Champions League Round of 16: Second Leg (5)
'There she is.'
I waved at the Asian man in the VIP room on the top floor. The Asian man in a suit waved back at me. Although the distance was far and his face wasn't visible, it was hard to distinguish who it was, but I didn't need to know who it was anyway.
At this time, there should only be one Asian in the VIP room. No, maybe two, including my mother?
“Ha-neul, who were you greeting? What are you seeing?”
When I waved, Camila, who was helping me with my stretches beside me, asked who I was greeting.
“No, it's not very visible, but I think I can tell who it is.”
“Who?”
“My mother and the national team coach.”
“Mother? You came to see her? Our parents came to see too. But mother and the national team coach? Mother isn't the national team coach?”
“Mother is the youth national team, and the one next to her is the adult national team.”
As I told Camila, the person I waved at was the coach of the South Korean adult national team, Lee Young-hee. My mother had been promoted to the U-20 national team coach, and she probably came to see Yuri's condition and took the seat together.
And the reason Lee Young-hee coach came to see me was simple.
The reason was that I had been selected for the adult national team in the March evaluation match a few days ago. A few days ago, through the club, I received a call saying they wanted to select me for the adult national team, and I gladly accepted the offer.
The Barcelona side seemed to want me to be selected for the Spanish national team, but since the Spanish national team hadn't made me an offer yet, choosing the South Korean national team to represent Korea was perhaps a natural choice.
Well, even if contact came from Spain, I would have chosen Korea.
Anyway, selecting me for the national team at a time when the World Cup is only 3-4 months away means they intend to bring me to the World Cup. Of course, I would have to maintain my form until the final selection and show a good performance to make the World Cup roster, but that wasn't a problem for me.
'That's aside. For now, let's focus on the match.'
The first time being on the national team was quite a pleasant feeling, but since it was the second leg while trailing 2:1, after greeting the coach, I erased thoughts about the national team from my mind and started stretching.
As I got a little sweaty and my body warmed up, the time to start the match was approaching.
“Show the Chelsea guys what a Camp Nou is.”
““Yes!””
Since preparations for Chelsea were perfect, Coach Diena finished simply, and we stood in the corridor to enter the stadium. The little kid who had seen me a few times from the dorm grabbed my hand. Looking at him fidgeting with my hand and glancing at me, it seemed he had something to say.
“Why? Do you have something to say, kid?”
“I'm not a kid, though?”
“Ah, sorry. What was your name? It seemed like one I saw from the dorm…?”
“Merci. Th-that, Ryu, we can win today, right?”
“Of course. We're at Barcelona, and this is Camp Nou.”
The little kid who introduced himself as Merci smiled brightly at my words. After ruffling his hair once, I entered the stadium while listening to the Champions League opening music that made my heart race.
There was a slight difference in the opening music from what I heard in my previous life, but since it was a grand music that made the heart race, I was getting used to it after hearing it a few times in the stadium.
The national team coach who came to see me, the players of the local youth team escorting me, and the young fans of the region, the Champions League entrance music that made the heart flutter.
- Waaaaaaa!!!!!
Plus, the spectators filling the home stadium to the brim.
'Kuh… This is it.'
Each and every one of those elements made me feel alive. It was the emotion I felt every time I entered the stadium, but today it felt even more special.
And with only the round of 16, I wondered what emotions the Champions League final and the World Cup would bring me.
Of course, to do that, I had to win today's match to advance to the quarterfinals and also make the World Cup roster.
'Good, let's try it.'
Before the match started, I held the ball in the center circle and checked the opponent's formation. I didn't know yet if the opponent's formation would be 4-1-4-1 with a defensive midfielder or 4-1-2-3, but since it was likely to come out defensively, there was a high possibility of operating the match like 4-1-4-1.
In that case, what we had to do was to score as quickly as possible to disrupt their strategy from the beginning.
It wasn't just me who felt that fact, so as I passed the ball to Albaria, the moment the match started, we began attacking the opponent's field as quickly as possible.
“Ryu!”
…And at the center of it all was me.
The pass from Lauren connected to me in one go. The situation where our players hadn't yet settled into Chelsea's field. After lightly dragging back Asha who was rushing, I moved forward slowly to give our players time to settle.
Once the midfielders including the wing forwards had settled, Asha who had recovered her body stuck to me, and I turned my back to such Asha and sent a long pass to Albaria who was on the diagonal side.
'As expected, it's Albaria!'
And after receiving my pass, Albaria ran along the touchline and entered towards the goalpost. The player in the penalty box ran after the pass I gave and Lauren, and Yelena came running to the penalty box from the time I passed to her.
Since Fabiola and Asha were marking my side, Yelena's side was relatively open, and Albaria didn't miss that gap and tried to pass to Yelena. Albaria's pass was a bit strong, but it connected to Yelena…,
'…Now!'
…As soon as Yelena touched the ball, I immediately sprinted towards the goalpost aiming for the loose ball.
“Block!”
Asha shouted from behind trying to grab my jersey, but I, who moved first, escaped her grasp by a hair.
Bang!
The sound of the goalkeeper saving the shot came, and the ball flowed towards my side. If it was the same condition as the first leg, I might have caught it, but that was when there was the biological buffer. Seeing that I didn't catch this shot, it was clear that it wasn't the time of the period now.
'Illegal doping check…!'
And I swung my leg to the opposite side where that cone had fallen.
But at that moment,
“Ku-euk!”
I don't know where it came from, Fabiola blocked my shot and slid in. The ball that hit Fabiola's body became a corner kick declaration as it went out of the goal line.
'Fuck, is she on her period today?'
The impulse to ask if she's on her period despite the huge super save called the whore defense.
“Huu…, Ryu. The shot is stronger than I thought? It hurts a lot, right?”
“If it hurts, I wouldn't have blocked it.”
Fabiola who was lying down talked to me nicely, but I answered her coldly and approached the left corner flag to take the corner kick.
And I exchanged glances with Lucia who was standing in front of me to take the corner kick.
We had prepared to take a short corner kick to push the ball closer to the box and attack the goalpost since it was difficult to break through Chelsea's height.
'Can I do it?'
'Let's try.'
Clara, the opponent's midfielder, approached to block me, but I answered Lucia's words with confident eyes.
And Lucia, trusting me, passed me a short corner kick. At that moment, Clara, trying to snatch the ball, bumped her shoulder and extended her leg, but she wasn't a player with strength in body fighting as a winger, 169cm/63kg.
'…Ugh.'
Even so, her body was staggered by her torso clash, but fortunately, since I had done weight training during that time, I barely endured Clara's torso clash and was able to pull the ball out from between her legs.
'Huu, if my height was a little taller or my weight a little more, it would have been dangerous.'
Since it was the first time I won a body fight after debuting in the first team, I was happy for a moment, then Chelsea's players came running in front of me.
Chelsea's left wingback, Cheryl, came lying across to tackle without allowing me to enter the penalty box. But after lightly dragging back her obvious tackle with a Marseille turn, I checked the situation inside the penalty box.
'Good, she's shaken!'
Inside Chelsea's penalty box, the situation was slightly confused by my sudden breakthrough, and I made eye contact with Anila who was coming back from outside the penalty box. And in this set piece situation, no one was marking the 170cm Anila.
So, in one second, I made my judgment and pretended to shoot at the near post and crossed with my right foot,
- Waaaaaaa!!!!!
My cross exactly hit the head of Anila who was diving.
Tung, tung, tung.
And Anila's concise header that only changed direction shook the goal net as the goalkeeper couldn't react. Anila saw the ball rolling on the goalpost, then flipped her top over her face and started running around with both arms spread.
'……Everything inside is visible.'
Of course, inside the clothes, she was wearing a GPS-equipped tank top or sports bra to know the player's activity level or heart rate, but since it wasn't a beach and I saw such a scene on the soccer field, it was unavoidable that it looked a bit erotic.
Since I approached such Anila in that state, I waited for Anila to calm down, and when she lowered her top and returned to our field, I approached her and congratulated her.
“Anila, the goal was cool.”
“Ryu! It was a fantastic pass!”
“Eh, Anila did a good header.”
“Ku, scoring the season's first goal here. Ryu, it's all thanks to you!”
“Ah, it was the season's first goal? Somehow…. Congrats on your first goal, Anila.”
She seemed happy as if she scored a comeback goal….
Ah, was it a comeback goal? Now our goal difference is 2:2. And since we scored one goal in the away match, if the match ends like this, the team that would get the quarterfinal ticket would be us.
Looking at the scoreboard, the time was barely passing the 4th minute of the first half.
'Now, 4th minute of the first half…. Are they preparing an attacking tactic? I'm curious how they'll come out.'
I was a bit curious what tactic Chelsea would bring out after the early comeback goal.
…Well, the more aggressively the opponent comes out, the more advantageous it is for us.