Chapter 19 Adriano's Determination

Since Li Yongle didn't explain further, Adriano remained unclear as to why Zhang Jun would score three goals in the next league match. What he couldn't understand even more was why Li Yongle was so certain Zhang Jun would achieve a hat trick, like a fortune-telling wizard.

Li Yongle figured this was a promise between Zhang Jun and Sophie, and there was no need to involve Ade. The current Zhang Jun was beyond Adriano's reach.

However, Ade didn't seem to appreciate it.

In the Meazza's locker room, Adriano confidently told everyone that he would score twice again today, surpassing Zhang Jun. The other teammates cheered him on, but his best friend, Li Yongle, remained silent, which was unusual. Adriano recalled Li Yongle's cold water from a few days ago, but he didn't mind. He thought, *I'm going to defeat Zhang Jun anyway, and then you'll regret it.*

It wasn't Adriano's fault for being so arrogant. As the main striker for the Brazilian national team and Inter Milan, he was in great form at the beginning of this season, so he naturally felt that now was the perfect time to surpass Zhang Jun and become the best striker in Serie A.

But Li Yongle just watched his friend silently, without saying a word. Although Inter Milan and Fiorentina's opponents weren't considered strong, and their opponents were even weaker than Zhang Jun's, he knew that even he himself wouldn't want to face Zhang Jun one-on-one at this time.

※※※

Zhang Jun checked again to make sure the words on the t-shirt under his jersey hadn't faded, then put the jersey back down. The people in the team knew what he was going to do, so they didn't ask any more questions.

Seeing Zhang Jun's meticulous preparations, Sabato suddenly wanted to laugh. For the first time, he advised his player for the sake of the opponent: "Hey, Zhang Jun, although this is our home game, you should at least save some face for Sampdoria..."

Zhang Jun looked up at Sabato in surprise: "Boss, a game is a game, why should I save face for them?"

Sabato was stunned by Zhang Jun's question and didn't know how to respond, so he coughed twice: "That's true, that's true. It's good for young people to be energetic..."

He heard boos from Xiang Tao.

Hearing Xiang Tao's boos, Sabato clearly showed "displeasure" on his face. He looked at the players who were acting as if nothing had happened, and then suddenly roared: "Damn it! I've said everything I need to say just now, and now I'll say it to you one last time: This is our home game, and Sampdoria is just a mid-tier team! They can't pose any threat to us at all! Defeat them! Beat them badly! Let all the teams in Serie A who want to pull us down from the top position see—this is the strength of Fiorentina!!"

Everyone howled like beasts, causing Dilivio next to him to frown. No matter how you looked at it, these people didn't look like serious professional players, but like a bunch of bandits.

Among these beast-like players, only Zhang Jun and Klu remained normal, and even the gentle and refined Morientes was a little emotional. An aura of fearlessness and dominance was something that all Fiorentina players could feel now.

※※※

Even Li Yongle had to admit that Ade was in great form today, as if he had been holding back a lot of energy. Seven minutes into the game, Inter Milan took the lead with a goal from Adriano. A powerful long-range shot from outside the penalty area, a signature goal.

After scoring, Adriano was very proud in addition to being excited. He looked at Li Yongle in a demonstrative manner, but Li Yongle was glancing at the LCD screen in the stands of the Meazza, which was broadcasting the scores of other matches.

Adriano looked up and quickly noticed the following information: Fiorentina 1:0 Sampdoria, Zhang Jun 6 minutes.

He was even one minute faster than him!

Staring at the screen with his mouth open, the joy of scoring a goal vanished from Adriano's body.

※※※

On the other field, Zhang Jun had just put down the jersey he had lifted after scoring, with the t-shirt inside reading: "Thank you for your companionship over the past eleven years, Happy Birthday!"

He knew that Sophie would definitely be watching this game in the hotel, so she would definitely see this sentence.

Sophie did see it. When she saw Zhang Jun score, she jumped up and cheered for her lover as usual, but when she saw this deliberately prepared "birthday gift" from Zhang Jun, which she hadn't expected, she was shocked and covered her mouth, looking at the Chinese characters on the TV screen.

Even though they weren't together, this birthday was one she would never forget.

※※※

Li Yongle shifted his gaze from the screen and happened to see Adriano looking at him.

"You must know something, right?" Adriano asked.

"Well..." Li Yongle pondered slightly, "Maybe you won't believe it, because it sounds a bit absurd. But it's true, October 20th is Sophie's birthday. Sophie, you know, is Zhang Jun's fiancée. And Zhang Jun made a promise to Sophie a long time ago: he will dedicate a hat trick to Sophie every year on her birthday. Although this promise hasn't been fulfilled every year, if there's a chance, I don't think Zhang Jun will let it go."

Adriano listened as if he were hearing a fairy tale: "Liar... Are you saying that Zhang is just going to use a strong professional team as a stepping stone for his fiancée? A hat trick is something you can achieve just by wanting to?!"

Li Yongle shrugged: "Maybe he usually can't do it, but today he has a very good chance of succeeding."

Adriano's face changed: "Okay... If he can, then so can I!"

Li Yongle looked at Adriano, who was still full of confidence, and couldn't bear to pour cold water on him again, so he nodded and said, "Okay, you just shoot in front, and I'll pass the ball to your feet."

Adriano smiled, that's what his friend should be like.

But Li Yongle wasn't sure if he could help Adriano surpass Zhang Jun in the number of goals scored in today's game.

※※※

Sampdoria was very depressed now. They didn't know about Zhang Jun and Sophie's agreement, so they were caught off guard by Zhang Jun's early goal. Conceding a goal too early completely disrupted Sampdoria's tactical arrangements. They originally wanted to be low-key and defend and counterattack in the away game—teams trained by traditional Italian coaches were basically like this.

But now that they had conceded a goal first, how could they defend and counterattack?

Pressing out to attack was exactly what Sabato wanted. He couldn't wait for Sampdoria to abandon their previous tactics and come out to attack him head-on.

Of course, he knew why Zhang Jun was so excited today. It definitely wasn't because he took drugs. Zhang Jun's outburst was only a good thing for him, not a bad thing. Today, he would take advantage of Zhang Jun's outburst to establish his authority in Italy.

When Fiorentina saw that Sampdoria wanted to attack, they immediately retreated slightly to lure the enemy. When Sampdoria counterattacked twice and found that they didn't encounter any resistance, and were preparing to go all out, Fiorentina suddenly exerted their strength, and a very threatening attack almost broke Sampdoria's goal.

If Morientes' shot hadn't been a little off, Sampdoria would have been 0:2 behind now.

Li Yan watched the game with interest in the press box. He already knew about the situation at Inter Milan. With the connections he had accumulated in Italy for so many years, he could still find out the internal news of Inter Milan.

That guy Adriano actually wanted to compete with Zhang Jun in the number of goals scored in this game. This was really an interesting news story. It seemed that he would have something to write about after the game.

※※※

Just as the first half was about to end, Inter Milan took the lead again, but this time it wasn't Adriano who scored, but his partner Martins. Martins' speed was also very famous in Serie A. This time, he relied on his speed to grab the opportunity before the opponent's goalkeeper and turn what was originally a back pass into a goal.

Although this was related to the mistake in coordination between the opponent's defender and goalkeeper, Martins' speed was the key to the victory.

Adriano didn't score, but he was still happy for his partner. Most importantly, he knew that Li Yongle would help him, so his confidence greatly increased.

Thinking like this, he looked at Li Yongle again, but he was surprised to see that Li Yongle was looking at the screen on the stands. His heart skipped a beat, could it be...

He quickly followed suit and looked over. After waiting for a while, the score between Fiorentina and Sampdoria appeared, 1:0, good, the score hadn't changed.

Li Yongle would look up at the scores of other matches every once in a while, which meant he was concerned about Zhang Jun's situation. Adriano didn't know this and thought that every time Li Yongle looked up, the score had changed over there.

※※※

Back in the locker room, Xiang Tao was still cursing: "Damn it! We played so smoothly in the first half, why didn't we score more goals? Only one goal in forty-five minutes!"

Gasbarroni next to him shook his head: "Don't complain, just bad luck!" Fiorentina had at least three clear-cut chances in the first half, but apart from one shot that went wide, the remaining two were all unexpectedly saved by the goalkeeper.

Zhang Jun remained silent on the side. He had quite a few opportunities in the first half, but he didn't seize them. Perhaps he was too eager to complete a hat trick, which made him lose his calm judgment.

Now that the team had a clear advantage but couldn't extend their lead, he, as the captain, had to reflect on himself.

"Well, let's change things up a bit in the second half. Sampdoria's central defense is very tight, so we don't have many opportunities. In the second half, we'll put all our attacking power on the wings..." Sabato drew the team's attacking routes on the tactical board, two black lines extending from his own half along the wings to the opponent's penalty area. "Joaquín and Gasbarroni, make full use of your speed, but don't get too entangled on the wings. If you have a chance, cross the ball, we don't need to worry too much about headers with Morientes and Zhang. The key is to not give their defenders time to position themselves, so the speed must be fast. If there's no chance, pass it back to Krøldrup in the center and let him reorganize the attack."

Everyone nodded, indicating that they understood.

"Xiang Tao, assist more frequently, Sampdoria doesn't have the extra strength to counterattack." When Xiang Tao heard that he could participate in the attack without any worries, he immediately perked up and patted his chest loudly, "No problem! Leave it to me! If they dare to break through from my side and try to attack my back, I'll definitely make sure they don't come back!"

Sabato glared at him: "Idiot! I'm telling you to assist, not to foul!" Then he turned his head to Zhang Jun, who had been silent since entering the locker room, "Zhang, you played well in the first half, continue in the second half." He didn't have much to say to this captain, because he knew that Zhang Jun would figure it out himself.

Zhang Jun nodded and then looked down at the bracelet on his wrist.

Sophie, happy birthday.

※※※

Adriano walked out of the tunnel and saw Li Yongle habitually glancing at the screen on the stands again, and he wanted to laugh. During the half-time break, he had asked Li Yongle, and Li Yongle had explained to him why he always glanced at that screen. Now he must be concerned about Zhang Jun again, those two were natural rivals.

There were three other matches being played at the same time as Inter Milan's match. Although the kick-off times were the same, the second half started at different times due to the different amount of injury time in the first half. Inter Milan had a full five minutes of injury time in the first half because some fans caused trouble. Disappointed away fans threw fireworks onto the field, and luckily the security personnel cleaned it up in time, otherwise the match wouldn't have just had five minutes of injury time.

As a result, the other matches had already started, while Inter Milan's players had just taken the field.

Li Yongle stared at the horizontal LCD screen, looking for information about Fiorentina.

Udinese 1:3 AC Milan, he didn't expect their city rivals to be able to easily lead by two goals in the away game.

Lecce 2:2 Chievo, the two mid-table teams were evenly matched, but with four goals scored just as the second half had started, the match must be very intense.

Fiorentina 2:0 Sampdoria, Zhang Jun 46 minutes.

Zhang Jun 46 minutes!

Li Yongle's body trembled slightly, he scored again just as the second half had started! Damn it! Sure enough... Li Yongle couldn't help clenching his fists.

Adriano saw that Li Yongle next to him was a little abnormal, with a serious expression, staring at the screen. He also looked over, he didn't see the score for Fiorentina at first, but he could clearly see the goal scorer and the time of the goal that was subsequently refreshed.

Zhang Jun 46 minutes!

That kid!

Adriano also clenched his fists.

※※※

All of Fiorentina shouted with one voice: "Long live Zhang Jun! Long live Fiorentina!!" All the Fiorentina fans stood up, raising their arms high. The scene was quite spectacular.

This time Zhang Jun didn't excitedly lift his jersey, he just raised his right index finger and held his right arm in the air, while circling his arm in the air. The purple bracelet on his wrist was particularly eye-catching in the close-up of the camera. Behind him was a group of excited Fiorentina players, of course they wouldn't be stupid enough to run after Zhang Jun, they wanted to catch up with Zhang Jun and then tackle him.

When Zhang Jun ran to the corner flag area, the leader Joaquín finally caught up with Zhang Jun, and then lunged forward and slammed into Zhang Jun's back, pressing him to the ground, shouting Spanish that Zhang Jun couldn't understand.

Then more players fell from the sky and pressed the two of them to the ground.

After finally crawling out of the pile of teammates, Zhang Jun didn't forget to send his birthday wishes to Sophie. He ran to a camera near the corner flag and kissed the bracelet in front of the camera.

He thought the meaning was very clear, and Sophie in front of the TV would definitely be able to see it.

"Zhang Jun is as active as if he's taken drugs—uh, of course, we're just joking, we're not saying that he really took drugs—he's already scored two goals! On the other side, Adriano has been silent since scoring a goal early in the game. Zhang Jun looks to be in very good form today, maybe he can complete a hat trick."

Sabato was very satisfied with Zhang Jun's performance, because he had gradually regained his composure. The first five minutes after the start and the last five minutes before the end were the times when the team was most likely to become complacent, and also the best time to score goals. Zhang Jun seized this opportunity and took advantage of the fact that Sampdoria's players hadn't fully entered the game at the beginning of the second half. With a beautiful near-post finish, he easily put the ball into the goal.

※※※

Adriano wasn't willing to give up, he was still working hard to find opportunities to continue scoring goals. Li Yongle was also wholeheartedly helping him, but Bologna, their opponent, wasn't weak either, at least not weak enough to let Inter Milan score as many goals as they wanted.

Time passed by minute by minute, and the scores of Inter Milan and Fiorentina were the same, both leading their opponents 2:0.

Seeing Martins being substituted, Stanković being substituted, Adriano was a little anxious, he was afraid that Mancini would substitute him as well. But fortunately, Mancini soon used Pasquale to replace Cambiasso, who was running out of energy, using up all three substitution slots.

On the other side, Sabato also began to make substitutions constantly, first using Pazzini to replace Morientes, who was having problems with his stamina. Then he used Laursen to replace Bonera, increasing the attacking power on the right wing, he was still going to attack from the wings.

Sampdoria naturally saw his intentions and immediately adjusted their tactics by making substitutions to strengthen their defense on the wings.

But Sabato wasn't worried about this. He knew that in order to defend his wings, Sampdoria would inevitably mobilize heavy troops to guard the wings, so relatively, loopholes would appear in the central defense. At this time, it was time for Krøldrup to play his part. He hadn't had many opportunities to perform in this game, and now he had to seize these opportunities.

"Krøldrup!" Sabato stood on the sidelines and nodded to Krøldrup.

Krøldrup nodded, he knew it was time for him to play.

Gasbarroni, Xiang Tao, Joaquín, and Bonera took turns attacking Sampdoria's wings, causing Sampdoria to concentrate all their attention on their wings, and gradually ignored Krøldrup in the center.

Krøldrup was like a bloodthirsty wolf, licking his lips while staring at Sampdoria's defenders.

※※※

After Mascherano intercepted the ball, he was looking up to find someone when he saw Krøldrup raise his hand.

Mascherano naturally knew the coach's intentions, so he passed the ball to Krøldrup in front, and let Krøldrup decide the method of attack.

After receiving the ball, Krøldrup didn't dribble immediately, but stayed in place, waiting for the Sampdoria defensive midfielder defending him to close in. Seeing that the distance between the two was shrinking, Krøldrup quickly shook his right foot behind the ball, making the opponent think that he was going to use the "elastico", and quickly lunged to one side. But Krøldrup's movement was just a feint. He quickly kicked the ball from behind his body to the left with his right foot, exactly opposite to the opponent's direction.

The Fiorentina fans were very excited to see that he had easily dodged the opponent's defense, and the unrestrained screams resounded through the Franchi again.

The last Sampdoria defense still thought that Krøldrup would pass the ball to the wings like in the previous game. So, their attention was still on Gasbarroni and Joaquín on both wings, while only keeping an eye on Krøldrup in their peripheral vision.

But when they blinked, they found that their peripheral vision had lost its target! They quickly turned their heads to look for him, and just as they turned back, they saw Krøldrup dribbling straight from the center!

"Stop him!" The goalkeeper behind him shouted sharply.

A central defender rushed towards Krøldrup without hesitation.

Facing this central defender, Krøldrup just made a feint with his right foot to push the ball to the right, tricking the opponent into tackling him on the ground, but he quickly hooked the ball to the left, and at the same time dodged the defender's tackle.

A Krøldrup turn!

Zhang Jun smiled as he watched Krøldrup's smooth movements: This kid!

Now that he had passed three people, Krøldrup was only facing the goalkeeper. The goalkeeper had no choice but to attack, his center of gravity was very low, he wanted to directly pounce on the ball at Krøldrup's feet.

Krøldrup dribbled closer to the opponent's goalkeeper. When the two were very close, the goalkeeper lunged towards the ball, but Krøldrup suddenly clamped his feet behind him! Just like a heel flick, but not so high, just letting the ball go over his waist, just passing over the goalkeeper's body! Krøldrup used this unexpected way to pass the last Sampdoria defender, causing the whole place to exclaim in surprise.

It seemed that no one had dared to use a heel flick at such a close range in a professional game, this kind of flashy move. What's more, he had passed a goalkeeper who could intercept with his hands!

After flicking the ball over the goalkeeper, Krøldrup nimbly flashed to the side, dodging the goalkeeper, and then raised his foot and shot without waiting for the ball to land, and the ball went into the net!

"Goooooooooooooooal!!! Let's cheer for Krøldrup! This is truly a wonderful goal! This is the best goal of this round! How many moves have we not seen behind his endless imagination?!" The commentator shouted excitedly with a flushed face. Every time he commentated on Fiorentina's game, he could have this kind of surprise.

After scoring, Krøldrup didn't raise his arms and shout, nor did he run to celebrate. He rushed directly into the goal, picked up the ball that had just landed, and then dribbled the ball out of the penalty area, performing a short set of freestyle juggling skills in front of 60,000 people, making the audience watch with fascination.

After finishing the last move, he kicked the ball hard towards the stands. Like a stone being thrown into a lake, the audience there jumped up, trying to catch the ball kicked by Krøldrup.

Whoever caught it would definitely not want to return it. What a memorable ball this was!

Zhang Jun waited for Krøldrup to finish juggling the ball, and then pounced on him, joking: "You kid! I'm the protagonist! I didn't expect you to steal my limelight. I don't care, compensate me for my losses, give me an assist!"

Krøldrup only smiled more when he was facing Zhang Jun. He smiled and said to Zhang Jun, "Okay, as long as you have the ability to receive my pass."

Sabato raised his arms and stood on the sidelines after Krøldrup scored, roaring loudly: "3:0! Praise God! This game is over!"

※※※

When the horizontal screen in the Meazza stadium reported the scores of each match again, even Adriano took the initiative to care about it. When he saw the score of Fiorentina 3:0 Sampdoria appearing first, his heart tightened. Could it be that Zhang Jun scored again? Unbelievable!?

But the name that appeared next relieved him: Krøldrup 81 minutes.

A hat trick wasn't something that could be easily achieved, Zhang. Even I don't dare to say that I'll definitely complete a hat trick in a certain game.

Seeing that Zhang Jun hadn't completed a hat trick, Adriano's fighting spirit returned. With the full support of Li Yongle's leading midfielder, he could still score goals.

Li Yongle directly long-passed from the backcourt to Adriano in the frontcourt. This accurate long pass had only one purpose, which was to complete the final blow.

Adriano understood it, he stretched out his long legs and stopped the ball in front of the Bologna defender. Originally, the Bologna defender was going to head the ball out, but before he could jump, he saw the sole of a shoe appearing not far in front of him, and then the ball obediently stopped on the shoe, being unloaded.

Adriano wanted to vent now. Being suppressed by Zhang Jun all the time made him extremely depressed. Looking at the Bologna defender who was standing in front of him, Adriano charged straight up without any fancy moves!

The opponent was intimidated by Adriano's momentum, and his body unconsciously flashed to the side. When he reacted and wanted to block the gap, Adriano had already squeezed him aside with his impact. He turned around and tried to grab the Brazilian unwillingly, but instead was knocked to the ground by Adriano's momentum and lost his target!

"It's like a heavy tank! Adriano crushed Bologna's defense and drove into the penalty area!"

After the tank entered, the turret twisted, facing the goal, and then without hesitation, with a roar, the shell burst out of the barrel!

Faced with a ball traveling at a speed of 100 kilometers per hour at such a close range, the goalkeeper didn't react at all, and the Meazza was boiling!

"3:0! Inter Milan leads Bologna 3:0! With five minutes left before the end of the game, this game has actually been declared over in advance! No wonder Coach Mancini is so confident in winning the championship this season, look at Inter Milan's amazing form now!"

Adriano happily pounced on Li Yongle, who assisted him: "See! Li, I can do it! I have the same number of goals as him!" He wasn't talking about the total number of goals, but the number of goals scored in this game. Now he and Zhang Jun had both scored two goals. For the people behind them in the top scorer list, this round of the league was truly their nightmare.

※※※

Sophie had been sitting quietly in front of the TV, watching the game. Although the game was about to enter injury time, and Zhang Jun had only scored two goals, one goal away from his promise, Sophie wasn't worried at all. She believed in him, he would definitely fulfill his promise, whether it was one goal, three goals, or four or five goals. As long as he promised, he would definitely be able to do it. Including injury time, there were at least five minutes left in the game, she wasn't in a hurry.

Zhang Jun looked up to pay attention to the time, and the fourth official was walking to the sidelines, it seemed that it was time for injury time. She must still be waiting for her third goal.

Sophie...

Zhang Jun clenched his fists.

Happy birthday!

"Hey! Krøldrup, fulfill your promise! Pass the ball to me, no matter what kind of ball, pass it to me!" Zhang Jun waved and shouted to Krøldrup.

"You asked for it, don't blame me if you can't catch it."

※※※

Adriano didn't have the leisure to pay attention to the situation of other matches anymore. All his thoughts were on the game, he wanted to seize the last time and try to score another goal.

Since Zhang Jun and he had both scored two goals, as long as he could complete a hat trick, wouldn't he have won a round against Zhang Jun?

Adriano didn't know that from some point on, he, who originally thought that a hat trick wasn't something that could be easily achieved, had come to believe that he must score three goals in a row to defeat Zhang Jun, this matter was very certain.

He didn't doubt at all whether he could score three goals in a row. He had subconsciously recognized that it was only natural for him to score three goals in a game.

※※※

Sampdoria didn't expect that they, the fifth-place team last season, would be beaten so helplessly in Fiorentina's home game. Even if the opponent was the defending champion, the gap in strength shouldn't be so obvious!

They were no longer thinking about winning or tying the score, because that was an impossible task. Instead, they wanted to score a goal to save face no matter what, so that they wouldn't be shut out by Fiorentina in the away game.

But Fiorentina wouldn't give them this chance.

Xiang Tao was dribbling the ball from behind to assist the attack. Everyone thought that he would dribble along the sideline all the way to the bottom and then cross the ball, but he slowed down his dribbling speed just as he entered the thirty-meter area, and instead observed the situation on the field.

Zhang Jun and Pazzini were both in front of the opponent's goal, Gasbarroni was right in front of him, waiting to respond to him, Krøldrup was approaching him from the center, also seeming to be planning to respond to him, Joaquín was still on the far right, Bonera was behind him, Mascherano was near the center circle, and the defensive line had moved forward as a whole due to his insertion, intending to create an offside trap.

Most of Sampdoria's players were hiding in front of the penalty area to defend. Since Krøldrup broke through and scored from the center, Sampdoria had invested heavy troops to guard both the wings and the center.

With so many people, how could he pass the ball to launch an attack? Passing the ball on the ground would definitely not work, but would instead delay his side's attacking momentum. What about an aerial ball? Xiang Tao looked at the people in the penalty area, he couldn't accurately pass the ball to the place he wanted to pass it to at all.

Eh? Krøldrup was waving at him.

Xiang Tao paid attention to Krøldrup's gestures. Since he had successfully tricked Ballack with gestures last time, Xiang Tao and Krøldrup would study how to use gestures that only they understood to communicate silently on the field, which could both tell each other their thoughts and strategies, and were very concealed, so they wouldn't be noticed by their opponents.

Krøldrup was running diagonally forward while gesturing to Xiang Tao, his wrist was placed on his waist, and then he kept flipping it upwards.

Xiang Tao knew that he was telling him to pass an aerial ball at waist height.

Waist height? What was this kid going to do again? If he passed a ground ball, he could at least control it, and then with his footwork, they could at least continue to look for opportunities. Even if he passed a high ball, directly lobbing it into the penalty area, Zhang Jun and Pazzini would have a chance to fight for a header in front of the goal. But what was he going to do with a half-high ball that was the most difficult to catch, while being closely marked by the opponent?

Xiang Tao thought about it, but still passed the ball honestly. With his understanding of Krøldrup, he knew that as long as Krøldrup asked him to do this, there must be a reason, so all he had to do was stand on the side and watch Krøldrup perform.

"Ah! Xiang Tao passed a half-high ball, he passed it to Krøldrup! But how is Krøldrup going to handle this ball? Sampdoria's players are already pressing up from behind..." While the commentator was still chattering and worrying about Krøldrup, Krøldrup had already made his choice.

He turned to the left and ran towards the ball passed by Xiang Tao, and then suddenly jumped up and took off!

His left foot stretched towards the ball... Was he going to stop the ball in the air?! Stop it and then what? The time wasted in the air would be enough for the defender he had just shaken off to stick to him. Not to mention passing the ball, it would be hard to say whether he could protect the ball.

Many people thought so in their hearts.

But there were exceptions.

Zhang Jun knew what was going on in his heart when he saw Krøldrup suddenly change his running direction.

As long as you have the ability to receive my ball...

He looked around, everyone's attention was attracted by Krøldrup's movements, and the central defender next to him also turned his head to look at where the ball was, instead of where he was.

This was an opportunity!

Krøldrup jumped into the air, everyone wanted to see how he would handle this ball, everyone held their breath.

Krøldrup jumped into the air, his left foot stretched towards the ball, was it really just an ordinary aerial stop?

Krøldrup was still in the air, his left foot touched the ball, was he stopping the ball?

Just as his left foot touched the ball, he suddenly swung it backwards, and the ball obediently followed his foot and moved backwards, as if it were glued to his shoe!

His left foot continued to swing backwards, and at the same time the ball followed him behind, suddenly, he exerted force on his ankle, the ball separated from his foot and was kicked by him towards the penalty area behind him!

A pass! It was actually a pass!

And Krøldrup's body was still in the air after doing all this!

Flying. For some reason, Xiang Tao thought of this word. Really, stopping the ball and passing the ball were done in one go, the ball seemed to be glued to his shoe, with no room for resistance, and he was still in the air, where it was the most difficult to maintain balance, when he made this series of movements!

While everyone was still immersed in Krøldrup's amazing aerial movements, Zhang Jun had already rushed out of the defensive line, target: the ball in the air!

"Crap..." Before the goalkeeper could finish his words, he saw the ball fly over the heads of the defenders and into the area in front of him. In a panic, he quickly attacked, hoping that no one would be able to take the ball down at this time.

When Sampdoria's defenders saw Zhang Jun appearing behind them, their first reaction wasn't to chase back, but to raise their hands to signal to the linesman that Zhang Jun was offside.

But their actions were ignored by the linesman, who could clearly see that Zhang Jun only ran after Krøldrup passed the ball, so he wasn't offside at all.

Zhang Jun glanced at the position of the ball in the air and the position of the goalkeeper, and then jumped up, turning around in the air, facing away from the goal. Then, under the incredible gaze of the goalkeeper and defenders, he raised his left leg and pressed down, driving his right leg to kick up quickly, his body falling, almost head down, his arms maintaining balance, so that his foot could kick higher.

When Zhang Jun's body almost formed an exclamation point in the air, his right foot kicked the ball, just a little faster than the goalkeeper's hand...

The ball hit the bottom edge of the crossbar, and then rushed towards the ground, and then bounced into the goal.

The ball went in?!

Yes, the ball went in, a hat trick!!

Zhang Jun supported himself with both hands on the ground, and then did a backflip, so that his head didn't hit the ground. Although the action just now was dangerous, he was only excited now. He finally completed a hat trick, and completed the birthday gift for Sophie.

Once again, Zhang Jun lifted his jersey, revealing the words on the t-shirt inside. But he seemed to think it wasn't enough, so he took off his jersey directly, and then waved it in his hand.

He didn't care about the yellow card warning at this time.

Sophie, did you see it? Happy birthday! Happy birthday this year! Happy birthday next year! May every birthday in the future be happy and joyful.

Zhang Jun, I also wish you a happy birthday. In front of the TV, Sophie smiled with tears in her eyes.

"Ahhhhh!!!" The commentator roared, "We first saw Krøldrup's amazing aerial pass, and then we saw what might be the highest bicycle kick ever! A perfect aerial relay! This is definitely the best goal of this round!" But he had just said that Krøldrup's goal of passing four people was the best goal of this round...

Realizing that something was wrong, the commentator immediately changed his words: "No! It's also the best goal of this season!!"

If this goal was the best goal of the season, then why was the best goal of this round another one?

"Uh... ah! It's impossible for anyone to surpass the tacit understanding that these two people achieved in an instant!! Yes, that's it..."

Poor Xiang Tao, as the initiator of the attack, was so buried in the light of the two attacking stars. But he didn't think so much at this time, he surrounded the two people as excitedly as his other teammates: "What was that? What was that? An aerial relay! It's really an aerial relay!"

※※※

With the wonderful aerial cooperation between Zhang Jun and Krøldrup as the ending, Fiorentina defeated Sampdoria 4:0 at their home stadium. And the two goals in this game were regarded as classics and widely circulated. Zhang Jun and Krøldrup, this pair of partners, were also called the "Dream Combination". The cunning and cold Krøldrup and the