Chapter 173: No One Lends Me a Lofty Will, I Myself Tread the Snow to the Mountain Peak
Arsène Wenger clapped his palms red on the sideline. To score a TiKi-TaKa goal in front of the TiKi-TaKa master was, for someone who pursues beautiful football, like watching a magnificent musical.
On the other side, Pep Guardiola took advantage of Arsenal's celebration to call his players over to the touchline.
"Keep passing, don't attack blindly. Do it like we trained: circulate the ball, shift their defensive line back and forth to create chances—just like they did to us…"
The match continued.
"This game is getting more and more exciting; both sides are beefing up the battle for possession…"
Mario Götze displayed that enviable top-tier talent of his; under his orchestration, Bayern's performance increasingly resembled Barcelona.
By the 21st minute,
with that flash of inspiration, Götze—after a Bergkamp-style turn under the double pressure of Kevin De Bruyne and Mikel Arteta—instantly ignited the stadium.
After slipping past the two, Götze took two quick steps forward through the middle, then played a diagonal pass to Franck Ribéry out on the left.
Ribéry, receiving the ball, sprinted down the flank.
Serge Aurier was "eaten alive" by Ribéry's burst in the instant they met.
Aurier refused to give up and turned to chase; though he couldn't catch up, he prevented the gap from widening.
"Ribéry eats Aurier alive—what a beast!"
"Aurier's still chasing!"
"Per Mertesacker's charging back."
"It's a double-team!"
Ribéry accelerated with the ball and saw Mertesacker charging straight at him while Aurier was closing in.
Usually in that situation, most would quickly pass the ball away, but Ribéry didn't.
As Mertesacker closed in, Ribéry pulled the ball back with his left foot, faking a move to the outside lane, then swiftly pushed the ball right and shifted his body right.
Ribéry's consecutive feints were beautiful, but he overestimated Mertesacker.
Zhuge Liang's Empty Fort Strategy works on Sima Yi, but using it on Zhang Fei is asking for a beating.
The same logic applies on the pitch.
When Mertesacker surged in, Ribéry was shifting left; at that very moment he had just braked to stop his body and couldn't evade the leftward-moving Ribéry.
If Ribéry hadn't tried to be clever, he would have gone away long ago.
But he chose to play the "empty fort" trick and then changed direction back.
Mertesacker had stabilized his balance; seeing Ribéry shift right he didn't hesitate and swung his long leg to block ahead of him.
Aurier behind him immediately accelerated.
Bayern fans' hearts tightened; the atmosphere at the Allianz Arena was as heavy as the eve of a thunderstorm.
Bayern were in full-scale attack; if they were hit on the break, they'd likely lose the "crystal."
Just when hearts beat like drums, Ribéry on the pitch began his show.
Facing Mertesacker's interception, he hooked the ball back with his right foot.
Mertesacker's long leg was left striking air.
Then with his toe he lightly lifted the ball over the long leg, letting it land behind Mertesacker, and immediately shifted left to break forward.
A brilliant body-and-ball separation!
In an instant, the double-team of Mertesacker and Aurier was undone.
Ribéry sprinted like lightning toward the Arsenal penalty area.
"Damn! That's taunting! He could've gone through earlier but he teased them first…"
"Ribéry's highlight reel moment! Ball control, speed, reaction—all top-class…"
Arsenal center-back Samuel Umtiti and the retreating Santi Cazorla abandoned everything else and lunged left and right toward Ribéry recklessly.
Whether it was Ribéry or Robben, the curl-shot after cutting inside was almost impossible to stop.
Letting Ribéry into the box was playing with fire; Umtiti had no choice.
His covering was perfectly timed, using his body to block Ribéry's strike to the far corner.
Ribéry glanced at the near post where the eager-looking goalkeeper Martínez waited, whose face practically read: "Shoot! Come on, shoot!"
After a split-second thought, Ribéry chose to pass.
There Thomas Müller had already ridden in; Cazorla's reckless positioning finally bore "bitter fruit"!
Müller, arriving in the pocket, redirected the shot!
A driven strike to the floor!
In front of Arsenal's goal, Martínez dived across, but Müller's finish was so composed—he didn't seek power, he sought angle.
Against such a crafty shot, Martínez stretched like an eagle, arms reaching longer and longer, but it was futile—he could only watch the ball skim past his fingertips into the corner.
"Beep!"
At the whistle!
The Allianz Arena shook again, twice as intense as before.
"Goal!"
"Müller slotted it into the corner—so calm."
"The big contributor to this goal is Ribéry; his break was the key."
On the pitch, the goalscorer Müller charged wildly toward the south stand, followed closely by Ribéry and Arjen Robben… Under the south stand, Müller beat his chest and raised his fist.
On the sideline, Guardiola pumped his fist excitedly toward the sky; in that moment he forgot this was José Mourinho's tactical legacy and maybe he had a dollar's share in it…
Arsène Wenger on the other side merely shook his head helplessly. At the moment Mertesacker stretched his leg, Wenger thought they could counter-kill!!!
Who knew Ribéry's reaction and acceleration would be so quick—one hook and one flick through the defense, a babysitting pass to Müller.
For that goal, Arsenal's concession wasn't undeserved; the players were beaten by a god—
Wenger, thinking of that Frenchman, was reminded of another Frenchman: Pirès. The French still produce excellent wingers!
On the pitch Arsenal players felt a little dispirited, especially Mertesacker—
to be "handicapped by two stones" and still lose hurts his morale and confidence. (A go term: giving two stones.)
Xia Qi was captain; he could not let gloom spread in the team.
He slapped his hands and shouted, "Heads up! We've done well. This is Ribéry's highlight—everyone has a moment in the sun, not every time can be glorious. Now it's our turn…"
Bayern finished celebrating and the match resumed.
Wenger made hand signals from the sideline, telling Kevin De Bruyne to slow the tempo a bit.
On the pitch, Bayern's momentum after taking the lead was high; Wenger wanted De Bruyne to sap their morale.
After Arsenal kicked off, they didn't attack immediately; they played TiKi-TaKa. If you didn't look at the LED scoreboard you'd think they were the team in front.
If it had been last season, a 2–1 scoreline might have been acceptable for Bayern—they were "kings of London," and winning in London was easy.
But the "King of London" title had been smashed. Now Bayern led only by one, and they'd conceded an away goal. In the return leg the opponent would only need 1–0 at home to advance,
A result Bayern could not accept.
Bayern players pounced on Arsenal like mad dogs, interrupting the passing and receiving of TiKi-TaKa.
Mario Götze, guided by his rhythm sense, first dashed toward Serge Gnabry—he anticipated Gnabry would be De Bruyne's next outlet.
Before the 2014 World Cup, Götze had been outstanding; he slid in and clipped the ball, grazing Gnabry's toes and knocking it away.
Gnabry fell to the ground.
The referee didn't blow and pushed his hands forward to indicate play on…
Müller seized the ball and strode toward Arsenal's goal,
Robben and Ribéry tightly tracking on the wings…
"Bayern's attack is incisive…"
"Müller passes to Robben…"
"The flying Dutchman is about to take off…"
Robben received the ball and with an explosive step burst past Mario Balotelli, who had come back to defend.
Then the two started a drag race down the flank—Robben was the master of drawing defenders. After a few sprints Balotelli was a step behind.
Balotelli wore an angry, resentful expression.
Bayern fans who had just calmed were re-ignited;
the Allianz Arena shook once more…
"Robben!"
"Robben!"
"Robben!"
Wave after wave of chanting, driving Robben like a god descending into Arsenal's heartland.
After passing Balotelli and De Bruyne, Robben then did a simple right cut and acceleration—an unrivaled second burst—to beat the coming Mikel Arteta who'd come to "gift" an interception.
Now only Arsenal's defensive line stood between him and goal.
Bayern fans went into a frenzy, screaming themselves hoarse for "Robben! Robben! Robben!"
Against the superhuman Robben, Arsenal deployed doubled coverage: Umtiti and Luke Shaw surged like twin ghosts at him.
Robben feigned to force his way through the two; as Luke Shaw stepped toward Umtiti,
Robben delivered the ball,
it slid past Luke Shaw and rolled toward the near post.
"Danger!"
"Same pattern, this time it's Robben!!"
"Müller!!"
"Finish!"
"Martínez saves brilliantly!"
"That's a world-class stop!"
"Martínez started early and threw himself at Müller's shot."
"Müller heaved a sigh to the sky—clearly reluctant."
"Almost had a brace."
"In these six or seven minutes Bayern completely went mad."
"High press, both wings flying, plus the No. 9's half insertions—Guardiola's new wine in old bottles; he's turned Arsenal into a sieve!"
"How did Arsenal beat Bayern last time?"
"Xia Qi dropped back into midfield to add density."
"Arsenal must make changes and not allow Bayern to roam the wings freely…oh!"
"Martínez quick with the distribution!"
Just as everyone lamented Bayern's missed chance to widen the scoreline,
Martínez, holding the ball, suddenly rose and rushed to the edge of the area,
and launched a quick long kick!
A quick restart!
A type of "no middleman" attack—
the goalkeeper chops up the midfield and directly finds the forwards.
Up front Xia Qi shot forward like an arrow from a bow,
and the Bayern players who had just missed the sealing goal finally reacted.
Javi Martínez yelled: "Get back!"
But where was a defender faster than the ball?
The ball mercilessly flew over their heads to the edge of Bayern's box.
At this moment,
Xia Qi sprinted like a leopard.
Comfort for Bayern was that their two center-backs, Jérôme Boateng and Dante, were in the back and closer to the ball's landing spot.
Xia Qi's speed was very fast; although Dante's position was a bit better, both had roughly equal chances.
If Xia Qi lost the sprint, Arsenal simply missed an attack; if Dante lost, Bayern's leading advantage would be gone.
Dante couldn't gamble; he chose the most reasonable defense—commit a tactical foul,
or
manufacture a collision to give teammate Boateng time to recover.
Dante resolutely barreled into Xia Qi.
This wasn't an auto-play state; you couldn't reflect damage back. Colliding would surely be to his disadvantage.
In the emergency Xia Qi decided to use softness to overcome hardness—he suddenly braked hard,
then turned past Dante the other way,
a Cruyff turn!
"Dante tries a tactical foul, but Xia Qi smartly Cruyff-turns past him from behind, slipping through—two ounces move a thousand pounds, nimble and he neutralized the danger…"
Dante ate the turf like a dog!
Turning, Xia Qi immediately accelerated and in a few strides caught up with Boateng.
Seeing that if Boateng weren't stopped he might leg it back to hit the ball to goalkeeper Manuel Neuer,
Xia Qi dug in and rammed into Boateng with equal force,
doing what Dante failed to do.
Boateng felt an indescribable terrifying force surge from Xia Qi's body,
and in an instant, like a kite with its string cut, he flew away.
"Foul!"
A roar erupted from the stands!
But the referee didn't blow, his hands pushed forward to indicate advantage—play on.
"Biased ref!"
"Biased ref!"
"Biased ref!"
Bayern fans grew even angrier.
At this point Xia Qi subjectively blocked out every sound; in his eyes and heart there was only the ball.
Seeing Neuer already out of his area, Xia Qi didn't control the ball—he flicked it up with the instep of his right foot.
A chip shot!
The shot that crushes an attacking goalkeeper's heart.
Neuer leapt high but was far short…
Despair and resentment filled Neuer's heart:
"Fuck, how can this kid be so determined!"
Give me one more second and I'd be the hero!
The ball sailed over Neuer's head, bounced on the goal line and into the net.
"Beep!"
The Russian referee pointed to the center circle!
"They've gone mad!"
"The first half isn't over and both sides have scored four goals—currently 2–2."
At the moment Xia Qi scored, the Allianz Stadium's boos reached a boiling point; all sorts of German greetings washed over Xia Qi…
Xia Qi waved to Martínez and beckoned him to run to the corner flag together—there's a camera there…
"Although Xia Qi's goal might look like a bit of a lucky steal, his evasion of Dante was world-class. It will surely become a textbook dribble…"
"When Arsenal were a goal down, when Arsenal's midfield was made a sieve,
No one lends me a lofty will, I myself tread the snow to the mountain peak—Xia Qi's long run, the Cruyff turn, hard physical contest and the deft chip—he dragged the match back to the starting line…"
(END CHAPTER)
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