Chapter 134: Succession

"We still have time! Don't give up!" Just as Dai Zhiwei was feeling a bit discouraged, Villarreal's soul, Bruno, quickly retrieved the ball from the goal and shouted to each of his teammates.

"There's still over ten minutes left, one goal is enough!" Bruno yelled at his teammates standing in the penalty area.

When Bruno walked past Dai Zhiwei, he gave him a deliberate tap. "Dai, get ready to restart play!"

Dai Zhiwei looked at Bruno. For some reason, in that moment, the scene from the anime *Slam Dunk* flashed before his eyes—the moment Coach Anzai persuaded Mitsui Hisashi not to give up during the junior high school finals at Takeishi Middle School.

"As long as the match isn't over, don't give up!" Dai Zhiwei feigned indifference, curling his lip as he replied, "Captain, I love a last-minute winner more than anyone. How could I possibly give up?"

The match resumed with Villarreal kicking off from the center circle again. Playing away, they began a frantic counterattack, but things did not go as the Yellow Submarine had envisioned. Instead, spurred on by the home crowd, Barcelona's players performed better and better, seemingly on the verge of piercing the Yellow Submarine's goal again, which had been left vulnerable by their all-out attack.

In the 79th minute, Suarez sent a through ball to Turan on the left side of the penalty area. It was another mistake by Gaspar, who attempted a sliding interception but instead sent the ball straight to his former teammate Denis Suarez. Fortunately, Suarez was unprepared for this sudden gift, and his subsequent shot was heroically saved by Asenjo with one hand.

Two minutes later, Barcelona nearly sealed the victory. It was another through ball from Suarez; Neymar dribbled his way to the edge of the center of the penalty area. While Musacchio was still focused on the defense inside, Neymar suddenly unleashed a cold strike!

Fortunately, Neymar lacked luck with his finishing lately; he didn't quite get over the ball, and the shot ended up sailing just over the top-right corner of the goal. However, it was enough to break the Yellow Submarine into a cold sweat!

Villarreal's attack fell into a predicament. Even Dai Zhiwei could not break through Barcelona's entire defense alone, whereas Barcelona's counterattacks were thriving on the individual brilliance of their stars.

As the match approached stoppage time, Escribá could no longer sit still. Standing on the sideline, he tried to shove his hands into his coat pockets, but failed to complete the simple action several times in a row.

This nervous reaction was caught by the slow-motion cameras, and the home fans at the Camp Nou erupted in laughter!

Before the laughter of the Barcelona fans had died down, Messi fell while dribbling past Musacchio at the edge of the penalty area. Amidst the anxious hearts of Villarreal fans and the expectations of the Barcelona faithful, the referee did not blow the whistle.

Truth be told, Messi is somewhat of an anomaly at Barcelona; he dislikes diving, and the penalties he draws are almost always legitimate calls, with only rare exceptions relying on referee errors.

Amidst the jeers ringing out at the Camp Nou, Musacchio launched a long ball directly from the backfield toward the front.

Musacchio's long pass traveled a full 50 meters, and most players on the field did not react immediately to this sudden change in possession, giving Trigueros, who received the ball, an opportunity.

Taking advantage of the gap before Turan could press him, Trigueros sent a precise through ball to Dai Zhiwei at the edge of the penalty area.

In truth, even Dai Zhiwei hadn't reacted to Musacchio's long ball at first. It wasn't until Trigueros gained possession that he started his run, starting less than half a second earlier than Pique, who was marking him closely.

But that short instant was enough, as it was the space he created that allowed him to cleanly receive Trigueros's through ball.

Standing firmly at the top of the penalty arc in front of Dai Zhiwei was Mascherano. In their previous encounters, although Dai Zhiwei had scored a goal, the two had been evenly matched for the rest of the game.

Dai Zhiwei flicked the ball, looking to break through on Mascherano’s left, but the Argentine defender reacted quickly and stepped up, forcing him to dribble to the left and narrowing his shooting angle.

"Do you think the left is still my weakness?" Dai Zhiwei smiled, instantly accelerating with the ball on his left foot and performing a right-angle feint.

"What?" Mascherano was slightly stunned and was successfully bypassed by Dai Zhiwei.

In Dai Zhiwei's view, this was a one-on-one duel with Mascherano, but he had neglected Pique, who was in hot pursuit. Just as he shimmied past Mascherano a step outside the penalty area and prepared to shoot, Pique arrived in time.

Pique had no intention of letting Dai Zhiwei get that shot off without a cost, so he shoved Dai Zhiwei with his hand just as he was about to strike.

Caught off guard, Dai Zhiwei naturally fell to the ground.

"Beep!" The referee's whistle blew the moment Dai Zhiwei was brought down by Pique!

As he fell, Dai Zhiwei added a forward momentum to his tumble, and it was this forward thrust that allowed him to land inside the penalty area, where he could appeal to the referee for a penalty kick.

But would the referee grant Villarreal their wish?

A penalty?

All hundred thousand pairs of eyes at the Camp Nou were fixed on the referee, who had once again become the focal point of the match.

Dai Zhiwei knew that it was very difficult for visiting teams to get a penalty at the Camp Nou in La Liga, especially in the final moments of the game, as referees were very cautious about calls that could directly decide the outcome.

The referee first gave Pique a yellow card, which became his second, resulting in a red card and his expulsion from the match.

Immediately, under the gaze of over a hundred thousand people on-site and tens of millions in front of television screens, the referee did not point to the penalty spot as Dai Zhiwei had hoped, but instead pointed to the edge of the penalty area.

Referee Undiano Mallenco awarded Villarreal a free kick just outside the box. The Villarreal players were quite dissatisfied, believing the foul occurred inside the area and that Dai Zhiwei had already set up a shot.

However, the referee insisted it was only a free kick, not believing it to be a foul inside the box. Villarreal fans insisted the referee had made a mistake and that it should have been a penalty.

Barcelona fans, however, felt that a free kick at the edge of the box was already the maximum punishment and that such a call was barely acceptable.

Dai Zhiwei was neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with the referee's decision; after all, he knew he was likely a step away from entering the penalty area. However, sending off Pique was justified, as he had reached his scoring position and had a high probability of scoring from there.

Villarreal had won a free kick in an awkward position—just outside the penalty area and slightly to the left. If they shot directly, the ball would likely hit the wall or go over the bar, but if they passed, it was a bit too close.

In this position, the Villarreal players with the best free-kick ability were Trigueros and Dai Zhiwei. The two stood at the spot, covering their mouths and whispering to each other.

Inside the box, the Barcelona players were nervously setting up the wall. Of course, the Villarreal players were still restless, causing minor trouble in the box; they didn't expect to completely suppress the Barcelona players, but they needed to at least occupy some favorable positions.

Regarding the minor jostling between the players in the box, Mallenco, as the referee, turned a blind eye; as long as the actions weren't too excessive, he generally wouldn't intervene.

"Beep!"

Mallenco blew his whistle, and Dai Zhiwei and Trigueros rushed toward the ball one after the other.

Dai Zhiwei!

Just as everyone thought Dai Zhiwei would take the free kick, he feinted and jumped over the ball, while Trigueros, lurking behind him, struck the ball.

A shot?

No, Trigueros gave the ball a gentle push, rolling it into the path of Dai Zhiwei, who was running forward and to the left.

It was a tactical free kick!

As he ran to the left, Dai Zhiwei had opened up a shooting angle, and at the same time, Trigueros's pass rolled perfectly into place.

Why hesitate?

Dai Zhiwei drew back his leg and blasted the ball with his left foot!

"Bang!"

The ball streaked past the outside of the wall like a white arrow, heading straight for the top-left corner of the goal!

Barcelona goalkeeper Ter Stegen was highly focused; he hadn't been fooled by the tactical free kick and didn't rush to make a move.

Therefore, Ter Stegen waited for his chance, leaping high and punching the ball hard with both fists.

"Bang!" The ball was not saved by Ter Stegen, nor did it fly directly into the net, but instead smashed viciously against the goalpost.

However, just as Ter Stegen was ecstatic, he felt something hit the back of his head.

"What was that?" Ter Stegen felt a bit dizzy from the impact. As he lay on the grass and looked back, he saw the ball lying quietly behind the goal line.

"What happened?"

A moment ago, Dai Zhiwei was regretting his header being blocked by the post, but the next moment he was lying in front of the goal, staring at the ball in the net in a daze: "Damn! It went in?"

But before Dai Zhiwei could think any further, he was pinned down by his ecstatic teammates.

Even the numerous commentators were stunned for a moment before they began to shout: "Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooal!"

At this time, the big screen began to replay the goal. Dai Zhiwei's shot had hit the post and rebounded, but then the incredibly unfortunate Ter Stegen appeared.

In the slow-motion replay, the rebounding ball hit the back of Ter Stegen's head while he was still in mid-air, instantly changing its trajectory, bouncing back, and crossing the goal line.

Thanks to Ter Stegen's incredibly unfortunate own goal, Villarreal equalized in the 88th minute!

2:2!

This unexpected joy brought the morale of the entire Villarreal team to its peak. They could be caught off guard by their opponents at the start, or fall behind again after equalizing, but nothing could stop Villarreal from scoring, because God was on the side of the Yellow Submarine!

Barcelona coach Luis Enrique was suddenly furious. Having been on the verge of taking all three points, he never expected his own goalkeeper to score an own goal, causing all their efforts to go to waste!

Enrique walked off the coaching bench, not knowing who to blame, and could only roar aimlessly at the players on the field!

Enrique was clearly not satisfied with only getting one point at home, but all three substitutions had been used, and there wasn't much time left. Even with stoppage time, at most two minutes remained—what could Barcelona do?

Moreover, after Pique was sent off with a red card, they were now playing with ten men.

After the restart from the center circle, Barcelona continued to increase their pressure amidst Enrique's roaring. Villarreal's defense was under sufficient pressure, but fortunately, the remaining time was short, and they managed to hold on for a draw through team-wide defensive effort.

When the referee blew the final whistle, Dai Zhiwei felt good as he high-fived and hugged several Villarreal players, celebrating the hard-won draw and rejoicing in the team's ability to maintain its position in the top four of the standings.

Just as he was about to walk toward the player tunnel after celebrating with his teammates, a calm-looking Messi walked up to Dai Zhiwei and initiated a greeting: "Hi! Dai, your performance today was very good, but you won't be so lucky next time."

"Next time you come to the El Madrigal, I won't be satisfied with a draw!"

Dai Zhiwei and Messi had a mutual appreciation for each other in this match. After their brief conversation, they even exchanged jerseys—a scene that became one of the most precious moments of the match.

Years later, this moment was called by many the passing of the torch between kings of football.

From this day on, the old king would gradually fade, and the new king was about to ascend the throne!

As he walked into the player tunnel with joy on his face, Dai Zhiwei—to avoid any fake news that he was about to transfer to Barcelona—deliberately changed the way he held Messi's jersey from over his shoulder to his hand. However, he was soon completely baffled by a question from a domestic reporter—

"Dai Zhiwei, may I ask what your thoughts are on Lippi replacing Perrin as the head coach of the Chinese national team?"

"What?" He was truly stunned, waving his hands repeatedly to signal the other reporters not to ask questions for a moment.

Many Spanish reporters on the scene, upon hearing the news that "Lippi is the head coach of the Chinese team," also suddenly quieted down, extremely curious about the news.

After all, to the Spanish football world, the Chinese team was a third-tier power in world football, but Lippi was a top-tier manager with a world-renowned reputation.

The domestic reporter explained his question: "Just three hours before your match with Barcelona, the Chinese Football Association announced the dismissal of Perrin and that Lippi would serve as the head coach of the Chinese team, leading the team in the World Cup qualifiers and the subsequent World Cup. What are your thoughts?"