Hoo, hoo, hoo…
Thump, thump…
The roar from the stands of the Allianz Arena had been completely blocked out by Jin Hayes's brain, consumed by absolute focus. All he could hear at this moment was his own breathing and his own heartbeat.
He had just used a breathtaking piece of skill to glide past Zé Roberto, but it wasn't over yet. Not by a long shot.
In front of the penalty area, Ribéry was already sprinting back like a man possessed. The Brazilian defensive rock Lúcio simultaneously charged out of the penalty area, preparing to sandwich Jin Hayes between himself and Ribéry. Martín Demichelis stood deeper inside the box, forming the third line of defense. At the same time, other Bayern Munich players were all converging on this side of the pitch.
Because Dortmund had just been retreating from their own counter-attacking shape, Alexander Frei had even run into the area to contest a header. His teammates couldn't arrive in time to support him. Jin Hayes was the only Dortmund player in the attacking half.
Truly, he was taking on the entire Bayern defense by himself.
"Arrête-le!!" Ribéry, in his desperation, shouted in French, not caring whether Lúcio could understand him.
"Encerrem-no!" Lúcio almost simultaneously yelled "Surround him!" in Portuguese. The two spoke different languages but coordinated their movement perfectly. They closed in on Jin Hayes from front and back.
Jin Hayes feinted to break left, but with Lúcio's pursuit, the Brazilian could easily muscle him off the ball with a single shoulder charge. If he went right, Ribéry would drag him down. Most players caught in such a dilemma would stop immediately, shield the ball with their body, and wait for support.
But Jin Hayes didn't care about any of that.
He charged straight toward Lúcio with the ball at full stride, without the slightest reduction in speed. For a moment, Lúcio felt as if he was facing his own national teammate Kaká—dribbling at high speed, ball control so subtle that a clean tackle seemed impossible.
But behind Lúcio was the penalty area. He had nowhere to retreat. So he lunged forward, trying to use his frame to push Jin Hayes off course.
The moment before contact, Jin Hayes suddenly dipped his shoulder left and shifted his weight at an electrifying pace—then broke to the right.
Lúcio was thrown off balance for an instant, falling a step behind, and scrambled to recover. Fortunately, Ribéry had already arrived, and the two were about to form a pincer. Left-back Philipp Lahm simultaneously converged, creating a three-man cage that would make it impossible for even a deity to penetrate the box.
But the moment Jin Hayes changed direction to the right, he pulled the ball back with a sharp elastico, evading Ribéry's outstretched leg. At the same time, he nudged the ball and turned, changing direction left again.
"This is as far as you go!"
Lúcio had read the move. Standing at 188 cm, he took a giant stride to block the path to the left. Any further turn would result in a direct collision.
Jin Hayes appeared to have backed himself into a corner with no escape. When all the Bayern fans inside the stadium thought the ball would surely be stolen, English commentator Jim Beglin even remarked, "Jin is holding onto the ball too long—it's going to be very difficult for him to break through now." Even Jin Hayes's own Dortmund teammates had subconsciously slowed down, preparing to drop back and defend.
But time seemed to slow to a crawl.
Jin Hayes entered that state of mental clarity again. The football became an extension of his body. Every defender's movement was crystal clear in his mind.
Under the gaze of football fans around the world, Jin Hayes did not complete the turn. He stopped abruptly halfway through, letting Lúcio slide past and shift his weight. At the same moment, Ribéry and Lahm had aligned themselves one in front of the other.
Jin Hayes immediately nudged the ball with his heel again, simultaneously spinning back toward the right side of the pitch. Using his explosive acceleration, he slipped through the narrowing gap between Ribéry and Lúcio.
And then—the football passed cleanly between the legs of both Ribéry and Lahm.
Two birds with one stone.
He had dribbled past them and burst into the penalty area.
In a flash, he had bypassed three players.
Ribéry: !!!
Lahm: ?!!
Lúcio: "Ó Deus! Oh my God!"
Bayern fans at the Allianz Arena: WTF???
He got past all of them with that?
Everything happened too fast. By the time the three defenders reacted, Jin Hayes had already slipped past them like a magician's trick, carrying the ball into the box.
But there was a slight hitch. After going through Lahm's legs, an uneven patch of turf caused the ball to bobble, bouncing a touch farther ahead than intended. Demichelis saw his chance. He could get to the ball first and clear it.
Except Demichelis had never imagined that the teenager would actually break through all those defenders. When he finally reacted and lunged for the ball, Jin Hayes's enhanced physical acceleration had already carried him there first.
Jin Hayes casually flicked the ball up with his toe, lifting it over Demichelis, while he himself slipped past on the other side.
"What the heck?!!"
The bewildered Demichelis stood frozen like a training dummy, faked out with embarrassing ease.
Now only one man stood between Jin Hayes and the goal: Bayern goalkeeper Michael Rensing.
Bayern fans and Dortmund fans simultaneously held their breath. Everyone dared not exhale as they watched Rensing rush out of his six-yard box, preparing to clear the danger.
One small mistake led to another. The slight bobble from the turf meant Jin Hayes had to stretch to flick the ball over the defender first, then expend even more effort to chase it down. The distance was no longer enough for him to dribble around the keeper. Rensing was even closer to the ball.
"Ah ah ah ah ah——"
This goal!
I must!!
Score——
Driven by sheer will, Jin Hayes's enhanced physical talent unleashed every ounce of explosive power. His expression twisted with fierce determination as he transformed into a predator, hurling himself toward the ball.
Just before Rensing could dive on it, Jin Hayes's toe flicked it up first.
"Oh oh oh oh——"
Amid the collective gasp of the entire stadium, Jin Hayes and Michael Rensing both watched the ball hang in mid-air. Jin Hayes had completely forgotten about his occasional struggles with finishing. Instinct took over. He smartly stepped forward, using his body to shield the goalkeeper, then leaped high into the air.
To everyone's absolute shock, he inverted his body.
Bang——
"Holy crap!! What a goal!"
Commentator Duan Xuan subconsciously blurted out an expletive on the CCTV5 live broadcast. He watched as Jin Hayes launched himself horizontally in front of the goalkeeper and completed a bicycle kick. Goalkeeper Michael Rensing made a desperate, volleyball-style block attempt, but still couldn't stop the teenager's ferocious shot. The explosive impact of boot on ball nearly deafened Rensing's right ear. The ball whistled past with an intense roar—immediately followed by the crisp sound of the net.
Swish——
As if someone had pressed a time-stop button, every Bayern player stared fixedly at the ball bouncing inside the goal. The home stands of tens of thousands at the Allianz Arena fell into deathly silence. The Borussia Dortmund players, who had been charging forward, stopped in disbelief, having witnessed the entire sequence.
Only the away end erupted in thunderous cheers at that moment.
"Gooooooal——"
"Yeah!!!"
"It's in!!!"
Only then did Duan Xuan's short-circuited brain reconnect. His expression still hadn't recovered from the shock: "Oh oh oh ha ha ha! This goal! This goal… it's in?!"
"A bicycle kick from Jin Hayes!! Absolutely spectacular! Oh my God!"
It was Director Tao Wei who, with his vast experience, quickly picked up the commentary: "A truly spectacular individual performance. Jin Hayes's bicycle kick equalizes the score—Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund are tied 2-2 just before halftime!"
"This goal is crucial! Dortmund still keep their Champions League qualification hopes alive!"
"Jin Hayes almost single-handedly dismantled the entire Bayern defense, and the high-difficulty bicycle kick fully demonstrated his unparalleled ball control."
Director Tao couldn't stop praising Jin Hayes. Recalling the recent news about Jin Hayes not joining the national youth team, Tao felt a pang of regret. He could understand the youngster's choice, and seeing him perform so brilliantly in the Bundesliga was already enough to satisfy domestic fans.
"Unbelievable!! What a strike!!! How did he do that?"
Truly unbelievable. Sky Sports commentator Jim Beglin had never seen such a shocking goal live. The young prodigy started from midfield, successively dribbling past Zé Roberto, Lúcio, Ribéry, Lahm, and Demichelis, then finished with a bicycle kick. The entire run was simply a work of art, a miracle.
"This kid is an absolute savior!"
On the broadcast, Jin Hayes sprang up from the grass like a carp after landing. He himself clearly couldn't believe he had scored, and only began to celebrate after repeatedly checking that the ball was in the net.
"Holy crap? It actually went in?!!"
He usually couldn't score from a meter out, but now a bicycle kick had found the net? Jin Hayes's mind was clouded with excitement. He had imagined countless times how he would celebrate after scoring, and he had scored before, performing his planned routines. But this time was completely unexpected. His mind went blank for a moment.
All the Dortmund fans, having witnessed this world-class strike, were anticipating a spectacular, cool celebration. Instead, they only saw Jin Hayes bouncing on the spot like a child, arms raised… just simply bouncing.
Seeing Jin Hayes's celebration, both German and Chinese fans found it both funny and frustrating.
"Oh my god, Lord Jin's celebration…"
"What is that?!"
"I can't hold it in—world-class goal, neighborhood-level celebration."
"Lord Jin rarely scores. Is his celebration always this childish?"
"Why does it feel a bit cute?"
It wasn't until his ecstatic Dortmund teammates rushed over that Jin Hayes's awkward celebration was saved. Nuri Şahin even knelt down, lifting Jin Hayes's foot to wipe his boot. That truly salvaged the moment for a world-class goal.
"Jin! You are a god!"
"Well done, Jin!"
The other teammates all bowed to Jin Hayes, genuinely in awe of the young man from the East. Their once despairing mood was suddenly filled with infinite hope.
Just then, good news also arrived from the coaching bench.
"Hey, hey!!! They scored over there too!! Werder Bremen have equalized!"
"We're not done yet!"
"We still have hope!!!"