After signing with AC Milan, I will be the king of football!

Henry, receiving the ball, instantly started dribbling into the box.

With his right foot, he dodged Dida’s tackle, then shot with the instep of his foot.

The ball rolled straight into the far corner of the net.

The singing in San Siro Stadium abruptly stopped.

The fans couldn’t believe their eyes.

After the goal,

Henry spread his arms and sprinted around the field, finally sliding on his knees toward the visiting fans’ stand.

”Henry, a goal in the first 16 seconds isn’t as quick as Mackay’s 10.2 seconds UEFA Champions League quickest goal, but scoring this early is great as some fans had just entered the stadium and hadn’t even sat down.”

”Hehe, after scoring, Henry was celebrating against Huang Kaiwen, mimicking the slide Huang Kaiwen did last game. Today, at San Siro, Henry mimicked it himself.”

”It really seems like a statement to Huang Kaiwen, who made a sadly mistaken back pass. It was indeed too strong, but Kaladze didn’t even try to stretch his leg out, just letting the ball go past him.”

”Huang Kaiwen indeed looked a bit awkward. Henry is very experienced in handling these situations.”

”Right, in the 2004 European Cup, in the final minute of the England vs France game, Gerrard passed back to Henry who, dribbling into the box, was brought down to earn a penalty. Zidane scored it and the French team won 2:1 by defeating England. Last time Gerrard’s pass sent England packing, let’s see if Huang Kai can redeem himself today.”

...

”Did Huang Kaiwen buy this game?”

”Bet on Milan losing? If he did and it was discovered, he’d be banned from playing, right?”

”That can’t be right, could a top league player really gamble on matches?”

”Shit, it happens a lot in top leagues. The English football scene has been exposed so many times, Serie A is somewhat better.”

”Speaking of the English football scene, I remember Paul Merson, the Arsenal legend. I’m not sure if he gambled on football, but he definitely loved gambling. After other leagues were done, Paul Merson got hooked and started betting on unfamiliar games like table tennis, losing 160,000 British Pounds.”

”Fuck, he must have bet on the Chinese team losing, if he had bet on them winning, even with low odds he shouldn’t have lost money, right?”

”That’s why people shouldn’t gamble. Gambling is addictive; if you lose, you want to win back, and if you win, you want to keep winning. In the end, it all goes back to others. I heard Paul Merson lost several million British Pounds.”

”Forget Paul Merson, let’s talk about whether Huang Kaiwen bought the game or not?”

”He probably didn’t; Huang Kaiwen may falter in small matters, but he understands right from wrong in critical issues.”

”Shit, all I want to ask is, aside from wanting to bust someone’s chops, feign injuries, and mooch off others, what other bad things has Huang Kaiwen done that you have to slander him?”

”Maybe that’s it. Now that you mention it, Huang Kaiwen isn’t that bad.”

Huang Kai stood, hands on hips,

helplessly lowering his head.

The game had just started.

He wasn’t very familiar with Son Heung-min’s skills.

Plus, being harassed close by Yongberg after he poked the ball open,

his back pass was too strong and ended back in the box.

If it weren’t for the own goal assist,

Huang Kai would have almost applauded.

Damn,

that pass was too beautiful.

A curving cross back into the box, even top-notch passers couldn’t deliver such a beautiful ball every time.

He was like an inverse De Bruyne.

Such a beautiful assist, if only it wasn’t to the opponent, could have made the newspapers.

Huang Kai, feeling mixed emotions, scratched his head.

”Kevin, don’t overthink it, the game just started, we have plenty of time,” Maldini ran up from the right, comforting him.

”Exactly, you didn’t mean to do it,” Kaka quickly said.

”Don’t worry, we can equalize soon, maybe you’ll be the one scoring,” Kaladze confidently said.

”Alright, I’ll score one later. Remember to coordinate well with me,”

Huang Kai said with a smile.

”That’s right, just don’t dwell on it,”

Kaladze patting Huang Kai’s shoulder, said.

Huang Kai shook his head and jogged back.

He was just upset for a bit, he would be fine soon.

Mainly, he didn’t want to ruin his teammates’ efforts, and his bonus too.

And more importantly,

the power of role models was there.

When feeling down, seeing others faring worse immediately filled him with hope.

Gerrard made three backpass mistakes, even made Liverpool lose the crown, yet he lived just fine.

Thinking about it,

a single wrong backpass from him costing the team a goal wasn’t really a big deal.

Not to mention there were other things like Lukaku’s goal-line saves, Karius scoring twice.

Playing many games,

It was understandable to occasionally make mistakes.

Huang Kai jogged back to the midfield.

After the restart, he became much more cautious.

When dribbling on the left, he ran very carefully.

Ancelotti frowned,

watching Huang Kai handling the ball.

Kai’s footwork was clearly worse than before.

Knowing Huang Kai as he did, controlling the ball should have been easy for him.

His explosiveness also dropped compared to the last round against Arsenal.

What was really going on?

Ancelotti rubbed his chin, completely puzzled.

Suddenly,

seeing the black protective mask worn by Huang Kai, Ancelotti slapped his arm.

He shouted, ”I knew it, I knew it! That mask is disrupting the flow of willpower; damn, I should have realized—masks affect Kai’s performance. Shit, they must install a receiver on the mask so it won’t affect his performance.”

Ancelotti turned and grabbed a radar device from under the bench, then switched off the power.