Quaresma continuously broke through down the right side, cut inside, and then passed the ball to Kai.
After receiving it, Kai simply let the ball run across his body, directly evading the opponent's challenge. Then he linked up with Drogba, who had dropped deep, using a quick wall pass to beat another defender.
Boom!
Kai whipped the ball toward the back post on the left side.
Cristiano Ronaldo charged into the penalty area again without the ball. Even under pressure from the defender, he still managed to get the slightest touch with his header, knocking the ball back into the center as an inverted triangle pass.
Drogba exploded forward like a beast, smashing through his marker before turning into the penalty area and unleashing a violent shot.
But he was too eager to score, and Ronaldo's headed pass wasn't exactly comfortable either. Honestly, the guy deserved praise just for completing the pass at all, so nobody should expect a perfectly weighted assist from him.
Clang!
The football smashed against the crossbar and bounced out of the penalty area.
Matthäus collected the ball thirty meters from goal.
He nudged the ball forward and spread his arms.
Kai immediately sprinted away from the penalty area.
The German cannon was loading up!
Boom!
There wasn't the slightest curve on the shot.
From Matthäus' perspective, the ball almost looked weightless.
But in reality, that was only because the trajectory was absurdly straight. From behind, the distance the football traveled looked deceptively short.
Whoosh!
The Beira-Mar goalkeeper produced a spectacular diving save attempt.
The replay looked beautiful—
But he never touched the ball.
The football ripped violently into the net, sending white waves crashing through it.
"Gooooal! Matthäus! An unbelievable long-range strike!"
"Four-nil!"
"Can you believe this man is almost forty years old?"
"He could seriously keep playing for another three years!"
Achoo!
Ronaldo always felt weird during goal celebrations.
It was like he was allergic to that sentence.
"Alright, Sporting Lisbon are preparing substitutions now."
"Making changes with such a huge lead suggests Triguera wants more players to adapt to competitive matches."
"And here it is! Center-forward Drogba is coming off, replaced by Swedish wonderkid Zlatan Ibrahimović!"
"Drogba looks a little disappointed after being substituted. His tactical contribution today was excellent, but you can clearly tell he desperately wanted a goal."
"It's definitely unfortunate not to score in your first Portuguese Super League appearance, but judging by Sporting Lisbon's performance today, there will be plenty of chances in the future."
"Deschamps is also coming off. Replacing him is Pepe, another low-cost summer signing brought in by Sporting Lisbon."
Deschamps, can you at least ask the commentators to change the damn script?
Seventy-three minutes.
Pepe flew into a brutal tackle, and for a moment Matthäus saw a younger version of himself—
Just thirteen centimeters taller.
Although his movements were still rough, it was obvious Pepe had become slightly more cautious when timing his interceptions and tackles.
Pepe passed the ball to Kai.
Kai moved it to Quaresma.
Quaresma tried to dribble past his defender, but the opponent refused to bite.
Quaresma returned the ball to Kai.
Under pressure, Kai immediately passed back to Matthäus.
Boom!
Matthäus launched a long pass from deep in his own half.
There are many footballers whose names begin with "Ma."
But there is probably only one Maradona ranked above Matthäus.
Many people even say the early 1990s belonged to the twin kings of football—Maradona and Matthäus.
Although the gap in their historical status eventually became quite large, Maradona himself mentioned Matthäus many times and called him his greatest rival.
That alone showed the terrifying power of titles and publicity.
The gap between the number one person in an industry and the number two person might actually be larger than the gap between second place and the hundredth.
Because in any field, there may only be one person capable of truly breaking into the mainstream.
When people remember historical knowledge points, most only remember one name.
And to the idiot shouting "K2 get out, fake fan!"—
Shut the hell up.
Quaresma accelerated down the right wing.
His first touch was excellent, so after missing the interception opportunity, the opponent didn't rush forward recklessly. They wanted to stop him from immediately making a dangerous pass after controlling the ball.
If it were a player with poor first touch, defenders could press aggressively and apply psychological pressure.
That would massively increase the chance of a mistake due to panic.
Sure enough, Quaresma killed the ball perfectly, the football dancing beneath his feet.
Boom!
Quaresma passed to Ibrahimović, who had dropped deeper to receive.
The defender behind Ibrahimović instantly lunged sideways, trying to steal the ball directly.
After all, Ibrahimović was nearly 1.95 meters tall.
This giant obviously looked like a rough-and-ready brute.
If you got tight and pressured him, surely you'd force him into embarrassing mistakes.
However...
Ibrahimović calmly rolled the ball beneath his foot and spun away from the defender.
The center-back froze.
He hurriedly adjusted his footing to chase Ibrahimović.
Facing goal from the right side of the penalty area, Ibrahimović had already escaped the center-back, yet he deliberately pushed the ball further to the right.
It almost looked like he was handing the ball directly back to the recovering defender.
The center-back stretched out his leg again. This should've been a steal—
Push. Pull.
Ibrahimović's move to the right was fake.
His sudden cut back left into the box was the real move.
If he'd gone left immediately from the start, the defender's desperate recovery might've disrupted him. After all, Ibrahimović's Marseille turn carried him around the outside while the defender remained inside, giving the defender a shorter route.
But this push-and-pull completely destroyed the defender's balance and rhythm.
At that moment, no matter what Ibrahimović chose to do next, the defender could only watch helplessly.
That style of play... that gorgeous technique, that manipulation of balance and dribbling—
Are you sure this isn't Quaresma in disguise?
Boom!
Ibrahimović faced the final center-back and cut across the top of the penalty area.
Kai had already arrived there.
Boom!
Kai instantly played the ball back first time.
After releasing the pass, Ibrahimović kept moving forward. The two combined with a perfect one-two, completely bypassing the final center-back, who no longer knew whether to defend left or right.
Ibrahimović through on goal!
Boom!
Without making any extra adjustments, Ibrahimović caught up to the ball and used the outside of his right foot to finish as the goalkeeper rushed out.
The football curled around the keeper and into the net.
The entire move gave people one overwhelming feeling—
Silky smooth.
Despite being tall and powerful, every touch Ibrahimović made, including the final finish, radiated two words from beginning to end...
Pure delicacy.
"Gooooal! Oh my god! Five-nil! Sporting Lisbon are possessed today!"
"Let's congratulate Ibrahimović! He scores less than three minutes after coming on!"
"It's unbelievably smooth! Drogba's performance already proved he could replace Jardel. Regardless of goals, his tactical contribution wasn't inferior at all."
"Everyone thought Ibrahimović was just Drogba's backup, but his style is completely different! His technique is incredibly soft and refined."
"I probably shouldn't say this, but Ibrahimović's dribbling is even better than Kai's and Ronaldo's!"
"The completely different styles of Ibrahimović and Drogba will give Sporting Lisbon far more tactical possibilities in the future."
"Everyone who questioned Triguera for signing two supposedly identical target men can shut up now. Every cent Triguera spent was worth it!"
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