Chapter 23 — Fearing Your Brother's Hardship Yet Dreading Him Driving a Range Rover
Although Xia Qi was back in the public's favor, the FA still issued a punishment notice.
Regardless, hitting someone was wrong.
Xia Qi was fined £10,000 by the FA but was not suspended.
The lawsuit with the bald, tattooed man was settled out of court.
Arsenal compensated the man £100,000.
There was no choice — if Arsenal didn't pay, he insisted on proceeding to sue. He had the time; Xia Qi and Arsenal did not.
Pay for the lesson!
Still, if the same thing happened again, would Xia Qi do it? Compared to the lost look in a child's eyes, £100,000 wasn't a big deal.
After the regional legend status lit up, Xia Qi trained even harder.
The system's biggest flaw was its lack of experiential feel; the second biggest was that all skills required fully filling the training bar before they could be used.
Xia Qi now had four skills to grind for, namely:
Batti goal! Park Sam-pul perpetual motion, Xia Qi cut-in, and Xia Qi shoulder-drop.
Xia Qi's thunderous shot shared the same training bar as Batti goal — both used the same progress meter.
That made Xia Qi happy.
The difference between them:
Batti goal is homemade and free but not guaranteed to score.
Xia Qi's thunder-shot costs 500 legend points and doesn't guarantee a goal either, but it guarantees the shot will be on frame.
…
The fifth round of the Premier League had two heavyweight clashes: the eternal "Red Derby" — Liverpool vs. Manchester United — and the "Blues vs. Reds" — Manchester City vs. Arsenal.
The Red Derby needs no elaboration.
Because Arsenal had won two consecutive matches and risen strongly, because Xia Qi's first match was against his old club, and because Liverpool had slipped out of the Champions League places this season, this City vs. Arsenal match stole the spotlight from the traditional fan feast of the Red Derby.
Sir Alex Ferguson: If Manchester United needs a chaser, I hope it's Manchester City. So I'll be cheering for City!
(Last round, United took three points while City were held to a draw. Table: Chelsea 10 pts, United 9, Arsenal 8, City 8; Arsenal had five more goals than City.)
Roberto Mancini: I don't think selling Xia Qi was a mistake; we must look further ahead. Mario (Balotelli) was once hailed as the third after Messi and Ronaldo, but now he's just our substitute.
Regarding Xia Qi's hitting incident, I support Xia Qi — he's a friendly person and I like him.
Just as I like Mario, but football is business — buying and selling happens…
As for the match, I'd rather it not end in a draw. That would be a double loss and only let Chelsea and United gain.
Both teams have opportunities to take three points; it'll come down to the players' on-the-night performance.
I won't assign someone to specifically mark Xia Qi. Rather than disrupting the opponent's tactics, better play our own (tactics).
Finally, I want to tell Xia Qi: welcome home. Manchester City's academy is famous because of you. You're our pride.
Wenger: Is Xia Qi's value up for debate? In past years we could only enter the Champions League zone after winter break; now we're already third.
A reporter interjected: Xia Qi called Arsenal "A-three-na, A-four-na" as a joke — Arsenal should be Arsenal!
Wenger smiled: He's right. Let's work together. I also think my old rival should postpone retirement by a year.
Xia Qi: Thanks to Manchester City, thanks to my U18 coach Li, and thanks to Mr. Mancini. As a striker I of course want to score, whether at the Etihad or the Emirates…
Balotelli: Is Xia Qi starting? Don't know yet? Good, good. I'll definitely play — I've been in great form these days…
He's torn — fearing his brother has it rough, yet dreading his brother driving a Range Rover.
Etihad Stadium,
match day.
Before the game, Xia Qi intentionally visited the home team dressing room to greet Mancini, Li, Balotelli…and Man City's backroom staff.
Old teammates were happy to see him. Balotelli asked excitedly: "Xia, are you starting?"
"Of course."
"Ah!"
Balotelli, like a kid wanting candy, turned pleadingly to Mancini.
Mancini pretended to be busy and hugged Xia Qi before leaving.
Media speculated the two were at odds, but that wasn't the case.
Mancini:
Because of Xia Qi's 93:20 (the decisive minute), his own managerial position was steady. As for selling Xia Qi — his squad already had marquee Agüero and efficient, steady Džeko; the forward slots were already contested, with Balotelli and Tévez on the roster — selling Xia Qi wasn't a personal vendetta.
Xia Qi:
Because Mancini valued him, he'd risen to fame with that one goal. He also knew he had no future spot at City and had planned to go to the Bundesliga — now things turned out better.
So their relationship wasn't close, but neither was it the adversarial picture painted by the media.
Whether Mancini or his former teammates, Xia Qi parted with them with dignity — goodbyes and still friends.
After Mancini left, the dressing room buzzed — in competitive sport it's normal to be fierce on the pitch and social off it. Players from Barcelona and Real Madrid often hang out together.
Balotelli was unhappy that Xia Qi was starting while he was on the bench…
Xia Qi knew how to soothe his temperament and whispered, "I'll knock them all down, and you can come on driving your multicolored cloud to save City — isn't that grandeur?"
Balotelli felt pleased inside but said, "No way! They're my brothers too."
Xia Qi pretended to believe him. "Okay, then I'll use half effort."
"That's unacceptable!"
Balotelli panicked and Xia Qi laughed.
Balotelli wasn't embarrassed and leaned to Xia Qi's ear: "Hart's been diving to the left a lot, Kompany tries to push forward, Džeko and Agüero are contending to be the top dog, Sinclair's a big dud, Zabaleta only returned to the hotel this morning…"
City players saw the two "problem kids" huddled in a corner occasionally chuckling. The joke was that fools are happiest together — little did they know a fool among them would sell out these clever ones.
…
Xia Qi held the ball boy's hand in the players' tunnel waiting to go on, carefully observing Manchester City's starting lineup.
He noticed Zabaleta indeed looked sluggish and Agüero hadn't been talking much with Džeko…
This heavyweight match would of course draw coverage from the big platforms.
"The match is about to start. Coach Zhang, please introduce tonight's starting lineups to our fans."
"Okay."
"Home team Manchester City — Mancini still favors his 4-4-2.
Goalkeeper is England number one Joe Hart. The center-back pairing is Joleon Lescott and Vincent Kompany, left back is Gaël Clichy, right back Pablo Zabaleta.
These fullbacks are among the best in the Premier League; Arsenal must watch City's wing-backs making sudden overlapping runs — that's Mancini's favorite scoring method.
City's midfield: Yaya Touré and Javi García as the double pivot.
Touré is widely regarded as the world's best box-to-box midfielder. In Liverpool vs. Arsenal, Wenger's clever move to turn Xia Qi into a B2B forward had been brilliant — we anticipate a one-on-one moment tonight between them.
David Silva is City's front-line linchpin, playing as left attacking midfield. Scott Sinclair is on the right.
The forwards are a high-and-fast pairing: Džeko and Agüero.
Balotelli, Tévez… are on the bench.
Arsenal are also in a 4-4-2.
Because last match first-choice goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny had a poor game, this match sees Manuel Almunia (or possibly Vito Mannone in the text — Mannone) starting; he performed steadily against Liverpool.
If Szczęsny doesn't regain form, goalkeeper could be a concern.
The back line sees changes: Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny paired at center back, Kieran Gibbs as left back — his preferred position. Jenkinson at right back.
Santi Cazorla and Mikel Arteta form the double pivot — Arteta is Arsenal's midfield brain; Cazorla is more defensive-minded but could play a creative role.
Aaron Ramsey has recovered and returns at right midfield, so Abou Diaby must shift to the left attacking midfield. Diaby is left-footed; a right full-back spot might suit him better.
Wenger could consider Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for that role; perhaps Oxlade-Chamberlain's disaster last match made Wenger choose the steadier Diaby.
The two strikers are Xia Qi, who scored nine goals and leads the Premier League scorers, and Lukas Podolski.
Surely City regret letting such a prolific striker go?
"Okay fans, the players are lined up in the center circle ready to start."
Beep!
"The match begins. The team in blue is Manchester City; they attack from left to right on your screen. The team in red-and-white is…"
(END CHAPTER)
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