As the clock ticked into the 75th minute at the WWK Arena, the Augsburg faithful felt a collective shiver of dread. On the touchline, David Qin shed his training bib and began his final warm-up stretches.
The mood in the stands soured instantly. Seriously? they thought. The match is almost over—do you really have to bring that kid on now? It feels personal.
Once David finished his routine and headed to the technical area, Dieter Hecking draped an arm over his shoulder. "David, you're on for Marco. Swap with Ivan; I want you on the left wing. Keep the ball, drag their defenders out of position, and give Kevin some breathing room to drive forward. We're running out of time, so for heaven's sake, don't gift them possession."
"Understood, Boss," David nodded, his eyes flicking to the scoreboard.
With less than fifteen minutes of regulation time remaining—maybe twenty including stoppage time—the situation was critical. Augsburg were masters of the "low block"; they had survived in the top flight for years by knowing exactly how to park the bus.
I need to use my tight-space dribbling to force the issue, David mused, mapping out his tactical intent.
As he stepped onto the pitch, Perišić leaned in with a quick warning: "Their full-backs are decent today. Watch yourself."
David glanced at Augsburg's number 8, Markus Feulner. A veteran of both Bayern and Dortmund. David realized they shared a common thread: both had come through the Bayern Munich reserves, and both had been discarded. The only difference was the price tag—Feulner went for a pittance of €100,000, while David's €1 million fee carried the weight of much higher expectations.
Turning his gaze, David spotted Ji Dong-won, the South Korean center-forward and Augsburg's primary threat. David respected the talent, but he didn't linger. After nine goals in the Asian Cup, he had the quiet confidence of a man who knew he sat at the very top of the Asian hierarchy.
The whistle blew, and the Wolves resumed their assault.
"The dynamic has shifted entirely," Derek Rae observed from the gantry. "From a tactical perspective, it's all about the chemistry. Previously, De Bruyne and Perišić were both high-tempo players—always looking to accelerate. But David Qin offers a change of cadence. He can slow the game down, shield the ball, and then explode."
"He's right, Derek," Stewart Robson added. "De Bruyne and David produce a 'one-plus-one equals three' effect. With Perišić, it's just basic arithmetic. David is the catalyst."
On the pitch, David initiated a slick wall-pass with Rodríguez, drifting into the left half-space. Immediately, Feulner and Bracker swarmed him, while Baier cut off the passing lanes. The pressure was immense, but David's feet remained light. He feinted a massive Elastico.
Feulner, the 33-year-old veteran, held his ground well, but his heart sank a moment later. David didn't follow up with another trick; he simply knocked the ball past him and used pure, unadulterated acceleration. He might not outrun Kyle Walker, but he was light-years faster than Feulner.
Finding the lane on the outside, David reached the ball a split second before Bracker could intervene. He didn't cross; instead, he executed a breathtaking Rabona—not to pass, but to trap the ball dead.
The Pulse Arena gasped as Bracker flew past on the momentum of his challenge. David looked back, spotted a familiar blond silhouette, and threaded an outside-of-the-boot cut-back.
Bang! Kevin De Bruyne, silent and lethal, met the ball perfectly. He unleashed a grass-cutter of a strike that hissed into the corner of the net, past the despairing Marwin Hitz.
The Augsburg hearts finally broke. It was official: whenever the "Wolfsburg Twins" shared the pitch, they triggered a lethal offensive buff that few could survive.
"Again! Let's go again!" David dove into the net, scooped up the ball, and waved his teammates back to the center circle. He didn't know the score in the Bayern match, but they were playing Hannover 96—likely a blowout. If Wolfsburg walked away with only a point, the gap at the top would widen.
Three points were non-negotiable.
The green-and-white wave in the away end began to swell. Despite the fatigue in the squad, the attack was transformed. In the 89th minute, Augsburg caught a break on the counter. Abdul Rahman Baba, the left-back rumored to be headed for Chelsea in a €25 million summer move, used his blistering pace to bypass Vieirinha. He squared it to the charging Ji Dong-won, but Naldo intervened with a crunching tackle.
The referee's whistle shrilled. Yellow card.
"Dangerous free-kick for Augsburg here," Rae noted. "Kohler over the ball... He strikes it! Brilliant from Benaglio! He punches it clear with both fists!"
"The counter is on!"
The ball fell from the sky. Josuha Guilavogui, the midfield enforcer, shrugged off Hamit Altıntop to nod it down. Luiz Gustavo cushioned it on his chest and immediately looked for David on the wing.
"Kevin!"
As Feulner closed in, David leaned into him, using his shoulder to create a pocket of space. Clack! An unexpected flick-on pass left Feulner stranded and Baier out of position. De Bruyne received the ball, his mind already three steps ahead. He whipped a low, curving cross with his left foot.
The ball arched perfectly into the path of Ivan Perišić on the far side. The Croatian cut inside, used Bas Dost as a human screen, and rifled a shot into the back of the net!
1-2!!!
"Stoppage-time heartbreak for Augsburg! The Wolves have snatched it at the death!" Derek Rae exclaimed. "Even when they aren't at their best, this team finds a way. And David Qin's tactical importance only grows with every passing week."
The whistle blew shortly after. David embraced his teammates, the relief palpable.
"Bayern finished 3-1," assistant coach Ton Lokhoff reported. "Müller with a brace, Xabi Alonso with the other."
David exhaled a long breath. "At least Robben and Lewandowski didn't score." The two Bayern strikers were playing like men possessed, treating the Golden Boot race as their personal property. David felt the pressure, but he knew that forcing it would be counterproductive. Today proved that by acting as the decoy to liberate De Bruyne, he could make the Wolves truly unstoppable.
"I have some news," Lokhoff said, hesitating. "The Europa League draw is out."
"Let me guess," David interjected, his intuition sharp. "Inter Milan?"
"Spot on. We've drawn the Nerazzurri."
"Inter..." David mused. Ever since Mourinho's departure, the Italian giants had been in a state of flux. In many ways, this was a favorable draw—certainly better than facing Roma, Napoli, or the Europa League specialists, Sevilla.
"I can live with that. When's the date?"
"March 13th. Six days after Matchday 24. We'll have plenty of time to recover."
That night, David dove into the research. Inter were currently 8th in Serie A, while AC Milan sat in 10th. The Milanese giants had fallen far from their glory days. Watching the footage, David felt that while the name carried weight, Inter lacked the sheer intensity of Tottenham. On paper, Wolfsburg were favorites. But as he had learned from Hecking and Pellin, the pitch respects no resumes.
The next day at the VFL Center, David checked his system interface. His [Elven Ball Control] had reached 85%. Skills like [Devil's Curl] and [Dribbling Technique] were climbing, but his [3D Awareness] remained stagnant. He had hit a bottleneck.
How do you improve spatial awareness? he wondered. It's not just about the ball at my feet; it's about the entire three-dimensional volume of the pitch.
"Ton, help me set up some rebound nets," David called out. "I want to try something."
He began striking the ball against different sections of the nets at varying speeds and spins, studying how to control the ball as it returned to him from unpredictable angles. It was a simple drill, but he felt it was the key to breaking his cognitive ceiling.
By the afternoon, he was lost in the rhythm, feeling the ball flip and rotate through the air. It was working. He only stopped when Lokhoff reminded him of his strength training. The specialized program from the Norwegian medical team was paying dividends; his muscles were tighter, his explosiveness sharper, all without adding unnecessary bulk.
March 5, 2015. The Red Bull Arena in Leipzig. DFB-Pokal Round of 16.
"Leipzig's Kimmich is showing real spark here," the commentator noted as the young midfielder bypassed Sebastian Jung and floated a long ball to the back post. "But Poulsen is just a half-step slow! Rumor has it Stuttgart will trigger his buy-back clause just to sell him to Bayern for seven million Euros."
"On the other side, David Qin looks refreshed after his rest. He's being doubled by Demme and Kaiser... Oh! A series of juggles to bypass them! He's like a forest sprite dancing on the grass! He really does evoke memories of Ronaldinho."
De Bruyne threaded a pass through the heart of the defense. David was through on goal. A slick step-over sent the keeper the wrong way, and David rolled it into the empty net.
The Wolfsburg fans roared. David flashed a sun-drenched smile. The goal was a vindication of his rebound-net training; his touch in tight spaces was becoming telepathic.
Nearby, Joshua Kimmich watched David's celebration. He couldn't help but think of the rumors—that Guardiola only wanted him because Bayern couldn't land David Qin. No ambitious young player wants to be a "plan B," a mere body double. He couldn't refuse Bayern, but the psychological weight of being David's proxy stung. He resolved to play harder, to prove he was his own man.
But the gulf in class between the two squads was too wide for one man to bridge. In the 56th minute, Klose headed home from a corner to make it 0-2. Hecking immediately rang the changes, protecting his stars for the battles ahead.
As the whistle blew, Kimmich approached David. "Can we swap shirts?"
He wanted to hang David's jersey in a prominent place—not as a fan, but as a warning. A reminder to work harder. He would not be a shadow; he would conquer Guardiola's heart and become a Bayern legend in his own right.
"Sure," David agreed easily.
As they swapped, Perišić grabbed David. "Careful, Qin. Your shirts are becoming collectors' items. When I retire, I'm locking you in a basement until you sign enough jerseys to make me a millionaire."
"You'd better start soon," David joked. "Before the market gets flooded."
Back in Wolfsburg, the DFB-Pokal quarter-final draw was announced. Bayern, Dortmund, Gladbach, Leverkusen, and Hoffenheim were all through. The Wolves had drawn Freiburg.
Ironically, their Matchday 24 league opponent was also Freiburg. A team sitting in 17th, fighting for their lives in the relegation zone. A weak link in the chain—or a cornered animal with nothing to lose.
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