The Substitute's Brilliant Assist
Barcelona defeated Levante 3-0!
Meanwhile, Ryu Ha-neul did not record any attacking points in today's match, but he recorded 4 key passes and a 92% pass success rate...
Copa del Rey: Barcelona's 5-0 victory!
……In the second leg of the Copa del Rey round of 16, played at Camp Nou, Barcelona defeated Celta Vigo 5-0, achieving an aggregate score of 8-0 and advancing to the quarterfinals...
Barcelona, 11-game league winning streak!
…In the match against Real Sociedad, they won 5-1, achieving an 11-game league winning streak. Ryu Ha-neul scored 2 goals in this match and showed great performance. …Meanwhile, Barcelona climbed to the top of the league with this win...
…This season, Ryu Ha-neul has appeared in 8 league matches, recording 6 goals and 3 assists...
1. FC Barcelona 17W 2D 0L 53pts GD +36
2. Real Madrid 16W 2D 1L 50pts GD +41
3. Atlético Madrid 13W 4D 2L 43pts GD +15
“Did you watch yesterday? The Madrid bastards are getting crushed yesterday?”
“Of course I did.”
“In the second half, let's completely stomp on their home ground.”
Although it wasn't against Real Madrid, the atmosphere in the club was festive because Real Madrid lost to Villarreal. The players, coaches, and even staff were in a celebratory mood. It was good for the team, no need to explain.
As long as they didn't dance in the locker room after the match or anything like that.
But since this atmosphere continued until the day before the Copa del Rey match against Espanyol, a slight sense of unease couldn't be helped.
Although Espanyol is a mid-table team, they are the regional rivals and play with gritted teeth against Barcelona.
And that unease became reality as the match began.
To focus on the league leader, Coach Diéna used 1.5-team level players in positions other than Eloya, Lorenzo, and goalkeeper Maximilena, who can provide stability, to manage the main players' stamina.
But Espanyol, not even in the relegation zone, came out with a full starting lineup. Under Lucia's orchestration, we had possession, but Espanyol blocked our attacks tenaciously and counterattacked to threaten our goal. In the 24th minute of the second half,
“Waaaaaaa!!!!!!”
In a corner kick situation, Espanyol's main striker, a 193cm tall player with superior physique, headed in a goal, and Espanyol took the lead 1-0.
'Tsk, they took out the main players and the club atmosphere was buzzing...'
Just a moment after cursing at the expected mishap,
“Ryu.”
“Yes, Coach.”
“Warm up your body.”
Coach Diéna, who had said he would give me rest today, eventually called me.
'It's the 24th minute, so if I think about warming up for 10 minutes, there's about 15 minutes left to play? It's a bit tight.'
Despite the burden of being subbed in while trailing a 16-year-old player, Diéna's substitution tactic made a small sigh escape, but it was understandable considering the performance I've shown so far.
Currently, my record is 12 matches, 12 goals, 4 assists, so considering two substitute appearances, it's like scoring over one goal per match. Moreover, when subbed in, I also showed clear results.
'No, but in the debut match, there was really nothing, so was it just "fuck it" and I scored? Um... At that time, since it was group stage, losing one match was okay, so maybe. Um... Probably the latter. And I was subbed off immediately. The group stage one match, winning or losing doesn't matter much, right.'
Thinking about Diéna's substitution tactic while warming up, I felt my body getting properly warmed up. This was enough to not worry about injury, so after signaling okay to the coach, I was immediately substituted with Lautina and entered the field.
“Ha-neul!”
“Camila, it's hard without me?”
“...Honestly, I don't get along well with Lautina.”
“...What if Lautina hears?”
“Anyway, I went to the bench.”
'Anyway, the kid, usually so gentle, turns cold when football talk comes up. That aside, now it's the 35th minute, so the remaining regular time is 10 minutes. Considering injury time, about 12-3 minutes?'
And simultaneously with my substitution, Espanyol brought in a black player who looked quite sturdy on the field. And the face of that black player was the one I saw in the video from yesterday.
'Adriana, right? I heard he was a guy who can handle defensive midfielder...
The guy's name is Adriana. Overall, his football skills weren't great, but he was quite capable in man-marking. And substituting him at the same time as me meant they were planning to mark me with him.
Of course, it wasn't a surprising choice. It had been over a month since I debuted on the first team, and teams were trying various things to stop me...
And among those attempts, the most common was this 1:1 individual marking.
Well, it hadn't been very effective so far.
There was a coach who marked me slightly with Valentina in the U-17 World Cup final, but since Valentina is someone I've trained 1:1 with a lot, she knows me well, so that was it. On the La Liga mid to lower table level, there were almost no players who could mark me.
And as expected, Adriana who was subbed in at the same time as me started following me everywhere I went.
“Stop following me.”
“……”
'Not a very fun style.'
After the match against Juventus, players who trash talked me decreased, but even without sex-related talk, they occasionally trash talked, but seeing them not saying anything at all, it was clear they were focusing only on football and not very fun style.
...And such players were usually quite tenacious and persistent.
As soon as Camila's pass connected to me, Adriana blocked in front and extended her leg. The moment I saw that movement, I moved the ball on the left to the right, lightly passed by the guy, and ran forward. But the guy started chasing me again with his black player's elasticity.
Since he would catch up like this, I passed the ball to the midfielder following me from behind, Lorenzo, and glanced back, and Adriana was already right behind me.
'...His physique is really good. Tsk. To beat him, I need to beat him from a bit ahead.'
Like usual, I wanted to help build-up in the midfield area, but since the distance to the goal was increasing, I was at a disadvantage, so I adjusted my position closer to the goal.
Fortunately, even without me, the build-up wasn't a big problem. First, the pass play between Lorenzo and Camila was good, and since there wasn't much time left until the end of the match, Espanyol started playing passively.
So, when the pass came, I beat him once individually, then kept the ball circulating, fixing his gaze on me for a few minutes.
When the referee declared injury time 3 minutes, I made eye contact with Eloya who was diving inside.
'Switch!'
Already over a month of joint tactical training, and Eloya is also from La Masia, so without saying anything, we naturally switched positions. And the moment our positions overlapped, the ball that left Camila's foot connected to me, and Adriana extended her leg wide to block me.
It was a quite challenging attempt, but since I was outside the goal area, it was a sufficiently challenging attempt, but unfortunately, the guy's field of vision was already fixed on me, so it wasn't that wide. The moment Camila's pass touched the ball,
Thud,
The ball that touched my heel curved to the side and pierced between the guy's legs, connecting to Eloya.
“Uwaaaaa!”
And Eloya, with a shout, kicked the ball that fell in front of her, and Eloya's shot drew a perfect curve and was sucked into the goal.
“Waaaaaaa!!!!!!”
“Ryu! This crazy bastard! Really a backup, backup! Perfect pass, Ryu!”
Eloya, who completed a wonderful goal with my connection, ran to me and hugged my thigh with her arm. The warm feeling of Eloya's chest touching my body made me flinch a bit, but since Eloya was also embarrassed, she put me down on the ground.
'Originally she doesn't do such ceremonies to me much, but I guess the buzzer beater was good.'
Anyway, after the equalizer goal and the awkward hug ended, the match ended soon after, and we recorded a 1-1 draw in the Copa del Rey round of 8 first leg, and the match ended.
*
“Ryu Ha-neul! Saves the crisis Barcelona!”
……Meanwhile, in the situation where Barcelona was trailing 1-0, in the 35th minute of the second half, Barcelona subbed in Ryu Ha-neul, and in the 45th minute of the second half, Ryu Ha-neul attempted a wonderful heel pass to assist Eloya's equalizer goal...