Dominating Football with Perfect Ball Control

Chapter 105: 105. Unlucky Arsenal

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I have launched two new fanfics,

Naruto: I am the Daimyo

Fairy Tail: Wish Magic

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At Emirates Stadium, Arsenal fans never would have imagined.

They were about to witness their team’s Champions League elimination at home once again.

In the 2008-09 season, they were eliminated by FC Barcelona, stopping at the quarterfinals.

In the 2009-10 season, they were again eliminated by FC Barcelona, stopping at the quarterfinals.

In the 2010-11 season, it was FC Barcelona again, stopping at the quarterfinals.

In the 2011-12 season, they were defeated 4-0 by AC Milan, stopping at the Round of 16.

In the 2012-13 season, they met another nemesis, Bayern Munich, stopping at the Round of 16...

They thought that drawing Bayer Leverkusen this time, finally not a giant club, Arsenal should be able to break into the quarterfinals or semifinals, breaking through their limits?

Unexpectedly, they were about to witness their team stop at the Round of 16 again.

The score on the field was 1-1, with 16-year-old prodigy Lance equalizing the score, but Bayer Leverkusen had a 4-3 aggregate lead, holding the advantage!

After the last 20 minutes of back-and-forth in the second half, the match had entered injury time.

Arsenal theoretically still had a glimmer of hope!

As long as they scored one more goal to lead 2-1, equalizing the aggregate score to 4-4, Arsenal could eliminate Bayer Leverkusen on away goals advantage!

Facing such a desperate, do-or-die situation, Arsène Wenger also went all out.

To defend against Lance, the midfield was configured with a three-holding midfielder combination of Mathieu Flamini + Aaron Ramsey + Mikel Arteta.

The frontline trident consisted of Mesut ?zil, Olivier Giroud, and Theo Walcott.

Now, going all-in to strengthen the attack, Arsène Wenger withdrew Aaron Ramsey and Mathieu Flamini, bringing on Santi Cazorla and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain!

The formation changed to a single holding midfielder in Mikel Arteta, with Mesut ?zil and Santi Cazorla as dual attacking midfielders, plus Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott flying down both wings, and the big Olivier Giroud leading the line!

It was a posture of rolling up their sleeves and fighting for their lives!

In the last 5 minutes of injury time, Arsenal launched a frantic counterattack.

The link-up play between Santi Cazorla and Mesut ?zil in the final third was still quite threatening.

Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper Bernd Leno frequently appeared on camera.

”Santi Cazorla!! Cross to the middle!! Mesut ?zil, a shot himself? No!! A sudden through ball with a flick of his ankle!”

”Theo Walcott!! Cutting in from the rib and shooting!!”

”Goalkeeper Bernd Leno makes a save!!”

”Olivier Giroud follows up with a rebound shot! Oh oh oh — it’s Bernd Leno again!! Two consecutive saves of Arsenal’s certain goals!”

Bayer Leverkusen defender ?mer Toprak excitedly hugged Bernd Leno’s head.

”Well done, brother!”

”Fucking Yeah!!!”

Teammates came over to celebrate, and Bernd Leno’s head was buzzing.

”Alright, alright, quickly get back to position and defend!”

”You guys pay attention to marking! I’d thank God if you didn’t cause me any trouble!”

Bayer Leverkusen had no time to celebrate; they had to stay focused and defend against Arsenal’s desperate struggle!

Even Lance had to track back to the edge of the box to help limit Mikel Arteta’s distribution.

Inspired by Lance’s earlier goal, the Bayer Leverkusen players were in high spirits and united!

However, Arsenal’s last wave after wave of attacks was indeed terrifying.

It made Bayer Leverkusen fans and Bundesliga fans nervous.

”Olivier Giroud!! Header — wide!”

”Arsenal midfield interception, quickly launching an attack!”

”Santi Cazorla... beautiful! Dribbling past Simon Rolfes, an outside-of-the-foot curling shot!”

”Olivier Giroud!!”

”That shot was so close!”

Santi Cazorla’s lofted pass from the left to Olivier Giroud allowed him a comfortable header on goal.

Lance’s heart twitched seeing this whole scene.

Fortunately, their luck was slightly off, and Olivier Giroud’s header didn’t hit the target, just barely scraping the crossbar and flying out of bounds.

It would have been too unfair if Arsenal had scored a last-minute winner in injury time!

No!

Even in the last few minutes, they couldn’t just defend passively!

It was necessary to threaten Arsenal’s goal; even if they didn’t score, it would make them pull back a bit.

Watching Bernd Leno’s goal kick reach midfield, it was firmly controlled by the 198cm tall center-back Per Mertesacker.

Possession remained with Arsenal, and they launched an assault on Bayer Leverkusen.

To waste time, Sami Hyypi? simply made a substitution.

He took off captain Simon Rolfes, who was on a yellow card, and also substituted the right winger Robbie Kruse, bringing on Julian Brandt.

He hoped this young player’s abundant stamina would be effective in defense, limiting Theo Walcott.

”There are still 3 minutes of injury time, and Arsenal still have a chance to score a late winner.”

”At the same time, Bayer Leverkusen is also defending their goal with a deep block.”

”Julian Brandt, who Bayer Leverkusen just brought on, is very fast. Theo Walcott can’t do anything about him for now, so he crosses to the middle for Mikel Arteta to organize.”

”Mikel Arteta... looks up, good, a quick one-two with Mesut ?zil in a tight space!”

”To Santi Cazorla again! This ball!”

The overlapping runs of Mesut ?zil, Santi Cazorla, and Mikel Arteta in the middle were very impressive.

They drew away Bayer Leverkusen defenders.

Mesut ?zil’s backheel pass created space for Santi Cazorla, who directly burst into the box along the rib!

Olivier Giroud was already in position, lurking in the middle!

At the same time, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was also making a run on the right!

Bayer Leverkusen was in a very dangerous situation!

Just at this critical moment, with striker Lance unable to track back, he did the opposite, turning and running towards the attacking half!

Everyone in Arsenal was focused on the attack, hoping to score a late winner in injury time; no one noticed Lance’s run for the moment.

Only Julian Brandt noticed his good friend’s change.

”Lance, you guy, could it be...”

Santi Cazorla carried the ball into the box, and Lars Bender, even in the box, was incredibly bold with a sliding tackle!

The aggressive defending caught Santi Cazorla off guard, causing him to stumble slightly.

In a hurry, he could only pass to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on the right!

But Son Heung-min had already quickly arrived, also making a sliding tackle to intercept the ball!

At the crucial moment, everyone in Bayer Leverkusen was giving their all!

Son Heung-min would never allow the advantage Lance had so painstakingly created to be wasted!

He immediately got up after the sliding tackle and unleashed a powerful long-range clearance to the right wing!

Julian Brandt had learned a lot about ball control from Lance in ordinary times.

Even without cheating, after being guided by Lance, he had gained a lot of confidence in stopping the ball.

Almost at the moment the ball was about to fly out of bounds, he leaped and lifted his foot to stop the ball, landing and nutmegging Kieran Gibbs at the same time!

This move caused a gasp from Emirates Stadium!

But they gasped too early.

After getting past Kieran Gibbs, Mikel Arteta, Theo Walcott, and Santi Cazorla had already closed in, sandwiching him.

Julian Brandt lost his dribbling space, and without hesitation, he launched a long pass to the attacking half!

Only Lance was sprinting forward alone!

Arsenal’s half was like the Horqin Grassland, letting Lance gallop freely!

”Offside!!”

Arsenal center-back Laurent Koscielny subconsciously raised his hand to signal offside.

Lance was clearly four or five meters beyond!

But the linesman remained unmoved!

”This ball is not offside!! At the moment of the pass, all Arsenal players were in the opponent’s half!”

”This is a good opportunity!!”

CCTV5 commentator He Wei’s voice was hoarse!

He stood up excitedly, his heart pounding!

But Julian Brandt’s pass was a bit rushed, and the power was a bit too much.

As the ball was about to fly to the edge of the opponent’s box, goalkeeper Wojciech Szcz?sny had already rushed out of his goal, competing with Lance for the same landing spot!

”Oh, Jesus...”

Arsène Wenger’s heart sank halfway; he suddenly had a bad premonition.

The eyes of the world were focused on Lance and Wojciech Szcz?sny.

But then Lance looked back to observe the ball’s trajectory, accelerated forward, and leaped into the air a step ahead!

The strength training over the past season had significantly improved Lance’s core abdominal strength.

His jump allowed him to better control his body in the air!

Although he didn’t know who Nagi Seishiro was, if it were him, what would he do?

For this crucial goal, Lance completely cleared his mind, letting his body handle it purely by instinct!

To everyone’s astonishment, Lance, outside the box, was suspended upside down in the air!

Was he going to attempt an overhead kick from outside the box?!

Wojciech Szcz?sny’s first instinct was to go for the header, but halfway there, he changed his mind, stopping abruptly, ready to defend against Lance’s overhead kick at any moment!

This Eastern kid loved to mess around, and somehow he always scored.

Wojciech Szcz?sny had learned his lesson!

But the next second, to everyone’s surprise, Lance was not going for an overhead kick!!

His right foot, suspended in mid-air, seemed to have magic, firmly sucking the football to it!

He seemed to perform a somersault in mid-air, completing an aerial catch and landing!

This completely disrupted Wojciech Szcz?sny’s plan!

It was too late for him to rush out again!

Lance, having landed, accelerated, dribbled past, opened up an angle, and took a sure-fire push shot!

It pierced the net!!

”This...”

In over 20 years of coaching, Arsène Wenger had never seen such a crazy yet calm execution!

As Arsenal completely lost their hope of advancing, Arsène Wenger, instead, smiled with relief and applauded Lance’s perfect goal.

”Bravo!”

Commentators from other countries were going crazy, unable to express their inner shock with varying degrees of shouting!

”The match is over!!! Lance scores twice! Reversing Arsenal away from home!”

”Aggregate score 5-3!! Bayer Leverkusen seals the victory, strongly eliminating Arsenal! Advancing to the Champions League quarterfinals!”