Arsenal moved the ball at a ruthless tempo. The passes came sharp and early, the runs without the ball timed to the second. Basel could not settle. Every time they thought they had a shape, it shifted under them.
The gap in intensity showed. In the Premier League, this pace is routine. For Basel, it was a strain they could not sustain for long, especially through the middle.
Ouyang Fei and Gonzalez carried their weight even as youngsters in the Basel team. They had quality, which was clear. But quality has levels.
Both midfielders were already breathing hard, forced into constant tracking, constant decisions. Yet nothing stuck. Every option they chose was read, matched, and shut down.
Basel began to lose their shape. Lines stretched. Distances opened.
"Fei, I'll be up front. Look for me!"
Gonzalez did not slow when he said it.
Ouyang Fei hesitated. "We've only tried that in training. This is a real match."
"Then give me something better," Gonzalez shot back. "Trust me."
There was no time to argue.
Arsenal came again, wave after wave. Basel could only react. Even when Ouyang Fei dropped deeper to help, it barely held.
They needed one moment.
Just on—.
Bang.
Le Kai struck from a distance. The ball ripped through the air, skimming past Ouyang Fei's head toward the goal.
He ducked instinctively, then snapped his head around.
"Thomas! That's unreal!"
Tomáš Vaclík got down strong and pushed it away again.
"Go! Go!" he shouted, clapping hard. "Show them!"
The ball found Ouyang Fei.
Pressure arrived with it.
Santi Cazorla closed fast.
Fei nudged left to create space. Cazorla stayed tight.
Then, quick and clean, Fei dragged the ball inward and slipped it through his legs.
Cazorla froze for half a second. That was enough.
Fei lifted his head.
Gonzalez was already gone, sprinting into space without looking back.
One chance.
Fei opened his body and struck through the ball.
It climbed high, then began to bend. A difficult, curling long pass dropping behind the line.
Le Kai read it late.
His eyes snapped wide, body already turning.
"Don't let him shoot!"
He sprinted.
Too late.
Kieran Gibbs tracked the flight, caught between stepping forward or dropping. He chose to recover, turning to run with Gonzalez.
For a moment, he had him.
Then Gonzalez found another gear.
Gibbs lost half a step. That was all it took.
Gonzalez reached the drop first. One touch to kill the ball, another to shift it away from pressure. Clean, balanced, efficient.
He broke through.
"He's past him!"
The move had worked.
No hesitation now.
Gonzalez struck for the near post.
Bang.
The shot flew low and hard.
For a second, the Emirates Stadium went quiet.
Ding.
Off the post.
The sound echoed.
Gonzalez dropped to his knees, hands on his head.
So close.
Basel's fans groaned, then lifted again.
"That's it!"
"We can hurt them!"
"There's still a chance!"
Belief returned, thin but real.
Basel's attack had real bite.
Ouyang Fei's long pass had vision and weight. Gonzalez's control under pressure was clean, his finish decisive. The sequence carried a threat from start to end.
For Arsenal, that was the warning. Give them space once, and they could punish it.
Le Kai's eyes followed Ouyang Fei as the play reset.
Half a season ago, Fei had been predictable, head down, dribbling into traffic. Now there was range in his game. That pass earlier, from what he saw, wasn't hopeful, but premeditated.
"Just a bit more," Fei muttered.
Gonzalez let out a breath. "We had them."
Their frustration did not last. Both were smiling again within seconds.
"I'm feeling it today."
"Same here."
They shared a quick look.
Then both of them stiffened.
Le Kai walked past.
Ouyang Fei swallowed. "Ready?"
Gonzalez gave a short nod.
Their eyes stayed on him.
Le Kai slowed, then called over Santi Cazorla.
"Let's score," he said. "Enough control. We finish it."
He nodded.
Play resumed. Arsenal went long from the goal kick, but Basel pressed high and forced the turnover. A corner followed.
Basel committed bodies forward.
Thirty minutes in, they were still sharp.
Players clustered near the edge of the box, then spread just before the delivery. It was a coordinated set piece. The idea was simple. Break the defensive structure through constant movement.
As the taker, Ouyang Fei raised his arm.
Signal.
Run.
Strike.
The ball curled toward the far post.
Movement exploded inside the box. Red shirts tracking, blue shirts cutting across them. Markers lost, lanes opening for a split second.
Fei leaned forward, eyes locked.
This was it.
Gonzalez adjusted his run, ready to attack the drop.
Then someone else arrived first.
Le Kai had already left the ground.
He rose early, but more importantly, he rose higher. His timing cut through the chaos, his leap clearing everybody around him.
Before Gonzalez could even plant to jump, the duel was over.
Le Kai met the ball clean and drove it out of the box with force.
It dropped to Santi Cazorla outside the area.
One touch to settle. Turn.
Go.
Le Kai had already landed and was moving.
From set-piece defense to open-field attack in seconds, Arsenal surged forward as one line, the transition sharp and direct, carrying the game straight back toward Basel's goal.