Carvalho didn’t dare let Huang Kaiwen settle and look for a chance, he stuck his leg out instinctively without even thinking.

The moment his foot went out, he knew it was bad.

Didn’t touch the ball!

Huang Kaiwen was tripped by Carvalho and went down in the box.

"Penalty, penalty!"

Torres and Kaka shouted almost at the same time.

Lass Diarra hurried to the referee to explain: "He didn’t touch him, that should be a dive."

Xabi Alonso heard that and quickly took a step to the side.

Afraid that standing too close to Diarra would lower his IQ.

Who the hell doesn’t know Huang Kaiwen never dives?

Sure enough, Koshoi didn’t say anything about a penalty, instead he pointed at Diarra and warned: "I suggest you think carefully before you speak. Don’t talk nonsense about things you didn’t see."

Huang Kaiwen’s character was rock solid.

Koshoi was convinced this time Carvalho had caught Huang Kaiwen.

Huang Kaiwen grabbed Carvalho’s hand and pulled himself up.

Carvalho said awkwardly: "I didn’t mean it, your feet move too damn fast."

"I’m fine."

Huang Kaiwen patted Carvalho on the arm.

He wasn’t about to fall out with an old teammate over something like this.

Seeing that Huang Kaiwen was fine, the Milan Players all let out a sigh of relief.

But Koshoi was a bit troubled.

In his heart he believed it was a penalty, but he didn’t dare blow for a spot-kick in a UEFA Champions League final within the first minute.

After only two seconds of thought, he pointed at Carvalho and said: "Be careful when you defend. Next time you won’t be so lucky."

"Yes, sir!"

Carvalho said in surprise and delight.

"That’s not a penalty?!"

Kaka blocked Koshoi’s path and chased after him with the question.

Huang Kaiwen grabbed Kaka and pulled him back: "Leave it, Ricardo."

"But Kevin..."

Kaka said, puzzled: "That was absolutely a penalty."

"Yeah, but even if you brought Rizzoli here, he’d give the same decision."

Huang Kaiwen put an arm around Kaka’s neck and persuaded him: "You can kind of understand it too, this foul came too early, the ref doesn’t want to tilt the whole game right away."

If it wasn’t an extremely obvious and dirty foul.

No matter which famous ref it was, at this time of the match they wouldn’t point to the spot.

There’s nothing you can do about this kind of thing, you just have to swallow it.

He’ll look to make it up later with his calls.

If you let this mess up your head, it’ll only hurt your performance afterwards.

Xabi Alonso listened from the side the whole time as Huang Kaiwen talked Kaka down.

He hadn’t expected that the guy who once stood on the goal line and made him lose face would already be the captain of a super club—and a proper captain at that.

If it were him, he’d probably be playing with a chip on his shoulder.

Yet Huang Kaiwen wasn’t even angry, and was the one calming his teammate.

But then Xabi Alonso flipped the thought: damn, this bastard doesn’t care, is it because he thinks chances to score are easy to come by?

Even though he knew that was the truth, Alonso still found it hard to accept.

He’d been slaughtered at Liverpool.

Then came to Real Madrid only to still be underestimated.

So what, he’d transferred for nothing?

Casillas took the goal kick, and because of what had just happened, the Real Madrid players were all extra cautious with their passes.

Their backline circulated the ball quickly, nobody letting it stick under their feet.

Huang Kaiwen charged at Xabi Alonso, who had no intention of dwelling on the ball, turning and knocking it straight back.

Pepe received and immediately played it to Lass Diarra.

Kaka rushed up, Diarra shifted it wide to the overlapping Marcelo.

Marcelo had gradually become a key outlet for Real Madrid’s build-up from the back; as a Brazil full-back, he had a winger’s heart.

Once the ball hit Marcelo’s feet, Real Madrid’s attacking speed suddenly ramped up.

Rakitic stepped up and was simply burned by Marcelo’s pace, and Real Madrid’s shape started to push forward rapidly.

"Don’t all let him drag you around by the nose!"

Guardiola couldn’t help but shout.

Real Madrid’s wide players were all lightning quick too.

The fans in the stands backing Milan couldn’t help but gasp.

Even those Chelsea fans looked a little dazed; they knew this Real Madrid speed, this kind of counterattack, all too well.

Mourinho was still the same Mourinho!

Real Madrid’s front-line movement was very fluid.

Di Maria dropped deeper to offer a passing option, Ronaldo drifted over to the left.

Adebayor pushed up near the box as a target man.

As soon as Di Maria got the ball, Ronaldo made a sharp run forward.

Lars Bender didn’t dare be careless; he didn’t even look back, just turned and sprinted.

Milan’s defence collapsed towards Ronaldo’s side.

And at that moment, ball at his feet, Di Maria slipped a straight pass into the middle instead.

The pass was quick and disguised.

Thiago Silva hadn’t even picked it up, by the time he reacted he was already a step late.

The good news was Adebayor hadn’t started his run right away either.

Instead Buffon charged out of the box and pounced on the ball first, pinning it under him.

Adebayor could only jump over Buffon’s body, easing off to avoid clattering the keeper and getting booked.

"Damn, that was really dangerous."

"Yeah, if Benzema were on the pitch, that might have gone in. Adebayor’s first step is still a bit slow."

"Right, Benzema came out of the semi-final carrying an injury, Mourinho doesn’t have many options up top right now."

Lars Bender glanced apologetically at Nesta.

If he hadn’t looked so helpless against Ronaldo, Nesta wouldn’t have had to abandon his position to cover, leaving the middle exposed.

"It’s fine, kid!"

Nesta patted Bender’s shoulder and said: "He’s not a superhero either, you’ve got to believe you can stop him."

Lars Bender gave a wry little nod.

After just one match-up, he’d already felt how explosive Ronaldo really was.

The physical gap was not something you could erase with confidence alone.

Buffon rolled the ball to Nesta, who immediately played it across.

Thiago Silva pushed it forward, Pirlo nudged it with his right, looked up and saw Real Madrid’s back line already set, so he had to keep feeding short passes.

They’d spent a few days before the final working on their runs and combinations.

Their understanding had improved quite a bit.

But Pirlo was still a little worried about this midfield trio.

After all, none of the three were great defenders; with no dedicated holding midfielder, they might suffer in duels.

Ronaldo pressed very fast, and Toni Kroos, a little flustered, poked a pass out to the left.

Rakitic could only stick a leg out to hook the ball back in.

But Alonso was already on his back.

The experienced Alonso didn’t lunge; instead he waited for Adebayor to retreat in front of him.

And sure enough.

As Adebayor came over, Rakitic turned to play the pass.

Just then Alonso suddenly stuck a foot in, blocking Rakitic’s ball.

The ball cannoned off Alonso’s shin and skidded towards the touchline, Adebayor got there first, muscled Zambrotta aside and spun to knock it back.

Abeloa!

Adebayor’s pass had a lot of zip on it.

Abeloa didn’t bring it under control, and Huang Kaiwen burst in and nicked it away.

Seeing this, Carvalho charged over the halfway line and stuck a leg out, but Huang Kaiwen slipped past him with a neat little drag-back.

"Kevin!"

"Kevin!"

"Kevin!"

The atmosphere at Wembley was starting to boil. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Albiol also rushed at Huang Kaiwen.

But Pepe had turned and came sliding in, hacking the ball off Huang Kaiwen’s feet.

Leaving Albiol tackling fresh air.

Kaka picked up the loose ball, and as soon as Huang Kaiwen saw it he just took off forward.

"Foul, foul! Take the foul!"

Mourinho shouted at the top of his lungs.

The sight of Milan’s Trident all surging forward was terrifying!

Even though Marcelo and Carvalho were sprinting back.

Kaka was driving the ball, Huang Kaiwen was bursting through the middle, and Torres was on the right.

A three-on-two like that was almost destined to end in a goal.

Mourinho had every reason to be worried.

Kaka had found his old speed again.

In just a few seconds, he and Huang Kaiwen were up at the edge of the Real Madrid box.

Smack—

At that moment Kaka slipped a through ball.

The ball rolled straight into Huang Kaiwen’s path.

Huang Kaiwen suddenly exploded, a burst of pace taking him between Carvalho and Marcelo; as soon as he stepped into the box he kicked again, skipping past Marcelo’s sliding tackle, then whipped his right foot through the ball, driving it past the onrushing Casillas and into the net.