Chapter 32: The Great London Derby
Watching football can make you cry!
Xia Qi was moved to tears.
At the 90th minute he had already given up.
A man down, trailing by one, and the opponent still had two gods hidden in their ranks.
No matter how you looked at it, tonight seemed destined to be a night of tears.
However!!!
The AI still hadn't given up and kept searching for every possibility.
Every step the AI made with his body was overdrawing Xia Qi's physical reserves, but this time Xia Qi did not pity himself.
For the first time he felt it didn't matter!
He truly understood that "football is greater than life and death!"
When captain Mikel Arteta shouted: "Arsenal… unbeaten!"
Xia Qi cried!
He suddenly understood why Liverpool could create a miracle in Istanbul.
He believed that on that night Steven Gerrard and the others must have shouted: "Come on, Reds!"
Xia Qi wanted to say thank you to Tong Ge!
If he had been in autonomous mode, tonight he would definitely have been the protagonist of a tragic night, not a participant in a miracle night!
He was proud to be a participant in a miracle night.
This is football!
How can you not love it!
…
Beep!
The referee's whistle sounded to end the match.
Xia Qi felt the strength supporting his body drain away; his legs went weak, but he didn't fall.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott supported him one on each side.
"Thank you!"
"When we get back, can we train together?"
"Of course…"
Sometimes male friendship is that simple; the three shared a smile and were brothers from then on!
A sound came to his ear:
"Ding, this match has ended, reward settlement in progress…"
"This match the host played 95 minutes, involvement A+, performance S+, reward: 10 attribute points."
"Ding, host awarded Premier League Man of the Match, reward: 5 attribute points."
"Ding, regional legend +1."
"Ding, regional legend +1."
"..."
With friends by his side and achievements in his ear, Xia Qi discovered he loved football even more…
Post-match press conference
Roberto Mancini: "Tonight's match was disappointing and painful; we could have left smiling."
"I am proud of all the players who played tonight, especially in the second half — they showed the fighting spirit a warrior should have. Unfortunately we lost to a god…"
"Xia Qi was the god tonight; he dominated the whole game. I admit selling him was a mistake — it could well be the most unprofitable and foolish transfer of this century."
Arsène Wenger: "The kids were all great. Before we clap for Xia Qi, shouldn't we first applaud Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain? The doctor said he needs a week of rest. He's a brave and iron-blooded kid."
"Apart from Oxlade-Chamberlain, other players also deserve applause — like Vito Mannone, Santi Cazorla, Mikel Arteta…"
"Yes, Xia Qi has an organizing talent. To be honest, our coaching staff is troubled now; we don't know whether the Lionel Messi template or the Cristiano Ronaldo template suits him better."
The next day, Xia Qi and Arsenal topped all sports pages in the British media.
"The Miracle Kid Creates a Miracle Night Again."
"Wenger Snags a Bargain; Arsenal Rises Again."
"Ferguson's Worst Fear Has Happened: That Arsenal Has Returned."
After miracle 9320, Xia Qi created miracle 9423 and was thereafter called "The Miracle Kid."
The Miracle Kid's whirlwind swept into China too; the number of Arsenal fans in the Chinese region was rapidly catching up to Manchester United…
…
At home
Xia Qi opened his attributes panel:
Host: Xia Qi
Bone age: 18 years
Height: 187 cm (189 cm)
Weight: 80 kg
Host ability score: 78
Assignable ability points: 0
Assignable attribute points: 85
He quickly maxed Strength, but the system indicated it could only go up to 98 for now: Strength 85→98, leaving 72 attribute points remaining.
A warm flow ran through his body; Xia Qi felt bigger again — had his kidney energy been replenished?
Speed had originally been 74, explosiveness 85. Later, after Bell Jaguar speed training, both speeds became 95.
Xia Qi wanted to max them, but could only raise to 97; the system indicated dual speed is linked to endurance.
Speed 95→97, explosiveness 95→97.
Endurance was being worked on thanks to Park's perpetual-lung skill, so putting points into it now would be wasted.
With 68 points left, Xia Qi thought and set Vision 70→95, Jump 75→86, Agility 75→85, Balance 72→94.
It looked like many attribute rewards, but they don't last long.
The final attribute panel looked like this:
Host: Xia Qi
Bone age: 18 years
Height: 187 cm (189 cm)
Weight: 85 kg
Host ability score: 85
Assignable ability points: 0
Assignable attribute points: 0
Finally, even without the system he had the strength to fight.
Have a drink — any plans?
…
September 19, the Champions League group stage began.
Arsenal were drawn into Group B.
Group opponents were: Montpellier from Ligue 1, Olympiacos from Greece and Schalke 04 from the Bundesliga.
This round Arsenal traveled to face Montpellier.
After the City match Xia Qi was severely physically overdrafted, so the team doctor gave him leave on the spot.
Actually, after applying attribute points Xia Qi could have played, but he was afraid of shocking the world too much, so he said nothing.
Watching on TV at home, Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski each scored, helping Arsenal to a 2–1 away win.
In the same group, the once-expectedly weak Olympiacos beat Schalke 2–1 at home.
A wake-up call for Arsenal.
There are no weak teams in the Champions League; every match must be taken seriously.
After returning to London, Arsenal had the League Cup to play.
The draw sent Arsenal to host Coventry.
For the big six the League Cup is mostly a parade run; it's not the FA Cup, where they really play with full force.
Of course, this is known among insiders — if it leaked out, the big six wouldn't admit it.
Xia Qi and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain continued to rest, while Podolski, Cazorla and Arteta were also rotated.
Arsenal's half-first-team, half-reserve side opened up a slaughter — 6–1 at home.
They smoothly advanced to the fourth round.
They would travel to Reading on October 31.
Wenger secretly thought he'd been shameless, hiding a few key players for the Premier League; he didn't expect Mancini of Manchester City to be even more shameless. City lost to Aston Villa.
Postmatch, Manchester United criticized City: "The Italians don't respect England's traditional culture."
Mancini defended himself: "We faced two strong opponents in succession — Arsenal and Real Madrid. The players were mentally and physically exhausted and that's why we lost to Villa. The FA schedule is unfair to us; obviously someone doesn't want us to defend the title."
It sounded reasonable, but damn — City didn't even field their main players, so where did that fatigue come from?
The media knew the League Cup's place in the football hierarchy; only a trophy-collecting coach like José Mourinho would go all out.
Mancini's choice was perfectly normal.
So the papers didn't keep holding it against him; they turned their eyes to the London derby starting this Sunday.
London may be the area with the most derby teams in the world — twelve clubs across the English professional leagues.
The Arsenal–Chelsea derby is just one of them.
To many Gunners fans, the real derby is the one against Tottenham at White Hart Lane.
But Mourinho's Chelsea rose powerfully and changed London's balance of power.
The combative Mourinho fanned fires and made enemies everywhere, turning London into a patchwork of derbies.
To distinguish it from other derbies, it's called the Great London Derby.
It's currently the hottest derby in the Premier League; the Manchester derby has just formed its climate and can't rival it yet.
Now Mourinho has flown away, but the Great London Derby's heat continues.
On Sunday, the London police were mobilized across the board…
(END CHAPTER)
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