Generation Change. (2)
On the first day back from vacation, the one who greeted me first was Camila, with her bright smile as always. Even though we lost to Real Madrid, the atmosphere wasn't bad, which is so Camila?
“Ha-neul! How was your vacation? I missed you for a month! I kept up with the games. Ah! And congratulations on the win! Yuri did well too.”
“Well, not bad? I also drove a bit.”
“Drove? Did you get your license?”
“Do you have to have a license to drive?”
“...Be careful so you don't get caught.”
“I'll give you a ride sometime.”
“...No need.”
While talking to Camila, Valentina's expression, which had come by then, was full of dissatisfaction, looking utterly unlikeable. But compared to that, Camila's always bright face was better. ...Well, even that kind of look is pretty, so it was annoying.
“What are you looking at?”
“Sigh... You're the same as always.”
“Then, because we lost to those white-haired kids, should we be smiling and going around?”
“Eh? Tina! Are you shooting me down right now?”
“Shooting down what? Why are you hurt?”
“Hurt what! I played well!”
“If you played as well as Ha-neul, we would have won.”
“Tsk... Then you sat on the bench and didn't come out!”
Seeing the two bickering, now that we've returned to La Masia's dormitory, it really feels real. Well, Bruna is probably kicking a ball somewhere.
“By the way, how's the team atmosphere?”
“Atmosphere? ...A bit gloomy. Probably because Lucia has been a bit out of form lately.”
Sigh... Is it unavoidable?
Actually, Lucia, despite her playful personality, was a player who had a big influence on the teammates naturally. First, two Ballon d'Ors, and the central player who led Barcelona's golden era recently.
But she enjoyed low jokes, lacked dignity, and thanks to her bright personality, she was a star who was close to all players, and even acted as the locker room atmosphere maker.
A player like that has been out of form in recent games, and lost to their rival Real Madrid because of her own mistakes...
“Still, it's not that serious. We have to win again. Also, Ha-neul is back, so...”
“Camilla. It's not because you couldn't support that Lucia is out of form. It would have been different if it was with Ha-neul.”
“Ah, shut up!”
Camila's rare profanity makes Valentina smile. But since Camila cursed, it seems she was a bit stressed by playing the game instead of me.
“Camilla is doing well?”
“...Really? Did you watch our game?”
“Of course I did.”
To cheer up such Camila, I praised her, and Camila smiled brightly like a retriever again.
Actually, when I wasn't there, Camila's play in my position wasn't that bad. Apart from other things, the passes she gave were similar to mine. The only thing was that without experience, the control was a bit lacking.
“...If I think that way, Tina's words seem right? Because she missed passes more than me, Lucia was burdened a lot? Then, the games where Camila played as false nine and Valentina as central mid, we won all of them. Even though it was against a weak team...”
...It felt like I was getting close to a fragment of truth, but seeing Camila's smiling face, I didn't want to bring out my guess out loud.
Anyway, while talking to the kids, Bruna, who had come in with a ball tucked under her arm and sweating, entered the dormitory.
“Ha-neul! You're back?”
“Oh, how was your trip? You came back from away and immediately started kicking the ball?”
“To eat the starting spot, you have to work hard. Albaria is 1987 born and Eloya is 1988, so a chance will come to me too? Seeing Lucia's decline, it seems like in a few years.”
As always, a crazy person about football. Saying this boldly inside the dormitory.
Especially since Lucia, Albaria, Eloya are the core of the team even within Barcelona, Bruna's guts to say such things openly in the dormitory were amazing.
“Sigh... But since everyone is going to school, it's only us here.”
Fortunately, looking around, no one was there, so I secretly let out a sigh of relief.
“Hey, hey. Who would listen.”
And unlike me, Camila reacted strongly.
“Can't a pro say something like this? In two years, I'll take everyone down and I'll get the Ballon d'Or.”
Bruna smiled with a grin and hit her chest with her fist at Camila's reaction.
“Yeah, a football player needs this much ambition.”
Bruna's words could be seen as lacking respect for seniors, but she was more of a football player than anyone. After all, all starters are players who stepped on someone and rose to that position. There was no player in the world who started as a starter from the beginning of their career.
Even me, under the Diana system, I stepped up as a starter by beating Arnal, and even that message was after competing with Larsson, Giolli and other prominent players at the time to take my place.
But there was one thing that couldn't be overlooked in Bruna's words.
“That might be difficult?”
“Eh? Hmm? Two years seems enough.”
“No, not that.”
“Then...”
“The Ballon d'Or. From now on, I won't miss even one.”
“...Yeah, let's see who takes it first.”
Bruna's expression hardened slightly while saying that. No matter how tough Bruna was, it seemed she thought it was not easy to get the Ballon d'Or in competition with me.
“Ah!”
At that moment, Bruna clapped her hands and laughed.
“Why?”
“World Cup, I'll take it then. Honestly, Korea is hard to win, right? Wow, honestly, if I went to Spain, I wouldn't be able to take it at all, but during the World Cup season, I'll take it.”
A cowardly country born!
“...We are good at football too! In last year's World Cup, Spain was eliminated in the round of 16 and we were in the quarterfinals! Eh? Thinking about it, you guys also didn't fall in the quarterfinals, did you?”
“......”
Bruna closed her mouth at my words, but now her mouth opened from elsewhere.
“Ha-neul. There's something hard to hear? Round of 16?”
Camila, who was smiling but had sharp eyes, and Valentina staring at me silently without a word.
“What to do. It's a fact that Spain can't play football?”
I was being proud. Why? Because South Korea is an Asian Cup winner and a football powerhouse among only 8 countries in the world that reached the World Cup quarterfinals.
But I was forgetting that this is Spain, and even more so in Barcelona, where crazy people gather in the La Masia dormitory for football.
“Eh?! Eh?! Wait! Wait!”
Valentina, who is about 10cm taller than me, approached silently. And she wrapped my head with her arm.
“Tina! Hey! Hey! Valentina!”
And the merciless arm tightening my head from Valentina. While being surprised by the huge power from the head, the soft touch from the cheeks, and the feeling, Valentina added strength to her arm.
“Aaaak!”
I tried to push Valentina away, but since Valentina, who doesn't give in in wrestling even to 2m giants, wouldn't yield to my strength.
“Spain?”
“...The world's strongest!”
“Honestly, if it weren't for the Russians' mistake, you would admit that we advanced, right?”
“O-of course! Aaaak! So, let my head go!”
So, I made a humiliating surrender and got out of Valentina's headlock. To take revenge, I kicked Valentina's butt, but Valentina just ignored me by scratching her ear with her little finger.
Annoyed by that, I kicked Valentina's butt again, but Valentina just smiled as if satisfied.
“Ha-neul, are you okay?”
“...Yeah.”
...Because of the lingering touch on the cheek longer than the pain in the head, it was a bit hard to move, but I was really okay.
*
“Then today's starting lineup. Goalkeeper: Maximilena, three-back: Narcis, Tiana, Anila. Above that Camila...”
When Angela called Camila's name, the players' gazes turned to Camila.
There was a 4-day rest after the cup, and even though it was an away game against a strong team in the league, Atletico Madrid, the name that should be called for Lucia was called Camila, so the other players seemed surprised.
Although Camila's performance was better than Lucia's lately, the training showed similar, and since I returned, there was a possibility that Lucia's form would rise, so I couldn't help but be a bit surprised that I thought Lucia wouldn't start until today.
But Angela continued calling the starting lineup without caring about the players' gazes.
“...Yelena and Lorenza for central midfield, and Ha-neul for attacking midfield. Above that, three tops from left: Eloya, Bruna, Arnal.”
Apart from that, Albaria was absent, but since Albaria complained of slight muscle pain, it wasn't that surprising.
“But seeing Bruna come in instead of Albaria, it seems Bruna has definitely become the rotation number 1. Then, is Albaria coming in instead of Bruna our best lineup?”
Since we had to remove Lucia for the Atletico Madrid away, probably Albaria alone is our best lineup now.
I felt that Lucia's era was ending, but hearing it directly from Angela's mouth made my heart sink a bit.
Lucia was a style that told a lot of low jokes, but still, when I first joined the first team, she took care of me a lot.
“Sir Ryu. Then, please do well in this game too.”
“So, it's not like that article, right.”
After the lineup announcement, Lucia joked to me with a smile. Probably she realized herself that she was gradually being pushed out of the starting spot, and seeing her like this, it felt even more lonely.
But I didn't want to see Camila pushed back as a candidate either, so my heart was complicated.
But, the ball is the ball, and living is living.
The one who plays better on the ground is correct. Moreover, if Lucia knew that I was giving her such awkward sympathy, she would get angry for sure.
“...I'll do my best for Lucia's share too.”
“Eh, if anyone sees, they'll think I'm retiring. It's just a short break, a short break.”
“Really? Camilla won't be easy either, right?”
“Who is aiming for Camila's spot? The spot I'm aiming for is the attacking midfield spot. Third Ballon d'Or, I'm going to get it.”
“I’ll be looking forward to it. Lucia.”
I smiled faintly at the joke that didn't seem sincere to anyone. And at my appearance, Lucia patted my shoulder. Unlike the previous joke, it seemed to contain Lucia's sincerity in that touch, so my heart was a bit moved.
The way to repay Lucia's sincerity is just to lead Barcelona so that the pushed-out Lucia doesn't worry.
I looked at Lucia with a strange expression while patting my shoulder and smiled brightly.