In the middle of the pitch, Kokosi suddenly accelerated.
With a sharp change of direction and lightning-quick footwork, he easily slipped past two Santander players and kept driving forward.
Defender Francis shifted across to close him down, but Kokosi smartly poked the ball over to Ruli.
Ruli took the pass in stride, dropped his shoulder in a smooth feint, and completely blew past Fernández, who had recklessly rushed out of position.
A massive gap instantly opened up behind him in the defense.
With the other center-back, Seth, glued tightly to Costa, Ruli had a clean window to shoot.
From just outside the penalty area, Ruli curled a vicious strike toward the goal.
The ball drew a beautiful, sweeping arc through the air.
The moment Michael saw Ruli pull his foot back, his instincts screamed that something was wrong.
The ball was dipping perfectly.
It was heading straight for the top corner!
Michael immediately triggered his cheat ability.
Bang!
As the ball whipped through the air a second time, the entire stadium watched in utter disbelief as Michael launched himself upward.
Using a motion that looked more like a ridiculous basketball block than a traditional diving save, he reached up and snatched the ball clean out of the air, pulling it tightly into his chest!
“Whoa!”
A collective wave of gasps swept through the stands.
Ruli stood near the top of the box, staring at Michael in pure disbelief.
How the hell did he even dare to try a catch like that?
Over on the touchline, Simeone Jr.’s heart tightened as he watched Raul celebrating like a madman.
‘This guy has to be signed,’ the young manager thought.
Up in the stands right behind the away goal, a small pocket of Asian faces was going absolutely crazy.
They were students studying abroad in Madrid.
Most of them were die-hard fans of Atlético Madrid’s senior squad and had come specifically to support the B team today.
User_IronWall: Holy shit!
Santander’s goalkeeper is actually Asian!🔥
MadridHater99: That block was way too fierce!
What kind of freak reflexes does this guy have?!
BallerAlert: Blocked it like an absolute monster!
A ridiculous basketball-style save just dropped in the Segunda División!
🤯
The group frantically started looking up his background on their phones.
Not only did they find the viral highlights from Michael’s last match, but they also discovered the buried truth: he was practically a ghost back in China, having been essentially blacklisted despite being knocking on the door of the national setup.
Within minutes, they were uploading clips of Michael’s ridiculous catch, and the video started spreading like wildfire across the major football forums.
…
Back on the pitch, Michael didn’t waste a second.
After securing the ball, he aggressively waved his arm, commanding his backline to push up.
He launched a massive, pinpoint drop-kick straight down the middle.
Granero fought hard and won the aerial duel.
After a rapid sequence of passes, Morandi received the ball out wide.
He aggressively cut inside to the edge of the box, completely ignoring his passing options, and unleashed a ferocious strike of his own.
Bang!
The ball skyrocketed straight into the stands.
He had put way too much power behind it and slipped awkwardly on the turf during the follow-through.
Morandi slammed his fist into the grass, his face twisted in frustration.
The Atlético players collectively let out a breath of relief, while their goalkeeper Luther frantically clapped his hands, shouting at his defenders to wake up and stay organized.
On the touchline, Raul’s smug expression vanished instantly.
“Morandi, what the hell are you doing?!” Raul screamed.
“If you don’t have the angle, lay the damn ball off!
Combine with your teammates!
Do you understand me?!”
Morandi raised a hand apologetically toward the midfield, admitting he had been too greedy.
For the next ten minutes, the match devolved into a brutal, scrappy dogfight in the midfield.
Both sides were flying into tackles, completely destroying any sense of rhythm or flow.
Then, Atlético found an opening.
Pacquiao threaded a sharp, bouncing pass forward that perfectly split the gap between Fernández and Seth, making it impossible for them to close Costa down in time.
Costa took an excellent touch, driving the ball straight into the penalty box.
Oriol, busting his ass to cover the mistake, sprinted all the way back from his flank!
But the defender was way too rash.
Oriol threw his body into a desperate challenge.
The two men violently collided inside the area, and Costa immediately went down under the heavy contact.
Tweet!
The referee was standing right behind the play.
He didn’t hesitate.
He flashed a yellow card directly in Oriol’s face and pointed firmly to the spot.
Penalty!
The home crowd erupted into deafening cheers.
Costa grabbed the ball, spun it in his hands, and confidently placed it on the penalty spot.
Michael stood dead center on the goal line.
This was his very first away start, and the deafening noise of the hostile stadium was making his heart pound against his ribs.
Costa looked up and noticed Michael briefly closing his eyes to focus.
“Hey, Michael,” Costa sneered, loud enough for the keeper to hear.
“If you’re scared, just say the word.
I’ll take a little power off it so we don’t waste each other’s time.”
Michael opened his eyes, his expression completely blank.
He felt absolutely nothing inside.
‘To me, a cocky Segunda División forward like you is nothing but a clown,’ Michael thought.
Seeing Michael’s dead-eyed, dismissive reaction, Costa felt deeply insulted.
He had humiliated plenty of arrogant rookies from the spot before, and this Chinese kid was going to be next.
Tweet!
The referee blew the whistle.
Costa took his run-up and violently lashed his right foot through the ball!
Every single person in the stadium thought it was a guaranteed goal.
Michael thought so too.
It was a perfect, unsavable penalty.
‘Rewind!’
Time snapped backward.
Michael immediately shifted a half-step to his left.
The instant Costa struck the ball, the striker’s eyes widened.
He realized something was horribly wrong with the keeper’s positioning, but it was already way too late to adjust his foot.
Michael pushed off the turf with explosive power, launching his entire body toward the bottom-right corner.
Without any dramatic suspense, he cleanly blocked the bullet of a shot.
But Michael didn’t just parry it.
Using his forward momentum, he smoothly transitioned into a forward roll, popped back up onto his feet, and immediately scanned the midfield.
He instantly spotted Miguel, who had already started sprinting forward the exact second the shot was taken, following Santander’s counter-attack protocol.
Smack!
Before the Atlético players could even process the save, Michael blasted a flawless long pass right down the center of the pitch.
In the span of about three seconds, he had executed a penalty save, recovered his footing, and launched a lethal counter-attack.
The entire Atlético squad froze.
What the fuck was that?
Nobody had ever seen a goalkeeper save a penalty, instantly roll to his feet like a gymnast, and transition the ball that fast.
What kind of freakish athletic move was that?
Over near the halfway line, Miguel took the ball perfectly in stride.
There was absolutely zero question of offside.
Miguel hit top speed, blowing past the last retreating defender and charging straight toward the goal.
It was a clean one-on-one!
Up in the booth, Jack was screaming into the microphone.
“Costa steps up to shoot!
And Michael saves it!
But wait—he’s rolled forward…
Michael has parried the penalty, rolled straight to his feet, and launched a missile down the middle of the pitch!”
“Miguel is already running onto it!
He is clean through!
No flag!”
“Miguel reaches the box!
He drops the shoulder and rounds Luther!”
“He takes the shot!
Goal!”
“GOOOOOOAL!”
“An absolutely unbelievable sequence!
Just when every single person in this stadium thought Costa’s penalty was a sure thing, Michael Chen stepped up!
And he didn’t just make the save—he recovered with a move that looked straight out of a kung fu movie and instantly bypassed the entire midfield!”
“Miguel was completely unmarked for the one-on-one.
Flawless awareness, and a totally brilliant tactical counter!”
Down on the pitch, as the ball hit the back of the net, Michael stood firmly in front of his goal line, aggressively pumping his fist and screaming at the top of his lungs.
“Who else?!”
Even if the hostile home crowd couldn’t translate the exact words, the sheer arrogant attitude radiating off the rookie keeper was universally understood.
Over on the touchline, Raul’s smug, punchable grin perfectly mirrored the exact moment Simeone Jr.’s confident smile completely evaporated.
Near the center circle, Oriol aggressively nudged Levis.
“Levis, you saw Michael’s power just now, right?!” Oriol whispered proudly.
“He already taught me a secret set of kung fu the other day.
Michael promised he’ll keep teaching me the true ways of kung fu!”
He shot Levis an incredibly smug look.
On the surface, Levis looked back at his old friend with deep envy.
In reality?
The English defender was already mentally plotting exactly how much liquor it would take to get Oriol blackout drunk tonight so he could trick the idiot into giving up the kung fu secrets!
Back in his box, Michael was secretly thrilled.
He had calculated that forward-roll recovery specifically to save time getting back to his feet, but he genuinely hadn’t expected Miguel to execute the counter-attack so flawlessly.
Just like that, Michael had casually picked up an official assist!
Miguel’s lethal instincts left Raul incredibly satisfied.
The striker had now bagged three goals in the last two matches and was playing in red-hot form.
The home side was now trailing 0–1, and the Atlético ultras were furious, showering the pitch with deafening boos.
Standing near the penalty spot, Costa’s face looked like he had just swallowed a lemon.
He simply couldn’t comprehend it.
A penalty hit with that much pace and precision was practically impossible for his own first-team keepers to stop in training.
So how the hell had an unknown rookie read it perfectly?
Refusing to be humiliated in front of their home fans, Atlético immediately adjusted their shape.
Simeone Jr.
pushed his right center-back, Abraham, up to the right wing, intentionally shifting their entire attacking focus to target Santander’s weak link: Oriol.
Atlético’s intensity turned brutally aggressive.
Every tackle flew in with heavy force.
And unfortunately, Oriol had finally met his match.
Abraham ruthlessly tore through Oriol’s side of the pitch.
Oriol’s main defensive advantage had always been his raw recovery speed, but Abraham used incredibly sharp, flexible footwork to break his ankles twice right outside the box before whipping in a dangerous cross.
Because he was already sitting on a yellow card, Oriol was terrified of being sent off.
He didn’t dare commit to a hard tackle.
Just like that, Oriol’s flank was completely ripped to shreds.
By the time the referee mercifully blew the whistle for half-time, Michael had already been forced to make five highly effective saves, and his precious stored rewind time had been brutally cut in half just keeping the team alive.
…
Inside the away dressing room, Raul’s face was completely purple with rage.
“Our defending is an absolute disaster, and our attack has completely vanished!
If it wasn’t for Michael standing on his head back there, we’d already be down by three goals!”
Raul violently spun toward his full-back.
“Oriol!
Did you forget to eat breakfast today?!
Why are your legs so damn weak?!
That guy on the wing is walking past you like he’s on a Sunday stroll through the park!
Put a fucking foot in!”
Oriol knew it was entirely his fault, so he just stood quietly in the corner, staring at his boots.
Michael could see that Oriol’s mentality was dangerously close to shattering, so he grabbed a water bottle and walked over to comfort him.
“Oriol, do you want to know the true, hidden meaning of kung fu?
I can tell you,” Michael said quietly.
Oriol’s head snapped up, his eyes instantly lighting up.
“Really?
Thank you!
Please teach me.
I’m honestly getting destroyed out there, I can’t take it anymore!”
“The essence of learning martial arts is this,” Michael said, putting a hand on the defender’s shoulder.
“You need a fearless heart.
You must have courage.
When you step back onto that pitch to defend that winger, be brave.
Go directly for the ball.
If he’s strong, let him be strong.
Imagine yourself as a starving wolf.
When you put your foot in, do it with absolute conviction.
Do not hesitate.
You have to be far fiercer than your opponent before you can ever hope to intimidate him.”
Oriol nodded intensely, absorbing every single word like gospel.
Seeing the fiery determination reignite in Oriol’s eyes, Michael held back a smirk.
‘This idiot is actually kind of adorable in how incredibly simple he is.’
…
The second half kicked off.
Neither manager made any substitutions.
Up in the away section, the traveling Santander supporters started grumbling.
“What is Raul doing?
Our full-back is getting absolutely cooked out there, and he’s carrying a yellow.
Why hasn’t he been dragged off yet?”
Raul was feeling the immense pressure too.
But he genuinely rated Oriol’s physical potential and decided to gamble on the kid figuring it out.
When Simeone Jr.
noticed that Santander hadn’t made any defensive changes, he loudly whistled from the touchline, aggressively gesturing for his wingers to keep exploiting the same weakness.
On the pitch, Oriol was locked in, dropping his stance as he faced Abraham once again.
Abraham gently nudged the ball with his left foot and suddenly accelerated, dropping his shoulder to fake Oriol out just like he had in the first half.
But this time, Oriol didn’t hesitate.
He launched himself into a brutal sliding tackle from the side, cleanly sweeping the ball and sending it violently flying out of bounds.
It actually worked!
‘Michael is a literal god!’ Oriol thought, his chest heaving.
His worship of Michael reached an entirely new level.
Abraham stood up, looking visibly shocked.
‘What the hell?’ Abraham thought.
‘This guy is actually daring to put a heavy tackle in now?’
The winger suddenly felt like the timid defender he had been bullying all first half had been completely replaced by a totally different player.
The referee signaled for the Atlético throw-in.
Abraham frustratedly shook his dreadlocks and threw his hands up toward his midfield.
Oriol quickly defended the throw, intercepted the ball, and immediately sparked a counter by finding Morandi.
Finally getting another chance to redeem himself, Morandi didn’t get greedy this time.
After beating Vincent with a quick touch, he unselfishly slipped the ball into the middle.
Granero collected the pass, but with Levis aggressively marking him tightly from behind, he didn’t dare hold onto it.
He played a quick one-two with Miguel and carried the ball right to the edge of the D, only to be cynically chopped down by defender Rayleigh.
Morandi stepped up and took the resulting free-kick with his left foot, but it lacked power.
Luther caught it easily.
The Atlético keeper thumped his chest hard, signaling to his teammates that he was locked in and they could push forward with total confidence.
The gritty, midfield tug-of-war dragged on until the 70th minute.
Raul finally made a move.
He subbed off Koné, who had been completely invisible, and brought on a heavy defensive midfielder, Óscar, to lock down the center of the pitch.
Seeing Raul switch to a defensive shell, Simeone Jr.
immediately signaled for his players to throw everything they had into the attack.
Out on the wing, Abraham squared up against Oriol and began throwing rapid stepovers.
Oriol completely ignored the dancing feet.
He just ruthlessly swept his legs through the challenge, taking the ball and the man completely out.
Fancy footwork meant absolutely nothing against pure aggression.
The referee blew his whistle and strictly warned Oriol to watch his tackles, but the defender just nodded blankly and jogged back into position.
On the touchline, Raul was incredibly satisfied with the sudden aggression.
The kid had finally understood what it meant to be a proper defender.
Atlético quickly reorganized.
From deep in his own half, Levis launched a perfectly weighted long ball over the top.
On the left side of the attack, Pacquiao flicked it on to Ruli.
Using his massive physical frame, Ruli completely bullied Fernández off the ball, turned, and unleashed an absolute thunderbolt from just outside the box.
Clang!
Another post!
Tracking the vicious shot, Michael had already launched his body as far as humanly possible, but the angle was just too sharp.
The ball violently kissed the inside of the post and slipped right into the net.
‘Rewind three seconds!’ Michael immediately chanted in his head.
Time snapped back.
Michael rapidly adjusted his footing and arched his back, perfectly anticipating the trajectory before the shot was even struck.
As the ball smashed against the post and rebounded inward, Michael literally threw his head at it, heading the ball completely clear of the danger zone.
Ruli collapsed onto the grass in pure disbelief.
This goalkeeper was a completely different breed from anyone he had ever faced in his career!
Other goalkeepers always had an obvious weak point you could exploit.
But this kid seemed utterly capable of stopping anything.
He was a complete freak of nature!
Every time i read a translated sports novel, there is always chinese ‘students’ watching the match lmao