realized the Egyptian whom Xia Qi had been tightly marking had been "playing possum."
In the middle of the pitch Gerrard and Xia Qi were both sprinting toward the Arsenal box.
Salah beat Gustavo, then slid the ball into the penalty area.
Near the left side of the penalty area.
Daniel Sturridge received, lifted his leg and shot!
He didn't care in the least that there were two center-backs and a keeper in front of him, as if those three people didn't exist.
Full-throttle!
That's the attitude!
His leg swung fast and he hit it with real power!
No need to ask — this posture screams "raw power produces miracles."
The ball flew like a cannonball!
Different from Xia Qi's heavy artillery, Sturridge's shot had heavy rotation and unbelievably squeezed through the tight gap between Mertesacker and Umtiti.
If the space between Mertesacker and Umtiti had been larger, the Emirates fans wouldn't have been shouting.
But the gap was exactly wide enough for a ball to pass.
And Sturridge's luck didn't end there — the shot was a bouncing ball.
Luck?
Or pure strength?
For Martínez there was no difference; for this save he could only do his utmost and leave the rest to fate!
!
Martínez felt the ball graze his fingertips.
In that instant Martínez wanted to howl to the sky: I am the handsomest boy in the town, the best keeper of the post-90s!
The strike had power; Martínez's fingers weren't enough to push it out completely — only to nudge its direction.
Boom!
The ball hit the post!
That sound, to every Arsenal supporter, was heaven-sent.
However,
raw power can produce miracles!
The attack wasn't over!
The ball hit the post and still had momentum to rebound to about ten meters out.
Gerrard and Xia Qi were sprinting through the middle.
Gerrard might be slower in straight-line speed, but he'd gotten the positional advantage and was about half a step ahead of Xia Qi.
It looked like Xia Qi might boot the ball away.
Gerrard gave everything: during his sprint he pulled a Robin van Persie-style flying leap to head the ball and, at the moment of the leap, used his hand to hook Xia Qi's left chest.
Without that hand on Xia Qi he wouldn't have reached the ball.
The ball flew back toward the goal.
Martínez, just up from the ground and still out of breath, lunged again.
Still he couldn't reach it,
The ball struck the crossbar!
It rebounded again into the box,
a white flash faster than Xia Qi controlled it with the chest, held it behind himself, accelerated past Xia Qi, and struck a volley into an empty net!
It went in!
1–1!
"Fire scorches the Vajra, smoke smothers the Tai Sui — Mané levels for Liverpool."
(END CHAPTER)
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