Awakening the Messi template, Florentino Pérez begs me to join Real Madrid

2PTV Sports Live Streaming Room.

"Welcome back to PPTV Sports. We're bringing you the second half of the first leg of the AFC Champions League semi-final, with Guangzhou Evergrande playing away against Kashiwa Reysol. I'm your host, Tang Qiu'er."

In front of the camera, Tang Qiu'er wore a smart business suit, her ponytail was neatly tied, and she smiled as she looked at the guests beside her.

"Today we are very honored to have with us Li Yi, a former national team player and a legendary figure in Chinese football history. Coach Li, what are your thoughts on the first half?"

Li Yi leaned back in his chair.

"Hengda played very intelligently in the first half. Playing away from home, the opponent took the lead at the start, and Lippi's strategy was to stabilize first and then look for opportunities. That goal was beautiful, Wu Shi's through ball, Muriqui's cross, and Elkeson tapping it into the empty net. That's the chemistry between these players in Hengda's attacking line right now."

Tang Qiu'er nodded: "Wu Shi's pass was indeed exquisite. Even when he was heavily marked in the first half, he still managed to find that gap."

"That's talent," Li Yi said. "Some players play well if you give them space, and some players can create space even if you don't have any. Wu Shi is the latter. And he's only seventeen years old, which is very rare."

The scene cuts back to the stadium.

The second half has begun.

Kashiwa Reysol clearly intensified their offensive, pressing their flanks very high up.

Hengda's formation was compressed into a 30-meter area, putting them on the defensive.

In the 54th minute, Wu Shi dropped back to the backfield to support Zheng Zhi. As soon as he received the ball, two opposing players immediately double-teamed him.

Wu Shi turned to protect the ball and passed it to Sun Xiang on the wing.

"A smart approach."

"The most common mistake young players make is trying to turn and move forward as soon as they get the ball. Takeshi now knows when to slow down."

Li Yi commented

Tang Qiu'er nodded: "But we can also see that Evergrande's midfield is still having some difficulty getting the ball out. Conca's absence has had a big impact."

"Yes, there's no way around it. Conca is the kind of player who can single-handedly carry the midfield, and there's no substitute for him in the country right now."

In the 61st minute, Evergrande had a counter-attack opportunity.

Feng Xiaoting intercepted the ball in the backfield and launched a long pass across the midfield.

Takeshi received the ball on the left flank, facing Kashiwa Reysol's right-back.

He made a feint by cutting inside, and the moment his opponent shifted his weight, he accelerated!

The person is gone!

Takeshi broke into the penalty area, but the angle was very tight. The Kashiwa Reysol goalkeeper rushed out of his goal and covered the near post.

The shooting angle was very small.

Seeing that there was no angle, Wu Shi kicked the ball into the far corner.

The entire audience held their breath.

Then it grazed the outside of the far post and rolled out of bounds.

"Oh no!" Tang Qiu'er's voice rose. "Wu Shi missed that shot! What a pity! If that shot had gone in, it would have almost certainly sealed the victory!"

Li Yi remained silent for two seconds.

In the footage, Wu Shi is kneeling in the penalty area, with his hands covering his head.

Muriqui ran over, pulled him up, and patted his face.

Li Yi suddenly smiled.

"I know this ball all too well."

Tang Qiu'er turned to look at him.

"In the 2004 Asian Cup final against Japan, I also had a similar shot, also from a tight angle, but back then, sigh."

He paused.

"I was criticized for many years afterward."

The live chat exploded instantly.

"The Emperor made fun of himself."

"I was there at the 04 Asian Cup!"

"That shot was handled way too slowly!!"

"Li Yi has broadened his horizons."

"Wu Shi's shot was like he was possessed by the Emperor."

Tang Qiu'er paused for a moment, then quickly replied, "So, do you think Wu Shi handled that ball poorly?"

"No problem," Li Yi said decisively. "From that angle, the goalkeeper had already blocked the near post; shooting at the far post was the only option. Missing it was a matter of luck, not a matter of choice."

He glanced at the screen.

"Some balls you know will go in as soon as you kick them, but they just don't. Some balls you think are going wide, but they just deflect into the net. That's football."

"So how did you get through it?"

Li Yi smiled.

"I didn't get out of that situation. I just kept playing. In the league, I scored a few goals from the same position later on, although most fans probably don't know about those goals I scored from that position later."

"But if you don't keep playing, that missed goal will be the last impression you leave on others."

In the video, Wu Shi has already stood up and is running back. His face doesn't show much expression; he simply waves to Muriqui to indicate that he's alright.

In the 68th minute, Kashiwa Reysol equalized the score.

Cleo got a second ball in the goalmouth scramble and fired a low shot through the crowd, leaving Zeng Cheng with no chance to make the save. 1-1.

The Hitachi Kashiwa Soccer Stadium erupted in cheers.

Evergrande were pinned back in their own half, struggling to breathe.

In the 74th minute, Lippi made a substitution. Gao Lin was replaced by Zhao Xuri. The formation changed from 4-3-3 to 4-5-1, with Wu Shi dropping deeper into midfield.

"Are they going to settle for a draw?" Tang Qiu'er asked with some concern.

"No," Li Yi said. "Lippi isn't that kind of coach. He brought Zhao Xuri on to free up Zheng Zhi to play in a more advanced position. Zheng Zhi's ability to pass the ball forward is better than Zhao Xuri's right now."

The comments section says:

"Zheng Zhi was a regular starter in the Premier League back in the day. Although he's older now and plays a deeper role, his passing and ball control abilities are still top-notch in China!"

Sure enough, two minutes later, Zheng Zhi's position was clearly moved forward.

In the 79rd minute, Evergrande won a corner kick.

Wu Shi walked towards the corner flag area. He picked up the ball, wiped off the mud, and took a deep breath.

Silver's voice echoed in my mind:

"There are six defenders in the penalty area, so the success rate of winning a header is less than 30%. If you take a short corner kick and pass it to Sun Xiang on the wing before crossing, the success rate will be higher."

Wu Shi did not respond.

He takes a running start and launches the ball.

The ball arced through the air and landed near the near post. Feng Xiaoting won the first header, but under pressure from the opposing defender, he headed it high.

The ball didn't go in.

"Get back to defend quickly." Wu Shi ran back.

In the 83rd minute, Kashiwa Reysol's stamina began to decline. They had played too aggressively for the first seventy minutes, and in the last ten minutes, their formation began to break down.

In the 85th minute, Zheng Zhi intercepted the ball in midfield.

A long pass was sent directly to Elkeson on the right wing. Elkeson held off the defender and headed the ball across, where Wu Shi received it in the middle.

The ball bounced on the ground, quite high.

Wu Shi had his back to the goal, and the opposing defensive midfielder had already closed in, pressing against his waist. He couldn't control the ball comfortably.

He chose to shoot directly.

He turned halfway around, his right foot leaving the ground.

He struck the ball hard on the lower middle part with the instep.

It's a perfectly straight line.

The ball flew straight into the top right corner of the goal.

The ball hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced into the net.

2:1.

"Wow!!! Goal! Wu Shi! A world-class goal! A volley! Guangzhou Evergrande are ahead again! Amazing!!!"

With an excited tone and a cute, sweet voice, this is Tang Qiu'er's style; she always acts this way when her favorite team or player scores a goal.

"Great!" Li Yi slammed his hand on the table.

The comments section is no longer legible.

"Holy crap, that ball!"

"Your Majesty, have you learned it?"

"The last person to shoot like that was Zidane."

"Wu Shi's kick was fucking brutal."

Did he hesitate for a moment just now?

"Why hesitate? Just do it!"

Wu Shi stood there, staring at the ball in the net, stunned for a second.

Then he was tackled by Muriqui.

Yin's voice drifted in from between the crowd:

"The success rate of shooting that kind of ball, stopping it before shooting, is 74%, while the success rate of volleying it directly is only 31%. You chose the one with a low success rate."

Wu Shi was pinned to the grass by his teammates, panting.

"But we got in."

"...Yes. We're in."

Yin remained silent for a few seconds.

"Will you dare kick like that again next time?"

Wu Shi did not answer.

Because Gao Lin jumped on him.

The match restarted. Kashiwa Reysol launched a frantic comeback in the final minutes, but their stamina was waning. In the three minutes of added time, they failed to create any further real threats.

The final whistle blew.

Guangzhou Evergrande won 2-1 away from home, gaining an advantage over the opponent in the two-legged tie.

Wu Shi and Cleo exchanged jerseys. They shook hands but didn't say much.

Walking back down the corridor to the locker room, Yin said:

"Why didn't you take my advice and control the ball well before shooting when that volley was in the air?"

"At the time, I thought I could get in."

Wu Shi looked down at the yellow number 11 jersey in his hand.

Yin remained silent for a long time.

"Alright. I'll give you extra practice on volleying later. When volleying, you need to press the ball down from the upper half of the court, otherwise it'll most likely go wide. Your shot was pure luck."

Wu Shi couldn't help but laugh.

In the PPTV studio, thousands of miles away, Li Yi was giving his final summary.

"The two legs aren't over yet, and there are still 90 minutes left before we return to Tianhe Stadium. But in this match, Evergrande got the most important thing – an away victory with two goals."

He paused for a moment.

"And, that ball from Takeshi."

Tang Qiu'er then asked, "What do you think is the significance of this goal for Wu Shi?"

Li Yi thought about it.

"In the future, if he has another one-on-one chance from a tight angle that he misses, people will remember that he also had that volley. That's professional football. One good goal can make up for a lot of regrets."

He took off his headphones and nodded at the camera.

"Thank you for watching, see you next time."

The screen switches back to GG.

The comments are still scrolling.

"Coach Li really put his heart into it today."

"Is that goal from 04 a thing of the past?"

"What a load of crap!"

"I can't turn that around. I'll remember that goal for the rest of my life, but I've actually turned it around for the Emperor himself now."