Chapter 185: Seven Swords Descend Tianshan — Defeating the Enemy in Nine Seconds
It was Thursday at seven in the evening — Champions League matchday.
This was Xia Qi's second time at Camp Nou.
Compared with the last visit, the Barça fans in the stadium this time felt unsettled — even fearful.
They booed crazily and hurled insults at the Arsenal players — treatment not seen on Xia Qi's last visit.
The boos grew loud as Xia Qi appeared; he took them as a compliment.
But in the next second the smile vanished from his face. From the Barça stands someone shouted a racial slur: "Yellow-skinned monkey!" "Bananas, anyone?"
To make sure Xia Qi would understand, they didn't use Catalan — they even used English.
Xia Qi immediately complained to the fourth official, who promptly warned FC Barcelona's delegation.
The referee said he would put the incident in his post-match report.
Those racists were escorted out by security, but a flame called "Draw Your Sword" ignited in Xia Qi's heart…
"Penguin Sports!"
"Penguin Sports!"
"Penguin Sports!"
"Dear viewers, welcome to the live broadcast on the Penguin platform of the 2013–2014 UEFA Champions League quarter-final first leg between FC Barcelona at Camp Nou and visitors Arsenal."
"I'm your old friend Zhan Jun."
"Hello viewers, I'm Zhang Lu."
"With stirring opening music, the players are entering the pitch…"
"Tonight Camp Nou is packed — a sea of blaugrana. We can see Pep Guardiola, newly promoted Bayern director Hasan Salihamidzic, Thierry Henry, Ronaldo Nazário (the original Ronaldo) in the VIPs…"
"Ronaldo's put on weight now — time's a butcher's knife, eh!"
"Pep and Salihamidzic look like weasels coming to wish the chickens well — if you can't beat them, buy them; that's Bayern's tradition."
The live feed cut to the VIP box. When an old man appeared on camera, the entire stadium booed loudly — this boo was even more intense than the ones aimed at Xia Qi.
Xia Qi and the others looked up at the LED screen.
The man shown was Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez.
Xia Qi stuck his tongue out cheekily — it was the "old priest" all right; you can't beat that.
I was arrogant!
Xia Qi wanted to make a face at the "old priest," to give a retort.
Alongside Florentino in the VIPs were Abu Dhabi's owner, Nasser, and Joan Laporta.
This was a gathering of bigwigs — no wonder Salihamidzic sat in the stands; not that he couldn't buy a VIP box, but the terraces are more cost-effective in terms of atmosphere.
Seeing the luminaries assembled, Mario Balotelli, usually a bit of a clown, straightened up and got serious.
The "old priest" once blurted bluntly: "Every player has a prince dream."
Balotelli figured it wouldn't be him — but anything can happen, right?
…
"Match is about to start. Zhang, please introduce the starting lineups to the viewers."
"Okay."
"Barcelona will play a 4-3-3 tonight:
Goalkeeper: Marc-André ter Stegen
Right back: Dani Alves
Center backs: Gerard Piqué, Javier Mascherano
Left back: Jordi Alba
Defensive midfield: Sergio Busquets
Right midfielder: Ivan Rakitić
Left midfielder: Andrés Iniesta
Right winger: Lionel Messi
Center forward: Luis Suárez
Left winger: Neymar Jr.
"Luis Enrique's 4-3-3 is heavy up top and relies on the enormous firepower of MSN. Their most terrifying attribute isn't individual skill alone,
but the chemistry between them — playing like a single organism, with total trust and unreserved support."
"Arsenal will line up 4-5-1:
Goalkeeper: Martínez
Left back: Luke Shaw
Center backs: Per Mertesacker and Samuel Umtiti
Right back: Serge Aurier
Double pivot: Gustavo, Santi Cazorla
Left midfielder: Xia Qi
Number ten: Kevin De Bruyne
Right midfielder: Theo Walcott
Center forward: Mario Balotelli."
"Wenger wants to match Barça in midfield tonight — a bold idea…"
…
When the players shook hands, it was the visitors who stood and waited while the home team stepped forward to greet them.
When Xia Qi shook hands with Yossi, their contact was brief and perfunctory.
On the Penguin stream Zhang Lu called out: "This is a handshake of two Ballon d'Or winners."
But he didn't know that a meeting between a predecessor and a successor often conceals deadly intent. On the pitch Xia Qi and Yossi both wanted to win; they knew the opponent was the biggest obstacle to victory. Before the match had even begun, hostility was present.
Their handshake was cursory, but they were much friendlier with the others. Yossi gripped Kevin De Bruyne's hand and whispered something to him, while Xia Qi joked with Luis Suárez as they shook: "Don't bite me — I haven't showered in three days."
"Oh? Saves you seasoning then — salt's expensive here…"
During the coin-toss, Xia Qi lost and Andrés Iniesta chose the half below the north stand.
That meant Xia Qi and company would play under the noise coming from Barça's die-hards in the south stand.
Especially since goalkeeper Martínez was only eight meters from the south terrace — and the Argentine shot-stopper's mother tongue was Spanish.
Xia Qi could only hope the Barça supporters spat insults in Catalan.
With Iniesta winning the toss, Arsenal naturally had kickoff.
As the game started, Xia Qi looked at Yossi and said to Kevin De Bruyne: "After kickoff, you keep running forward. Run into the space where their defensive line is weak; if nothing opens, go into the right channel and smash one in."
De Bruyne saw Xia Qi looking ahead rather than at him.
"Are you talking to me?"
"I'm talking to a Belgian pig."
De Bruyne didn't mind the jab and asked: "Why not you?"
"You pig! They'll let the European Golden Boot walk through?"
"Then run where? Will the ball arrive?"
De Bruyne felt Xia Qi's cockiness surpassed his own; he didn't dare promise to be the perfect target.
In fact, Xia Qi was just throwing out ideas — whether it worked would depend on luck.
"Talk or do?"
"Of course — but I'm afraid of losing my job…"
"Careful, don't go offside."
"I'm not really a pig!!!"
Xia Qi finished instructing De Bruyne, then called to Santi Cazorla and Gustavo to "cover" and to help De Bruyne sneak into the box.
He needed teammates to play a few passes in the back first; when he signaled for the ball, they should give it to him.
Cazorla and the others didn't fully understand why they were passing around in the back after kickoff, but they didn't ask.
Xia Qi was the captain — a man trusted implicitly. When he said do it, they did, no bargaining.
Having done this, Xia Qi returned to the center circle and waited for the whistle.
The referee kept an eye on his watch — the quarter-finals of the Champions League have synchronized kickoffs, and the ref must time it properly.
Beep!
Xia Qi nudged the ball to Balotelli, whose expression looked like a deserted little girl; he pouted and passed the ball back to Xia Qi.
Xia Qi dropped his shoulder back and recycled the ball to the defense while Balotelli surged forward — though Balotelli didn't feel thrilled; Xia Qi wanted him to be a decoy.
With Florentino Pérez watching, Balotelli felt like a supporting character and wondered if he'd lost his place in Xia Qi's affections.
But he dared not publicly question Xia Qi — the respect Xia Qi had earned over two seasons at Arsenal made that impossible.
Seeing Ivan Rakitić stick to him tightly, Balotelli felt vindicated — someone had it worse than him.
"Don't follow me — I'm not the main target."
Rakitić glared at Balotelli and, saying nothing, quickened his steps.
Balotelli felt clever instantly — now he had intellectual superiority. Next time someone said he was world-class only from the shoulders up, he'd let Rakitić show the way…
On the other side, De Bruyne started forward after kickoff but hesitated at first. He glanced back and saw teammates strictly executing their "orders."
So he didn't dare slack off and began probing for Barça's defensive weak points. He was both worried De Bruyne wouldn't get the pass from Xia Qi and worried Xia Qi might pass it.
Typical — afraid your teammate will mess up but also afraid they'll get through.
In the backfield,
after Xia Qi passed, he didn't fuss — he looked up to scan the front. A few seconds later he turned back and held out a hand for Cazorla to pass.
Receiving the ball, Xia Qi did not immediately drive a "east wind missile." Instead he signaled Luke Shaw to make the forward pass reception.
After releasing the ball, Xia Qi glanced forward again and locked onto De Bruyne's position.
Receiving the pass behind Andrés Iniesta, Xia Qi took the ball back.
That was Arsenal's sixth pass. The match clock had just passed six seconds, and six players had touched the ball — exactly one touch per second.
Iniesta, seeing the ball played behind him, spun and lunged at Xia Qi.
As Iniesta closed in, Xia Qi dragged the ball sideways, turned, and used his back to shield the charging Iniesta,
then suddenly launched a long pass.
He played a through ball behind Barça's last defenders.
A ball in behind!
The ball flew over everyone and landed precisely behind Barcelona's last two defenders.
At the same time, Kevin De Bruyne, who had been lying in wait near Gerard Piqué and Jordi Alba, put his foot down and sped out from the oblique angle the moment Xia Qi released the pass.
"De Bruyne! It's De Bruyne?"
Zhang Lu couldn't help exclaiming — he was a bit stunned; Xia Qi and De Bruyne seemed to have switched the plan. Was some hacker joking with the Penguin stream?
His partner Zhan Jun also shouted: "No offside — great play."
Barça goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen hesitated — and that's where he fell short of Manuel Neuer.
He intended to rush out but slowed after two steps.
Xia Qi's long pass had been placed with surgical precision, landing at the edge of the box, slightly closer to De Bruyne.
Ter Stegen judged he couldn't beat De Bruyne in a sprint; if he committed and failed, he'd be lobbed.
He lacked the decisiveness of his compatriot Neuer!
That hesitation amplified his danger.
De Bruyne brought the aerial ball down and set himself, then calmly struck.
As De Bruyne shot, Ter Stegen was trapped — forward was too late; back was impossible. He could only flail sideways to make a save.
But the point where he launched himself was the arc's apex.
This dive was doomed to leave empty hands…
No miracle came.
Ter Stegen's hands smacked the air as he turned in despair to the goal.
The ball fell from the sky like a rainbow and landed in the net.
"Goal!"
"Ter Stegen hesitated on his rush!"
"This is Arsenal's seventh touch and the seventh player to touch the ball — and it's only nine seconds into the match. Seven swords descend Tianshan and the enemy is beaten in nine seconds."
"Unbelievable! Arsenal are daring to play Tiki-Taka at Camp Nou — it's like swinging a huge axe at Lu Ban's gate, but somehow they did it."
"This is the fastest goal in this season's Champions League. Arsenal did a little trick before the shot: it was meant to be De Bruyne to shoot with Xia Qi's pass (the De-Xia connection), but it turned into Xia Qi to pass and De Bruyne to finish (the Xia-De connection).
That switch made Barça forget to mark De Bruyne, allowing him to be perfectly positioned near Jordi Alba."
Many Barça fans in Camp Nou were stunned after conceding. They kept asking friends around them: "Is this real? I'm not even awake yet — is this a dream?"
"Is it April Fools' Day?"
You can't blame them for being flabbergasted — the Barcelona players themselves looked equally dazed.
After conceding, the whole MSN front three were bewildered; even Javier Mascherano's face read "are you joking?"
Arsenal players didn't care about others' reactions.
After confirming his goal, De Bruyne ran along the sideline toward his own goal; teammates tried to intercept but he dodged them all.
Behind the Arsenal goal was the south stand of Barça die-hards,
and in the excitement De Bruyne ran the wrong way.
Arsenal fans at Camp Nou were few — only about a thousand; in an 80,000 crowd they occupied only half of the north stand.
At the moment De Bruyne scored, those Arsenal fans, like the Barça ones, chose silence.
Wrong-footed in his celebration, De Bruyne headed for the opposing fans and then realized his mistake and improvised — he rushed into goalkeeper Martínez's arms.
[De Bruyne and Martínez are close friends, huh! Why do I feel like he's hugging the other man?]
[Right, isn't he supposed to hug the passer, Xia Qi?]
[Have I discovered something huge? Will I be silenced?]
[Oh my god! I can hear Xia Qi's heart breaking…]
On the field, Xia Qi ignored the chatter and chased to the goal, pointing to the north stand's patch of yellow (the away supporters).
"We should thank the fans who came all this way to support us…"
Xia Qi had his teammates line up in front of the goal and wave at the north stand.
A huge chorus of boos rose from behind them — the Barça fans were not pleased.
(END CHAPTER)
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