Chapter 2126 - 549: Money Talks
Wenger was cursing out half the countries on earth in his head.
Fuck, he dribbled past four people in a row just to lay on an open-goal assist, a player like this is ridiculous!
They say you never forget your first love because you never got it.
But Wenger felt that the reason he couldn’t get Huang Kaiwen out of his head was far more than that.
Huang Kaiwen was just too damn good!
Before this he’d thought that when Nasri was in stable form, he was top-class.
But compared to Huang Kaiwen, Nasri’s close-control dribbling was simply unwatchable.
The players of both sides went back to the center circle.
As soon as Arsenal kicked off, Huang Kaiwen bolted forward.
When Huang Kaiwen charged out, Inzaghi took off with him.
And Kroos also surged up to press.
Higuain didn’t even dare take an extra touch when he received the ball, just flicked it back with his heel right away.
Chamberlain killed the ball with a touch of his right, and in that split second, Huang Kaiwen was already on top of him.
Chamberlain hurriedly played it sideways to Rosicky.
Inzaghi closed him down fast.
But Rosicky just scooped it with his right, casually using the outside of his boot to clip a precise lofted pass, the ball flying over Inzaghi’s head to find Walcott on the right.
"Beautiful, Rosicky really is a joy to watch."
"Yeah, the ’Mozart of the pitch’. Rosicky’s a hugely talented player, it’s just a pity he gets injured so often. In that sense, Huang Kaiwen is way better, he’s been injured over 110 times, yet always manages to get back on the pitch quickly."
"Right, and the key is, it doesn’t even affect his form."
Walcott took the ball and just hit the accelerator straight ahead.
Having been skinned several times in the first half, Antonini had learned his lesson, constantly jockeying him side-on.
He’d rather let the other guy go down the line than let Walcott get close to the box.
As one of the fastest players in the game, Walcott’s burst was still a good bit stronger than Antonini’s.
He suddenly exploded, shaking Antonini off by more than a body length, then twisted to whip in a cross.
But he wasn’t inside the Big Penalty Area, it was a bit too far out, and his accuracy on the cross dropped quite a bit.
"Mine!"
Buffon picked his moment and charged off his line, leaping high to pluck the ball out of the air with both hands.
Players from both teams spun around and started sprinting.
Buffon took two quick steps, then swung his right arm with the ball brutally overhand.
With a whooshing sound, the ball flew from in front of Milan’s goal all the way to just past the halfway line on the left.
Huang Kaiwen turned his body to shield on the touchline, barely keeping the ball from going out.
Walcott tracked back and stuck a leg in immediately.
Huang Kaiwen was a step quicker, stretching out his right foot to flick the ball over his own head with his back braced against Walcott.
Then he spun and tore forward.
Walcott tried to turn and follow Huang Kaiwen, but his foot slipped and he went down.
Chamberlain had been busting a gut chasing back, but his effort didn’t close the gap between him and Huang Kaiwen at all; the distance between them only grew.
Milan as a whole surged forward like a red dragon, roaring as it crashed into Arsenal’s half.
Antonini was desperately sprinting up alongside.
Even if he couldn’t help Huang Kaiwen directly, he had to at least offer himself as an outlet.
Whether Huang Kaiwen needed him or not was Huang Kaiwen’s business, but as a fullback, providing support behind your winger was his duty.
As the only holding midfielder among the five across the middle, Alex Song didn’t even think about what was happening on the other flanks.
The moment he saw Huang Kaiwen, he was already sprinting hard toward the left.
He was clearly closer to the touchline, but could only watch Huang Kaiwen blaze past in front of him.
Sagna stuck a foot out instantly.
Pa——
Huang Kaiwen tapped the ball forward with his right, the ball rolling out more than a meter.
He himself accelerated and hurdled right over Sagna’s leg.
Koscielny rushed toward the ball, but he was still just a fraction too slow.
Huang Kaiwen took the ball again, pushed it forward, and after only two steps had his stride set; then he used the outside of his right boot to whip at the lower side of the ball.
Pa——
The ball curled with an outrageous arc around Koscielny.
For part of its flight path, it was actually heading rather close to the goal.
But Szczesny didn’t dare commit to a dive.
Because the trajectory was all over the place.
The thing that stuck with him most about how Huang Kaiwen played the ball was the trajectory: Huang Kaiwen’s passes were never just simple horizontal curve or simple vertical drop; they always had both horizontal and vertical movement. You’d judge the spot with your eyes, dive for it, and then the ball would suddenly be somewhere else, even at a different height.
For a keeper, that’s incredibly hard to deal with, so he just stayed with the ball, waiting to react until someone else made contact.
Even if making a close-range save was much harder, it was still better than dealing with this kind of ball in flight.
This time Inzaghi’s run wasn’t that fast, but Huang Kaiwen’s pass was dead on.
The ball dropped perfectly toward the corner of the six-yard box, and Inzaghi, stationed there, simply launched himself forward, a full-stretch diving header smashing the ball viciously into the net.
"Goal!!!"
"GoalGoalGoal!!!"
"Filippo Inzaghi has a brace, and Kevin’s outside-of-the-boot pass sets up a pinpoint assist."
"I once said, if you put me on the pitch as Kevin’s teammate, even I could become top scorer. Turns out I was wrong—stick a wooden post in the box and Kevin could assist it to a hat trick in one game."
"Two goals in a row, both times Kevin gave Inzaghi the perfect setup. I don’t doubt Pippo’s finishing, but with this kind of ball, whether it’s Inzaghi or Buffon standing there doesn’t make much difference."
"When the passer is strong enough, it really doesn’t matter who the striker in front of goal is."
"Who knows, maybe one day if Kevin’s in a good mood, he’ll even bring his girlfriend on and let her score a few."
Lily’s eyes lit up in front of the TV.
For that split second, she really did want to go out there and give it a try.