Chapter 82: A Headshot to Start

On March 20th, the most anticipated match of La Liga's 30th round in the 2015-16 season was Barcelona’s away game against Villarreal. At present, Barcelona sat alone at the top of the league table, while Villarreal occupied fourth place. In their last 13 league encounters, Barcelona had remained unbeaten against Villarreal, with 10 wins and 3 draws. In total, the two sides had met 31 times in league history, with Barcelona claiming 17 wins, 6 draws, and 8 losses, including 8 away wins, 2 draws, and 5 defeats.

This contest unfolded at the Estadio de la Cerámica. Turan, Piqué, and Bravo rotated back into Barcelona's starting lineup, while Marcelino also made minor adjustments to his squad compared to the midweek fixture against Leverkusen.

The starting lineups were as follows:

Villarreal:
Goalkeeper: Asenjo
Defenders: Mario, Bailly, Ruiz, Rukavina
Midfielders: Castillejo, Bruno, Trigueros, Denis
Forwards: Dai Zhiwei, Soldado

Barcelona:
Goalkeeper: Bravo
Defenders: Roberto, Piqué, Mascherano, Alba
Midfielders: Rakitic, Busquets, Turan
Forwards: Messi, Suárez, Neymar

Earlier that day, rain had left the pitch at Villarreal’s home ground slick and slippery. However, this posed little concern for the home side. Though both teams were known for their technical play, Villarreal’s style was far less reliant on intricate footwork than Barcelona’s, meaning the field conditions were likely to trouble the visitors more than the hosts—a welcome advantage for Villarreal.

While waiting with the other 21 starters in the players’ tunnel, Dai Zhiwei recognized several opponents he had faced during the last Club World Cup. “Hey, we meet again at last!” he thought. He had already been informed that the match would be broadcast live by multiple major networks in his home country, including the national sports channel, and with kickoff set for 11 p.m. local time back home, it was expected that over ten million fans would tune in. “What sort of celebration should I do if I score?” he wondered. Every star has his signature move—Ronaldinho’s double ‘six-six-six’ hand sign, Batistuta’s machine-gun, Kaká’s skyward prayer, or Ronaldo’s wide-armed leap.

Even as he stepped onto the Estadio de la Cerámica, Dai Zhiwei was still musing about his goal celebration, transformed, for the moment, into a soul-searching Balotelli.

After kickoff, both teams became entangled in a midfield pressing battle, with few highlights emerging. Villarreal struggled to create opportunities early on; despite his pre-match energy, Dai Zhiwei found himself a bystander up front. As Barcelona, the away side, had possession from the start, Dai Zhiwei had yet to even touch the ball—he had nothing to do but study Mascherano’s features in detail, even idly considering counting the number of nose hairs visible on the Argentine’s face. This alone spoke volumes about the Yellow Submarine’s offensive difficulties.

In stark contrast, Barcelona’s attack drew gasps from the home crowd. The MSN trio—the most formidable forward line in modern football—looked peerless and unstoppable.

During a rare Villarreal counterattack, Denis carried the ball forward and suddenly laid it off. Dai Zhiwei, having retreated from the penalty area, finally received the ball for the first time. He was facing away from goal but did not hesitate; he leaned his back into Mascherano’s chest and, using the Argentine as a pivot, spun rapidly, simultaneously dragging the ball with him. It was a move executed at lightning speed. Before Mascherano could react, Dai Zhiwei had already turned halfway toward goal, the ball at his feet. Without pause, he unleashed a ferocious right-footed strike from the edge of the box.

For Barcelona’s goalkeeper Bravo, the shot felt like a cannonball fired from the arc of the penalty area. Before his mind could send instructions to his body, the “cannonball” had already rocketed toward his face.

Bang!

Dai Zhiwei clutched his head in dismay. Despite the sheer power behind his shot, it was struck too centrally to beat the keeper. Yet his reaction stood in stark contrast to the Barcelona players. The shot, so powerful, left Bravo frozen on his line; he didn’t react at all until the ball was almost upon him. But as previously mentioned, the shot was aimed directly at him—Bravo didn’t need to move; the ball came straight for him and crashed heavily into his face.

A football, as everyone knows, is spherical, typically crafted from leather or other suitable materials, usually assembled from 12 black pentagons and 20 white hexagons. Its circumference must not exceed 70 centimeters or be less than 68 centimeters. The weight at kickoff must be no more than 450 grams and no less than 410 grams. But what happens when this little object, weighing less than a pound, is blasted at over 130 kilometers per hour into a person’s unprotected face?

Before the match, no one could have given you a definite answer, but now, everyone watching Villarreal versus Barcelona had one. After the ball smashed into Bravo’s face, his vision went black. As he tried to lunge forward to collect the rebound, he simply collapsed in the six-yard box.

Fortunately, Bravo’s defenders reacted quickly, hoofing the ball out for a throw-in. But when Alba looked back after clearing the ball, he was shocked to see Barcelona’s first-choice goalkeeper still lying motionless on the ground.

The referee immediately stopped play and ran to the goal, signaling urgently for the medical team to enter. All the Barcelona players rushed over, while several Villarreal teammates instinctively shielded Dai Zhiwei, fearing that the shaken Barcelona players might lash out at him in anger, even though he was blameless in the incident.

“No way it’s come to this, right?” Dai Zhiwei was just as surprised to see Bravo down, and the image of Captain Tsubasa’s Kojiro Hyuga shattering a concrete wall with his Tiger Shot flashed through his mind, filling him with a strange sense of dread.

Fortunately, Bravo was soon able to stand—with the help of two teammates. After a thorough check from the medical staff on the sideline, Bravo insisted he could continue, but Barcelona’s coach Enrique, erring on the side of caution, substituted him for Ter Stegen, suspecting a mild concussion. No coach would risk an impaired keeper, especially given the responsibility for his players’ health.

This unexpected substitution disrupted Enrique’s pre-match plans, and for the first time since the game began, he felt events slipping beyond his control.

“Kid, that was something! I bet next time you shoot, Ter Stegen might be afraid of getting his head blown off too! Victory is precious, but life is even more so!” Bruno joked to Dai Zhiwei as he jogged back into position.

“Blown off? I didn’t mean to!” Dai Zhiwei noticed the looks his teammates gave him—like he was some deranged killer—and grew even more despondent.

“Oh, unbelievable! Villarreal’s young Dai Zhiwei has just blasted Barcelona’s Bravo off his feet with a rocket from the edge of the box! Terrifying!” The major networks covering this La Liga clash erupted in astonishment. It was rare indeed to see a shot literally knock out an opposing player.

Of course, only the neutral or non-Catalan media took this line—in the Catalan broadcast booths, the hosts were one step short of calling Dai Zhiwei an executioner.

“Haha, I just received some data on Dai Zhiwei’s shot,” said Xu Yang, the commentator for the national sports channel, to his colleague He Wei. Xu Yang read aloud, astonished: “That shot by Dai Zhiwei was clocked at 134 kilometers per hour!”

“Wow, that’s an extraordinary number,” He Wei exclaimed, the renowned “Poet” of the commentary box. “That would make Dai Zhiwei’s shot the second-fastest ever recorded—

No.1—Carlos: In the 2002 World Cup group stage against Brazil, Roberto Carlos scored a free kick from 25 meters in the 14th minute. Japanese media later reported the shot reached 149 km/h.

No.2—Di Vaio: In a match between AC Milan and Juventus, in the 84th minute, Di Vaio unleashed a left-footed volley from outside the box that left Dida rooted; the shot was measured at 126.5 km/h, a speed previously only seen on penalties.

No.3—Batistuta: On August 23, 2002, at the San Siro in the Pirelli Cup, Inter faced Roma. In the 37th minute, Cassano set up the Argentine striker, who hammered home a shot at 123.9 km/h.

No.4—Ronaldo: On November 10, 2002, Real Madrid defeated Rayo Vallecano 3-2 in La Liga. In the 15th minute, Figo played Ronaldo through; the Brazilian fired a shot from 17 meters at 122 km/h.

No.5—Kehl: On May 1, 2003, Germany hosted Serbia and Montenegro in Bremen. In the 60th minute, defender Kehl lashed a 30-meter drive at 117 km/h.”

“So, Dai Zhiwei now holds the second-fastest shot speed in history?” Xu Yang asked.

“That’s right,” He Wei affirmed, but then added, “Lothar Matthäus’s long-range strike at the 1990 World Cup was estimated by computer to have possibly reached 210 km/h, but there’s no official record, so it can’t be verified. Still, after today, the whole world knows about the power behind Dai Zhiwei’s shooting!”