"Hank! Is this really our FC Schalke 04?"
In the North Stand of Veltins-Arena!
A grey-haired old man, beer in hand and face flushed, spoke to his friend beside him.
His friend sat in a wheelchair!
Yet even so, he too held a beer in his hand.
"Haha, are you drunk? We're in the lead! We're pressing FC Bayern München! Forty minutes left and we're going to win the title!"
"Long live FC Schalke 04!!!"
"Su!"
"Snap!"
"HAO!"
"Snap!!!"
The frenzied chants electrified the FC Schalke 04 players, who launched wave after wave of attacks!
On the big screen, the score remained 3-2.
Yet on the pitch, the blue-jerseyed FC Schalke 04 played like the trailing team!
Fifty-eighth minute of play!
After desperately holding off Bayern's sustained attacks following their conceded goal,
FC Schalke 04 unexpectedly didn't retreat into defense. Instead, under Magath's direction from the sidelines, they launched relentless assaults!
Su!
With perfect partner play and Hao dominating midfield control!
Bayern was being too naive!
Against FC Schalke 04, they stubbornly maintained the same double-central-midfielder formation used against weaker opponents!
Van Bommel was completely outmaneuvered by Su's brilliant right-footed move!
Schweinsteiger stood alone!
He was utterly helpless against Su and Hao's combined pressure.
Yet despite this poor showing, van Gaal on the sidelines, as usual, signaled his players to focus on wing play.
He refused to consider formation changes!
In his view, FC Schalke 04's high-intensity, physically demanding style couldn't possibly last beyond seventy minutes!
If Bayern could just hold on, the final ten or twenty minutes would see them easily equalize or take the lead.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Facing Schweinsteiger's persistent attempts to block him with his body,
Su deftly flicked the ball right, then sharply pulled it back with his left foot the moment Schweinsteiger moved to intercept,
Simultaneously knocking the ball left with his right heel.
That position!
Hao rushed forward!
Without hesitation, Hao struck the ball directly into the back of the net with a first-time toe poke, not even bothering to control it first.
By then, Su had already sprinted past Schweinsteiger to receive the return pass!
Two against one!!!
A perfect two-on-one!
With Schweinsteiger beaten,
Bayern’s midfield was now wide open!
Su controlled the ball, took a long stride, and accelerated hard!
Robben raced to catch up, but his usual blistering pace seemed powerless against Su this time.
In the blink of an eye, Su was already charging toward the edge of Bayern’s penalty area!
Butt panicked!
"Stop him!"
Demichelis frantically rushed forward, abandoning his marking on Raul.
But Su didn’t give him a chance to get close.
Just as Demichelis stepped in, Su slipped the ball sideways—
That position!
Hao burst in at the perfect moment!
Now Demichelis was terrified!
This was the same Chinese player who had just scored a thunderous strike—not some unknown nobody.
Fearing a repeat, Demichelis threw himself into a desperate block!
But the moment he hit the ground, Hao flicked the ball back across.
Su!!!
Su received the ball at the edge of the box, completely unmarked, with only space ahead of him.
He raised his right foot—
Su swung fiercely, as if unleashing a powerful strike.
In that instant,
Bayern’s other center-back, Daniel van Buyten, didn’t hesitate—he, too, hurled himself into the block.
But Su’s next move sent a chill down van Buyten’s spine.
That crafty Chinese player wasn’t shooting at all!
After baiting van Buyten into the slide, Su suddenly pulled his foot back—
Instead of shooting, he toed the ball forward with his right foot!
The ball rolled neatly between van Buyten’s legs!
That position!
Vardy arrived!
The Champions League goal-drought striker was finally proving himself as the Bundesliga’s ultimate dark horse!
He jumped right in front of Butt!
There was no stopping this shot!
Vardy launched himself horizontally, waist-high in the air, and smashed the football with his right foot!
The ball shot forward like a cannonball fired from a cannon, streaking toward Bayern's goal!
This time, Butt finally reacted in time!
His dive was perfectly positioned—
Right where Vardy had aimed his shot.
But unfortunately for Bayern,
Vardy's strike carried too much power!
Even with Butt's full-stretch effort, the ball blasted into the net before his fingertips could reach it!
"GGGGGGG-----OOOOOOOO----AAAAAA-----LLLLLLL!"
"GGGGGOOOOOOOAAAAALLLLLLL!"
"GOAL!!!!!"
"GOAL!!!!!!!"
"VARDY!!!"
The Veltins-Arena stadium DJ erupted into hysterics once again!
"IT'S IN!!!"
"THE FOURTH GOAL!!!!"
"FC Schalke 04'S FOURTH GOAL!!! Su with his FOURTH ASSIST!!!"
"Vardy's absolutely ruthless finish!!!"
"Butt is getting torn apart!"
"On their home turf, FC Schalke 04 has the mighty Bayern goalkeeper flat on the grass, pounding the ground in frustration!!!"
"No motivation is stronger than chasing a championship!"
"This team of underdogs—worth just a fraction of Bayern's value—is showing the giants what true madness looks like!"
"In this stadium of dreams!"
"A 33-year-old veteran, a castoff from football's elite, an unknown from the footballing wilderness, and an eighth-division carpenter!"
"Together with an 18-year-old prodigy, they're writing a masterpiece!"
"Four goals!"
"Who could have imagined? In this era of money-dominated football, one of the least-favored underdog teams could rise like this!"
"The title is within reach!"
"Hold on!!!"
"For the dream of FC Schalke 04! Hold on!"
Duan spoke passionately as he watched Vardy celebrating wildly on the pitch.
He fought the urge to flip the table, while Wang, beside him, gripped his right hand tightly!
Not yet!
The table must stay upright!
On the sidelines,
Magath had lost count of how many times he'd hugged Hughes in excitement.
He planted frantic kisses on Hughes' bald head!
The championship!
Just thirty minutes away!
................
