Chapter 764: Chapter 763: Full Strength Kai
The Premier League’s number one right winger, France’s top flank assailant, the scar-faced hero known for his breakthroughs, couldn’t outrun Deng Kai?
This scene astonished many people.
But in fact, the players of Manchester City, including Ribery himself, were not surprised at all.
Manchester City had many speed-type players; Lahm, Ribery, Maicon, Torres, and others were all top-tier.
Among them, Lahm and Ribery seemed a bit faster than Maicon, but in reality, that was because they had an agility bonus; their speeds were quite similar.
Torres had a slight edge in terms of absolute speed.
However, in the training sessions of the latter half of this season, Deng Kai had once run faster than Torres.
Even though it was just that one time.
But combined with Deng Kai’s performance in the last few matches, his speed had likely reached the Premier League’s ceiling level.
Like Manchester United’s Ronaldo or Arsenal’s Wu Xudong, for example.
Seeing Ribery unable to keep up, Thuram thought for a moment, then immediately charged toward Deng Kai, ready to end Portugal’s attack with a foul.
As for proper defense, he truly couldn’t stop Deng Kai.
If he kept running, he was really going to throw up.
Thuram, with a clear intent to crash into Deng Kai.
No matter what dribbling move Deng Kai made, Thuram wouldn’t be fooled because his target was Deng Kai the person, not the football at his feet.
This was Thuram’s determination to defend the lead Zidane had brought to the team.
However...
Bang!
Deng Kai suddenly kicked the ball forward by more than ten meters.
He then sidestepped to the left, running outside the touchline.
At the same time, he raised his right hand, ready to confront any potential obstruction.
He had seen through Thuram’s intent to foul.
This sidestep caused Thuram not to hit Deng Kai fully.
There was only slight contact, which Deng Kai had even managed to block in advance.
Taking advantage of the momentum, Deng Kai pushed off and took flight.
"My God!"
"He got past! Deng Kai actually got past!"
"This is an overtaking move on the outside!"
"Thuram is trying to catch up, but he can’t keep up with Deng Kai."
"Neither can Ribery!"
"Thuram preemptively cut inside; he’s prepared to block Deng Kai’s route inside."
"Oh! Deng Kai cuts inside as well! He doesn’t want to let Thuram block his path."
"If you say Thuram is going in a straight line from point A to B, then Deng Kai is taking a curve from A to B... he has gone around! Deng Kai has circumvented Thuram!"
"Even though Deng Kai ran a longer distance, he completed the cut inside before Thuram! Thuram is still left behind by Deng Kai!"
"Deng Kai breaks into the penalty area!"
"He got past Thuram with his absolute speed!"
"The laws of physics are defied at this moment! Between two points, Deng Kai is the shortest!"
Bang!
Deng Kai goes for the goal from a tight angle.
Of course, Barthez dives for the far corner.
After all, there’s less than a ten-degree angle to shoot from the near post.
However, the ball squeezes through the narrow gap of more than twenty centimeters between Barthez’s legs and the goalpost into the net.
Deng Kai’s shooting technique is accurate to the centimeter!
"GOAL!"
"A miraculous goal!"
"A powerful goal!"
"Deng Kai scores a Ronaldo-esque goal! No fancy dribbling or play, just speed and passion!"
"Especially that exaggerated outside overtaking, reflecting Deng Kai’s absolute confidence in his speed!"
"Ribery and Thuram together couldn’t delay Deng Kai even for a second!"
"It seems Deng Kai was stimulated by Zidane’s brace just now. The unbeatable Zidane has helped France take the lead over Portugal, and now the unbeatable Deng Kai has helped Portugal equalize the score!"
"Whether it’s the two teams or between Deng Kai and Zidane, their battle continues!"
The camera panned to Zidane.
A twitch crossed the corner of Zidane’s mouth.
He shook his head slightly.
It was over!
Zidane knew, France probably couldn’t win this match anymore.
They could only wait for the penalty shootout now.
Then the match entered the halftime break stage.
This period was brief.
But Portugal used this break to make a switch.
Deng Kai and Quaresma switched positions, moving from the left to the right wing.
The player he was up against changed from Ribery and Thuram to Zidane and Lizarazu.
Lizarazu was already thirty-five years old this year, with all aspects of his ability weaker than Thuram, and he was only 1.7 meters tall.
And for Zidane... in the last five minutes, according to Maxa’s naked eye estimation, Zidane hadn’t moved more than one hundred meters.
When the football wasn’t on his side, he didn’t even walk around.
Unless necessary, he simply didn’t move.
The second half of the match began.
As Deng Kai came over to Zidane’s side.
The ball increasingly began to concentrate on this side.
As a result, Zidane couldn’t just stand still anymore, he couldn’t even stroll around.
He had to run actively, if not to defend against Deng Kai, at least to help teammates with passing and receiving the ball.
But Portugal kept feeding the football to Deng Kai insistently, then Deng Kai actively charged at Zidane.
At the one hundred and sixth minute, Deng Kai easily got past Zidane and tangled with the following Lizarazu.
At the one hundred and eighth minute, Deng Kai once again ate Zidane alive, infuriating Zidane to the point where his teeth itched.
He still had a bit of stamina left to defend against Deng Kai but... if worn down continuously by Deng Kai, he wouldn’t last till the end of the match.
France had obviously considered moving the ball play to Ribery’s side.
But Portugal had gone mad; they piled most of their forces on Ribery’s side, besieging Ribery.
On the contrary, they left a lot of space on Zidane’s side.
On Zidane’s side, France even had an advantage of one or two players.
It was impossible for France not to pass the ball there.
At the one hundred and eleventh minute.
Ribery, after failing to make a breakthrough on his side, passed the ball back to the supporting Vieira.
Vieira looked up and saw there were plenty of opportunities on Zidane’s side, as long as Zidane could hold on to the ball, with his ability, he could deliver a key pass any minute!
Bang!
Vieira sent a long pass to Zidane.
At this moment, Zidane was desperate.
He couldn’t care less about his stamina issues; he engaged in a fierce contest with Deng Kai.
The two of them bumped and jostled each other.
But in the end, despite being in a worse position, Deng Kai jumped and reached the ball first... He jumped higher than Zidane!
Then Deng Kai held Zidane off, with continuous left and right shoulder shakes, he took the ball down the left and completed the breakthrough with a turn.
Zidane saw Deng Kai’s breakthrough, but it was to no avail as Deng Kai nudged the ball first and then sprinted.
Zidane didn’t stop the ball, and thus couldn’t hold on to Deng Kai either.
In the few confrontations between these two world-class midfielders in this match, Zidane had always had the upper hand.
But since Deng Kai switched sides, Zidane had been completely dominated by Deng Kai!
"Deng Kai once again gets past Zidane! Zidane even gave up on chasing back!"
"A diagonal pass! Deng Kai sends a superb key pass from the right flank straight to the unmarked Quaresma cutting inside from the left!"
"Quaresma shoots with the outside of his foot from the left side of the penalty area! He’s a right-footed player, and this position is perfect for him to shoot!"
"GOAL! Quaresma! Figo III has scored a crucial goal!"
"Four to three! Portugal has scored two goals in extra time, once again taking the lead over France!"
"My goodness! This could very well be the decider!"
"Of course, Quaresma made a beautiful play, but the main highlight of that goal was Deng Kai’s beautiful pass! Moreover, Deng Kai managed the breakthrough after winning the header against Zidane, which bore a striking resemblance to the second goal that Zidane himself scored."
"The two world’s top midfielders refuse to bow to each other!"
