La Liga Debut. (1)
‘Ah…, so disappointing.’
The moment I entered the stadium, the emotion I felt was one of disappointment.
‘If only I could have played one match at home.’
Even though I had already debuted in the Champions League and La Liga, there was no match at the home stadium, Camp Nou. Honestly, I didn't have much affection for Camp Nou, but I did like it.
Why?
Because it was a stadium that could accommodate 100,000 people.
Receiving the cheers of the crowd packed in Camp Nou was the most exhilarating thing. Well, after transferring to Real, I did hear some boos from the 100,000 crowd, but the boos were also praising my play, so it felt good too.
Of course, Camp Nou wasn't always full, but basically, it was a place that filled with over 50,000, so I wanted to debut at home once. On debut day, since I wasn't familiar to the fans, even if I played well, the cheers would be loud.
In my previous life, on the day I debuted in the league, I was lucky enough to score right away, and that memory is still special enough to remain in my mind.
But the Estadio Municipal de Butarque, home of CD Leganés, has about 12,200 seats. It seemed like around 10,000 came in, but since it was less than the U-17 World Cup final, it was a bit disappointing, no choice.
‘Well, it's good to debut quickly though.’
I didn't want the debut to be delayed until the home game day, so despite the disappointment, I decided to be satisfied with the quick debut, and then slowly loosened up my body.
“Ryu, not nervous, are you?”
“I’ve seen the Champions too.”
“Haha. Yeah, that's right. Anyway, give me some passes today. Until Arnal comes back, I need to rack up some goals. That guy Arnal, his head's gotten too thick lately, he says he won't give passes.”
As I was loosening up, Albaria approached me and spoke.
It was to loosen my tension, but Albaria's request to give passes had a bit of sincerity.
Honestly, I thought Albaria, being a player like that, wouldn't care much about goal records, but it seemed like the 3 goals in 12 league games this season was bothering him.
Of course, Albaria's suggestion wasn't bad. Even if Albaria wasn't scoring much, Albaria was the team's core and ace leading the attack, and playing well with such a player would naturally increase my playing time.
In fact, during training, Albaria had been acting closer to me lately, as if my passes were to his liking.
“Of course I'll give you passes. In return, since it's my debut match, please win today.”
“Then, of course. Trust only this senior today.”
Albaria answered with a confident expression.
After chatting with Albaria and loosening up, it was time for the match to start, and we stopped the warm-up and went to the locker room to reorganize.
“The Leganés will come out with 4-4-2 today, and since we have numerical superiority in the midfield...”
And while listening to the coach's tactical instructions, I recalled what I had to do today. As usual, my role was that of a false striker.
In addition to helping the midfielders, it was to punish the Leganés who placed only two in the midfield, and to create space for the defenders to come out and for the wing forwards and midfielders to penetrate, since the opponent's gaps would be narrow.
‘Well, Lorenza and Yelena are reliable.’
When playing for the national team, since the midfielders' penetration and goal-scoring weren't great, it was mostly difficult because I had to create plays with Yuri and others, but thinking that Lorenza and Yelena were behind me, it was reassuring.
The reason I didn't want to leave Barcelona even after experiencing such humiliation? Honestly, the only team that could perfectly understand my style, which has weak physicality, was Barcelona right now. Moreover, the stronger the team, especially the stronger the midfield, the more my playing style would shine, so the synergy was quite good.
If I had the long-range shooting ability like in my previous life, we could have trapped the opponents and our teammates in the penalty box and scored, but it was a bit unfortunate that my ankle strength made that impossible.
‘Well, this is enough for now.’
“And, Ryu. The right centerback of the opponent, Josephin, is said to be slower than you, so if a chance comes up today, show it properly.”
“Yes! Coach!”
And along with the false striker role, the coach's special order to tear apart the opponent's defender was conveyed.
The right centerback Josephin of Leganés that the coach mentioned is a player who, as the coach said, is evaluated to be slower than me. His physicality is about 195cm and 100kg, so he's a good player in terms of physical strength and jumping, but because he boasts of being a big guy, he's evaluated as slower than me.
Honestly, in the youth league, I hadn't met many players slower than me, so it was also a bit exciting.
‘But he might be faster than me, so first I need to feel him out. He can't be slower than me, the real man. Let's see a few times.’
“...Good. It seems you all understand well. Win cleanly and take a little rest. The ones selected for the national team can't rest, though. Haha.”
While I was mentally simulating the plays I would do in today's match, the coach finished explaining the tactics to the players one by one, and finally it was time to start the match.
*
The La Liga 13th round match between CD Leganés and FC Barcelona is about to begin. Then today's Barcelona lineup...
[Except for Ryu Ha-neul, using all starting players? Probably because the next schedule is after the A match period ends, so using maximum starting players.]