Chapter 168: Reversals Are Something I'm Much More Familiar With

The heavily overcast sky seemed to press down ever lower. At the fully illuminated Philip II Arena in Skopje, the oppressive storm clouds seemed to trap a surging, turbulent heat, as if threatening to burst right through the heavens.

Vivid swathes of white and red intertwined, casting a dazzling brilliance beneath the glaring floodlights.

Receiving a pass from Ramos, Asensio drove rapidly along the flank toward Manchester United’s half. Like a whirlwind, Matić roared across from the center circle in the blink of an eye, closing down the space.

Faced with Valencia blocking his direct path, Asensio had never expected Matić—who had been a dozen yards away just moments ago—to suddenly materialize right behind him.

Modrić shouted a frantic "Watch out!", but it was already too late. Matić extended a leg from behind, hooked the ball away from Asensio’s feet just as he attempted a move, and immediately launched a booming long pass toward Tai Zhiwei, who had dropped back near the center circle.

Seeing the ball hurtle toward him, Tai Zhiwei let his body sway to let the ball run past, then spun around and tapped it forward, charging straight into Real Madrid's territory.

A wave of bitter frustration washed over Asensio as he scrambled desperately in pursuit.

Modrić had already set off after Tai Zhiwei a step ahead, yet compared to Tai Zhiwei, Modrić’s raw pace was scarcely worth mentioning.

Casemiro quickly shifted to cover the lane, and Ramos charged out to meet the threat. In Real Madrid’s penalty area, only Varane remained as the final line of defense guarding the goalkeeper.

Dribbling at terrifying speed, Tai Zhiwei did not slow down in the slightest upon seeing Casemiro block his path. If anything, his momentum grew even more ferocious, accelerating with each stride.

Casemiro’s eyes narrowed into slits. Seeing that Tai Zhiwei had no intention of easing up, he clenched his teeth and braced himself, rushing forward to intercept.

Modrić had caught up, panting heavily, while Ramos closed in from Casemiro’s flank.

Tai Zhiwei’s gaze swept rapidly around him, taking in every single detail of the surrounding movement with crystal clarity.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the match official not far from Modrić. His teammate Mkhitaryan was sprinting desperately from deep to offer support, while Rashford was the sole figure making a lonely, diagonal run toward the box, though he was closely shadowed by Real Madrid defenders both front and back.

Tai Zhiwei sighed inwardly. If he drove further down the line to cross, it would be extremely difficult for Rashford alone to contest the ball.

Although Mkhitaryan and the others were racing forward frantically, the harsh reality was that Rashford was the only one who could truly aid Tai Zhiwei in this counterattack. To wait any longer would mean other Manchester United players might arrive, but the golden window for the attack would vanish entirely.

Tai Zhiwei continued to shield the ball, his pace dipping ever so slightly. Catching sight of the referee once more, an idea sparked in his mind. He took a few deep breaths, his upper body dipped and swerved in a sudden feint, initiating a penetration move.

Casemiro and the advancing Ramos immediately spread their arms, lowering their centers of gravity as they prepared to halt Tai Zhiwei’s breakthrough, while Modrić and Marcelo converged on him from either side.

In the next fraction of a second, Tai Zhiwei would plunge into the perilous disadvantage of being surrounded by four opponents!

Would he panic?

Others might tremble at the name of Real Madrid, but Tai Zhiwei—who had pierced the defenses of the Galacticos on multiple occasions over the past two years—felt not a shred of fear.

It was somewhat akin to students facing weekly mock exams, growing entirely numb to the pressure. Only the final national entrance exams could make them nervous; ordinary tests were brushed aside without a second thought.

With a sharp pull of the ball using his left foot, Tai Zhiwei immediately brushed it with the outside of his right boot. The ball zipped past the front of Modrić at breakneck speed, while Tai Zhiwei twisted his torso, gliding swiftly past the side of Ramos.

A right-angle turn?

Not quite.

A La Croquetta?

That wasn't it either.

The ball flashed past Modrić with a sharp hiss, colliding with a dull thud against the left shin of the helpless Marcelo, changing direction as it careened into Real Madrid’s penalty box.

Tai Zhiwei’s dribbling maneuver had involved no flashy tricks whatsoever; it relied purely on his supreme mastery of ball control—deceptively simple, yet infinitely difficult to execute.

By then, having slipped past Ramos, Tai Zhiwei had already caught up to the ball. He curved his right foot and forcefully sliced underneath the rolling sphere. The ball snapped upward, springing violently before launching forward through the air at tremendous speed.

The expressions of the four Real Madrid defenders who had been marking Tai Zhiwei shifted drastically. This monster had actually broken through their encirclement under such circumstances!

Having shaken off his markers, Tai Zhiwei unleashed a ferocious, thunderous shot without a moment's hesitation!

Naturally, it was the most devastating cannon in modern football—the Tiger Shot!

Modrić drew in a sharp breath of cold air, he and Ramos turning their heads in unison to track the airborne ball.

Varane’s face darkened in the penalty area as his feet adjusted to the flight of the ball, leaving him no leisure to mind Rashford anymore.

Defying the laws of physics, the ball seemed to gather speed the further it traveled, tearing upward toward the top right corner of the goal.

Keylor Navas felt a jolt of panic. Having no time to reproach his teammates for their lackluster defending, he let out a furious roar and lunged toward the path of the incoming missile.

With a shrill whistle, the ball arrived in the blink of an eye, grazing the very edge of the goalpost as it bulged the net. Navas’s face turned ashen as his body collapsed heavily onto the goal line.

Against this shot, the Costa Rican goalkeeper was truly powerless. Even though he had thrown himself into the dive, a hair’s breadth still separated his fingertips from the ball.

And that tiny distance was the chasm between heaven and hell!

Two to one! Manchester United had successfully turned the score around!

"Gooooooooooooooooooooooooal!" The commentator from Sky Sports in England could finally unleash his roaring passion to the fullest. "Tai Zhiwei scores a brace! Manchester United take the lead, and this strike, coming in the 89th minute of the match, may well be the absolute winner!"

After scoring, Tai Zhiwei sprinted toward the sidelines, performing his signature gun-shooting celebration—only this time, instead of using a single finger as the barrel, he used two.

Before the match could restart, Mourinho substituted the young McTominay for Mkhitaryan in an attempt to drain as much of the remaining clock as possible. Unfortunately, the fourth official on the touchline signaled an astonishing seven minutes of stoppage time.

Upon seeing the added time, Mourinho leaped into the air in fury. After all, nothing extraordinary had occurred in the second half to disrupt the rhythm; by convention, three or four minutes of stoppage time would have more than sufficed. He never expected the referee to hand Real Madrid such ample time to chase an equalizer.

Against Mourinho’s grim expression, Real Madrid launched a frenzied, do-or-die siege around the Manchester United goal.

In the 92nd minute, Lucas Vázquez sliced through two defenders on the right side of the box during a swift counterattack and squared the ball across. Asensio found himself completely unmarked, but De Gea pulled off a miraculous, world-class save, clawing the ball out over the crossbar with a single palm.

"Incredible!" Even Tai Zhiwei was left awestruck by De Gea’s phenomenal block!

In Tai Zhiwei’s estimation, among the current Manchester United squad, aside from himself and Pogba, the only true elite world-class star was De Gea. The rest of the players were exceptional, yet they had not quite reached that topmost echelon.

Shortly after, Kroos curled in a corner kick from the right flank, and Ramos won the initial header, crashing a powerful effort goalward that drifted agonizingly wide of the post.

In the 97th minute, Cristiano Ronaldo was unceremoniously chopped down by Matić just outside the right edge of the penalty area, gifting Real Madrid a dangerous free-kick.

Ronaldo stepped up to take the set-piece he had earned, but unfortunately failed to keep it down, unleashing a powerful drive that sailed harmlessly over the crossbar.

As the ball soared out over the end line, the referee blew the final whistle to end the match.

Ultimately, powered by Tai Zhiwei’s brilliant brace, Manchester United came from behind to defeat Real Madrid 2:1, claiming the trophy of the 2017 UEFA Super Cup!

With this victory, Tai Zhiwei achieved the remarkable feat of defending the UEFA Super Cup while representing two different clubs.

Before him, only Ferrer in 1997–98 and Kroos in 2013–14 had accomplished such a feat.

In the mixed zone of the Philip II Arena after the match, Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo was no longer the focal point of the media's pursuit. The sole center of attention belonged to one man alone—Tai Zhiwei, who had netted a brace and secured the Man of the Match award.

In his post-match interview, Tai Zhiwei spoke about his days at Villarreal and expressed how much he was enjoying his new life in Manchester.

Having just turned 23 two weeks prior, Tai Zhiwei conducted himself with remarkable maturity, devoid of the impatience typical of young players facing the cameras. "The atmosphere at United is fantastic, and I really like these guys. They lead the team by example, and if you ever want to talk to them, they are always willing to listen. It feels great to fight alongside them because they are all world-class players."

"At Villarreal, I always had to carry the ball and solve problems entirely by myself. But here, everyone does that. With world-class players all over the pitch, you only need to focus on your own game instead of carrying the whole team on your shoulders. I'm really enjoying it now."

Tai Zhiwei also mentioned that he was rapidly adapting to his new life in Manchester and hoped to see more Chinese players venture abroad to play. "Playing here is a bit different from playing at Villarreal. I'm enjoying it right now, and I enjoy it more and more with each passing day. I want to encourage more Chinese players to go abroad and play football, and there's no such thing as a 'right' or 'wrong' age for it."

Everyone could sense from Tai Zhiwei’s remarks just how seamlessly he adapted to unfamiliar surroundings. It seemed that changing clubs and moving to a completely different national league had zero impact on him whatsoever.

And very soon, Tai Zhiwei backed up his words with his performances on the pitch.

On August 11, the opening match of the 2017–18 Premier League season kicked off at the Emirates Stadium, where Arsenal edged Leicester City 4:3 in a thrilling encounter. This marked the first time in the 129-year history of the English top-flight that a season opened on a Friday.

Meanwhile, Manchester United’s Premier League campaign was set to begin on August 13 with a home fixture against West Ham United.

Manchester United had previously secured 16 opening-day victories in the Premier League, tying with Chelsea for the most among all English top-flight teams. Furthermore, Mourinho had won seven out of his eight opening matches across his Premier League managerial career. Consequently, the entire Red Devils camp was united in purpose, deploying their strongest possible lineup.

Donning the Red Devils' iconic number 7 shirt, Tai Zhiwei made his first-ever appearance at Old Trafford.

From the opening whistle, Manchester United dominated the tempo, though Tai Zhiwei was still in the process of fully integrating into the team's attacking system.

As West Ham circulated the ball in midfield, Matić executed a crucial interception to dispossess Obiang, immediately launching a long diagonal ball to pick out Rashford.

West Ham defender Ogbonna stepped up to challenge, only to be effortlessly shaken off by Rashford with a couple of clever feints. Another West Ham defender, Reid, hurriedly rushed over to cover, cutting off Rashford’s shooting angle.

Rashford lofted a delicate chip pass, dropping the ball right into the path of Tai Zhiwei, who had timed a stealthy run into the penalty area.

Controlling the ball on the half-turn, Tai Zhiwei dragged it slightly to evade Zabaleta’s frantic press, opening up a shooting angle before unleashing a ferocious, unstoppable drive toward the goal.

Though Joe Hart—the English national team goalkeeper currently on loan at West Ham—was well-positioned, Tai Zhiwei’s shot was simply too fast. The keeper could only swivel his head and watch helplessly as the ball whistled into the back of the net.

Elated, Tai Zhiwei sprinted toward the corner flag in front of the home supporters' main stand.

To be honest, he hadn't expected his first Premier League goal to arrive so quickly, and so effortlessly!

Up in the stands, the Red Devils fans were already boiling like a pot of hot water, their passion surging as they raised their voices in deafening cheers.

As the match resumed, having finished celebrating the goal, the Manchester United faithful began chanting the club anthems once more. Old Trafford truly lived up to its reputation as a fortress; the songs of the supporters seemed never to pause.

For the remainder of the first half, despite the intense physical battles contested by both sides, no further goals were scored.

The fifteen-minute halftime interval passed swiftly, and the players returned to the turf.

West Ham surged forward aggressively right from the restart, clearly hoping to catch their opponents off guard with an early sucker punch in the second half.

Ayew drove forcefully through the center, brushing past a challenging Matić before unleashing a thunderous strike from over forty yards out.

Fortunately, De Gea was fully focused. Meeting the fierce trajectory of the ball, he punched it firmly away with both fists, deflecting the long-range effort out for a corner.

Scarcely a minute into the second half, West Ham had already registered a shot on target and earned a corner kick.

Ayew trotted over to the corner flag to take the set-piece, while nearly the entire West Ham squad surged into the penalty area, entangling with the Manchester United defenders.

The referee blew his whistle several times, warning players from both sides to keep their hands to themselves. Yet the moment the restart whistle blew, the players immediately resumed their pushing and pulling.

The initial delivery from Ayew’s corner was won cleanly by Hernández, but under heavy pressure from Bailly, he had no chance to direct a shot on goal. Instead of heading toward the posts, his hurried clearance looped backward out of the box, relieving the pressure on United.

Hernández cast a resentful glance at Bailly, half-intending to appeal to the referee for a foul.

To his dismay, the ball he had cleared fell swiftly into the path of Tai Zhiwei. Gathering it instantly, Tai Zhiwei accelerated down the pitch toward West Ham’s half like a gale-force wind, accompanied by the blistering sprints of Rashford and Mkhitaryan.

From a West Ham corner kick, Manchester United had somehow manufactured a textbook three-on-three counterattacking opportunity!

As Tai Zhiwei carried the ball forward, the gap between him and the retreating West Ham defenders widened by the second. Ahead of him, Ogbonna stared anxiously at the ball at Tai Zhiwei’s feet, dropping low with arms outstretched as he retreated step by step.

Without slowing his stride, Tai Zhiwei closed in rapidly on Ogbonna, then delicately scooped his foot underneath the ball. It popped up from the turf, soaring directly over Ogbonna’s outstretched head.

Ogbonna whirled around in a panic, only for a rush of wind to signal an ominous presence. A dark shadow flashed past him in the blink of an eye, leaving him behind as it chased down the loose ball.

Desperate and acting on pure impulse, Ogbonna threw himself to the ground in a desperate, flying tackle!