The match reached the 55th minute.
Wilshere won the ball in midfield and charged forward before passing it to Van Persie.
Van Persie nudged the ball to the right, and after receiving it, Walcott pushed straight ahead, using his speed to blow past Antonini.
However, Walcott's handling after charging into the penalty area was hard to defend.
He ignored Van Persie calling for the ball in the middle and Li Yufei on the left.
Instead, he took a shot himself and blasted the ball into the stands.
Wenger, standing by the touchline, could not help shaking his head at the sight.
That was Walcott in a nutshell. He was incredibly fast and decent at dribbling past people, but his final touch in front of goal was always terribly rough.
Li Yufei felt that if the guy could make more sensible attacking choices, his value would rise by at least twenty million Euros.
The match reached the 63rd minute.
AC Milan launched a dangerous attack. After Seedorf played a short pass and combined with Pato for a one-two, he immediately swept the ball into Arsenal's penalty area.
Borriello held off Szczesny and barely managed to get a shot away. The ball struck within the frame of the goal.
However, the shot was aimed too directly and was gathered by Almunia.
Almunia launched the ball forward, and Song won the aerial challenge.
Diaby controlled the dropping ball and passed it to Wilshere. Wilshere carried it forward and, from about thirty-five yards out, threaded a pass diagonally toward the left.
Li Yufei took the ball in stride and pushed forward, and then the familiar scene appeared again.
Bonera gritted his teeth and fought desperately with Li Yufei for possession, but he was still a step too slow and was left behind.
Li Yufei glanced toward the middle of the penalty area, made a slight adjustment, and sent the ball across.
Unfortunately, Li Yufei's crossing was barely up to standard at this point. He had not yet reached the level of the Top Five Leagues, and his cross was poorly delivered, flying too close to the goalkeeper and being collected by Abbiati.
Seeing this, Wenger noted it down from the touchline and planned to remind Li Yufei to practice more when they returned.
AC Milan and Arsenal then each wasted another good chance, and the match gradually reached the eightieth minute.
During that time, Allegri substituted Ambrosini and Borriello, bringing on Gattuso and Inzaghi.
The match reached the 84th minute.
During a midfield challenge, Gattuso had just brought the ball under control when Li Yufei slammed into him from the side and slightly behind.
Caught unprepared, Gattuso was knocked straight to the ground.
The referee called a foul on Li Yufei and showed him a yellow card.
After getting up, Gattuso began grumbling at Li Yufei. Li Yufei could not be bothered to respond. If he had not already been carrying a yellow card, he would have shoved him outright.
There was nothing he could do. As time slipped away and the score slowly widened, Li Yufei was getting anxious too!
The match reached the 88th minute.
After AC Milan won the ball high up the pitch from Song, they immediately formed a four-on-four attack, making Li Yufei, who was behind the play, tense up.
Fortunately, Almunia stepped up at the crucial moment and slapped Inzaghi's shot away with one hand.
The ball fell outside the penalty area and was controlled by Clichy.
Clichy looked up and saw Li Yufei frantically calling for the ball up front.
Without wasting words, he kicked the ball powerfully toward the attacking half.
Facing the ball in midair, Li Yufei outmuscled Gattuso, leaped high, and headed it across to Wilshere nearby.
After receiving the ball, Wilshere drove forward before threading a pass diagonally to the right.
Little Tiger Walcott sprinted forward and instantly shook off Antonini.
However, this time, before Little Tiger could figure out what to do, he saw Li Yufei already racing into the penalty area.
Li Yufei sent in a cross, got to the ball before Nesta, and nudged it once. Then he flicked it with his heel, gaining half a step on Nesta.
Before the aging Nesta's body could react, Li Yufei feinted a pass to Van Persie and instead cut the ball back toward Wilshere at the top of the penalty arc.
Facing the rolling pass, Wilshere drew back his bow and fired before Gattuso could interfere.
Li Yufei saw the goal and immediately celebrated wildly with Wilshere.
"Beautiful, brother!!!"
"Brother, thanks for the assist."
Wilshere was delighted as well. After all, their opponents were AC Milan, and even a goal scored in a friendly against them was a tremendous boost for a young player.
"Yeah, you gave me an assist in the first half, so of course I had to return the favor."
Li Yufei laughed shamelessly.
Wenger could not help applauding with relief at the sight.
Wilshere and Li Yufei—two Arsenal Youth Training players born in 1992.
Youngsters like them were Arsenal's future. Wenger had always believed that.
This Arsenal, in this life, had Li's Father as its owner.
But its finances were not exactly flush!
That was because Li's Father had not injected money into Arsenal. At most, he simply had not bled the club dry.
That alone was something he did better than Kroenke had in his previous life.
Of course, perhaps that was because Li's Father did not need to make money through Arsenal in the first place.
After all, Kroenke, whose net worth was only a little over two billion USD, was not remotely on the same level as Li's Father.
Li's Father's main reason for acquiring Arsenal was his good-for-nothing son.
Other than that, Li's Father had never cared about any other aspect of Arsenal.
But that was exactly what Wenger was happy to see.
As long as the owner did not meddle recklessly, he could run the club well.
Arsenal's loan of as much as £260 million from a banking consortium in 2003 had already been completely repaid in 2010—this very year.
In the following years, Arsenal would have money to invest in the transfer market.
Wenger had been hatching a plan: by cementing Li Yufei's position, he could indirectly ask Li's Father for money to strengthen the squad.
After all, his own son had become a starter. Surely a father could not refuse to support him at all?
Besides, the ultimate purpose of strengthening Arsenal was to bring Li Yufei better teammates.
That would help Li Yufei pursue greater achievements and honors.
Wenger had to admit that his scheme was rather clever.
The reason Li's Father had never injected money into Arsenal was that he was unsure whether his son would give up halfway.
What if Li Yufei spent a few years in Youth Training and then decided he no longer wanted to pursue professional football?
Wouldn't Li's Father's investment in Arsenal have turned into a pointless loss?
Put simply, Li's Father's attitude toward Arsenal depended entirely on what Li Yufei wanted.
If Li Yufei truly wanted to continue pursuing a career in professional football and play properly for Arsenal,
then Li's Father would not hesitate for a second. He would send the greenbacks straight over.
After all, annual transfer-market spending for a football club was nothing but pocket change to Li's Father. It did not matter!
His good-for-nothing son wanted to chase his dream, so he would help him achieve it.
It was that simple!
Wenger had indeed guessed Li's Father's intentions correctly.
But the prerequisite for all of this was that Li Yufei truly had to make it. Otherwise, none of it mattered!
No matter how much Wenger wanted Li's Father's financial support, Li Yufei still had to prove that he was capable of establishing himself at Arsenal.
Otherwise, Wenger would never promote an incompetent heir who did not deserve his position.
That was his bottom line, and it was also his principle as Arsenal's football manager.
Before you continue