Starting as a Defensive Midfielder at Real Madrid

”His 28th league goal of the season! Li Ang! He’s pushing his own record further and further!

As a midfielder, he’s on the verge of hitting 30 goals in a single Premier League season!

Two seasons ago, when Li Ang had just transferred to Chelsea, who would’ve dared to imagine that he’d now be dominating both scoring and assist charts in the Premier League?!”

Sitting upright in the broadcast studio, Zhan Jun watched the live footage of Li Ang, now surrounded by thousands of cheering Chelsea fans, with excitement and pride written all over his face.

Two seasons ago, no fan could’ve envisioned the scene unfolding at the Emirates Stadium today.

Back then, Li Ang had just proven himself capable of a double-double season.

Most neutral fans already acknowledged his tremendous potential. They had expected him to post a 10-goal, 10-assist season eventually.

But 30+ goals and potentially even 40+ goals with 30 assists? That level of output was simply unimaginable.

Yet here he was—turning the unbelievable into reality.

The Premier League had never seen a phenomenon like this before.

Not even Alan Shearer in his prime managed 40+ goals and 30 assists.

Not Thierry Henry during his reign over English football.

Not even Cristiano Ronaldo during his 2008 peak, when he led Manchester United to both the Premier League and Champions League.

If you were to line up each of their best seasons side by side with Li Ang’s current stats, the comparison would be lopsided—Li Ang’s numbers crushed them all.

And that realization made it impossible for Zhan Jun, a lifelong follower of the Premier League, not to feel overwhelmed with pride and joy.

On the pitch, surrounded by teammates celebrating, Li Ang himself was filled with satisfaction and joy.

But amidst his happiness, he didn’t forget to thank those around him.

He had full confidence in his abilities, yes—but without Mourinho’s tactical system tailored to his strengths, and without the sacrifices and support of his teammates, he would never have made it this far.

Personal records and team victories had always gone hand in hand.

Li Ang had always stayed grounded throughout his professional journey.

He might occasionally get carried away by outside praise, but he always managed to pull himself back to the team.

That’s the core principle of professional football—team victory always comes first, and only then does personal glory follow.

The football world never lacked stories of individuals single-handedly turning matches around and receiving worship-like praise from fans and media.

But in the end, it’s the team—from players to coaches to staff behind the scenes—whose collective effort writes the championship story of each season.

Li Ang admired players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi, who could shift the balance of a match at any moment. But at heart, he was always a believer in the team-first philosophy.

And it was likely because of this belief, and the respect and trust he showed toward his teammates, that wherever he went, he was always embraced by his squad.

In that sense, Mourinho’s repeated praise of Li Ang as a ”natural team leader” was absolutely spot-on.

Right now, the entire Chelsea squad was indeed tightly united around him.

Wenger stood on the touchline, watching the scene quietly, deep in thought…

No one knew what the old professor was reminiscing about—perhaps moments of the past, perhaps people long gone.

His dazed expression didn’t make it to the live feed.

Instead, the director focused on Chelsea’s joyful celebration and Mourinho’s proud applause—these were the real highlights of the moment.

The rest of the match faded somewhat in excitement.

After taking the lead, Chelsea fell back into a full defensive shape, while Arsenal’s attacking players lacked the urgency they’d shown earlier.

Cavani, much like Suárez in the last match against Chelsea, found himself isolated and helpless.

Both players were still running hard, chasing personal milestones and honor.

But with their teams’ morale already shaken, staging a comeback was simply too difficult.

Wenger’s substitutions were fairly routine—around the 70th minute, he brought on Walcott and Welbeck for Ramsey and Cazorla in a last-ditch attempt to break through.

Cavani played the full 90, but Chelsea’s back line stayed alert and disciplined.

With the Golden Boot still within reach for Li Ang, Chelsea’s defenders were especially motivated—and it showed across two matches. Neither Suárez nor Cavani had managed to score against Li Ang’s side.

Chelsea ultimately won 1–0 over Arsenal, adding yet another win to their tally. Only one round remained to complete an unbeaten Premier League campaign.

At 3:00 p.m. on May 24, the final day of the 2014–2015 Premier League season kicked off, with eight matches played simultaneously across the country.

Going into this final round, Li Ang stood at the top of both charts: 28 goals and 20 assists.

The second-best in assists, Cesc Fàbregas, had 16—meaning a miracle four-assist game would be needed to catch up, which was near-impossible.

As for goals, Suárez sat at 26. He still had a chance to catch Li Ang and share the Golden Boot.

If Suárez exploded and scored a hat trick while Li Ang failed to find the net, he could complete a last-minute comeback and retain his crown as the Premier League’s top scorer.

The odds weren’t high—but they weren’t negligible either.

After all, for a world-class striker like Suárez, bagging a hat trick out of nowhere was completely plausible.

Better safe than sorry.

Mourinho weighed his options carefully, and ultimately decided that Li Ang would start in the final match of the season on May 24.

Of course, he asked Li Ang for his input multiple times and confirmed with the medical staff that Li Ang was in perfect physical condition before finalizing the decision.

Most of the other first-team regulars, having rested in previous matches, were also slated to start.

After the match, Chelsea would hold their title celebration and still have a six-day buffer before the FA Cup final against Arsenal—no need to worry about fatigue.

Even veterans like Ibrahimović and Terry were in the starting XI for the season finale.

Before kickoff, Sunderland’s players lined up respectfully to form a guard of honor for the newly crowned champions—Chelsea.

This unofficial tradition had gradually faded in recent years, with few clubs choosing to participate.

In matches against Liverpool and West Brom earlier in the season, Chelsea had received such respect.

But neither Arsenal nor Crystal Palace had done the same.

Sunderland’s sportsmanship today likely stemmed from their relief at having secured Premier League survival two rounds early. The team was in good spirits and didn’t mind playing the gentleman.

Still, Chelsea were fully focused on helping Li Ang score more goals—so they didn’t go easy on the Black Cats.

From the opening whistle, Chelsea’s nearly full-strength squad laid siege to Sunderland at Stamford Bridge.

Realizing Chelsea meant business, Sunderland parked the bus without hesitation, showing no desire to engage in an end-to-end battle.

It made sense. One of the main reasons Sunderland had struggled near the relegation zone was their steep decline in attacking firepower.

Had it not been for a somewhat decent defense and a lucky run at the end of the season, they might’ve been the ones going down instead of Hull City.

”The Sunderland coaching staff is being pragmatic—choosing not to go toe-to-toe with Chelsea. After all, they’ve only scored 30 goals across the previous 37 Premier League matches this season. Prioritizing defense is, without a doubt, the smartest decision right now...”

The Sky Sports commentator couldn’t help but poke fun at Sunderland’s underwhelming attacking numbers this season.

The only team with a worse offensive record was Burnley, who had managed just 28 goals in 37 matches—and were already relegated as a result.

If Sunderland didn’t want to follow the same path next season, solving their striker issues would be essential.

But after just a few minutes of playing out this attack-versus-defense battle with Chelsea, Sunderland’s supporters were already growing increasingly worried about the state of their team’s back line.

On paper, Sunderland’s ultra-defensive 4-5-1 formation looked the part.

In reality, it was riddled with holes—and certainly didn’t offer much peace of mind to their fans.

And truthfully, the Black Cats’ players on the pitch couldn’t be blamed too much.

Their defending wasn’t bad by general standards. Against mid- or lower-table opposition in the Premier League, they could usually hold their own—sometimes even dictate the tempo.

But facing Chelsea this season? That was a whole different story. Chelsea’s form on both ends of the pitch had been top-tier not just in England, but across all of Europe.

Plenty of teams had parked the bus against Chelsea this season.

How many had actually succeeded in keeping a clean sheet?

For Sunderland, just holding out for as long as possible and avoiding total collapse was already considered a decent result.

The difference in class was just too obvious. They wanted to fight back, but under Chelsea’s suffocating midfield and forward-line pressure, they barely even got a touch on the ball.

After lessons learned from the last two league matches, Chelsea’s attacking players didn’t make the mistake of aimlessly pumping balls into the box for Li Ang.

Instead, they stuck to their structured tactics.

Li Ang repeatedly used the attention he drew to open up space for his teammates.

In terms of intelligent passing and movement, Chelsea had learned quite a few tricks from Manchester City over the past two seasons.

First, wide ball circulation.

Second, rapid passing tempo.

Third, targeting the half-spaces on either side of the opponent’s defensive third.

Chelsea weren’t lacking in pass-masters.

Usually, Li Ang and Kroos on either side of midfield were more than enough to launch attacks.

De Bruyne often dropped back as a third option when needed.

Today, Li Ang began the match operating frequently in the left central midfield zone.

Once Sunderland’s defenders had adjusted to his movement patterns, he suddenly swapped to the right and began charging forward from deeper positions.

At the same time, De Bruyne tucked inside, shifting from winger to attacking midfielder, feeding through balls to match Li Ang’s surging runs.

This pattern of positional rotation had become a staple in Chelsea’s high-tempo attacking play this season.

In the 13th minute, Li Ang received a pass from De Bruyne, sliced through Sunderland’s left half-space, and nearly broke the deadlock with a vicious long-range strike just outside the box.

The shot missed by inches.

Li Ang covered his face briefly in frustration, then got right back into the next attacking phase.

Sunderland’s defenders weren’t just dealing with Li Ang’s constant surges.

Inside and around the penalty area, they also had Ibrahimović and Hazard looming like predators.

If they tried too hard to double or triple-team Li Ang, they’d just end up paying the price elsewhere.

Ibrahimović had already scored 31 goals this season, and Hazard had added 20 more.

And on the bench? Chelsea still had three more double-digit scorers waiting.

Sure, Lukaku, Salah, and Drogba had padded some of their stats in domestic cups like the FA Cup and League Cup.

But that didn’t change the fact that ”double-digit scorer” was a label that carried weight.

Sunderland’s defenders couldn’t afford to ignore anyone.

And because they hesitated to make any defensive sacrifices, they were bound to suffer.

As the first half wore on, Chelsea pressed higher and more aggressively, growing bolder by the minute.

Once they’d fully cracked Sunderland’s defensive structure, the Blues’ forward thrusts became relentless.

Li Ang, recognizing that Sunderland had begun to adjust to his rotations with De Bruyne, switched things up again—this time using Ibra’s presence as bait, darting into the box from the opposite direction for a near-post finish.

Chelsea’s attacking creativity was endless. No two plays looked the same.

It didn’t take long for Sunderland’s defenders to fall apart.

John O’Shea, in particular, looked completely off his game.

Li Ang kept targeting him with repeated probing runs.

Just past the 30-minute mark, Li Ang launched a blistering counterattack, burst into the box, and made a perfectly timed run opposite Ibrahimović.

O’Shea couldn’t keep up. Li Ang’s acceleration left him in the dust.

A sharp run to the back post—and Li Ang met the cross with a crisp side-footed finish into the net!

Even before he could celebrate, his teammates were already piling on top of him in joy.

”That’s 29 league goals! What are you waiting for? Just one more! Since the Premier League was founded, no Chelsea player has ever scored 30 in a single season!”

Even John Terry ran up from the back to congratulate and motivate him.

Li Ang now stood just one goal away from breaking Chelsea’s all-time single-season Premier League scoring record.

Previously, Drogba had reached 29 goals in a season—but never managed to hit the 30-goal mark. It was a small regret that had stuck with him ever since.

A spark lit in Li Ang’s eyes.

Why not?

Why not go for it?

His teammates were equally fired up.

Seeing their energy and determination, Li Ang stopped holding back.

He was going to make a run at that record.

There wasn’t much time left in the first half, so Li Ang didn’t force any shots.

After the break, with the goal in sight, Chelsea returned to the pitch reinvigorated.

O’Shea didn’t come back out.

Sunderland coach Gus Poyet had subbed him off for Bešić, the Argentine center-back, hoping the change would steady the ship.

Li Ang initially thought Bešić might be a tougher challenge.

He tested the newcomer a few times to feel him out.

But just eight minutes into the second half, Bešić made a fatal error while contesting a header at the near post.

He misread the ball’s trajectory and jumped too early, even dragging Ibrahimović out of position in the process.

Poyet’s eyes went wide. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

Li Ang, positioned in the middle of the box and already about to give up on the play, suddenly realized the ball was heading straight to him.

Without even thinking, he jumped slightly and snapped his neck into a textbook header.

Sunderland keeper Vito Mannone, thrown off by his own teammate’s miscue, was completely flat-footed.

All he could do was watch the ball fly into the net.

When the ball crossed the line, Li Ang’s mind went blank.

He didn’t even know how to celebrate this historic moment.

Thankfully, his teammates were already crowding around, ushering him toward the corner flag.

Commentators around the world burst into praise and congratulations.

30 Premier League goals in a single season!

Li Ang had just set a towering new milestone for all midfielders to come.

Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.

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