Injured but Unyielding, Bringing the Internet to Tears

Kaka ran over to Huang Kaiwen at once. Crespo took one look and decided to join them.

"Great run!"

Huang Kaiwen's smile was dazzling.

Before receiving the ball, Kaka had kept moving into space and drawn plenty of defensive attention.

The two of them were developing better and better chemistry.

Noticing Crespo's less-than-pleasant expression, Huang Kaiwen quickly tried to make up for it. "Ah, right. The pass was good too."

Crespo rolled his eyes skyward. Sorry for interrupting.

When the Inter Milan players returned to the center circle, their morale was somewhat low.

The fans had turned against them today. Could anything get worse than that?

After the kickoff and a few backward passes, Stankovic began carrying the ball down the right. The right flank he formed with Zanetti was highly dangerous as well.

Gattuso looked reckless, but he was actually very meticulous. He was not the kind of player who liked to foul.

Rather than immediately pressing, he waited for Pancaro before charging forward.

Zanetti, on the ball, quickly passed it into the middle.

The moment Veron received the ball again, Andrea Pirlo stuck to him.

Andrea Pirlo was the classic type who did not necessarily have to take the ball from you. He only had to make sure you could not play it forward.

After the two tussled for a few moments, Veron pulled the ball back and forced a vertical pass while turning sideways. Nesta got there ahead of Adriano and hoofed it clear.

"Milan's defense is truly dependable."

"Stam is out injured today, and Maldini has moved into the center, but Milan's defense remains as solid as a rock."

Kaka and Gattuso contested an aerial ball near the center circle. Spotting Huang Kaiwen, Kaka leaped and, sure enough, headed it toward the right.

Huang Kaiwen cushioned it with a raised foot, and the ball obediently settled at his feet.

Inter's back line had plenty of space behind it, so Huang Kaiwen simply swung his right foot and launched a long ball.

Shevchenko and Crespo charged toward Inter's penalty area together, while the towering Materazzi rushed to the dropping point and leaped high.

"They're contesting it in the air. Shevchenko cannot reach that, and height matters more at a time like this. But Kaka presses Cambiasso, and Cambiasso cannot shake him off."

"He passes it. Zanetti has dropped back into his own half to receive the ball and launches another attack."

"Zanetti also chooses a long pass, sending it straight in front of Milan's defense. Let's see..."

Vieri received the ball with his back to goal at the edge of the box. Even Maldini could not clear it immediately.

Smack.

Vieri laid it back to the advancing Veron, who sent it into the penalty area with a first-time pass.

Nesta failed to intercept it this time. The two ran shoulder to shoulder into the box, but Adriano's physique was simply too overpowering.

After just two steps, Nesta had been muscled behind Adriano.

The advantage of being left-footed showed itself. Positioned slightly to the right, Adriano broke free and immediately pulled the trigger.

A thunderous left-footed shot!

Bang—

Dida dived at once, but he still could not reach it.

The ball was simply too fast.

In the 18th minute, it was 1-1. Adriano had equalized.

Maldini covered his mouth and quietly spoke with Nesta. Rather than blaming his teammate, the captain preferred to sum up their mistakes on the pitch.

"Adriano. Inter's forward line is far too luxurious. Vieri and Adriano, their starting strikers today, are both immensely powerful players with exceptional physicality. This goal perfectly demonstrated the fine bodies of those two forwards."

On the bench, the 20-year-old Martins and the 30-year-old Cruz were equally helpless.

Who told them to have a chairman who loved buying strikers?

Add Recoba and Lampros Choutos, and Inter Milan had six usable forwards.

After the restart, Milan did not rush either.

Ancelotti's teams had never been built for fast attacks.

Before Huang Kaiwen joined, Milan's tempo had been slow to an extreme.

But whenever a counterattacking opportunity arose, Milan could speed up instantly.

After several consecutive backward passes, Andrea Pirlo began organizing play from deep.

As he moved into space, Huang Kaiwen felt somewhat fortunate that he was not playing on the left today.

Stankovic and Cambiasso were far stronger defensively than the Belozoglu-Favalli pairing.

When Huang Kaiwen received the ball again, Belozoglu did not immediately press him.

Only after Huang Kaiwen carried it forward a couple of steps did Emre Belozoglu charge in to challenge him.

A Marseille turn took him past.

Huang Kaiwen had more or less caught on.

Favalli was not tall on this side, but Materazzi was there, so they wanted to let him cross.

After carrying the ball forward a few more steps, Cambiasso and Favalli closed in together. Seeing Stankovic beside Kaka, Huang Kaiwen turned back and passed to Cafu.

The ball returned to the back line once more.

"They're targeting you!"

Ancelotti shouted from the touchline.

Huang Kaiwen looked over with a puzzled expression as Ancelotti nodded repeatedly.

That really did seem to be the case.

They were focusing their defense on the right and leaving Gattuso's side open.

Even if Gattuso pushed forward, Zanetti would be there to defend.

Interesting.

As Inter strengthened their defense on Huang Kaiwen's side, Milan's attack returned to the middle.

Having lost their lead and been pegged back, the Milan players were somewhat impatient.

In the 31st minute, Gattuso carried the ball into the attacking half and passed it to Kaka. Seeing Huang Kaiwen's position, Kaka immediately played a diagonal ball.

The instant he received it, Huang Kaiwen poked the ball forward with his toe and accelerated, pulling off another knock-and-run.

Favalli felt as though he was about to be left behind.

He hurriedly drove his body into Huang Kaiwen.

Huang Kaiwen was knocked down while turning and fell onto the turf.

His shoulder hurt a little.

Huang Kaiwen knew he was injured.

But because his [Luck] was high enough, it was only a minor injury.

A simple treatment would let him continue playing.

But would Huang Kaiwen just let it go like that?

The instant he hit the grass, the Best Actor-level acting of [Tom Hanks] began to shine.

His body curled slightly and trembled.

The muscles in his thigh twitched again and again.

When his face came back into view, his teeth were clamped down on his lip, and a faint glimmer of tears shone in his eyes.

Milan fans in front of their televisions covered their mouths, stopping themselves from making a sound.

"Poor Kevin."

Some more emotional fans already had tears sliding down their cheeks.

Who knew what Kevin had suffered? It was not enough that evil Inter Milan had hired wizards off the pitch—they were deliberately fouling him on it too. Would they not rest until they had killed Kevin?

The referee walked over and immediately showed Favalli a yellow card.

"Team doctor, team doctor!!!"

Ancelotti's voice was utterly miserable.

Seedorf on the bench had already gotten up and begun warming up of his own accord.

Ancelotti's eyes remained fixed on the spot where the players from both teams were confronting each other.

Don't step on Kevin!

Huang Kaiwen took Kaka's hand and got to his feet, swaying unsteadily. His movements drew the attention of players from both sides.

"I-I'm fine. It wasn't his fault."

Huang Kaiwen's smile was somewhat forced.

Hearing him say that, even the Inter Milan players felt that Huang Kaiwen was a good guy.

Those higher-ups were truly disgusting.

Favalli came over, shook Huang Kaiwen's hand, and apologized. "I really didn't mean it, mate."

"It's not your fault."

Seeing the fourth official raise the substitution board at the sideline, Huang Kaiwen immediately crossed his arms in front of his chest in refusal and shouted at Ancelotti, "Coach, I can still play!"