Chapter 211: Does the Champions League Goddess Favor Cristiano Ronaldo?
3:2!
Arsenal led by one!
"Tonight's match has truly been spectacular; both sides have been trading goals, and even their celebrations compete with each other."
"Cristiano Ronaldo taunts opponents with his signature siu after every goal, while Xia Qi, after scoring, is always so calm and indifferent as if he's only completed some trivial task..."
"Heh... the two teams are evenly matched, and so are Xia Qi and Cristiano Ronaldo."
Seeing Xia Qi walk back to the center circle unhurriedly, Cristiano Ronaldo drew a deep breath from afar, and then slowly exhaled...
Alright, from today on, my left eye is Lionel Messi, my right eye is you!
Under the cameras, Cristiano Ronaldo's eyes were full of arrogance, while Xia Qi's gaze could kill. When the broadcast caught that moment and put it on the screen, the stadium erupted in thunderous cheering, and the temperature of the atmosphere climbed. Fans screamed their idols' names as if their lives depended on it...
When Cristiano Ronaldo clenched his fist and made the "come on" gesture to the fans, the decibel level reached its peak.
Meanwhile his opponent stood in the center circle, still high and cold, expressionless, no response—just as upright as a javelin. Yet his supporters' decibel level was not any lower than Cristiano Ronaldo's fans...
Cristiano Ronaldo felt a pang of jealousy... he felt that person was more annoying than Lionel Messi...
After the match resumed, Real Madrid quickly took control on the field.
Cristiano Ronaldo looked very energetic; soon he found a chance on the edge of Arsenal's penalty area.
Karim Benzema ran past Cristiano Ronaldo, drawing away the defender marking Cristiano.
Gustavo thought Per Mertesacker would cover for him, and Mertesacker thought Gustavo wasn't that stupid. As a result, the super killer was left unmarked. Luka Modrić, of course, would not miss such a great opportunity.
Cristiano Ronaldo received Modrić's pass and struck a left-footed long shot from outside the box.
Unfortunately it skimmed the post and went wide, failing to threaten Arsenal's goal.
Two minutes later, Real Madrid came at them again.
Gareth Bale burst forward at high speed down the right. When Santi Cazorla came up to intercept, Bale performed a "pass the ball to the version of myself three seconds from now," drawing gasps and cheers throughout the Emirates.
After forcing his way past, facing the fullback's defense, Bale swept the ball into the box.
Cristiano Ronaldo, running at the near post and drawing the defense's attention to himself, suddenly made an unexpected flick, letting the ball roll from under his high-raised right foot straight toward the far post.
At the far post, the well-known scapegoat sprinted in, and faced with the brilliant assist did not control the ball but immediately struck.
The ball traced a perfect "C" curve in the air, bending from the far post toward the near post.
Emiliano Martínez stood on the goal line and made a lightning-quick dive; in a flash he managed to palm the ball away.
Just as Real Madrid fans despaired, a white figure met the flying ball and struck it with a curled foot.
"Cristiano Ronaldo!"
The ball again drew a beautiful "C" in the air, this time flying from the near post toward the far post.
Though Martínez tried to make a double-save, this time the tips of his fingers did not touch the ball.
"Goal!"
"Cristiano Ronaldo scores the rebound! The King of the Champions League is well deserved—he's completed a hat-trick! He has fiercely equalized at 3:3!"
Commentator Zhang Lu screamed hysterically: "This is a showdown between superstars. After Xia Qi scored to put his team ahead, Cristiano Ronaldo responded head-on with a hat-trick."
"Cristiano Ronaldo is really strong! A hat-trick in a Champions League final!"
"The pressure falls on Xia Qi now. Will he respond like the last two times?"
"Haha, if he really does, tonight's game will be like playing table tennis—one point from you, one point from me... Is that realistic? It is! Because I like it!"
After his goal, Cristiano Ronaldo leaped high under the north stand for the third time and made his trademark "siu"!
This time, the imagined boos like waves crashing against a cliff did not arrive. There were boos, yes, but also applause.
Arsenal fans were not united; football transcends national boundaries and Cristiano Ronaldo had earned the respect of many Arsenal supporters!
"3:3! Normally finals don't make for good games, but tonight is different! Both sides have given us a thrilling back-and-forth. In the remaining 15 minutes, defense will be the primary element for both teams; nobody can afford to concede in the dying moments."
"Yes, if the previous 75 minutes were a goal-fest—external martial skill—then the remaining 15 minutes might become an internal skill contest. Defense wins championships; that is the iron rule of the arena."
Cristiano Ronaldo's hat-trick was a heavy blow to Arsenal. In the eyes of Arsenal players, that Cristiano Ronaldo was absolutely a troublemaker—every time they took the lead he would come and stir things up.
But they had no counter to this troublemaker, which was truly disheartening.
Such disheartenment would make the players feel increasingly fatigued, yet they still had to maintain intense work rates.
With that alternating increase and decrease, the risk of injury naturally rose.
Per Mertesacker pulled his thigh during a defensive play on Cristiano Ronaldo.
"My God! Arsenal's big defender is limping again. The good news is Wenger still has a substitution left; the bad news is Arsenal must reactively adjust tactics."
Continual attrition of the fighting force would certainly affect Arsène Wenger's tactical deployment; at the very least the on-field lineup was not his ideal strongest eleven.
Under the TV close-up, Wenger's face turned ashen as he shouted angrily at Thomas Vermaelen: "Hurry up, get warmed up."
Shouting is not Wenger's usual coaching style; from this you could tell how helpless, how panicked, how frustrated he was at this moment...
Wenger's mood mirrored that of the majority of Arsenal fans.
Leading, then being pegged back, then an injury on top of a draw,
it was as if some unseen force was conspiring against Arsenal.
"Arsenal is truly unlucky tonight. It's best they don't drag this into a penalty shootout. Though that sounds superstitious, on the pitch there is indeed talk of the mystical."
"Coach Zhang, please stop—my heart is pounding like a drum..."
Forced by injury to make a substitution, Carlo Ancelotti smelled the opportunity to win this match.
He brought on Álvaro Morata to replace the exhausted Gareth Bale.
At this moment Morata was regarded as the best result of Real Madrid's youth training in ten years. No one knew he was double-footed.
"Arsenal is in danger. Ancelotti's substitution hits Arsenal's weakness. He brought on the player with better goal sense, Álvaro Morata, which will greatly increase Real Madrid's chances to score inside the box."
Using a set-piece opportunity, the double-footed idol—Álvaro Morata—entered the game.
Many Real Madrid fans rose and applauded—one, as a signal that Real Madrid had sounded the all-out attack; two, as encouragement for the homegrown youngster.
Compared to the BBC, homegrown talent will always be the real treasure for fans...
In the ensuing play, Arsenal indeed felt the pressure from Real Madrid.
(End of Chapter.)