Firmino's goal brought Liverpool level once again. The Brazilian striker sprinted to the touchline, threw himself forward, and launched into a diving knee slide!
He pressed his chest to the turf and turned himself into a human cannonball, sliding all the way toward the corner flag!
Leo Lin came charging over and was the first to pounce on Firmino. Then the rest of the Liverpool players, along with the substitutes, all rushed in and formed a huge dogpile on top of him!
Firmino had kept Liverpool's hopes alive once again!
Jon Champion's voice was trembling now as he shouted, worn out but even more exhilarated than before!
"Can you believe it?!!"
"This is football!!!"
"Everyone thought Liverpool were finished. They were completely pinned down!"
"But in the 118th minute, with at most three minutes left including stoppage time!"
"At this crucial moment, Firmino scores with a header to make it level!"
"The brilliance that belongs to South American players alone!"
"The flair and elegance unique to Brazilian players!"
"The charm of Brazilian flair is on full display at this very moment!"
"Liverpool are not dead yet! They have not been beaten! This match is still alive!"
... In the European official commentary booth.
"GOAL!!!" Gerrard's eyes had already turned red.
"Firmino!!!"
"Oh my God!!!"
"I love him! I've said it before, this guy is one of the standard-bearers of the modern striker!"
"We're still here!"
"Everyone wanted to see us go down, but we're still fucking here!"
The broadcast camera cut to the sideline and found Krawietz. Klopp was trying to stay calm, but his trembling hands gave him away.
And beside him, Krawietz was crying again. He really was the easiest man in the stadium to bring to tears.
The live chat in every stream was moving too fast to read. Every broadcast room was on the verge of crashing!
[To witness a Champions League final like this in my lifetime, I could die without regrets!]
[Four all! Eight goals in a Champions League final between these two teams. This is what a clash at the summit should look like!]
[We are Liverpool! Never give up! Never give up! Never walk alone!!!]
[Firmino stepped up when the team needed him and delivered a goal and an assist!]
The momentum shifted yet again. Real Madrid had been on the verge of victory, only to be dragged back level, and doubt began creeping into the players' minds.
In the past, they were the kings of the Champions League, the masters of the comeback on this stage.
But now the script was completely different from everything they had experienced before. Somehow, they had become the side that kept getting pegged back, the side that kept conceding last gasp equalisers!
On the touchline, Zidane frantically pressed both hands downward, signaling for his players to stay calm. At a moment like this, Real Madrid could not afford to panic.
But when play restarted and they looked into the eyes of the Liverpool players, eyes full of resolve and cold killing intent, there was no way they were not feeling the pressure!
At moments like this, people are always ruled by emotion. Nervousness, fear, fighting spirit, the urge to resist. All of it comes from emotion taking hold.
Liverpool kept surging forward. They were still attacking. They had completely lost themselves in it!
Leo Lin kept smashing into Real Madrid's penalty area, and Liverpool's attacks crashed into Madrid's midfield and back line like relentless waves!
The shape and layering in Real Madrid's defense were visibly disappearing!
And once that structure was gone, more problems were bound to follow!
120th minute!
"Milner wins it in the middle and sends it right!"
"Arnold drives forward with the ball. He's got a chance to cross!"
"A diagonal ball from the right toward the back post. It's a good delivery!"
"Chance!!!"
Mané rose high, trying to power a header on goal!
But Ramos got there first and headed it clear toward the left!
"Oh!!!"
Liverpool fans clutched their heads in agony as the whole stadium gasped!
If Ramos had mistimed that header, Mané would surely have buried it into the empty net at the far post!
For the first time, Jon Champion could not say a word. His fists were clenched so tightly that his nails had already dug into his palms without him noticing!
Derek Rae was still hanging on!
"Brilliant clearance from Ramos!"
"Robertson brings down the second ball on the left. There's still a chance to cross!"
"Carvajal gets a block in!"
"He shapes to cross, then cuts it back!"
"One touch to set himself!"
"He has to deliver now! There's almost no time left!"
Robertson feinted the cross, cut past Carvajal, then swung the ball in almost entirely on instinct.
He had no time to look up again. Any hesitation at all might have let Carvajal block the cross a second time!
The delivery dipped toward the near post, but Firmino was central!
Varane jumped straight up. The ball was coming right at him, and the Frenchman was certain he would clear it!
But just as he was about to get there, he suddenly heard a burst of frantic footsteps behind him.
He was already in the air. Turning his head in alarm, he saw Leo Lin charging toward him like a wild beast!
Panic flashed through him, and he reached out at once, trying to grab Leo Lin.
But Leo Lin's sheer power drove him upward through the air, forcing him past Varane's tugging arm and up to the dropping ball first!
Bang!!!
Leo Lin controlled his body in midair like a bird beating its wings, his whole frame somehow hanging upright in the air.
His waist bent and twisted slightly, carrying his body through the turn, and then he snapped out a glancing backward header!
A beautiful arc tore across the night sky!
Every Real Madrid player stared at the ball in utter terror!
The Real Madrid fans watched in total despair as Leo Lin's header flew into the dead corner at the far post, skimming the inside of the right side netting as it slid into the goal!
One thought from heaven!!!
One thought from hell!!!
Agony and ecstasy exploded together inside the Stade de France!
The two most extreme emotions in the world collided in a single instant!
"Oh! My! God!!!"
"Winner!!!"
Derek Rae cried out hoarsely!
Beside him, Jon Champion said nothing, because tears were already streaming down his face!
There was no way he could hold back his emotions!
"Winner!!!"
"Leo Lin!!!"
"It's over! It's all over!!!"
"That goal will kill Real Madrid! It absolutely will!!!"
"Real Madrid unleashed a storm in the first half of extra time, and Cristiano Ronaldo scored to complete his hat trick!"
"They thought they had completely destroyed every last bit of Liverpool's hope, but in three minutes! Liverpool have scored twice in three minutes!"
"Leo Lin with the winner over the winner! The winner over the winner!!!"
"When the storm of fate rises, walking into it hurts. Every step feels heavy, and moving forward becomes almost impossible."
"But if you turn your back to the wind and let it carry you, not only will it take you away from the direction you wanted to go, it will also knock you flat and send you rolling forward without an ounce of dignity!"
"And that is why facing the storm matters!"
"A last second winner!"
"The match has reached its final second. Real Madrid have no chance left to level it!"
"The kings of the Champions League! The Galácticos! Have fallen!!"
Leo Lin ripped off his shirt and sprinted wildly, swinging it through the air as a roar, bursting with everything he had been holding in, ripped into the sky!
"Come on!!!" Leo Lin roared without restraint!
"Come on!!!"
Firmino caught up from behind, grabbed Leo Lin, and hoisted him onto his shoulders on the spot!
Leo Lin held his shirt high, displaying it to the 80,000 fans inside the Stade de France and to the more than 400 million supporters around the world watching the broadcast!
A blinding white glow, burning with the heat of battle, mixed with the red smoke released by the Liverpool fans. Driven by the howling night wind, it swept across the entire Stade de France and stirred up a storm beneath a sea of waving banners!
The general falls!
The warhorse cries out!
Who can stand against the fearless fury of youth!
...
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