Jin Hayes admitted that he had previously underestimated Serie A. He always felt that Serie A was the fourth league that would completely decline ten years later, being utterly crushed by La Liga, the Premier League, and the Bundesliga.
In reality, Serie A still possessed great strength and heritage. While the giants of the Premier League and La Liga seemed infinitely glorious and peerless, who would have thought that the teams reaching the Champions League final would actually come from Ligue 1 and Serie A.
Returning to the match, Juventus's defence was clearly a level higher than that of the Bundesliga. After his first solo charge into the penalty area nearly assisted Marco Reus in scoring, Juventus rarely gave Jin Hayes such comfortable opportunities to receive the ball. He went long periods without touching it. His occasional touches were mostly forced out to the wings, where he was compressed near the touchline by Juventus players, leaving him with no space to dribble.
"What's the plan?"
Taking advantage of the ball going out of bounds, Jin Hayes approached Marco Reus, and the two stood with hands on hips, discussing their strategy together.
"It feels a bit tricky. How about—"
"No problem."
Jin Hayes and Reus didn't elaborate; the chemistry they had developed during this time was enough for them to understand each other's thoughts. To be honest, Jin Hayes felt that his connection with Reus was better than with anyone else. Although Nuri Şahin was a good brother and they had a certain level of understanding, on the pitch, it wasn't as natural as it was with Reus.
However, before trying a new tactic, the primary condition was to have the ball. Currently, possession was controlled by Juventus.
Gianluigi Buffon took the goal kick, and all three lines of Borussia Dortmund pressed up together, using high-intensity pressing to squeeze Juventus's formation and force mistakes in their midfield and backline.
"Dortmund is pressing very aggressively, Alexander Frei! Oh, so close! Chiellini evaded Frei, and Marchisio has the ball!"
"Jin Hayes goes up to meet him—"
It was Jin Hayes's turn to defend, and he wanted to find a chance to intercept, but Marchisio gave him no opportunity, passing the ball to Pavel Nedvěd with a single touch. Nedvěd immediately sent out a long pass.
"Oh no!"
Jin Hayes thought to himself that things looked bad and quickly chased back. But no matter how fast he was, he couldn't outrun the speed of the pass. He watched as the ball sailed across thirty metres and dropped right in front of Alessandro Del Piero.
"Leave it to me!!"
The defensive stalwart, Neven Subotić, shouted and rushed up to intercept. Jin Hayes was quite confident in the Subotić and Mats Hummels pairing, thinking his teammates would easily control the ball. He even started to run the other way, preparing for a counter-attack.
But he had overlooked one thing: the opposing forward was named Del Piero. An Italian Hall of Fame player, last season's top scorer, the 2008 Italian Footballer of the Year, one of the heroes of the World Cup victory, and a legendary figure for the Bianconeri. Del Piero's physical strength wasn't greater than Subotić's, but his match experience was far beyond what Subotić could compare to.
Accurately judging the ball's landing point, Del Piero didn't immediately contest it; instead, he waited for the moment the ball bounced off the ground, using his body to slightly shield it. As he was being pushed by Subotić, he flicked the ball with his toe and skillfully rounded him from the other side.
"Huh?!! This move!" Subotić was shocked.
By the time he turned around, it was too late; Del Piero had easily slipped into the penalty area. Jin Hayes often used similar moves to beat him on the training ground; compared to Jin Hayes's elegant footwork and dance-like steps, Del Piero's movements weren't as flashy, but they were more seasoned, having completely seen through the defender's actions.
"This is the Del Piero Zone!! Shoot—" Seeing Del Piero dribble into the upper corner of the penalty area, the Italian commentator from Turin TV was practically screaming from his soul, his voice cracking from the effort. The Del Piero Zone—he cut inside in his most trademark fashion to open up an angle and curled a perfect arc with his right foot.
"It's over!"
The moment he saw Del Piero shoot, Jin Hayes knew it was in. Del Piero himself didn't even watch the ball; instead, he confidently turned back and ran toward the die-hard fans' stand at the Stadio Olimpico. The ball had already bypassed Roman Weidenfeller's fingertips and nestled into the theoretical top corner.
"Pieroooooo"—"—Goooooool spettacolare!!!" The Turin TV commentator's tone was jubilant, practically floating to the heavens. "They say the Bumblebees' youth storm is very fierce, but I see the Old Lady can still suppress them—they're just so-so!"
The cheers from the stands echoed across Turin as Jin Hayes helplessly watched the Italians celebrate wildly.
I have to find a way to hit them back.
Otherwise, if slowed down by Juventus, Borussia Dortmund's fast-paced offence and defence wouldn't be able to play out at all.
On the sidelines, Jürgen Klopp had the same thought and quickly called Jin Hayes over.
"Jin! Jin!"
"Coach?"
"Right now, your teammates are all being restricted. You need to be more active and try to receive the ball in unconventional ways."
"I just discussed it with Marco—"
"What?" The noise in the stadium was too loud; Klopp couldn't hear him at all. Jin Hayes had to lean in and shout into his ear.
Klopp's furrowed brow soon smoothed out, and he gave Jin Hayes a thumbs up. "Not bad! Interesting! Although we haven't practised it, you can give it a try!"
"Okay!"
It was originally just a sudden inspiration from Jin Hayes, a solution based on his ability to read the game, but it didn't align with the coaching staff's original offensive tactics. Now that he had official permission, Jin Hayes could fully go all out.
"Jakub! Marco!" While the Juventus players were still celebrating, Jin Hayes quickly ran back onto the pitch to communicate with his teammates.
Looking at Jin Hayes's back, Klopp's admiration for him was plain to see, without a hint of frustration over the conceded goal.
"What did he say?" His assistant, Željko Buvač, was very curious.
"Hehe, you'll see when you watch. I'm telling you, even after this kid retires, he'll be a world-class coach." Klopp couldn't help but sigh with emotion. If Jin Hayes had been born twenty years earlier, there would be no room for Klopp in the coaching world.
While Jin Hayes and Klopp were communicating, the "Tinkerman" Claudio Ranieri was quietly observing from not far away. He really admired talented young players like Jin Hayes; unfortunately, Juventus, just recovering from the "Calciopoli" scandal, didn't have much money and couldn't compete with the giants of the Premier League and La Liga to buy players.
If they had a highly creative midfielder, perhaps they could help Juventus challenge for the Champions League summit. Ranieri was very curious about how Jin Hayes and Klopp would break his tactical setup.
....
The game restarted, and Juventus was still immersed in the joy of their lead. When Alexander Frei tapped the ball to Jin Hayes, he lowered his head and sprinted forward, which didn't attract the Juventus players' attention for the moment. It wasn't until Jin Hayes passed back to Şahin and also sprinted forward that the opponents became alert.
"Eh? Dortmund launch an attack right from the kick-off—their formation is suddenly pushing up!" It was as if they were playing at triple speed.
Nuri Şahin quickly passed laterally to Sebastian Kehl, who sent a first-time through ball; Şahin bypassed Amauri to receive it and sent it to the wing. Marco Reus received the ball and immediately cut inside. With a series of quick one-touch passes, Borussia Dortmund's storm-like attack caught Juventus off guard.
However, they still followed their defensive tactics, trying to restrict Jin Hayes in the middle while retreating to solidify their defence. If nothing unexpected happened, the Old Lady could still easily defend this wave. But they didn't expect that Jin Hayes was exactly that unexpected factor.
Marco Reus suddenly dribbled inside toward the centre; Claudio Marchisio was a bit torn, and his first reaction was to chase Reus. Just as he moved closer, Reus suddenly backheeled the ball to the left wing. A figure in a yellow jersey, like a bolt of yellow lightning, received the ball and exploded forward, suddenly shaking off Mauro Camoranesi.
"Jin Hayes!! He suddenly swapped positions with Reus! He's charging from the left!"
Seeing this, the Tinkerman Claudio Ranieri couldn't sit still; he sprang from his chair and hurried to the sideline.
Swapping positions is a common occurrence on the pitch and isn't strange. But Jin Hayes's decision to give up the openness of the centre and instead move toward the narrow spaces of the wing caught him completely off guard.
"This kid!"
Juventus's central pocket was designed to deal with Jin Hayes, but the result was that he ran right out of it. Tiago Mendes didn't hesitate to abandon the centre and rushed toward Jin Hayes. At the same time, Camoranesi and right-back Zdeněk Grygera were both closing in; the three of them formed a net, trying to restrict Jin Hayes to the left wing, ideally pinning him down at the corner flag.
"Don't even think about cutting inside!!" Tiago Mendes didn't rush in either; he just kept his distance from Jin Hayes, blocking the path for him to cut inside.
Jin Hayes glanced at him and nudged the ball with his right foot, making a move to change direction—scaring Tiago into quickly shifting his centre of gravity. But Jin Hayes was only feinting; he quickly pulled the ball back and tapped it with his left foot to slip past the Portuguese midfielder.
"Who said I was going to cut inside?"
"What?!"
Jin Hayes's determination to go to the goal line caught everyone off guard. He wasn't left-footed, and no one had ever seen him cross with his left foot. Who would have thought he was single-mindedly heading for the goal line?
Full-back Grygera was still intercepting at the edge of the penalty area, waiting for Jin Hayes to cut back inside.
"You're almost at the goal line; surely you'll cut inside now?"
Not at all. Jin Hayes looked like he was heading straight for the byline.
"He's crazy!"
Grygera didn't know what he was doing, but after a moment's hesitation, he followed him. As long as he stayed on the inside, he wouldn't be beaten—unless Jin Hayes dribbled it straight out of bounds. Grygera's plan was sound, but he overlooked Jin Hayes's sheer determination to break through.
Seeing the Chinese youngster restricted to the goal line, with no space left to dribble, the tense nerves of the Juventus fans relaxed. Logically, this ball was no longer a threat—
"Beautiful!!! Here comes Jin Hayes's magnificent performance!!" Amidst He Wei's excited voice, at the very moment he almost dribbled the ball out of bounds, Jin Hayes pulled it back with his back turned and simultaneously poked it through Grygera's legs with his heel. He overtook the defender from outside the goal line and charged into the penalty area with the ball.
Tiago Mendes chased back from the defensive midfield position all the way to the goal line, cutting in diagonally to block Jin Hayes's path. A second later, Jin Hayes repeated the trick, flicking the ball with his toe in a swivel to bypass Tiago and once again crossing from outside the goal line.
"Ohhh!!! So elegant! Jin's consecutive dribbles!!" Even the Italian commentator couldn't help but praise him.
...
During Jin Hayes's goal-line swivel and nutmeg, the Chinese sponsor "Kumho Tire" happened to appear on the advertising boards behind him. The move was later widely circulated on the internet and unofficially named the "Kumho Swivel."
Even Jin Hayes himself didn't know that two months later, Dimitar Berbatov, who had joined Manchester United, would perform a goal-line swivel in the same way. The "Berba‑cool" stated in a post‑match interview: "I watched that Champions League clash; Jin's dribble at the goal line gave me inspiration. It's indeed very effective."
..
Back in Juventus's Stadio Olimpico, the entire Bianconeri team was stunned by Jin Hayes's dribbling. Who would have thought he could manoeuvre so freely at the edge of the goal line? He was like an uncatchable gremlin—no, a devil.
As Jin Hayes gradually approached the goal, charging into the Juventus heart with overwhelming pressure, the capacity crowd of over 27,000 in the stadium almost held their breath.
The world's number one goalkeeper, Gianluigi Buffon, now moved to the near post and took his stance, focusing one hundred percent to stop Jin Hayes's shot. He was already in the six-yard box; even if he didn't like shooting, surely he'd take a crack at it now.
Exactly.
Jin Hayes indeed couldn't hold back any longer. Aiming for the top corner of the far post, he curled an arc with the arch of his foot. Witness the results of my practice for over a season! Secret Technique: Ordinary Shot!
Buffon was stunned; he had never seen such an absurd shot. The arc drawn by the inside of the foot went straight toward the corner flag on the opposite side. For a shot from such close range to turn out like this, it completely failed to live up to the brilliant consecutive breakthroughs just moments before.
But Buffon didn't expect a yellow figure to suddenly appear at the far post, leaping high.
"Shit! I've been fooled!"
Buffon, who had faced world-class superstars like Ronaldo, Adriano, Ronaldinho, Raúl, Andriy Shevchenko, and Kaká—the Italian icon who had dominated between the posts for thirteen years—was for the first time easily toyed with by a 16-year-old.
"Jin Hayes!! This ball! Jakub Błaszczykowski!!!! The ball is in!!! Beautiful!" He Wei pumped his fist. As a CCTV commentator, he should remain neutral. But how could his heart be neutral? At this moment, he only wanted to cheer for Jin Hayes.
"Jin Hayes's cross-cum-shot assisted right winger Jakub Błaszczykowski to score with a header at the back post! Less than a minute after conceding, Borussia Dortmund have successfully equalised!"
1–1.
The joy Juventus felt after their goal, which hadn't even had time to warm up, was instantly doused with a bucket of cold water. Borussia Dortmund's resilience and explosiveness made the fans in the stadium and the entire Bianconeri squad feel a shiver of fear.
Is this... the true Bumblebees' youth storm?