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"Lance? Aren't you leaving yet?"
"I still have 50 shots to take. I'll leave after I'm done."
"What the hell?"
De Bruyne was stunned.
The 2014-2015 new season saw Bayer Leverkusen start with three winless rounds.
Losing to Bayern in the DFL-Supercup is one thing.
Losing to Borussia Dortmund in the first round of the Bundesliga is also normal.
After all, Bayern and Dortmund are top-tier powerhouses in the Bundesliga. If they don't play at 100% of their strength, winning or losing is normal.
But then, in the second round of the Bundesliga, Bayer Leverkusen drew 2-2 with Hertha Berlin.
This really can't be excused!
With fragmented summer transfers, plus De Bruyne's total transfer fee of 25 million Euros, the club spent tens of millions in total.
Yet, their starting performance was even worse than last season?
It made no sense.
Hertha Berlin ranked 11th last season, and their key players left this season, clearly a team plummeting towards the relegation zone.
Not even being able to beat Hertha Berlin, and at home, at that, Bayer Leverkusen wasn't just in a temporary slump; they truly had problems.
Just as Kicker commented after the match:
"After significant reinforcements in the new season, Bayer Leverkusen has not achieved the results expected of a defending Bundesliga champion. In fact, Bayer Leverkusen's signings were not what you'd call 'picking up scraps'; their acquisitions were very purposeful. From the individual performances of the players, recent appearances by defenders Virgil van Dijk, Harry Maguire, and Rüdiger all demonstrated impressive individual abilities."
"The addition of Kevin De Bruyne to the front line has brought a qualitative improvement to Bayer Leverkusen's offense; their passing and organisation are more than a notch better than last season. From this match, Bayer Leverkusen indeed showed they could play a dominant game."
"In the first half, De Bruyne assisted Lance's goal inside the box, which was arguably the best combination of this Bundesliga round. The two Belgian talents, who performed exceptionally well in the World Cup, delivered a world-class connection in the Bundesliga. A 45-degree long pass found Lance directly, and Lance's first touch, dribble, and volley were executed flawlessly! This goal would have been very difficult for any opponent to defend."
"Unfortunately, Bayer Leverkusen experienced a period of chaos in the latter half of the first half and at the start of the second half. As Hertha Berlin increased their defensive and offensive intensity and sped up the tempo, Bayer Leverkusen made frequent passing errors and defensive lapses. They conceded two goals to Hertha Berlin consecutively in the 45th and 52nd minutes."
"It wasn't until Bayer Leverkusen brought on forward Firmino, whose disruption in the attacking third created an opportunity for Lance. Lance played a wall pass with De Bruyne in the attacking third, then a through ball into the left channel. Son Heung-min received the ball in the 79th minute and curled a shot into the far corner, successfully equalising the score."
"The crucial cooperation between Lance, De Bruyne, and Son Heung-min saved Bayer Leverkusen from the shame of a three-game losing streak. However, Bayer Leverkusen still has multiple issues, including a lack of team cohesion, lapses in concentration, and tactical confusion."
"If Bayer Leverkusen wants to successfully defend their title this season and make progress in the Champions League, they must adjust their form as soon as possible. Otherwise, continuous winless streaks could potentially affect the entire season…"
Many people in the team had read Kicker's review article.
The coaching staff was equally anxious; they had recently intensified training.
Training immediately after the match without a break.
But simply enforcing discipline and intensity might not directly improve combat effectiveness.
In the last three winless matches, Lance was basically the most dedicated player on the team.
He contributed one assist and one goal in the last round, and the media collectively gave him a high score of 1 after the match, showing that everyone recognised Lance's performance.
But without leading the team to victory, Lance still silently took the responsibility upon himself.
He believed the three-game winless streak was due to his shooting, and he had been frantically practising shooting these past few days.
"If in the last game, at 82 minutes, 87 minutes, and the 3rd minute of injury time, I could have scored 1 goal from those three shooting opportunities, we would have won!"
"But your three shots were already very threatening!"
De Bruyne felt Lance was overthinking it.
He clearly remembered those three goal attempts.
One time, Lance made a run from the left, De Bruyne saw the timing and chipped a pass into the box, and Lance handled it perfectly.
He used the tip of his left foot to flick the ball over the defender, bypassing the defence, and directly shot with his right foot.
The sudden attack caught the goalkeeper off guard, and he fumbled the save in a hurry, leading to Firmino getting a shooting opportunity.
Unfortunately, Firmino was also surprised and didn't adjust his footwork; he seemed to have been pulled by an opponent during the shot, and with his body leaning back, he chipped the ball over the crossbar with his toe.
The second goal, Son Heung-min created a breakthrough opportunity from the left, dribbling past two players into the box, and played a cut-back pass to the top of the arc.
Lance controlled the ball and opened up space with one touch, and his outside-of-the-foot shot created a shooting window, a direct long-range shot from outside the box.
The ball hit the post and rebounded, then was cleared by a defender.
The third goal, this time Lance activated his Bachira Meguru template, launching a surprise attack through the middle!
De Bruyne and Son Heung-min pulled wide on the left and right, helping Lance create space to advance.
He dribbled past three players outside the box, finally breaking into the penalty area, leaning on the opposing centre-back to attempt a shot.
But the centre-back was strong and powerful, squeezing out Lance's immediate shooting opportunity.
Lance got to the ball, which was now on his left foot, and he could still shoot towards the far post.
It was a rare opportunity, and he attempted a shot with his weaker foot; the ball grazed the post and flew wide, almost giving the Berlin fans a heart attack.
De Bruyne mused that if these shots were taken by Cristiano Ronaldo or Messi, fans would only feel regret, and everyone would applaud Lance.
Even the away fans at the stadium applauded Lance.
After the match, on Weibo, fans and spectators also highly praised the several shots, mostly commending Lance.
He himself was still not satisfied!
Was he too hard on himself?
"This kid… I'll practise with you, okay."
De Bruyne was about to put down his gym bag and go back to the field to practise with Lance, but Lance waved him off.
"No need. Go with your new girlfriend."
"How did you know?!"
De Bruyne was stunned.
He had only confirmed his relationship with his girlfriend two days ago; before that, they had been ambiguous on Facebook.
De Bruyne planned to make it public after their relationship stabilised, sometime later.
He hadn't told anyone, and he had kept it very secret; logically, no one should know.
Was Lance God?
Is Eastern mysticism really that outrageous?
He once heard Lance say that there was a kind of 'Maoshan' Daoist art in the East, skilled in Eastern Daoist talismans.
And there were traditional divination metaphysics like 'Liuyao', 'Yi Jing', 'Qimen Dunjia'…
The thought alone sent shivers down his spine; just how much had this kid Lance learned?
He even wanted Lance to divine whether his new partner might cheat.
"Ah! I accidentally saw your phone screen once. It's just dating, go for it, it's not a big deal."
"Alright."
De Bruyne was embarrassed, realising he had overthought it.
After careful consideration, De Bruyne still dropped his bag, pulled out his phone, and sent a message to his girlfriend, cancelling their date tonight.
"So loyal?"
"Of course! Come on, I'll pass you different balls, and you try shooting to get a feel for it."
The next two matches were against Werder Bremen and Wolfsburg!
Two tough matches, Lance had to lead the team to win!
He worked extra hard, as if channelling all his frustrations into the football, blasting it towards the goal!
The two Belgian youths stood on the training ground in the evening, the sound of striking the ball constantly echoing through the base.