From Arsenal to the Ball God

”Beep beep!”

The referee’s whistle sounded, and players from both teams walked out of the field and stood in a row for the entrance ceremony.

”Dum dum dum dum dum dum...dum dum dum dum dum dum...!”

As the heavy melody played at San Siro Stadium, the fans quieted down, listening to the prelude of this great anthem.

”Die Meister...Die Besten...!!”

When the chorus began, over seventy thousand Milan fans suddenly started singing loudly, and the entire stadium’s atmosphere reached its peak, ”Les grandeséquipe...The champions...!!”

Ma’el stood in the center of the pitch, closing his eyes to enjoy the moment. The match hadn’t even started yet, but he was already fired up.

After finishing all this, he walked to his position and stood, waiting for the match to officially begin. The first half would start with them kicking off.

As he looked at the opponent’s midfield lineup, he suddenly noticed something and went over to Arteta, ”Tell Van Persie to pass the ball to you from the center circle. I want to try a kickoff strategy.”

”What?” Arteta looked at the opponent’s backfield with interest, wanting to hear what idea Ma’el had.

”The opponent’s midfield is fragile, with weak defensive abilities. After kickoff, I’ll directly run between the defender and midfield lines.”

Ma’el pretended to look elsewhere, casually chatting with him, ”After you have the ball, feint backward, make them think you’ll pass it back, letting down their guard, then suddenly turn and make a long pass to me.”

”And then?” Arteta looked at him, not quite understanding, as it didn’t seem particularly technical.

”Then I’ll shoot.” Ma’el glanced at the opposing goalkeeper and smiled, ”Just after kickoff, he’s surely not yet in the game, won’t react in time.

”If the quality is decent, there’s a chance it’ll go in.

”Come on, San Siro is buzzing, let me try a shot first, wait for the backfield to slowly organize and send the ball up, the opponent’s defender would have me marked thoroughly.”

Arteta considered for a moment, then nodded, ”Where will you roughly be? I’ll try not to observe after turning, just pass to reduce time and increase success rate.”

Ma’el’s answer was simple, ”Around the penalty area, the long shot zone for right-footed players, you know.”

The two exchanged a glance, then turned and walked to their positions.

...

”Beep!”

At 3:30 PM local time, the referee blew the whistle to start the match. This UEFA Champions League first leg of the Round of 16 officially kicked off at San Siro Stadium.

”CCTV, CCTV! You are now watching the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 match with Arsenal against AC Milan!”

In the live broadcast booth, CCTV commentator He Wei, wearing a headset, said, ”Let’s first look at the starting lineups for both teams, home team AC Milan.....”

On the pitch below, Van Persie kicked the ball to Arteta, who received it, turned, and feigned a ball towards the fullback.

Milan forwards Robinho and Eevee quickly rushed past midfield, pressing towards Arsenal’s backfield.

They chose their running route around Arteta’s sides, clearly thinking Tazi would pass the ball backward.

”Pop!”

Arteta suddenly flicked the ball backward before passing, turned smoothly to leave them behind.

”Boom!!” He then launched a half-height ball with slight curvature.

It wasn’t a mispass; this way the ball travels faster, making it easier for Ma’el to receive. If it were a long pass off, the opposing defender’s header wouldn’t be challenging.

In the forward position, Ma’el adjusted his position as the ball came, lifted his left foot to control it, then tackled towards the opponent’s penalty area’s front edge.

”Defender...”

In the commentary booth, He Wei just finished saying the goalkeeper’s name and had to stop, ”Arsenal designed a kickoff strategy! Arteta’s long pass found Ma’el, what’s Milan’s midfield doing?

”Now it’s Ma’el, Van Persie, and Walcott’s attacking group facing Milan’s four defenders!

”This is a dangerous attack, but Sneijder keeps on chasing back, he’s close to Ma’el now.”

”.....”

At the edge of the penalty arc, Ma’el glanced at Milan’s goal, also seeing Sneijder catching up alongside him.

He nudged the ball to the side, then folded his right leg swiftly and kicked at the soccer ball’s bottom part, aiming for a fast, low arc dipping shot.

”Boom!!”

The sound of a shot rang out, Milan center-back Thiago Silva jumped up to block the shot, but the football flew past his shoulder.

Goalkeeper Abbiati was stunned, he had just tapped the crossbar twice to prepare, how come the opponent’s shot already came?

He quickly made two small jumps, judging the shooting angle.

”Swoosh!” Just as he saw the football, it was already hitting the right side of the net inside, too fast to react.

”Yeah...!”

At the arc top, Ma’el charged past the bewildered Sneijder and Thiago Silva, stretched his arms and raced towards the sidelines.

”Come on...!!”

Under the silent gaze of seventy thousand San Siro spectators, he passionately slid on his knees, leaving three long stripes.

Kickoff goal!!

He did it!

6th goal in the Champions League!

Even if this is his farewell match of this season’s Champions League, he still leaves a deep impression on this pitch.

Next year, he aims to return here with goal after goal, leading the team to challenge for the prestigious big-eared cup!

”Oh...!” Arsenal fans’ cheers came a second or two later, hugging their heads, couldn’t believe what they saw.

The players were all speechless, laughing, didn’t expect Ma’el to break through Milan’s goal right away.

Except for Arteta, most of them hadn’t even touched the ball, yet they had to celebrate together?

What is this?

”Maverick!”

”He really did it! Yes!”

”Damn, I’m so jealous!”

”Is this the fastest Champions League goal?”

”It should be!”

Van Persie and others rushed towards Ma’el, with Arteta being the fastest among them.

They together celebrated joyfully at the corner flag area of San Siro Stadium, enjoying their last goal celebration on the Champions League stage this season.

”The ball is in!! Oh... ho...!”

In the live commentary booth, He Wei was stunned, his voice trembling, ”On the opening wave of attack, Ma’el actually used a long shot to break open Milan’s goal!

”It’s unbelievable! I don’t know if this goal exceeds 10 seconds; if within 10, it might be the fastest goal in Champions League history!

”The holder of this record is Makaai of Bayern Munich during the 2007 season; he took just 10.2 seconds to score against Real Madrid.

”I believe it does, I just mentioned the defenders and saw Ma’el rush into Milan’s backfield and ended the fight with a powerful shot.

”The camera showed Sneijder; he seemed dissatisfied, complaining to Thiago as if saying, you should’ve come out earlier!

”There’s no way now; it’s all now a settled fact, Ma’el’s goal helped Arsenal lead one to zero! San Siro Stadium fell silent, Allegri, do you have a plan to come back?”

After saying all this, he took off his headset, eavesdropping on the voices from commentators in other countries next door.

”Gooooaaaallll.....!!”

”Absolutely...! Genius...!!”

There were long-drawn-out South American commentator voices and simple exclamations but full of emotion from the British commentator.

He smiled briefly, put on the headset again, and heard a voice from it, ”7.6 seconds, this goal took 7.6 seconds, undeniably the fastest goal in Champions League history!”

He Wei excitedly nodded, took a deep breath, and continued, ”The result is out, 7.6 seconds, Ma’el’s goal made him the holder of the fastest goal in Champions League history!

”Look at Arsenal’s lineup today, combined with their upcoming schedule, we once speculated that Wenger might choose to forgo this season’s Champions League.

”If that’s the case, then Ma’el at least concluded his Champions League journey this season perfectly, saying goodbye to those around the world who love him, see you next year!”

...

Feeling unwell today, spent a day writing 12,000 words.... sorry, the rest will be tomorrow, and finish the English League Cup final tomorrow.