B04 (3-2) WOB
Stefan Kießling — — 39′
69′ — — 12. Bas Dost
83′ — — Ivan Perišić
Stefan Kießling — — 89′
Lance — — 94′
At Bayer Leverkusen's BayArena, the sun had already set.
With the last faint rays of twilight, Kevin De Bruyne stared blankly at the scoreboard.
He had clearly given his all!
"Sigh."
Not far away, Lance was hugging his teammates, celebrating their hard-won victory.
The Bayer Leverkusen substitutes couldn't help but rush onto the field to join the celebration the mont the match ended.
Lance was smiling broadly amidst the crowd.
The kid who used to practice on concrete ground, accidentally falling and scraping his skin, yet still continued to practice with a bleeding leg…
Now he was a professional player his teammates could trust.
De Bruyne was quite relieved.
As children, their dream was to beco professional football stars, and now they had both achieved it. It was a pity they couldn't fight side by side, and this kid had stolen 3 points from him.
"Lance."
De Bruyne proactively walked over to greet him.
"Kevin, what do you say, wasn't that goal beautiful just now?"
Lance couldn't help but show off to his friend, getting right in his face.
De Bruyne unhappily gave him the internationally recognized friendly gesture.
"Fuck off!"
"You played really well, I almost thought we were going to lose today."
"Thanks… Next ti, I'll win it back."
"Nan, I'd win."
"You rascal."
De Bruyne shook his head and gave a bitter smile. Losing today ant nothing, he just had to try his best to defeat Lance next ti.
"Swap jerseys?"
"Sure."
Lance simply took off his team uniform and exchanged it with De Bruyne.
He had originally wanted to suggest finding a place to eat dinner and catch up, but then he thought better of it.
Lance knew De Bruyne's personality very well.
If he had won today, he would definitely have invited him to dinner.
With his competitive nature, he would surely not be in the mood after a loss; he would definitely go back and train hard, striving to get his revenge.
The two simply bumped fists and turned to leave.
The next ti they t would be at VfL Wolfsburg's Volkswagen Arena!
Unfortunately, Lance's first shot didn't go in. The MVP of today's match went to Stefan Kießling, who scored twice.
The good news was that he once again beca the super sub, helping Bayer Leverkusen turn the tide and score a last-second winner.
After the match, German football dia gave Lance the highest score of 1.
He had co on as a substitute 3 tis in a row, scoring in all 3 matches.
The next day, Lance opened Twitter, and his na appeared on the trending topics again.
The dia had even given him the nickna "Super-Joker"…
"Wait, buddy? Super Joker?"
Lance carefully examined himself in the mirror; his nose wasn't even red!
However, Lance quickly realized that in German football, the word "Joker" didn't an clown, but was a customary term for "super sub."
For example, the famous super sub in Bundesliga history, Nils Petersen,
Or Thomas Müller, who perford excellently a few years ago, often coming on as a substitute to great effect.
German dia liked to describe him in this way:
"Bewiesen: Er ist und bleibt der Joker! (It's proven: Thomas Müller is and remains the super sub!)"
Since "Joker" already had the aning of a trump card substitute,
The German dia's description of Lance as "Super-Joker" seed very complintary.
The ace among super subs!
Lance was quite satisfied with this. He happily scrolled through his phone, watching how the German dia praised him.
"16-year-old Genius Lance Scores Last-Minute Bicycle Kick Winner! Bayer Leverkusen's Biggest Treasure Signed This Sumr!" — Der Spiegel
"Super-Joker Strikes Again! The Werkself Win 3-2 Against VfL Wolfsburg!" — Bild
"Werkself 3-2 VfL Wolfsburg Match Review: KRC Genk's Duo Shines, Lance's Overhead Bicycle Kick Voted Goal of the Round!" — Munich Evening News
Even Turin Sports News, an Italian dia outlet from southern Europe, noticed Lance.
"…The 16-year-old youngster has proven himself 3 tis in a row in matches. In yesterday's Bundesliga focus match, substitute Lance played perfectly, contributing an astonishing bicycle kick winner.
New talents in the Bundesliga are erging endlessly, while the once 'Mini World Cup' Serie A seems to be in decline with a dwindling talent pool…"
In the Twitter comnt section, German netizens were also exceptionally friendly in their evaluations of him.
"Wow! What an exciting match, it's hard to imagine how calm a 16-year-old kid is to score a last-second winner!"
"Respect! The final bicycle kick really amazed ! Goal of the Round in the Bundesliga!"
"How did he do it? He was about to fall and still managed to complete a bicycle kick with an acrobatic move? Holy shit!"
"To be honest, he must have learned street dance. There's a term for this in Breaking street dance, windmill. Lance did it quite standardly…"
Netizens were quite casual when giving Lance nicknas.
Things like "Karate Kid," "Street Dance Kid," "Super Sub Striker," "Mr. Amazing"…
It made Lance unable to resist logging in with a burner account and praising himself along with everyone else.
"Wow! He is such an excellent player!"
"You're right, brother, I also think he can make the starting lineup."
"Bayer Leverkusen won today, and Lance is definitely the number one contributor."
Being praised by others can be addictive.
After finishing the morning training session,
Lance finished his sauna, lay on a lounge chair by the pool, and leisurely scrolled through his phone for at least half an hour.
Until he was interrupted by his phone's "ding ding ding" notification sound.
Chloe: [Lance!! Yesterday's match was absolutely amazing!! /thumbs up emoji]
Chloe: [That last bicycle kick was so cool!]
Chloe: [When I saw that winning goal, I almost went crazy!! OMG!]
???
Lance focused and carefully checked the sender.
It was Chloe, alright…
Why did it feel like such a huge contrast?
Chloe, the beautiful girl who had accidentally crashed her Porsche 911 into him last ti,
They had gotten to know each other much better through their sporadic chats over these past few days.
Lance only realized later,
She was actually the daughter of the school board chairman of his high school, "Theodor Heuss-Realschule"!
"Theodor Heuss" in the school's na was her biological grandfather.
The current school board chairman, Oliver Heuss—a thin, refined middle-aged man with glasses whom he often saw at school—was her father.
Chloe's full na was Chloe Heuss.
The mont Lance saw her surna, he had already solved the mystery on the spot.
No wonder she could afford a Porsche 911 sports car at such a young age.
Putting those things aside for now,
The first ti he t Chloe, she was blushing and bowing her head in apology, looking flustered, clearly a sweet girl with a well-behaved personality and strict upbringing.
He never expected that when chatting online and via text ssages, she would seem a bit… wild.
Every ti she sent a text, she would get so excited that she'd include a string of exclamation marks.
And before Lance could even finish typing, several ssages would co flooding in one after another.
She was quite the chatterbox online.
Lance: [Thanks, so you watched the match.]
Chloe: [Of course! I'm your fan!]
Chloe: [Your most loyal fan!]
Chloe: [Your first die-hard fan!]
Alright, alright, die-hard fan.
Lance felt a strange chill down his spine.
Could the young girl Chloe be one of those crazy sasaeng fans?
Or perhaps she had a hidden yandere side?
That would be interesting later on.
Lance didn't reply to her, closed issage, and on a whim opened Weibo, a Chinese social dia platform.
He wanted to see if there was any news about him dostically.
A 16-year-old Chinese teenager rising to fa in the Bundesliga, dostic dia should be discussing it, right?
However, the discussion about the Bundesliga on Weibo was far colder than Lance had imagined.
Most dostic fans who followed the Bundesliga only paid attention to Bayern München and Borussia Dortmund, rarely looking at Bayer Leverkusen news.
Only Sports Weekly's official Weibo account was still consistently posting updates about him:
"[16-year-old Rising Star Shines in Bundesliga! Lance's Last-Minute Bicycle Kick Winner Helps the Werkself Coback!]"
"Lance scores in 2 consecutive rounds! In stoppage ti, he scored an incredible bicycle kick to break VfL Wolfsburg's goal, making it 3 consecutive matches scoring as a substitute!"
"The youngster from KRC Genk's youth academy has conquered German football with his amazing footwork and big-heart performance. #NewHopeForFootball # adds another spark! The future is promising! #LanceBundesligaWinner # #ChinesePride#"
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