Chapter 153: Securing Four and Fighting for Three

While Dai Zhiwei was filled with joy and anticipation for the UEFA Champions League semi-finals, the 32nd round of La Liga kicked off. Villarreal played at home against Alaves, and Escriba continued to deploy the starting lineup that had secured a 3:1 victory over Borussia Dortmund in midweek.

Before the match, not-so-pleasant news reached Dai Zhiwei. In earlier fixtures of this round, Atletico Madrid achieved a resounding 3:0 victory over Osasuna, courtesy of a brace from Carrasco and a crowning touch from Filipe Luis. This placed Atletico 3 points ahead of Villarreal—who had played one game fewer—temporarily lifting them to third place in the league table.

Sevilla, on the other hand, lacked ambition, being held to a 0:0 draw by Valencia. Having played one more match, they still trailed Villarreal by 2 points.

Villarreal successfully carried their momentum from the 3:1 victory over Dortmund into this fixture. Although merely three days had elapsed between the two matches, both were contested at the El Madrigal Stadium. Free from the fatigue of travel, the Yellow Submarine warriors experienced no physical issues whatsoever.

Right from the opening whistle, Villarreal took the initiative. After intercepting a aimless pass from Alaves, central defender Ruiz suddenly delivered a through ball. Seeing Camarasa attempting to intercept, Villarreal captain Bruno sprinted to receive the pass, using the momentum to turn and effortlessly breeze past Camarasa as if he were a wooden stake.

Bruno was thoroughly enjoying this season. Throughout his years at Villarreal, he had never felt the team was so formidable—capable not only of locking horns with Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid in the league, but even eliminating Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League knockout stages.

Faced with Alaves midfielder Llorente, Bruno feinted before laying the ball off to Roberto Soriano on the left flank. Alaves right-back Kiko stepped up to press, but Roberto Soriano caught him off guard by lifting the ball with his left foot over Kiko's head, accelerating past him with a single burst of pace.

Realizing the situation, Dai Zhiwei surged unhesitatingly toward the Alaves penalty area, prompting central defender Laguardia to frantically shout for his teammates to provide defensive cover.

In La Liga, every team had realized that a single defender could never contain Dai Zhiwei, even if that defender happened to be top-tier center-backs like Ramos or Godin.

Roberto Soriano reached the byline and delivered a swift cross. Amidst a three-man encirclement by Alaves, Dai Zhiwei managed to get to the ball first.

With opponents pressing tightly from all sides, Dai Zhiwei could not turn to shoot with his right foot; instead, he improvised by flicking it with the outside of his boot. The ball soared high over Laguardia’s outstretched right leg and zipped directly over the head of goalkeeper Pacheco.

"Gooooooooooooooooooaaal!"

1:0!

Villarreal fans at El Madrigal were growing accustomed to Dai Zhiwei opening the scoring for the Yellow Submarine, yet at this moment they were still frantically chanting his name. On the pitch, Dai Zhiwei interacted with the supporters, using this goal—which sole-handedly reclaimed his top spot in the scoring charts—to send a message to Lionel Messi:

As for wanting this season's La Liga Pichichi trophy, forget about it!

Although Dai Zhiwei was in red-hot form during this match, he did not add to his goal tally thereafter.

Ever since joining Villarreal, due to his extraordinary chance-conversion ability and decisive impact on the pitch, Dai Zhiwei had severely compressed the playing time of the club's other forwards.

In a match of this low difficulty and relative unimportance, rather than exhausting his form entirely, he preserved it for more crucial battles ahead. Consequently, Dai Zhiwei only played the first half, and was substituted by Escriba for Rafael shortly after the second half commenced.

In the 73rd minute, Villarreal broke the deadlock once more. Fernandez launched a long clearance, and Bakambu surged into the right side of the penalty area, firing a shot into the near corner from ten yards out against Alaves full-back Theo Hernandez.

2:0!

This was Bakambu's 10th La Liga goal of the season. It was precisely his stellar performances this season that had alleviated a tremendous amount of pressure on Dai Zhiwei!

Two minutes later, Dos Santos delivered a through ball, and Bakambu appeared on the scene again, seemingly eager to prove that he too could shoulder the Yellow Submarine's goalscoring burden. Unfortunately, his narrow-angle shot from the right side of the box was denied by Alaves goalkeeper Pacheco.

During stoppage time, Alaves capitalized on a corner kick opportunity, with central defender Rodrigo Ely heading home a goal.

Ultimately, Villarreal cleanly dispatched their visiting opponents Alaves 2:1 at El Madrigal. By virtue of goal difference, Villarreal once again surpassed Atletico Madrid, reclaiming third place in the league standings!

As for Sevilla, following this round, they lagged 5 points behind Villarreal and Atletico Madrid. With only 6 matches remaining in the league, they were showing signs of bowing out of the race for Champions League qualification.

One day after the match against Alaves, Dai Zhiwei and his teammates gathered in the club's screening room to watch the live broadcast of the UEFA Champions League semi-final draw ceremony.

In the previous knockout rounds, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Villarreal, and Juventus had all emerged victorious over two legs against their respective opponents, forming the final four of this season's Champions League.

The semi-final draw featured no seeded teams, and the rule preventing teams from the same national association from facing each other did not apply. This meant Villarreal had a potential matchup against any of the remaining three clubs.

In the first leg, Real Madrid defeated Bayern Munich 2:1 away at the Allianz Arena in Munich. Returning to the Santiago Bernabeu for the return leg, although they lost 1:2 to their opponents within 90 minutes, the aggregate score tied at 3:3, sending the match into extra time. Real Madrid scored three consecutive goals in extra time to orchestrate a comeback, ultimately winning 4:2 on the night and advancing 6:3 on aggregate to bar Bayern from the semi-finals, reaching the final four for the seventh consecutive year.

Atletico Madrid secured a narrow 1:0 home win in the first leg, and fought to a 1:1 draw away against Leicester City, advancing 2:1 on aggregate to reach the semi-finals for the third time in four years.

Juventus secured a resounding 3:0 home victory over Barcelona in Turin the previous week, and maintained a strong performance at the Camp Nou, holding their opponents to a 0:0 draw to progress with a 3:0 aggregate victory over Barcelona into the semi-finals.

Borussia Dortmund, having suffered a team bus bombing in midweek last week, lost 1:2 at home and were defeated 1:3 away by Villarreal. Losing both legs, they were eliminated 2:5 on aggregate. Having swept Dortmund twice to forcefully enter the final four, Villarreal emerged as the ultimate dark horse of this Champions League campaign.

The draw ceremony was hosted by UEFA Deputy General Secretary Giorgio Marchetti. Welsh football legend Ian Rush, serving as the draw guest, first drew defending champions Real Madrid, and then paired their cross-town rivals Atletico Madrid as Real Madrid's opponents. Villarreal and Juventus were automatically slotted into the other semi-final pairing.

Between the two matchups, the first teams drawn—Real Madrid and Villarreal—would play the first leg at home before playing away.

This marked another encounter in the Champions League knockout stages between the "Madrid Giants" following the 2014 and 2016 finals as well as the 2015 quarter-finals, with Real Madrid prevailing in all three previous instances.

Meanwhile, the semi-final clash between Villarreal and Juventus could be described as a collision between the "spear" and the "shield." Villarreal had blasted in 124 goals across all competitions this season, with Dai Zhiwei personally contributing 53 goals in official club matches, boasting an attacking firepower superior to any other club in Europe's top five leagues.

Juventus, on the other hand, had successfully neutralized Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-finals, advancing with a comprehensive 3:0 aggregate win.

Following the draw results, Juventus stalwart Sami Khedira wrote on social media: "Villarreal are a very strong team with a host of talented players, especially Dai, whose performances this season have been impressive. We need to be cautious of our opponents, but our objective is also clear."

The subsequent draw ceremony unveiled the pairings for the UEFA Europa League semi-finals, where Ajax would face Lyon, and Manchester United's opponents would be Celta Vigo, with Ajax and Celta playing their first legs at home.

The two-legged semi-finals were scheduled for May 2–3 and May 9–10 local time, with the ultimate final slated for June 3 local time at the National Stadium of Wales in Cardiff.

Although Juventus were no pushovers, who among the Champions League final four was easy to deal with?

Furthermore, compared to their old rivals the Madrid duo, Dai Zhiwei felt a greater curiosity toward Juventus, a side he had never faced before.

Could Juventus's shield withstand the peerless sharpness of his spear?

This remained a question in his mind.

Before the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals against Juventus, Villarreal still had three La Liga matches to play, facing Leganes, Atletico Madrid, and Sporting Gijon in succession.

Among them, the direct clash between Atletico Madrid and Villarreal on Matchday 34 was undoubtedly the most crucial fixture, as it would likely determine which team secured third place in La Liga this season.

On Matchday 33, Atletico Madrid claimed a routine 1:0 away win against Espanyol. In the 73rd minute, Saul's shot from the edge of the box during a goalmouth scramble following a corner was blocked and deflected, allowing Griezmann to sweep home a shot into the top-left corner of the six-yard box.

Villarreal took the field next. With Atletico having won, Villarreal could not afford any mistakes in this match!

For this fixture, Leganes adopted a high-pressing midfield strategy against Villarreal, attempting to sever Villarreal's build-up play in the middle of the pitch and suppress their counter-attacks.

From the very first minute of the match, the battle in midfield was exceptionally intense. Bruno relied on his tireless running and sound defensive awareness to constantly disrupt Leganes's attacking players, while Rodrigo utilized his sophisticated ball control and tactical vision to torture the nerves of the Leganes defenders.

Within ten minutes, spearheaded by Bruno, Villarreal completely overwhelmed Leganes on their home turf, a state of affairs that left Leganes manager Mauricio Pellegrino looking somewhat embarrassed.

The Yellow Submarine held a comprehensive upper hand, coming within a hair's breadth of scoring on multiple occasions.

In the 11th minute, Castillejo delivered an angled 45-degree cross from the right corner of the penalty area into the box. Dai Zhiwei met it with a ferocious, highly driven header that skimmed just over the crossbar and out of play, missing the prime opportunity to break the deadlock early on.

Following over ten minutes of end-to-end action, both sides dialed down the tempo, settling into a measured exchange of attacks and counter-attacks. Yet precisely during this phase, the influence of star players began to stand out.

Dai Zhiwei suddenly pulled the trigger from a distance of over 40 yards out from goal, unleashing a long-range shot that zipped right between the legs of Leganes defender Insua!

This ferocious strike possessed immense power and was executed with great stealth and suddenness!

Just as Dos Santos and the Yellow Submarine troops were preparing to celebrate, Leganes goalkeeper Herrerin demonstrated razor-sharp positioning, using his fingertips to palm the ball out over the end-line.

Dai Zhiwei's sudden snap-shot sent a cold jolt through the entire Leganes camp. Mauricio Pellegrino raged on the touchline, shouting angrily and expressing deep dissatisfaction with his defenders for letting their guard down.

Yet Sevastos, berated by his manager, had grievances of his own. Dai Zhiwei's evasion speed moments earlier had been lightning-fast; he simply hadn't had time to slide in for a tackle.

Had he waited until after Dai Zhiwei had slipped past to attempt a tackle, the foul for clipping from behind would have been blatant, and the referee would surely have brandished at least a yellow card.

Besides, Sevastos hadn't anticipated that Dai Zhiwei's long-range effort from 40 yards out could pack such devastating power!

Sevastos wore a dark expression as he glared at Dai Zhiwei, who remained oblivious to the fuss and politely nodded in acknowledgment.

For Dai Zhiwei, naturally, this was merely a minor interlude.

Soon enough, the Yellow Submarine found the back of the net. Bruno had driven the ball forward into the central attacking zone ahead of the penalty area, forcing Sevastos to abandon Dai Zhiwei—who was drifting toward the flank—and charge aggressively at Bruno.

Sevastos refrained from lunging in with a clumsy slide tackle, which ultimately bought Bruno time to release the ball.

Noticing Sevastos's momentary hesitation, Bruno alertly poked the ball forward.

Consequently, this unconventional move swiftly tore open Sevastos's defensive zone. Ghosting back into the central channel near the box, Dai Zhiwei immediately played a reverse through ball, feeding it directly to Bakambu, who had been waiting eagerly inside the area.

Sevastos, tracking back in hot pursuit, felt a creeping sense of foreboding grip his heart. He pumped his legs as fast as they could carry him, determined that even if he couldn't block Bakambu's shot, he had to race back to protect the second ball.

One of the reasons Bakambu firmly secured his status as Villarreal's second-choice striker was his relentless work rate; coupled with his forward instincts, he possessed exceptional predatory sense and shooting technique inside the box.

After controlling the ball, Bakambu fought to squeeze past Insua's tight marking, shifted the ball with his feet to execute a swift turn, and immediately unleashed a fierce shot the moment a sliver of space opened up. Insua could only thrust a leg out to block, but passive defending ultimately left him a fraction too late, allowing Bakambu's shot to evade him.

The shot appeared devoid of overwhelming power, but Herrerin, who had maintained acute vigilance throughout, understood that Bakambu's effort relied not on raw force, but on trajectory. At such close range in front of goal, applying the slightest bit of curl was enough to send the ball bypassing the goalkeeper's fingertips and into the net.

Though Herrerin diagnosed the situation instantly, Bakambu's shooting position was simply too close to the goal, leaving him with nothing to do but sigh in resignation.

1:0!

The Yellow Submarine broke the deadlock!

The remainder of the first half proved relatively subdued, featuring a mere 3 fouls without the referee even needing to reach for a card.

Following the restart in the second half, Leganes stepped up their attacking intensity, but the impact was negligible, posing scarce threat to Fernandez.

In the end, Villarreal secured a hard-fought 1:0 victory over Leganes as desired.

Although Dai Zhiwei's run of scoring matches paused temporarily, an exquisite assist still left him satisfied. What pleased the Yellow Submarine troops even more was that, following this round, Villarreal firmly retained third place in the league table.

And their next fixture would be a direct showdown against Atletico Madrid!