Many Barcelona fans in the stands of the Stade de France were angry at Arsenal's lack of courage to attack, and the spearhead was directed at Qin Xiong.
Everyone could see that he was stalling for time.
But he was not stalling for invalid time. He did not deliberately not kick off after being fouled or during a set piece. He was in possession of the ball in the field, and Barcelona could not intercept it. It was Barcelona's problem. As for whether he lacked courage, at least the Arsenal fans did not think so.
With one less player, the game had reached the 90th minute, and Arsenal was in the lead. What kind of courage did they need?
Henry came up to take the free kick with Qin Xiong. In order to let Arsenal take the free kick as soon as possible, the Barcelona players directly withdrew enough distance. They did not complain to the referee that Arsenal was stalling for time. After all, Arsenal did not adopt the strategy of lying down.
What could they complain about?
If they disliked Arsenal for not attacking, then they could go and snatch the ball!
Qin Xiong had already wasted more than a minute by dribbling the ball.
After Henry kicked off to him, the Barcelona players immediately rushed up to snatch the ball.
And they had learned their lesson from before. They no longer rushed up to snatch the ball alone. Qin Xiong's ability to get rid of the ball in a small area was vividly displayed.
Give him space, and he could gallop.
Ronaldinho and Deco rushed from the side, Larsson rushed from the back, Márquez and Belletti rushed from the front, and Qin Xiong's back was the sideline.
Qin Xiong, who was almost surrounded on all sides, stood in place. Two seconds later, he would face the encirclement of everyone!
This scene might have been filmed by the live camera on the sidelines. From the angle behind Qin Xiong, it might not be a story of a solo hero, but it must be in a sense to witness Qin Xiong's figure in the Champions League final.
Qin Xiong took a deep breath. After this breath, he was almost out of space.
Barcelona's players probably thought that Qin Xiong would suddenly move aside and let them intercept the ball and kick it out of the sideline. This way, Arsenal could delay for a while.
But just as Belletti stretched out his leg to intercept, Qin Xiong suddenly moved and scooped the ball up on the spot. The football flew up lightly and flew between the heads of Belletti and Marcos under their shocked gazes. It flew behind them.
At the same time, Qin Xiong dashed forward from the sidelines!
After he rushed past Belletti, he caught up with the football that bounced towards the outside of Barcelona's penalty area. The Barcelona players immediately adjusted their defense in shock.
That scene would probably become the highlight of Qin Xiong's career.
In the game after he recovered the second ball, it almost became Qin Xiong's individual ball control show!
And the supporting actor who cooperated with him in this show was Barcelona!
Qin Xiong had no stamina after he caught up with the football. He could no longer rush to Barcelona's goal, not even the penalty area.
He regained control of the football and then slowly dribbled the ball to the end line to protect the ball in the corner area.
Perhaps there was not much time left, or perhaps he was flustered and exasperated, Marcos directly knocked Qin Xiong down from behind when he rushed up.
He did not care too much. He wanted to see how Qin Xiong would deal with the ball at the end line anyway!
The referee whistled to signal that Marcos had committed a foul and then showed him a yellow card.
Qin Xiong did not use the invalid time to delay the game.
A minute of injury stoppage time had passed and the game would be over in less than two minutes.
He stood near Barcelona's end line and then placed the football where it was.
Then, he did something that shocked the entire Barcelona team.
Barcelona had to compete for the ball and Qin Xiong's individual ball control ability was extremely strong. It delayed a lot of time and completely attracted their attention.
At this time, they were all in their own half of the field, waiting for Qin Xiong's teammates to come up and participate in the free kick attack.
However, just as they were about to mark the player plugging in from behind, they saw Qin Xiong's original position in Arsenal's half of the field. He kicked the football back to Arsenal's half of the field!
The football that flew back to Arsenal's half of the field almost flew away with Barcelona's hope of reversing the game!
The football flew back to the backfield. Henry controlled the ball and then waited for the Barcelona players to come up and snatch it.
Eto 'o was the first to rush up again. Henry passed the ball back to Ashley Cole.
Eto 'o continued to rush forward, and the other teammates also rushed forward.
After Arsenal's three passes and two falls in the backfield, the football returned to Henry's feet. He directly kicked the ball to Qin Xiong, who was walking back to his offside position in the front field under Deco's pressure.
Qin Xiong was still on the flank.
After the football returned to his feet, the Barcelona players were almost desperate!
There were less than 20 seconds left in the injury stoppage time.
Qin Xiong also looked at the time on the big screen before he touched the ball. After he touched the ball, there were only 17 seconds left in the three minutes of injury stoppage time.
And during injury stoppage time, the game's invalid time was almost negligible.
In short, he could not return the ball to Barcelona in 17 seconds.
At this time, Belletti rushed up to snatch the ball, and at the same time, he was wary of Qin Xiong's breakthrough. Qin Xiong was not sure if he could successfully break through.
He needed help.
Two seconds passed, and he saw Henry. Henry, who was clear-headed at the crucial moment, appeared.
After Henry passed the ball, he rushed forward. Qin Xiong passed the ball back to Henry before Belletti closed in and snatched it. Then, he directly started to rush forward!
Belletti did not expect Qin Xiong to pass the ball, and he did not expect Henry, who had barely stepped out of the half of the field for the past ten minutes, to rush up.
Henry received the ball directly and steadily made a direct pass over the top!
Three seconds had been consumed in this round trip.
Qin Xiong stopped the ball when he rushed to the end line. He estimated the time left.
Belletti rushed back again. Márquez only dared to block Qin Xiong's route to the penalty area at this time. He did not dare to come up to intercept rashly, for fear of fouling and letting Arsenal completely waste the last time.
13,12,11.....
Ten seconds left.
Qin Xiong dribbled the ball to the sideline after Belletti rushed over and made a move to protect the ball.
10,9.....
Eight seconds left!
Belletti did not dare to foul either. He moved to the left or right side, wanting to go around to Qin Xiong's front. However, he was blocked by Qin Xiong's back. Belletti, who was a Brazilian, definitely could not win against the physical confrontation that he had honed in the English Premier League.
8,7.....
Qin Xiong suddenly dribbled the ball to the corner area, and then he flicked the ball up on the spot before Belletti rushed over.
Qin Xiong counted silently in his heart as the football rose in front of his eyes.
6,5.....
The football fell. Qin Xiong used the last of his strength to straighten his right foot and kick out!
The football went straight up into the sky!
Other than the audience sitting in the high seats in the stands, everyone else, the players, the coaches, the audience on the sidelines, the reporters, the staff, and the assistant referee all looked up at the football flying into the sky.
Qin Xiong also looked up and his lips moved slightly.
4,3,2,1！
The time the football took to rise and fall in the air used up all the time in the stoppage time!
He withdrew his gaze and no longer paid attention to the falling football. He would not try to control the ball and pass the ball, which was a little difficult to stop, to Belletti. If Belletti could stop the ball at his feet, Qin Xiong would be impressed, but he would immediately start to close in on Belletti.
Just as he turned around and walked behind Belletti, Belletti was still looking at the falling football and was ready to make a difficult stop.
However, the referee blew the whistle at the end of the game at this time!
The football fell and Belletti's foot kicked the ball out of the end line. He fell to the ground as if everything was shattered by the falling football!
Qin Xiong was exhausted and struggled to maintain his standing position. He closed his eyes and smiled.
Arsenal's first ever Champions League trophy came with a bang!
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