Champions League Final: Ryu Ha-neul's Opening Strike
Hello, dear viewers! The festival of footballers around the world! The Champions League final is being held at this Estadio Metropolitano!
Wow, how many fans have been waiting for this match? Barcelona and Manchester City. In fact, these two teams are teams that utilize passing football, or what they call Tiki-taka. The coach of Barcelona, Angela, is evaluated as a disciple of Maria, the creator of La Masia, and is praised as the coach who best implements total football and Tiki-taka using Maria's style.
That's right.
And the coach Florence is evaluated as the one who completed the Tiki-taka tactic. Among the great coaches who led Spain's three consecutive major league championships, he's a master among masters. In the EPL where straight football is played, he incorporated passing football and achieved two consecutive league championships, and this season he's aiming for a treble by winning in the cup and league competitions.
In a way, it could be seen as a battle between god and devil.
Yes. The modified three-back Angela and the orthodox Tiki-taka Florence. The football war that these two masters are waging. Just thinking about it makes the hearts of football fans race.
How do you feel about it, commentator?
Actually, I think the strengths and performances of the two teams are pretty similar. But where are we? This is the home ground of Atletico Madrid, Estadio Metropolitano. It's a match held in Spain, after all. I wonder if Barcelona will be able to show their power in the Champions League final held in Spain, and that difference will decide the match.
But this is Madrid, you know. There are probably Madrid fans who hate Barcelona, right? How do you feel about that?
That's another interesting point. This is Spain. Although it's the home country of Barcelona, because of the special nature of Madrid, it's not a complete home ground, right? Will Manchester City win despite the pressure of Spain, or will Barcelona win despite the pressure of Madrid? I think that point will be an important viewing point for this match.
Then, now I'll introduce Barcelona's player lineup. Goalkeeper: Maximilena, defenders: Ahila, Tiana, Narcis. Defensive midfielder: Camila. Midfielders: Yelena and Lorenza. Attacking midfielder: Ryu Ha-neul. Striker line: Eloya, Arnal, Albaria.
It's noticeable that Barcelona's player Camila entered as defensive midfielder. Since the second half, she has taken the starting spot instead of Lucia. Overall, the core of Barcelona is Ryu Ha-neul. It's important how Ryu Ha-neul performs.
Then, now Manchester City's starting lineup. Goalkeeper: Maddy, defense line: ……
‘Um... This is quite far, isn't it?’
When I entered the stadium and looked around at the stands, as expected for a final held in Spain, almost all the fans were wearing red and blue striped uniforms. In other words, the atmosphere of the stadium was ours.
Well, although I didn't have high expectations because the referee was known to be fair, just the boos from 50,000 to 60,000 people were enough to make the opposing players tense, so it wasn't bad. And next to me was one person who was tense.
Unfortunately, it wasn't the opposing player.
“Are you very nervous?”
How tense he was, the vibration from the hand holding the escort kid's hand.
“Yeah... Ha-neul, please win this.”
I thought he was one of the kids brought from near Madrid, but since he was cheering for us and had a Catalan accent mixed in, he was probably a Barcelona fan girl.
“What's your name?”
“Matilla yo.”
“Right. Matilla. Keep cheering for us so we can win.”
“Yeah!”
On the gentle words, the escort kid answered with sparkling eyes. It was touching to the point of overflowing, that in this moment that only happens once in a lifetime, I said such words. Probably, with just this one word, this kid will become my fan for life.
‘Then, let's focus now.’
Watching the young fan was always pleasant, but now it was time to focus on the match.
With the pre-match events done appropriately, time passed quickly, and before I knew it, the match was about to start.
The most important thing on such a big stage is to seize the initiative. And the time when the match starts and ends is when the players' concentration is the lowest.
Whistle - Thud!
With the whistle, the attack started with Manchester City's kick-off. And Manchester City, as expected, pulled the ball back and lured us into their own field. We, to pressure such Manchester City, entered their field and started positioning ourselves.
Actually, up to this point, it was like the opening move in Go.
I didn't know much about Go, but in Go, the first few moves are fixed, like if the opponent does this, react like this, and in football too, the team that starts the match lures the opposing players and then passes in their own field before slowly advancing the line is the standard.
And these standards don't change much for each team, so they are passed on to the players through countless match analyses.
For example, Manchester City, in this situation, to lure the opposing players as much as possible and secure space for build-up, after passing the ball to the goalkeeper, they start build-up from the goalkeeper, who can see the most players, slowly.
Since the opposing goalkeeper, Maddy, was a player confident in build-up, it was a choice that could be made?
And normally, in such situations, we would have the striker Arnal press the goalkeeper and center-backs. The direction of the press would be towards the center-back who doesn't pass much, and to prepare for any situation, we would deliberately leave open the one with poor footwork among the center-backs.
This time, the one we left open was not the center-back with good footwork, Sophia, but the England national team center-back Paisley, who is a traditional English center-back with good defensive ability and aerial ball contest, so his technical skills weren't outstanding, and we had agreed to lure Maddy's pass to Paisley.
In that situation, my position was pressing Alejandra, the defensive midfielder of the opponents.
Alejandra was a player with decent tackle and pass ability, as she was a young Spanish national team defensive midfielder who had risen to prominence in her early 20s after Lucia retired from the national team.
Since it's a passing football team, Manchester City mostly starts build-up from Alejandra.
So, normally, my position should be pressing Alejandra.
But I moved away from Alejandra and slowly moved towards the center-back from between the defensive midfielder and center-back. Few people noticed my movement.
The reason was simple. After the match started, concentration hadn't risen yet, and since my role in defense wasn't that big, the Manchester City players knew it.
No matter how much I trained my stamina from when I was young, the difference between men and women was huge, and I couldn't run around the field for 90 minutes at the female level.
If I played like that for the entire match, I would have been exhausted after just the first half.
But I reduced the stamina burden in defense. The way I maintained stamina so far was not running much in defense, and when defending, I was like just filling the position.
That's how much, when Arnal came down below me to defend, I was near the central line.
And Angela understood my play. No, she understood it so much that she even recommended it. Because she didn't want me, who had used up my stamina running in defense, to interfere with the attack.
If we had analyzed our match a little, Manchester City wouldn't have missed that fact, and as a result, in their minds, I was erased.
A perfect opportunity that came from various situations overlapping.
Alejandra passed the ball to Sophia. Sophia, reacting to the approaching Arnal, passed to Maddy.
At that moment, my position was a bit closer to Paisley than Alejandra.
And at that moment, like all top goalkeepers who can build up, Maddy was watching the situation while holding the ball.
If Arnal comes to press me, whether I dodge Arnal coming at me or stall for time a little, either way, the center-backs who are free from Arnal's press would build up, so Maddy's choice was natural and standard.
And Arnal naturally ran to press Maddy.
At that moment, I also ran towards Paisley.
Maddy's gaze was towards Arnal. Paisley, in this situation, naturally knew that he would receive the ball, so he turned his body and gaze towards Maddy to receive the ball from Maddy.
“Hey! Watch out!”
“Paisley!”
“Maddy!”
And the other Manchester City players, excluding Maddy who was being pressed by Arnal and Paisley who was looking at Maddy, shouted loudly. But that voice was buried in the voices of fans singing Barcelona's cheering song in large voices, since the match hadn't started long ago.
Thud.
After Maddy peeled Arnal with a simple feint, Maddy and the eyes that met while Maddy was about to pass to Paisley met. His face clearly showed panic, but it was already too late to reverse. Because his foot was already too close to the ball.
“Watch out!”
Maddy shouted loudly and passed the ball to Paisley. And at the moment the ball left his foot, I ran and attempted a sliding tackle towards Paisley.
I don't remember how many matches ago it was since I last did a sliding tackle, but the sensation of the grass and skin rubbing was extremely familiar. It was daily when I was playing as a midfielder.
Paisley, who was looking at his own goal, twisted his body towards Sophia.
That choice was the best choice Paisley could make when he heard Maddy tell him to be careful. The Champions League final stage, concentration not yet up, and decisively, Paisley didn't know that I was approaching him.
So, when he heard to be careful, Paisley had no choice but to make the most familiar choice. In Paisley's mind, Alejandra was marked by me, and Sophia seen with eyes was empty because Arnal was pressing the goalkeeper.
But the best choice doesn't always lead to the best result.
...Just like now.
“Hah!”
Paisley, who finally noticed me sliding in with the sliding tackle, panicked and tried to kick the ball. But my foot had already touched the ball, and I used the sliding rebound to grab the ball and stand up with my body.
The movements practiced countless times since youth were still perfect. Thinking about the differences from then, back then I passed to teammates after standing up, but now, in front of me is not a teammate but the goal?
“Ah, no!”
‘It’s...!’
Thud.
After standing up, I kicked the ball and ran forward, leaving Paisley's cry behind.
Now in front of me were only the goalkeeper and the goal.
“Aaaaaaaa!!!”
Maddy, panicked, shouted and ran forward. He was one of the best goalkeepers of the era who led France's World Cup win, but in the end, he was human.
In the situation where a goal seemed likely in just 2 minutes since the Champions League final started, no one could maintain composure, and the distance between him and the goal widened.
...And that distance was exactly the distance I liked.
Thud.
The ball lightly lifted with the instep drew a beautiful arc and went over Maddy. And the bouncing ball settled into the goal net without crossing the goal line.
Waaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!
I wanted to enjoy the thrill of the beautiful trajectory practiced thousands of times, but the fans' cheers woke me up.
‘Then, I have to do it.’
I raised my hand above my head, spread my arms, and ran towards the fans while spinning. And jumping high, I shouted in a loud voice.
“Riiiuuuuuu!!!!”