Chapter 67: A Derby Without Red or Yellow Cards Is Incomplete
If you're not a fan,
you'll never understand why Arsenal fans stand up and applaud with tears, nor will you understand their heart-rending chants:
"Xia Qi!"
"Xia Qi!"
If you have never loved a club deeply,
you won't understand why Mikel Arteta, Thomas Vermaelen and the veteran Arsenal players would cluster around Xia Qi like knights protecting a king,
nor why Arsène Wenger would applaud an act that earned a yellow card, tears glinting in his eyes.
If one day you become that "he" on the pitch, you will understand: they aren't cheering for Xia Qi alone — they're welcoming their new king, another monarch after Thierry Henry.
Arsenal's celebration time was short.
After Xia Qi put his shirt back on the referee booked him with a yellow card.
The whole Arsenal end jeered the referee in discontent.
But everyone knew: it's the rule.
At the sideline Villas-Boas scowled and waved his arms, urging his players to continue the fast attack.
Especially attacks down the wings.
Bale remained Tottenham's main threat.
"Danger!"
"Cazorla still can't stop Bale!"
"With one small rhythm difference he gets eaten by Bale."
Zhan Jun spoke from the booth — it's easy to talk; every defender knows why Arjen Robben's inside-cut is hard to stop.
"Bale is too agile. He doesn't use many flashy tricks; in fact, because he relies on pure movement, he's harder to defend."
Zhang Lu gave Cazorla a fair comment.
On the pitch, Cazorla was breathless and stared at Bale in front of him, still shaken.
If Vermaelen hadn't covered, Bale might have eaten him once more.
"Captain…"
Vermaelen shook his head, knowing what Cazorla wanted to say.
Per Wenger's tactical orders, if the back line truly couldn't handle Bale, they could call Xia Qi back.
Vermaelen felt he could hold on.
Play continued,
Tottenham exploited Arsenal's right-side weakness and repeatedly surged at Arsenal's defense.
Sagna, Vermaelen and Cazorla rotated and just managed to resist Bale's assault.
That shows how troublesome Bale was.
Even a derby enemy like Arsenal had to applaud him.
Scott Parker is Tottenham's midfield brain. Seeing his side repeatedly attack the left and fail, he wanted to switch sides.
Just as he passed to Aaron Lennon, Villas-Boas roared from the touchline: "You idiot, Arsenal's right is already trembling — push a bit more and their defense will collapse."
Parker thought to himself: "You and your family are idiots — 'a bit more'?? That 'bit' is why we're trailing."
Parker might not agree with Villas-Boas, but he was the coach.
Reluctantly Lennon passed back to Parker; after two exchanges the ball reached Bale again.
With the manager's confidence, Bale surged.
Facing Aaron Ramsey's intervention, he did a step-over.
It's not common in his highlight reel.
After a few step-overs Ramsey fell — not down because Bale tricked him, but because he stumbled on his own.
Bale's feints aren't hard to read; the problem is he doesn't need feints — he just gets past players.
It's like someone wildly waving a sword: you know the motions are showy, but you dare not be careless.
[Ramsey: Will you beat me? Fine, I'll fall first — do as you wish!]
Fans online laughed; memes about Aaron Ramsey's inner journey trended.
On the pitch,
Arteta pressed up to defend; Bale at speed suddenly shoved the ball between Arteta's legs.
Then, twisting his hips, he narrowly avoided Arteta and chased the ball.
But Cazorla had learned from their clashes and grown experienced defending Bale.
As Bale reached the knockdown, Cazorla ripped in from an angle and flew the ball and man out — a clean, revengeful sliding tackle.
This "flying" was literal.
Bale's frame is thin — that's why he's nicknamed "The Bale" — and why he can't be a left-back; fortunately he can't be, or world football would be different.
Having been eaten four or five times by Bale, Cazorla's tackle was both a rightful challenge and payback.
With all his resentment he struck hard!
Bale fell forward like a high-dive and lay there, stunned into silence.
Tottenham's players swarmed to help Bale; Vermaelen and teammates were ready with a hard answer.
The derby ritual of pushing and shoving began.
Fans in the stands started fighting verbally, showing obscene gestures and throwing items…
But the protagonist — Bale — lay on the turf unhelped.
Oh!
And one other person was calm — Xia Qi!
He casually walked from Tottenham's box to the center circle and stood waiting for the restart.
The "one of us" image that had just formed in Arsenal fans' hearts collapsed!
In truth Xia Qi was inwardly frantic — how could he not join this brawl? If you haven't bled together, who will go to battle with you?
But the AI didn't give a damn about human emotions…
The patch was for celebrations, not for brawls.
Both sides are professional players; though the scene looked heated, it remained within bounds.
The referee quickly calmed things down.
Cazorla's tackle had started the incident, but it was a good tackle — fair, not a foul.
Bale's heavy fall was his own doing.
Dembélé and Vermaelen led the scuffles and each picked up a yellow card.
The referee's punishments were actually fair.
But Tottenham players and fans were unhappy: the tackler should not be punished? Unacceptable.
Tottenham fans loudly jeered to express their dissatisfaction.
Tottenham players' tempers flared and petty fouls began to appear.
"This is a derby — a derby without red and yellow cards is imperfect. Arsenal be careful; Tottenham will not let this go."
Zhang Lu, an old-hand commentator, had seen this many times and his prediction hit the mark.
Six minutes later Xia Qi burst down the right, dribbled past Dembélé and Parker in succession and was about to take on Lewis Holtby when Holtby shoved him with both hands.
That was a step too far; if you can't match tackles like Cazorla, using your hands is just low.
Vermaelen and others rushed in; Vermaelen already had a yellow card; Arteta led the reaction against Holtby, the big blond German boy.
Tottenham players protected Holtby and pulled him out of the scrum.
Both sides clashed again.
Holtby was initially frightened — only 21 this year, newly signed from the Bundesliga this summer.
Like Xia Qi, he was a first-year Premier League student. Seeing so many people surrounding him, he recoiled in fear…
But once his big brothers had his back, youthful pride demanded he save face. He shouted at Xia Qi: "Next time, I'll chop your leg!"
Xia Qi had no reply and no expression.
But Arsenal fans knew Holtby had made a grave mistake — Xia Qi would answer in action.
They cheered.
Holtby was left dazed, thinking his English was wrong — why were the opposite fans cheering for him?
(END CHAPTER)
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