Chapter 60: Your Lin Emperor, Unstoppable
Because Werder Bremen had previously scored a goal through a set-piece tactic, Hanover was extremely cautious about their current set-piece.
They marked Lin Quan tightly, denying him any space to receive or pass the ball, to prevent him from delivering another precise cross like before.
At the same time, they were prepared to counter-attack immediately after winning the ball back. If Werder Bremen dared to pass to Lin Quan again, they would show the power of Hanover's rapid counter-attacks!
However, De Bruyne wasn't foolish. Seeing how tightly Hanover was marking Lin Quan, he didn't opt for tactical cooperation with Lin Quan but instead kicked the ball into the penalty area directly.
After the free-kick was taken, players from both teams inside the penalty area immediately started moving, jostling with each other to contest the ball's landing spot.
The ball was headed out by a Hanover player but fell to the feet of a Werder Bremen player just outside the penalty area.
Papastathopoulos quickly passed the ball to De Bruyne to organize the attack.
De Bruyne passed the ball into the box, finding his teammate accurately, but Lukimya, under pressure from the defending player, skewed the ball off target, leaving him somewhat embarrassed, gesturing apologetically to De Bruyne.
It was Hanover's turn to counter-attack, but with one less midfielder and Werder Bremen unafraid to play a physical game in midfield, they found themselves losing out in midfield battles, unable to get the ball to their forwards.
In the 88th minute, when the opponent's midfield core, Huzti, was organizing the attack, Werder Bremen's captain, Fritz, seized the opportunity, making a tackle and winning the ball back, immediately signaling Werder Bremen's counter-attack.
The ball quickly reached De Bruyne's feet, and he looked upfield.
Hunter, Lin Quan, and Arnautovic, the three forwards, were all making runs.
Among them, Lin Quan had the most defenders around him, but he was ahead by half a body length. If the ball was slightly advanced to him, it would be a one-on-one opportunity.
De Bruyne was initially worried about Lin Quan's stamina, so he didn't choose him as the primary target for passing.
However, at this moment, seeing his friend running desperately, De Bruyne chose to trust his teammate.
Even if we lose possession, so be it. I'll take a yellow card if necessary to stop their attack with a foul tactic! I can't let him run in vain like this; he's putting in so much effort, it wouldn't sit right with me not to pass to him...
Thinking this, after passing the ball, De Bruyne chose to stick close to the opponent's midfield core, preparing to intercept or even foul.
Seeing De Bruyne passing to Lin Quan, Coach Schaaf looked somewhat displeased.
In his view, Lin Quan's position wasn't ideal, and with his stamina running out, passing the ball to him at this moment wasn't as good as passing to other attacking players.
He wasn't the only one with this thought; the players from Hanover shared the same sentiment.
The two defenders guarding Lin Quan almost laughed when they saw De Bruyne choosing to pass to Lin Quan.
Werder Bremen's counter-attack posed a significant threat, but passing the ball to this kid was practically handing them the ball!
They had noticed earlier that the opposing number ten was already running out of stamina. Although he was now running at full speed, it was just a last-ditch effort! With a bit of physical contact, they could push him aside and neutralize this attack.
So, the two of them tacitly chose to close the gap in defense, intending to put an end to Werder Bremen's attack.
However, to their surprise:
Just as they tried to close the gap, Lin Quan suddenly accelerated, bursting out between the two of them.
And after breaking through, his speed didn't decrease; instead, he ran faster and faster, quickly leaving them behind, too late for them to even think about fouling him!
How does this guy still have the energy to run so fast?
Hanover's two defenders were left dumbfounded!
It wasn't just them; the spectators at the stadium, including the TV commentators, were all left baffled.
Wasn't he supposed to be out of stamina?
How could he still run so fast?
After dribbling past the two opposing defenders, Lin Quan received De Bruyne's pass and smoothly penetrated into the penalty area.
The goalkeeper chose not to come out, standing in front of the goal, lowering his center of gravity, and spreading his hands to prepare for a save.
Lin Quan glanced at the goalkeeper's positioning and made a motion to shoot at the far corner.
The goalkeeper didn't suspect anything and immediately prepared to move towards the far corner.
But what made him spit blood was that just as he pushed off to defend the far corner, Lin Quan feinted and shot at the near corner.
Now, his center of gravity was already deceived, leaving him with no chance of making an effective save, only able to watch helplessly as the football flew into the goal.
This move was Messi's trademark successive feint shot, an unbeatable trick against goalkeepers, even Buffon had been fooled by Messi like this.
Using it against an average goalkeeper naturally had a high success rate.
"The ball's in! The score is now 4:2, and it's Lin Quan again, stepping up once more and contributing another brilliant goal!"
Excitedly commented He Wei from the CCTV commentary booth.
In two Telekom Cup matches and three league matches, Lin Quan had shown brilliant performances in five consecutive games. He felt like he was witnessing the birth of a superstar.
Especially when he encountered a bottleneck in his stamina, yet still managed to put in all his effort to score this goal, his determination alone was admirable.
On the internet, the goal Lin Quan scored ignited a frenzy among netizens.
They thought Lin Quan had run out of stamina, but they didn't expect him to display such performance when the game was approaching the ninety-minute mark, which greatly exceeded everyone's expectations!
"Damn, Lin bro's stamina is beyond imagination. It's almost ninety minutes, and he's still running so fast!"
"Sorry, Lin bro, I shouldn't have doubted your stamina!"
"At only 16 years old, having this kind of stamina, imagine when he's 20!"
"Wow, what a talent Barça has picked up! I feel like our village's dynasty will last another five hundred years!"
"He's scored in three consecutive games; this is the rhythm of contending for the Bundesliga Golden Boot!"
"I checked; he seems to be temporarily leading the scoring charts in the top five leagues!"
"Strong, Lin bro!"
Besides the regular match discussions, there was also a group of netizens keen on creating jokes and memes, and at this moment, they started to come up with new content:
"Your Lin Emperor, endless endurance!"
"Lin Emperor, Lin Emperor, endlessly rampant!"
"Your Lin Emperor, unstoppable!"
"In youth, we didn't know about Lin Emperor, mistakenly taking Messi as the football king!"
"In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, there was Zhou Yu, and at Werder Bremen, there's Lin Emperor!"
...
The nickname "Lin Emperor" was coined when some fans used LeBron James' stamina as an example, not sure who first applied it to Lin Quan. Because it sounded catchy, many people accepted it.
And once crowned with the title 'Emperor,' it was inevitable to be meme-ified and joked about, but the fans didn't have any ill intent; it was all in good fun.
Of course, Lin Quan, thousands of miles away, was surely unaware of all this!
After Lin Quan scored this goal, Hannover 96 was deeply shaken. The players' morale deflated like a punctured balloon, and they couldn't muster any more resistance.
Soon, the final whistle blew, and Werder Bremen defeated Hannover 96 away with a score of 4:2, securing their second consecutive league victory.
There weren't any major upsets in this round of the Bundesliga.
The league leaders Bayern Munich won 3-1 at home against Mainz, continuing to top the table with three consecutive victories.
As for last season's Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund, after suffering two embarrassing draws, they finally secured a victory at home this round.
They cleanly defeated Bayer Leverkusen 3-0, earning three points and climbing to seventh place in the table.
The most unexpected performance came from the newly promoted team, Eintracht Frankfurt, who won 3-2 at home against Hamburg in this match. With three wins in three matches, they ranked second in the table, trailing behind Bayern Munich only on goal difference.
And below them, Werder Bremen had two wins and one draw, accumulating seven points and ranking third.
This season, Bayern Munich's form was scorching hot, and they had already established a considerable lead.
Meanwhile, Eintracht Frankfurt's outstanding performance at the beginning of the season surprised many.
Many people were looking forward to witnessing the emergence of another Kaiserslautern myth, but Frankfurt hadn't faced many top-ranking teams yet, so their current performance was of lower significance. Whether they could stay at the top of the table for a long time remained uncertain.
Another surprising team was naturally Werder Bremen.
As a team that narrowly avoided relegation last season, they started this season unbeaten in three matches, with two consecutive victories in recent rounds.
Besides their results, Werder Bremen's terrifying attacking firepower also left people in awe.
They scored a total of 9 goals in these three matches, averaging three goals per game.
This goal tally ranked second among the 18 Bundesliga teams, only behind Bayern Munich.
And the team's excellent attacking strength mainly benefited from their tactical play and the outstanding performances of two young players loaned from Chelsea and Barcelona.
In the post-match ratings by the German media, Lin Quan received the highest score and was chosen as the MVP of the game, while De Bruyne received the second-highest score on the team and was also highly praised.
(End of chapter)