This time, Zhang Kuang did not do a "Siu," opting instead for an exuberant knee slide that carved three tracks through the turf. He had not expected a knee slide to feel so good.
After sliding, he stood up and pointed to the badge on his shirt for the spectators, and the Auxerre fans cheered excitedly.
His teammates rushed over and climbed onto him, piling man upon man. He had no idea how many times his backside got grabbed.
Fernandez smiled and clapped, then nodded in great satisfaction. What a signing. What a signing! Thank goodness we signed him.
Unfortunately, we can only keep him for half a season at most... but how could a team like Auxerre possibly hold on to a true superstar? Even half a season is good enough.
"Dugarry, what level of potential does an eighteen-year-old who keeps scoring hat-tricks like this have?" Bart, the France 1 host, asked Dugarry.
"Superstar level. The level of superstars like Ronaldo, Kaká, Ronaldinho, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Messi. However good a star's finishing is, if you want to keep breaking through different opponents' defenses, you need your own unique way of doing it.
"Ronaldo relies on his dribbling. He can beat defenders, even the goalkeeper. Ronaldinho relies on his inventiveness, which leaves opponents scratching their heads.
"Kaká relies on speed, eating up the ground with great strides so opponents simply cannot catch him. Cristiano Ronaldo is much like Ronaldo, relying on beating players and finishing. Messi is similar to Ronaldinho: inventiveness, with incredibly quick feet that leave opponents guessing.
"But Zhang Kuang doesn't have elite dribbling technique, let alone first-rate passing and receiving skills. He doesn't even have a top winger's ability to reach the byline and cross.
"He relies on strength. He is incredibly strong in physical contests, and hardly any defenders can hold him off. Then there is his quick, powerful shooting, his high leap, and his excellent heading..."
Bart interjected, "Isn't that Drogba, then?"
"Yes, his attributes are similar to Drogba's, but he is lighter and faster than Drogba, and even stronger. Also, Drogba doesn't have Zhang Kuang's heading ability. Although Drogba is no slouch in the air, from what we've seen so far, he is nowhere near Zhang Kuang."
"You mean he's an upgraded Drogba?"
"More or less."
"Whew... every big club is short of players of his type right now. How many Drogbas are there on the market? It's hard to find more than a handful of powerful center forwards with that sort of ability..."
"..."
The seventy-seventh minute.
Zhang Kuang's finest individual display of the match arrived.
Pedretti played a through ball in the attacking third. It threaded the gap between two Saint-Étienne defenders and dropped toward the right side of the penalty area. Zhang Kuang sprinted at full speed and forced the ball under control despite a defender pressing tight against him.
Then he held the defender off with his body, cut left to open up an angle, and swept a right-footed shot-
The ball zipped into the net at the near post.
4-0.
"GOOOOOOOOOOAL!" Bart's voice rang out again, cracking!
"It's in! It's in! Another one! Four goals! Zhang Kuang has made history! The first Chinese player to score four goals in a single match in Europe's top five leagues, and the first Asian player to do it..." Liu Jianhong completely let loose in the studio. "He looks like he's playing Pro Evolution Soccer out there! No, even Pro Evolution Soccer isn't this outrageous! Set it to the highest difficulty and use Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, and scoring four in one match is still an incredible achievement-but Zhang Kuang is playing like this in real life!"
"And the opposition is Saint-Étienne," Xu Yang added beside him, his voice carrying the solemnity of witnessing history. "Not Sedan, not some weak side, but Saint-Étienne, ten-time Ligue 1 champions. A home crowd of thirty-five thousand, green smoke and boos filling the stadium-in that kind of away atmosphere, an eighteen-year-old Chinese player has put four goals on the scoresheet."
"This is something every Chinese fan should remember, a night for every Chinese player to celebrate," Liu Jianhong said.
"Yes, we've always dreamed of a record like this, but never imagined it could become reality so soon. Sometimes, when we hope Chinese players achieve good results, it isn't because we want them to win some trophy. We just want to tell everyone, 'What others can do, we Chinese can do too.' Zhang Kuang has truly let every Chinese fan feel that defiant pride of 'we can do it too'..." Xu Yang continued talking away.
Meanwhile, on France 1, Dugarry was speechless too.
"I think they can take Chinese Zhang off now. He has scored four against them in one match. If he stays on the pitch, some opposing players may lose their composure and do something irrational."
"Oh? Why do you say that?"
"Think about it. When a team loses, they have to review the game, right? And that review needs a scapegoat, right? When the same player scores four against you, who do you think becomes the scapegoat?
"And being that scapegoat isn't as simple as just taking the blame. Along with it comes fans, the media, and fellow professionals all remembering how helpless you were against Zhang Kuang.
"Doesn't that affect your market value? Couldn't that cut your career short? So imagine how much the players involved must hate Zhang Kuang. If he is still on the pitch now, what will they do?"
"Whew, you mean..."
Just as Bart was about to speak, a scream came from the pitch. Zhang Kuang had been brought down by a sliding tackle, and Saint-Étienne's defensive linchpin, Yoann Benalouane, had gone down too.
"Whoa, it really happened. Let's see what happened on the pitch. Saint-Étienne had just kicked off from the center, and then Zhang Kuang ran toward their penalty area... look, he was getting ready to receive the ball. Yoann slid in with his studs showing and didn't pull out, kicking Zhang Kuang hard in the ankle. As Zhang Kuang lost his balance, he stepped on Yoann's ankle. This..."
"A fierce confrontation has broken out between the two sets of players. Yoann's tackle was intended to ruin Zhang Kuang. The Auxerre players are furious.
"And the Saint-Étienne players aren't backing down either. They can't beat them at football, but that might not be the case in a fight..." Bart rattled on with his commentary.
Dugarry was furious. "Yoann must be severely punished for this behavior. A player like Zhang Kuang is an asset to Ligue 1. If he ruins Zhang Kuang, it won't just be a loss for Chinese football, but for Ligue 1 football too. Remember, because of Zhang Kuang, Ligue 1 is now making a fortune selling broadcast rights to China..."
Soon, at the team doctors' signal, both players were stretchered off, with Yoann taken straight into an ambulance.
"????" Fans at the stadium and in front of their televisions were baffled. Why had Yoann been taken into an ambulance, while Zhang Kuang was still receiving treatment on the touchline?
Could Yoann be more seriously injured than Zhang Kuang?
They watched the replay again: Yoann raced in from Zhang Kuang's right, then launched a vicious sliding tackle, studs showing, slamming hard into Zhang Kuang's planted left foot. Then Zhang Kuang lost his balance, and his right foot came down...
???? Huh? It landed on Yoann's right ankle. What? Had it bent out of shape? Yoann's right ankle looked as though it had bent at a forty-five-degree angle, as if it had snapped?
Surely not?
This...