At that moment, the iconic Real Madrid anthem, Hala Madrid, rang out majestically from the Bernabéu stands.
The Madrid supporters wanted to use their collective voice to empower their new talisman.
A few seconds later, the Barcelona wall had been meticulously set by Ter Stegen.
Every single camera in the stadium was focused on Theodore Bjorn.
Theodore's eyes, cold and unshakable, remained locked on Ter Stegen's positioning behind the wall.
Then, suddenly, Theodore began his run-up.
He struck the ball with explosive, snapping power with his right foot.
At that exact moment, the Barcelona wall jumped in unison with all their strength, anticipating a dipping, top-corner strike.
But Theodore outsmarted them all.
He did not lift the ball.
Instead, he executed a flawless, viciously driven low strike.
The ball zipped along the slick Madrid turf, shooting directly beneath the feet of the jumping wall.
In that instant, it resembled a white bolt of lightning, racing straight toward the bottom corner of the Barcelona goal.
Marc-André ter Stegen had already shifted his weight, anticipating a shot over the wall.
By the time he realized the ball was traveling underneath, Theodore's shot was simply too quick.
The German keeper threw himself down desperately, but he had no time to get a hand to it.
The net rippled.
The score changed once again!
4–2.
Real Madrid had emphatically restored their two-goal cushion.
"GOAL! GOOOOOOAL!" Palmer screamed. "THEODORE BJORN OUTSMARTS EVERYONE!"
"He goes under the wall! A second direct free-kick goal!"
"Tonight, the eighteen-year-old Norwegian has completed a hat-trick in his very first El Clásico! And he has an assist to his name!"
"Barcelona are being dismantled by a teenager!"
The Spanish commentator inside the stadium was overcome with pure emotion.
With a voice already hoarse, he screamed Theodore's name again and again into the PA system.
In the Bernabéu stands, the Real Madrid fans abandoned the club anthem.
Instead, they began bowing toward the pitch, screaming Theodore's name with all their might.
After completing his hat-trick, Theodore did not sprint to the corner flag or execute a wild celebration.
He simply stood perfectly still in the center of the pitch, planting his hands firmly on his hips, projecting an aura of absolute dominance, as if dismantling Barcelona were the easiest thing in the world.
Although Theodore looked completely calm, his teammates lost their minds.
One after another, they sprinted to his side.
Raphaël Varane arrived first, grabbing Theodore and playfully wrestling him to the turf.
Within seconds, every single Real Madrid outfield player piled on top of the teenager, creating a massive, joyous dogpile near the center circle.
...
Once the score became 4–2, the suffocating pressure immediately fell back onto the Barcelona players.
While the Real Madrid players were still celebrating wildly, Ronald Koeman had already turned to his bench.
Antoine Griezmann, the €120 million French star, stripped off his tracksuit.
Koeman was preparing to gamble everything.
After stepping onto the pitch, Griezmann replaced Philippe Coutinho, who had endured a fairly anonymous and frustrating evening.
Once Barcelona restarted play, Griezmann was extremely active, constantly making sharp, darting runs through the channels in the Real Madrid penalty area.
But!
Most of those intelligent runs proved entirely ineffective.
Why? Because the current Barcelona midfield simply lacked the requisite quality to deliver the ball accurately into Griezmann's path under pressure.
Whether it was Sergio Busquets, Frenkie de Jong, or the young Pedri, their collective passing ability and vision simply could not compare with the legendary duo of Xavi and Iniesta.
In fact, Barcelona's control of the midfield battle had dropped significantly as the match wore on.
In the 65th minute, Real Madrid and Barcelona engaged in a fierce tactical battle in the center of the pitch.
After the young Pedri received a pass from Busquets, his initial instinct was to play the ball directly to Messi.
But when he glanced up and saw Theodore Bjorn's imposing figure shadowing Messi's movement, Pedri immediately abandoned the idea.
Clearly, somewhere deep in his subconscious, the young Spanish midfielder had already accepted the brutal reality that Messi could not break through Theodore's defending tonight.
Since he could not pass to his captain, Pedri chose to take responsibility himself.
He suddenly knocked the ball forward with his right foot and drove quickly into the attacking half.
The Real Madrid defensive block had already identified Pedri as a creative threat requiring close attention.
The moment Pedri crossed the halfway line, Toni Kroos was the first to step up and confront him.
However, the confident teenager did not seem intimidated by the German veteran in the slightest.
Pedri suddenly pushed the ball toward Kroos' right side.
Just as Kroos extended a leg to intercept, Pedri abruptly chopped the ball back the other way.
Although Pedri was young, his playmaking style was incredibly composed and mature.
Utilizing a series of sharp, stop-start changes of direction, Pedri successfully navigated past Toni Kroos' initial press.
The next second, just as Pedri was preparing to shoot from distance, Luka Modrić slid across to block the shooting lane.
To be brutally honest, with Pedri's current level of individual ability, beating two legendary Real Madrid midfielders in quick succession was a near-impossible task.
In desperation, as Modrić closed him down, Pedri spotted Antoine Griezmann making a peeling run down the left side toward the Real Madrid penalty area.
Pedri did not hesitate.
He immediately used his right foot to slide a reverse pass into the Madrid box.
At the far post, Griezmann had only just received the ball when the Real Madrid defensive cavalry arrived.
Dani Carvajal and Éder Militão both rushed in front of Griezmann simultaneously, successfully slamming the door shut on any potential shooting angle.
But!
Griezmann had never intended to shoot in the first place.
Even if Militão and Carvajal had not converged so quickly, the angle was already extremely tight for a left-footed strike.
Griezmann's true intention had always been to serve as a decoy and a wall.
Bang!
After receiving the ball with his left foot, Griezmann immediately used that same foot to execute a blind, first-time cutback pass toward the top of the penalty area.
Lionel Messi was already arriving late, perfectly positioned near the edge of the box.
"The cutback!" Palmer shouted. "Danger here for Real Madrid!"
"Messi shoots!"
"BUT IT'S THEODORE AGAIN! THEODORE BJORN ARRIVES OUT OF NOWHERE TO EXECUTE A MONSTER BLOCK!"
Palmer's commentary was laced with sheer shock and disbelief.
At that exact moment, thunderous, standing applause erupted from the Bernabéu stands.
This was exactly the kind of gladiatorial defensive display the Real Madrid fans most wanted to see.
"Brilliant, Theo! Absolutely shut him down!"
"That's right! Do not let that guy get a single sniff of goal!"
"I've supported Madrid for twenty years, and this is genuinely the first time I've seen a player completely lock down Lionel Messi in a 1v1! Theo! You are a legend!"
"We finally have a player who can stand up to Messi! No—Theodore is stronger than Messi!"
Theodore had been tracking Messi's movement the entire time.
The instant Griezmann received the ball inside the box, Theodore anticipated the cutback.
As Messi moved toward the top of the penalty area to strike, Theodore accelerated, arriving in front of him a fraction of a second earlier.
Channeling the flawless timing of his Gattuso Peak Card, Theodore forcibly swept the ball away from Messi's feet with a thunderous sliding challenge just as the Argentine pulled his leg back to shoot.
Messi's face was a mask of utter disappointment.
He lifted his head and glanced at Theodore.
Then, Messi lowered his head again, staring at the turf.
Through this grueling, 65-minute duel, Lionel Messi had finally, painfully realized just how terrifyingly complete Theodore Bjorn's defensive ability truly was.
The match continued.
In the 76th minute, Barcelona, playing away from home and trailing by two goals, were clearly beginning to panic.
Messi, starved of service in dangerous areas, started dropping deeper and deeper into the midfield to demand the ball and try to orchestrate play himself.
This time, Frenkie de Jong had only just received possession near the center circle when a swarm of Real Madrid players collapsed on him.
Modrić, Rodrygo, and Theodore executed a ruthless, synchronized press.
To be fair, Frenkie de Jong's ability to escape tight, coordinated pressure was actually rather ordinary. It arguably wasn't even as refined as the younger Pedri's.
So, when three Real Madrid players closed in on him, the Dutch midfielder panicked.
Just as he was at a total loss for options, De Jong saw Messi's figure dropping deep.
The next second, he did not hesitate. He decisively used his left foot to force a pass to Messi.
Because Theodore had already stepped up to press De Jong, this actually left Messi in a rare pocket of space, granting him a genuine attacking opportunity.
After receiving the ball in midfield, Messi did not hesitate. In his brilliant mind, he had already mapped out his attacking route toward the goal.
Although Real Madrid full-back Ferland Mendy had already rushed out to confront him, Mendy's technical defensive ability was simply not enough to contain an accelerating Messi.
Messi quickly moved his left foot, touching the ball twice within a single microsecond.
With a breathtakingly fast elastico, he easily humiliated Mendy, leaving the Frenchman stumbling.
After bypassing the first line, Messi rushed ominously toward the top of the Real Madrid penalty area.
Without question, this was Messi's lethal shooting zone.
Inside the Real Madrid box, center-backs Raphaël Varane and Éder Militão both recognized the imminent danger and stepped forward together in unison, attempting to block the shooting lane.
At that exact moment, Messi opened his body and shaped to shoot.
But it was only a feint.
Messi's true intention was actually a disguised, reverse pass.
On Barcelona's left flank, left-back Jordi Alba had already surged into the attacking third on a massive overlapping run.
Messi wanted to slip a reverse pass perfectly into Alba's stride.
But the absolute instant Messi executed the disguised pass, Theodore Bjorn, who had sprinted back 40 yards to recover, stretched out a long, telescopic leg.
Bang!
The next second, Messi's genius pass was brutally deflected away.
Theodore Bjorn had stopped Lionel Messi once again!
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