Chapter 167: Equalizing is Something I'm Familiar With

For many in the Manchester United squad, the UEFA Super Cup was a completely unfamiliar territory, but Dai Zhiqiang was exceedingly familiar with it, especially with Real Madrid being the opponent. In the previous season's UEFA Super Cup, it was precisely he who led Villarreal to overthrow the careless Galacticos, claiming the Yellow Submarine's only championship trophy of the past campaign.

This year's UEFA Super Cup was held in Macedonia for the first time. This match marked the 11th historical encounter between the two sides. In the previous 10 matches, Real Madrid held the upper hand with 4 wins, 4 draws, and 2 losses, scoring 20 goals and conceding 16.

Historically, Real Madrid had made 5 appearances in the UEFA Super Cup, securing 3 wins and 2 losses. Manchester United had participated 3 times with 1 win and 2 losses, their sole triumph coming in 1991.

Jose Mourinho became the first manager in history to lead three different teams in the UEFA Super Cup, though he had lost his previous two appearances—with Porto in 2003 and Chelsea in 2013.

On Real Madrid's side, Gareth Bale partnered with Karim Benzema in the attack, while Cristiano Ronaldo, who had recently returned to the squad, started on the bench. Luka Modric, Isco, and Toni Kroos anchored the midfield.

As for Manchester United, naturally, it was Dai Zhiwei—who had scored in every single pre-season friendly—leading the charge, with fellow new signings Nemanja Matic and Victor Lindelof also starting.

The two team captains met for the coin toss. Sergio Ramos won the toss and elected to kick off first. With the referee's whistle, Dai Zhiwei's first official match after joining Manchester United officially got underway.

Benzema pushed the ball to Isco, who sent a diagonal pass to Bale before both ran into the attacking half.

Just as Bale wanted to carry the ball forward for a few paces, a Manchester United defensive player rushed over urgently. Unwilling to become entangled with him, Bale squared a pass to the midfield maestro of the current Galacticos, Luka Modric.

During the opening 10 minutes, both sides played in a rather friendly manner. No matter how much hype was built around the UEFA Super Cup, from the perspective of the football giants, it was merely a friendly with slightly higher significance, barely more important than the English Community Shield.

The star players of both teams showcased their abilities to the fullest, making the match quite entertaining to watch.

However, the cordial opening lasted for only 10 minutes. Once Mourinho signaled that no further probing was necessary, the challenges on the pitch intensified. This was no longer the time to exchange polite pleasantries.

In the 22nd minute of the first half, Paul Pogba had just received a pass from Ander Herrera. Before he could accelerate, Casemiro rushed to his side like a gust of wind, opening his arms with his eyes fixed on Pogba's ankles.

Pogba dragged the ball with his left foot, feinting a pass, but the Brazilian defensive midfielder remained completely unfazed.

Shielding the ball, Pogba glanced up to check his teammates' positions, dragged the ball to the left, and then swiftly pulled it back to the right, forcefully squeezing past Casemiro.

Unexpectedly, Casemiro rapidly turned and blocked Pogba's path. The ball bounced off Pogba's foot, while Pogba himself was left behind the Brazilian defensive midfielder.

"Such a coward again!" Dai Zhiwei cursed in the frontcourt. Pogba was indeed an exceptional midfielder, but he tended to dwell on the ball too much. Manchester United's attacking tempo often slowed down right at his feet due to various reasons.

In some respects, Pogba was somewhat reminiscent of the former Argentine midfield maestro Juan Roman Riquelme.

However, Riquelme couldn't play a fast tempo due to his style of play, whereas Pogba simply didn't want to play quickly; he loved keeping the ball at his feet, which was an issue of attitude. The two were completely different.

At the end of the day, it was because the current Manchester United lacked a player capable of keeping Pogba in check. Back at Juventus, both Andrea Pirlo and Gianluigi Buffon could easily keep Pogba in line, and in the French national team, Pogba was even further from being the undisputed talisman.

Casemiro swiftly passed the ball to the oncoming Toni Kroos and turned to run across the pitch alongside Kroos.

Bale, who had sprinted towards Manchester United's defensive third the moment Casemiro successfully intercepted the ball, was now on the verge of entering the opponent's penalty area. Kroos's pass arrived, closely followed by Herrera.

Bale glanced at the positions of Isco and Benzema. Before Herrera could close down to defend, the ball lifted off the turf, heading towards Benzema inside the box.

Benzema positioned himself ahead of Lindelof and brought the ball down first, just as Bale ran up to support.

Herrera closely trailed Bale, who became quite dangerous once inside the box. Benzema shielded the ball, looked at Bale, and prodded the pass outward.

Lindelof hurriedly slid in to block, but unexpectedly, the ball wasn't meant for Bale; instead, it was diagonally passed to the late-arriving Dani Carvajal.

Carvajal met the incoming ball with a touch and a drag, neatly shaking off the chasing Chris Smalling and cutting the ball back into the central area.

At that moment, the high-speed charging Casemiro did not even look at the goal, caught up with the ball, and unleashed a powerful strike.

Although David de Gea had already directed his attention to the late-arriving Casemiro, he was completely helpless against this close-range thunderbolt, watching with wide eyes as the ball, moving like a shell fired from a chamber, rapidly surged into the back of the net.

"Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooal! It's in!" The match commentator, who had been calm for nearly half an hour, finally erupted with excitement.

Real Madrid's fans fanatically gazed at Casemiro as he sprinted towards them, roaring his name at the top of their lungs!

This goal marked Casemiro's 8th strike in his Real Madrid career. His last two goals had come in the Champions League final and the European Super Cup, making him only the 7th player in Real Madrid's history to score in consecutive European competition finals.

The last Brazilian player to score in the UEFA Super Cup for Real Madrid had been Roberto Carlos in 2002.

So far in 2017, Dani Carvajal had contributed 7 assists across all competitions, trailing only Marcelo's 11 assists among La Liga defenders.

In the past 22 instances where a team scored first in the UEFA Super Cup, 17 of them went on to lift the trophy. However, last season Real Madrid had also scored first, only to suffer a dramatic comeback orchestrated by Dai Zhiwei leading Villarreal, slipping the nearly secured championship right through their fingers!

Subsequently, Manchester United mounted a siege during the final 10 minutes of the first half, though the results were less than ideal—

In the 37th minute, Dai Zhiwei controlled the ball outside the box and laid it off horizontally; Pogba's low shot from the left side of the penalty area was blocked by Carvajal.

In the 43nd minute, following a Manchester United corner kick, Dai Zhiwei muscled past his old rival Sergio Ramos to meet the cross with a powerful header. Unfortunately, he lacked a bit in height, and interfered by Ramos, his header was directed too centrally, allowing Keylor Navas to easily collect the ball.

During the halftime break, Mourinho did not emphasize too many tactical details, simply replacing an ineffective Jesse Lingard with Marcus Rashford.

After the start of the second half, both teams played at a rather tepid pace in the opening minutes.

Manchester United took a throw-in on the flank in their own half. Antonio Valencia hurled the ball into play, and Matic gained possession immediately. After surveying the attacking third, he suddenly launched a powerful, long-range pass.

Too high?

From the television broadcast angle, Matic's long pass appeared to have been struck with too much power and elevation, almost as if it were going to land directly into the opposing defender's arms.

However, the scene witnessed by the fans in the stadium was entirely different—Dai Zhiwei burst into a sprint, leaped high into the air, and steadily cushioned the football down with his forehead.

The vertical distance between Dai Zhiwei's jumping feet and the ground was at least 1.2 meters. Combined with his height, it meant he could practically reach a regulation basketball hoop with his forehead!

"My goodness!"

Yet this pleasant surprise was only the beginning. From this moment on, Dai Zhiwei was about to unleash a storm for the Red Devils!

After bringing the ball down, Dai Zhiwei chose not to pass, instead carrying the ball directly toward Real Madrid's goal.

As Real Madrid's two midfield stalwarts, Modric and Kroos, rushed over to close him down, Dai Zhiwei poked the ball forward a fraction of a second earlier, and then forcefully barged right through the remaining gap between the two!

Yes, he barged through with sheer, unadulterated violence. Modric even attempted to use his arm to block Dai Zhiwei's breakthrough, only to be easily brushed aside and sent tumbling to the ground, sliding a long, long way.

If Casemiro had been there, Dai Zhiwei might have hesitated slightly, but against just Modric and Kroos, he wasn't intimidated in the least!

Easily bypassing the two defenders, Dai Zhiwei continued to drive the ball toward the penalty area.

Real Madrid's center-back pairing of Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane dared not repeat their teammates' mistake; they cautiously closed in on Dai Zhiwei, cutting off his passing lanes.

Unlike the Manchester United players, who had only witnessed Dai Zhiwei's brilliance through news reports and video footage, Ramos and Varane—La Liga's premier central defensive partnership—had been tormented by Dai Zhiwei in matches far too many times and acutely understood his terrifying capabilities!

Pass the ball?

In Dai Zhiwei's view, neither of his two teammates was guaranteed to convert a shot, which would simply waste an attacking opportunity.

If he chipped an aerial ball, Rashford's current positioning clearly lacked an advantage, and Henrikh Mkhitaryan's finishing wasn't particularly reliable.

Under such circumstances, what would Dai Zhiwei—labeled a "lone wolf" by his detractors—do?

Without a doubt, it was going to be a blistering, explosive shot!

Dai Zhiwei planted his right foot firmly into the turf, gently nudged the ball with his left foot, and followed through with a heavy artillery blast.

The football instantly dragged a streak of mist behind it as it flew toward the goal!

Real Madrid's goalkeeper Keylor Navas saw a blur before his eyes as the football pierced the air with a faint whistling sound, roaring into the back of the net!

Navas, standing in front of the goal, had zero reaction to this sudden, ferocious strike; he hadn't even managed the motion of raising his hands.

"Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooa!" The English Sky Sports commentator for the match screamed with fierce passion: "Dai Zhiwei's shot! This is Dai Zhiwei's first official match after joining Manchester United, and now it's the 68th minute of the second half. Dai Zhiwei easily shook off Real Madrid's defense and struck a shot from the edge of the box. This ferocious effort left Real Madrid's goalkeeper Navas with no time to react whatsoever! With Dai Zhiwei, Manchester United possesses a cannon loaded with shells. Manchester United this season is going to become even more terrifying!"

Real Madrid goalkeeper Navas angrily shook the sweat from his head, walked into the goal to retrieve the ball, and fiercely booted it upfield toward the midfield.

Even so, the guys who had clashed with Dai Zhiwei numerous times still harbered a shred of glee: this demon had finally joined Manchester United to go wreak havoc on Premier League backlines instead!

By this time, Dai Zhiwei had already sprinted to the touchline, standing in front of the Manchester United supporters' stand. Pointing at the fans, he performed his signature gun-blowing celebration while gesturing for the crowd's cheers to grow louder. Facing the player they adored so dearly, the fans naturally did not hold back their applause and adulation.

The traveling Manchester United supporters roared in wild excitement, a noise level easily rivaling the celebration of Real Madrid fans when Casemiro opened the scoring, and perhaps even more passionate, fiery, and surging!

Yet, this was Dai Zhiwei. Invincible in Spain, and upon arriving in England, he remained completely unstoppable!

Of course, it still required the test of time, seeing as he hadn't truly faced Premier League sides yet.

However, his consecutive hat-tricks against Manchester City last season had reduced skepticism regarding his abilities to an absolute minimum!

The two sides returned to the same starting line. After the match resumed, the challenges became intensely fierce. Although the UEFA Super Cup wasn't as prestigious as other finals, at this juncture, neither team was willing to throw away the trophy.

Mourinho made the first move, replacing Herrera with his trusted confidant Marouane Fellaini to increase the midfield's defensive solidity.

Zinedine Zidane, on the other hand, substituted Isco and Gareth Bale with future stars Marco Asensio and Lucas Vazquez to inject fresh vitality into the team's attack.

In the 76th minute, Dai Zhiwei delivered a cross from the right flank. Fellaini met it with a powerful header that flew over the bar, colliding with Ramos in the process as both crashed to the ground. Team medics rushed onto the pitch to treat the players; Fellaini suffered a bleeding head wound and had to receive on-field bandaging.

In the 81st minute, Mkhitaryan played a through ball. After Dai Zhiwei drew away Ramos, Rashford fired a low shot from the left side of the box against Navas, who managed to parry it wide of the post.

Two minutes later, an unsettled Zidane could no longer maintain his "Zen-like" composure, substituting Benzema with Cristiano Ronaldo.

"You're finally on," Dai Zhiwei declared, throwing down a challenge as he crossed paths with Ronaldo. "If you hadn't come on, even if I won, there would have been a hint of regret. Now, let's settle this fair and square!"

Hearing this, Ronaldo stared intently at Dai Zhiwei for several seconds. Once upon a time, he had merely viewed Dai Zhiwei as an outstanding rising star, but within the span of a single year, his opponent had transformed into one of his greatest rivals—widely acknowledged by the outside world as the prime candidate to break his and Lionel Messi's duopoly over football. Moreover, his opponent was younger than him by a full nine years—on the football pitch, that represented a generational gap.

From a once-admired junior to a formidable, aggressive competitor, Ronaldo felt a boundless sense of threat.

Yet, would he ever be afraid?

"Bring it on!" Ronaldo retorted.

"Couldn't ask for better!" Dai Zhiwei responded with a thumbs-up.

Following Ronaldo's introduction, Dai Zhiwei grew exceptionally energetic, running tirelessly all over the pitch. Casemiro, who had originally been assigned by Zidane to man-mark Dai Zhiwei, began to lose his bearings. Zidane, who typically preferred to impose his own tactical philosophy, never expected Mourinho to deploy Dai Zhiwei in a role closely resembling a free roaming forward.

An untethered Dai Zhiwei was simply impossible to contain through conventional methods!

With a gloomy expression, Zidane cast a glance across the pitch at Mourinho, cursing internally, "This match is going to be a nightmare to win!"