Starting as a Defensive Midfielder at Real Madrid

Li Ang’s goal couldn’t have come at a better moment.

As time wore on, both Everton and Chelsea’s players had reached a tipping point in terms of stamina. Most were visibly drained. Add to that the below-average form of Chelsea’s attackers, and the chances of another goal after the 70th minute looked increasingly slim.

For Everton, that one goal conceded was a devastating blow to morale.

They had been mere minutes away from achieving their objective of drawing the match—then suddenly, with just over twenty minutes left on the clock, their goal was breached!

Sitting back and defending clearly wasn’t an option anymore.

But did they really have enough left in the tank to push forward and equalize before the final whistle?

Unless Chelsea maintained the high-press, front-foot attacking approach from the first half and left gaps to exploit on the counter, it was hard to imagine Everton clawing one back.

Everton manager Roberto Martínez still held on to a sliver of hope.

But Mourinho, who had come down from his euphoric high and regained his composure, wasted no time issuing new instructions from the sideline. He signaled to his players on the pitch to immediately retreat and compact their formation.

Scoring at this point in the game was as close to an ideal scenario as Chelsea could’ve hoped for—especially given the poor overall form they’d shown on the day.

They had Li Ang’s excellence to fall back on, sure, but there was no denying that Lady Luck had smiled on Chelsea as well.

Mourinho wasn’t about to gamble on that luck holding out.

He opted instead for the safest route to secure the win.

Ugly or not, aesthetics no longer mattered to the Chelsea coaching staff or players.

Even Chelsea fans were now watching the match with white-knuckled tension, wishing they could jump onto the pitch themselves to help their team defend that slender lead.

Naturally, the 30,000-plus Everton supporters at Goodison Park were livid to see Chelsea retreating deep and parking the bus.

But all their booing and taunting did nothing to shake Chelsea’s iron-willed resolve.

A fourth straight win to open the Premier League season was within their grasp!

For Chelsea’s veterans, who had gone years without tasting the league title, they knew exactly what a start like this could mean.

And this wasn’t even a win earned with dominant play—this was a victory achieved through adversity and grit.

Winning in both favorable and adverse conditions—that was the kind of momentum that could power a title run.

Even more so for Chelsea’s younger players.

With morale surging and confidence rising, these youngsters were beginning to play well beyond their years.

To win the league, yes, the consistency of veterans was essential.

But the real foundation for a championship lay in whether the young guns could step up, carry the weight, and deliver goals and creativity in attack.

And nothing fueled young players’ growth and belief more than winning matches—again and again and again.

So in this final stretch, both veterans and rookies alike were shouting to one another, reminding each other to stay focused, covering their zones with fierce determination, eyes locked onto the Everton players preparing to restart the game.

By the 70th minute of the second half, the match had reached its most intense phase of attacking and defending from both sides.

And right in front of Chelsea’s penalty area, retreating into a more defensive role, stood Li Ang—once again the focal point of the team’s midfield defense, with his superior stamina keeping him mobile while others flagged.

Everton’s creative spark, Kevin Mirallas, couldn’t find a way past him at all.

Without Marouane Fellaini, Everton also lost their signature ”cross and crash” plan for chasing games. There was simply no one to aim at in the box anymore.

With options dwindling, Martínez resorted to having Ross Barkley and substitute Leon Osman try long shots from distance.

But with Jelavić no longer providing magic up top, Everton were all tactics and no end product.

In desperation, Martínez substituted Jelavić for Deulofeu, the 19-year-old on loan from Barcelona.

But the young Spaniard was far from ready to be Everton’s savior.

Li Ang didn’t even have to get involved. Ramires marked him with tireless aggression, and in the ten minutes Deulofeu was on the pitch, he couldn’t even get a shot off.

After one final long-range effort from Barkley sailed into the stands, the referee looked at his watch and blew for full-time.

Li Ang, completely spent and having not felt this exhausted in ages, bent over, hands on his knees, gasping for air.

But moments later, he stood up straight, smiled, and wiped the sweat from his face with his shirt.

He raised both arms and applauded the thousands of Chelsea fans who had traveled with the team to Goodison Park.

Noticing this, the young players—still caught up in their celebratory hugs—also turned and followed his lead.

De Bruyne and Lukaku quickly joined Li Ang, clapping and thanking the supporters.

Meanwhile, Mourinho, having exchanged brief pleasantries with Martínez, jogged impatiently toward his squad.

Four straight wins to start the Premier League campaign—against the likes of Manchester United and Everton, no less.

Mourinho didn’t need to shout it from the rooftops or make a statement about how much these four victories were worth.

The media across England would do that for him. They’d champion Chelsea’s return to form and feed the hype train.

At that moment, all Mourinho wanted was to be with his players and purely, joyfully savor their perfect start to the season.

Li Ang was once again named Man of the Match and received the customary champagne bottle.

But this time, he didn’t stash it away for his collection.

He asked a staff member for a bottle opener, popped the cork, and sprayed it across the Goodison Park pitch, laughing with his teammates as the champagne rained down.

Naturally, the jubilant celebration was caught by photographers at the scene.

The next day, almost every sports outlet in England used a shot of Chelsea’s celebration as their front-page headline.

After Liverpool were held to a draw by Swansea, Chelsea stood alone as the only Premier League team with a 100% winning record.

To be fair, Daniel Sturridge was still doing wonders for Liverpool.

He had scored in each of the first four matches of the season, helping his team secure three consecutive 1–0 wins in the opening rounds.

From a purely statistical standpoint, Sturridge’s importance to Liverpool arguably exceeded even Li Ang’s impact on Chelsea.

But in the fourth round, Li Ang once again showcased his all-around brilliance on both sides of the ball.

Sturridge could score goals—he could break deadlocks, or rescue a draw.

But Li Ang? He could score and shut the game down when it mattered most.

That dual contribution made it impossible for critics—those few Premier League fans who had tried to question Li Ang’s August Player of the Month award by hyping up Sturridge—to keep talking.

The truth was, in football, winners take all.

When two players had equal influence, the one who led his team to victory would always come out on top in the public eye.

Not long after Chelsea’s fourth league match, news came in from Spain—Villarreal had snatched a dramatic equalizer against Real Madrid in the dying minutes.

Immediately, fans with too much time on their hands started stirring the pot online.

What if Li Ang had still been part of Real Madrid’s starting lineup?

Would Giovani dos Santos have gotten off that shot so easily, completely unmarked?

Or what if Mourinho had still been in charge?

Would he have allowed Real to keep pushing forward relentlessly in the last 20 minutes, only to be hit on the break?

What should’ve been a routine La Liga result became fuel for wild hypotheticals by neutral fans—most of whom weren’t even Real Madrid or Chelsea supporters.

Of course, this surge of chatter was driven by Li Ang’s heroics for Chelsea.

But he himself didn’t enjoy being used this way—as a means to criticize his former teammates or his old club.

A typical star might’ve stayed silent at this point—either to avoid controversy, or to milk the buzz and media traffic.

But not Li Ang.

Li Ang had always managed his personal social media accounts himself, only occasionally handing them off to his assistant to post promotional content or advertisements. So when he noticed the rising wave of internet chatter that evening, he immediately logged in and made a statement—harshly criticizing those opportunistic spectators stirring up unnecessary drama.

Though he didn’t follow up with further posts about the issue, nor made any public show of support for his former teammates, his timely response was enough to keep the controversy from spiraling. It prevented the matter from escalating to the point where both Real Madrid and Chelsea found themselves in an awkward or troublesome situation.

Real Madrid fans were deeply moved.

He was still one of their own.

Even though Chelsea had paid the release clause to snatch him away and dragged him across the Channel to England, his personality hadn’t changed one bit—blunt, sincere, and unafraid of confrontation.

Chelsea supporters, too, made their stance clear. They fully backed Li Ang.

A world-class professional with undeniable talent, tireless dedication, and unwavering loyalty—players like him would earn the love of any fanbase, anywhere they went.

With the dust settled on that brief media storm, Chelsea’s presence in the European football spotlight was once again amplified.

Just three days later, under the watchful eye of a media frenzy, Chelsea hosted their first Champions League match of the season at Stamford Bridge.

Although Chelsea had failed to get out of the group stage last season and then lost the Europa League final to Atlético Madrid, their consistent performances in Europe over the last few years meant they were still seeded in Pot 1 of the Champions League draw.

Sharing the same pot with Chelsea were clubs like Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Manchester United, Arsenal, Atlético Madrid, and Porto.

Yes, under the current UEFA seeding rules, clubs were still ranked according to their European performances over the past five years. That’s why fans could still see Arsenal in Pot 1, while Juventus—despite winning Serie A—found themselves dropped into Pot 2.

Chelsea’s group draw had actually been quite favorable this year.

From Pot 2, they drew Schalke 04. From Pot 3, Swiss champions Basel. Not a group of death by any stretch.

Manchester United also had decent luck with their draw—the only real threat in their group was Bayer Leverkusen. Shakhtar Donetsk could be tricky under certain conditions, but without home weather advantage, they didn’t pose a major threat.

As for Real Sociedad, who were making their first Champions League appearance in years—they were more like a European training dummy. Lacking experience, hoping to play the dark horse? That would be a tall order.

Among the four English clubs in the Champions League, Arsenal got the worst of it.

Even Manchester City, stuck in Pot 3, only had to deal with Bayern Munich. CSKA Moscow and Viktoria Plzeň were considered easy points.

Times had changed. Guardiola had already begun to reshape City. Yaya Touré, once untouchable, had been reduced to a rotation player under Pep, who had none of Mancini’s leniency. With Pep’s Champions League pedigree at Barcelona, City fans were filled with new confidence.

Arsenal, though? Their Pot 1 status had turned into a nightmare.

Drawing Marseille from Pot 2 wasn’t terrible.

But their ”luck” in drawing the toughest teams from Pot 3 and Pot 4—Borussia Dortmund and Napoli—meant that Arsenal had landed squarely in the Group of Death.

They might get past Marseille, sure. But the other two? They were monsters.

United and City had already played their openers and both bagged three points.

Now it was Chelsea and Arsenal’s turn to face the pressure.

Between the two London teams, the media was far more interested in Arsenal’s away clash against Marseille than Chelsea’s home match against Basel.

On the evening of September 18, both clubs kicked off their respective matches simultaneously.

And to the surprise of both the English media and Premier League fans, Chelsea’s game was just as messy as Arsenal’s.

You could understand Arsenal needing time to wrest control from Marseille in midfield.

But Chelsea? Against Basel? Failing to assert rhythm and repeatedly getting hit on the counter?

It didn’t make sense—especially not with Chelsea’s squad, even rotated, being far more expensive and supposedly more talented.

Not even starting Li Ang could justify such disorganization.

Mourinho stood grim-faced on the touchline, visibly displeased with how things were unfolding.

Oscar and van Ginkel had started in midfield and, on paper, looked compatible.

Van Ginkel controlled the tempo from deep and distributed the ball, while Oscar played more advanced, looking to trigger attacks.

Behind them, Essien offered support and defensive cover.

With that kind of setup, Chelsea should’ve dominated Basel’s midfield without issue.

But Oscar came out overly eager—driven by the pressure of losing his starting spot and desperate to prove himself.

He kept trying to dribble through Basel’s midfield line, repeatedly losing possession and inviting dangerous counterattacks.

Mourinho understood the psychological pressure Oscar was under, but that didn’t mean he had to like it.

Oscar’s behavior directly undermined the team’s tactical structure.

He didn’t need to be subbed off just yet, but Mourinho made sure to let him know—loud and clear—what he thought of it.

After nearly twenty reckless minutes, Oscar heard the manager’s angry barks from the sideline and snapped out of it. He sheepishly stopped freelancing and handed distribution duties back to van Ginkel and Essien.

But on the bench, Li Ang’s frown hadn’t relaxed.

His eyes were fixed on two players from Basel.

One was a short, curly-haired winger.

The other—a medium-height goalkeeper calmly surveying Chelsea’s attacks.

Just six minutes later, that Basel goalkeeper produced a stunning save, denying Torres from close range with lightning-quick reflexes.

And when the short winger suddenly burst forward, Li Ang’s instincts screamed danger.

”Salah’s off! Blazing speed! Voser sends the long ball—whoa! Beautiful feint! Salah beats Essien... he cuts inside! Shoots—!!!”

Even the Sky Sports commentator couldn’t contain his excitement as Mohamed Salah pulled off a dazzling solo effort.

His curling left-footed strike left Petr Čech rooted, as the ball curled neatly into the top corner.

Stamford Bridge fell into stunned silence.

In broadcast rooms across Europe, commentators erupted in breathless, celebratory voices, not even pausing for air.

Mourinho lost it. He hurled his water bottle and stormed back to the bench, muttering curses under his breath.

A Swiss Super League team had just scored the opening goal at Stamford Bridge, and worse, Chelsea looked powerless to respond.

Mourinho let out a few bitter chuckles.

Then, half a minute later, Li Ang stood up.

He pulled off his training bib and nodded along as Mourinho gave him rapid-fire instructions.

The fans knew exactly what that meant.

Chelsea was in danger.

Time to send in the Little Lion to rescue the game.

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