Chapter 43: Tonight the Brutal Emperor Won't Eat Forwards — He's Eating Defenders!
Szczęsny pushed the ball over the bar and Olympiacos earned the first corner.
Paulo Machado swung the corner in; Jenkinson and Djamel Abdoun leapt at the near post, both made contact and both headed over, the ball flying into the center.
Siovas ran in from the flank and, aided by his run-up, beat Szczęsny to it—rising to head the ball toward goal.
At the last instant Szczęsny just managed to get fingertip contact, flicking the ball to the line.
In the nick of time Thomas Vermaelen appeared and, before the ball hit the ground, cleared it away.
The ball flew out of the box.
Siovas dropped to the turf and angrily clutched his head, while Szczęsny ran to Vermaelen and shouted, "Love you!"
Not literally—just an exclamation!
In less than two minutes the Arsenal fans had been startled twice!
Outside the box, Arteta laid the ball forward without a touch and Wilshere followed with a long chip behind the Olympiacos defenders.
"Xia Qi!"
Arsenal fans leaped to their feet!
A red-and-white streak burst through the last line to chase the ball.
It turned out Xia Qi, who had been hovering behind the opposition defenders, suddenly accelerated at the instant Wilshere played the pass, shedding Modesto and slipping past Torosidis as he turned—tearing through Olympiacos' entire backline.
A perfectly timed break of the offside trap—success!
Torosidis chased from behind, silently hoping Xia Qi would be like that "old master": world-class first touch, ordinary second touch, amateur third touch.
Then maybe he'd have a chance to catch up.
Under everyone's gaze, the ball obediently sat at Xia Qi's feet.
The stop cost Xia Qi less than half a second!
Torosidis felt disappointed—now he could only pin his hopes on Xia Qi's third touch.
Xia Qi pushed the ball forward in long strides—was this dribbling world-class???
Every step forward Xia Qi took increased Torosidis's despair by one, and then another…
Arsenal fans could finally calm their racing throats and bellowed at the top of their lungs:
"One-on-one!"
"One-on-one!"
"Xia Qi! Xia Qi! Xia Qi!"
Olympiacos had pressed too high earlier, and Arsenal's counterattack was decisive and sharp.
The counterattack arrow—Xia Qi—had no obvious weakness and gave the Olympiacos defenders no chance.
As Xia Qi strode forward under all eyes...
Olympiacos goalkeeper Roy Carroll had no choice but to come off his line.
Carroll couldn't bring his center of gravity down—he feared a chip; he'd seen Xia Qi's Beckham-tribute finish before.
When the two drew near, Carroll finally lowered his heart.
But as he adjusted and bent his knees, Xia Qi—thinking with AI logic—suddenly nudged the ball gently backward and flicked it up.
As the ball rose behind him, Xia Qi sprang off his feet, swung his left leg backward and hooked it perfectly to strike the ball that had just begun to descend.
The ball rocketed up from behind Xia Qi in a high parabolic arc and sailed over both him and the keeper into an empty net.
A scorpion's tail!
A single‑leg scorpion's tail!
Only lunatics—or brilliant players—would attempt that.
"Fuck!"
Almost everyone cursed in unison.
Skill and daring, and another word for it: madness!
"Wenger, has he been taking something recently?" asked Pat Rice from the coaching bench.
Pat Rice snapped, "Xia Qi just has a bit of social anxiety like Messi—how can you say that!"
Wenger said nothing and simply pointed to the pitch—the facts spoke for themselves.
Pat Rice glanced at the pitch and his voice lowered: "This is cool, isn't it?"
"What if it goes wrong? I want to have a word with him, what do you think?"
…
The Emirates crowd didn't care about safety or prudence—they only knew a gorgeous goal deserved applause!
Many clapped until their palms were sore.
In the fans' eyes, Xia Qi toyed with the keeper to avenge the earlier scare.
Domineering!
Xia Qi!
Magnificent!
Arsenal!
"Beautiful counter!"
"Beautiful goal!"
"Wilshere's first match back and he already combined with Xia Qi…"
Commentators Zhang Lu and Zhan Jun cheered Xia Qi, though inwardly thinking: the kid is getting too big for his boots…
On the pitch,
the spectacular goal did not change Xia Qi's celebration.
He walked back to the center circle with a calm face.
Wilshere ran over to high-five him; Xia Qi answered with an eye contact instead.
Wilshere's high-five missed but he wasn't embarrassed—if you're not awkward, someone else will be.
He put an arm around Xia Qi's neck and asked, "You did that on purpose, right? You wanted to knock them down a peg, didn't you?"
The Xia Qi in his head smiled: brother, you read the mental image perfectly!
Olympiacos fans and players stood there with mouths agape when Xia Qi leapt and hooked the shot…
Only when the ball thudded into the net did they come to.
A surge of anger hit them: what was the difference between that and stopping the ball at an empty goal?
A blatant humiliation!
The Olympiacos supporters booed in fury but were drowned out by the home cheers.
Olympiacos players looked at Xia Qi with ferocity in their eyes.
Xia Qi cared about that, but he was just a free-to-watch kid—there was nothing he could do.
The match continued.
After the restart Arsenal discovered Xia Qi had been right!
Olympiacos had lost that calf‑headed boldness.
One quick counter and a mocking goal had landed like a slap across their faces, waking them up and forcing them to straighten up.
"Steady…"
That came from manager Leonardo Jardim.
But steadiness was hard to maintain.
Arteta and Cazorla led the defensive expansion from midfield back.
Cazorla burst from behind Oxlade‑Chamberlain and, in an unorthodox 2‑on‑1, used his body advantage to shove Greco aside and steal the ball.
A pass put it at Wilshere's feet.
A second pass reached the edge of Olympiacos's penalty area.
At the edge of the box, Xia Qi seemed to appear from nowhere; receiving the ball, he drummed it forward like a death march, a tank with the throttle floored, bulldozing through every defender.
Near the spot, he pulled back and smashed a thunderous shot!
The ball was blisteringly fast. Roy Carroll only saw a white flash—the ball was already in the net. He didn't even have time to watch it in; there was no save.
"Is Xia Qi paying tribute to Rooney or Christian Vieri? That's the striker's game—so brutal!"
"Tonight the Brutal Emperor won't eat strikers; he's eating defenders instead!"
It was only eight minutes into the match and Arsenal led 2–0.
The Emirates became a sea of joy.
Serves you right!
Scare us and we'll bite you back.
Our ice‑cream prince repays insults—he feasts on defenders!
(END CHAPTER)
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