Chapter 218: Who Advances in the Final Round? The King of London Decides
Li Ang's celebration turned Upton Park into a powder keg.
Amidst a storm of boos and curses from 30,000 West Ham supporters, he cupped his hand to his ear, grinning and nodding as if he were enjoying their fury and aggression.
This kind of electric atmosphere was rarely seen in Chelsea vs. West Ham clashes.
West Ham players were seeing red and stormed toward Li Ang.
But Chelsea's players were even quicker. Shielding their midfield talisman, they got into a pushing match with the Hammers almost instantly.
The referee blew his whistle furiously, sprinting over as the situation threatened to spiral out of control.
Neutral fans who had turned their attention to this London derby midway through the match couldn't help but cheer the chaos from their sofas.
It didn't break into a full-on brawl, though.
The ref calmed it down with two quick yellow cards—one for each side.
On Chelsea's side, it was David Luiz who got booked. West Ham's was their striker, Kevin Nolan.
Mourinho was livid. The call put Chelsea at a disadvantage.
But before he could go ballistic, assistant coach Holland exploded.
"You people are a disgrace! The West Ham players are the ones fouling harder and provoking more, and now the card count is even?! That's blatant favoritism!"
Holland's outburst startled even Mourinho. The other Chelsea staff hurried to pull him back.
But the referee had already gotten word from the fourth official. Less than 30 seconds later, Holland was shown a red card.
Mourinho's face turned sour.
Before the match resumed, he called over Tomáš Kalas and Gary Cahill from the bench to warm up immediately.
Barely two minutes after the restart, Mourinho made his move.
Cahill came on for David Luiz, who had just picked up a yellow.
Kalas replaced Hazard, who had been a constant target of West Ham's physical play.
Add in Ramires, who had already replaced De Bruyne at halftime, and Chelsea had now used all three substitutions.
They shifted to a 5-4-1.
No wingers. Just bruisers.
The midfield line of Lampard, Matić, Li Ang, and Ramires—each one built for combat.
Up front, Zlatan stood alone. And no West Ham defender wanted a piece of him.
Earlier, Collins had tried a sneaky foul on Zlatan and got elbowed so hard he almost lost his breath.
Zlatan and Li Ang were cut from the same cloth.
As long as you played fair, they didn't care. They'd shake your hand.
But if you tried to get cute? A payback was coming.
That's why, even with both wide players subbed off, Mourinho refused to pull Zlatan.
Now, Chelsea was full throttle, all muscle, no finesse.
They weren't interested in playing football anymore.
If they could clash, they clashed. If they could tackle, they tackled.
No more passing, no more tricks—just war.
By full time, Ramires and Kalas had both picked up yellows too.
But Chelsea had silenced Upton Park.
West Ham managed only three shots in the entire match—none on target.
Their fans, exhausted from booing, could only sit back and watch as Chelsea bullied their team into submission.
When the final whistle blew, Chelsea players celebrated wildly on West Ham's turf—even Mourinho joined in.
For the second straight week, Chelsea were top of every trending topic in English football.
Last week it was the comeback win. This time it was the yellow-card storm and the confrontations with West Ham.
The scoreline said 1–0. But the stat sheet said 10 yellow cards and 1 red.
Granted, the red went to Chelsea's assistant, Holland—not a player.
Still, it was the first time this Premier League season that ten yellow cards had been handed out in a single match.
Clips of the brawl, Li Ang's taunt, and the hard tackles went viral across Europe.
Some media outlets tried to stir controversy, deliberately circulating freeze-frames of Li Ang's challenge on Mark Noble.
They hoped to paint him as a dirty player.
But to their surprise, most fans didn't buy it.
Instead of outrage, the top comments were requests for full context:
"What happened before this tackle?"
"Let's see what Noble did first."
The reason?
Most fans knew Li Ang didn't play dirty.
His defensive style had always been tough but clean.
And Jorge Mendes' long-running PR efforts had been meticulous.
Li Ang had played over thirty Champions League matches with Real Madrid across two seasons and won the trophy. He was no stranger to scrutiny.
And fans who had watched him play regularly knew—his tackles were big, but not reckless.
He rarely even picked up yellows.
And when he did, it was almost always for tactical fouls—pulling shirts, blocking counters.
Professional, calculated, not dangerous.
So when the picture of him slide-tackling Noble circulated, most fans didn't see a villain.
They saw a player protecting his teammate.
And those who'd followed him since his Madrid days already had a clear image in their minds:
A hard but fair enforcer.
Add in Mendes' PR machine, and Li Ang's reputation was bulletproof.
Clean. Relentless. Uncompromising.
This was the real him.
No cheap fouls. But if you cross the line… expect an answer.
With the sudden burst of headlines around the match, any fan who saw that viral photo of Li Ang's sliding tackle immediately assumed there had to be more to the story.
And once they learned the full context behind Li Ang's supposed "reckless foul," whatever negative buzz had existed around him quickly dissipated.
Standing up for a teammate, avenging on the spot, and doing so without dragging innocent West Ham players into the fray?
That earned Li Ang even more respect—especially from old-school fans.
The media wouldn't openly cheer such behavior, of course.
But among football lovers across Europe, Li Ang was praised in private:
"Tough. Loyal. A leader any team would want."
Chelsea's younger players felt this most deeply.
After the match, Hazard openly called Li Ang "Boss" in an interview.
Before, it had only been a casual nickname behind the scenes.
Now, saying it in front of the cameras meant something more.
De Bruyne, meanwhile, had been subbed off at halftime and sent to a nearby hospital for evaluation.
He missed the post-match interviews entirely.
But The Sun broke the news:
After the match, Li Ang had taken the rest of the young players to the hospital to visit De Bruyne.
That one detail told fans everything they needed to know about Chelsea's unity.
Before the buzz died down, big names from Real Madrid—Li Ang's former club—also stepped in to back him up.
Nacho, one of his closest friends, summed it up best:
"That's just who the Little Lion is. He's always been like that—haven't you noticed?
When we were at Madrid, if an opponent pulled a dirty move, Li Ang was always the first to step up.
People think Pepe or Sergio had the worst tempers, but if someone hurt either of them?
The one who'd confront the culprit face-to-face was always Li Ang."
Nacho's words triggered a flood of memories among Real Madrid fans.
They remembered the time Xabi Alonso got hacked down—and Li Ang stormed over, head-to-head with the offender.
They remembered him and Pepe running half the pitch to go after the guy who fouled Ronaldo.
And of course, no one forgot how he stood up for Fàbregas after a dirty challenge from Diego Costa had pushed him to the edge.
Scene after scene came flooding back.
And smiles returned to Madridistas' faces.
That's who Li Ang had always been—whether in La Liga or the Premier League.
Never afraid. Always loyal. The Little Lion.
With Madrid fans now backing him too, the backlash completely evaporated.
Mendes, who had been preparing for a PR campaign, realized there was no need to spend a cent.
Public opinion was already on their side.
Li Ang, finding out later how his old teammates and fans had defended him, was moved.
He posted a heartfelt message thanking them.
In his heart, the Mourinho-era Madrid team—and its fanbase—would always hold a special place.
Even after leaving, that "Mou Madrid" identity still pulsed within him.
After some warm social media exchanges with his old friends, Li Ang's public image soared even higher.
And the few trolls hoping for his downfall? They were left disappointed.
Not that it would've mattered either way.
Even if the smear campaign had worked, it wouldn't have touched him.
Once he learned that De Bruyne's injury was minor—just a swollen ankle that would heal in about a week—Li Ang breathed a sigh of relief.
Then he turned to Lukaku and dragged him back into shooting drills—right foot only.
"I told you to work on that cut-and-shoot move, but I didn't say you could ONLY use that one trick.
At least I know your dominant foot is your left.
If you were like Morata, I wouldn't even know where to start with your weak foot."
Lukaku shrank back, nodding quickly as Li Ang tugged his ear.
He was curious, though.
Was Morata's coordination really that bad?
After two days of intense shooting practice, Mourinho took Lukaku and the team to Basel, Switzerland.
Having already locked up first place in their Champions League group, Chelsea fielded a squad full of academy and rotation players.
Aké, Kalas, and van Ginkel all started.
Other youth players were either in the XI or came off the bench.
Thanks to goals from Lukaku and Oscar, Chelsea battled to a 2–2 draw away at Basel.
A decent result—but more importantly, it blew the group wide open.
By all logic, Schalke 04 should've been fine.
They just had to beat Steaua Bucharest.
Everyone expected them to win.
Even Romanian media assumed it was a done deal.
But no.
The mighty Schalke got shockingly upset at home—losing 1–0 to Steaua!
Suddenly, everything in Group E changed.
Steaua, who had two draws and two losses heading into the match, shot straight up to second place.
Now Schalke and Basel, both stuck on 4 points, were third and fourth!
It was chaos.
And with one round left, both clubs were fighting for their lives.
Only one could advance.
They couldn't both get through.
And the kingmaker?
Chelsea.
In the final match, they'd host Steaua at Stamford Bridge.
Whether Schalke or Basel advanced would come down to what Chelsea decided to do.
Who makes it through?
The King of London will decide.
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