Overwhelming Genius
Barcelona closed their 13-game La Liga winning streak with a 1-1 draw against Espanyol at their home ground.
Espanyol 1 – 1 Barcelona
First half 38' Hesusa
Second half 18' Yelena
Meanwhile, Barcelona beat Valencia 1-0 at Valencia's home to advance to the Copa del Rey final.
Valencia 0 – 1 Barcelona
Second half 16' Ryu Ha-neul
Meanwhile, Barcelona drew 2-2 at home against Hetafe.
Barcelona 2 – 2 Hetafe
First half 7' Alvaro
First half 44' Erena
Second half 8' Erena
Second half 34' Tena
La Liga standings
1. Real Madrid 20 wins 2 draws 1 loss 62 points +53 GD
2. Barcelona 19 wins 4 draws 0 losses 61 points +47 GD
3. Atletico Madrid 16 wins 4 draws 3 losses 52 points +29 GD
The match whistle blew, ending Barcelona's 2-2 draw against Hetafe at home. Arnal, who had played the full 90 minutes up front for Barcelona today, hung her head. Her stats for the day were seven shots with three on target and zero goals. Fortunately, Alvaro had been able to put the ball in after it bounced off the post, but that was hardly enough to satisfy her. Since returning from injury, she had recorded zero attacking points in the three games she had played.
The root of her slump was, of course, the injury. Originally, Arnal was a crack player who thrived on her speed, roaming the opponent's defensive line. Thanks to her La Masia background, she also had a decent amount of linking ability.
But after the thigh injury, her speed was nowhere near what she wanted, so her dribbling became restricted. When dribbling was blocked, she was forced to shoot from bad positions. And as that continued, she became impatient and couldn't link up properly anymore.
‘Haa… If I had played better… No, if I hadn't gotten injured…’
Feeling guilty, she looked toward the bench. There, Ryu Ha-neul was staring at the pitch. If Ryu Ha-neul had been in his usual spot today, would things have been different?
‘Wait, why am I thinking that?’
Arnal was suddenly taken aback by the thought.
Actually, from Arnal's perspective, she shouldn't have felt any sense of defeat looking at a 16-year-old rookie like Ryu Ha-neul who had only been in the first team for four months.
After becoming a regular starter, in her first year she scored 17 goals in the league, and in her second year she scored 21. The previous season, she had scored 36 goals across all competitions, proving she was a world-class player.
Thinking about how a striker who scores over 40 goals in a season and wins major trophies in the league or Champions League could win the Ballon d'Or, Arnal was basically a player right below the very best in the world.
But the reason Arnal felt this way was simple.
Beyond the staggering stat of 16 goals in 17 games she was chasing, the way Ryu Ha-neul played directly had been incredibly impressive.
Some people were saying it was because he was a man, or that it was the luck of a debutant rookie, but Arnal didn't see Ryu Ha-neul's play as something that could be dismissed with such words.
While people watching from outside the pitch might not feel it, Arnal, who had trained with him and watched his play from the bench, knew. Ryu Ha-neul was a genius on a completely different level from her. And since Arnal herself was also a talented player, she could fully appreciate Ryu Ha-neul's skill.
His vision as if he was watching the entire pitch from above, his precise passing ability that allowed the receiver to do almost nothing, his light dribbling and close control that made you doubt if the ball was magnetic, his tackle recovery when he received the ball in the most dangerous position, and his off-the-ball movement that left defenders bewildered about how he moved like that.
As a football player, Ryu Ha-neul's ability inspired awe, as if the god of football had descended to Earth.
‘…At only 16 years old.’
From Arnal's perspective, feeling this sense of defeat was only natural.
If Arnal had only just joined the ranks of world-class players, Ryu Ha-neul was already a player who had competed for the title of the greatest footballer in history and in his own era, having won five Ballon d'Ors from the start of his prime until right before his death in his previous life.
But since Arnal didn't know that, she could only feel defeat and awe looking at Ryu Ha-neul, and with jealousy added on top, she couldn't lift her head.
‘Why am I like this? Against a 16-year-old kid. And a boy at that.’
Moreover, the fact that Ryu Ha-neul was a boy made all the football she had done until now feel like garbage.
“Good work. You were a bit unlucky today. If we had played just a little better, we could have won.”
Alvaro, the leader among the attackers, patted Arnal on the shoulder and encouraged her.
‘…If we had played just a little better, we could have won? Yeah, I was lacking, right.’
But even Alvaro's encouragement didn't reach Arnal's ears, already filled with inferiority. Moreover, she knew that she preferred to link up with Ryu Ha-neul, who always received the ball in dangerous positions and distributed it smoothly, more than with the other players. Although Barcelona's other players didn't show it in front of Arnal, as a person she couldn't ignore the atmosphere, so she couldn't help but twist Alvaro's simple encouragement.
After the Hetafe match that left only negative feelings for Arnal, five days later,
“Tomorrow's starting lineup is goalkeeper Maximilena, ………………, and top Ryu.”
Upon hearing that Ryu Ha-neul was being given a chance in the league, Arnal's expression grew even more serious.
‘So, the coach thinks I don't need him. Objectively, Ryu is much better. A 16-year-old boy… Then what I've done until now…’
The sense of powerlessness from facing an overwhelming genius.
“Arnal, are you okay? Since you've been pushing yourself since returning from injury, rest tomorrow.”
“…Yes.”
Arnal didn't want to express dissatisfaction to the coach with that sense of powerlessness.
[La Liga 24th round, SD Eibar vs Barcelona will be held at Estadio Munishipal de Ipurua in Eibar's home stadium.]
And the Eibar match began.
‘So, let's see how well he plays.’
The sense of powerlessness combined with the inferiority she originally had, and Arnal fixed her gaze on Ryu Ha-neul without even looking at the ball, watching his every move to find any flaws if he made a mistake.
A pass came to Ryu Ha-neul. The marker attached to him moved once, and the center of the marker was taken. Then, without forcing it, he connected to Lorenzer. Since the marker had been peeled off, Eibar players' movements became unsteady, and Lorenzer didn't miss the gap, connecting to Eloya who was running into the open space.
And Eloya, after receiving the ball, cut inside and connected to Ryu Ha-neul who had arrived nearby with a 2-1 pass, linking it to a shot. Unfortunately, the ball went wide, but it was a natural and threatening play.
And watching the process, Arnal almost ended up clapping without realizing it.
Receiving the pass, recovering from the tackle, connecting to the third man, finding her position and entering with the wingers for a 2-1 pass.
The play that had been emphasized since learning football at La Masia was now coming from Ryu Ha-neul's feet.
‘…If it were me, I would have run forward.’
If it had been her, the moment the marker was peeled off, she would have run toward the goal, and if the breakthrough succeeded, she could have scored. But the probability of that play succeeding wasn't high.
But Ryu Ha-neul didn't get carried away after beating the marker, immediately connecting to the third man and then finding space himself to increase the attack's probability.
Throughout the first half, Ryu Ha-neul passed more than dribbled, increasing the probability of the play, and when his marker loosened, he started running forward.
The center backs in front of Ryu Ha-neul had widened slightly to mark the wing forwards against the continuous passing play, and two center backs rushed in to stop Ryu Ha-neul's dribble, but a two-footed dribble mixed with upper body feints easily peeled them off. Now only the goalkeeper remained.
“Whoa!”
And in the following play, Arnal couldn't help but shout.
In a perfect 1-1 chance, everyone’s eyes were on the left foot as if taking a shot, but Ryu Ha-neul’s left foot sliced through the air once, and the right foot, which he thought was the stepping foot, connected to Alvaro who was running from behind.
If Ryu Ha-neul had fixed his gaze on the ball instead of on him, even Arnal watching from afar would have been taken aback by such a play.
And Alvaro, who had come running from behind, didn't hesitate and shot toward Eibar's goal.
‘How could he play like that…?’
Ryu Ha-neul's play was just too unbelievable.
He had beaten the defensive midfielder who had been following him the whole time, peeled off two center backs, and faced the goalkeeper in a 1-1 chance.
Even in a situation where every striker's eyes would spin and vision would narrow, Ryu Ha-neul, instead of getting excited, was aware of Alvaro running from behind and dismantled the goalkeeper's center with a shot fake, creating a perfect goal chance for Alvaro.
‘I was jealous of a player like that…?’
The Ryu Ha-neul in front of Arnal now wasn't a man or a 16-year-old child, but just a football player. A football player who played at a level above, as if mocking ordinary players like herself with perfect play.
The negative feelings that had tormented Arnal for days disappeared like melting snow under that overwhelming play. Ryu Ha-neul's play had shown her that it was a play she couldn't reach.
And even after realizing that fact, Arnal's eyes couldn't leave Ryu Ha-neul.
‘Why is he moving his position here? …What? The ball came there? How many moves ahead did he see?’
‘Wow, deliberately entering the opponent's pressure to draw attention? Thanks to that, other players' positions became much easier. Is there a way to mark him there? ……How did he escape and connect a pass? …This crazy… He could play like that too.’
But that gaze was no longer a gaze to find flaws no matter what, but a gaze to learn and understand even one more thing from Ryu Ha-neul's play.