Chapter 778 - 778: Chapter-776 The Settling Storm

That chance didn't make him wait long.

In the 23rd minute, Julien carried the ball forward through midfield, driving ahead in long strides, cutting through the defence.

Having learned his lesson from the foul that went uncalled earlier, he deliberately angled his run toward referee Oliver's position on the pitch.

He made no extra movements, no intentional attempt to draw a foul—just carried the ball forward. But his opponent clearly had no intention of letting him advance so easily.

Right then, West Brom's midfielder Sessegnon came in with a vicious challenge, launching into a sliding tackle.

The slide was enormous in scope, with no intention of pulling back at all—it was plainly meant to be a hard, even brutal, attempt to stop Julien's advance.

Sessegnon's reckless, consequences-be-damned lunge went straight for both the man and the ball.

Julien, dodging the incoming slide, kicked the ball hard as he pulled away.

Then Julien got clear.

Right after, the sheer force of Sessegnon's slide sent the ball flying off wildly.

The ball arced back!

No one could have predicted it—this powerfully struck, wayward ball flew straight and true, slamming directly into the unsuspecting face of referee Oliver!

Thump!

Oliver went down instantly.

The sudden accident silenced the entire stadium for a single beat—then the crowd erupted in a wave of stunned gasps!

Everyone froze, eyes locked on the referee lying on the ground.

Oliver hit the turf hard, clamped both hands over his face, unable to get up for a moment as blood began seeping steadily through his fingers—clearly his nose was bleeding from the impact.

He looked dazed and disoriented, in terrible shape.

Play turned to an immediate halt.

With the emergency unfolding, medical staff from both teams rushed onto the pitch immediately.

They checked the referee's condition first thing—stopping the bleeding, assessing the dizziness, checking his head—doing everything they could to handle the sudden crisis.

Meanwhile, Julien and Sessegnon got up off the ground one after the other. The two exchanged a glance, then both threw up their hands helplessly at the same time, faces showing innocence.

The broadcast commentators couldn't help gasping over and over.

"My god! This is such a rare sight! All these years playing, all these years commentating, I've never seen anything like this! The ball hitting the referee square in the face, the referee bleeding and going down on the spot—this is absolutely one of the rarest scenes in football history!"

Though it seemingly had nothing to do with him, Julien still walked over on his own, bent down to check on the referee, and helped the medical staff take a quick look at his condition.

Once he was sure Oliver wouldn't be able to continue officiating the match, Julien felt at ease.

That one kick had given Oliver a concussion.

Between the facial injury and the dizziness, he no longer met the conditions to keep refereeing.

The match organizers made an immediate adjustment—the fourth official was rushed in as an emergency substitute, temporarily taking over officiating duties for the match, and play resumed after a brief stoppage.

With the new referee on the pitch, the standard of officiating for the rest of the match underwent a dramatic shift.

Compared to Oliver's earlier lenient, foul-tolerant style, the new referee's standards were clearly far stricter and fairer.

Though he still didn't go out of his way to brandish cards—still kept the card count controlled—he showed zero tolerance for fouls on the pitch.

The moment there was a foul, a pull, a reckless tackle, any kind of rule-breaking play, the whistle went up immediately to stop it, resolutely refusing to allow brutal challenges.

The unsatisfied West Brom players still tried to test the new referee's limits.

They kept trying to use petty fouls and heavy-handed challenges to disrupt Liverpool's attack, but the very first time they tried a malicious pull, the new referee didn't hesitate—out came the yellow card.

That yellow card was enough to snap the whole West Brom side awake.

West Brom completely abandoned their lumberjack-style hacking, no longer daring to use rough, heavy-handed tactics to disrupt Liverpool's attacking rhythm.

With the atmosphere on the pitch transformed, Liverpool finally let loose.

They unleashed their full, elegant passing-and-possession system, piling on relentless pressure against their opponent's back line.

They held complete command of the game, creating one dangerous chance after another.

In the 31st minute, the goal that broke the deadlock finally arrived!

Julien received the ball in midfield and advanced steadily; with his teammates' runs pulling the defence apart, he slipped perfectly past his marker and cut inside, driving into the edge of the box.

He adjusted his stride, settled the ball, picked his spot at the far corner of the goal, and struck a clean, lofted shot!

The ball traced an exquisite arc through the air, curling past the West Brom wall and into the net—the goalkeeper's full-stretch dive couldn't do a thing about it!

1–0!

Julien had broken the deadlock, kicking open the door to victory for Liverpool!

The instant the ball hit the net, the whole of Anfield exploded. Tens of thousands of fans erupted into celebration.

Thunderous cheers and booming anthems swept across the stadium as everyone leapt to their feet, scarves waving, venting every ounce of pent-up emotion.

The unfair calls, the on-field controversy, the opponent's malicious fouls from earlier—all of it dissolved in the wake of that stunning strike.

Liverpool's players swarmed Julien on the pitch, piling into a group celebration, savouring every second of that hard-won goal.

After that, for the rest of the first half, Liverpool kept their opponent firmly under the hammer, creating chance after chance, though several attacks narrowly missed the mark and failed to add to the scoreline.

In the end, the first half came to a close, and thanks to Julien's decisive goal, Liverpool headed into the break with a 1–0 lead.

In the locker room at halftime, Klopp praised the team's first-half performance, while firmly demanding that they keep up the same intensity on both ends in the second half—no letting up, no easing off the pressure, keep grinding down their opponent, and put the match beyond any doubt, giving West Brom no chance to fight back.

Soon after, the second half kicked off, and Liverpool's attacks came just as fiercely, wave after wave crashing into West Brom's defence.

Their opponents spent the whole half scrambling, defensive gaps opening up again and again.

The Reds carved out one prime scoring chance after another, keeping constant pressure on the opposing goal and firmly dictating the flow of the match.

In the 65th minute, Liverpool's constant pressure finally paid off again—they found another gap in the defence and scored, extending the lead to 2–0 and putting the result beyond doubt.

With the score secured, Klopp made a substitution, bringing off Julien, who had been in red-hot form and delivered the opener.

As he left the pitch, Julien received a standing ovation from the entire stadium, applause was rolling on and on, paying tribute to his outstanding performance across the match.

Even with their key player off, Liverpool's attacking firepower showed no sign of easing.

The squad's terrifying depth was on full display in that moment.

The substitutes who came on slotted straight into the rhythm, combining smoothly and attacking sharply, continuing to overwhelm their opponent's defence.

In the 72nd minute, Liverpool launched another attack—Coutinho received the ball up front, adjusted, checked the goalkeeper's position, and fired without hesitation. The shot was heavy and precisely placed, burrowing straight into the corner of the net. 3–0!

The Reds extended their lead again, utterly shattering their opponent's morale.

In the 81st minute, Liverpool won a free kick in a prime attacking position. De Bruyne stood over the ball, settled his rhythm, and struck an unstoppable free kick—the ball curled around the wall and dipped sharply, sailing straight into the net!

4–0!

Liverpool had put the score beyond reach for good.

There was no more suspense in the match after that—West Brom's players had already mentally collapsed, spending the rest of the game on the back foot, with no fight left in them.

Peep!

The instant the referee's whistle sounded full-time; Anfield erupted once more into its loudest celebration of the day!

The entire stadium roared and sang in celebration.

The sea of red surged with energy, a fervent atmosphere was blanketing the whole ground.

Through a dominant performance, Liverpool won 4–0 at home against West Brom—after navigating on-field controversy and a shocking refereeing accident, they answered every obstacle with a resounding, clean-sheet victory.

They extended the team's unstoppable winning streak, continuing to lead the Premier League table!

After Liverpool's emphatic 4–0 win over West Brom, the focus of the post-match press conference wasn't the Reds' big win, but the referee's mid-match accident.

When Klopp sat down, he didn't start by talking about the team's brilliant performance—instead, he opened by expressing his concern for referee Oliver.

He revealed that, following an emergency check by the team doctors on the pitch and a subsequent follow-up examination, Oliver had been diagnosed with a concussion; the sudden impact on the pitch had taken a real toll on him physically.

Klopp said, "First of all, I want to wish Oliver a speedy recovery. Football is full of unexpected moments, and nobody wants to see something like that happen.

A concussion needs proper rest, and I hope he can take the time he needs to recover fully and get back on the pitch soon.

Whatever controversy there was over the calls before the match, a player's health and a referee's safety will always come first in football."

At the same time, not long after the match ended, several sports media outlets broke a major behind-the-scenes story.

They published clear, on-the-spot photos alongside it, and it instantly set the internet blazing.

In the photos, Julien had made a special trip after the match to the hospital where Oliver was staying, carrying a fruit basket, to visit him in person.

Facing the reporters waiting on site, Julien calmly gave a brief interview. "If there's one thing I hate, it's apologizing after the fact.

The disputed calls on the pitch, the battles that happen during a match—that's all part of the game.

I'll never apologize for anything that happens at the competitive level.

But for what happened to Oliver today, I'm genuinely sorry. It's the kind of accident nobody wants to see, and I hope he makes a full recovery soon."

The moment went viral instantly, leaving countless Liverpool fans not knowing what to say.

Across social media, fans shared photos of Julien showing up with his fruit basket to visit the referee, turning it into an endless string of jokes.

Plenty of fans left playful comments: "Turns out Oliver really did have no eye for the game—and he took a ball to the face for it. Guess he's satisfied now!"

"The internet's one and only get-well visit—heartwarming and satisfying!"

"Favouring the other team before kick-off, then paying the price himself—what goes around comes around!"

As the fallout from the on-field incident kept spreading, the FA, under rising public pressure, finally issued an official statement addressing the controversy over the match's officiating and pitch safety.

In the statement, the FA didn't directly admit that the earlier calls had been mistaken, nor did it issue a public apology, but it clearly stated it would tighten oversight of officiating across the Premier League, refine the standards for calling fouls, regulate defensive challenges on the pitch, put a stop to malicious lumberjack-style tackles, and strengthen safety protections for both players and referees on the pitch.

Though cautiously worded, this official response amounted to a tacit admission that refereeing standards in the Premier League had grown too lenient of late.

It formally signalled that officiating standards across the league were set for an overhaul.

With the storm settled, football moved into an international break, public discussion gradually died down, and the tense atmosphere around the Premier League eased along with it.

After the international break, Liverpool returned to Premier League action, heading away to take on Queens Park Rangers.

Following the FA's crackdown on officiating standards, the atmosphere for this match was completely different.

No opponent dared imitate the malicious tactics Everton and West Brom had used earlier—no team went out of its way to hack viciously and choke off Liverpool's attack.

With the FA's reform of officiating standards and the pitch finally a level, fair playing field,

Liverpool were completely free of the malicious-foul targeting that had dogged them before, and the whole team, fully unleashed, let their terrifying attacking power run wild.

With no more relentless, vicious hacking, malicious pulling, or tactical fouling breaking up their rhythm, the Reds' fluid passing system was on full, open display.

In midfield, anchored by the steady control of Kroos and Pogba, they held the match's tempo firmly in their grip, transitions between attack and defence was flowing smoothly.

From the opening whistle, they had QPR firmly under their thumb.

Playing at home, QPR refused to simply sit back and take it, trying to use their home crowd's energy to mount a fightback, going toe-to-toe with Liverpool and creating two scoring chances off the back of some sharp counterattacking play.

They managed to convert both, salvaging some respectability on the scoreboard and avoiding the embarrassment of a clean sheet against them.

But that level of resistance was ultimately a drop in the bucket against a Liverpool side playing at this level.

Up front, the Reds attacked from every angle—Julien cutting nimbly inside to stretch the defence, Suárez finishing coolly inside the box, Coutinho unloading long-range strikes—flank breakthroughs, central incursions, shots from distance, every kind of attacking weapon on full display, one after another.

Wave after wave of attacks kept coming, with no sign of letting up at all.

Across the whole match, Liverpool's attack blanketed every corner of the pitch—whether it was intricate combination play in settled possession or the sharp, cutting edge of a fast break, both tore gaping holes in their opponent's defence, run ragged and exhausted.

QPR's players scrambled desperately to cover, utterly unable to contain the Reds' attacking rhythm, left with no choice but to absorb the relentless pressure.

Even when the team rallied and pushed forward in bursts, they could barely break through Liverpool's solid midfield shield and back line—their two scoring chances were already the absolute limit of what they could manage.

In the end, the final whistle settled it—Liverpool, through a dominant performance, claimed a resounding 6–2 win away at Queens Park Rangers.

Another strong victory in the bag, extending their winning streak firmly.

They further cemented their commanding lead at the top of the Premier League table.

At the post-match press conference, Klopp was relaxed, no longer dwelling on the earlier controversy and the refereeing storm, his focus entirely on what lay ahead.

He said candidly in the interview: "Whatever happened in past matches—good or bad, controversial or not—it's all firmly behind us now. We're not going to keep dwelling on past storms or past wins.

Right now, the whole team's focus is entirely on the upcoming Champions League group stage.

We're heading away to take on Real Madrid—that's a top-tier clash, and it's also our biggest challenge ahead. We want to keep winning!"

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