The Missed Pass
"The attacking midfielder for this match is Ha-neul. He's starting again after just three days, but his stamina should be fine?"
"Yes, it's fine."
After the match against Atalanta, three days later. Before the meeting ended, Angela asked me about my body condition, and I nodded confidently and answered.
Since it was a game three days later, and I had won 5:1, I could have started, so when I told my friends I was coming to my accommodation, they all refused. Thanks to that, my condition is quite good now.
Yuri and Valentina also knew about this, so when I refused, they didn't make unreasonable demands, and I was able to maintain my condition.
"Ha-neul. Then let's do well tomorrow."
Camila, the only one from the friends who will start tomorrow, greets me brightly.
'I have to tell Camila how I feel when it's over.'
How will Camila react? Will she be angry like Valentina? Or disappointed like Yuri? But since I have to finish things with Camila quickly to move to the next step, I couldn't delay anymore.
Probably, in the next match, the away game against Atalanta, both me and Camila might take a rest, so it was also timely.
"Yeah, let's do well together."
Of course, before that, I have to cleanly finish tomorrow's Bilbao match.
The team was aiming for an undefeated league win, and among the remaining schedule, except for home games against Atletico Madrid and Villarreal, an undefeated win wasn't even a dream, so I put those thoughts in my head for now.
With that concentration, the next match arrived.
Unlike the last match against us, where Bilbao came out with a three-back, this time they came out with a four-back.
In other league matches, they came out with a three-back to follow us, but it seemed they realized that using a three-back against me was impossible from the previous match.
Of course, my opponent was still stuck in the defensive midfielder position, Maite.
Whistle—bang!
The whistle blows and the match starts with Bilbao's attack.
'Then, shall I check the state a bit?'
I slowly move my steps closer to Maite, Bilbao's defensive midfielder. And his hardened expression is visible. Usually, it didn't show so much on his face, but probably the afterimage of the opening match was deeply embedded in his brain.
But I can't be careless.
Although the expression was hard, the play could also be firm, so I maintained a proper tension in my body.
And a few minutes later,
"Ryu!"
... Tiana's cut ball connects to me, slicing through the ground. Although she was a defender, Tiana's pass, which was like a midfielder, landed softly under my feet, and at that moment, I felt someone pushing my body from behind.
Of course, this level of body struggle was already familiar, so I wouldn't fall.
Thud.
But since I was slightly pushed, I quickly judged that it was better to use other teammates rather than turning immediately. I immediately gave the ball to Lorenzer, escaping Maite's pressure. Lorenzer, who hadn't been able to secure a position until Tiana's pass, but after Tiana gave the pass, Lorenzer secured the position and perfectly received my pass, then gave it to Anila who was overlapping, and moved to another position.
Seeing that movement, I also moved my position, and Anila had four options. Eloya, the right winger in front of her, me in the upper left direction, Lorenzer on the left, and Camila at the bottom left.
Anila, without forcing it, passed to Camila and returned to her position, and from Camila's toes, the real attack began.
Camila, like usual, slowly pulling the line while passing the ball back and forth.
I moved my position around to match Camila, dragging Maite, the marking man.
And our eyes met while passing back and forth. Without saying anything, it felt like we understood each other.
At the moment the ball left Camila's foot, I did a left fake motion, and Maite's center of gravity behind me collapsed. I didn't miss that moment and moved my body to the right where Camila sent the ball.
The perfect killer pass made by Camila's exquisite pass and my fake motion at the end.
And at that moment, I controlled the ball with my heel again, perfectly beating Maite who was trying to follow my movement. And Maite's body collapsed after trying a sharp direction change and then trying to change direction again.
Now, the only thing left was a perfect free situation with no backline.
And according to the situation, I sent a long pass to Alvaria who was trying to go over the offside line between the right fullback and right centerback.
'...Huh?'
But Alvaria couldn't catch up with my pass, and the ball rolling in front of Alvaria went straight out of the goal line.
'What's this? Did I give the pass wrong?'
No matter how much I've been a bit negligent in football lately, to make a pass miss like this...
'What's this? The power was perfect?'
One of the things I had was a few advantages, but among them, one standout advantage was this pass ability. The ability to calculate the receiver's speed accurately and poke a pass that the defender can't catch up to exactly matched it was praised as world-class level, both in the previous life and this life.
But, did I make such a mistake just because I was a bit distracted for 2-3 weeks? I couldn't admit it.
'First, let's focus on the match.'
My mentality was a bit shaken, but it was still during the match.
'Did Alvaria not run to the end?'
Unlike the players on that team who were playing a bit of laziness during the match, our players knew that I was giving passes at my highest speed, so they were running full power to receive my passes, but for now, thinking that Alvaria might not be in good condition, I pushed that thought to the side of my head.
After several exchanges of ball possession, the ball rolled back to me again, and Eloya's figure appeared digging into the offside line. And like before, thinking about Eloya's speed, I sent a pass that only Eloya could receive.
Thud.
And my pass landed exactly on Eloya's leg.
'Hah... Eloya catches it well.'
If Eloya couldn't receive this pass, no matter what, I would have focused only on training to regain the lost sense, but luckily, it seemed I didn't have to.
Bang!
"Good pass. Sorry, sorry."
"It's okay!"
Eloya raises her thumb in apology for missing the chance, and I also raise my thumb and return to my position.
It was just one through pass success, but I was confident. My pass was not wrong. Because I've been doing it for decades, in the early part of the match when my stamina is strong, I wouldn't make such a mistake.
'Did I drink alcohol yesterday? Why didn't she run to the end?'
I had a brief doubt, but for now, I focused again and waited for us to lose the ball. And again, the ball connected to me, and Arnal appeared running near the center line to start a counterattack.
'This time, matching Arnal's speed...!'
And just like proving that I didn't make a mistake, Arnal touched the ball, and Arnal, who created a 1:1 situation with just one touch, swung her leg.
Bang!
Waaaaaaaah!!!!!
With a cheerful sound, the net shook, and the cheers of the fans who followed Bilbao came.
'Hah, for now, it's the first goal. Now, let's check Alvaria's condition.'
Of course, since there was a very slight, 0.001% possibility that I made a mistake, I didn't talk to Alvaria who came near for the ceremony.
And with the referee's whistle, the match continued again, and this time, Alvaria was the one who lost.
Bang!
As soon as I confirmed the fact, I passed to Alvaria like before.
"Ao."
But like before, the pass didn't touch Alvaria's foot and barely missed. Eloya and Arnal received it, but only Alvaria failed to receive it twice in a row? It was almost certain that it was Alvaria's problem.
After confirming the problem, the match continued, and before long, the first half ended.
"Alvaria."
And as soon as the first half ended, I approached Alvaria and asked.
"Eh?"
"Did you drink alcohol yesterday?"
"I'm not a 20-year-old kid, and I wouldn't drink on the day before the match? Isn't this too much pressure because I couldn't receive a pass once?"
"...Really? But it seemed a bit slow."
"Slow? What."
"I ran at full speed, right?"
"Of course. To receive Sir Ryu’s pass, that's basic."
But Alvaria didn't know she didn't drink alcohol, nor that she ran slower than usual.
In other words, Alvaria did her best.
'But she couldn't receive the pass? ...This bastard.'
Thinking about several possibilities quietly, I realized that the problem was more serious than I thought. Normally, if she couldn't recognize it like that, it meant there was a problem with her body.
'...Alvaria was born in 87?'
And when I thought about Alvaria's age, it was likely not an injury.
Alvaria was born in 87. Since her birthday has passed, in this age, she was 33 years old, and in Korean age, 34 years old.
In other words, it was not strange to say that senility had set in.
Now, it was a subtle difference, and since the human body doesn't age that fast, it seemed there wouldn't be a big problem until the end of this season.
But the problem was next season, whether Alvaria's senile body after resting could endure?
Although Yuri's growth rate was quite steep, she wouldn't be able to show the performance of someone like Alvaria, a Ballon d'Or winner. Probably even next year, she would show a similar level of performance to the senile Alvaria. Or perhaps Yuri would show a slightly better level of performance.
And that meant, the power would be weakened.
'For a winger, senility is fatal...'
Well, since Alvaria is also from La Masia, she had basic pass ability, so she could continue her player life as a midfielder, but clearly, her power would be weaker than when she was playing as a winger.
Alvaria should have been able to maintain her current form until the end of the season...
"Why, is there a problem? Why are you staring like that? It makes me uncomfortable."
"No, it's not that. I'll give it a bit slower next time."
"Haha, okay. But, I didn't deliberately give it fast because I didn't like it, right? Did I tease you too much during that time?"
"It's fortunate that you noticed now."
"Ah, sorry. Sir Ryu."
"If you know it's sorry, then stop it."
"I can't do that."
Alvaria laughs "haha" and enters the locker room.
The undefeated league win and the treble. It was a chance that was hard to achieve even once in a lifetime, so I thought that if I missed this opportunity, it would take quite a long time to catch the next one.
'Hah... There are problems with the kids, and I have to fix the results too. It's complicated, complicated.'
Probably, such opportunities wouldn't come easily, so if I confirmed Camila's feelings, it seemed I would have to focus a bit more on football.