As the Main Referee blew the whistle for the end of the first half, the Arsenal players walked into the tunnel.
During the halftime break, Wenger didn't say much, nor did he blame Squillaci.
Because he was someone Arsène Wenger had already given up on, and he was only brought on for this match purely because there was no one else available.
Anyway, he probably wouldn't play many games in a season, so Wenger didn't really care.
But just as Dulin said, this match was indeed very important for Arsenal.
Because winning this match meant that the following two Champions League group stage matches could be used for training, and core starting players like Fabregas and Fly would definitely not be fielded by Arsène Wenger.
As for young center-backs like Varane, Arsène Wenger might let him continue to play.
After all, defenders need enough matches to accumulate experience, and as long as there are no injury risks, they can keep playing.
Given this, Wenger still told the players to pay attention to maintaining their rhythm, control the rhythm first, and then gradually push forward.
The Shakhtar Donetsk players couldn't maintain full physical strength for the entire match; playing like this, they definitely wouldn't be able to hold on for the last thirty minutes.
After the second half began, Fly created danger right away.
In the 47th minute of the match.
Fly received the ball on the left wing and broke through, getting past Jádson and Srna consecutively, and was finally forcibly stopped by Gai who came from behind.
The Main Referee awarded Arsenal a free kick in the attacking third and also gave Gai a yellow card.
In the 55th minute of the match.
Clichy made a tackle on the wing and then advanced along the left side.
Just past the halfway line, Clichy sent a long pass to the furiously charging Fly.
Fly, at full speed, forcefully beat Srna who was defending him, and as soon as he received the ball, he dribbled it towards the byline.
Chygrynskiy followed Fly's movement to defend, but the speed difference was simply too great; by the time Fly controlled the ball just before it rolled out of bounds, Chygrynskiy hadn't even caught up.
Fly wasn't going to wait for him to get into position; he immediately cut inside from the byline, and Rat also narrowed his defensive range, positioning himself directly on Fly's path for the cut-in.
Fly looked up and swept the ball flat and straight, passing it towards the penalty spot.
Although Rat anticipated it, his body couldn't keep up with his mind; before his thigh could intercept, the ball had already rolled past his feet.
And Van Persie, who had been waiting in the center of the penalty area for a long time, faced the incoming ball and shot without hesitation, a first-time strike.
A first-time strike from this distance was simply too easy for Van Persie, who was currently in a period of rapid ascent.
Piatov could only surrender when faced with Van Persie's shot from just 12 yards away.
The ball shot into the goal like a white streak, splashing up white spray.
"Fly's forced overtake near the byline, a cross, Van Persie, shot, it's a goal!!!"
"It's a goal! In the 55th minute of the match, thanks to Fly's individual brilliance on the wing in a 1v2 situation, a gap was completely torn open in Shakhtar Donetsk's defense."
"Van Persie, faced with the perfect chance provided by Fly, didn't waste the opportunity, a characteristic first-time shot, and the ball found the back of the net."
"Shakhtar Donetsk's goalkeeper Piatov seemed completely helpless against this shot; Arsenal equalized, and the score is now 2-2."
In the 60th minute of the match.
Shakhtar Donetsk made a substitution, Shanghai Shenhua legend Teixeira came on for Gai, who was on a yellow card.
Replacing a midfielder with a forward clearly showed that Shakhtar Donetsk was aiming for a win in this match!
If they were just trying to secure a draw, there would be no need for such an aggressive substitution.
Moreover, this direct confrontation with Arsenal was Shakhtar Donetsk's only chance to contend for the top spot in the Champions League group.
If they didn't win this match, then unless Arsenal suffered consecutive losses in their next two games, Shakhtar Donetsk would still only finish second in the group.
Because if this match ended in a draw, then Arsenal would only need to win one of their next two games; even if they lost the other, they would still top the group with 13 points from 4 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss.
Even if Shakhtar Donetsk won both of their remaining matches with big margins, they would also have 13 points from 4 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss, the same points as Arsenal.
But because Shakhtar Donetsk had one loss and one draw against Arsenal in their head-to-head record, they would be at a disadvantage in the tiebreaker and could only finish second.
Shakhtar Donetsk needed to ensure they had more points than Arsenal to contend for the top spot; if they finished on the same points, they could only be second.
If Shakhtar Donetsk could win this match, and then Arsenal slipped up in one more game, Shakhtar Donetsk could overtake Arsenal and claim the top spot in the group based on having more points.
In his previous life, Shakhtar Donetsk won 2-1 against Arsenal at home, and Arsenal also lost 0-2 to Braga in the second leg, ultimately leading to them being overtaken by Shakhtar Donetsk.
This resulted in the tragedy of qualifying as group runners-up and facing Barcelona in the first round of the knockout stage.
However, in this life, with Fly, Arsenal has clearly taken a completely different path.
Setting everything else aside, in this match alone, Fly has already helped Arsenal equalize the score to 2-2; now, it's Shakhtar Donetsk who should be anxious.
In the 69th minute of the match.
Willian cut inside from the wing, dribbled past Clichy's defense, and curled a shot from the edge of the box; the ball hit the post and was cleared by Varane who came forward.
In the 74th minute of the match.
Arsenal pressed high and won the ball back; Wilshere dispossessed Jádson and then sent a through ball to Walcott on the right side of the penalty area.
The Little Tiger used his speed to forcefully beat Rakitskiy, opened up a crossing angle, and then passed the ball to Fly in the left flank area of the box.
Fly faced the incoming ball with a combined first touch and dribble, directly evading Rat who stuck out a leg to attempt a tackle, and then struck a shot towards the far corner.
Piatov couldn't react in time to Fly's shot following his combined first touch and dribble.
By the time he dove horizontally, the ball had already hit the inside of the right post and bounced into the net.
Fly scored his first goal of the match, and Arsenal took a 3-2 lead!
"Walcott used his speed to forcefully beat Rakitskiy, a cross, Fly received the ball and... oh, my goodness, a combined first touch and dribble directly past Rat, and then followed up with a shooting action, shot!"
"It's a goal!!!"
"In the 74th minute of the match, Fly, with a beautiful combined first touch and dribble, turned Shakhtar Donetsk defender Rat into a puppet."
"The subsequent shot was even more fluid; Piatov hadn't even reacted before Fly sent the ball into the net."
"3-2, Arsenal overtakes Shakhtar Donetsk and takes the lead again!"
"If this match ended with the current score, Arsenal would secure the top spot in the group with two matches to spare!"
"At the same time, Arsenal will also become the first team in this Champions League season to secure a spot in the knockout stage."
"Incredible! I don't think anyone could have imagined before the start of this season that Arsenal could perform so dominantly."
"But I want to say, the most important factor causing all of this is Fly."
"This super genius, who has been dominating youth matches and is famous throughout Europe, has brought his performance from youth matches to the first team, to the professional stage."
"I never thought that a player of Chinese descent could achieve such a dominant performance in a sport primarily dominated by white and black players."
"Incredible, this is simply a miracle!"
"As of now, Fly has scored a total of 10 goals in four Champions League matches; his goal tally is already more than Messi's total goal tally for the Premier League Golden Boot last season."
"If nothing unexpected happens, having secured the Premier League Golden Boot seven months in advance, Fly will also secure this season's Champions League Golden Boot seven months in advance."
"Oh, just thinking about it, I feel that this kind of achievement might never be surpassed."
"When did scoring goals in football matches become so simple?"
Tao Wei, standing beside him, corrected with a smile, "No, there will be a successor, and that successor is Fly himself."
"You know, he is not yet 18 years old; when he is 19, 20, 25, 28, his goal-scoring efficiency might be even higher than it is now."
"Maybe by then, scoring 10 goals in a Champions League match won't be impossible..."
Dulin was completely stunned when he heard this, "Scoring 10 goals in one match? Are you playing basketball here?"
"Impossible, absolutely impossible. I think Fly's maximum in a single Champions League match would be around 5 or 6 goals."
"If he scores too many, it might provoke retaliatory attacks from the opposing players."
"Let alone whether Fly himself can score that many, even Wenger wouldn't allow Fly to stay on the field after scoring 5 or 6 goals."
"We all know that Wenger has always protected Fly very well, almost never letting him play in matches he doesn't have to, sometimes not even including him in the squad list."
"In most matches, he is substituted off immediately once the win is secured."
"You see, the reason Wenger hasn't substituted Fly in this match is because Arsenal has been trailing and hasn't taken the lead."
"If Arsenal were leading Shakhtar Donetsk by two goals, Fly would definitely have been substituted by now."
Almost at the exact moment Dulin said this, Wenger had already called Hazard to warm up and prepare to come on.
Seeing this, Fly thought: This won't do! I've only scored one goal in this match, how can I be substituted off?
Since Fly didn't score in the previous match against West Ham United, he was playing with a lot of pent-up energy in this game.
The result was only one goal so far, which he was definitely very dissatisfied with.
In the 74th minute of the match.
Shakhtar Donetsk made another substitution, Douglas Costa came on, replacing midfielder Jádson.
Suddenly, Shakhtar Donetsk had five attacking players on the field; the entire team had completely abandoned defense and was focused solely on offense!
Seeing this, Fly felt that Shakhtar Donetsk was being reckless.
Having five attacking players might increase the probability of scoring, but the probability of conceding goals was definitely much higher than the probability of scoring!
However, this crazy behavior from Shakhtar Donetsk was exactly what Fly wanted.
If they had continued to focus on defense, it would have been harder for Fly to score.