Allianz Arena (3)
On the back of Baek Yujin's three consecutive successful tackles and Hong Seoin's roar, Arsenal slowly began clawing back the initiative they had surrendered to Bayern Munich.
Baek Yujin's tackle! He drops deep once more and snuffs out Munich's attack!
What is he, Hong Gildong? Sweeping the entire pitch like that—he doesn't look like a striker at all!
Another successful tackle from Baek Yujin.
Arsenal rode that momentum straight into the attack.
Hong Seoin sticks close! Baek Yujin's pass, Hong Seoin's return! Yujin shrugs Franz off with a single first touch as the pressure closes in!
Yujin keeps running! Options everywhere! Jamal steps into his path—he doesn't force it, lays it off to Davis!
Shielding the ball from the Bayern players swarming around him, Baek Yujin chose not to drive any further forward and instead slipped a pass to Davis, who had already overlapped.
The moment Villa, the full-back, closed him down, Yujin ghosted into the space behind him, out of Villa's sight. Hong Seoin collected Davis's pass and threaded it through first-time.
Baek Yujin's movement is exquisite—he slips the offside trap perfectly! The entire back line is torn open!
Simon in the middle, and Padric waiting on the far side!
Faced with the choice between a cut-back and a cross, Baek Yujin whipped in the cross.
Baek Yujin's left-footed cross picks out Simon's head with pinpoint accuracy!
Simon's header!! Ah—he was so careful about the far corner that it sails wide of the post!
It had been a move that rode the wave of momentum perfectly, yet it failed to produce a goal.
Simon has been making mistakes more often lately! He slams a fist into the turf!
Baek Yujin claps him on the back and pumps him up! This match is heading somewhere no one can predict!
The first half of the fierce back-and-forth between Arsenal and Bayern Munich ended without a goal. After halftime, the second half began.
From the opening whistle, Munich pressed hard. Arsenal lost the ball and were hit on the counter.
Jamal drove forward with the ball.
Before the next pass could be played, I had already mapped out Munich's attacking lanes in my head and stepped in to cut it out.
There's space over there.
The instant I spotted that single pocket of space, Padric was already sprinting into it.
I launched a long ball and tore toward the box myself.
Simon made the first run, dragging the center-backs' eyes with him, while Hong Seoin peeled off to support Padric.
I arrived at the edge of the box and held my position in a tense standoff until Simon darted into the half-space.
A through ball found Simon as he climbed the pitch like a set of stairs; he back-heeled it on, and Padric laid it off to Hong Seoin.
At the same moment, I—who had locked eyes with Seoin before he even received the ball—curled my run behind the midfield line.
Tok!
Hong Seoin chipped a delicate pass that floated over Jamal's head and dropped right in front of me.
One bounce, and I was about to strike—
FWUMP—!
Kim Minjun appeared out of nowhere and scythed the ball clear with something that looked almost like a spinning kick.
The ball vanished from my vision; all I could see was the broad expanse of Minjun's back.
…He actually cleared that.
A hollow laugh escaped me at the sheer absurdity of the clearance.
Was he watching only me the whole time?
That was how sharp his reaction and defensive reading had been.
On the strength of that single stop, Bayern Munich kept their grip on the flow of the match and continued to attack.
Time ticked on through the second half.
The contest between Arsenal and Bayern Munich grew hotter by the minute, yet for all the ferocious attacking, neither side could find the net. Frustration began to mount.
The quiet pressure of failing to score at home started to settle over the stadium. When the ball finally rolled out of play, Munich seized the chance and made several substitutions.
Three players came on at once, and Munich seized control of midfield.
While Arsenal's players dragged their exhausted bodies into the press and the defensive shape—
What did he mean by that?
As Baek Yujin closed him down, Jamal found himself replaying the words Lee Juwon had casually tossed out before the first leg even began.
That he created light.
It niggled at him for no good reason.
Maybe that was why.
For the briefest instant—less than a second—his concentration slipped, and Baek Yujin stripped the ball clean off him.
Arsenal surged forward on the counter. Jamal spun and sprinted back to help the defense.
The ball went to Simon, then back to Baek Yujin.
He switched it straight to the far side.
Davis received it and exploded down the flank, using a sudden burst of pace.
His trapping is his specialty.
Jamal, still marking Yujin, reminded himself of that fact and deliberately engaged him in a physical duel.
If Yujin never received the ball, he couldn't show off that specialty.
Jamal stayed glued to him, making every touch uncomfortable. Even when Yujin dropped deeper to collect possession, Jamal stayed right beside him, denying him a clean first touch.
The counter's tempo naturally died. Arsenal pressed to force a chance on goal; Munich pressed to win the ball back.
Arsenal circulated the ball with composure.
Then, loitering at the edge of the box, Baek Yujin slipped free of Jamal and dropped toward the ball.
Jamal tracked him, unsure what the boy intended, trying to keep a measured distance—only for that distance to feel so awkward that he simply decided to stick tight.
What is he trying to do?
The ball came in from the wing toward Yujin's path. Running onto it, Yujin touched it with his left foot.
Tok.
Just an ordinary left-footed touch.
But when Baek Yujin did it, it was something else entirely.
What the…
The ball rolled across to Jamal's right.
Caught on the wrong foot, his eyes alone followed the ball—while Yujin, as if he had known exactly what would happen, spun his body and claimed it in one motion.
Jamal's balance collapsed in pure shock.
The Bergkamp Turn.
A technique that had first appeared thirty years ago was now being performed by a sixteen-year-old boy.
Tak, tak.
With two short touches Yujin beat Meyer as well and struck the shot.
The distance was so close that Bayern Munich could not even react before the ball was in the net.
"Wooooaaaaaahhhh!!!"
A roar erupted from the small pocket of Arsenal fans scattered among the vast crowd.
Baek Yujin answered them with his celebration.
In that moment, staring at Yujin's back, Jamal finally understood what Lee Juwon had meant.
…Light?
Yes. That was light.
The light that traveled the world had met Baek Yujin and was now blazing brilliantly before seventy thousand spectators.
His trapping, his technique—they made everything around him shine.
That was simply how the moment felt to Jamal.
GOOOOOOAL!! Baek Yujin! What a breathtaking wonder goal from Baek Yujin!! It's beautiful!!!
That technique Baek Yujin just used—that was the Bergkamp Turn. A move from a legendary player of the past. I never thought I'd get to witness it live again!
We're past the midpoint of the second half! Arsenal level the aggregate score at 3–3 and the tie is back to square one!
After Baek Yujin's goal, neither side could find another, so both Munich and Arsenal shifted to more attacking tactics.
Raymond, on as a substitute for Arsenal—shooooot! Ah! Not enough power on it! Lee Juwon gathers it comfortably!
Raymond, brought on to push the attack, tried a long-range effort, but Lee Juwon claimed it with relative ease.
Jamal receives it on the left flank! Simon steps across to block him!
Jamal! He still doesn't look tired—he's driving straight into the middle!
Baek Yujin pressed, stretching a foot to claim the ball Jamal had pushed long—but Jamal was first, dragging it back with his left foot into a Marseille turn.
Never breaking his acceleration, Jamal played a one-two with the full-back and punched through the half-space.
Jamal and Valiet inside the penalty box! Baek Yujin has dropped back too! If Arsenal stop this, a vicious counter is on!
With Raymond and Simon still high up the pitch, Jamal kept dribbling.
A body feint that pushed his lower body to its absolute limit sold Davis completely; Jamal took another touch.
A half-beat early cut-back before Wright could close.
Adrian saw Valiet charging in and tried calmly to shut down the one-on-one, but the angle was simply too wide. Valiet finished it.
Valiet's hat-trick.
The chant for Valiet—who had been scoring since the previous match—thundered through the stands, and the Allianz Arena transformed into a festival.
Arsenal restarted quickly. Stoppage time arrived.
Refusing to abandon hope until the very last second, Arsenal pressed with everything they had and miraculously cut out Jamal's pass.
They had been recycling possession in their own half when the passing lane was read—a dangerous turnover that could have been costly.
Now Arsenal held the far better position. Simon switched it out to the wing.
Padric delivered an accurate cross; Kim Minjun won the header.
Before Meyer could clear, Raymond's back-pass found Baek Yujin, who shot again—only for a perfect save to push it out for a throw.
This time Davis's cross.
From Simon's shot onward, Arsenal used every second of those final three minutes. The ball ricocheted this way and that until, right before the end—
it flew toward Baek Yujin.
Timing his jump, Yujin headed it down and swung his instep—but Lee Juwon blocked it.
The ball dropped between Kim Minjun and Simon.
"Kim!! Clear it!!"
At the desperate shouts of the Munich players, Kim Minjun reacted first and booted it beyond the halfway line.
Preeeep—!
At the same instant, the referee blew the final whistle.
Munich players roared. Darkness settled over the faces of the Arsenal side.
Arsenal's defeat.
It was a bitterly bitter taste.
The moment the match ended, the strength left my legs and I collapsed onto the grass.
…We lost.
I'd scored a wonder goal. I'd played well, I thought. And still, it hurt.
If you feel regret when it's over, you work harder next time so that regret never comes again—that was what I'd always told myself.
I was going to have to work even harder.
So I wouldn't have any regrets after a match like this.
So they really are going to win the Treble, then?
A club with that kind of quality—probably, yes, they would.
Well. Arsenal isn't finished yet.
It was only one Champions League loss. The league campaign was still alive.
And I was sixteen.
Plenty of chances still lay ahead.
I was turning those thoughts over when Hong Seoin walked up.
"Ddolgaeng-a. You alright?"
"Yeah. I'm fine. What about you, hyung?"
"I'm fine too."
His words said one thing, but our prideful hyung did not look fine at all.
The air around him said that the next time they met, he was going to tear them apart properly.
"Can you get up?"
"Mm… not sure. I've been running on pure willpower until now."
No matter how much stamina you built, you couldn't play a full ninety minutes at maximum intensity and still feel normal afterward.
"Can you give me a piggyback?"
It felt like a slightly unreasonable request, but I really could barely move.
And if it was this hyung, I had a feeling he would do it.
I laughed and managed to push my upper body up. Without a word, Hong Seoin squatted down and offered me his back.
"Thanks."
"Ain't nothin' worth thankin' me for."
He really did have a thick streak of tsundere in him.
From that position I managed to thank the Arsenal fans who had come all the way to Germany, and we began slowly making our way around the Allianz Arena when Jamal and Valiet approached us.
"…What is it?"
I asked in Korean without thinking. Valiet awkwardly tugged at a corner of his jersey.
"Shirt swap."
"Ah."
Jamal with Hong Seoin, Valiet with me.
Understanding that, I slid down from Seoin's back and exchanged jerseys with Valiet.
"Yujin. I want to play with you next time."
"…?"
Valiet said something in German, and Jamal's glare shot straight at me.
I blinked blankly. Valiet threw an arm around my shoulders like a playful older brother.
"See you again."
"Yeah. Next time, we're going to win."
Whether Valiet understood the smiling words or not, he gave a short snort of laughter and turned away.
"Well. We probably won't be facing each other."
"Valiet. Are you going to Arsenal or something?"
"Who knows? I'll think about it when my contract's up."
"…?"
Watching Valiet and Jamal converse in German, I had the strange feeling that a massive storm was rolling in.