Revelation
“...Ugh, I'm shaking. We're going to advance, right?”
Sitting next to me, Camila said with a trembling body, looking tense. Man, she's too worried.
“We won 4:1 in the first match, what kind of obvious words are you saying.”
“That's right? Ugh... I wanted to play too...”
“Still, thanks to you, we're playing away in the league. You scored a goal in the last match too.”
“Hehe, that's good. So next match, we're playing together?”
To ease her anxiety, I replied, and Camila answered with a bright smile as always.
“Camila, as a pro, you should think that you want to play on that stage. Why are you happy about playing with me.”
Camila was a bright personality, great at soccer, and a great friend, but this point was a bit regrettable. As a pro, maybe her ambition was slightly lacking?
Well, she was always smiling with hehe, but if she could get over that wall, she could become a real world-class midfielder, so as a teammate, it was a bit regrettable.
Even without that, if she matured a bit and physically completed, the probability of becoming that high was high, but personally, I wanted her to rise to the level where she could compete for the starting spot quickly.
Except for Lucia, Camila had the best chemistry with me.
Currently, the team's starting midfielder Yelena or Lorenza were both pretty good at soccer, but Yelena was a box-to-box type with good physicality, stamina, and passing, but she had a tight feeling, so she was a player who needed a lot of hands.
And Lorenza liked to play aggressive, more like distributing kill passes rather than feeling like she was creating the game. Thanks to Lorenza's passes, we scored some goals, but if the timing wasn't perfect, my running speed often couldn't follow Lorenza's passes, so I was often anxious.
Lucia, who came out as a defensive midfielder, was doing that role, but it couldn't be the same as the midfielder in the center of the field coordinating.
But Camila was specialized in that game coordination. And when she needed to poke, she poked accurately.
...Moreover, playing with friends was fun. If the skills were similar, it was the human heart to want to play with a close person?
Honestly, in my previous life, I had moved teams around, so there were almost no close people, and in Real Madrid where I spent about 5 years, my status was so high that it felt like playing with underlings rather than friends, so this experience was almost the first time.
‘Sigh... I hope other kids come up to the first team too...’
And it wasn't bad to have this experience to the point where I thought other friends should come up to the first team.
By the way, if Valentina, who could handle center back, could come up to the first team anytime, but Yu-ri and Bruna had to break through the wingers guarded by Albaria and Eloya, so it would take about 2-3 years to play together.
‘Yu-ri will take a bit longer? La Liga is the problem. Is Spain not withdrawing from the EU?’
While thinking about other friends, Camila spoke again.
“But, is that good?”
As always, she didn't seem to know what I was thinking. How was she going to live with no sense of this? It was okay now because she's young, but later if she got entangled with some strange man, her player life might be ruined, so I was worried about that.
Even if I was praised as the best talent as a child, if I met the wrong girlfriend, there were many players whose lives got twisted, so I couldn't help but worry.
Moreover, Camila was quite popular with boys when she was in school, and with her attractive appearance with healthy athletic girl vibe and innocent looking face, it wouldn't be strange if scammers got entangled.
“Sigh, what should I do with you...”
“Do I need to do anything? I'm good like this.”
“...It's a problem, it's a problem.”
“Eh, the match starts.”
As Camila said, the Champions League theme song that boasts grandeur in this world too rang out. At that time, a mocking sound came from beside me.
The owner of that mocking sound was Lucia, who had rested today after playing two consecutive matches like me.
“Why are you mocking?”
There were quite a few seats provided by the club, so there were other seats, but it didn't sit well with me that she sat next to me and mocked me, so I spoke strongly.
“Haha, I'm not mocking, it's because you're cute, cute.”
And the reply that came back made me more irritated, and I shot back at Lucia again. I didn't do this to other teammates, but Lucia had some unique irritability?
“...Yeah, it's not strange since there's only one of us here.”
“...It's not that much. If it was around 10 years old, maybe. If I wasn't a soccer player, I could have gotten pregnant right away. Ryu, is there no good man around?”
“...”
It was the usual joke, but since it seemed like she was digging into my birth secret, it was irritating. It was a problem I thought I had overcome, but sometimes when it came in like this, I couldn't help but feel bad.
Because of such vain thoughts, I remembered the time wasted and felt sorry to my parents.
“Lucia! We didn't forget that we're 16 years old, right?”
“Oh, sorry. I must have blanked out. Still, there must be adult men among the ones you know, right?”
“Lucia!”
Instead of me, who was slightly depressed, Camila raised her voice. And, taking the moment Lucia gave a shy smile, she whispered to me.
“Ha-neul, did you get upset?”
Even though 10 years of friendship wasn't in vain, Camila immediately asked about my mood. Just as I could sense Camila's mood, Camila had noticed my state.
“...Not that.”
“No, you seemed like that. Otherwise, it's fortunate.”
Hearing Camila's words, I felt a bit better. Moreover, as a Barcelona fan, Camila, who was like a fanatic for Lucia, raised her voice, which was quite impressive.
So, is this friendship? Thanks to having such friends, it must be because my parents gave birth to me. After today's match, I probably need to call my father.
“What are you two whispering about? Are you two dating? Kids, at an age to focus on soccer, are doing romance.”
“N-no, that's not it!”
“Why are you so flustered? Are you really dating? Ehehe, I like this a lot.”
“No, I said. Camila, don't react to that person either.”
“U, uh...”
Anyway, Lucia was too naive for a world-class player. And, perhaps trying to turn on the prank again because of that naivety, she opened her mouth with a mischievous expression. No, she opened it.
But at that moment, the cheers from the stadium began to grow.
-Ooh!!
Quickly turning my gaze inside the stadium, it was Charles, the Munich winger, starting to break in from the left.
And in that scene, we, as soccer players, focused on the match without saying a word.
‘In the first match, he kept crossing like he was mesmerized by something, but today he's trying to break through with dribbling.’
But, we weren't a team that would be broken through in one go just because we were doing dribbling instead of crossing. Amira, who came to cover immediately, successfully tried an accurate tackle inside the penalty box and sent the ball out of the goal line.
‘Idiots, you should have aimed for the cross today. That's that, and Amira's defense is really good.’
While admiring Amira's defense for a moment, a corner kick from Munich hit Sophie's head and went towards the goalpost.
“Eh?! Eh!”
Maximilena successfully deflected the ball with animal-like reflexes, but the landing position wasn't great.
-Waaaaaaa!!!!!
The huge cheer echoing the Allianz Arena... The ball blocked by Maximilena fell in front of Munich's striker Hanna, and no matter how great a goalkeeper, she couldn't stop the shot in that situation.
‘...Sigh, first goal in 3 minutes? This is a bit.’
A strong feeling swept through my body.
“...Haha, you were eaten too fast. Still, you won't lose 3:0, right?”
“Hahaha, r-right? What do you think, Ha-neul?”
“...Won't lose 3:0. Even if we concede 4 goals, as long as we score 1, we advance.”
“Ha, haha, let's look at it comfortably, comfortably.”
Lucia and Camila also seemed to feel the strong feeling, their faces showed panic. But no matter what, losing 3:0 was not a reasonable thing.
And fortunately, the first half ended 1:0. Although Munich's attack was fierce, thanks to forming a lineup that emphasized defense, we successfully blocked Munich's onslaught.
“Sigh...”
“Wow, when we conceded the first goal, I was really shocked, but it's good.”
“Yeah, the Munich guys seem to be in a hurry too. Seeing them shoot without checking angles every time a chance comes.”
“If it was us, we would have made it more perfect.”
“Ryu, if you were here, even if losing 3:0, you would have been enough.”
“Honestly, making it step by step is higher probability than just shooting randomly.”
“Did that guy shoot randomly like that in the first match?”
“...There was thinking behind it.”
While exchanging those pleasantries, the second half started. Munich, who took the ball, passed it again to their ace Charles. And Charles attempting to break through.
‘Eh...?’
But this time, instead of digging into the penalty box like in the first half, he chose to cross, and the ball that hit Hanna's head went over the goalpost.
And again, Munich chose cross, and this time Maximilena received the ball.
Two crosses and two headers....
‘This is weird...’
In the first match, crosses that were cut about twice out of three were successful twice this time.
Since it was the same field where we trained, the cross became more precise because the feeling of where to aim and where to go was more accurate, but apart from that, it was being hit too miserably in the air.
No matter how famous the header player Hanna was as a Munich attacker.
‘Sigh...’
Not only me, but the teammates around who felt the strange atmosphere during halftime also closed their mouths. And, in the 8th minute of the second half.
-Waaaaaaa!!!!!
After five crosses, a header shot from Hanna's head split our goal net.
‘...It's surprising that we blocked it until now. Maximilena is really doing well.’
But, I wasn't particularly surprised. Maximilena had been blocking header shots unbelievably well until now, so it wasn't a strange situation even if one or two more goals came in.
And the players of Munich, who raised their momentum, started to push us.
In the meantime, we tried several counterattacks, but since there was only Lorenza, the type of player who would add creativity in the center, we had no choice but to attempt obvious attacks, and with such obvious attacks, we couldn't break inside the goal defended by Lea.
‘Ah, damn! Diena, this idiot. Why did she exclude me and Lucia at the same time from the lineup. No, at least if there was Camila level...!’
It was the right choice to exclude us since it was a match where defense was more important, but since all three of us were not on the ground, the attack felt frustrating. Even with Diena's coaching, she tried to bring in Routina to score one and take the game easily, but it was impossible for Routina, a candidate player, to break through Munich's thick defense players.
So, in a precarious situation, time passed.
We, looking at that precarious performance, were grateful that we didn't concede anymore, and before we knew it, the time was 2 minutes before the end, including injury time.
“Please, please, please.”
Camila's murmured words with earnest heart.
“Camila, there's only 2 minutes left anyway.”
Feeling sorry for her appearance, I held Camila's hand, and the sweat gathered in Camila's hand moistened my hand.
And, at that moment.
Beep—Thud!
At the touchline, the referee's whistle blew as Camila pushed the opposing winger. Camila's hand clenched tightly, her hand slightly hurting. But I couldn't say anything to Camila. The free kick from that position was really dangerous.
And realizing this was the last attack, Lea came into our penalty box.
‘Normally, when the goalkeeper comes out like this, the conclusion is conceding a long shot...’
But, that didn't happen.
-Waaaaaaa!!!!!!
The dramatic incident where Lea, who joined the attack, scored a header shot didn't happen, but Munich's free kick accurately targeted the head of center back Carla, and a clean header burst out that Maximilena had no choice but to watch the trajectory of the header shot.
“Ha-neul.... Did we, did we fall? Sigh.”
“Camila...”
Even though I had experienced 5 consecutive Champions League finals, and in Barca and Man U days, I had experienced elimination, it wasn't as painful as Camila crying beside me. Rather, I thought Camila should have burned more fighting spirit in this opportunity.
Whatever, we were still 16 years old, so there was a lot of time left, so experiencing this level of disappointment wasn't a bad experience.
‘Damn, Diena, this idiot.... You should have at least put me as a candidate.’
It was just that I was angry at Diena's stupid player selection. In the first match, I created 4 goals, but no matter how many consecutive matches I played, excluding me from the candidates was a really incomprehensible selection.
At that time, since I was the youngest in the team, I didn't do it because it might not be good for team morale, but if I couldn't prove it with results, this was something that deserved quite a bit of resentment.
“Sigh.... Next year.... Sigh.”
And seeing Lucia sigh, who couldn't promise next year because she was different every year, I got a bit more angry.
‘Sigh, damn.’
While cursing, we, who were excluded from the lineup, returned to the away accommodation first.
Unlike us who watched from outside the stadium, the players who actually played the match needed to recover from the shock of being reversed 4:1 score, so it would take a long time to come to the accommodation.
So, upon arriving at the away accommodation, while waiting for other players to come, the TV that was on showed Diena's shocking interview.
“Eh...? What is this...”
...The experience of the teammates watching the TV together suddenly turning their gaze to me was quite a surprising experience.