Cutting in horizontally from the edge of the penalty area after pushing the ball past the defender and unleashing a furious shot was Batistuta's trademark move. It was also an important part of Batty Goal.
During this period, whether in extra team training or his own private sessions, Su Dong had trained relentlessly. He had even scored quite a few goals against Rony with this move.
It could be said that this move had long since become second nature to Su Dong.
When he pushed the defender aside and cut in horizontally with the ball, his mind and body naturally followed the rhythm he had trained to over this period. He completely forgot that he was in a match.
Finally, just outside the top of the arc, he planted his left foot firmly, leaned slightly to the left, and seemed to turn into a tightly drawn bow. Every ounce of strength in his body gathered at top speed in his swinging right leg.
Then his right foot shot out and struck the rolling ball.
The ball was like a fired bolt, streaking away at incredible speed with thunderous force. It drilled straight into the right side of Loretano's goal and went in.
The opposing goalkeeper stood there dumbstruck!
Everyone in the stadium was stunned!
The referee froze for a moment, then immediately blew his whistle to signal that the goal counted.
The crisp whistle rang through the stadium, jolting everyone inside it back to their senses.
The next moment, a wave of cheers erupted from the stands.
More than a thousand Sporting Portugal fans were shouting. They did not even know the name of the substitute who had just come on. The only thing they remembered was his shirt number.
Number 36!
Anyone could tell without looking that he was a substitute among substitutes.
But that sudden shot had been too astounding and too unexpected!
It had also felt incredibly satisfying!
"Wow, beautiful, Su Dong!" Rony jumped up excitedly in the stands and shouted.
"You were amazing, Su Dong! I love you!" Jose Semedo cupped his hands around his mouth and roared.
Su Dong on the pitch also came to his senses.
He had scored?
He had actually scored!
His mind was completely blank. The buzzing in his head made it impossible to think, and the only thing that came to him was doubt.
Was this real?
Had I really scored?
A teammate came running over and wrapped him in a hug.
It was he who had sent Su Dong the pass just now. The quality had not been particularly high, but it had arrived in a decent position.
The problem was that Su Dong had no idea what his name was. They had not even exchanged a single word before.
"That was beautiful! That goal looked just like Batistuta!" the teammate shouted excitedly.
More and more teammates ran over.
Celebrating a teammate's goal was standard practice for every team unless there was bad blood between the players.
"Yeah, it really did look like the God of War, Batistuta."
"That was incredible! A goal like that is so invigorating."
"Wow, you were amazing, weren't you?"
"Kid, I didn't know you had that in you. What a beautiful goal."
His ears were filled with his teammates' congratulations, yet Su Dong merely stood there blankly.
Over the years, he had imagined countless times what it would be like if he scored in an official match.
He had imagined countless dreamlike goal celebrations—perhaps a backward somersault, or maybe a knee slide.
At the very least, he could do a gliding celebration, right?
If all else failed, he could pretend he had a girlfriend and kiss a finger without a ring on it.
But when Su Dong really scored, he found himself completely dumbfounded.
His mind was a blank. He could not remember anything.
He simply stood there foolishly, accepting his teammates' congratulations and listening to the cheers of the more than one thousand fans in the stands. No one shouted his name because they did not know him at all.
There was no stadium-wide worship like when Jardel scored, no imposing celebration like the one he had imagined, and not even the prolonged goal call from the live commentator. He simply stood there stupidly, grinning foolishly.
So this was what scoring a goal felt like!
It was a little silly, perhaps, but it was truly wonderful!
He loved this feeling, this wonderful sensation.
"Did you completely short-circuit?" Matello was a goalkeeper and the last to arrive. He hugged Su Dong first, then walked back alongside him after Su Dong had regained a little of his awareness.
"I guess I did." Su Dong gave a silly, happy laugh.
"Everyone's like that after their first goal." Matello laughed. "That just proves you haven't scored enough."
"Yeah." Su Dong deeply agreed.
He had forgotten who once told him that scoring goals was like doing that indescribable thing. The first time was always tense and thrilling, but gradually, one got used to it. It might even become somewhat numb.
So it was true.
Loretano's two center-backs were both embarrassed and furious.
They had initially thought the newly substituted youngster was an idiot. In the end, they realized that they were the real fools.
Su Dong's goal put Loretano on the back foot.
That was how lower-level leagues were. The overall standard was limited, and teams were not good at creating chances. Whoever could capitalize on more opportunities would often win, but many times, taking one or two chances in a match was already quite good.
Su Dong's goal had nearly ruined Loretano's pre-match aim of taking all three points away from home.
The head coach flew into a rage on the sideline.
Like the players in his squad, Loretano's head coach was a professional. He had previously coached in the Portuguese League and was fairly well-known in Portugal. But precisely because of that, he had always looked down on the Portuguese Second Division from the bottom of his heart.
Facing the mediocre Sporting Portugal, he had originally been determined to take all three points. But Su Dong's goal had felt like a fiery slap across his face. How could he not be furious?
They had the advantage in strength, yet had failed to beat their opponents and had instead conceded to a sucker punch. What could they do?
Loretano's choice was to intensify their attack. The defenders, especially the two center-backs, had to make sure they stayed with the kid who had scored.
But Sporting Portugal were not fools either.
Pereira discarded his earlier meditative demeanor and excitedly directed the team's defensive setup from the sideline. At the same time, he signaled for Su Dong to stay as far forward as possible and seek more counterattacking opportunities.
Looking at him, one would think he had scored the goal himself.
One side was playing at home and had the lead, growing more tenacious the longer they defended. The other had made two substitutions but still could not create a threat, becoming more anxious the more they attacked.
The result...
An opening had appeared on the right flank!
When Loretano's left-back pushed forward to attack and failed to get back in time, while Sporting Portugal's midfield core decisively switched the ball to the right, Su Dong reacted immediately.
Loretano's left center-back moved toward the flank, while Su Dong followed behind him.
The moment came. Su Dong pointed ahead and shouted, "Pass it forward!"
Before he had even finished speaking, he drove off with both legs and sprinted forward at top speed.
Loretano's right center-back remained alert and tracked Su Dong's movement. When he saw Su Dong accelerate, he accelerated as well, pressing down on Su Dong's shoulder with one hand and grabbing his arm with the other as he tried to stop him.
Su Dong reacted quickly. He wrenched his left arm hard and broke free of the defender's hold.
But when the defender failed to hold his arm or shoulder, he reached out and grabbed Su Dong's shirt instead.
Su Dong was no stranger to this. It was exactly like when he had defended against Rony. Once you knew there was nothing else you could do, you had to make a desperate last attempt, using both your hands and feet and worrying about the foul afterward.
Besides, what if the referee did not notice?
Su Dong clearly felt the defender pulling his shirt almost to the point of tearing it. The tug kept him from sprinting with all his strength, but as he swung his arm, he slammed his left hand against the hand gripping his shirt.
The shirt was soaked with sweat, wet and slippery to begin with. After Su Dong struck the defender's hand, its grip loosened slightly, and the shirt slipped free.
Su Dong quickly pushed forward and received his teammate's diagonal pass from the right outside the penalty area.
As soon as he controlled the ball inside the box, the opposing center-back caught up again, while the goalkeeper decisively rushed off his line.
Su Dong had no time to think. His control was not solid enough, and he had failed to bring the ball fully under control with his first touch. He hurriedly nudged it into position again, chased after it, and smashed a shot with his right foot.
The ball went beneath the goalkeeper's right side.
Although Loretano's goalkeeper bent down and tried to block it, he was ultimately no match for the speed of the ball.
The opposing center-back raced back desperately, but could only watch helplessly as the ball found the net again.
Two-nil!
After taking the shot, Su Dong lost his balance and slid onto the grass.
But when he saw the ball hit the net again, he quickly scrambled up and charged toward the sideline, shouting all the way, "I scored! I scored! I scored again!!!!!"
The Sporting Portugal fans in the stands erupted into cheers once more. Many of them even rushed out of their seats and shouted at Su Dong as he sprinted along the sideline.
"Good job, kid! Beautifully done!"
"That was a gorgeous goal! What's your name?"
"That was brilliant!"
"A brace! You scored twice!!!"
Su Dong ran all the way beneath the stand where Rony and Semedo were sitting. Panting, he planted his hands on his hips and looked up at his friends, grinning from ear to ear.
"Tch, so what if you scored two goals? You think you can show off in front of me?" Rony pretended to sneer disdainfully.
Semedo laughed heartily and gave Su Dong a thumbs-up. "Well done. You're worthy of being my brother. You've improved a lot."
He truly admired him, because he knew very well that Su Dong had not possessed this level of ability a month ago.
"Of course. Don't you know who's been giving him special training all these days?" Rony said from the side, unable to hide his pride.
One teammate after another came over to celebrate the goal with Su Dong. Some of them recognized Cristiano Ronaldo and also noticed that he and Su Dong were clearly very close.
Matello found this extremely surprising.
He knew that Su Dong had always trained extra on his own and had a friend in the youth academy of a Portuguese Super League club, but he had never expected that friend to be Cristiano Ronaldo.
He was the leading genius of Sporting Lisbon's youth academy, every bit as talented as Quaresma, who had recently risen to fame.
Thinking of Su Dong's recent progress, Matello found it easier to understand.
Of course, he did not know that Su Dong had received guidance not only from Rony, but also from Pontes and Nare, among the foremost youth-training experts in Sporting Lisbon and even Portuguese football.
Otherwise, Matello would have been even more shocked.
I've signed the contract! Please support me with rewards, collections, and recommendation votes! Many thanks!
Before you continue