The ball changed its trajectory again, rolling into the penalty area at an even faster speed from the top of the arc.
Raul, positioned in the middle, stretched out his foot agilely, touching the ball before Mexes could, and as Doni had already dived to the right, this deflection off Raul’s foot changed the ball’s direction; he had no way to stop it and could only turn back to watch the ball drill into the goal.
The 7th minute of the first half.
Real Madrid’s first counterattack had resulted in a goal.
Ramos, who had already sprinted up the field, rushed over to embrace Raul, and Guti and others followed to the right side, surrounding Raul in celebration.
Standing on the left wing, Huang Kaiwen gave a thumbs up, and Raul waved back with a smile.
The attack had been so sudden, even he thought Huang Kaiwen would cut inside himself.
Even with the understanding between him and Huang Kaiwen, it was normal for the Rome players to be caught off-guard; although Huang Kaiwen made the penultimate pass, his role in this offensive play was indeed significant.
"Kevin has once again orchestrated an attack; this goal is immensely important, helping Real Madrid to successfully suppress Rome’s offensive."
"After suffering a defeat to Juventus in the league, Rome now faces another loss in the UEFA Champions League."
"Today, after hearing about Inzaghi being caught by London police for fishing without a license, I was quite worried about tomorrow’s Milan versus Arsenal match, feeling very anxious, but after watching Kevin play for a few minutes, I feel my emotions have settled."
"Perhaps the medical community should also study this, letting patients watch Kevin’s matches; who knows, there may just be some kind of medical miracle."
"But for now, I’m still more concerned about whether Inzaghi will be able to play tomorrow, God knows what he was thinking, going fishing in the River Thames."
The Milan away match against Arsenal was one day after Real Madrid’s.
This morning, as he was preparing to commentate Real Madrid’s match, he received the news: Inzaghi had been caught fishing in the River Thames early in the morning.
In the context of Milan’s forwards suffering from injuries, this was not exactly good news.
Stadio Olimpico Rome fell silent.
Although they were mentally prepared, the Rome fans found it difficult to accept their team conceding a goal so quickly.
It was their team that had been pressing Real Madrid for quite some time, and then Real Madrid had scored on their very first counterattack; it felt so unfair.
Rome fans looked at the figure in the white number ten jersey with complex expressions.
Kevin, indeed it was still that Kevin.
Spalletti sighed as he watched the Real Madrid players celebrate on the field.
Real Madrid with Huang Kaiwen was indeed tough to handle.
He gave his assistant coach a look.
The assistant coach immediately took out his phone to send a text message.
In a hidden location in the stands.
Francesco Rossi, a third-year student from the Department of Eastern Studies of the University of Rome La Sapienza, hired by Rome, took out his phone.
He saw the phrase "take action" in the message.
Rossi opened his backpack, took out a doll, rapidly tore off Huang Kaiwen’s photo from the doll, and attached Spalletti’s photo he had cut from the newspaper that morning.
In decent Mandarin, he said, "Congratulations, you’ve won a prize!"
Then he drove a rusty knife into the doll’s lower back.
Although he was a die-hard Rome fan, he was also very grateful for Kevin’s contributions to Italy.
This bastard Spalletti actually wanted him to harm Kevin, which was out of the question.
Rossi looked around to see if he was being observed; noticing no one, he quickly packed the items back into his bag.
After the match, he would use the money Spalletti gave him to go out and have fun with a few buddies.
If Rome won, they would celebrate; if Rome lost, they would drink away their sorrows.
In either case, they would be drinking, and someone else was footing the bill.
He had planned to leak this story to the media, but considering that the informant fee from the media wasn’t substantial, Rossi decided to scientifically manage Spalletti, taking good care of this big client.
If such an opportunity arose again, he would certainly agree to Spalletti’s request.
The match restarted, and De Rossi began to shadow Huang Kaiwen every step of the way.
De Rossi’s recent venture forward had immediately given Huang Kaiwen the chance to counterattack.
De Rossi decided not to participate in the offense today in order to effectively limit Huang Kaiwen.
The absence of this key player didn’t noticeably affect Rome’s offense.
Pizarro and Perrotta were in great form today, along with Mancini, who was quite active on the left wing, plus the experienced Totti and Giuly; one could hardly tell that they were missing De Rossi in the offensive lineup.
Rome’s onslaught grew fiercer with each wave, and Real Madrid’s patched-up defense seemed somewhat awkward.
"Tell me what it is, that binds us together, even when we’re far apart, tell me what it is, knocking forcefully deep inside, leaving us breathless..."
The fans in the stands reignited their passion, waving their flags and singing "grazie Roma" to cheer on their team.
Cassetti received Totti’s back pass, flicked the ball forward on the left wing, and immediately took a long shot. Ramos stretched out his foot but couldn’t touch the ball, as it soared through an arc between Cannavaro and Heinze straight toward the goal. Casillas leaped and firmly caught the ball in his chest.
"Beautiful! Casillas is really in good form."
"Today Rome isn’t playing conservatively at all; they have been relentless in their attacks since the start."
"Heh heh, Rome has never been a team that’s afraid of going toe-to-toe, they have their unique ferocity, and when they’re behind, they’re even more eager to fight. The nickname ’red wolves’ couldn’t be more fitting."