First Hat-Trick
It's loose.
After realizing that fouls are easily called, the guy's pressure has loosened up. It feels like he's trying to avoid contact as much as possible?
Right now too.
In a situation where Espanyol is coming out aggressively and many counter-attack opportunities are open, I can receive the through pass from Camila, and after overtaking Adriana standing in front of me, I run forward.
But since I didn't completely break my posture, if it was normal, I should have felt the pressure of being chased quickly from behind, grabbing my jersey or bumping shoulders, but no such sensation was felt.
'Well, thank you.'
Honestly, before the yellow card, there were many players who wanted to rough me up, but this gentleman was the first, and I was a bit surprised. Of course, regardless of that surprise, I was playing my game.
"Stop!"
Adriana comes running from behind to block me in front. But by then, I had enough time and space.
Thud.
The ball I touched with my left foot outside spins properly and reaches Abudasha who runs to the left wing forward. Abudasha runs all the way to catch my ball, and the position where I received the pass as I intended was a perfect spot to shoot.
And since Abudasha knew that too, he shot with one touch,
"Ah, this isn't going in."
Unfortunately, the shot misses.
"Nice pass, Ryu!"
Abudasha gives a thumbs up, I give one back and return to my position. It wasn't that I wasn't disappointed, but compared to other games, the disappointment was less. Why? Because with the current state of my marker, I could create such chances multiple times.
'But when I watched the video, he seemed to play quite actively, but why today?'
At the time of watching the full analysis video, he was a midfielder who used his unique physique and stamina to play tenacious and tenacious defense, but suddenly his playing style changed with just one foul. I was curious about the reason.
'...Is it not because he's a guy and goes easy on me?'
If that were the case, it would be disqualification as a pro, and not worth opposing, no, a girl. As a pro, you have to do your best no matter who the opponent is. But once I had that doubt, I felt like my thoughts were correct.
"Hey."
"......"
The guy still not answering.
"Is it not that I'm not properly playing because I'm a guy?"
And this time, he doesn't answer the question and turns his head to avoid my eyes.
As expected, my thoughts were correct. And when I felt confident that my thoughts were correct, I felt bad. I didn't work hard to be treated like this.... Moreover, these bastards later going home thinking 'Ha, if he hadn't gone easy, I would have won.' and mental victory is even worse. Moreover, they think they are women who respect men.
'...How sweet.'
Even in a situation where the team is eliminated, such play. If it was the same team, I wanted to slap him.
Compared to these guys, the style of Yasmine who I faced in Juventus was better. Even if the trash talk and playing style are dirty, it was all to win the game.
'Yeah, that's why he's playing for Espanyol with this physique.'
Suddenly, I thought of provoking him with 'Even if you do your best, you can't beat me.' but I held back.
I am a pro who does anything to win the game. There's no reason not to use this opportunity since the opponent is being careless. If the score gap widens more, maybe not.
'Let's see if he snaps out of it after conceding 5 goals or so. ...Ah, would that break him?'
*
"Is it not that I'm not properly playing because I'm a guy?"
'Fast on the uptake.'
Adriana makes an expression of disbelief and looks at the back of the walking man. Although his height is quite tall for a man, his body is too weak. Especially, when he bumps shoulders in a situation like the first goal, seeing him roll 4-5 times on the ground, it feels like he won't be able to bump shoulders anymore.
Originally, I thought it was funny to put my heart into playing against a man who should be protected, but the bigger reason Adriana wasn't playing properly was because of Ryu Ha-neul's weak body.
Ryu Ha-neul is a player who is being watched from around the world.
Ryu Ha-neul playing with a man's body is a player who is being watched beyond the soccer world in many places. If such a player gets an irreparable injury due to his actions and quits soccer....
'I think I would be buried in the soccer world.'
Adriana didn't want the arrow of that criticism to stick to her.
'Considering Yasmine's incident, it's right to hold back. In the first match, there wasn't much time to face, so no big deal, but if facing for 90 minutes, who knows what happens.'
Moreover, thinking about Yasmine's incident that heated up the soccer world a few months ago, she had to hold back even more.
When Adriana thought, it was a problem to trash talk to a man, but if Ryu was not a man, it wouldn't be such a special word. Saying on the ground that you've eaten your husband, brother, little brother, even your dad is ordinary.
But with just that much trash talk, the assault case led to the victim being disciplined.
She didn't want to be involved with Ryu Ha-neul.
And that feeling was enough to give herself absolution as she thought.
Even after being pushed away by Ha-neul, it made her think 'If it wasn't a man, I would have pushed with my shoulder right away....' and even after being pushed once, if she just follows, Ryu Ha-neul's play of passing to another place loosened Adriana's heart.
And fortunately, even in the midst of Barcelona's shooting count increasing because Abudasha or Eloya who came out as Barcelona's wing forward today had bad condition, the score difference remained 1:0.
'Anyway, because of my pressure, I don't shoot.'
Although I conceded a free kick goal, looking at how suppressed it is to this extent, am I doing well? Adriana was overtaken several times, but she ran around the field giving herself absolution,
'Adding injury time, now it's 3 minutes? It's not that hard because it's slow.'
In the 44th minute of the first half, thinking about returning to the locker room, her concentration was slightly disrupted with Ryu Ha-neul in front.
And at that moment, Ryu Ha-neul didn't miss the opportunity and quickly took the ball between the legs,
'This bastard!'
Adriana was momentarily surprised. Passing the ball between the legs is a statistic for soccer players. And for a man who should be protected by a woman, to have such a stat? It was something Adriana couldn't accept.
Adriana's anger went up to the tip of her head with shame, and she immediately chased after Ryu Ha-neul, just before grabbing his back.
At that moment when she reached out to grab Ryu Ha-neul's jersey, Ryu Ha-neul stopped his movement as if eyes were chasing the back of the head, lowered his body to avoid Adriana's hand, and Adriana, whose center of gravity was thrown forward, bounced forward without being able to overcome her acceleration.
"Eh, eh!"
"Uwaaaak!"
The centerback Irina blocking Ryu Ha-neul in front, at the moment the two bodies collided, Ryu Ha-neul started dribbling again.
But this time, there was no need to run long. The goal was close.
Espanyol's goalkeeper, Andas, jumped forward as much as possible to narrow Ryu Ha-neul's shooting angle, but despite knowing that Ryu Ha-neul's specialty is the lob shot, jumping forward was to intend the lob shot, so Andas's nerves being solely aware of the lob shot wasn't strange at all.
At the moment the distance between the two got close.
Ryu Ha-neul took a movement as if lifting the ball with his right foot, and Andas reacted to that motion instantly. But the right foot that was about to shoot, unfortunately, touched the ground, and at the moment he realized he was fooled, his left foot was already hitting the ball faster than reacting.
And, no matter how slow the shot speed is compared to average, the shot that steals the goalkeeper's timing at close range doesn't need to be very fast.
When Ryu Ha-neul's second goal was scored, Camp Nou shook with Ryu Ha-neul's name, and that shaking continued until the end of the first half.
...... Now the second half starts. No changes in the player rosters for both teams.
"Espanyol's perspective, since they conceded one more goal before the end of the first half, they need to come out as aggressively as possible to chase. Actually, in Espanyol's perspective, they needed at least two goals to catch up, so not much will change."
And the second half started.
Espanyol, like in the first half, put maximum pressure on Barcelona's goals aggressively, and Barcelona, after blocking that attack, developed a counter-attack again.
If it was normal, they wouldn't have gone out like this in counter, but the players also felt that Ha-neul's play was working well today. Moreover, even if the counter failed, there was trust that Ha-neul would protect the ball.
Anyway, this time, the long pass laid by centerback Tiana near the center line reaches Ha-neul.
Adriana fiercely stuck to Ryu Ha-neul who took the ball to block him. Unlike the first half, rough movements were felt, but Ha-neul didn't care about that at all and waited for Adriana to get close.
And at the moment Adriana's foot stretched, Ryu Ha-neul's foot crossed, and the ball between the feet disappeared instantly.
'What?'
A bit surprised at the magical situation, looking up in doubt, there was a ball flying over his head in a beautiful parabola, and at the moment of realizing he was caught, Ryu Ha-neul's body was already running past him forward.
But, even if pushed once, since the distance to the goal was a bit far, Adriana could catch up to Ryu Ha-neul soon, and at the moment of pushing shoulders to grab the jersey, the ball had already disappeared from Ryu Ha-neul's foot.
'Tsk...'
Now, only one defender in front of Eloya. Adriana ran to block Eloya to make up for the earlier mistake.
'Anyway, no mid-range shots for Ryu...!'
The choice made under the judgment that there are no mid-range shots for Ryu Ha-neul had some validity. If Eloya gave the ball to Ryu Ha-neul again and a shooting chance came, the goalkeeper could easily block, and if not immediately, Espanyol's players chasing behind could block the situation.
When she joined, Eloya passed the ball back,
'Good!'
At the moment Adriana inwardly rejoiced, the ball that left Ryu Ha-neul's foot went towards her arm side.
'Eh, eh?!'
This is inside the box. And if that ball touches the hand...!
At that moment when Adriana instinctively folded her arm, a slight impact was felt on the arm side, and instinctively turned her head towards the goal,
And there, Ryu Ha-neul's shot hitting her arm and bending in another trajectory was seen.
'Ah, no...!'
Strongly shouted inside, but Ryu Ha-neul's shot unfortunately passed the goalkeeper with a diving motion and into the goal.
"Still want to go easy on me? Try your best. Well, even if not."
And Ryu Ha-neul who passed by his side spat out a word.
With the embarrassment that made his face burst and anger up to the tip of his head, but Adriana could only see Ryu Ha-neul doing a light ceremony as if it's natural to score a hat-trick.