Chapter 308 - 301: Hat-trick

"Ajax intercepts and counters!"

"Charisteas passes to Pinaar."

"Pinaar with a through ball behind the defense..."

"Yang Yang quickly makes a run..."

"Groningen’s center-back is also tracking back very quickly, blocking Yang Yang’s path."

...

Yang Yang was near the left corner of the penalty area, face-to-face with the opposing center-back. One-on-one.

The moment they engaged, before the defender could plant his feet, Yang Yang quickly executed a Pendulum Move. He feinted as if he was going to cross from the byline, but then suddenly cut the ball inside.

The instant he cut past the center-back, Yang Yang felt an incredibly strong impulse. Without a second thought, he swung his right foot and shot!

The ball, spinning fiercely, traced a beautiful arc before grazing the fingertips of the opposing Goalkeeper, Rolda, and crashing into the top-right corner of the goal!

Top corner! An absolutely perfect top corner shot!

After scoring, Yang Yang once again sprinted off the pitch, right up to the television camera. Overcome with excitement, he completely lost himself in the moment, repeatedly pointing at his chest at the camera, as if to say, ’I did it!’

’I really did it!’

At that moment, Yang Yang suddenly had the urge to burst into tears. He desperately wanted to tell the whole World that he had done it!

He desperately wanted to tell his idol, Ronaldo, that he had finally done it!

His teammates swarmed him from behind, mobbing him in a group hug.

Every one of them was shouting in his ear, celebrating his goal and congratulating him for breaking the legendary record.

But Yang Yang couldn’t hear who was speaking at all. He couldn’t even tell if anyone was speaking.

In any case, his mind was a complete blank. He was totally stunned!

"That was an absolutely perfect top corner shot!"

"Yang Yang’s thirtieth league goal of the season, and it was spectacular."

"Groningen’s Goalkeeper, Rolda, was clearly powerless to stop it."

"Let’s congratulate Yang Yang! Congratulations to him for finally breaking Ronaldo’s legendary record, which has stood for ten years!"

"To all the fans in the Amsterdam Arena, and to all the viewers watching on TV, let’s give our loudest applause and cheers to congratulate Yang Yang! Congratulations to him for becoming the youngest player in the history of the Eredivisie to score thirty goals in a single season! Congratulations to him for breaking Ronaldo’s legendary record from ten years ago!"

"Perhaps, after tonight, none of us will ever again doubt Yang Yang’s skill and potential. None of us will ever again doubt the title he bears: ’Ronaldo II’."

"Two years into his career, ever since he began using Ronaldo’s signature Pendulum Move to break through defenders time and again, people started hoping he could become the next Ronaldo. But many more were skeptical. Ronaldo was a goalscorer, scoring in floods from the day he debuted. Yang Yang, however, was a winger, even if he dribbled past opponents with effortless ease."

"But I believe that after this season, after tonight’s match, no one will doubt Yang Yang any longer, because he has done what Ronaldo once did."

"Eighteen years old, thirty Eredivisie goals. His performance is almost unbelievable!"

"But it’s only the sixty-fourth minute. There’s still half an hour of the match left. Perhaps we should once again encourage Yang Yang with our passionate applause and cheers, urging him to keep going."

"Just as Ronaldo said before, Yang Yang shouldn’t want to be the second Ronaldo. He should bravely be himself and become the first Yang Yang!"

"There’s still half an hour to go! Let’s continue to cheer for Yang Yang!"

......

......

When Yang Yang finished his goal celebration, he tried to calm himself. He ran to the sidelines to hug Ronald Koeman, Luther Carroll, and his teammates on the bench, celebrating his new Eredivisie record. Then he immediately returned to the pitch and got back into the game.

Meanwhile, far away in Nijmegen, the home team’s fans also received the news from Amsterdam.

After the second half began, Kuyt had been playing with extreme effort, constantly looking for chances and repeatedly threatening Nijmegen’s goal. His teammates beside him were also constantly drawing defenders away to create opportunities for him.

The entire Feyenoord team, from top to bottom, was driven by a single belief: they had to score.

A frenzied Feyenoord had nearly pushed Nijmegen to the brink. A sense of panic filled the air in front of the home team’s goal, which seemed on the verge of collapsing. It was as if everyone could already see a goal being scored.

The only question was, who would score it?

Kuyt?

The Dutch star striker was clearly hungry for it. He believed that if he could just score one more goal, he could widen the gap with Yang Yang again, and he would officially join the ranks of strikers who have scored thirty goals in a single Eredivisie season.

The last domestic striker to score more than thirty goals in the Eredivisie was named Ruud van Nistelrooy.

But just as Kuyt was eagerly rubbing his hands in anticipation of a goal, while he was facing the direction of the attack, he saw the fans in the stands behind the home team’s goal raise two huge cards. On them, two Arabic numerals were taped in black: a three on the left, and a zero behind it.

’What does that mean?’

Kuyt suddenly felt as if he had been plunged into an ice cellar. His frenzied state cooled in an instant.

To make matters worse, the Nijmegen fans started chanting "Thirty!" in unison.

The signal could not have been more obvious.

In the match over in Amsterdam, Yang Yang had scored again!

That crazy Chinese player had scored again!

His thirtieth league goal!

’Good God, has he gone insane tonight?’

Kuyt felt as if all his strength had been drained away. He suddenly realized that even if he scored another goal, it would be in vain.

Yang Yang had scored thirty goals and broken Ronaldo’s record. He had won!

He was going to be the final winner of this contest!

Even if Kuyt ended up scoring again, even if he scored more than Yang Yang, he had already lost.

Perhaps he had already lost from the moment the thirty-second round of matches ended, when he thought a three-goal lead with two rounds to go was a sure thing!

......

......

"Damn it! How can these fans do this?"

Gullit also saw the cards held up by the Nijmegen fans and heard their chants. He was fuming with rage on the sidelines.

This was a huge blow to Feyenoord’s morale!

The Nijmegen fans had directly relayed the latest score from the Amsterdam Arena onto the pitch. For the Feyenoord players, this was definitely a massive blow.

It would completely strip them of their motivation!

Outrageous!

Gullit practically had the urge to run up there and fight them!

And in fact, the Feyenoord head coach’s worries were definitely not unfounded.

When the score from the Amsterdam Arena came through, Feyenoord, who had been attacking like a relentless tide, suddenly started to play chaotically. This led directly to a mistake in the seventy-first minute, which Nijmegen quickly capitalized on. Striker Van den Eld scored, breaking the deadlock.

This goal was undoubtedly like rubbing salt in Feyenoord’s bloody wound.

Gullit felt a sense of deflated defeat, as if all the strength had been drained from his body.

’It’s over!’

’It’s completely over!’

......

......

Far away in Amsterdam, Yang Yang and the Ajax players had no idea what was happening over in Nijmegen.

After scoring two goals, they still hadn’t given up.

Yang Yang wasn’t satisfied either. He didn’t know the score from the Feyenoord match after the second half started. He just felt that a one-goal lead over Kuyt wasn’t safe, so he continued to relentlessly search for opportunities.

Finally, in the seventy-seventh minute, Ajax delivered another brilliant pass from the edge of the box.

Sneijder’s through ball was like a scalpel, sharply cutting open Groningen’s defensive formation and precisely delivering the ball to the right side of the penalty area.

The instant Sneijder sent the through ball, Yang Yang shook off his defender, burst into the penalty area at top speed, and calmly side-footed the ball into Groningen’s goal once again!

Tom van Schijndel blew his whistle forcefully, signaling a valid goal.

This referee, who had always been known for his strict officiating, hadn’t even shown a single yellow card tonight.

This obviously wasn’t because both sides were playing cleanly, but because the match was almost completely one-sided.

"A hat-trick!"

"This is the first hat-trick of Yang Yang’s professional career!"

"Good God! No one expected this, no one could have possibly imagined that the first hat-trick of Yang Yang’s career would come tonight, on an occasion like this!"

"That’s his thirty-first league goal!"

"This goal puts Yang Yang ahead of Ronaldo!"

"This is simply too incredible to believe!"

"I can’t think of any more beautiful words to describe Yang Yang’s performance tonight. All I can say is, it’s fantastical, it’s perfect!"

"Perhaps, many, many years from now, we will still be talking about tonight’s match with great relish. We will proudly tell everyone that we personally witnessed the birth of this new legendary record by Yang Yang!"

"And here, let us also congratulate Yang Yang! Congratulations to Ajax!"

......

......

After scoring his third goal, Yang Yang didn’t lose control as he might have expected. He didn’t lose his senses. Although his body was completely overcome with ecstasy, he remained very calm, just smiling continuously.

Far away in Nijmegen, the home team’s fans were also smiling, because they quickly raised another two cards.

Thirty-one!

The entire stadium of more than 10,000 fans chanted the number "thirty-one" in unison.

The meaning needed no further explanation. Everyone knew clearly: another goal had been scored in the match at the Amsterdam Arena!

Yang Yang had scored his thirty-first goal of the season! At the same time, this was also the first hat-trick of his professional career!

Kuyt was completely crushed!

He had previously thought that Yang Yang wasn’t an explosive type of player. His goal-scoring was always steady, but he rarely scored a brace, let alone a hat-trick.

But who could have thought that Yang Yang would completely explode in the last three matches.

Two braces, winning the team an Eredivisie title and a UEFA Cup trophy.

And now, a hat-trick, which brought him an Eredivisie Golden Boot Award and simultaneously broke Ronaldo’s legendary record.

Kuyt truly had no strength left to chase him!

And six minutes later, Feyenoord conceded another goal.

Russian striker Andrei Nizheyan scored another for Nijmegen.