I AM the Football Star

”What just happened? What exactly went on just now? Why did the ball go in?”

”My god! Lu Yang fooled the camera three times in three seconds! He shook the camera right out of its boots!”

”Brutal physical clash, fake shot, drag back, fake shot, Fried Meatballs, chip and take-on, fake shot, a rhythm-breaking mid-move shift of balance followed by a snap shot… it was like we just watched an entire mini-series in one go!”

”And especially that final shot from Lu Yang, it just screams how smart he is on the pitch!”

”That last shot didn’t have that much power, but the moment he struck it, it was destined to go in, because absolutely nobody saw that coming!”

”This was textbook ease-in-heavy-lifting, weighty-in-light-touch, strolling in the courtyard, and killing with one blow!”

”Earlier Carrel’s ’fierce tiger embroidering flowers’ run had everyone convinced that that counterattack was the peak performance of a finisher. But now, this goal from Lu Yang might actually surpass Carrel’s long run.”

”This man who was once seen as Carrel’s successor has, without anyone quite noticing, already caught up to Carrel, and in some aspects may even have gone past him!”

”A hat-trick! Lu Yang has also completed a hat-trick!”

”Five–three! San Remo have just played a classic. They’ve pulled the aggregate back to six–six, but because San Remo have as many as five away goals, they edge out Florence and march into the Champions League quarterfinals!”

The commentator was fired up.

He didn’t give Florence any chance to turn it around, because right after Florence kicked off, the Main Referee blew for full time.

Over. The whole match is over.

San Remo have produced the second upset of this year’s Champions League!

The first upset was Arsenal somehow failing to qualify from the group stage!

The second upset is today: Florence, a side with genuine super-team potential, actually being knocked out by San Remo after leading three–one in the first leg and looking in complete control!

Countless Purple Lily fans were left standing there, stunned, not knowing what to say.

Everyone felt awful, but not to the point of crying their eyes red.

Because in terms of the Champions League, this was only the first time they’d really started dreaming.

Before this, they’d never even thought seriously about the Champions League.

So today’s defeat is hard for them to swallow, but it’s purely because of the scoreline itself.

Even Florence’s players, although they were helpless and gutted, weren’t emotionally crushed to rock bottom.

They felt mostly regret.

If Perotti hadn’t made that nasty foul, the Purple Lily wouldn’t have had to fight on with ten men.

Then they really would have had a chance to kill off San Remo for a fourth time.

That red Card was just too crucial.

Although San Remo also lost their battering ram Bai Zhami, in terms of actual impact on the match, unless the injury had been to Lu Yang or Morici, not even losing Talista would really limit San Remo’s ceiling.

This team, as long as they have Mo Lu, can keep landing crits without end.

The rest of Talista, Bai Zhami, Canyes and the others actually serve more to hold up the team’s floor.

Without them, the side would be less stable and drop in overall strength, but the birth of miracles wouldn’t be affected.

”Let’s congratulate San Remo. This win means a huge amount to them!” the commentator said. ”Even though San Remo have already fallen out of the title race in the league this season, and even a top-four spot has become pretty tough, they’ve broken through their own limits!”

”They’ve shattered the curse of never beating Florence. And the reward is… they’ve become a brand-new Champions League quarterfinalist!”

”First time in the Champions League, they not only got out of the group for the first time ever, they’ve gone straight to the last eight and set another record. This is the San Remo that everyone has in their hearts, the San Remo that keeps making miracles!”

You could tell the commentator really understood the San Remo spirit.

Maybe outsiders don’t grasp what this match means to San Remo, or rather, what it means to San Remo’s fans.

Let’s put it this way.

If they’d lost this match, then for San Remo fans, every single game for the next half of the season would’ve been completely meaningless.

More than ten matches, utterly meaningless—this kind of blank stretch is the harshest blow you can deal to passionate supporters.

Fans who’ve experienced their team’s season goals collapsing half a season early will know this feeling very well.

For the next few months, you feel like your whole life is hollowed out.

In that situation, players’ form drops, their willpower gets worn away.

The fans’ passion also shrinks permanently, irreversibly, and emotionally they become more irritable or depressed.

Plenty of clubs have gone through this. People have to learn how to accept setbacks.

But the thing is, San Remo’s fans in recent years aren’t wired like that.

Every one of their seasons has been packed to the brim. Every season they’ve had honors to look forward to.

They simply can’t accept their team being knocked out of everything with ten, twenty games still to play.

You can say they’re spoiled, but with a player like Lu Yang, with a home club like San Remo, they have every right to be happily spoiled.

”Princess syndrome” may be annoying, but it also means there’s a king out there who has pampered her into a princess!

There’s no such thing as years of tranquil peace falling from the sky; it’s just that someone is carrying the load for you as they march forward.

That’s the deeper meaning behind why San Remo were willing to go all out in this match in pursuit of victory.

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Sure enough, after the game, San Remo sparked fierce debate.

First up was Carrel, who gave an interview. He’s a man of strong emotions; despite the defeat, he didn’t seem unusually crushed: ”We played very well today, both myself and my teammates. We gave everything for the Purple Lily and were close to winning.”