In the fifty-fifth minute, Su Hang cut inside from the left, only to be met by a combined press from Essien and Makélélé.
Makélélé eventually secured possession, and Chelsea were ready to launch yet another sharp, lethal counterattack.
At the critical moment, Su Hang simply hauled Makélélé down.
Then, before the referee could arrive, he reached out and helped "Granny Makélélé" back to his feet.
Unfortunately, the referee remained fair and impartial and showed Su Hang a yellow card.
In the fifty-ninth minute, after repeatedly running into trouble on the left, Su Hang drifted over to the right.
A wave of boos rolled around Stamford Bridge.
They were mocking Su Hang—clearly he couldn't survive on the left anymore, so he had fled to the right.
And in truth, that wasn't wrong.
In the sixtieth minute, Ramos passed to Beckham. Su Hang dropped back to ask for the ball, took it, spun past Ashley Cole in one motion, and burst toward the byline.
But Ashley Cole's recovery run was simply too fast.
His explosiveness was even better than Su Hang's, and his raw speed was superior as well.
In the end, Ashley Cole poked the ball out for a throw-in.
On the right flank, Su Hang still hadn't found a way through.
"Essien and Makélélé form a defensive wall of steel. And Ashley Cole's pace is the perfect counter to Su Hang."
"Chelsea's two flanks are making life extremely uncomfortable for him."
"Actually, Su Hang should try moving into the middle and attack Carvalho and Terry together with Van Nistelrooy."
Guest commentator Gary Neville offered his view.
But Derek Rae immediately pushed back.
"That's very difficult. Čech's defense is extremely solid, and the defensive triangle he forms with Terry and Carvalho is never going to give central attackers much space."
"Even though both Su Hang and Van Nistelrooy are excellent in the air, Čech's height and reach allow him to deal with crosses as early as possible."
In the sixty-third minute, Su Hang once again called for the ball on the right.
This time, Cole didn't stick too close, wary of being beaten in a single step.
Su Hang then used the overlapping Beckham for a quick one-two and slipped past Cole again.
Cole chased back once more, but this time Su Hang glanced toward the middle and whipped in a right-footed cross.
Van Nistelrooy held off Carvalho inside the six-yard box—only to realize the ball wasn't coming to him.
This was…
The far post!
Zidane stormed into the penalty area, leaped from behind Terry, and powered a header home before Terry even had time to jump!
Čech threw himself into a desperate save.
But Zidane's head was genuinely rock-hard.
Swish!
The ball flew straight into the net.
"GOAL!"
"Zidane!"
"Back from injury, and he delivers one goal and one assist!"
"The Zidane–Su Hang connection! A perfect cross from Su Hang!"
"The ball's flight traced the wings of an angel—and the King's header did not betray the angel's gift!"
"Three–one! Real Madrid lead by two goals away from home!"
"This Real Madrid side, far from their best this season, have beaten the Blues at Stamford Bridge!"
"This is La Liga imposing itself on the Premier League!"
"In front of true aristocracy, Chelsea are still just nouveau riche! They need years of accumulation to become a genuine giant!"
Chelsea's players began to grow impatient.
Mourinho's earlier setup was starting to lose its effect.
Forget Mourinho not being on the touchline—even if he were there, the players wouldn't have been willing to keep sitting deep.
Of course, according to Mourinho's plan, this was the phase where Chelsea should have been transitioning from defense to attack anyway.
Chelsea made a substitution.
Phillips came on for Joe Cole.
Phillips was another rapid winger. His adoptive father was Arsenal legend Ian Wright, who was inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame in 2022.
Phillips had once competed with Robben, Duff, and Joe Cole, forming one of Chelsea's four wings.
But of those four, he would go on to be the least famous.
On Real Madrid's side, Guti replaced Robinho to shore things up defensively.
With that change, Chelsea's defensive specialists stacked on the right were suddenly left idle.
In the sixty-seventh minute, Su Hang went at Ashley Cole on the right, repeatedly rolling the ball with stepovers.
Ashley Cole stayed unmoved—until Su Hang's body suddenly jolted and the electro-shock stepover triggered.
In that instant, the white-shirted Su Hang in front of him seemed to turn into the red-shirted Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United.
A touch inside!
Lightning-fast!
Bang!
Ashley Cole committed decisively—man first, ball second!
He knew that once Su Hang cut inside, no amount of speed would stop him from creating danger.
What he truly hadn't expected was that this world could contain two players who could perform stepovers with almost no deception, yet at terrifying speed.
Su Hang: "No football sense at all. There are always two players like this."
Cristiano Ronaldo: "Looks like I'm one of them."
Su Hang: "Maybe. But one of us lasts longer."
The referee's whistle blew. He walked over to warn Ashley Cole and awarded Real Madrid a well-positioned free kick on the right.
From this area, Beckham's cross-to-assist rate was extremely high.
But to everyone's surprise, Su Hang once again stood next to Beckham.
Chelsea captain Terry actually felt relieved.
If Su Hang went into the box to compete for headers, the defensive pressure would be enormous.
But going to Beckham instead—wasn't that crippling himself?
Soon, Su Hang jogged slowly toward the ball.
Everyone knew what was coming.
He would step over it, and Beckham would follow with a curling delivery.
No exceptions.
Bang!
Su Hang swung his leg and sent in the cross himself.
Almost every Chelsea and Real Madrid player froze on the spot.
Chelsea hadn't expected it.
Real Madrid hadn't planned it.
But in the unseen currents of fate, things were already aligned.
Kompany, who had locked eyes with Su Hang earlier, had kept an extra bit of awareness—no small feat.
He charged into the box, completely unmarked, with no one tracking or interfering.
A header like this?
He'd have to try to miss.
And he wasn't Havertz!
Bang!
The ball smashed into the turf, bounced up, and flew into the goal.
Čech was helpless.
"GOAL!"
"Kompany!"
"This lottery ticket Real Madrid picked up from an unknown league has hit the jackpot!"
"He's only twenty-one, yet he's already a starting center-back for Real Madrid!"
"Samuel, Woodgate, Helguera, Pavón, Bravo… so many good players couldn't secure this spot—but Kompany did!"
"And this header might be one of the reasons why!"
"He has an exceptional understanding with Su Hang, allowing him to contribute on both defense and attack!"
"A three-goal victory! Real Madrid are slaughtering Chelsea!"
"Two assists and two goals—Su Hang has replicated what he did to Chelsea in the Champions League two years ago!"
"Last time, he recorded two goals and two assists, turning the tide and knocking Chelsea out!"
"This time, will he once again send Chelsea packing from the Champions League?"