Chapter 826 - 148: Another Comeback! Wang Shuo Has an Epiphany! Last-Second Winner! Wang Shuo, You’re Too Fast! Arsenal’s Iron-Blooded Script!

"But unexpectedly, when the ball came to me and I stopped it, he appeared right in front of me the very next moment."

Thiago Silva felt that this was because Wang Shuo had further anticipated Abate’s passing intention, but his speed was truly too fast.

And the first goal.

Thiago Silva originally thought he could block Wang Shuo, but unexpectedly, with a sudden acceleration, he broke through again.

"I don’t know the exact data; perhaps he isn’t the fastest player in the world, but I feel that when it comes to dribbling speed and changing pace and direction, he is absolutely the most elusive."

Unlike the players, the Milan Sports Daily pointed the finger at head coach Allegri, believing that in the away match against Arsenal, Allegri had made a massive tactical mistake.

"Milan has never been an attack-minded team; defensive counterattacks are the soul of Milan.

"But in London, Allegri wanted his team to play an open, attacking game against Arsenal.

"As a result, Wenger’s team only needed ten minutes to end the match early."

The Milan Sports Daily believed that AC Milan’s defense gave Wang Shuo far too much free space to operate.

This was a highly fatal issue!

"When you’ve already conceded three goals in the first ten minutes of the match, bringing the aggregate score to 4-0, and you must score at least four goals to win, any team would collapse!"

Regarding Arsenal’s tactics in this match, major media outlets widely believed that Wenger had adopted a strategy of maximizing strengths and avoiding weaknesses.

Vermaelen continued to play on the left flank, providing relatively stable defense.

But this was also related to AC Milan lacking wingers.

The specifics would have to be seen in the next stage of the competition.

"Whether Arsenal can advance further mainly depends on whether their defense can hold firm.

"After all, in the Champions League arena, especially in the knockout stage, defense is the most important thing.

"Wenger must seriously consider this issue!"

The results for the other seven matches were also gradually revealed.

Although Chelsea had suffered a disastrous 3-1 defeat away to Naples in the first leg, with the dismissal of head coach Boas and Di Matteo taking over as head coach, the Blue Army immediately regrouped.

At Stamford Bridge Stadium, they defeated Naples 3-1 in regular playing time.

In extra time, they even relied on Drogba assisting Ivanovic to score the winning goal.

Ultimately, they smoothly advanced with a 4-1 victory.

Both Premier League teams had made it to the top eight, which quite surprised Premier League fans.

As for the other six teams, besides Real Madrid, Bar?a, and Bayern, there were non-top-five league teams like APOEL, Benfica, and Marseille.

This also took many people by surprise.

Especially Dortmund losing to Marseille.

After losing Wang Shuo, Subotic, and Shahin in the summer of last year, Klopp’s team did see some impact on their overall strength, but they still performed impressively in the Bundesliga.

On the European stage, they still secured first place in their group.

However, in the round of 16 knockout stage, facing the group runner-up Marseille, they lost 2-1 away in the first leg.

Returning to their home ground, despite scoring three consecutive goals in the first half, they allowed the opponents to pull two back.

Although the final score was a 3-2 victory, making the aggregate 4-4, Marseille had two away goals and smoothly eliminated Dortmund.

The center-back pairing of Santana and Hummels still had some issues.

On a side note, in the Bundesliga this season, many of Wang Shuo’s domestic teammates, including Zhao Yifan, Zhang Xiaopeng, and others, had all received playing time and delivered decent performances.

But they were mostly at Mainz and other mid-to-lower-table teams.

The day after the Champions League round of 16 concluded, the quarter-final draw took place at the UEFA Headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.

All teams hoped to draw the three weaker sides. In the end, Arsenal drew Barcelona, while the other three matchups were clashes between giants and underdogs.

Real Madrid faced APOEL.

Chelsea faced Benfica.

Bayern faced Marseille.

This left the Gunners fans utterly speechless.

How did they run into Bar?a again?

They had just faced them last season, and now they were meeting them again this season?

***

The interesting thing about football matches is that they are always full of surprises.

Just like Arsenal this season.

They had just defeated AC Milan 3-0 in the Champions League, smoothly advancing to the quarter-finals. Returning to the Premier League, Wenger made some appropriate rotations.

As a result, in the 28th-round home game against Newcastle, in the 14th minute, Ben Arfa dribbled inside on Arsenal’s left flank, broke into the penalty area, and under the combined sandwich defense of Gibbs and Koscielny, suddenly unleashed a furious shot.

The football slipped right between Szczeny and the right goalpost and into the net.

1-0!

Trailing again!

It had been four consecutive rounds!

So much so that the Sky Sports commentator covering the match couldn’t help but joke.

"If we follow the Gunners’ script this season, then I’m very much looking forward to Newcastle continuing to intensify their attacks and striving to score again as soon as possible. The more, the better!

"Because according to the script, the more Arsenal trails, the more ruthless their counterattack and comeback will be, and it’ll ultimately turn into a high-scoring blowout."

If the Gunners players on the pitch heard this, they would probably not know whether to laugh or cry.

Who would want to fall behind?

But it truly was strange.

The left flank always seemed to have problems!

They were clearly already paying close attention to it.

Yet it was still happening in this area.

Falling behind for four consecutive rounds, it made people wonder if Arsenal simply couldn’t play football while in the lead.