Bang!
In the next instant, the banana free kick flashed into existence, curling viciously toward the extreme top-right corner of the goal.
Čech was already a prototype elite goalkeeper—long arms, long legs, outstanding reach—but even he couldn't get anywhere near that dead angle.
The ball drilled into the net, kicking up a spray of white mesh.
"GOAL!"
"A magnificent direct free kick!"
"As a Premier League side, Chelsea are far too familiar with Beckham's banana free kick! So familiar that they forgot—at Real Madrid, there's another man who can bend the ball with almost the exact same Beckham-style curve!"
"This free-kick routine is simply unsolvable!"
"What's unsolvable isn't the method—it's Beckham and Su Hang together!"
"Chelsea's shield can't block two curved blades at once!"
"One–nil! Su Hang opens the scoring for Real Madrid!"
"This season, in matches where Su Hang has scored for Real Madrid, he's been the opening scorer nearly seventy percent of the time!"
"This goal has a huge tactical impact on Chelsea."
"Can Chelsea still afford to sit deep and play pure defensive counterattacks? If they do, the home crowd might not tolerate it!"
This was the pressure of playing at home.
At Stamford Bridge, parking the bus and counterattacking would earn you boos.
But Mourinho had a big heart—he was willing to take it.
Because he knew that a counterattacking Real Madrid was the easiest Real Madrid to deal with.
Chelsea stayed deep.
In the thirty-ninth minute, their chance arrived.
Carvalho won the ball cleanly.
Joe Cole sent a long pass forward to launch the counter.
Shevchenko took it on and drove straight at Real Madrid's two center-backs.
Drogba made a powerful forward run, dragging Kompany away with him.
Ashley Cole arrived late, bursting into space down the left at full speed.
Shevchenko slipped a diagonal pass toward Ashley Cole, who struck it first time.
Unfortunately, the accuracy wasn't there—the shot went wide.
Chelsea fans applauded, then sighed in regret.
This was the downside of Shevchenko being too complete.
He played too rationally.
Or rather, he had no choice but to play rationally.
If that situation had fallen to Su Hang, Ronaldo, Cristiano Ronaldo, Eto'o, Van Nistelrooy, or Henry, they would have shot without hesitation.
Their teammates had already drawn defenders away—one-on-one, acres of space. What were you waiting for if not a shot?
But Shevchenko chose to pass.
From a purely positional standpoint, Ashley Cole did have the better chance.
Yet when you factor in a striker's touch, finishing ability, shooting instincts, psychology under pressure, and so on, letting Shevchenko—despite the worse angle—take the shot himself might actually have produced a higher scoring probability.
Unscientific science.
In the forty-second minute, Zidane gradually found his rhythm. He used a Marseille turn to slip past Mikel in the middle, then feigned a shot at the top of the box before playing a disguised pass.
Su Hang burst forward and poked a low shot toward goal.
It was a chance bordering on a nine-out-of-ten.
But Čech exploded outward, arms and body spreading wide, instantly sealing every shooting angle. The ball was brutally blocked away by his arm.
"Roar!"
Čech thrust his fists into the air. That save was a massive morale boost.
La Liga's most dangerous striker versus the Premier League's best goalkeeper—blow for blow, neither had the upper hand.
But the Chelsea right-back Diarra, who had just failed to keep up with Su Hang, was now down inside the box.
The reason he lost him was simple: as he pushed off, a sharp pain tore through his thigh.
A muscle strain, almost certainly.
The team doctor rushed on and signaled to Mourinho for a substitution.
"Oh! Diarra can't continue—he's been one of the main players tasked with limiting Su Hang today."
"But Su Hang doesn't just cover huge distances—he makes constant short sprints. That puts enormous strain on both his own muscles and the defenders' tendons."
"Essien is warming up. Mourinho has chosen him to deal with Su Hang."
"As a true beast in midfield, Essien clearly has the edge over Diarra in physicality, range, and defensive ability."
What timing.
They'd just praised Essien as a holding midfielder—and now he was being sent to right-back.
Mourinho knew exactly how to target an opponent.
This substitution was designed to lock Su Hang down completely.
In the forty-fifth minute, Chelsea struck on the counter again.
Lampard fired a long-range shot that earned a corner.
He took the corner himself.
Drogba rose and smashed a header off the crossbar.
The ball stayed in the box, chaos erupting in front of goal.
In the end, Shevchenko stabbed a shot home.
Chelsea equalized—1–1!
That finish, like Čech's earlier save, was electrifying.
Mourinho leapt off the bench, shadowboxing wildly along the touchline.
It wasn't that the goal itself was extraordinary.
It was that the 1–1 scoreline allowed Chelsea to stick to their plan in the second half.
Everything was back under Mourinho's control.
Had they failed to equalize, they would've been forced to adjust at halftime.
Adjust first, fall into passivity later—and get targeted tactically by Capello.
Capello had a different view: Mourinho, you're overthinking it. This Real Madrid side has no room to adjust. They can't target you.
Meanwhile, during the break, Su Hang spoke with Zidane.
"With Essien on, it'll be uncomfortable for me on the left. I'll need more support."
"But I'll drift right depending on the situation. When I do, watch your runs forward. They've pegged you as just a midfield conductor—they've forgotten how deadly your head is in front of goal."
Zidane looked awkward.
You're praising me, right?
Then why does it sound… strange?
At halftime, Chelsea made an immediate midfield substitution.
Makélélé replaced the already-booked Mikel.
It was obvious—Mourinho didn't want to give Su Hang even the slightest opening.
This was a very aggressive adjustment.
So don't listen to Mourinho when he talks about "Su Hang relying on luck to score" or "Su Hang not being the strongest striker."
A man's mouth lies.
Don't watch what he says—watch what he does.
Has he invested time, energy, money in you?
If not, then he doesn't give a damn.
And the opposite is also true.
In the fifty-first minute, Robinho was tangled up with Ballack and passed the ball to Su Hang.
Su Hang feinted repeatedly, but Essien didn't bite.
Zidane rushed over to support, playing a quick one-two with Su Hang.
But Essien was terrifyingly strong—he turned instantly, stayed glued to Su Hang, and went shoulder-to-shoulder.
At 1.78 meters tall and weighing 85 kilograms, the African buffalo Essien gave nothing away in the duel.
Su Hang knew he was faster. He abandoned the physical battle, darted toward the touchline, and tried to blow past Essien on the outside.
But Essien launched into a flying tackle, getting to the ball first and knocking it out of play—flatly denying Su Hang the chance to accelerate past him.
Su Hang went down as well.
But there was nothing wrong with that challenge.
In high-speed contests, clearing the ball early often sends the other player to the ground.
Most of the time, that fall is self-protective—not a foul.
Yet the moment Su Hang got up, Mourinho on the sideline charged over and shouted at him:
"You think you're fast?"
"You're slow as hell compared to Robben and Duff!"
...
(Full Series)
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