Chapter 112: Misfortune Goes West, Ziqi Comes East
At the post-match press conference, Arsène Wenger sat at the dais with a solemn face.
Journalists from all countries in the audience raised their hands as if they'd gone mad.
Wenger knew what these reporters wanted to ask. News had already come through: Lionel Messi had been diagnosed and would miss three to four weeks of matches — a seismic event in the football world.
Who is Messi? He's the Lamborghini and Hermès of football, while Xia Qi, though he'd burst onto the scene this season, was at best a Porsche Cayenne.
There was still a considerable gap compared to Messi.
And people habitually sympathize with the "weaker" side; whoever looks more miserable gains sympathy points.
Seeing the dense forest of hands requesting to be called on, Wenger could imagine the wave of public condemnation Xia Qi would face.
He had to do something for "the kid."
He selected an unusually excited Spanish reporter.
"Mr. Wenger, hello. I'm John Qiao from Marca."
"Hello, John."
"First, congratulations on Arsenal reaching the semifinals for the first time in eight years — the second-best result in the club's history. My question is: Xia Qi's second yellow card — given that Messi is reportedly going to miss three to four weeks because of this, shouldn't this retaliatory tackle be condemned?"
Retaliation? Condemned?
They were hungry for sensationalism, not football. Anything that grabbed eyeballs was fine.
Wenger took a deep breath and restrained his fury.
"Arsenal Football Club has always opposed on-field violence and has zero tolerance for it."
Boom!
The room exploded!
Could it be that the professor would judge his own player impartially?
Reporters whispered among themselves and hovered over their laptop keyboards.
Wenger continued at the podium:
"The player who committed a retaliatory tackle is not Xia Qi but the player you want justice for — Lionel Messi."
"Yes, you heard correctly. The one who should be criticized is Messi, not Xia Qi."
Boom!
The room exploded again.
Was this mudslinging in reverse?
Many Spanish media reporters instinctively stood up, their faces furious.
Wenger made a calming hand gesture to them.
"Ladies and gentlemen, hold on. Let's review the replays. Pictures reveal the truth; we'll speak with facts."
Wenger took out a USB stick and signaled Pat Rice to bring up the laptop and projector.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the 37th minute of the first half. Xia Qi completed an outside-over acceleration and Messi slid in from Xia Qi's side. In this slow-motion, we can see Messi's left foot sliding — initially it's not aimed at the ball but at Xia Qi's right ankle."
"In other words, his intent was not to defend but to injure."
A reporter in the audience shouted, "You're slandering him!"
Wenger didn't get angry. He asked Pat Rice, "Play that from multiple angles, the action we just showed."
Modern technology is wonderful; it leaves crimes nowhere to hide.
The reporter defended, "Messi absolutely didn't mean to do it. Everyone knows defending isn't his strength."
Wenger didn't argue because you can't wake someone pretending to be asleep.
He went on from the dais:
"His foot hit Xia Qi's ankle and, rather than injuring Xia Qi, he ended up injuring himself. Should Xia Qi be held responsible for that?"
Supporters of Xia Qi snorted in the audience — it was laughable: a classic self-inflicted wound.
Reporters backing Messi blushed and lowered their heads.
John Qiao thought for a moment and stood to counter, "Mr. Wenger, my question was about Xia Qi's second yellow."
"Don't rush. I will show Xia Qi's tackle. Let's go through events chronologically…"
"Messi's first injury had nothing to do with Xia Qi, do you all agree?"
The room quieted.
A tackle intended to hit someone but rebounded to injure the tackler — who's to blame?
Everyone instinctively nodded in agreement, tacitly accepting Wenger's framing.
Wenger signaled Pat Rice to play the second clip.
"This is Messi's sliding tackle in the 58th minute of the second half. This one was aimed at the ball under Xia Qi's feet."
"Frankly, Messi's tackle here was textbook and there's nothing fundamentally wrong with it."
"Next, please watch the following sequence carefully."
"Note: after passing the ball, Xia Qi jumped up to protect himself. That jump was a self-protective move and not a dangerous action, agreed?"
Wenger scanned the room as he asked.
Reporters exchanged glances and nodded in agreement.
"Due to inertia, Messi's body lunged forward. His chest inevitably collided with Xia Qi's knee. Who should be responsible for this accident?"
Wenger looked down at the assembled reporters; they looked at each other, unsure. Two people collided — it was no one's straightforward fault.
Seeing no answer, Wenger answered his own question:
"If you ask me, my answer is Mr. Newton."
Several reporters laughed out loud.
Indeed, this accident had no subjective intent to harm; the "traffic accident" on the pitch could be blamed on Newtonian mechanics.
"Now let's look at Xia Qi's tackle — the thing you are most concerned about."
Many reporters awkwardly laughed, then sat upright; here came the moment to fight.
"From the slow-motion replay, we can clearly see Xia Qi's right foot made contact with the ball first; there is no direct contact with any part of Messi's body, and Xia Qi withdraws his foot afterward."
"Pat, rewind three frames."
"Gentlemen, this movement — these three frames together show Xia Qi's retraction. According to the laws of football, if a player plays the ball first and then contacts the opponent while retracting the foot, it is a fair challenge."
"In other words, Xia Qi was misjudged — he should not have been sent off for two yellows."
John Qiao objected loudly, "But Messi is injured."
Wenger smiled confidently and replied to John Qiao, "That's an excellent question."
"In football, injury is not the criterion for judgment. If a player falls without contact, do we penalize the home team because they didn't maintain the pitch properly?"
Wenger gave the reporters time to digest this, paused a few seconds, and continued: "Xia Qi did not make direct dangerous contact with Messi. The force he applied was within the rules."
"Tell me, if Xia Qi's action was permitted by the rules, what wrong did he do?"
The room buzzed.
"So who is responsible for Messi missing nearly a month of matches?"
"A: Xia Qi! B: Messi! C: Barcelona's medical team! D: Tito Vilanova. I don't know what you'd choose; my answer is C."
"I said before, Xia Qi is not at fault here. His tackle was clean. If Messi could not withstand that physical contest, he should look to himself."
"I believe Barcelona's medical staff allowed an unfit Messi to play, and that is the primary cause of his absence from upcoming matches."
"I strongly suggest Barcelona immediately bring back two doctors from Japan to care for Messi — under their help, he can quickly recover."
"At the same time, on behalf of the club I announce we will appeal Xia Qi's yellow card to UEFA and will lodge a complaint against Messi's first sliding tackle. We believe Messi's first tackle warranted more than a mere yellow…"
Pictures prove the truth!
Comparisons reveal the injury!
British reporters applauded Wenger for his reasoned argument.
Wenger's press conference was a great success.
Post-match coverage confirmed this.
Media stopped blindly blaming Xia Qi.
Some outlets, including certain Spanish media, sided with Xia Qi.
"Mr. Messi, you've lost both the game and the people."
"Wenger: Barcelona's medical team responsible for Messi's injury."
"Truth of the matter: Messi was the on-field aggressor."
Of course there were still those who blamed Xia Qi.
Xia Qi cannot be loved by everyone.
"Xia Qi: Prince of Football or Football Devil?"
"Arsenal rout Camp Nou; Messi tragically hurt."
"Wenger whitewashes his protégé and throws mud at Messi."
The Messi injury storm also roared online, and the biggest beneficiary was the gossip-hungry crowd: Cristiano Ronaldo.
CR7 gained a hundred thousand followers a day during the following week.
Many former Messi fans, after learning the truth, unfollowed and became Ronaldo supporters.
These headlines overwhelmed the news about Arsenal advancing; one couldn't help but marvel at the power of tabloid news.
…
The next day the other two Champions League quarter-final second legs finished.
The final four were Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, and Borussia Dortmund.
On the third evening Wenger flew to Nyon to attend the semi-final draw and to appeal Xia Qi's yellow card to UEFA.
At the draw ceremony, Arsenal's luck was truly laughable.
They were drawn against the strongest team, Real Madrid — and with the first leg at home and the second away.
This meant that the winner of this tie was highly likely to be the eventual champion; neither Borussia Dortmund nor Paris Saint-Germain quite had the aura of champions.
British media described Arsenal's Champions League journey as bumpy and suggested that next season clubs should send their operations managers to the draw.
Wenger's luck was abysmal.
Arsenal not only drew the worst opponent but also had UEFA reject their appeal — Xia Qi would miss Arsenal's home match against Real Madrid.
Wenger's trip to Nyon had been fruitless.
This result was also bad news for Manchester United, who were four points behind Arsenal.
If Arsenal were eliminated early from the Champions League, they could focus wholly on the league — not good news for United chasing points.
Likewise, Xia Qi's one-match Champions League suspension would make him a league mainstay, which United least wanted.
When the news reached Britain, British media — in a chorus of wails — supported Arsenal's continued appeal. To be frank, British media had never been so united, not even during debates over reclaiming the Falklands.
Betting companies raised Arsenal's Champions League title odds by two ticks and lowered their Premier League title odds by three ticks. It was said Sir Alex Ferguson worked late into the night at Carrington that evening…
European outlets published predictions; most forecast Arsenal would stop at the semifinals, with Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund meeting in the final.
These outlets argued that Arsenal's season would still yield the league title and that Xia Qi would capture the Champions League Golden Boot and the domestic Golden Boot — it wouldn't be a barren season.
There were dissenting voices. The London Daily predicted Arsenal would win the Champions League, reasoning simply: a team that can eliminate Bayern and Barça deserves the title.
But since Arsenal's main scorer, Xia Qi, would miss one game, that was deadly — so few backed the London Daily.
A few days later, on April 14, Premier League matchweek 33 kicked off.
Arsenal beat Norwich 3:1 at home.
Stoke lost 0:2 to Manchester United.
The Premier League table still showed Arsenal four points clear of United.
After the match, Arsenal received official notice from UEFA rejecting their second appeal.
Arsenal and the British press were furious but powerless. The London Daily even bluntly said: Wenger's greatest mistake was not sending a "godson" to UEFA…
The words were harsh, but they changed nothing.
On April 18 Arsenal and Manchester United played the rescheduled Premier League match from round 29.
Xia Qi, unavailable for the first leg of the Champions League semis, vented his rage on Everton at home and once again played the brutal emperor.
He scored a hat-trick and dominated both attack and defense, blasting Everton to bits.
Arsenal won 5:0.
Manchester United suffered another blow.
They drew 2:2 away at West Ham.
United fell six points behind Arsenal in the table.
British and European media said that although five league matches remained, United's theoretical chance of overtaking Arsenal was now unlikely.
That night Ferguson announced that if he couldn't win the title this season, he would postpone his retirement plan — history began to turn here.
A nosy reporter went to interview Robin van Persie: "You left Arsenal and now Arsenal's hand is on the trophy. Was Arsenal's long barren spell your fault?"
Van Persie pulled out a wooden stick...
On April 21, Premier League round 34 began.
Arsenal's "Two Fools" showed their power; Xia Qi and Mario Balotelli both scored braces as Arsenal beat Fulham 4:0 away, earning the nickname Kings of London.
Manchester United beat Aston Villa 3:0 and stayed on Arsenal's heels.
On April 25, the day arrived for Arsenal's Champions League semifinal first leg.
They hosted the title-aspiring Real Madrid.
Xia Qi appeared in the south stand wearing Mario Balotelli's shirt.
Why was he wearing Balotelli's shirt? It goes back three days — or rather to the 2009 Champions League round of 16 tie between Manchester United and Inter Milan.
That year Mario Balotelli, then at Inter, had a memorable confrontation with the theatrically falling Manchester United forward, Cristiano Ronaldo.
A classic image emerged from that match.
"The year before's Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo was shown kneeling as if pleading before Balotelli."
Frankly, that photo was a snippet that misled fans — the reality was Ronaldo staged a dive and knelt while Balotelli stepped forward and angrily scolded him for diving.
Whether you mockingly say Ronaldo knelt to beg or truthfully say Balotelli rebuked the dive, it did nothing to diminish Balotelli's swagger — remember he was only eighteen then while Ronaldo was already the 2008 Ballon d'Or winner.
After that match Balotelli said indignantly, "One day he'll ask me for my shirt."
That phrase became the spark in the pre-match trash talk between Arsenal and Real Madrid.
When reporters asked Cristiano Ronaldo about that match and whether he would ask Balotelli for his shirt, Ronaldo play-acted and asked the reporter back: "Who's Balotelli?"
Of course Ronaldo knew Balotelli, but he said it anyway.
Could Balotelli tolerate that?
So before the match even began the two men fought on the internet. They agreed to settle it on the pitch by seeing who would score more.
Thus, Xia Qi wore Balotelli's shirt to support his brother.
(END CHAPTER)
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