When you fall, I will take the lead! Goalkeeper Ding Xuan and Chen Chen relayed the Wuhan Women s Football Team to the top of the AFC Champions League

On the evening of May 24, when Wuhan Chegujiang Women's Football Team cheered around the AFC Champions League trophy, substitute goalkeeper Chen Chen was pushed to the "C position" of the camera, and her smiling face with her arms raised was frozen into a moving moment. In the golden jubilation, fans noticed that the team translator Liu Yicen took the No. 29 jersey on the podium, which was the jersey of the starting goalkeeper Ding Xuan. The two goalkeepers, one shining in the spotlight, and the other holds in pain, and jointly holds up the glory of the top of the Wuhan Women's Football Team in Asia through relay.

The magical substitution for the quarter-finals? "This is not a planned substitution, but our goalkeeper will always be on standby 24 hours a day." Head coach Chang Wei Wei, who asked reporters a question after the game, his voice hoarse but firm.

It turned out that just 22 minutes after the opening whistle, the main goalkeeper Ding Xuan fell to the ground while picking the ball at a high altitude and fell heavily on the turf. The team doctor rushed into the field to treat her. After a simple treatment, she gritted her teeth and stood up to continue the game. She dragged her body, which was almost unable to stand upright, and held on for more than 20 minutes when she was fractured with her transverse waist. In the 27th minute, the Melbourne City striker raided and broke the goal and attacked to resolve the situation. In the following time, she pressed her hands against her waist, but her eyes were fixed on the movement of the ball on the court.

"We are all ready for the 90 minutes, 120 minutes or penalty shootout." Chang Wei Wei's bold statement before the game turned into reality after Chen Chen came on as a substitute. This 185cm tall "secret weapon" faced a test as soon as she came on the court: in the 48th minute, Melbourne City formed a double ghost slap in the goal, Chen Chen stretched out his limbs like a cheetah, and hugged the ball that his opponent shot into his arms; 4 minutes later, she blocked the opponent's tricky shot against the ground with her feet, and the coaching team on the sideline jumped up and swung his fists together. The real epic was created at twelve yards. When the close-up of the broadcasting camera captured Chen Chen's death gaze without blinking for 10 seconds, the barrage storm instantly swept the screen: "This is the look of a beast locking its prey!" After snatching the opponent's push shot in the fifth round to save the match point, she suddenly jumped to the left in the sixth round, completely shattering the championship suspense with one palm. In the end, with the outstanding performance of the two goalkeepers, Wuhan Women defeated their opponents with a total score of 6-5 and reached the top of Asia!

"I was full of words at that time - 'I can definitely save it!'" After the game, Chen Chen in the player passage jumped like a cheerful deer, completely different from the murderous aura on the field. This confidence comes from a tempered experience: the away game between Urawa Red Diamonds in the quarter-finals was Chang Weiwei who replaced Chen Chen's "spoke stroke" before the penalty shootout. She used two save points to escort the team to break through. The AFC trophy at this moment seems to be a high-five between her and Ding Xuan across time and space. When Chen Chen showed his power in front of the penalty spot, Ding Xuan, who went to the hospital, watched the live broadcast on his mobile phone. According to his teammates, she was sweating in pain but always clenched her fists: "In our group chat, there is always the saying: 'I will take it when you fall down'."

With the halo of the Asian champion, the Wuhan Women's Football Team will restart the women's super League journey on June 7. This team, who once created five consecutive league championships, fell into a vicious circle of three rounds at the beginning of this season. But the tempering of the AFC battlefield is reshaping the team's temperament: after eliminating Urawa Red Diamonds at the quarter-final penalty, they immediately defeated Nagaki Chashan Bamboo Sea Team 3-1 in the Women's Super League, achieving the most exciting victory since the new season of the Women's Super League.

When Ding Xuan's No. 29 jersey hugged closely with the AFC trophy, and when Chen Chen's save highlights flooded the screen on social media, the Wuhan Women's Football Team interpreted the true meaning of "door god" in the most passionate way - glory has never been a one-man show for lone heroes, but the Great Wall built with flesh and blood by countless perseverance. At this moment, Jiangcheng was waiting for these sonorous roses to bloom again in the female Super League with the stars on the top of Asia.

Text/Hubei Daily reporter Hu Yuwei

Photo/Hubei Daily reporter Shi Gong