From Arsenal to the Ball God

”Bang!”

Ma’el withdrew to midfield to receive the ball. Whenever it’s hard to get the ball at the front, he actively thinks of other ways.

At times like this, Ramsey, who has coordinated with him before, would switch positions with him smoothly, running towards the left flank.

After receiving the ball, Ma’el advanced with the ball while observing the situation at the front... He quickly noticed that the central defender Kolo Toure was exchanging words with the same side’s fullback Richards, appearing quite distracted.

And Van Persie, standing ahead of Kolo Toure, seemed ready to sprint forward?

A great opportunity!

”Bang!”

A crisp sound of the ball being kicked echoed as his left foot wrapped around the football, directing it behind the opponent’s defensive line.

He could have passed with his right foot and still made it in time, but thinking the left-footed curve would make it easier for Van Persie to receive and strike, he used his left foot instead.

Whatever, it’s almost the same!

In an instant, the football flew behind Manchester City’s defensive line. Kolo Toure, who was still communicating with Richards, said, ”Sometimes you need to track back! You... wait, mine!”

Seeing the ball coming, he hurriedly took a few steps back, shouted ’mine’, and then failed to make the header.

Van Persie broke through the defense line before all the Manchester City players, receiving the ball with the arch of his right foot and executing an aerial strike straight towards the far corner of the goal.

”Swish!”

The strike was beautiful, both in terms of the connection of the shot and the angle and power of shooting, all exceptional.

Van Persie!

He pulled one back!

”Oh...!”

Amid the cheers of the Arsenal expedition army, Van Persie ran towards the far corner flag to celebrate, pointing towards Ma’el who assisted him along the way.

”It’s in!! General Fan has pulled one back for Arsenal! A precise guided pass from Ma’el!

”One to one! Van Persie opened Joe Hart’s goal with a breathtaking aerial strike! This strike was unassailable, could this be a key goal for Arsenal to maintain their unbeaten run?”

”Let’s... review the replay, Ma’el probably had a look at the situation the moment he lifted his head, noticing Kolo Toure’s distraction and Van Persie’s intention to run.

”And then, surprisingly, he delivered a pass with his left foot, the reverse footing, showing how confident he is in both feet.”

”Following that, Van Persie’s aerial strike goes without mention, his ability in this area is recognized as historic!”

”.....”

”Nice!”

On the field, Ma’el also pointed at Van Persie and ran towards him. This daring attempt paid off unexpectedly.

”Another one!” Van Persie jumped up to bump chests with him, looking incredibly excited, ”How many assists have you provided me this season?”

”4-5 maybe.”

Ma’el responded with a shrug and a smile: ”So, how many have you provided for me?”

”2 or 3?”

Van Persie looked slightly embarrassed; his set-ups for Ma’el were indeed few. The latter often received pass from midfield, then cut in toward the middle or baseline to handle the situation himself.

”Alright.” Ma’el stretched out a hand, jokingly placing it on Van Persie, pretending to absorb his skill, ”As compensation, I’m truly absorbing your aerial strike ability this time.”

”Haha.....!”

Van Persie and the other players burst into laughter. They hugged each other, celebrating for a long time before departing.

The half-time whistle soon followed, with both sides entering the break at a one-one tie.

...

”Brilliant!”

In the hotel, Peter and Amelia high-fived hard, both excitedly facing the computer to finalize editing on various social media accounts for the newspaper.

”Pass to Van Persie, match time 45+1 minute... Reverse-foot pass, precise assist, Van Persie’s aerial strike.”

After filling in a few keyword blanks, they swiftly copied and pasted to publish the posts.

Just more than ten seconds after publishing, the likes started coming in, refreshing continuously... growing by dozens, hundreds.

”Eat! Feast on it!”

Watching the screen, Peter could clearly feel the wave of popularity. He waved his hands excitedly: ”Devour this wave of heat! We have to catch up with the major newspapers and radio stations!”

After dreaming, he quickly took out his phone, called the official personnel of Instagram, and asked them to distribute all the posts published by Football Record today. The other side readily agreed.

”After the exclusive interview, how many subscribers do you think our column will have?”

He looked at Amelia, asking expectantly: ”Or further down the line, when Ma’el joins Arsenal to launch the team column, how many subscribers and how much advertising fees will we get?”

”Didn’t you discuss it earlier?” Amelia asked in return, then thought for a moment and expressed her opinion, ”I think the column subscribers will exceed 50k, advertising fees... 120-130k pounds per month?”

”Haha.”

Peter’s expression revealed a trace of ’great minds think alike’ surprise, he reached out and high-fived Amelia again, ”Ma’el gave us a surprise, naturally, we need to return the favor.

”This year, we’re not only aiming for a million pounds profit but striving to surpass 1.5 million!”

Amelia smiled sweetly, waving it off, ”Enough chatter, the post for an assist brace isn’t finished yet. I’ll rush the draft first.”

Peter nodded, watching both teams’ halftime break, browsing more social media messages with his phone.

He quickly saw several heavy posts, almost all from Real Madrid Club’s players and coaches.

”Young players are always worth infinite expectations, early fame is a good thing, but it can also be a bad thing... hopefully, the player is the former.” - Mourinho reshared the Golden Boy Award message.