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1-0!
Lance breaks the deadlock!
A team like FC Shakhtar Donetsk doesn't have the burden of a strong, established club; even if they concede, they won't push forward and allow Bayer Leverkusen to counter-attack.
They still choose a steady approach to find opportunities.
Bayer Leverkusen is the same; after taking a one-goal lead, they actively retreated and waited for the opponent's attack.
With neither side actively attacking, the game became relatively dull, with increased fouls and physical contact, constantly interrupting the flow of play.
Lance was fouled 11 times in the entire match! This was a career high for him.
The opposing defensive midfielder, Alou Diarra, brought Lance down with a fierce tackle.
At that moment, all Bayer Leverkusen players, fans, and coaching staff felt a collective tightening in their chests!
This isn't good!
It would be one thing if anyone else got injured, but Lance is only 16!
Sascha Lewandowski and Sami Hyypiä both felt their scalps tingle.
They instantly thought of many geniuses whose careers were ruined by injuries!
Michael Owen, Alexandre Pato, Ronaldo, Kaká... Many stars could have achieved even greater things, but their 'glass-man' tendencies led to their gradual decline.
Lance has already displayed talent astounding to Europe.
What if he's brought down by injury?
Sascha's mind was uncontrollably filled with many terrifying scenarios.
Just as everyone was concerned about Lance, the team doctor, who had come onto the field, checked him for a long time and finally confirmed that Lance was fine.
It was just a scratch on his calf from an opponent's studs, which had left a cut when it scraped against his shin guard.
This kind of superficial wound was not a big problem after emergency treatment from the team doctor, who quickly helped Lance to his feet.
The fouling player, Alou Diarra, also quickly came over to apologize.
A technical player like Lance can easily make defenders gnash their teeth in frustration.
But when they calm down, opponents will greatly admire him.
After all, it takes an extraordinary person to perform so many brilliant plays on the field.
After Lance got up, the BayArena collectively gave him a minute-long standing ovation.
As the game progressed into the 70th minute of the second half, and seeing Lance being fouled more and more frequently, Sascha decided to substitute Lance for safety.
Bayer Leverkusen maintained their 'iron barrel' defense until the end.
With a dense crowd around the penalty area, even if Douglas Costa was strong, he wasn't Lionel Messi.
Without space to sprint, this type of speed-based player finds it very difficult to perform.
Dense defense is a challenge for teams worldwide, and for FC Shakhtar Donetsk, there was no way to break through.
"The match is over! Bayer Leverkusen has won their second Champions League group stage victory!"
"Lance scored the only goal of the entire match!"
Duan Xuan was, of course, very proud.
There was an opportunity to see a Chinese player appear in the Champions League knockout stage.
And not a substitute or a fringe player, but a core player participating as a starter! And performing excellently in every match!
Previously, we could only watch a group of foreigners compete; now, we can finally see a genuine black-haired, yellow-skinned descendant of Yan and Huang, fighting in the highest level of football competition in the world!
Fans who have been tormented by the Chinese National Football Team for many years can understand how difficult this is.
"The result of the other match is also out: Manchester United defeated Real Sociedad 1-0, finally securing their first win in Group A. After 3 matches, Bayer Leverkusen has 2 wins and 1 draw, leading the group with 7 points!"
"Manchester United has 1 win and 2 draws, temporarily in second place with 5 points; FC Shakhtar Donetsk has 1 win, 1 draw, and 1 loss, in third place with 4 points; Real Sociedad has 1 draw and 2 losses, at the bottom of the group with 1 point."
"This means that in the next 3 matches, Bayer Leverkusen has a chance to advance to the knockout stage if they win just one match!"
"If they can win 2 matches, or achieve a record of 1 win and 1 draw, they still have a great chance to secure first place in the group!"
"Wow! Who would have thought that the situation in Group A would be like this?"
"Lance's Bayer Leverkusen is clearly the biggest dark horse in this Champions League!"
After the match, Lance received his third Champions League MVP trophy.
He was given an ultra-high rating of 9.5 by the media for his 70 minutes of play!
He has only played 3 Champions League matches in total, and he already has 3 Champions League MVPs!
No wonder netizens are frantically commenting on Twitter:
"Do our Bayer Leverkusen players like to rely on the young ones? Everyone else's performance should improve; we can't always rely on Lance to break through, can we?"
"Poor little Lance has already burned himself out."
"My heart aches for this kid; everyone else needs to step up!"
"Thanks to Lance this season, otherwise I can't imagine how we'd do in the Champions League."
Facing the public opinion on the internet, Lance himself remained quite humble.
In an interview at the training ground entrance, Lance told the television cameras:
"No matter the result, our whole team is a unit; the goal was thanks to the whole team's effort, everyone is trying their best. After I was substituted, everyone also worked hard to defend, and we successfully held onto the 3 points in the end. I'm very grateful for everyone's recognition in winning the MVP, and I will try my best to deliver the most perfect performance in return for the team and the fans."
The modest and humble Lance didn't particularly satisfy the reporters; there were no sensational headlines.
The Sport1 TV reporter then asked:
"So, is the goal for the Champions League group stage to qualify?"
"Yes, the basic goal is to qualify from the group and advance to the knockout stage. But I want to qualify as group winners and try to go further in the knockout stage."
That's more like it!
The reporter was finally satisfied. If a young person isn't a bit wild, are they still a young person?
Lance wouldn't have thought that after finishing the interview on a training day afternoon, it would be reported the very next day.
"Bayer Leverkusen Genius: Aims for Group Top Spot, Defeating Manchester United"
It sounds quite arrogant.
Except for Real Sociedad, Bayer Leverkusen had a tough time against Manchester United and FC Shakhtar Donetsk.
They almost lost to Manchester United; do they really have confidence in the return leg at their home stadium?
Even the Bayer Leverkusen coaching staff wouldn't dare say that, yet Lance made such a bold statement: aiming for first place in the group!
This led to Bayer Leverkusen's PR manager, Hannah Moyer, a newly graduated press officer, directly seeking out Lance.
"Lance, last time you spoke about winning the championship, and this time you're talking about finishing first in the group. It's best if you communicate with me in advance before accepting interviews in the future."
"But, was there a problem with what I said?"
Lance was very confused; he was just stating the truth.
Bayer Leverkusen is already ranked first in the group, so why can't they look forward to qualifying as group winners?
Are they going to lose to Manchester United in the return leg? Lose all three matches?
That makes no sense!
"I know, what you said isn't wrong, but it can easily conflict with the club's official PR stance."
The young and beautiful blonde, Hannah Moyer, dressed in a smart and capable OL professional suit, strongly resembled Pepper Potts from 'Iron Man 1'.
She was a typical 'rigorous German,' very dogmatic in her speech and actions.
Lance was often bothered by her.
Since registering on Twitter, Lance quickly gained 100,000 followers.
He occasionally posted a photo or two from training or interesting daily life, and joked around with netizens.
His interesting and humorous image was very popular with fans.
Even though it was all very normal interaction, Hannah Moyer seemed to want to meticulously dissect every word Lance said, searching for bugs in his statements...
From a club PR perspective, her rigorous work attitude was indeed unproblematic.
But Lance didn't really like feeling so constrained.
The club players tried to avoid this 'big sister' whenever they saw her.
"Then I can just turn down all interviews from now on, can't I?"
"Emmm... you don't have to be so extreme. I just hope that before you encounter an interview, you can communicate with me more."
"Sorry, even if you were my girlfriend, it wouldn't work; it's impossible to contact you 24/7... Goodbye, I'm going to train."
"Hey! Wait!"
Hannah Moyer watched Lance's retreating back helplessly and sighed softly.
Her high heels couldn't help but tap on the floor.
"Little brat, who's talking about dating you! Hmph... But, he's quite handsome."
...
Lance's bold statement also drifted across the English Channel.
With a month still to go before their match against Bayer Leverkusen, Manchester United also placed great importance on this game.
Manchester United needed to defeat Bayer Leverkusen to ensure they qualified as group winners!
Even if they barely qualified as group runners-up, David Moyes would be under immense pressure.
Therefore, recently, David Moyes, usually a good-natured person, had become irritable, increasing Manchester United's training intensity, which caused many stars to complain.
"What's wrong with the coach?"
"Who knows, maybe too much pressure."
"That kid from Bayer Leverkusen is shouting about beating us, what do you say?"
"What else can we say? Even a draw would be embarrassing... We'll definitely win next time!"
"Be careful, the next match might be even harder than the last."
Wayne Rooney, who had been silent, suddenly interjected.
Little Fatty Rooney becoming so serious made the Manchester United players a bit uncomfortable.
"Wayne, are you that worried?"
Rooney shook his head; he wasn't worried about anyone else from Bayer Leverkusen.
He was only worried about the 16-year-old 'genius boy,' Lance.
This kid... his evolution speed seems a bit too fast!