Chapter 242: A World-Class Champion's Textbook Goal!
Before the match started, former Manchester United star David Beckham, now retired, arrived at the stadium with his wife Victoria to watch this Premier League showdown.
As a member of the Class of '92, even though he had left Manchester United due to a fallout with Ferguson, Beckham still held deep feelings for the club.
Like many Red Devils fans, he wasn't particularly fond of Moyes.
But he still hoped to see the Red Devils defend their honor at home.
However, the result of the match left him disappointed.
What has become of the Red Devils? "That Lin is really strong!"
Victoria, seemingly oblivious to her husband's disappointed expression, couldn't help but exclaim as she watched Lin Quan's heroic performance on the field.
Ever since she learned that Lily Collins' boyfriend was Lin Quan, Victoria had been very interested in him, wanting to know just how good he really was.
Beckham nodded: "Lin is outstanding, arguably the best among his generation of young players."
"Really, is he that good?"
Victoria's eyes sparkled. She didn't know much about football, but she trusted her husband's judgment.
Before Victoria could finish her sentence, Lin Quan scored his second goal of the match.
Beckham spread his hands, as if to say, "See, I told you he's amazing!"
"Do you think he can score again?"
Victoria asked curiously.
This question actually stumped Beckham.
"Probably not? This is Old Trafford. It's rare for a Manchester City player to score a hat-trick here. I don't think the Manchester United players will give him that chance!"
Only those who are real players understand what the Manchester Derby means.
Scoring a hat-trick in such a derby would severely dent the opponent's morale, making them hang their heads in shame, while also garnering enthusiastic support from the home fans and becoming a hero for their team.
Hearing her husband's uncertain answer, Victoria gave a sly smile and said:
"How about we make a bet? I think he can score again!"
Beckham raised an eyebrow. Although he didn't directly agree to the bet with his wife, he didn't refuse either, which was basically a tacit acceptance.
An hour later, seeing the scoreboard showing a striking 3-0, and Lin Quan raising his collar at Old Trafford, mimicking Manchester United king Cantona's iconic celebration, Beckham felt a bit dazed.
He seemed to be transported back to the 1994-1995 Premier League season, round 14, when Manchester United faced Manchester City at home.
In that match, Manchester United thrashed Manchester City 5-0, with Cantona opening the scoring and Kanchelskis scoring a hat-trick. Despite being fouled by the opponent's defenders throughout the match, Cantona stood tall and proud like a king, receiving thunderous applause and cheers from over sixty thousand Red Devils fans.
Time flies, and nearly 20 years have passed.
The intense Manchester Derby was back, but this time, the king seemed to belong to Manchester City.
When the Old Trafford crowd saw Lin Quan score a hat-trick, they fell silent.
But when they saw Lin Quan celebrating using the United king's iconic celebration at Old Trafford, they were furious!
How dare he!
This is Old Trafford, how dare he celebrate like this here?
In an instant, a huge chorus of boos mixed with some insults erupted from all corners of the stadium, directed at Lin Quan on the field.
Lin Quan, expressionless, turned in place with his collar up, looking around. The boos sounded like the opponent's wails to him, and he found them not grating, but rather delightful.
Come on, wail louder, let me feel your anger and pain! But his teammates, a bit lacking in sense, all rushed up, knocking him to the ground in wild celebration.
Seeing the Manchester City players celebrating wildly at their home ground, the Manchester United players were disheartened.
Even seeing Lin Quan's provocative celebration, they couldn't muster any anger.
The true Red Devils players had long withered away. These players on the field were like walking corpses, merely wearing the Red Devils' skin, but lacking the blood and spirit of the true Red Devils.
On the sidelines, Manchester United's coach Moyes seemed to feel a chill, retreating to his seat, wrapping himself in his coat, staring blankly at his collapsing team on the field.
What has happened to Manchester United? Like many fans, Moyes also wanted to understand this question! In the stands, Manchester United's legendary coach Ferguson looked at the United players on the field, then glanced at Moyes on the sidelines, and couldn't help but sigh.
If before this match he had any reservations about the club's intention to replace Moyes, after this match, Ferguson was finally certain that Moyes was not the coach Manchester United needed.
His coaching style and personal temperament did not fit Manchester United at all.
Manchester United could do without the top stars, but they must not lose their passion, their never-give-up, never-surrender spirit! Without passion and an indomitable spirit, what is left of Manchester United? Thinking of this, Ferguson sighed again. The match wasn't over yet, but for Manchester United, this entire season had already ended early!
...
Defeated by Lin Quan's hat-trick, Manchester United stumbled through the remaining match time, while the rampaging Manchester City had no intention of showing mercy.
In the 82nd minute, David Silva once again broke through Manchester United's defense, making the score 4-0!
At this point, Manchester United fans in the stands began to leave early.
They couldn't bear to see their team lose so badly to their arch-rivals at home, preferring to leave early than to sit through the torture.
This might have been a wise choice because Manchester City's attack did not stop.
In the 89th minute, Lin Quan, after breaking through, back-heeled the ball to the advancing De Bruyne, who scored again.
The score became 5-0!
This was almost a reenactment of the match 19 years ago, except this time, the roles were reversed, with Manchester United being the ones slaughtered.
In injury time, Manchester City almost scored again.
Lin Quan's free-kick hit the crossbar and went out, giving Manchester United fans a long sigh of relief.
If that shot had gone in, Lin Quan would have become the first player in Manchester Derby history to score four goals in a single match.
In the end, the match concluded with Manchester City defeating Manchester United 5-0 at Old Trafford, thanks to goals from Lin Quan and De Bruyne.
With this victory, they not only solidified their position at the top of the league but also emphatically announced their resurgence from a slump with two big wins.
Manchester City remained the top contenders for the league title! In another match happening at the same time, Chelsea defeated Fulham 3-1 away, with Schürrle also completing a hat-trick to help his team secure three points, keeping the gap with Manchester City at eight points.
However, with only 10 rounds left in the league, an eight-point gap was already hard for Chelsea to close.
But Mourinho remained defiant. In an interview with reporters, he said:
"Until the last moment, you never know the final result. This is the charm of football!"
However, compared to his previous confident demeanor, the Special One's confidence seemed to have waned.
As Manchester City and Chelsea fought for the Premier League title, unnoticed in a corner, Wenger's Arsenal had started to collapse, quietly slipping to fourth place in the league.
In the last four matches, Arsenal had only won one, losing two and drawing one.
First, they were thrashed 5:1 by Liverpool at Anfield, then held to a draw by Manchester United at home. After barely salvaging some pride with a 4:1 home win over Sunderland, they stumbled again with a 0:1 away loss to Stoke City, who had just been swept by Manchester City.
It was only March, and Arsenal had already dropped to fourth place, beginning their familiar battle for fourth place.
Wenger's team, indeed, still had that familiar formula, that familiar taste! ...
After the league matches, the FIFA international break arrived. After the World Cup qualifiers, there weren't many national team matches.
Lin Quan hadn't been called up by the national team for almost four or five months.
He thought it would be the same this time, but Bosque surprised him by issuing a call-up.
The Spanish national team has an important friendly match in a few days to assess the team's condition and strength before the World Cup begins.
This time, Bosque didn't go easy on the players; instead, he called up almost all the main players.
This is not good news for the internationals who play for major clubs and have to compete in the league, cup, and Champions League.
However, in order to participate in the World Cup, no matter how hard and tiring it is, no one would refuse the national team's call.
Lin Quan arrived at the Las Rozas base on the afternoon of March 3rd. Compared to those internationals who play in La Liga, those who play in other leagues reported much later.
When they arrived at the training base, many people were already there and had started training.
Unlike the first time he came to the Las Rozas base, this time, as soon as Lin Quan arrived outside the base, a large number of fans surrounded him and his teammates, making it impossible to move.
"Lin, you have so many fans!"
David Silva and Navas also enjoyed being surrounded by fans, but what hurt them was that all the fans were there for Lin Quan. Occasionally, a few fans holding their support signs were squeezed out by Lin Quan's enthusiastic fans.
"Do I?"
Lin Quan couldn't help but think of Ronaldo and Messi, wondering how he compared to them.
Lin Quan has always been friendly to his fans.
Feeling their enthusiasm, he smiled and waved at them.
Unexpectedly, this gesture seemed to ignite a powder keg, and the atmosphere exploded.
"Ahhh, Lin smiled at me! He really has me in his heart!"
"Get lost, you vixen, Lin was obviously waving at me!"
"Lin, I love you, I want to have your babies!"
The female fans on the scene crazily squeezed towards Lin Quan, scaring him and his teammates into fleeing.
If they got surrounded by the fans, the consequences would be unimaginable!
"Lin, your fans are terrifying. I dare not come with you next time!"
David Silva was still scared. For the first time, he felt that women could be so scary!
Garcia and Navas nodded in agreement, but Negredo seemed a bit wistful:
"Why does Lin have so many female fans, but our fans are all rough guys?"
This question made everyone silent. Yes, why?
...
Bosque was relieved to see everyone had arrived safely.
With only three months left until the World Cup, players, especially the main players, must not get injured now.
If they get injured, they might miss this year's World Cup.
This World Cup is very important for Spain, and Bosque hopes to challenge for the World Cup title with the strongest lineup.
As the defending champions, if they can win the World Cup again this time, they will become the first team in nearly fifty years to defend their title.
By creating such a miracle, Spain would undoubtedly start their own dynasty.
Facing this historic opportunity, no one could remain indifferent.
Bosque naturally had ambitions. He hoped to engrave his name in Spain's history.
However, winning this year's championship will be very difficult.
"You all know about the World Cup draw, right?"
Before the training started the next day, Bosque gathered everyone and asked seriously.
Hearing Bosque's words, everyone nodded.
The World Cup draw ceremony had ended on December 7th last year.
Spain was unlucky; they were placed in Group B, along with last year's runner-up Netherlands, South American powerhouse Chile, and Australia from Asia.
Among these three opponents, besides Australia, who is an easy target, the other two teams are tough, especially the Netherlands.
Due to the abundance of strong European teams, teams like England, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Portugal were placed in the fourth pot.
In contrast, the third pot included weaker teams like Australia, Iran, Japan, and South Korea.
This meant that a top seed could easily end up in a group with a strong European team.
If the second seed was also strong, a group of death could easily form.
Unfortunately, Spain was the unlucky one, ending up in one of the two groups of death, Group B, in this World Cup.
The other unlucky team was their friendly match opponent, Italy.
The former World Cup champions Italy were drawn into Group D, alongside strong teams like Uruguay, England, and Costa Rica.
Their chances of advancing were even slimmer than Spain's!
Considering the South American teams have home advantage, it was very likely that the two European teams might not even make it past the group stage.
So, before the World Cup started, the two anxious teams arranged a friendly match to test each other's form.
Even if they lost, as long as it revealed their team's weaknesses in advance, they would consider it worthwhile!
Under these circumstances, the friendly match on March 6th received a lot of attention in both Spain and Italy.
The Italians saw this match as a chance for revenge.
They hadn't beaten Spain in six years.
In the 2008 and 2012 European Championships, Italy faced Spain three times, scoring only one goal and losing the final 4-0, watching Spain win two European Championship titles.
In last year's Confederations Cup, they met Spain in the semi-finals and lost 3-1, watching Spain win another title and achieve a grand slam in national team competitions.
Italy's continuous failures against Spain gradually led to a phobia of Spain.
Italian teams now found it not only hard to beat Spain but even difficult to score against them.
If they could win this friendly match, it would break their embarrassing winless streak against Spain.
For Spain, it had been a long time since the team gathered so many main players for a proper match.
Italy was a formidable opponent, and they hoped to use them as a stepping stone to boost morale.
So, both teams fielded their full strength!
On the evening of March 6th at 19:30, the match between Spain and Italy was held at the Calderon Stadium in Madrid.
Italy played very proactively today, with a flashy-haired Balotelli looking very lively from the start.
In the 4th minute, Turin winger Cerci broke into the box from the right and chose to lob the ball towards the goal from a tight angle.
It was a very threatening shot, curving past Casillas's reach, hitting the inside of the far post, and bouncing into the box.
Balotelli pushed past the defenders to attempt a follow-up shot but was thwarted by Ramos.
Balotelli was unhappy about being blocked and got into a verbal spat with Ramos.
Both hotheads, neither backed down, and they squared off.
Fortunately, the referee intervened in time, preventing the situation from escalating.
Balotelli, brilliant as he was below the neck, wasn't known for his intelligence!
After the spat with Ramos, he stubbornly targeted Ramos, seemingly wanting to prove himself by taking him down.
However, Ramos wasn't a pushover and, with experience and the help of his teammates, neutralized Balotelli's threats time and again.
On the contrary, with Balotelli's focus diverted, Italy's offense lost its edge. After their initial burst, Spain quickly took control of the game.
Starting from the 10th minute, Spanish players completed a series of passes, achieving 67 passes in just three minutes.
During this period, Italian players couldn't even touch the ball.
The ball moved from Spain's backfield to midfield, then to the front, and was finally passed into Buffon's goal by Lin Quan.
World champions Spain scored a textbook goal in a jaw-dropping manner!
(End of chapter)
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