Football: Salary System - Chapter 129: A Super Wonder Goal! (Patreon)

Back on the pitch, Zayn had intended to keep targeting Giménez, who was already on a yellow card.

Unfortunately, there was barely any time left in the first half.

Despite the two goals, Dortmund had spent most of the match passing the ball around in their own half, so there had been very few stoppages.

On top of that, the referee had made the penalty decision immediately, so only four minutes of stoppage time were added.

During those final minutes, Zayn's teammates still couldn't get the ball to him effectively.

When the referee blew for halftime, the score remained 1-1.

...

Back in the dressing room, Favre had the team doctor check Zayn again.

"No swelling, normal range of motion. There's nothing wrong. This kid's physical condition is incredible."

Only then did Favre breathe a sigh of relief. He walked over and sat beside Zayn.

"Do you want to come off and rest?"

Given the current group standings, a point away to Atlético Madrid would be more than enough.

"No need, boss. I'm fine."

Zayn answered without hesitation.

"All right. Tell us immediately if you feel any discomfort." Favre patted him on the shoulder and said nothing more.

He knew the boos had fired the youngster up and brought out his competitive streak. Since the team doctor had also given him the all-clear, there was no reason to force him onto the bench.

Doing that might only blunt his edge.

Favre looked around the dressing room and began laying out the plan for the second half.

"Keep the ball and don't rush. A draw is enough for us to qualify early."

After the restart, Simeone was the first to make a substitution, sending on the young Francisco Montero for Giménez, who was carrying a yellow card.

Favre followed soon after with two substitutions of his own.

Pulisic replaced Guerreiro, while Götze came on for Reus.

Rather than attacking changes, the two substitutions were more like Favre's reluctant attempt to patch up Dortmund's problems playing out from the back.

Once on the pitch, both Pulisic and Götze dropped very deep to help receive the ball from defense.

Matthäus snorted. "Favre clearly thinks there's no way to get his defenders to play the ball out by themselves anymore. His only option is to drag his attacking players deeper to help. That's obviously going to slow down their attacks. He's just robbing Peter to pay Paul."

Hellmann, however, saw nothing wrong with the decision. "As long as they don't lose heavily, they'll still retain first place in the group. Considering they also have Bayern this weekend, it's sensible not to go all out against Atlético."

Although the teams were level again, the match didn't open up the way the fans had hoped.

Atlético's defense became even more secure. Simeone had clearly issued instructions at halftime to make sure they were solid defensively before thinking about attacking.

Dortmund's possession continued to climb, but they found it extremely difficult to move the ball into the final third.

Akanji and Achraf each lost possession several times in their own half, and every mistake gave Atlético an immediate opportunity to counter.

Akanji in particular was having a terrible game. He hadn't won a single physical duel, had made only one tackle, and looked increasingly shaky under the alternating pressure of Kalinić and Griezmann.

With no one left on the bench to replace a defender, Favre could only hope his team could use possession to run down the clock.

That meant that even though Zayn had activated [Boos Charge], he had almost no opportunity to make use of it.

Since the start of the second half, he'd barely touched the ball, let alone taken a shot.

But while Dortmund could accept an away draw, Atlético weren't about to casually let a chance for revenge at home slip away.

Once Simeone's side had stabilized defensively, they gradually began increasing the pressure going forward.

In the 60th minute, Götze dropped into the left side of his own half to receive the ball. After taking a quick look around, he attempted a diagonal pass through midfield toward Sancho, who was making a run down the right.

But the intention was far too obvious.

Thomas, sweeping the area in front of Rodri, took a single step across and intercepted it.

Without the slightest hesitation, Thomas immediately strode forward with the ball.

Dortmund's two defensive midfielders had dropped too deep, giving him plenty of room to build up speed.

At that moment, the Ghanaian midfielder finally showed why Simeone had insisted on starting him in both matches.

His short-distance carries after winning possession were devastatingly direct, and he never held onto the ball for too long.

In just two strides, he tore open a gap in Dortmund's midfield.

Then, before Akanji and Delaney could close him down, Thomas used the outside of his right foot to slide the ball neatly into Griezmann in the center.

Achraf came flying in from behind and to the side to cover.

The French forward didn't shy away from him. He nudged the ball forward with his left foot and squeezed past Achraf before the defender could get there.

Achraf had no time to shift his balance and could only reach out and grab him, but Griezmann fought through the pull and forced his way into the penalty area.

Only Bürki stood between Griezmann and goal.

Without wasting a moment, he opened up his left foot and guided the ball toward the far corner, beyond Bürki's desperately outstretched foot.

2-1!

The sea of red and white roared wildly for Griezmann, and he answered by kissing the badge on his chest.

"Atlético take the lead again! Dortmund's back line looked like paper. Atlético tore straight through them with only two passes!"

"Götze gave the ball away far too casually, and it immediately left a fatal hole in midfield."

After the restart, the Black and Yellows tried to fight back, but with little success.

Pulisic and Götze were forced to drop too deep, leaving only Sancho repeatedly trying to make something happen on the right. Yet he could never escape the trap set by Filipe Luís and Rodri.

Zayn was completely isolated.

Again and again, he dropped toward the halfway line asking for the ball, trying to tear Atlético's defense apart through individual skill.

But whenever he received it, at least two or three red-and-white shirts immediately surrounded him, while the number of teammates available to support him kept dwindling.

The boos from the stands grew louder and louder.

Every touch from Zayn was greeted by a chorus of jeers, but he still couldn't find another shooting opportunity.

In the 73rd minute, Zayn forced a turn just outside the penalty arc, only for Rodri and Montero to close him down together and poke the ball away.

In the 79th minute, Zayn drifted out to the right and played a one-two with Sancho before cutting the ball back. Pulisic arrived to meet it, but Rodri's pressure prevented him from getting a clean strike, and Oblak gathered comfortably.

Minute after minute passed, and Dortmund's attack still showed no improvement.

Instead, Atlético launched another deadly counterattack.

In the 86th minute, substitute Gelson Martins dropped back to lay the ball off. Griezmann carried it forward before releasing it wide, and Saúl burst forward before unleashing a fierce shot that flashed just past the far post.

"Saúl! He came so close to killing off the last bit of suspense!"

"But Dortmund's players seem to have lost their attacking edge as well. Zayn has been completely isolated, and there's now an enormous gap between Dortmund's attack and defense.

"We have every reason to believe Simeone is about to complete a textbook revenge victory at home."

When the fourth official raised the board showing three minutes of stoppage time, the Wanda Metropolitano could barely contain its urge to celebrate early.

Songs and whistles blended together through the stands, as though victory were already secured.

Simeone, however, was still frantically waving his arms on the touchline, signaling for his players not to relax and to stay focused.

His players responded by continuing to defend with complete discipline.

In the 91st minute, Pulisic received a straight pass from Achraf near the left touchline with his back to goal.

Captain America opened up his body and half-turned toward the penalty area, only to find two defenders already in front of him.

Juanfran had shifted across into the half-space, while Montero had stepped out to block the route inside.

In the middle of the box, Zayn was sandwiched between Rodri and Hernández, one in front and one behind. He didn't even have room to turn.

Pulisic didn't force the cross. He cut the ball back with his left foot and returned it inside to Götze, then continued his run down the touchline.

Götze immediately understood what he wanted and gently pushed the ball back into Pulisic's path.

The two completed a quick one-two, finally gaining half a step on Juanfran.

Pulisic continued along the byline, but Montero had already moved across to cover, using his body to shut off the angle ahead.

Captain America had no other option. Before Juanfran could recover, he squared the ball toward Zayn in the middle.

Rodri and Hernández closed in simultaneously from either side.

With his back to goal, Zayn had no chance to turn and could only lay the ball back to the advancing Pulisic.

Pulisic was clearly getting impatient.

Despite the poor angle, he met Zayn's return pass at the left edge of the penalty area and struck it first time.

"Bang!"

The shot went nowhere near the goal and smashed heavily into the advertising boards beside it.

Oblak remained where he was. He didn't even have to make a save.

"Pulisic! Wide! Far too rushed!" Hellmann shook his head in the commentary booth.

"That's Dortmund's fourth shot of the second half, but they still haven't registered a single shot on target since halftime. To be honest, if you only looked at the statistics, you'd think they were the team that had surrendered possession."

The Atlético fans cheered their opponent's mistake.

Pulisic clutched his head with both hands, his face flushed. He clearly knew he had wasted what might have been their last dangerous opportunity.

He raised a hand toward Zayn in apology, but Zayn shook his head to tell him not to worry about it.

Atlético prepared to take the goal kick.

Oblak was in no hurry. He looked up at the giant screen inside the stadium.

There was less than a minute remaining.

All he had to do was send the ball safely into Dortmund's half, let his teammates challenge for it and waste some time, and the match would be over.

Oblak took a deep breath, took two steps forward, and launched the ball deep into Dortmund's half.

Dortmund defensive midfielder Witsel read the first ball perfectly. With his back to Gelson Martins, he held his ground and jumped first.

The Belgian met it with that unmistakable afro and headed the ball toward the center circle.

"Witsel wins the first ball, and it's dropping in front of Zayn."

Atlético's supporters saw it as nothing more than a harmless second ball in midfield. There was no danger and no obvious chance for another attack.

Even so, they still showered Zayn with deafening boos.

At that moment, Zayn stood two steps outside the center-circle arc with his back to Atlético's goal.

Rodri and Thomas were tight behind him, one on each side, leaving him absolutely no room to turn.

Zayn looked up.

The ball had already begun to descend.

At the same time, his body reacted on instinct.

He suddenly shifted his weight backward and raised his right foot toward where the ball was dropping.

It looked as though he intended to hold off Rodri behind him and bring the ball under control.

Rodri instinctively increased the pressure, putting all his strength into Zayn's back.

His goal wasn't to stop Zayn from controlling the ball.

It was to stop him from turning afterward.

Thomas, standing beside Rodri, had already rushed in from the other side, ready to knock the ball away the moment Zayn brought it down.

But Zayn had never intended to control it.

His raised foot didn't touch the descending ball at all.

Instead, he stepped backward with the motion and turned in one fluid movement.

The ball dropped between Zayn and Rodri, struck the grass, and bounced high into Atlético's half.

Rodri was closer to it, but by the time he tried to turn, it was already too late.

Zayn had completed his turn and was now facing Atlético's half and Atlético's goal.

"What an astonishing dummy and turn! Zayn has shown his talent and ball sense once again!"

Rodri and Thomas had both been completely wrong-footed.

One had shifted his weight forward and couldn't recover, while the other had been dragged half a step out of position.

All they could do was watch the blond teenager turn away from them.

Atlético's two center-backs were already braced for him.

Both knew just how unstoppable Zayn could be once he accelerated toward goal, and they had already made up their minds to foul him if necessary.

But Zayn's gaze went straight past Montero and Hernández.

He locked onto the goal.

Oblak was standing very high, clearly anticipating that if Zayn burst past the defenders with his pace, he would need to rush out immediately.

There was almost no time left.

And Zayn had no intention of dribbling forward the way everyone expected.

In an instant, the ball bounced up from the turf and began to drop again.

Zayn leaned back slightly, drove off the ground with his left leg, and whipped his right leg backward.

His entire center of gravity shifted forward as he loaded every ounce of power into his right leg.

His right instep locked completely as his leg snapped forward and struck the ball in midair.

No run-up.

No touch to set himself.

Just a thunderous first-time volley.

"Bang!"

The instant the ball left Zayn's foot, it compressed into an irregular oval.

Instead of flying flat and direct, it climbed sharply into the air.

Then, beneath a stadium full of boos, it reached the highest point of its arc.

And suddenly plunged.

The ball traced an absurdly high, breathtaking rainbow through the air before dropping violently toward goal.

The Slovenian goalkeeper had never imagined that Zayn would shoot from near the center circle.

The instant Oblak picked up the trajectory, his pupils contracted.

He frantically backpedaled, then launched himself into the air at full stretch.

It was useless.

The dip was too vicious and too precise.

The ball was dropping straight into the top-right corner.

Oblak crashed heavily onto the grass after his leap.

He hadn't touched a thing.

All he could do was watch as the rapidly descending ball slammed into the back of the net.

From more than forty yards out, Zayn had unleashed an unstoppable long-range volleyed lob!

"Heilige Scheiße! Fucking hell!"

"That damn kid Zayn Ryder has just scored a damn goal!"

"Dortmund have equalized at the very last moment!"