Chapter 204: Once You Looked Down on Me; Today You Can't Afford to Reach Me
The teams were 3–2, Arsenal leading Chelsea by one.
Although Chelsea trailed, the players were far from satisfied — they had dominated the second half so far.
Xia Qi's assist was actually a very old-school long pass and cross, just dressed up as a "huge clearance," which made it look spectacular.
If that ball hadn't been a last-ditch save in front of goal, would it even count as an assist?
When play restarted, the trailing Chelsea abandoned counter-attacking and poured men forward to play attacking football.
Seeing their coach switch tactics and press Arsenal back to twenty metres from their goal, Chelsea fans looked at their manager with admiration in their eyes.
Mourinho had studied in Madrid to please the "Mourinho critics," evolving into Mourinho 2.0, which is why Chelsea now hurled themselves forward in an all-out bombardment.
This Arsenal was not the team Mourinho remembered — simply taking blows without fighting back was not their style.
Gustavo found Santi Cazorla and Kevin De Bruyne: "Don't let the wingers come back; press them out and attack. If we sit deep for too long we'll break down. Attack is our strength anyway."
Cazorla and De Bruyne agreed with this "attack as defense" approach — especially De Bruyne, whose strength is offense.
Arsenal as a whole quickly unified their thinking: "attack with attack," and the match entered its climax late on.
In the 72nd minute, Chelsea's siege failed and Arsenal took a goal kick. After a few passes the ball arrived at Kevin De Bruyne's feet.
Arsène Wenger and Patlès leaned forward on the bench again; Wenger casually asked, "Is the replay on?"
"It is."
Every match gets filmed by the coaching staff and clipped into highlights for each player. Wenger and his coaches analyzed frame by frame and tailored training based on each player.
De Bruyne was a treasure in Wenger's mind; the analysis he received was no less than Xia Qi's.
On the pitch, De Bruyne took the ball and sprinted forward at full speed!
Speed isn't De Bruyne's usual trademark — when he sprinted flat-out, his old teammates barely recognized him.
Ramires defending De Bruyne was momentarily distracted and was beaten by De Bruyne's run.
Mourinho hates players who lose concentration; he jumped out of the technical area shouting at Ramires and directing others to stop De Bruyne.
Fans interpreted his behavior as fear that the former player would turn on his old team.
Laughter and derisive chants rang from the stands; they sang an ancient Greek proverb that roughly translated to: "Once you looked down on me, today you can't reach me!"
As De Bruyne sprinted, the front three began their blind runs.
Xia Qi and his good friend Mario Balotelli swapped runs and arrived at Chelsea's penalty edge.
When he reached the "front line," De Bruyne, running through without slowing, played the ball out.
Frank Lampard, defending Xia Qi, judged he could intercept De Bruyne's pass.
He abandoned marking Xia Qi and surged in from an angle, stretching a leg to intercept.
Confident — anyone watching would have thought it a near-certain interception.
Torres and Willian had already turned and sprinted toward the Arsenal goal.
But to Chelsea's disbelief, the ball hit the ground just in front of Lampard's toe, bounced high and flew over their thighs.
Xia Qi was behind him!
Lampard and his teammates were stunned.
Was it coincidence?
Was it real quality?
If you have a grudge with the head, don't make me the sacrificial lamb!
Lampard felt he was the "one sticking his neck out," taking a risk for Mourinho.
De Bruyne was equally helpless. The pass he played to Xia Qi was meant to be a "rebound ball" — seeing Xia Qi double-marked by Lampard and Terry, he wanted to give Xia Qi a rebounded ball so the two defenders would have to match him in speed.
Everyone knows Xia Qi is a "speed man"!
But Lampard, rushing in, delivered an own disaster.
A tragic error!
Xia Qi, back to goal and leaning on Terry behind him, saw the ball bounce over. Without waiting for it to land, he planted his right foot to steady himself against Terry's challenge, flicked the ball up with the toe of his left foot,
the ball sailed over the heads of him and Terry,
and Xia Qi immediately turned.
"A flick to beat the man!"
"Chance! Shoot!"
After the dribble, Xia Qi judged the drop and accelerated into the box.
The ball landed at his feet just as he arrived.
A peach of a strike!
Čech rushed out, but the shot was faster — Xia Qi's flick-and-volley was executed in a single flowing motion with no wasted half-second.
The ball's curve was exquisite, like a rainbow dropping into the top corner.
Čech looked up at the LED board with despair; the glaring red numbers hurt his eyes.
4–2!
Tonight, he'd conceded four?
Čech was bewildered; everything felt unreal.
Seeing their team two goals clear, Arsenal fans finally relaxed, beaming with joy and playing stadium games. They chanted loudly: "Cutting jobs up to the main artery! Boss, do you regret it?"
Mourinho's face went black as coal; he stomped into the dugout.
On the other side, Wenger leapt from the bench applauding excitedly.
De Bruyne had come alive and Xia Qi was in superb form — the outcome of this match was no longer in much doubt.
After scoring, Xia Qi performed a "polish shoe" celebration and beckoned De Bruyne to join him at the corner flag.
On camera, he knelt on one knee and asked De Bruyne to put his assisting foot on his knee.
De Bruyne was a little shy and refused Xia Qi's request.
Balotelli, standing beside them, shoved him: "Just for that lamp-teasing earlier, it's worth it…"
De Bruyne admitted honestly: "No, really — he was just unlucky. I meant to give Xia a rebound ball; Xia is a speed guy!"
"Ah, it's you who's the speed guy. I last long — hurry up, I'll pay first then collect," Xia Qi lifted De Bruyne's golden left foot onto his knee and rubbed it as he spoke:
"Remember, you owe me a brilliant pass. You said that last one doesn't count."
Balotelli, hearing it could be reserved, bent down and kissed De Bruyne's boot.
"I'll reserve one too…"
De Bruyne replied with passion: "No problem!"
Čech, hearing De Bruyne's agreement from afar, sneezed and felt an inexplicable sadness. He tapped his keeper's cap, murmuring: "Am I depressed?" and wondered which therapist might be best…
The match quickly resumed.
Mourinho's side were resilient — two goals down, they still had fight.
After kickoff, Chelsea pounced back into Arsenal's half in a race against time.
De Bruyne, having been switched on, became more and more active.
Thanks to him and his teammates, Arsenal's defense and midfield, without winger help, successfully absorbed Chelsea's wild comeback.
"De Bruyne has been activated; it's a disaster for Chelsea."
"When it comes to developing players, Wenger is indeed a level above Mourinho."
"Pity Mourinho — he didn't want to sell De Bruyne, but now it's his stain."
"Look at Arsenal's counter — Cazorla plays directly to Xia Qi…"
Cazorla, receiving the ball in the back, saw De Bruyne had defenders around him and simply laid the ball off to the wing to Xia Qi.
Xia Qi took the ball and entered "supercar" mode, sprinting down the flank. Thirty metres from Chelsea's goal he cut inside,
feinting a long-range shot, the fake shot in fact a disguised pass to De Bruyne.
Xia Qi's feint was necessary — it dragged Chelsea's defense out of shape.
In an instant, De Bruyne saw holes all through Chelsea's backline.
He didn't even need to control; he could just "pass the knife" immediately,
leaving Mikel behind him. A light angled loft.
The ball arced half a metre above the ground, sailed past Mikel's waist and landed in Chelsea's penalty area.
Space!
Once viewers realized what De Bruyne's pass had done, they belatedly understood — it had sliced right through Chelsea's defense.
Mourinho's so-called concrete backline was paper-thin under De Bruyne's feet; one poke and it tore open!
Theo Walcott surged into the right side, reached the ball and flicked it on.
The move was utterly unexpected, and the De-Balotelli combination was lightning-fast.
Poor Čech, standing on the line, made no save reaction — his mind had been occupied with how to stop Xia Qi's long-range strike!
De Bruyne's pass was effortless, Walcott's finish was effortless, but only Čech felt like he was struggling to live!
Is this five conceded?
Čech thought he really needed a psychologist!
5–2!
Arsenal sealed the trophy!
Arsenal fans went wild, erupting into shouts of:
"Long live!"
"The third trophy!"
They grew ever more animated, their simple celebrations no longer enough. They chanted: "Thank you, Mr. Mourinho!"
You rotten heart!
Mourinho couldn't stand it; he stormed down to the stands and made a "shut up" gesture at them.
Of course he was met by louder mocking and ridicule.
…
…
5–2!
More than ten minutes remained, but Chelsea no longer had spirit.
This was Mourinho's second stint. If it had been the Mourinho of his first spell, with the likes of Michael Ballack and Didier Drogba, that captain Ballack would have been waving arms and rousing the team.
But it wasn't.
Terry and Lampard, though tough, didn't have the same presence as the old captain.
After play resumed, Chelsea's running dropped, their challenges grew lax, and Wenger substituted Xia Qi and De Bruyne to let the two soak in a hero's applause.
Then both sides tacitly ran the clock out.
In the final minute of added time, Arsenal's substitutes were already lined at the touchline ready to receive the club's third trophy of the season.
Arsenal fans rose as one; the Arsenal anthem drifted through the night sky…
The whistle!
"The match is over!"
Commentator Zhan Jun called emotionally: "It's over! Arsenal have won the 2013–2014 FA Cup — their third trophy this season.
It was a wonderful match. Mourinho showed us a different side of himself, but he met a more magical Wenger. Wenger activated De Bruyne in the second half, helping Xia Qi complete a hat-trick and clinch the title. Walcott's goal finished off Chelsea's spirit…"
"Congratulations to Arsenal, to Xia Qi, to Kevin De Bruyne… congratulations to all Arsenal fans!"
The referee's final whistle ignited Wembley.
Xia Qi and the other lined-up players ran onto the pitch at the whistle and embraced their teammates passionately.
Among the crowd, Frank Lampard found Xia Qi, swapped shirts and patted Xia Qi on the butt, saying with mixed resignation: "The league title is mine."
Xia Qi sneered: "Go to sleep — dreams have everything."
Reporters swarmed onto the pitch to interview players.
"Congratulations, Xia. You're FA Cup champions. How do you feel?"
"Thank you, very happy and excited."
"This is your third trophy — one step closer to the season Grand Slam. Do you think you'll finish perfectly?"
"Of course. It's a must. We're unbeatable."
When the reporter kept asking questions, Xia Qi refused more: "Sorry, I need to thank the fans."
While Xia Qi was being interviewed, the presentation dais was prepared.
First on stage were the runners-up, Chelsea.
In fact the runner-up presentation could be dispensed with — unlike the Olympics, the biggest losers in football are not the final four but the runner-up.
Lampard and the others looked as if bereft, crestfallen. Xia Qi could not see why they had any prize to collect.
After the runners-up, the champions' turn arrived.
The stadium announcement: "Now please welcome the 2013–2014 FA Cup champions — Arsenal — to the stage."
Before the voice finished, Arsenal fans erupted in cheers.
Xia Qi, as captain, led his teammates onto the podium. Prince William of Wales shook each of their hands as the PA read the players' names.
When the announcer read Xia Qi's name, the cheer rose to a peak.
After the team received the trophy, Prince William handed the FA Cup to Xia Qi.
Xia Qi carried the trophy to the center of his team and, amid deafening cheers, lifted the shining silver cup high above his head!
Almost at the same time, confetti cascaded from the roof…
The PA played Queen's "We Are the Champions."
Then Arsenal fans flooded the pitch; Xia Qi and the other players were stripped nearly bare, left in only their underwear…
After interacting with fans, back in the dressing room the players partied some more.
Not satisfied, Xia Qi and the others filled the trophy with beer and, at the post-match press conference, poured it over Wenger's head.
That night Arsenal did not sleep.
(END CHAPTER)
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