Chapter 411: Chapter 89: Faster Than Messi! Real Men Don’t Dive? A Frantic Atletico Madrid! Klopp: "Wang Shuo, I Love You to Death!

Atletico Madrid’s two center-backs didn’t dare underestimate him, joining forces to try and contain Wang Shuo.

If time had frozen in that moment, you would have seen that as Wang Shuo dribbled into Atletico Madrid’s 30-meter zone, he was completely surrounded by their players.

A staggering seven of them.

All of them were desperately tracking back, tightly encircling Wang Shuo.

And Wang Shuo?

He just kept his head down and charged forward with the ball.

He rushed to the edge of the Arc Top District. Facing both Pereira and Domingos, Wang Shuo executed a series of feints, his body swaying left and right while his feet maintained skillful control of the ball.

Before the match, Flores had given specific instructions.

The Atletico Madrid players were on the shorter side, putting them at a disadvantage on set pieces. Moreover, Wang Shuo had previously scored direct free kicks with both his left and right foot.

Therefore, they had to minimize fouls within the 30-meter zone and avoid giving Dortmund any free-kick opportunities.

The Atletico Madrid players mostly chose to jockey for position.

But under Wang Shuo’s relentless pressure, they had no more room to fall back.

Just to the left of the Arc Top District, Domingos chose to press forward for a tackle.

He wanted to use his body to shoulder Wang Shuo off the ball and force him to a stop.

But the moment he committed to the challenge, Wang Shuo’s eyes lit up. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

’Finally!’

’I’ve been waiting for you!’

Wang Shuo suddenly laid the ball off with the outside of his right foot.

The ball zipped past Domingos toward the Arc Top District.

And at almost the exact same moment, a figure in yellow surged forward, took one touch to knock Wang Shuo’s pass into the penalty area, chased it down, and slotted the ball into the right side of the net with a cool finish.

"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!"

"In the 25th minute, Mario Götze scores against Atletico Madrid!"

"What an absolutely unexpected combination play!"

"We all thought Wang Shuo was going to use his individual skill to try and draw a foul in the final third."

"But no one expected Götze to suddenly burst onto the scene."

"Wang Shuo’s pass was perfectly weighted, setting Götze up to break into the box and score on the one-on-one!"

"2–0!"

"The vast majority of the credit for that goal has to go to Wang Shuo."

"He carried the ball from near the halfway line all the way to the edge of the box before assisting Götze for the one-on-one. A complete and utter showcase of his individual ability!"

"This just goes to show, in the crucial moments, Dortmund still has to rely on Wang Shuo to make something happen!"

After Götze scored, Wang Shuo was the first one to rush over and celebrate with him.

Having gotten his revenge, an ecstatic Götze jumped up and down.

As he ran to the sideline to celebrate, he even dropped to one knee, lifted Wang Shuo’s right foot, and began wiping the grass and dirt from it with his jersey.

"I honestly thought you weren’t going to get that pass off!"

Götze was grinning from ear to ear.

The teammates who ran over to celebrate were all completely stunned.

So Wang Shuo had planned it all from the start!

To make a solo run of thirty or forty meters, draw in that many defenders, and then lay the ball off to a teammate for a one-on-one...

That kind of ability was simply out of this world!

"They say you’re the Beckham of the Bundesliga, others say you’re Ronaldo, but I think you’re more like Ronaldinho—a magician on the pitch!"

Götze threw his arms around Wang Shuo, celebrating the goal with him.

...

"That kid is just impossible to defend against!"

In front of the visiting team’s dugout, Atletico Madrid’s head coach, Flores, couldn’t help but let out a long, helpless sigh after watching Wang Shuo assist Götze’s goal.

According to his pre-match plan, the best-case scenario was to not concede at all in the first half, or at worst, concede only one goal.

But now they had already conceded two.

’This is getting tricky!’

"He reminds me of when Messi first burst onto the scene!" assistant coach Antonio Diaz remarked with a sigh.

"No, he’s faster than Messi!" another assistant coach, Fran Escriva, disagreed.

Antonio Diaz thought about it for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

When Messi burst onto the scene in La Liga, he shocked all of Spain and even the entire European Football Scene.

The Argentine’s most potent weapons were his dribbling and his Breakthroughs.

But Messi wasn’t considered exceptionally fast.

Wang Shuo, however, was different.

Wang Shuo was much faster than Messi.

"To be honest, there’s something strange about this guy. Back when he was at Mainz, his dribbling wasn’t nearly this good. But now, the moment he gets a chance, he just plows right into a crowd," Escriva said, completely perplexed.

"Generally, professional players tend to hold on to the ball more when they’re just starting out. Then, as they gain experience, their play becomes more efficient and dangerous."

"Ronaldo is a prime example."

"Just look at Messi when he debuted, how much he loved to dribble."

"Back then, a lot of people even criticized him, thinking he held on to the ball for too long and wasted good opportunities."

"But after a few major injuries, Messi gradually changed his style of play."

"But Wang Shuo?"

"When he debuted, he was clearly known for his speed and stamina; his dribbling wasn’t considered a major strength."

"Now, he’s actually getting better and better at it."

"It completely goes against the typical development trajectory of a professional player!"

"He’s a smart player. He doesn’t dribble blindly," Flores analyzed.

"He saw that Dortmund’s midfield was struggling to move the ball forward, so he dropped back to get it and carry it himself. He uses his dribbling to draw the defense’s attention before dishing it off to a teammate."

"Didn’t you notice? Besides Götze, both Kuba on the right flank and Reus on the left were available as outlets."

"Wang Shuo’s Passing ability, especially his ability to play a killer ball, is vastly underestimated by most people."

"He’s the best player in the Bundesliga when it comes to playing those kinds of killer balls!"

Flores’s words left Escriva and Antonio Diaz speechless.