Two-Point Shot!

Two-Point Shot!

"Don't take wild shots!"

A voice came from the backfield. It was Ian, his brow tightly furrowed. He had never gotten along with Maël, and whenever he had the chance, he naturally had to throw in a couple of digs.

"Good attempt. Keep going!"

But right after that, Hans, the Head Coach on the sideline, started clapping in encouragement. He firmly stood on Maël's side. "If you get the chance, shoot!"

Once he said that, quite a few Arsenal players who had already thought the shot was of decent quality immediately began to echo him.

"Good ball."

"Don't worry, Maël. We all trust your shooting. Hope you can score your first goal of your Arsenal U17 career!"

"Not bad. Get it on target and it'll go in!"

Now it was Ian's turn to feel awkward. His voice was drowned out by all the praise and did not draw anyone's attention at all.

He watched Maël wave to his teammates, making a regretful shake of the head, then saw the other boy's gaze skip right over him, selectively ignoring him.

He clenched his teeth and moved with the team's formation.

"Don't complain. Encourage more."

Hopkins, the team's Goalkeeper, stood behind him and gave him a reminder. "Maël isn't the Maël from before anymore. Look at his shooting and physical ability now. It's best not to make things difficult for him."

Ian gave a soft snort and said nothing.

Subconsciously, he turned to glance at Wenger on the sideline, wanting to see the First Team manager's reaction to that shot.

Unfortunately, Mr. Wenger's face was expressionless. Nothing could be read from it at all.

Bang!

The Liverpool Goalkeeper then took the goal kick, still choosing to drive the ball straight toward the frontfield and launch a quick attack.

The match returned to its proper rhythm. Everyone focused their attention and began battling with the opposing players.

Bang, bang, bang...!

The sound of passing rang out nonstop. The Rhythm on the pitch was extremely fast, and possession changed hands just as quickly, with fierce physical clashes breaking out from time to time.

Never think that Wenger sitting on the sideline only motivated the Arsenal players. It did the same for the Liverpool players! Everyone on the pitch today was racking their brains for ways to show themselves off, dreaming the sweet dream of being noticed by the Professor, soaring to the top, and playing in the Premier League.

Many players boldly tried moves. Whether it was defenders making big positional blocks and flying tackles, or attackers pulling off Bicycle Dribbling and Elastico, all kinds of flashy tricks to show off individual ability appeared one after another.

"Oh...!"

"Get him! Get him! Nice!"

"Beat him!"

This also very easily ignited the fans' interest. Watching a match like this was sometimes much more fun than watching a dull Premier League game.

The turning point that changed the course of the match came in the thirteenth minute of the first half. Arsenal captain Gilbert made a mistake and was dispossessed. Liverpool quickly spread out their formation and launched a fast counterattack.

Bang!

When their wide midfielder found the No. 9 striker with a Precise Guidance pass, there was no longer much suspense.

Swish!

Liverpool's No. 9 leaped high and headed the ball into Arsenal's net ahead of Ian. Goalkeeper Hopkins was powerless to stop it.

One-nil!

Liverpool took the lead first! "Haha!"

"Yeah...!"

The Liverpool players laughed as they rushed to the sideline in small groups, high-fived back and forth, and finally embraced, freely releasing the joy of scoring.

Arsenal fell into a brief silence. Everyone lowered their heads and stopped speaking.

On the sideline, Hans scratched his head. Looking slightly helpless, he returned to the coaching bench and secretly observed Wenger's expression.

It was still expressionless, as if none of this had anything to do with him.

"My fault. Sorry, everyone."

On the pitch, Arsenal captain Gilbert was the first to raise his head and wave at his teammates. "I thought—forget it. A mistake is a mistake."

"It's fine. No one blames you."

"Let's go again. There's still plenty of time. We just need to get one back."

A wave of encouragement rang out. Maël also walked to his side at this moment and patted him on the back. "Pass to me if you get the chance. I'll use a Long Shot to get it back. You can even pad an assist and make up for it."

"Hahaha."

That half-joking remark brought a faint smile to Gilbert's face, but he did not refuse. "You said it. Don't let me down."

"Of course."

Maël shrugged, then turned his head to face the direction of attack.

Bang!

As Arsenal center forward Gabi restarted play, Maël strolled back into the opponent's half again, waiting for his chance.

After spending a short while adapting to the rhythm of the youth-team match, he had wiped away all his pre-match worries. All that remained was the anticipation of scoring.

Now that he had a certain level of physicality, holding his position was not hard.

If holding his position was not hard, then winning possession surely would not be hard either, and by extension, completing the final shot would not be hard.

As long as he got two or three more chances, he was highly confident he could send the ball into the opponent's net! Maël's second shooting chance came in the 21st minute, and the one who passed to him really was the captain, Gilbert.

"Thump." After judging the path of the ball, he turned his head for a glance. Seeing the goalkeeper positioned toward the left, he took the ball toward the middle and aimed for the far corner on the right.

"I've got him!"

A confident shout rang out as Liverpool's center back came across to cover, intending to block Maël's shot.

He had seen the previous clash between his fullback and Maël, knew the fullback was no match for him, and thought it would be better to cover himself.

He was strong and powerfully built, and among youth players, his physicality was absolutely at an excellent level.

Maël had originally wanted to snap off a quick shot, but he sensed that the center back was coming in too fast. If he shot directly, it would most likely be blocked.

Somewhat helpless, he stepped forward with his left foot, drove power through his right leg, and slammed his body hard to the left, trying to force the defender back.

Bang! The sound of flesh and bone colliding rang out, and both of them staggered a step before steadying themselves.

Clear surprise surfaced in the Liverpool center back's eyes. He was so big, and Maël was so young, so how had they ended up evenly matched? In a place no one noticed, Wenger's gaze also shifted, showing a trace of astonishment.

Boom!!

A second later, it was still Maël who reacted first. He folded his right leg and lashed a Cannon Shot toward the far corner of the goal.

The ball rose off the ground with almost no spin, flying straight toward the far corner while continuing to climb in the air.

Smack!

Fortunately, the Liverpool goalkeeper moved rapidly, throwing himself left just before the ball could hit the net and dragging it away from goal.

A brilliant save! That was everyone on the pitch's first reaction, because they had all seen just how high-quality that shot was.

"Phew..." The Liverpool goalkeeper quietly drew in a breath and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with his glove.

Giving the opposition a Corner Kick was already the best possible outcome.

That Arsenal Number 31—his long shots were that good? Boom!!

Before Maël, outside the arc of the penalty area, could even finish feeling regretful, the Corner Kick had already been taken.

Unsurprisingly, the first ball was won by a taller Liverpool defender, who headed it clear out of the box.

As for the second ball... when the Liverpool players turned to look outside the penalty area, they saw a face they were utterly unwilling to see.

Several shades of panic appeared on their faces, as if they already knew what was about to happen.

Boom!!

After bringing the ball down, that figure stretched his body and whipped out his leg in one seamless burst, once again blasting an unstoppable Cannon Shot loaded with terrifying power, like an ancient archer drawing a bow to the full and loosing a sharp arrow.

The Liverpool goalkeeper closed his eyes and threw himself along the ball's approximate path, but unfortunately, he dived at empty air.

By the time he reacted, there was only the sound of the net behind him: "Swish!"