Dribbling Past Six, Replicating Messi's Goal of the Century!

Lin Quan had just stepped onto the pitch when De Bruyne immediately passed the ball to him.

Others didn't know how good Lin Quan was, but De Bruyne, who had been tormented in training to the point of doubting his own existence, knew all too well!

After receiving the ball, Lin Quan sprinted down the wing, dribbling swiftly.

The opposing left midfielder, wearing the number 13 jersey, immediately moved in to defend.

Seeing Lin Quan's young age and Asian face, the opponent looked down on him, as if he assumed Asian players couldn't play football.

As he closed in on Lin Quan, he started trash-talking: "Kid, football isn't for you Asians. You should go back to playing ping-pong!"

Lin Quan glanced at him and said with a smile, "I'm going to get past you on your left."

What?

This brat!

He actually dared to provoke him!

Before he could retort, he saw Lin Quan's right shoulder dip slightly, his body leaning to the right, and the ball shifting to his right foot.

He really was going to try breaking through on his left!

Cottbus's left midfielder instinctively chose to block the left side, thinking, No way am I letting him get past me on my left!

He couldn't take that humiliation!

But just as he expected Lin Quan to go left, the ball returned to Lin Quan's left foot, and by then, Lin Quan had already adjusted his center of gravity mid-dribble!

Damn it, he tricked me—he's going right!

So he threw himself to the right with all his might, twisting awkwardly to try and stop Lin Quan's advance.

But when he lunged right, he found Lin Quan had vanished!

Crap, I fell for it!

Number 13's heart sank. He looked back and saw Lin Quan already charging into their half.

He really had gotten past him on the left!

"Damn it, what the hell is Kemur doing? How did he let a sixteen-year-old kid get past him that easily?"

On Cottbus's bench, the head coach was furious when he saw his starting left midfielder beaten by a few simple touches.

Over on the home team's bench, Head Coach Schaaf and his two assistant coaches exchanged glances and couldn't help but laugh.

"That kid—watching him dribble feels different from anyone else."

"Yeah, I get that too. Other players pull out every trick in the book and barely manage one successful dribble, but for him, it's as easy as eating or drinking!"

"Defenders look like training cones in front of him—they don't even slow him down!"

"I was worried his dribbling skills would only work in practice, but he's using them in a match without hesitation, and so smoothly, no fear or doubt."

"Ha, I noticed that too. That kid's got a maturity way beyond his age."

Even though Lin Quan had only completed one dribble so far, the coaching staff was already completely at ease.

They already knew his technical ability; the only concern was whether he'd dare to use it in a real game.

Seeing him unfazed and boldly pulling off those moves, their worries melted away.

Two of the three loaned players had met or even exceeded expectations.

That gave the coaching staff a pleasant surprise and sparked some new hopes for the season.

Maybe, while securing survival, they could dream of a cup run too?

In the livestream, after Lin Quan came on and pulled off that dribble, some fans who supported him started tagging the viewers who had called him a mascot.

"Where are the people who called my bro Lin a mascot? Come out and take a walk!"

"Ha, with that sharp dribbling, if you changed his jersey, I'd believe he was Messi! A mascot? Does your mascot dribble like that?"

The tagged viewers shot back defiantly:

"What's there to brag about? He's just playing against some trash from a second-tier Bundesliga team. That number 13 can't even play football. Beating him is no big deal. If he's so good, let him do it again!"

Huang Wei ignored the war in the comments, his eyes glued to the screen, not wanting to miss a single frame.

Seeing Lin Quan beat their left midfielder, Cottbus's defensive midfielder immediately moved toward him.

At the same time, the left back stepped up to block his forward path, ready to team up with the midfielder to stop his advance and launch a counterattack.

Lin Quan didn't slow down. He kept dribbling forward, and when the defensive midfielder stuck out a leg to intercept, he flicked the ball sideways, got past him, and cut inside into the opponent's half-space.

Now, Cottbus's two center-backs had no choice but to close in on him for a double-team.

At this position, they absolutely couldn't let him pass the ball—if it got through, the opposing forward would have a direct shot on goal.

Nils Petersen, the striker loaned from Bayern, might not have the best finishing, but his movement was sharp.

By now, he'd already found a gap in the opponent's penalty area; if Lin Quan sent the ball out, it would be a one-on-one with the keeper.

So Petersen raised his hand, calling for it, screaming inside: Pass, pass, pass it now!

But Lin Quan, trapped under pressure, couldn't see his gesture—and even if he did, he might not be able to get the ball out at this point.

In front of him was nothing but a forest of the defenders' legs, so dense there wasn't a sliver of space!

Seeing their center-backs block the breakthrough route, the chasing defensive midfielder immediately slid in for a tackle.

Even if it meant giving away a free kick in this dangerous area, he wanted to teach the kid a lesson and knock that arrogance out of him.

But Lin Quan, as if he had eyes in the back of his head, lightly jumped as the tackle came, dodging the interception.

Messi had been on the receiving end of plenty of diagonal slide tackles from behind in his professional career, and with eight years of Messi's experience under his belt, Lin Quan had already anticipated the opponent's move.

However, dodging the tackle sent the ball a bit too far from Lin Quan's feet.

That gave the opposing full-back a chance to steal it, and he stretched out his long leg to intercept.

But before he could reach the ball, another foot had already kicked it away first.

The full-back, unable to stop his momentum, kicked Lin Quan instead, sending him stumbling.

The referee had already put the whistle to his lips; if Lin Quan went down, he'd blow for a foul.

The opponent hadn't touched the ball but had hit the man—a clear foul, and the ref had seen it clearly from nearby.

But sticking to the advantage rule, he didn't whistle immediately as long as Lin Quan still had control of the ball.

Before falling, Lin Quan braced himself with a hand on the grass, then sprang back up, beating the center-back to the ball before he could clear it.

By now, his dribbling path had shifted from vertical to horizontal.

Another center-back, seeing him about to charge into the box, rammed into him, trying to shoulder him off balance or push him out of position to lose the ball.

But Lin Quan sidestepped to the right, dodging the collision, and took a big stride forward, bursting into the penalty area.

Now, only the opposing right-back and the goalkeeper stood in his way.

Cottbus's right-back didn't dare commit a foul in the box. He kept his hands behind his back, eyes locked on the ball at Lin Quan's feet, ready to stick out a leg and block.

Lin Quan glanced at the keeper's position, nudged the ball to the right, then suddenly accelerated, cutting diagonally toward the right side of the goal.

The move was too fast; the right-back couldn't keep up, lost his defensive stance, and had no choice but to slide in for a tackle.

If he got the ball, he'd be the team's hero.

If he missed the ball and hit the man instead, he'd be eating a red card and a penalty, instantly becoming the team's villain.

The goalkeeper, seeing Lin Quan had created an angle and was ready to shoot, crouched low, arms down, shuffling forward in quick steps to close down the shooting lane while bracing for a save.

By then, Lin Quan was sprinting at full speed, with little time or room left to adjust his body position.

So, before the keeper could seal off the angle completely, he threw himself into a sliding shot.

The ball rocketed toward the right side of the goal, rolling past the keeper's foot as he instinctively tried to block—but it was too late.

He turned his head to see the ball already inside the net, spinning in the mesh.

On the sidelines, nearly everyone on both benches and coaching staffs stood up, staring in disbelief at Cottbus's goal.

This goal reminded them of the 2010–2011 Champions League semifinal, when Messi pulled off a goal for the ages against Real Madrid!

Who would've thought someone could replicate it!