vs FC Barcelona (2)
Barcelona, having scored once, seemed to catch the current of the match and poured on the pressure without pause.
[A clean link-up finds Touré up front!! Touré strikes!! Whoooosh!!]
The early dominance Arsenal had enjoyed might as well have been a lie. Barcelona’s perfect tiki-taka carved out razor-sharp attacking points one after another.
[Arsenal’s guardian angel, Adrian, with a spectacular save!! He pulls the team out of danger!!]
[Ah—look at that face. He looks like a man who just came back from the dead!]
[Arsenal goal kick. Looking at the flow so far, every pass toward the front line keeps getting cut out. They have to be careful of that.]
[Exactly. Flick’s been surgically killing the striker right now.]
Arsenal’s attackers could do nothing under Barcelona’s press. The Catalans’ superior organization snuffed out the ball before it could settle, then used short passes to escape the pressure, making both attack and defense a nightmare.
[Arsenal look completely stifled. Is this really the Camp Nou they call the graveyard of away teams?]
[Ah—there’s Manager Alexandro caught on the broadcast camera.]
Alexandro, framed by the lens, still wore a blank, unbothered expression.
[Wonder if we’ll see any changes.]
[Goal kick for Arsenal. Adrian plays it short.]
Goalkeeper Adrian rolled the ball to the nearest man—Wright.
[Immediate pressure. Wright has the ball at his feet—he has to decide fast!]
[Pass toward Hong Seoin!! Clean turn, and it finds Baek Yujin dropping deep!!]
The moment Arsenal began their attack, a wave of boos erupted from the home crowd.
[The jeers are deafening. But Baek Yujin doesn’t flinch—he keeps dribbling.]
Baek Yujin drove into the open space in midfield.
[This isn’t the kind of player who gets rattled by that. As you all know, his mentality is ironclad!]
[Exactly! The guy who never changes expression no matter who curses him!!]
The center-back, risking a reverse step if he closed too soon, marked Simon running alongside instead. The midfielder couldn’t catch Yujin once he had accelerated.
[Edge of the box!! Baek Yujin slows down!!]
Yujin suddenly killed his speed, slipped an outside-of-the-foot pass to Hong Seoin, then burst between the defenders.
The half-space between full-back and center-back.
Hong Seoin saw the lane Yujin wanted and laid the ball perfectly—weight and pace exact—onto his foot.
[Hong Seoin!!! Picture-perfect pass!!]
[How did they even see that lane!! Incredible!! And Baek Yujin’s first-time pass!! Ahhh!! The goal is empty!!]
The pass kissed the diving keeper’s glove and the stretching defender’s boot before reaching Simon’s foot.
[GOOOOOAL!!! Arsenal!! They don’t disappoint—beautiful build-up and they score!!]
[All three of them saw that lane!! Absolutely brilliant!!]
While Arsenal fans roared, Barcelona’s attack rolled straight back.
[Seong Yumin’s cross!! Dead on Touré’s head!!]
[Adrian’s punch!! Second ball spills out!!]
The loose second ball.
Gabriel, the midfielder standing just outside the box, unleashed a thunderous rocket of a shot.
[Unbelievable!! Adrian!! He stopped that!!]
[Back-to-back saves! He’s in ridiculous form today!]
One-all.
As the first half wound down, Arsenal and Barcelona hammered each other’s goals without mercy.
[Hong Seoin receives Baek Yujin’s pass and fires from distance!! Whoooosh!! Ahhh!! Barcelona aren’t going down easy either!]
[Clean cut-back!! Touré hits it first time, whoooosh!! Ah!! Adrian!! Adrian again!]
[He’s a literal god today! A god!]
[Baek Yujin bursting into the opposite half-space!! The pass is played!! Defender closes immediately!!]
[Baek Yujin!!! Outside touch puts the defender on the wrong foot!! Follow-up from a tight angle!! Ah—too narrow. Unlucky.]
[Then Davis’s pass into the center!! Gabriel, already reading the lane, clears it first!!]
Gabriel booted away Davis’s cut-back and the referee blew the whistle.
[Ahh, first half over.]
[Whistle blows and the first half ends! See you after the break.]
A few short words were exchanged at half-time, then the second half kicked off at once.
Neither side changed tactics much; wave after wave of attacks crashed back and forth. Pass counts spiked, and the rate of killer-ball attempts rose with them.
Ten minutes into the second half, Barcelona still pressing, Hong Seoin’s killer pass sliced between the Barcelona defenders and found Simon’s feet.
A perfect one-on-one.
Yet Simon, uncharacteristically, missed.
Jeers and cheers exploded together as if mocking the chance that might never come again, and the ball immediately found Seong Yumin on the opposite flank.
[Counter-attack!! Seong Yumin is flying!! He’s fast!!]
The speed that usually hid behind his flashy dribbling was fully on display.
[Seong Yumin!! Beats the defender and lifts it into space!! Touré is making the run through the middle!!]
Using pure pace to enter the final third, he trusted Touré’s speed and whipped in a low, early cross. It slipped past Wright’s outstretched boot; Touré, arriving late, slid and smashed the net.
[Touré!! Blistering pace creates the goal!!]
Two-one down.
Arsenal stayed calm and pushed even harder to stay in the fight. They played without mistakes even under the endless Camp Nou boos—until the fortieth minute of the second half.
Instead of scoring, they conceded again.
To Touré’s monstrous driving run.
[Touré!! What is this speed!! He’s matching Pierre, rated the fastest of this generation!!]
[Barcelona drive in the dagger!! Still more than five minutes left!]
With so little time left, players began to give up one by one.
“Ddolgaeng-is! It’s not over yet!”
Hong Seoin, half pride and half steel, refused to quit. He was so urgent he shouted in Korean.
“Focus!”
Even Baek Yujin’s normally quiet voice rang across the pitch; the players found their fighting spirit again and locked in.
“Arsenal! Arsenal!”
The faint sound of the Arsenal fans’ chant rose, and strength that hadn’t been there before flooded back.
Davis, who had looked completely spent, still overlapped and whipped in a cross. Simon, desperate to erase his earlier miss, met it with a spectacular volley that bulged the net.
“We can do this!”
But only three minutes remained.
Time enough for Barcelona simply to keep the ball and run out the clock.
Arsenal kept running anyway.
They refused to stop.
“The famous old Arsenal! We’re proud to call that name!”
Players and supporters became one. Dopamine kept climbing; no one even registered when the match might end.
Hong Seoin won the ball. He switched it wide to the right flank where legs still had something left, then immediately crashed into the box himself. The man who had been dictating tempo and build-up now received the cut-back and struck.
The keeper parried. Gabriel cleared in a flash.
The referee, ready to blow for full time, saw the ball looping short and hesitated for a split second.
The half-cleared ball dropped to Baek Yujin standing outside the box.
In that tiny window while the referee’s mind raced through a thousand calculations, Yujin chested the ball down, saw Gabriel charging, and flicked a sombrero over the midfielder’s head.
Gabriel could only stare blankly as the ball sailed over him. Chance created, Yujin swung his right foot at once.
The shot, too quick for the keeper even to react, buried itself in the corner.
“…”
“…”
For the briefest instant, Camp Nou fell into absolute silence.
Peeeeep—!
The referee, whistle still in his mouth, stared in shock and pointed to the center circle.
“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!”
Having scored the dramatic equalizer, Baek Yujin sprinted to the corner flag and celebrated right in front of the fans.
Eyes closed, left index finger gently pressed to his lips, right hand cupped lightly to his ear.
A ceremony that asked Camp Nou to stay quiet forever, that said he would listen only to the Arsenal fans chanting his name.
“Yujin! Yujin! Yujin!”
“Our savior!”
“The messiah has appeared!”
“Arsenal’s young hero! He’s come to deliver us!”
A memory he would never forget for the rest of his life.