Super Wingstorm

”You played fantastically!”

As Vermaelen hugged Yang Yang on the sideline before entering the pitch, he laughed and patted him on the back in praise.

The Belgian center-back found himself admiring this teammate of his more and more.

Whether it was his hard work or his progress, Vermaelen was in complete awe.

Sometimes, he even found himself wondering, ’Is Yang Yang a genius or not?’

If you said he wasn’t, then what about his insane work ethic? He trained tirelessly every single day, to the point where he’d secretly practice ball control with the tip of his toes under his desk during class at school. Wasn’t that a kind of talent in itself?

But if you said he was, anyone could point out a mountain of flaws and weaknesses in his game. For example, his first touch was truly terrible. Forget about others; even Vermaelen felt his own first touch was better than his. And isn’t a good first touch a fundamental skill for a genius?

More importantly, Yang Yang was completely different from the typical image of a genius. He rarely pulled off imaginative, improvisational plays. That back-heel flick to get past his man just now was a huge surprise. No matter how you looked at it, he didn’t seem like a genius, especially not one of those extraordinarily gifted ones.

But regardless, Yang Yang was constantly improving, and at an extremely rapid pace.

Vermaelen could clearly see that his roommate was, on one hand, continuously honing his strengths, like his one-on-one dribbling and take-ons on the wing, while on the other hand, constantly working to shore up his weaknesses, such as his first touch and passing.

And his method for improvement was relentless training—day in, day out, without ever slacking off.

Yang Yang had no idea how many thoughts were flashing through Vermaelen’s mind. All he knew was that his body was completely exhausted.

”I’m spent. The rest is up to you guys. Hold this score, and we still have a chance,” Yang Yang said encouragingly.

Vermaelen nodded firmly. It was a promise to Yang Yang.

After sending the Belgian center-back onto the pitch, Yang Yang, breathing heavily, walked towards the home team’s technical area. Head coach Ronald Koeman came over and, ignoring Yang Yang’s sweat-drenched body, gave him a powerful hug.

”Tonight, all the Ajax fans and I are proud of you,” Ronald Koeman said in Yang Yang’s ear.

”Thanks, boss,” Yang Yang replied with a satisfied smile.

Luther Carroll also had a look of disbelief on his face. He clearly remembered seeing Yang Yang just over half a year ago, a kid who was still wet behind the ears. Even back then, he was sharp on the right wing, but no one would have believed he could become such a sharp weapon for Ajax’s right flank so quickly.

Yang Yang had been instrumental in knocking out Bruges earlier, and tonight against Arsenal, regardless of whether the team won or lost, he was the team’s number one hero, even more so than Ibrahimovic, who had scored a brace.

The fans in the stadium were also well aware of this. So, as Yang Yang embraced Ronald Koeman and Luther Carroll and prepared to walk back to the bench, they erupted in thunderous applause once again.

Yang Yang also raised his hands above his head to applaud, bowing to the fans all around to thank them for their support.

His teammates on the bench all stood up to shake his hand. Victor Skora’s reaction was the most awkward among them. He was the team’s starting right-winger, but in the past few matches, Ronald Koeman had started him only to substitute him with Yang Yang, who then proceeded to play better and better with each game.

Tonight, Yang Yang had even taken his starting position directly and delivered a record-breaking Champions League goal, a brilliant assist, and a secondary assist. He was, without a doubt, Ajax’s best performer in this match.

What made it even more unbelievable was that he was only seventeen years old.

Victor Skora suddenly felt that perhaps everyone—from the head coach to the fans in the stands, even the management—was just waiting for Yang Yang to grow and mature. And he was merely a transitional player until that happened.

Realizing this, Skora felt awkward, but he still sincerely praised Yang Yang’s outstanding performance.

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In front of the away team’s technical area, Wenger watched coolly as Ibrahimovic left the pitch.

He remembered this Swedish Striker, because he had always been so unruly, so brazen.

Back when he was young, he had dared to refuse Wenger’s trial invitation to his face at Highbury Stadium. Wenger couldn’t forget a young man like that. At the time, he had mostly thought the young man would be buried by his own arrogance. He never expected that today, the Swedish Striker would prove his strength and value with two goals.

But Wenger was even more interested in the young man wearing the number ninety-nine jersey.

Yang Yang. Seventeen years old. Debuted from the Almere Youth Academy in the summer of ’03. Entered the Ajax Youth Academy through the talent day selections, played under Van Basten for four months, and joined the first team in December. His first match was Ajax’s final group stage game, an away match against Belgium’s Bruges.

Afterward, many people looking back on that match felt that the Ajax coaching staff had been full of confidence in Yang Yang at the time, especially Technical Director Van Gaal. According to rumors, it was he who had pushed against all opposition to insist the coaching staff include Yang Yang. And as it turned out, after coming on as a substitute, Yang Yang completely turned the game around.

With that one battle, Yang Yang became famous overnight.

He then made several consecutive substitute appearances in the Eredivisie, scoring his first Eredivisie goal and setting the record for the youngest goalscorer in the league’s history. And tonight, in his first start in the Champions League, he scored his first career Champions League goal, once again setting the record for the youngest goalscorer in Champions League history.

Without a doubt, after tonight, Yang Yang’s fame would skyrocket. He would become a rising star praised by media all across Europe, and even the World.

But what Wenger valued most was Yang Yang’s performance on the pitch.

According to statistics from Arsenal’s technical team, Yang Yang’s distance covered on the right wing was second only to defensive midfielder De Jong and left-back Maxwell. He ran even more than Sneijder and Van der Vaart. And during that last confrontation against Kerri and Pires, he even managed a very fast breakthrough and sprint, showing his stamina was quite good.

But what really made Wenger’s eyes light up was his off-the-ball movement. Almost every move he made took him into an open space in Arsenal’s defense. This required an exceptionally brilliant ability to read and analyze the game.

According to Wenger’s pre-match plan, Kerri should have been more active in this game, providing more support to Henry and Pires on the attack, which was something Ashley Cole often did. But it was obvious that in order to defend against Yang Yang, he had been forced to abandon his attacking duties.

But even so, Yang Yang still managed to seize an opportunity in the second half and provide an assist for a goal.

Wenger had always been a very rational and calm person. He never believed in so-called luck. He believed there were only two reasons for conceding a goal: either your own side makes a mistake, or the opponent forces your side to make a mistake.

Clearly, the instance where Yang Yang assisted Ibrahimovic’s goal belonged to the latter category.

”Pat, have our scouts keep a close eye on this person later,” Wenger instructed with a frown.

Assistant coach Pat Rice was his long-time partner; he knew exactly who Wenger was referring to.

”That old codger Ferguson dug up a Ronaldo from the Portuguese Super League, but I think this one from the Eredivisie is more like Ronaldo.”

Wenger recalled the entire sequence of Yang Yang breaking down the wing, entering the box, and shaking off Vieira, and couldn’t help but smile. ”Whether it was the back-heel flick on the wing or that sudden Pendulum Move in the box, it was all very similar. What’s more surprising is that his left foot is actually not bad. The quality of that cross was quite high.”

Pat Rice knew that Wenger had taken a genuine liking to the kid.

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After the substitution, Ajax switched to a defensive counter-attack formation with five at the back.

Wenger, however, made no changes. The Gunners continued to attack Ajax’s defensive line with their 4-4-2 formation.

Sitting on the bench, Yang Yang watched as the Gunners launched wave after wave of attacks, penetrating Ajax’s penalty area again and again, even creating scoring chances. His heart pounded with every move.

He hadn’t felt it so clearly on the pitch, but now, sitting on the sidelines, he could keenly sense the difference in strength between the two teams, especially when Arsenal started playing with reckless abandon.

Ronald Koeman soon made his final substitution.

In the seventy-eighth minute, he brought on the versatile American defensive midfielder and defender, O’Brien, who had stronger defensive capabilities, to replace the Swedish Striker Ibrahimovic, who had scored a brace. The latter had clearly exhausted his stamina and was struggling to run on the pitch.

The fans at the Amsterdam Arena once again gave a rousing round of applause for the substituted player. The Swedish Striker’s brace had helped the team take the lead against Arsenal for a third time after being pegged back twice.

After coming off, Ibrahimovic plopped right down next to Yang Yang, laughing nonstop. With such a triumphant look on his face, where was the gloom from the past few days?

He was just that kind of genuine, unfiltered guy!

On the pitch, Ajax dropped back completely, leaving Arsenal no space whatsoever.

After coming on, Vermaelen was very active, especially when defending against Kanu.

The Belgian center-back wasn’t tall, but because he was often tormented by Ibrahimovic in training, he had surprisingly developed a knack for handling tall strikers. Tonight, coming on as a substitute to face Kanu, he performed very well, making several fronting defensive plays and clearances.

With the entire team defending, Wesley Sonck was left alone up front to lead the counter-attacks. For the time being, Arsenal had no answer for Ajax’s defensive formation.

Wenger waited until the eighty-seventh minute to make substitutions, and he made two at once, using up his final slots. However, the situation on the pitch remained unchanged, with Ajax holding firm in front of their goal.

In the end, the first leg of this Champions League round of sixteen knockout match concluded with Ajax narrowly defeating Arsenal three to two.

But this wasn’t the first upset of this season’s Champions League knockout stage. Just before Ajax’s match, Porto had staged a two-to-one comeback victory at home against Ferguson’s Manchester United, Deportivo La Coruña had also secured a narrow one-to-zero win at home against Juventus, and Moscow Lokomotiv had beaten Monaco two-to-one at home.

In the other three matches, Lyon won one-to-zero away against Real Sociedad, Chelsea won one-to-zero away against Stuttgart, Milan drew zero-zero away against Sparta Prague, and Bayern Munich drew one-to-one at home against Real Madrid.