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Chapter 208 Seeing is Believing
When Wang Lie headed the ball between Dušan Ratkovic and Francisco Ferreira, Kevin Zimmer was right behind them. Wang Lie blocked his view, so he didn't see exactly how Wang Lie did it.

It looked as if Wang Lie had performed some kind of magic trick, as Ferreira jumped toward his teammate Latkovic, knocking him to the ground and completely freeing Wang Lie from his "shackles".

The rest is a foregone conclusion.

Wang Lie ran into the penalty area, chasing the ball with unbridled abandon, and faced goalkeeper Dai Ye, who was halfway out of bounds... Such an opportunity was simply too easy for this current top scorer among active football players.

As he watched the football roll into the goal, he helplessly spread his hands – it seemed that the trouble Wang had caused him was no small matter!
"king--!!!"

On the live commentary booth, commentator Connor Cowley strained his lungs, exhaling all the air from his chest.

He wasn't shouting so loudly to drown out the cheers from the crowd.

The cheers from the visiting Tyne fans were not loud enough to drown out his commentary.

He was just excited.

"Wang!! Wang!!! What a magnificent goal! What a magnificent goal! Ladies and gentlemen! Can you imagine? This goal was scored by a 38-year-old veteran?! For any other player, this would be an unbelievable miracle, but when it happens to Wang, it seems less incredible than it seems!"

Connor Cowley was so excited that he didn't know what he was saying, and his words were incoherent.

But it doesn't matter, at this moment, not many people care what he's saying.

Clayton Sports fans were silent, while Tyne fans and Wang Lie fans were cheering.

"Fuck me..."

"what--"

When Shi Gaojun and his son Shi Bo saw Wang Lie pass the ball between two Clayton Athletic defenders, they couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

Fortunately, they were still clear-headed and realized they shouldn't make a sound.

So the two of them simultaneously covered their mouths and stared wide-eyed as they watched the entire process of Wang Lie's goal.

Then he forced a low cheer through his clenched teeth.

They were trying to suppress their noise, while the commentator Luo Jin on the television was letting loose his emotions:

"Wang Lie!! Wang Lie! It has to be Wang Lie! We have to watch Wang Lie! That goal was absolutely gorgeous! He single-handedly took on almost the entire Clayton Athletic defense! Top defenders were all falling over behind him! England's number one goalkeeper had no chance against his shot! A complete breakdown, a straight through!!"

Fortunately, both of them chose the StarFlash wireless earphones while watching the live stream, so there was no need to worry about Luo Jin's excited shouts waking up the sleeping person...

※※※

After completing the pass, Pisano stood still and looked ahead. He didn't go up to continue the attack because, given his speed, it was impossible for him to catch up with the ball.

He was also curious to see how the man who said "pass me the ball" would keep his promise.

He noticed Vitini and Ribeiro's forward runs, so he figured Wang Lie should try to control the ball in the attacking third, while drawing the Clayton Athletic defenders away, and then pass the ball to Vitini or Ribeiro who had made it into space.

In this offensive strategy, Wang Lie had to transform himself into a center forward, serving as a temporary offensive bridgehead.

Pisano envisioned this attack to proceed as planned.

What did he see?
He saw Wang Lie, like a god descending to earth, single-handedly taking on half of Clayton Athletic's defense!

From his distance, he couldn't see the details clearly, but he did see Wang Lie seemingly "penetrating" through the double-team of two Clayton Athletic center-backs, without knowing exactly how he did it...

At that point, Vitini was already almost at the free-throw line.

Seeing Wang Lie suddenly rush over, he quickly stopped, afraid of colliding with his idol—but in fact they were still about ten meters apart.

In the end, neither Vitini nor Ribeiro, who had sprinted dozens of meters, could help their idol. They could only watch helplessly as Wang Lie single-handedly broke through the defenses and scored the goal.

However, their trip wasn't in vain, because they were able to celebrate Wang Lie's goal with him immediately!
As Vitini and Ribeiro lunged at Wang Lie, Pisano also felt himself being bumped into and then hugged.

Lenny Isara's broken English rang in his ears: "Wow!! Wow!! We scored!! King! King is just... amazing!!"

Pisano had the same thought in mind, but he was too embarrassed to say it out loud—as a former world top three midfield maestro, Renzo Pisano had a bit of an "idol image to maintain."

Wang is truly amazing! How did he even manage that shot?!

Isara clearly had no inhibitions; he first praised Wang Lie, then Pisano.
"Your long pass was absolutely accurate! Congratulations, Lonzo! You've scored your first assist in Tyne!"

Pisano was reminded and then realized:

Yes, that's my first official game assist in my career.

As a former FC Madrid player, he truly never imagined that this milestone statistic would be achieved through a connection with Wang Lie...

But to be honest, the feeling of passing the ball to Wang Lie and providing assists... was pretty good!

With just that one long pass, he got an assist!
Once he recovered, Pisano didn't forget to thank Isala: "That's all thanks to your earlier interception, Lenny. You completely saw through their passing intentions! You were the one who initiated this goal!"

Isara grinned, revealing a set of bright white teeth.

Then the two of them ran side by side to the front of the field to greet Wang Lie and his group.

Wang Lie did not celebrate after scoring the goal.

As Vitini and Ribeiro ran toward him, he had already dashed into Clayton Athletic's goal, picked up the ball he had kicked into the net, and then ran back with it in his arms.

He encountered Vitini and Ribeiro on the way to celebrate, and he simply raised his hand to give them a high-five as a form of celebration.

Then he ran back to his own half with the two of them.

Ribeiro, standing nearby, kept excitedly shouting, "That was an amazing goal! Incredible! You beat them all by yourself!!"

Wang Lie had to remind him, "Not yet, the competition isn't over yet, Miguel. Don't get too excited!"

Ribeiro, having received Wang Lie's advice, quickly promised, "Don't worry, Wang! I will give it my all in the upcoming matches!"

Wang Lie patted his head, giving him positive feedback—commonly known as "praise."

When he patted Ribeiro's head, Ribeiro hunched his neck, squinted his eyes, and looked like he was really enjoying it.

Vitini, on the other side, saw him like this and just scoffed inwardly without saying anything.

Anderson always encourages me to compete with the new signings for attention...

What is there to argue about?
He and Wang Lie fought side by side and helped the team qualify for the Champions League. Their relationship doesn't need to be expressed in such a mushy and explicit way.

He believed that Wang Lie would understand.

He was Wang Lie's loyal wingman. As a wingman, he didn't need to say anything; he just needed to stay by Wang Lie's side and provide support and assistance when needed.

Halfway there, the three of them encountered their teammates who had come up to celebrate with them.

Although Wang Lie didn't celebrate, he did score a goal, so it wouldn't be unreasonable for him to come up and give him a hug and a high-five.

Wang Lie showed extra enthusiasm towards Pisano, after all, it was Pisano who had passed him the ball. He smiled and gave the Argentine midfield maestro a thumbs up:
"Well done, perfectly timed!"

Pisano wasn't surprised by Wang Lie's praise; he was more curious about something else: "How did you get past those two center-backs?"

"I headbutted the ball..." Wang Lie patted his forehead.

Pisano nodded in sudden realization.

To risk being shot in the head by the opponent in order to score a goal, that certainly fits his impression of Wang Lie.

Because he had heard his Madrid FC teammates tell him more than once about how Wang Lie had collided with the goalpost while trying to score a goal.

That was the season before he joined FC Madrid.

In the 2029-2030 season, Wang Lie's Sofia United and FC Madrid will meet in the Champions League semi-finals.

In the first leg, FC Madrid defeated Sofia United 3-0 at home. At the time, all of Europe believed that FC Madrid had already secured a place in the Champions League final, and everyone hoped to see the first-ever "El Clásico" in the Champions League final.

As for Wang Lie's desire to take revenge on his former employer, he'll have to wait until next time.

But back at Sofia United's home ground, Wang Lie scored a hat-trick, helping Sofia United tie the aggregate score at 3-3 and successfully dragging the game into extra time.

The two sides remained tied after extra time, and the only way to determine the winner was through a penalty shootout.

Sofia United converted all five of their penalties in the shootout to eliminate FC Madrid and advance to the final.

Wang Lie's third goal in that match was scored in the 88th minute.

The match ended with nearly fifteen minutes of stoppage time. Apart from five minutes of what was considered normal stoppage time, the remaining ten minutes were all devoted to Wang Lie's emergency treatment after scoring a goal.

He was trying to get the ball at the far post, and he risked his life to head it.

Although he headed the ball into the goal, he was also violently knocked against the far post by Madrid FC's right-back, Enoch Martinez.

He crashed in sideways, and his most vulnerable side was hit squarely by the goalpost...

In the later slow-motion replay, Wang Lie looks like a steel plate, blocked by the goalpost, bent and deformed to a certain limit before suddenly rebounding.

The stadium erupted in cheers, but the hero of the Sofia United fans did not get up to celebrate the goal; instead, he lay curled up on the ground, motionless.

Martinez stood nearby, stunned and frozen by what he had just witnessed—he thought Wang Lie's back was broken...

Although he didn't do it on purpose, he was only doing it for defense, and besides, his attention was entirely on the ball, so he didn't notice Wang Lie rushing in from the side.

Regardless of whether he did it intentionally or not, if Wang Lie really broke his back when he bumped into him... then accidental homicide is also a crime!

The Sofia players were also quite frightened. They didn't even bother to cause trouble for Martinez. Some of them ran straight to the coaching bench, signaling for the team doctor to come onto the field immediately.

Others repeatedly made the sign of the cross on their chests, praying to God for Wang Lie.

Not only on the field, but also among the fans and commentators in the stands, chaos reigned.

The scene is very confusing.

Ambulances even drove onto the stadium.

Fortunately, Wang Lie regained consciousness a few minutes after falling into a coma. Based on his own account and the doctor's examination, no lumbar spine fracture was found.

However, just to be on the safe side, then-Sorford United manager Yannas Biermann substituted Wang Lie.

Wang Lie's fearless hat-trick performance greatly inspired the Sofia players.

They not only held on to win the game into extra time, but also managed to hold onto the draw in extra time, and then went on to win the penalty shootout, eliminating Madrid FC with overwhelming force.

After the match, Wang Lie updated his personal social media, posting a picture of his side, where he had "close contact" with the goalpost, which was a purplish-red color and looked shocking and frightening.

But his caption was:

"The price of a hat-trick. But it was worth it! Congratulations to us! Sofia United are here for the Champions League final!"

This incident was very famous at the time, and it made headlines in European football for a week straight.

Pisano knew this even before he joined FC Madrid, but at the time he only had an outsider's perspective.

It was only after he joined FC Madrid that he heard many details of the story from his teammates, including Enoch Martinez.

Martinez experienced psychological problems as a result of this incident and had to seek intervention from a professional psychologist.

Compared to Wang Lie, who was still posting on social media and laughing and joking after his injury, it seemed as if he was the one who almost broke his back...

The reason I heard this story several times in the Madrid FC locker room is that even the Madrid FC players who disliked Wang Lie had to admire his fighting spirit and iron will in this matter.

They disliked Wang Lie, but that didn't stop them from genuinely admiring his strength and toughness.

So Pisano knew back then that Wang Lie was very disliked by his Madrid FC teammates, but Wang Lie was also a very strong person.

Compared to the goal that nearly broke his back, this one that almost resulted in a head injury doesn't seem so scary, since he wasn't actually kicked in the temple by Ferreira...

Wang Lie didn't care that he almost got his head blown off. After saying it casually, he stretched out the hand that wasn't holding the football to Pisano: "Come on, Renzo, give me a high five. That pass was really beautiful!"

Pisano patted his outstretched palm.

After giving the high-five, Wang Lie, holding the soccer ball, took the lead and ran towards the center circle.

Pisano fell behind, and Maje Katic ran over to him and gave him a thumbs up: "Tyne's first assist of his career! Truly a 'golden partner' for the King, ha! Beautiful pass, Renzo!"

"I only assisted him on one goal, how did that make us 'golden partners'?" Renzo Pisano retorted.

Matic laughed and said, "It's alright, it's alright, this is just the beginning. You'll definitely have many collaborations in the future."

After saying that, he shook his head and ran away, and you could tell from his back that he was quite happy.

※※※

Wang Lie placed the ball in the center circle, then stepped back and stood on the center circle line, waiting for the Clayton Athletic players to kick off.

Pisano, on the other hand, retreated even further back.

He stood behind Wang Lie, watching the back of this number 99.

Unexpectedly, his first assist to Tyne was a pass to Wang, the "enemy of Madrid".

Pisano recalled that during halftime, Wang Lie had everyone pass the ball to him, and it turned out that passing it to him actually resulted in a goal.

This experience is truly amazing.

This was a first for him in his professional career.

Arthur Eloun was his teammate at FC Madrid.

Furthermore, Arthur is also a striker who excels at scoring goals; among active players, his goal tally is second only to Wang Lie.

Even Arthur wouldn't say something like, "Pass me the ball, and I'll score a goal for you."

First of all, Arthur is not that kind of person.

Secondly, Arthur probably doesn't have that ability either...

He had never worked with a player like Wang Lie before. From their first meeting in the team gym until now, every day felt fresh and exciting.

He found it very interesting to compare the various comments and discussions about this man that everyone had made in the FC Madrid locker room back then with what he was seeing now.

Wang Lie is still the same Wang Lie, but because of his different identity, he is perceived in a completely different way.

He suddenly understood why Katic, after only being teammates with Wang Lie for half a season, was willing to call him and act as a persuader for his "grand ambitions".

When he said "Pass me the ball," and then actually scored a goal.

I have to say, this man really has a lot of personal charm...

Although Tyne is playing away and is down to ten men, they are still trailing.

But if it's this man, perhaps he really could do it?
He stared at Wang Lie's retreating figure.

He had heard far too many bad things about this man in the past. They said he was a bastard who would do anything to win; a lone wolf without friends or companions; arrogant and pretentious; a troublemaker who annoyed everyone wherever he went...

Now he wanted to see for himself the other side of this man behind those unsavory rumors, the story he had never heard before.

seeing is believing.

(End of this chapter)