Messi, You're Catching Up to Me!

Bayern overturned Manchester United 3–2 away from home. The flood of praise for Su Dong had barely died down when, in the other half of the bracket, Barcelona thrashed Arsenal 4–1 at home in the other headline clash, played a day later.

But that wasn't the point. The point was that Messi had scored four goals in a match!

Anyone could see that after Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo's club, crashed out in the round of sixteen, the two biggest stars and main attractions in the Champions League were Su Dong and Messi.

Call it a conspiracy theory or mere luck, but Bayern and Barcelona, the clubs Su Dong and Messi played for, had been placed in different halves of the bracket. That gave the two of them a chance to meet in the final again.

And now, Su Dong had led Bayern to an away comeback against Manchester United with a hat trick. Just one day later, Messi had scored four goals at Camp Nou, leading Barcelona to a 4–1 demolition of Arsenal.

What was this?

If you said this wasn't the two superstars unconsciously competing with each other, who would believe you?

The whole world was showering Messi with praise. Argentina's national team coach, the legendary Maradona, had even come out to voice his support for Messi, insisting that he was the best player in the world and deserved everyone's recognition.

After training that day, Su Dong was stopped by reporters outside the training ground on Säbener Straße and forced to answer several questions about Messi.

Regarding Messi's four-goal performance, Su Dong said that he had watched it.

"He performed exceptionally well and showed that he was a cut above the rest. I believe he's definitely one of the best players in the world, and there's a very good