I AM the Football Star

All along, because the opponents were weaker or for other reasons, Lu Yang had always ignored that the Moment Cards, apart from making it easy to deliver highlight plays, recreate classic moments, and grant attribute bonuses, also had side effects.

Like emotional risks, injury risks, technical movement quirks, and so on.

But very quickly, Lu Yang overturned that assumption.

Those two consecutive offsides weren’t the Morata Moment Card’s fault!

They were because...

In the thirty‑eighth minute, San Remo came surging back.

Morici’s long‑range shot won San Remo a corner.

Morici took it himself.

Bang!

The ball was sent in.

Naji won the duel at the near post and flicked it on with a back header.

Lu Yang soared up and headed the ball into the net.

But the main referee blew his whistle immediately.

Lu Yang was offside, the goal didn’t count!

Lu Yang turned around at once, looking straight at Bayern’s centre‑back Apple.

It wasn’t Morata, it was Apple!

He was deliberately forcing Lu Yang offside!

Three times in a row now!

This...

For the first time, Lu Yang started wondering if other people also had Moment Cards or similar items.

Because the form Apple was showing was honestly terrifying.

On Lu Yang’s first offside goal, it was Apple deliberately dropping early.

On the second offside assist, again it was Apple stepping inside at the last second, pushing Lu Yang offside, which forced Morici to pass to Talista instead.

Otherwise Morici’s first choice for that through ball would definitely have been Lu Yang.

Just then on the header, Apple was behind Lu Yang, yet still controlling Bayern’s entire defensive line.

Apple was different from Bayern’s other defenders; he was the regulator of their back line.

Offside or not, it was up to him.

The best centre‑back in the world!

Suddenly, Lu Yang figured it out.

This might be Apple’s real trump card as the world’s number one centre‑back.

Because of his size and impressive mobility and physicality, people had badly underestimated his football IQ, his vision, and his understanding of the rules.

He could turn any back line into a world‑class back line.

Just this one skill of engineering offsides was enough to make ninety‑five percent of strikers die in frustration.

Lu Yang suddenly understood why, in the Champions League semi‑final, the main referee who officiated Chelsea vs Bayern kept making mistakes.

He was very likely also... a victim.

Especially the goal Gutierrez scored that shouldn’t have been called offside, but by then similar situations had already happened too many times, so the main referee reflexively assumed that one was offside too.

It was Apple!

It wasn’t the referee who beat Chelsea, it was Apple!

UEFA’s bias was one factor, sure, but Apple absolutely had enormous credit for that match.

His offside trap kept tormenting Chelsea’s forwards and the main referee over and over.

Exactly like in this game.

He’d even made Lu Yang start doubting the usefulness of his Moment Cards.

Three seconds of sympathy for Morata!

Faced with an Apple like this, Lu Yang couldn’t help thinking of another player who was very similar to Apple.

They both had a sense of the offside line that others simply couldn’t match; they could effortlessly control this invisible dotted line.

Apple was a master at creating offsides.

And the other guy was a master at being offside—Inzaghi!

Lu Yang decisively crushed another Moment Card in his mind.

There wasn’t much time left; since Morata wasn’t working, then let Inzaghi come out and have a duel with Apple, see who’s the true king of offsides!

”Ding! While a Moment Card is active, you cannot use another one.”

The system popped up a red warning.

Lu Yang’s brows furrowed.

Can’t forcibly terminate it early?

This... makes you cough up blood!

Why is the Morata Moment Card such a ’bargain’ that it lasts seventy minutes?

Can’t you learn from Neymar, Bell, Messi and those guys?

Ten minutes would be plenty, seriously!

”Watch Apple, his offside trap is very strong!” Lu Yang said to Morici.

Morici nodded. ”At first I thought it was a coincidence, but now I’m sure, he’s definitely setting us up to go offside.”

”Damn, this guy’s got some guts! Playing with fire like that, and he dares to do it over and over—and it’s working every time.”

Lu Yang said, ”Let’s stabilize the situation first, don’t concede again. At halftime we’ll really study Apple’s defending, then figure out how to improve our attack.”

The two leaders reached an agreement.

In the minutes that followed, Lu Yang dropped straight back into midfield.

On the surface, it looked like those two offside goals had completely wrecked his mentality.

”Lu Yang’s not up to it either, huh? If it’s not offside he can’t score at all!”

”I seriously doubt now how many of his career goals were actually offside.”

”Off your damn mother! Serie A has VAR, idiot!”

”Exactly, every single one of Lu Yang’s goals is legit. Just watch, he’ll score sooner or later!”

”So arrogant with just a 2–0, clearly don’t know San Remo.”

”Yeah, with San Remo, comebacks are everywhere, reversals are as common as dogs on the street, you don’t know that?”

”Bah! You San Remo fans have no shame, do you? Think our Bayern are some fake champions from a weak league like Florence or Paris Saint‑Germain? We’re not getting overturned!”

”This is the Champions League final; down two goals and you still dream of a comeback? You’ve watched that Istanbul miracle a few too many times, huh?”

”What, the Istanbul miracle doesn’t count? Do you know who inspired Liverpool back then to beat AC Milan?”

”Do you know who inspired AC Milan last year to beat you?”

”It was Lu! Lu who never gives up!”

”Hahaha! Fine, if you insist on an Istanbul miracle, then we Bayern will just score one more. Three‑goal lead—let’s see how you plan to come back from that!”

”Forget this mini‑AC Milan San Remo, even if it were last year’s real AC Milan, if they were two or three goals down to us at halftime, there’s no way they’d win!”

The San Remo fans were hurting inside, but they refused to admit defeat with their mouths.

They started singing San Remo’s club anthem.

The first half looked about to end.

But Bayern’s centre‑back Apple showed yet another side of himself that ordinary defenders don’t have.

Bang!

From the back, he launched a long pass, directly starting an attack.

Unlike Premier League centre‑backs just hoofing it clear, Apple’s pass had a very clear tactical purpose.

This centre‑back style straight out of the future shocked everyone.

The Polish Pavovsky, who’d transferred to Bayern, clashed fiercely with Naji—and he won!

But Pavovsky didn’t have much room to work with, so he chose to head the ball back.

Ludwig took a long‑range shot.

Areola was fully focused, diving to parry the shot.

But the ball didn’t go far; it dropped just outside the six‑yard box.

Naji sprinted toward it, but Robben was a step quicker, stretching out his foot first and poking the ball into the net.

3–0!

Bayern Munich were 3–0 up at halftime, slaughtering San Remo!

”Oh my god! Robben again!”

”A brace! Six million is too little! Robben deserves Eight million euros in wages!”

”Robben has killed the game!”

”Naji has committed a huge error! He got beaten by Pavovsky, and then failed to make the breakout immediately afterwards—his tempo is way too slow! Does he think his opponents are those weak bottom‑half Serie A teams?”

”This centre‑back’s performances this year have been disastrous! San Remo have to adjust in midfield, otherwise there’s no point even playing the second half!”

”Also, Lu Yang needs to adjust his attacking state today; he’s going offside way too much. Otherwise San Remo wouldn’t need to be this passive right now.”

”No time left! Only two minutes of added time, or San Remo will concede again!”

”Sotu’s sent Delarre to warm up, looks like he really is planning changes at halftime.”

”Use Delarre to replace Naji, push Lam into centre‑back, and Kaint to defensive midfield. That both strengthens the attack and solidifies the defense—Sotu’s adjustment intent is very clear!”

”No doubt, this is the darkest moment of Naji’s professional career. Even though he didn’t score his specialty own goal, his display has already been the worst on the pitch.”

”Okay, halftime has arrived. Please don’t go anywhere, because as everyone knows, San Remo are famous for their ability to create miracles!”

The commentator’s last line was something even he didn’t believe.

If the director hadn’t told him to add that in, he’d definitely be telling San Remo fans to just go to bed now.

Don’t wait.

Otherwise, forty‑five minutes later, you’ll be even more heartbroken.

This match is already over!

From here on out, it’s just a question of whether Bayern feel like treating San Remo to Seven‑Up or to Rafael!

There are no weak teams in the Champions League, and weak teams don’t get miracles.

This is the Champions League!