Chapter 207: A Last-Minute Winning Goal, A Divine Moment!
"Torres's goal in the ninetieth minute could be a fatal blow to Manchester City. They may very well be facing the fate of defeat," regretfully remarked Martin Tyler from Sky Sports.
His old partner, Andy Gray, chimed in, "Manchester City's players fought until the very last moment. They nearly pushed Chelsea to the brink, so even if they lose this game, I don't think anyone will blame them."
"Exactly. With consecutive away games and a large number of injuries, the outside world didn't have high expectations for them. To perform at this level, I think they can leave Stamford Bridge with their heads held high!"
"Lin seems to haven't given up yet, but time is too short. I don't think he can change the score."
After seeing Lin Quan retrieve the ball from the goal, Martin Tyler was somewhat surprised.
He specifically noted the match time: "Now it's injury time. After Chelsea finishes celebrating, injury time of three minutes will probably be exhausted!"
"The chance for Manchester City's attack may only come once!"
Andy Gray sighed beside him, "It's too difficult to score with just one chance."
"Lin is formidable, but even he can't complete this nearly impossible task."
"Yes, after taking the lead, Chelsea will definitely retract their defense and not give Manchester City any opportunities!"
...
On the sidelines, after finishing celebrating, Mourinho solemnly advised Chelsea's players, "Manchester City's biggest threat is only Lin. Watch him, mark him, don't give him a chance to shoot, hold on for this last minute, and leave the victory at Stamford Bridge. Can you do it?"
"Yes!"
"Louder, haven't you eaten?"
"Boss, we'll leave the victory at Stamford Bridge!"
The players let out a resounding roar in unison.
At this moment, they only had one thought in their minds: to win!
"Lin, how should we play this ball?"
Jóvetic and Milner approached, asking.
Negredo had been substituted, leaving a gap in Manchester City's forward line.
This prevented them from replicating their previous attacking tactics.
After a glance at Chelsea's formation, Lin Quan said, "You guys help me create space, I'll make the final attack!"
Both nodded, feeling relieved.
At such a critical moment, being entrusted with the final attack put immense pressure on them psychologically.
If, by any chance, the final shot didn't go in, they could very well become the scapegoats for the team's loss.
They were very grateful to Lin Quan for taking on this heavy burden.
Not everyone had such responsibility and courage.
Thinking of this, Lin Quan's image in their minds grew even taller.
In the second minute of injury time, urged by the referee, Chelsea finally finished celebrating and returned to the field.
With a whistle, the game resumed.
Jóvetic passed the ball directly to Lin Quan, while he himself acted as the forward pivot, rushing towards Chelsea's half.
However, he was quickly intercepted by Chelsea's players.
On the other side, Milner was also making efforts to position himself, but Chelsea's wing midfielder and wing-back blocked all his receiving spaces.
Manchester City's left-sided attacking channel was completely blocked!
At this moment, all eyes were focused on Lin Quan.
How would he complete this attack!
The first to rush towards Lin Quan was Chelsea's hero of the match, his national team teammate Torres.
Torres seemed to have completely forgotten that he was a striker. He stared intently at every move of Lin Quan's feet, employing all the defensive skills he knew, desperately trying to prevent Lin Quan's progress.
However, T9's defensive abilities were still inferior to those of dedicated defenders.
Lin Quan didn't waste time arguing with him. Using rhythm changes, he easily passed him.
Oscar and Ramires almost simultaneously rushed towards Lin Quan, trying to stifle Manchester City's attack in midfield.
However, based on the difference in their starting points, Lin Quan passed Oscar first, then passed Ramires. In just a few seconds, he completed three dribbles!
Seeing Lin Quan successfully break through Chelsea's midfield, the Blues' fans at Stamford Bridge subconsciously held their breath!
Stop him!
They really wanted to shout out loud, but because of the intense nervousness, the Blues' fans seemed to lose their ability to speak at that moment. The words they wanted to say were all stuck in their throats, unable to be shouted out.
In the box, Emma Watson nervously held her friend's hand, while Lily Collins was even more nervous than her.
Both were praying, but one hoped the ball wouldn't go in while the other hoped it would.
Even Abramovich couldn't sit still, nervously gripping the railing of the box, half leaning out and looking onto the field.
Every step Lin Quan took increased his pressure, as if the relentless beat of a drum was pounding fiercely on his heart.
On the sidelines, both teams' coaches and players on the bench had all stood up at this moment. Each one stretched their necks, nervously watching the field.
In a inconspicuous corner of the stands, De Bruyne, who had long been abandoned by Mourinho and failed to make the squad, couldn't help but stand up at this moment.
Seeing Lin Quan rapidly dribbling the ball forward while continuously completing unbelievable dribbles, he remembered the two of them once stood side by side on the field of the German Cup, overturning Bayern Munich in that match.
That scene felt like it was just yesterday, but yesterday was already very distant!
Terry, Cahill, Ivanovic all charged towards Lin Quan.
Chelsea's captain had even revealed his cleats, sliding to the ground, wanting to scare Lin Quan with this move and make him give up this attack.
Even if he couldn't get the ball, Terry would still knock him down.
Even if it meant a booking, this ball couldn't be let him carry it forward anymore!
Pass!
Seeing Terry's move, the Manchester City fans at the scene were shocked!
It wasn't worth letting their own team's core get injured for one game, so at this moment, they all hoped that Lin Quan would pass the ball.
Pass it!
On Manchester City's coaching bench, Pellegrini and the assistants were also shouting in their hearts.
Manchester City had a significant lead on the points table. Even if they lost this game, they would still be three points ahead of the second-placed team.
But if Lin Quan got injured, even if the goal was scored, it wouldn't be worth it.
"You brat, pass the ball quickly!"
In a Munich apartment, Guardiola saw this scene and jumped up from his seat with a thud.
He wished he could rush to London now and pull Lin Quan off the field.
It seemed like Lin Quan heard Guardiola's shout. Before Terry could tackle him, he passed the ball.
The fans at the scene let out a sigh of relief, that suffocating feeling disappeared, and they all breathed a sigh of relief because of Lin Quan's move.
Terry, who was sliding to tackle, also breathed a sigh of relief, quickly retracting his foot to avoid kicking the opponent and giving away a free kick.
It's good that the ball was passed out. The threat of the ball being at someone else's feet was much smaller than it being at Lin Quan's feet.
However, they realized after they relaxed that Lin Quan didn't pass the ball forward, but backward.
He passed the ball back to Yaya Toure.
Could it be that he saw Chelsea's tight defense and decided to give up this attack? Yaya Toure was also very surprised. He didn't expect Lin Quan to pass the ball to him.
But just as he was at a loss, he saw Lin Quan dodge Terry's tackle and had already entered the penalty area.
He hadn't given up the attack!
Yaya Toure instantly woke up. Without thinking, he flicked the ball up, sending a lob pass to find Lin Quan.
In order to break through Chelsea's defense and prevent the ball from being intercepted by the opponent during the pass.
The ball Yaya Toure passed was a semi-high ball. When the football fell, it was probably around his neck.
However, this height made it difficult for the receiver to shoot directly, even a header would be difficult to generate power, it would require stopping the ball to adjust.
But would Chelsea's defenders give Lin Quan the time to adjust?
"This pass is too bad!"
"Lin Quan is too hard to deal with!"
"Lin Quan has finally run into space, but Yaya Toure's pass wasn't good!"
"If it were Silva or De Bruyne here, they would definitely have passed a better ball!"
"Don't even mention Silva, even if Lin Quan's former teammate De Bruyne was brought out, his pass would be better than Yaya Toure's!"
Manchester City fans sighed one after another after seeing Yaya Toure's pass, realizing that this attack was probably over, and without this attack forming a goal, Manchester City would run out of time.
So, Manchester City's winning streak and unbeaten record would be ended at Stamford Bridge.
The Chelsea fans at the scene, Abramovich in the box, and Mourinho on the sidelines all breathed a sigh of relief after seeing Yaya Toure's pass.
For Lin Quan to receive this ball, he would have to receive it with his back to the goal, it would take a lot of time just to control the ball, and he would be facing away from the goal.
As long as Chelsea's defenders weren't a bunch of fools, it would be impossible to give the opponent a chance to turn and shoot.
However, just as everyone thought Manchester City's attack was about to fail.
Lin Quan made a move that shocked everyone immensely!
He saw the football flying towards him, and with a strong kick and a powerful twist of his waist, his body soared into the air in the penalty area, resembling a soaring eagle!
A bicycle kick! This kid actually wants to attempt a bicycle kick shot!!
Chelsea's defender Cahill was dumbfounded, while Lin Quan's right foot was already above his head!
A loud bang! The football flew into the Blues' goal like a speeding bullet, under the gaze of forty thousand fans.
Chelsea's goalkeeper Cech was dumbfounded.
Defender Terry was dumbfounded too.
All of Chelsea's players were dumbfounded at this moment.
The entire Stamford Bridge fell into silence! This goal completely exceeded their imagination, to the point that their brains momentarily malfunctioned!
"GOOOOOOOAL!"
"An unbelievable goal!"
"Like a god descending to earth!"
"Such a goal is rarely seen in this world!"
Major television stations, with commentators speaking various languages, went crazy at this moment.
No amount of praise would be excessive for this magnificent goal; the brilliance of this goal fully deserves their admiration!
"Let's enjoy this wonderful goal in slow motion!"
"This is an extremely difficult bicycle kick shot, with the height of the football approximately around 1.6 meters from the ground. It's already challenging to kick a ball to this height, let alone a ball flying at a certain speed. The judgment of the landing point, the timing of the shot, and so on, all require extremely high skills!"
"Yaya Toure's pass wasn't good, but perhaps even he didn't expect that his 'low-quality' pass would assist his teammate in scoring such a splendid goal!"
In the CCTV studio, with the slow-motion replay, commentators He Wei and Xu Yang explained this goal to the fans watching the game.
A bicycle kick shot itself is a high-difficulty shooting action, and being able to complete this action and score is very difficult, let alone such a difficult goal.
The two have been commentating on matches for more than ten years. They dare not say this is the most spectacular goal they've ever seen, but it can at least make it into the top ten, or even the top five!
"Perhaps Lin Quan can defend his Puskas Award this year with this goal."
Xu Yang said with a smile.
He Wei also nodded in agreement: "If I were a judge, I would vote for Lin Quan's goal!"
...
On the field, after Lin Quan scored this splendid goal, Manchester City fans and players were all ecstatic.
All ten players on the field, including the goalkeeper, rushed towards Lin Quan.
Lin Quan also excitedly ran to the sidelines, celebrating towards the direction of the away fans.
The Manchester City players followed behind, rushing onto the field one by one, then excitedly piled up on Lin Quan on the grass, forming a human pyramid.
The players on the bench were also boiling with excitement, all leaving the bench, some excitedly hugging their surrounding teammates.
Some even ran onto the field to join in the celebration.
Pellegrini first waved his fists, then hugged each assistant coach excitedly.
Because he was too excited, he even almost hugged someone from Chelsea who was close to the Manchester City coaching bench.
Fortunately, at the last moment, the assistant coach pulled the old man back, otherwise the Chilean engineer would have made a fool of himself.
Some were rejoicing while others were in despair. Manchester City was celebrating wildly, but Chelsea couldn't muster a smile.
Mourinho sat on the coaching bench, his eyes staring at his own goal, unable to accept this result even now.
In the box, Abramovich, after seeing this goal, slammed the door in anger and left early.
Lin Quan's goal was a last-minute winner!
Chelsea had just rewritten the score two minutes ago, but their lead hadn't even lasted two minutes before being rewritten by Manchester City again!
On the field, Torres stood in front of his own goal, hands on hips, looking somewhat unwillingly at Lin Quan, who was surrounded by teammates.
In the national team, he had lost his starting position to Lin Quan, going from an absolute mainstay in the World Cup and European Cup to a marginal position where he rarely had playing opportunities.
At the club, he had encountered a serious goal drought and had only just broken it with consecutive goals in two games.
Unexpectedly, after finally scoring a last-minute winner, he was counter-killed by the opponent.
Could this guy be his nemesis? Thinking of this, Torres couldn't help but smile bitterly.
At this moment, Stamford Bridge became very unfamiliar to him.
For the first time, T9 had the idea of leaving here.
(End of this chapter)
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