That golden hair, and an incredibly determined expression...
It was De Bruyne!
As if he had anticipated Mark's pass, De Bruyne accelerated from Chelsea's defensive midfielder's blind spot into the penalty area, then took a shot!
"De Bruyne!!!"
Bang!
With a push of his instep, the ball swept across the grass and directly into the near corner of the goal!
And the moment the ball slammed into the net, Stamford Bridge once again erupted in astonishing cheers.
Only this time, the sound came not from the home fans, but from thousands of visiting fans who had traveled a long way!
They once again took over the entire Bridge with their most enthusiastic cheers and applause!
After scoring, De Bruyne immediately ran towards Mark.
And Mark, who provided the assist, also met De Bruyne, jumping up to chest bump in celebration!
"That was f*cking brilliant!"
"I knew you'd pass!"
The two fist-bumped and shoulder-bumped, then put their arms around each other's shoulders and turned around, opening their arms together to receive the cheers of the away fans.
"Unbelievable!"
"De Bruyne has completed a brace!"
"And the assist came from Lane again!"
"Mark Lane and Kevin De Bruyne, the Wolfsburg Twin Stars, have completely dominated this match!"
"De Bruyne, with two goals, proved to his former club how foolish their decision to let him go was!"
At the same time, Hecking, who had just finished celebrating with his assistant coach on the sidelines, glanced at Mourinho not far away:
Hmph!
You have the fàbregas-costa connection, and I have the Martin connection!
The live broadcast camera first focused on the goal scorer De Bruyne, and then on Mourinho's grim face.
The camera's language was self-evident.
"Perhaps at this moment, Mourinho regrets why he chose to let De Bruyne go back then..."
""
"Or perhaps not..."
As Wolfsburg equalized the score again, both sides returned to the starting line.
And the away team's morale was even higher!
Because they were playing away and were a new team returning to the Champions League after several years, the pressure wasn't great.
However, after equalizing, Wolfsburg faced another problem:
Should they defend and counter-attack, or continue to attack?
And this time, Hecking, having learned his lesson, no longer waved his hand to make the team's formation shrink, but instead waved forward, shouting loudly: "Push up!"
"Attack!"
"We want to keep scoring!"
He had seen it clearly.
Wolfsburg's defense was not good, and it couldn't hold out for long against Chelsea's offense.
It was better to attack as defense!
With the coach's big wave, Wolfsburg continued to adopt a high-pressing tactic.
While the overall formation pushed forward, the attacking players also tirelessly pressed Chelsea.
Even Mark felt his body wasn't as tired as he imagined.
He knew very well that he had to win this game, whether for De Bruyne or for the team!
The desire for victory made every step he took powerful!
Facing Wolfsburg, Chelsea also tightened their formation and continued to play their defensive counter-attack.
For Mourinho, only getting one point at home was unacceptable!
Therefore, in the 70th minute, Chelsea made the first substitution.
He took off Oscar, who had been ineffective in the midfield, and brought on Brazilian international Willian.
This substitution was clearly a signal to strengthen the quality of their counter-attacks!
Compared to the moderately-paced Oscar, Willian had Speed and forward drive.
As a result, Chelsea's three attacking midfielders could all carry the ball forward during counter-attacks, and with Willian on the field, Chelsea's attack became sharper during the counter-attacking phase.
Fortunately, the Wolfsburg players were focused, especially when the opponent switched from defense to offense and launched a counter-attack, they decisively intervened to disrupt it.
Otherwise, once they picked up their counter-attacking Speed, with their pushed-up formation and the huge gaps left behind them, they would be completely unable to withstand Chelsea's fatal blow!
Even so, Wolfsburg's two defensive midfielders, Guilavogui and Gustavo, each received a yellow card... Unconsciously, the time came to the 82nd minute.
The score on the field was still 2-2.
Under Wolfsburg's aggressive pressing in the attacking third, Chelsea's defense was forced to launch long balls to their target man, striker Costa.
However, Naldo headed the ball first, giving it to Arnold, who had just replaced Guilavogui and had not been on the field for long.
The latter looked up at the two wingers on either side, but found that they were both being marked, so he had no choice but to pass the ball to De Bruyne, who had dropped back to receive it.
Receiving the ball and turning, De Bruyne immediately passed it, playing a one-two with Mark who had tucked into the middle, getting past Matić.
Unfortunately, just as he received the ball on the edge of the penalty area, he was tackled to the ground by the surging Chelsea center-back Cahill!
"Ah!"
Accompanied by a scream, the referee quickly arrived at the scene and showed a card to Cahill, who had his hands on his head, looking incredulous: "What?!"
"I got the ball!"
"That's a dangerous play!"
Fortunately, Cahill's sliding tackle merely brought down both the player and the ball, without directly kicking De Bruyne's foot.
Otherwise, that tackle wouldn't have just been a yellow card warning...
Mark quickly went to De Bruyne's side and asked, concerned: "K, are you alright?"
"I'm fine..."
Taking Mark's hands and using the leverage to stand up, De Bruyne looked at his partner with a serious expression: "It's up to you!"
Hearing this, Mark felt the weight of the words and his expression immediately became stern: "No problem!"
As De Bruyne walked away, Mark picked up the ball and began to carefully place it.
The foul occurred about 27-28 meters from the goal, at an excellent angle.
"This is a good free-kick opportunity."
"Lane is preparing to take it..."
"This eighteen-year-old has not scored a direct free-kick this season..."
"However, don't underestimate his free-kick ability..."
Courtois shared the same thought as the commentator.
"Four!"
"Yes, four must be placed!"
"A little to the left..."
After instructing his teammates to form a wall, he stood on the goal line, staring intently at Mark, who was about to take the kick.
But Mark didn't look at him at all, only staring intently at the ball, muttering to himself: "This is a chance to kill the game!"
"Score this, and the game is ours!"
"You can do it!"
Research shows that the power of psychological suggestion exists.
If one speaks encouraging words to oneself before doing anything, it can make one more confident about the task at hand, and there's a high probability of doing it well.
This is why Mark often talks to himself when taking free kicks!
Whoosh~~~
As the whistle blew, Mark exhaled, then took a run-up, sprinted towards the ball, swung his leg, and shot with fury!
At the moment of the shot, his right leg muscles suddenly tensed, channeling all power into his calf.
The next second... Bang!
The ball shot out, drawing a beautiful arc across the sky above Stamford Bridge.
Under everyone's gaze, it first soared over the wall, then, upon reaching its highest point, it suddenly paused, and then rapidly plummeted!
Accompanied by the strange mid-air deflection, the ball completed a trajectory change from right to left.
Courtois, who had already moved towards the left near post, was startled. He immediately took a quick step to the right, but unfortunately, he was half a beat too slow.
The ball flew right past his raised right palm, just under the crossbar, and into the goal!
The next second, Stamford Bridge was ignited once again!
"GOALLLLL!!!"
"An unbelievable goal!"
"A stunning direct free-kick goal!"
"This is Mark Lane's first Champions League goal in his career!"
"This incredibly significant goal might allow them to take three points from Stamford Bridge!"
Mark, who watched the ball enter the net, spread his arms, accepting the adoration of the away fans.
That confident and brilliant smile seemed to be telling everyone:
So what if you're the Premier League leader, a Premier League giant, and the Champions League winner of the past two years?!
Still, I pierced your heart with one strike!
The next second, he was tightly surrounded by his swarming teammates.
"So f*cking cool!"
"Great goal!"
"That's it! Shut them up!"
Such a spectacular goal left the Blue Army fans in the stands as if muted, speechless.
Some even held their foreheads with one hand, looking incredulous.
Courtois, whose goal had been breached for the third time in this match, merely kicked the goalpost in frustration and muttered, "F*ck."
Of course, no one would blame Courtois for failing to save this free-kick.
The trajectory of an Elevator ball is inherently unpredictable, and even anticipating it beforehand is useless.
Whether it can be saved or not is entirely up to luck!
...Goal, equalize, take the lead, equalize, take the lead again...
This seemingly ordinary Champions League group stage match had an incredibly dramatic process.
However, as the score was overturned again, Chelsea and Mourinho became anxious.
If they had maintained a draw, they could have still gotten one point.
But with Mark's direct free-kick goal, that point was also kicked away.
However, the Blue Army fans did not give up on the team; instead, they cheered even more vigorously.
Amidst the unified cheers of the fans, the Blue Army players' morale actually soared.
In the final moments of the match, Mourinho and his team had only one thought:
They were determined to capture this wild wolf that dared to run wild at the Bridge on their home turf!
However, Wolfsburg did not give them a chance.
Seeing Mark's stamina drop significantly, Hecking on the sidelines immediately used up the last two substitutions!
Defensive midfielder Malanda came on, replacing striker Olić!
Center-back Knoche came on, replacing winger Mark!
"Mark, it's your turn!"
Hearing his teammate's reminder, a breathless Mark turned to look at the substitution board on the sideline and saw his number.
He didn't hesitate at all; instead, he turned and slowly walked towards the sideline.
This obvious time-wasting tactic also drew a chorus of boos from Stamford Bridge.
"This bastard not only completed one goal and two assists in this match, but he's also wasting time!"
"Referee, give him a yellow card!"
"F*ck!"
However, the Wolfsburg fans also used cheers to support their team.
"That's right, let them rush."
"Well done!"
Finally, with the referee personally urging him, Mark quickened his pace, jogged to the sidelines, high-fived Knoche, and completed the substitution.
And Hecking also came forward, high-fiving and hugging Mark, not forgetting to exclaim: "You absolutely dominated the game today!"
"Thank you for the compliment, coach."
After two consecutive substitutions, Wolfsburg immediately changed to a 5-3-2 formation, parking the bus in their own half!
And this time, it was Chelsea fans who started to curse: "Despicable!"
"Cowardly!"
"They're parking the bus now?!"
"Where's the courage you had to attack us earlier?"
And the Wolfsburg fans also had reason to say: "What kind of logic is that? You're allowed to park the bus when you're ahead, but we're not?!"
"Is parking the bus your patent?"
"I'm parking the bus, what are you gonna do about it?"
"If you've got the guts, score a goal!"
The two fan sections, separated in the stands, also
Compared to the Chelsea fans who skillfully used various insults, the Wolfsburg fans were more straightforward, only retorting with
"After the substitutions, Wolfsburg has also changed their formation to 5-3-2."
"Evidently, the impressive away team intends to hold onto the current score at Stamford Bridge and secure a victory..."
"Including injury time, there are less than eight minutes remaining."
"Time is running out for Chelsea—."
In the remaining time, Chelsea controlled sixty percent of possession and launched wave after wave of attacks against Wolfsburg.
However, Wolfsburg's formation was as solid as an impregnable medieval castle.
To cross from the flanks, they had to contend with the two wing-backs;
High balls into the penalty area simply couldn't get past the three center-backs;
Long-range shots from outside were also blocked by the desperate efforts of the three midfielders: Malanda, Gustavo, and Arnold;
Even if Hazard and Schürrle wanted to use their explosive Speed to forcefully tear open the defense from the wings, it was difficult to achieve.
Because Wolfsburg's half was full of people!
The 5-3-2 zonal defense piled a large number of players in the backfield, compressing the breakthrough space to an extreme.
Even a winger with top-tier close-range dribbling skills like Hazard found it difficult to get past multiple players and then complete an accurate pass under the interference of opposing players.
Moreover, the three fresh substitutes, Arnold, Knoche, and Malanda, ran and covered tirelessly, maintaining a very tight defensive formation.
Time ticked by, and Chelsea's attacks became increasingly urgent.
Seeing that they truly couldn't penetrate with passes or force breakthroughs, Chelsea had no choice but to push everyone forward, sending high-point players like Matić and Cahill into the penalty area to contest headers, then launching long balls from the back into the box.
However, such a simple and crude tactical approach was no problem for Wolfsburg, who were united and had sufficient height in their defense.
Many balls failed to find Costa or Matić and were headed away by Wolfsburg players.
Finally, under Chelsea's frantic onslaught, the match unknowingly reached its final moment...
~~~~~~
With the referee's whistle, this highly anticipated Champions League Group G clash between the top teams of the two Leagues finally came to an end!
Thanks to Mark's two assists and one goal, and De Bruyne's brace, Wolfsburg defeated
....
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