Records Are Eternal
Records are eternal.
December 16, 2011, 12 PM. The Champions League round of 16 draw ceremony was underway at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.
In preparation for tomorrow's Bundesliga round 17 clash against Freiburg, the Borussia Dortmund players paused their training and gathered in the clubhouse for a light lunch while watching the draw.
"Hoo…."
The Dortmund players stared at the TV screen with tense expressions. On the screen, the Champions League group stage draw was about to begin.
"Who's that old guy yapping up there?"
Son Jinho asked Mario Gotze, who was sitting next to him.
"UEFA club competition chairman or something?"
"Fancy title."
The introductions of the draw officials continued on screen, and the caster relaying the round of 16 draw explained the group draw format.
[Next up are the seeded winners from each group…]
In the Champions League round of 16 draw, the seeded first-place teams from each group were matched against the unseeded second-place teams. They excluded teams from the same group or the same football association.
"So Leverkusen from the same association and Arsenal from our group get excluded, right?"
"Yeah."
Mario Gotze responded to Son Jinho's mutter.
After excluding all those, the possible opponents narrowed down.
"So that leaves Lyon, Napoli, AC Milan, Basel, Moscow, or Zenit."
Dortmund's potential matchups were roughly identified.
"Mario, who would you want to draw?"
"Basel."
Son Jinho nodded at Mario Gotze's answer. Humans were like that—preferring the easy path over the hard one.
"Gino, you?"
"Basel for me too."
Objectively, excluding Basel, there were no easy teams. These were squads worthy of the Champions League name.
This was still an era before oil money flooded football, so the gaps in team quality weren't as extreme as they'd later become.
While Son Jinho chatted with Mario Gotze, the draw ceremony pressed on.
The conductor, looking a bit nervous, drew a ball from the container holding the names of the second-place teams.
[Olympique Lyon!]
The first draw was Olympique Lyon. With Real Madrid from their group excluded, the matching continued.
The moment the official revealed the opponent on camera…
"…Huh?"
Son Jinho's expression froze. It deviated from the original history.
[Olympique Lyon vs SL Benfica.]
'Shouldn't it have been APOEL originally?'
Son Jinho's regression was now rippling beyond Asia into Europe proper.
Dortmund's training wrapped up, and only then did I check the group chat. Maybe because it had been blowing up nonstop since the draw started, my smartphone's battery was hanging on by a thread—impressively so.
Han Gyeowol looked a bit left out amid the festive group vibe—so pitiful…
She didn't actually say it.
'Whoa. Straight to curse post.'
It felt like the season had just started, but winter break was already creeping up.
Dortmund, leading the Bundesliga by five points over Bayern Munich, would wrap up with today's home game against Freiburg and the DFB-Pokal cup match against Dusseldorf on December 21 before heading into winter break.
This was my first winter break since studying abroad for soccer, so like the last international break, I thought we'd hit some nice tourist spots for vacation.
With mother-in-law and Winter's enthusiastic push, we decided to head to England for Premier League games live.
No idea when they'd planned it, but this mother-daughter duo played go-stop like pros.
'All that tag-teaming Hwang Geum-sun made their tiki-taka lethal.'
Whatever.
"Who's the German champion?"
"Borussia Dortmund!!"
The Dortmund vs Freiburg match kicked off at Signal Iduna Park.
The game flowed one-sidedly. Dortmund attacked relentlessly; SC Freiburg scrambled to defend.
"Focus, you pig bastards! Don't lose 10!"
True to their rep as a goalkeeper factory, Freiburg's starter Oliver Baumann put on a masterclass, thwarting Dortmund's assaults.
"Ohhhh!!"
Then, in the 20th minute, my chance arrived.
"Clear it quick—!"
As Baumann parried, a second ball popped up. Early in the half, Freiburg's defender lunged first to clear it.
"Kiyoooooooot—!"
Desperate for the golden opportunity, I unleashed my sealed war cry from deep within.
"Sh, shit! What the fuck?!"
Freiburg defender Pavel Krmas flubbed in panic from my sudden roar.
With one war cry creating the chance, I calmly slotted it home.
Thwack—!
Swish—!
The close-range shot rippled Freiburg's net.
"…."
"…."
"…."
Freiburg players, ref, linesmen—even my Dortmund teammates—all stared like 'What the fuck is this idiot?'
"Hoooooo—!"
I ignored them all, sprinting to the corner flag to celebrate with the roaring Dortmund fans.
'Ah, embarrassing.'
My face flushed a bit from the shame.
"G-good one, Gino."
"A-awesome goal!"
Ivan Perisic and Robert Lewandowski rushed over, sparing me solo awkwardness as we celebrated together.
"See? If they don't mess up, make them mess up."
I shared the pro tip gratefully. To Perisic and Lewandowski, who looked like it was a bit much, I declared boldly:
"Embarrassment is fleeting, but records are eternal."
Lewandowski and Perisic pondered, enlightened.
"Embarrassment is fleeting…."
"But records are eternal?"