The First El Clasico (Part 3)
‘Aigo, looks like she's being carried away. She's old too, why push herself like that.’
After scoring and some commotion, checking the ground, the sight of Paulina being carried away appeared there.
Well, the defenders who were being carried away after trying to stop me were not that surprising, as there was usually one or two per season. It wasn't particularly amazing that they couldn't catch up to me just with their athleticism, and with technique added, it was a natural result, right?
However, it was a bit regrettable that Paulina, who competed at the same speed, was sent off the field, as players who competed with technique rather than speed were easier to handle.
The player who came in to replace Paulina was Eona, a promising centerback from Real Madrid.
Seeing Eona instead of Josephin, who was the starter, it seemed that the rumor about Josephin suffering an injury was true. According to what I heard from the coaching staff, it was a minor injury, but since she didn't come out at all today, it seemed they were saving her for the Munich match.
‘So, they don't care much about cup competitions, huh?’
It slightly stung my pride that they seemed to be ignoring me, but that was just Real Madrid's style, and I had no reason to say anything about it.
More importantly, the problem right now was this guy Eona who came in to replace Paulina. Eona was the type who competed with physicality rather than defensive technique, like young defenders, and there was an evaluation that she was the fastest among centerbacks in La Liga, so I had to be careful.
‘If it weren't for Paulina leaving, I wanted to score 1-2 more goals.’
However, since she had a reputation for being dumb, it didn't seem too difficult to handle if I played well.
With my goal and substitution, the game that had been paused briefly resumed with Real Madrid's kickoff.
And after a quick build-up, Real Madrid's attack was directed towards their main striker, Marisol.
Marisol, with her flashy footwork, peeled off Ten a, and
‘O... Marseille Turn? Did you get stimulated by me? Not bad?’
...shot from a distance.
Thud.
Marisol's shot hit the post and was declared out of bounds.
‘Hey, kick the ball properly, you bastard?’
Real Madrid's attack had been continuously aimed at this guy all day, and it was clear why they were giving the ball to this guy, as if they were playing for a team like Real Madrid...
I had seen this a few times in the media, and it seemed this guy definitely had the ability.
‘Well, she's still young.’
If it were me, I would have immediately passed to an empty teammate in that situation. And that wasn't just in this life; it was the same in my previous life. Well, if it were during my Manchester United days, it would have been different, but with a squad of Real Madrid caliber, the teammates were trustworthy enough.
Especially if the score was 1:0 and we were trailing.
But this guy, being a young player, had a narrow field of vision. Or perhaps even if her vision was wide, she was thinking about solving it herself.
‘Whatever, it's hard to fix that.’
Just watching her run around the field, Marisol was quite a good player. Explosive speed, personal skills that could easily beat one defender, and even though the shot hit the post, if it hadn't, it would have gone in. Thinking about it, this guy had the potential to become the best player of her generation.
It seemed like I was looking at myself from my previous life, purely from a technical perspective? To be precise, it was like looking at my younger self who had just started enjoying personal skills and was devouring the EPL with them.
Of course, my current self had trained for 10 more years, so technically I was better than my prime self.
But even if I say that, even if I was at the level of my younger self, it wouldn't be difficult to aim for the world's best level.
But if I didn't know how to utilize teammates, that was it. I could become the best player of my generation, but it would be difficult to aim for the level of legendary players.
A legendary player is a player who takes the team one step up just by his presence. In my previous life, Pelé, Maradona, Messi... and me, like that.
Players who just score goals were always there, one or two per era.
Well, since Real Madrid had a squad full of world-class players, it wouldn't matter much in club matches, but this guy's nationality was Uruguay. I don't know how well Uruguay in this world does, but from what I know, they need good luck to barely make it to the quarterfinals of the World Cup, and leading a team like that with such a narrow field of vision to higher places would be tough.
Especially because they couldn't lead the build-up as a striker.
‘...Aren't I in a position to talk? Tch, I should have just naturalized in Spain.’
Well, I thought it was tough to lead Korea to high places in the World Cup, so I suddenly thought I wanted to play in Spain, but since I knew it was irreversible, I quickly brushed it off in my head.
‘Well, making it too easy would make it less fun.’
After all, starting from this Copa del Rey, club championships would naturally follow, so winning national competitions wouldn't be bad if I did it a little slowly.
“Ryu!”
And as the first step towards the championship, Lucia's needle-like through ball flew about 40 meters to connect to me.
‘About 3-4 meters?’
Eona, who didn't have great defensive intelligence, had let me slip by going back to match the line, but as a player with good physicality, she quickly came out and closed the distance. It was definitely a pursuit that felt different from Paulina's, with less power.
But it was just that her running speed was fast, and unlike Paulina, as soon as she caught up to me, she immediately stretched her leg towards the ball at my feet.
Thud, thud.
From right foot to left, left to right. Her feet lost their way in the most basic two-footed dribble and she put her hand on the ground.
“Kyuuu!”
The guy who missed the step on the ground spat out a humiliated groan, but since I had no intention of waiting, I ran forward leaving him behind. Well, as a guy who had confidence in his physicality, he almost immediately followed me, but since he had already stopped once, stopping me with a light tackle was nearly impossible.
“Ahak!”
So, the only choice for this guy was one. As Eona's shoulder collided with my body, I deliberately raised my voice and screamed, then rolled on the ground several times. After all, this was the perfect place to return what I've accumulated so far, on a championship stage.
Squeak - Thud!
“Eh?! Is this a card?”
And due to my unusual aggressive action, the referee immediately raised the card.
Honestly, objectively, it was a half-and-half situation that could be seen as a foul or a shoulder fight, but thanks to my habit of jumping up immediately after falling, which had endeared me to the referees, this guy seemed aggrieved.
Of course, if I alone was stopped, it would be a 1:1 situation with the goalkeeper, so if a foul was declared, it was natural to receive a yellow card.
‘So, who pushed like that?’
Anyway, such types usually calmed down after receiving one card, so receiving a card before the first half ended had quite some meaning.
“Ryu, are you okay?”
“Yeah. I was surprised a little when someone came from behind.”
“Anyway, these white guys try to solve it with their bodies when they get unlucky.”
“…Yeah.”
Suddenly grabbing Albariya's hand who had run over, I got up from the ground and checked the distance to the goal. The distance to the goal was about 23 meters. At this distance...
“Ryu, I'll try it.”
...Lucia was in a position where she could threaten the goal at any time.
“Yeah, Lucia. I'll trust you.”
“Haha. You're not putting too much pressure on me, are you? Well, if it's what our youngest wants, I have to do it.”
After laughing once at my words, Lucia changed to a serious expression and looked at the goal. For such Lucia, I made a serious expression too and ran forward, jumping over the ball, and
Boom!
With a cannon-like sound, Lucia immediately shot towards the goal.
‘O...! No spin!’
-Waaaaaaaah!!!!!
Lucia's free kick that fell straight into the goal net, shaking it. And she stood there with arms outstretched waiting for her teammates.
“Wah!! Lucia!”
The hug starting from the closest one, me, lasted about 30 seconds, and after the hug ended, the game resumed with Real Madrid's kickoff again, and due to the 2-point lead, Real Madrid's gap was quite wide.
And we took advantage of that gap to score one more goal through the route connecting Lucia - Ryu - Albariya.
“Ryu! What a fantastic pass!”
“Eh, Albariya kicked it well.”
With this goal, the first half was 3:0. It wasn't a score that suited Real Madrid, but if the balance broke in El Clasico once, such a score difference was routine. Since both teams would be strong teams looking for gaps if they came out aggressively to win anyway.
However, just before the end of the first half, Marisol scored a cool long-range shot to make it 3:1, but in the second half, Real Madrid continued to connect the ball urgently, and whether we snatched the ball and counter-attacked quickly or built up slowly, the aspect of the game didn't change.
And in the 17th minute of the second half.
Squeak - Thud!
The deep tackle by Eona trying to stop my counter-attack, the referee's whistle blew. Unlike the earlier one where I felt wronged, Eona bit her lip as if she had noticed what would happen to her.
-Waaaaaaaah!!!!!
-Uuuuuu!!!
The referee's red card declaration filled the field with jeers and cheers.
‘Bastard, seeing him come in with a deep tackle right after being tackled a few times. You need more practice.’
Athleticism was good, so if I hadn't come in aggressively, it would have been hard to break through, but was it because of her young age?
The face of the guy looking at me with an angry expression and tears was the highlight of this match.
But unfortunately, this free kick missed, and the score remained 3:1. And Real Madrid, thinking they needed to continue attacking to turn it around, substituted a few attackers and midfielders without reinforcing the defense and operated the game aggressively.
Real Madrid's aggressive operation succeeded, and Marisol scored another goal, but after we had already scored two more goals including mine, and at around the 80th minute, when we received the fans' standing ovation and left the field, the score was 5:2, a state where we couldn't be caught even if we wanted to be reversed.
Thus, the Copa del Rey final where my first El Clasico unfolded ended 5:2 without any twists.
“Waaaaaaaah!!!”
“Champions!”
But watching the captain Lucia lift the trophy, a feeling of regret came over me somehow. It was too hollow a victory for the first El Clasico. It was a thought of how it would have been if the full starting lineup had come out.
Was it too big a win to feel the thrill?
‘Next El Clasico is a league match... Then, will we face them with full starting lineup? If they only beat us, it's league champions.’
So, while soothing the regret, when I was about to return to the locker room, someone wearing a windbreaker and holding a crutch approached me.
“…Paulina?”
“You played quite a bit today?”
“Ah... thanks. Are you okay with the injury?”
“Well, I have to get a checkup, but with my age, playing football might be tough?”
“…sorry.”
“No, what are you sorry for. I just pushed myself too hard and got injured.”
“......”
“But don't think this is our lineup. Josephin is a better player than me.”
“…I'll look forward to it.”
“Hahaha, good expression. Sorry to meet so late. I wanted to face you at your peak. Hahaha.”
After laughing a lot at my words of expectation, Paulina patted my back and walked towards the direction where the players were. And there, Marisol's figure staring at me fixedly was seen. In her eyes, it seemed like a flame was flickering.
‘Yeah, it's a pity if it ends like this. See you next time.’
Thus, my first El Clasico ended with a somewhat hollow victory, but it ended with rising expectations for the next El Clasico.