Chapter 532: Paris's Last-Minute Miracle

【Damn, Mbappé is ruthless】

【Manchester United's full-back problems are so obvious — drawing a side with wing speedsters like PSG is just g】

【Luke Shaw, where are you?!】

【Valencia simply can't contain Mbappé】

【Rodri, don't be a war criminal!】

With Neymar injured and subbed off, PSG equalised on the counter, which immediately drove the watching Manchester United fans up the wall.

United never had the upper hand against PSG to begin with.

And now their only lead is gone!

"Xuuuu!!!"

Mbappé drew the ire of the United fans in the stands; Old Trafford was blanketed in jeers aimed at the Frenchman.

"From the current situation, it looks like the PSG players are trying to take control of the game's tempo."

"This is something United don't want to see. What United need to do now is make use of their advantage through the middle and avoid getting into a wing-versus-wing attacking duel with PSG."

The commentators had only to say a few words and the problems on the pitch for United were laid bare.

And as professionals, the United players on the pitch certainly knew what needed to be done.

De Jong increased the frequency of his passes to Tang Ye.

The ball is played to Tang Ye!

"Right side, right side!"

Under Tang Ye's direction, United launched a series of rapid advances.

Pop!

De Jong's long ball out to Rashford on the left, running to the byline!

Rashford was in fine form and brought the ball under control with the greatest of ease.

He held his position on the byline for a moment.

When the moment was right, Rashford began to press the defender!

Pop!

The ball is played to Rodri.

The instant he received it, Rodri was immediately pressed tight by Marquinhos.

Quick, give it to Ashley Young!

"Here!"

Calling for the ball while running forward, Tang Ye was closing in on the edge of the arc.

Thud!

Ashley Young's through ball was delivered!

Tang Ye lifted his left foot and let the ball roll naturally beneath him.

A classic piece of skill — Tang Ye successfully kept his first touch.

Glance toward the box!

Adjust his position…

Cock the leg!

Thud!

The long-range shot flew out, whistling past Kimpembe's ear.

Buffon leapt.

But Buffon's reflexes couldn't match the speed of Tang Ye's strike.

"Goooo——aaaaa——lllll!!!"

"Goal!"

"Goal! Tang Ye with the long-range strike!"

"Oh my god, hahaha!"

"Tom!!!"

The United players on the pitch let out roars.

As the goalscorer, Tang Ye didn't hesitate for a second — he sprinted decisively toward the touchline.

Hitting his top speed.

Get ready!

Thud!

Sshhh!!!

The knee-slide hit the turf, tearing out three perfectly even stripes.

Two deep, one shallow.

That familiar feeling was back.

"ROAR!!!"

Letting out a roar toward the stands, Tang Ye walked over and pulled a United fan in the front row into a tight embrace.

The fan was a little sore from Tang Ye's hug, but it was plain to see he was loving every second of it.

【Mission progress: Penalty kicks (1/3) / Goals (2/8)】

"Tom!!!"

Tang Ye released the fan, and his teammates quickly swarmed him.

Rodri took a running start, leaped, and landed heavily on top of Tang Ye, muttering incessantly about the current score.

2:1!

Less than five minutes after finding his rhythm in Paris, Tang Ye shattered Paris's dream of leading with a long-range shot.

Let's take a look at the replay of that goal just now.

Ashley Young played a through ball forward to Tang Ye.

Lift your feet when you run.

As the ball arrived before him, Tang Ye planted his supporting foot, then swung his leg to complete the volley.

"Hmm."

"We can see that the angle of Tang Ye's shot wasn't actually very good."

"Yes, but that shot was simply too decisive; Buffon probably didn't even believe Tang Ye would shoot directly under such circumstances."

Too little adjustment time prevented Tang Ye from creating a good angle for his long-range shot.

But it didn't matter.

It was precisely this element of surprise, this overwhelming pressure unique to Tang Ye as a top-tier attacking midfielder!

"2:1."

"Manchester United retakes the lead!"

Beep beep beep!!!

Tang Ye's brace forcibly lifted the morale of the home fans.

In the next few minutes, Manchester United intensified their attack, coming close to scoring a third goal.

At this moment, Ten Hag made a decision: to substitute off Rodri, who had performed poorly in the second half.

McTominay comes on as a substitute!

"Rodri!"

Bang bang!

"Rodri!"

Despite his poor performance, the Manchester United fans still gave Rodri a loud ovation.

"The talented defensive midfielder from Spain. One could say Manchester United's league results this season owe much to this player, Rodri!"

"..."

He high-fived McTominay and left the field.

Rodri's expression was visibly dejected.

This was a crucial match for Manchester United, yet he had delivered his worst performance of the season in this very game.

"It's alright."

Fan Fan Dejiahe placed his hand on Rodri's back.

Time flew quickly, arriving at the 71st minute of the match.

Paris also made their substitution.

The substitute player entered the field, but Ten Hag's expression showed not a hint of relaxation.

Both sides' tactics were straightforward; thus, no matter how Manchester United or Paris made substitutions, as long as Tang Ye and Mbappé, these two key points, remained on the field, the situation of the match would not change significantly.

Unless some unexpected situation suddenly occurred.

Rashford dribbled forward on the left wing; this was his 20th sprint of the second half.

The defending player tried to speed up as much as possible to keep pace with Rashford, avoiding being closed down by the defender.

It was evident that Rashford was already very tired, but he also knew the importance of this attacking opportunity for the team.

The defending player slowly closed in on Rashford, and just as he was about to make contact with him, the Manchester United forward suddenly jumped.

Rashford had stopped, but his ball continued rolling slowly forward.

"Eh!"

"Rashford, that's a fall without any contact!"

Rashford sat on the ground, his expression filled with helplessness.

The referee decisively blew the whistle; the Manchester United team doctor, without any hesitation, ran straight onto the pitch.

"Beep beep beep!!!"

"Fuck!!!!!"

"No no no..."

The scene suddenly erupted into chaos.

Suddenly collapsing on the field without any contact is a situation that frequent football viewers know is very serious.

There are only three possibilities.

1. Physical exhaustion.

2. Cardiac arrest.

3. Muscle strain.

Rashford's current condition was either 1 or 3.

One could only say:

"Manchester United fans can only hope Rashford hasn't suffered a muscle strain, but from the replay angle, Rashford's movement when he jumped earlier indeed looked like a strain..."

Manchester United players slowly gathered around; while the team doctor examined Rashford, Tang Ye stood nearby.

"Hoo..."

Marcus...

"How is it?"

Valencia rushed up from behind, while Tang Ye shook his head: "I feel... it's not very good." The team doctor quickly completed the diagnosis, then proceeded with a series of stretches on Rashford's thigh.

Finally, two doctors helped Rashford up from the grass, and the three of them walked together toward the sideline.

Manchester United's starting winger, Marcus Rashford, suffered a thigh muscle strain and could not continue the match.

Clap clap clap clap!!!

Clap clap clap!

Just like Rodri earlier, or even better; as a Carrington academy product, Rashford received an even warmer reception than Rodri. Nearly all Manchester United fans rose from their seats to applaud him.

This fellow, hailed as the Wonder Kid, had delivered undeniable performances over the last two-plus seasons!

"Rashford is injured, hiss... this is terrible for Manchester United. I even feel... Paris loses a Neymar, Manchester United loses a Rashford. But in my view, Manchester United's loss is greater."

The CCTV commentator expressed his concerns regarding Manchester United.

Paris lost Neymar to injury, but they still have Mbappé and Cavani.

Manchester United lost Rashford to injury; at the striker position, they no longer had a single top-tier player.

Most importantly!

No one could run fast-break attacks with Tang Ye anymore!

Check Dongqiu Di live match report: Rashford suffers muscle strain, Greenwood comes on as a substitute.

After coming on, Greenwood played in Ziyech's position, while the original right winger, Ziyech, moved to the left flank.

"Booooo!!!"

These were the boos from the Paris fans, followed immediately by their cheers.

"Paris est magique! (Paris is miraculous!)"

"Paris est magique!"

Thump thump!

Thump thump thump!

Everyone knew Rashford's importance to Manchester United, so after he left the field, the momentum of the Paris players and fans surged directly to its peak.

It was just like the state of the Manchester United fans after Neymar went off injured in the first half.

"Steady, steady!"

Captain Valencia shouted.

For the remainder of the match, Manchester United should not count on attacking; holding onto the current 2:1 lead was the top priority.

Hands on his hips, Tang Ye now felt immense pressure.

On the surface, Manchester United scored one goal in each half, looking incredibly fierce. In reality, to create those two scoring opportunities, Tang Ye had expended a tremendous amount of stamina.

Now that they were playing defense, under normal circumstances he should have been substituted off for a reserve player.

But with only three substitution slots available, Rashford and Rodri had each used one, so the remaining slot definitely had to go to a defender.

After a brief analysis, Tang Ye realized he had to continue enduring on the field.

"..."

On the pitch were the cheers of the Manchester United fans; the match had reached the 76th minute.

This should be the most critical moment of the game.

As long as Manchester United could withstand Paris's relentless attacks for the final ten-plus minutes, they would secure victory in the first leg.

However, strictly speaking, the description "only" was incorrect.

Paris had used all their substitution slots on forward players, making it clear they intended to exploit this opportunity to crush Manchester United.

Pass pass!

A series of passes down the left flank; Mbappé reached the byline and cut the ball back to Bernat.

Bernat cut inside.

Feinting a shot, he actually passed backward to Kimpembe behind him.

A long-range shot was fired, but it was kept out by De Gea, who was in excellent form.

"A corner kick for Paris, let's take a look..."

"Eh, goal!"

"Kimpembe!"

"A header goal by the Paris defender!"

Manchester United's marking tactics inside the penalty area suffered a serious error, which Paris seized upon.

Roar!!!

Kimpembe roared loudly at the camera.

After the Paris center-back scored with a header, Manchester United's advantage vanished completely.

Tuchel raised both clenched fists into the air.

He was very excited, but the German manager also knew what his team needed to do now, so he rushed over and dragged the celebrating Paris players back.

Now was Manchester United's low point; this was the best time to launch an attack.

"It's a draw now, a draw!"

"We need the lead!"

Tuchel pressed both hands onto Marquinhos's shoulders, shouting loudly.

"Attack the right side!"

Because he had been running constantly, Mbappé's stamina was also starting to give out.

But Paris was different from Manchester United; Paris still had players available to use.

That is Di María, brought on as a substitute!

Mbappé, Di María, Alves—this is Paris's current forward line configuration!

The match has reached the 85th minute of the second half.

"Damn it, damn it!"

Valencia's defense encountered trouble; Tang Ye rushed over from the center.

Seize the opportunity!

Boom!

"Beautiful! Tang Ye!"

"A very clean tackle; Tang Ye has temporarily halted Paris's highly threatening attack!"

Mbappé rolled back and forth on the ground; Tang Ye walked over, extended a hand, and pulled him up.

He apologized softly, then quickly refocused his attention on the match.

"Paris!"

"Paris!"

"Ole ole ole ole oh~~~"

Near the Manchester United goal, the chanting of the Paris fans grew louder and louder.

Just as Brother Dui had written, the Paris fans were now waiting.

Waiting for a miracle!

"The throw-in comes out—ah, beautiful by Tang Ye, he's got the ball!"

"Let de Jong drive forward."

At this stage of the match, both Tang Ye and de Jong were nearly out of stamina.

Manchester United kept making mistakes, giving Paris excellent opportunities.

Time slowly ticked toward the 88th minute of the match!

Crack!

A long pass from Paris's defensive half!

Di María leaped into the air, controlling the ball with his lower leg.

He combined with Alves, before Di María himself surged down the flank.

A cross!

Delivered to Mbappé inside the penalty area.

Boom!

Mbappé shot decisively.

But De Gea, seated, blocked the ball away.

Mbappé and Smalling collided inside the box, and the ball was finally cleared.

"To the center!"

Marquinhos pointed toward the arc of the penalty area, then passed to Bernat.

Bernat fed the ball to Mbappé.

Mbappé trapped the ball under his foot, bringing it to a halt!

Bernat surged up from behind and scored with a left-footed poke.

"Goal!"

"Goal!"

"Bernat!"

"That's a last-gasp winner; this goal seems legitimate."

Whether Mbappé was offside was what every fan was concerned about.

Upon review, when Mbappé controlled the ball, Bailly was trailing behind him, so this did not count as an offside for Paris.

Was this Paris's last-gasp winning goal?

This was Paris's last-gasp winning goal!

"Ahhhh!!!!"

While running, Bernat pulled off his jersey.

3:2!

This was Paris's comeback victory over Manchester United!

Boom!

Several Paris players collided beneath the stands, joining teammates who had sprinted from the bench to celebrate wildly.

The director showed a replay; the fans watched Bernat's poaching goal once more.

Then, unsurprisingly, the director cut back to Tang Ye on the pitch.

Still in that familiar pose, Tang Ye stood with hands on hips, gazing at the Paris players celebrating in the distance.

Sweat from his forehead dripped into his eyes; Tang Ye squeezed his eyes shut tightly, then opened them again.

He could no longer feel the exhaustion from before; now Tang Ye's entire mind was overwhelmed by an unprecedented sense of despair.

As the Paris players celebrated, the fourth official displayed the match score.

Stoppage time: 4 minutes.

Tang Ye and Aleix locked eyes.

Both of them understood perfectly clearly.

That means Manchester United has already lost this match.

……

(End of Chapter)