Chapter 39: Unique Charisma
This match had rendered the needle-point antagonism of the derby with exquisite clarity.
Xia Qi "revenge"-learned — Drogba dragging defenders to shoot.
Eden Hazard "revenge"-learned — Xia Qi's chip-and-run to toy with defenders.
The fans on both sides took their emotions to the highest pitch because of this.
Arsenal fans loudly cursed Hazard; Chelsea retorted by loudly cursing Xia Qi…
Inside the stadium things were still without tools and the shouting war didn't escalate much beyond who could shout louder.
Outside the stadium, Chelsea fans drunk on alcohol went further, burning images of Xia Qi.
Arsenal fans outside answered in kind, burning portraits of John Terry and Frank Lampard…
Then the situation spiraled out of control…
Arguing → burning portraits → throwing objects → fighting.
Such incidents happen a few times each year; the North London police, experienced in the matter, took up shields and batons to eject and arrest the troublemakers.
Inside the stadium, unaware of the chaos outside, the crowd was absorbed by the on-field tension.
On the pitch,
Chelsea, buoyed by their equalizer, pressed Arsenal hard.
Arsenal's front three all came back to help defend.
Suddenly the whole ground erupted in a deafening cheer as both Xia Qi and Ashley Cole stood at the touchline ready to come on.
Especially Ashley Cole — no one had expected he would be able to continue.
"This is the derby; nobody wants to miss it. A light knock isn't a reason to leave the field."
"The derby means so much to them. There's a saying: better to lose a title than to lose the derby."
After Xia Qi came on, he received the ball and passed it to Frank Lampard.
The stadium paused for a beat, then burst into applause.
Earlier Chelsea had intentionally kicked the ball out so "hero" Ashley Cole could be brought on sooner.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, hot-headed and young, didn't throw it back to the opponents but instead handed it to Xia Qi.
The AI-driven Xia Qi was emotionless and did everything by the book; he returned the ball to Lampard. As for Oxlade-Chamberlain being shamed — Xia Qi felt nothing!!!
Chelsea fan A: "Although I hate hypocrite Arsenal, this Xia Qi is actually hard to dislike; he's tough and classy, a real man."
Chelsea fan B: "Damn, so cheap — only five million. Look at what we bought — a bunch of duds. Some people just get you mad with comparison."
"At his level I guess he'll be in the national team soon; we'll cheer for him together."
"Getting a Xia Qi national team shirt would be great…"
The match continued.
Xia Qi's entrance didn't change Chelsea's momentum; Arsenal remained on the back foot.
But with Xia Qi dropping back, Mikel Arteta could pair up properly with Santi Cazorla as a double pivot, intercepting and diffusing about ninety percent of Chelsea's attacks.
This allowed Arsenal to weather the most difficult spell of the evening.
Chelsea's relentless attack gradually weakened, and Arsenal began to counter a few times.
Xia Qi found a chance and played a straight pass; Giroud took it at the edge of the box and tried an aerial half-volley.
He didn't strike it cleanly; the ball rolled weakly forward and David Luiz stopped it with his foot.
Not much damage, but an insult in spades.
Chelsea fans laughed until their sides hurt.
Ashamed and then fired up, Arsenal two minutes later saw Per Mertesacker intercept Hazard's ball in the box and play a direct pass to Xia Qi.
Ramires and Lampard immediately tracked up.
One shadowed Xia Qi's feet and the other dropped back to defend, always wary of his breakthrough.
Xia Qi dribbled toward the two as if intending to take them both on.
Ramires grinned savagely, thought "You wish!", and charged forward.
At high speed Xia Qi suddenly braked hard!
Just as everyone expected him to push the ball outward and execute an outside-over burst, he instead changed direction and ran laterally.
"It's over!"
Ramires knew he'd been beaten and could only look back at Lampard.
Lampard had been sure Xia Qi would try to get past him — cut inside or outside — but Xia Qi simply ran past!
This completely defied normal human logic.
Caught off guard, Lampard forced a tackle and missed.
In front of Xia Qi, John Obi Mikel froze — not wanting to be "eaten" by Xia Qi again — and frantically called for cover.
Ashley Cole again showed his manly side by coming back to provide defensive cover for Mikel.
Xia Qi saw the objective was achieved: the ball fell to Theo Walcott, and with Ashley Cole absent on Arsenal's right, Walcott smoothly cut inside.
Xia Qi and Olivier Giroud made overlapping runs into the middle.
In the box, David Luiz and John Terry could only have one of them mark Walcott while the other guarded Giroud at the penalty spot.
As for Xia Qi, he only hoped his teammates wouldn't be foolish again…
Walcott tried to get past Terry, but the wily John Terry wouldn't be fooled; Walcott's two feints couldn't trick him.
Walcott had to give up and instead played a square pass to Xia Qi at the edge of the box.
Xia Qi spread his arms wide, pinning Mikel and Ashley Cole behind him, back to goal. Receiving the ball, he gently pushed it back to the onrushing Mikel Arteta.
Arteta received and gently nudged it again; at this moment Xia Qi had already turned, opened his body sideways and took his shot.
Everyone assumed his pass would find Giroud or the onrushing Walcott making an underlapping run.
To their surprise, Xia Qi had actually played it to the left post; Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had appeared at the unmarked left post.
Oxlade-Chamberlain, being cheeky, leapt and brought the ball down on his chest into the net.
"Offside!"
"Offside!"
John Terry rushed to the referee at once; the linesman hesitated briefly and then raised his flag.
The referee immediately ruled the goal invalid. Arsenal players surrounded him to protest while Arsène Wenger appealed to the fourth official from the touchline.
Only Xia Qi stood coolly at the center circle waiting for the restart.
Actually, Xia Qi was silently furious — this referee must be on a mission!
Would AI not know offside?
If he'd passed, there was no offside.
Unfortunately VAR wasn't in use at this time; offside was down to the referee.
The score remained 2–2!
Although Arsenal were at home, they gained no home advantage.
Play resumed.
Although the goal was disallowed, Chelsea's pressure did not ease; after the restart they were shaken and couldn't launch the same attack.
Conversely, under Xia Qi's linking play, Arsenal's moves grew smoother; where seven or eight passes were once needed, now three or four would do.
Arsenal's attack no longer flowed like mercury as in the unbeaten season, but it had its own unique charm.
(END CHAPTER)
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