Under the night sky of London!
Wembley Stadium erupted with an indescribable, terrifying momentum!
"Beep!"
The referee's whistle echoed!
The League Cup final between Arsenal and Manchester United had officially begun!
"Both Arsenal and Manchester United are starting with a 4-4-2 formation tonight!"
"For Arsenal, Giroud and Van Persie form the strike partnership, with Kai leading the midfield!"
"And worth noting—tonight's Manchester United midfield lineup is very different from before!"
"The young academy graduate Paul Pogba has replaced the aging Giggs and starts in midfield tonight!"
"Pogba partners with Carrick as United's double pivot!"
"We can see… wait, hold on!"
In China's live broadcast studio—
Zhan Jun hadn't even finished his opening remarks, when an unexpected scene appeared on the broadcast!
On the screen—
At Wembley Stadium, as the referee blew the opening whistle, the players began to run across the pitch.
Arsenal, having secured the kickoff, saw Van Persie and Giroud touch the ball forward and then immediately surge ahead!
The ball was played to Kai's feet.
The Gunners' formation pressed high as a unit!
With five players flooding into the front line, they quickly surged past midfield, applying furious pressure on United's half!
The stands roared with astonishment!
United fans in the stadium broke into a cold sweat.
This season, Arsenal had become famous for their terrifying ability to start games explosively.
In China's broadcast booth, the commentators hadn't even finished their opening analysis, and already—
The situation on the pitch had turned turbulent!
With Kai carrying the ball past the halfway line—
Manchester United's formation quickly responded.
Before the match, Ferguson had openly declared that Kai would be given Ballon d'Or-level defensive treatment.
At this moment, United's midfield—
Pogba, Carrick, and the nearby Ashley Young,
even striker Javier Hernández—
all pressed forward simultaneously to counter-press!
A total of four United players converged from every angle on Kai, who had possession!
The English media at the stadium were shocked.
This wasn't Klopp's Dortmund or Simeone's Atlético Madrid!
United's forwards joining high pressing?
That was completely different from United's usual tactical approach!
It was clear—
In this League Cup final, United's tactical preparation was laser-focused.
They were absolutely determined to shut down Kai!
After the painful lessons from last season's FA Cup final and their clash earlier in the league, Ferguson knew all too well—
Against a player of Kai's caliber, defending in open space was as good as digging their own grave.
Relentless, close-quarters pressing was the only option!
And given Kai's extraordinary dribbling ability,
they had to increase numbers to stand a chance.
Ferguson's tactical orders before the match were clear:
Whenever Kai had the ball,
at least four United players had to close in from all directions to suffocate him!
This was the League Cup final—the battle for the trophy!
United had no choice but to go all in!
On the pitch—
under the fiery gaze of tens of thousands of fans—
United's four-man press collapsed on Kai!
But Kai calmly kept the ball under control at his feet.
Facing the Red Devils' high pressing quartet,
his movements were smooth and fluid!
A simple lateral drag move—
and Ashley Young was already bypassed.
Young, a player whose attacking attributes outweighed his defensive ones, clearly wasn't suited for such a duel.
And under the terrified stares of United fans,
Kai just angled his run diagonally,
then suddenly accelerated—
leaving the retreating Hernández behind in an instant!
"Unparalleled ball control and speed! My God, Kai is just too fast!"
The Wembley commentator clutched his head in disbelief.
Even Ferguson on the sideline was stunned.
With maxed-out pace and maxed-out dribbling—
Kai's stride frequency, ball control, and close dribbling looked beyond human to the outside world!
Having easily brushed past Ashley Young and Hernández,
Carrick and Pogba charged in next, one in front and one behind!
Pogba, tall and rangy,
already over 1.90 meters at just nineteen years old!
But with just a feinting shoulder drop,
Kai left the United starlet utterly lost!
A graceful elastico—
and Carrick was brushed aside with ease!
Following up with a sideways push of the ball,
the football stuck to Kai's feet as though glued there by suction cups!
Despite the four-man surround,
Manchester United's defenders didn't even get the chance to make body contact!
With nothing but his supreme mastery of ball control and dribbling,
Kai dismantled United's high-press in the opening seconds at lightning speed!
Wembley Stadium erupted with a wave of gasps!
So simple?
The fans glanced in terror at the timing board.
After all this—
barely ten seconds had passed since kickoff!
United's carefully orchestrated high press with multiple men in the opening phase…
once again came to nothing!
On the touchline, Ferguson scowled in frustration.
After effortlessly shaking off Carrick and Pogba,
Kai shifted diagonally forward.
Now standing a full fifty meters from goal in United's half,
he suddenly checked his stride!
Seeing his posture, many United fans in the stands widened their eyes in panic.
That stance?
Could it be…?
At that moment, golden lines flashed before Kai's eyes.
Without hesitation, he picked the best one.
In front of nearly 100,000 spectators at Wembley—
just ten seconds after kickoff—
Kai, from fifty meters out, swung his thigh back!
Gasps exploded from the stands!
From this distance—was he really about to shoot?!
Or was it just a feint?
Carrick, desperate, chased with all his might,
trying to launch into a sliding tackle at the very last instant.
But it was useless!
Kai's swing was lightning fast!
The instep of his foot smashed into the ball!
Boom!
A dull, thunderous sound echoed,
sending the Manchester press into panic.
"OMG!! Kai has actually gone for it from here! Not a pass—A SHOT!!"
"It's really a shot?!"
"Just past the halfway line, fully fifty meters out!"
"He's underestimating our genius keeper De Gea far too much!"
"David De Gea won't let such an arrogant attempt succeed!"
"WTF—wait! De Gea isn't on his goal line?!"
Before the words had even settled—
Kai's fifty-meter cannon strike rocketed through the Wembley sky!
To the disbelief of everyone present—
this wasn't a floating lob with a teasing arc.
It was a ferocious missile!
The ball tore through the air like a tomahawk missile,
rising sharply before plunging down with terrifying velocity!
It streaked across half the pitch in an instant,
hurtling toward United's goal!
Nearly 100,000 spectators rose from their seats at once!
United fans froze in horror.
Arsenal supporters clenched fists, eyes blazing with excitement!
On the sideline, Sir Alex Ferguson couldn't stay still any longer.
He stepped forward instinctively,
eyes locked on the ball that Kai had unleashed.
A thunderous long-range shot from fifty meters—
treated like a penalty kick!
In front of United's goal—
because it was so early in the game, De Gea had been standing near the edge of the penalty area rather than on his line.
But when Kai's missile left his boot,
a cold sweat broke instantly across De Gea's forehead!
He spun and sprinted frantically toward the goal line.
Step after step, whipping his head back to track the ball's trajectory as it plummeted!
The United end of Wembley erupted into chaos!
Red Devils supporters stared in terror at the ball's deadly descent.
De Gea, the genius goalkeeper, chased desperately—
but he was a step too late!
Kai's rocket from midfield peaked, then plunged like lightning!
Just as De Gea leapt with all his might,
stretching his fingertips toward the ball—
the shot was still above even his prodigious reach!
In that instant, United's prodigy keeper went blank—
the ball brushed the underside of the crossbar,
and crashed straight into the net!
Thwack!
The crisp smack of the ball hitting the net rang out,
followed by the heavy thud of De Gea collapsing to the ground.
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