Chapter 79
Chapter 79
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 79
Chapter Title: vs Bayern Munich -1
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After defeating last season's Bundesliga champions, Union Berlin's morale soared, and they continued to rack up easy wins in the league matches that followed.
[Mainz and Borussia Mönchengladbach defeated, charging toward promotion....]
[Mainz manager Jürgen Klopp: "The season isn't over yet. We'll give it our all until the end for promotion."]
Right on cue, Borussia Mönchengladbach, the leaders of 2. Bundesliga, lost to Mainz.
Union Berlin successfully narrowed the points gap with Borussia Mönchengladbach to just one point.
[Union Berlin beats TuS Koblenz 2-1. Kim Min-hyuk shines after coming off the bench....]
[Union Berlin wins 1-0 away at Munich 1860. Lee Sung-jae's assist!]
Union Berlin kept piling up the points.
[Borussia Mönchengladbach loses to Cologne....]
[Union Berlin tops 2. Bundesliga...!]
And by the time Union Berlin finally claimed the top spot in the second division.
[DFB-Pokal quarterfinals: Union Berlin vs. Bayern Munich....]
└ Fuck, Chan-hyuk, seriously give up on the Pokal and go for the 2. Bundesliga title.
└ What the hell was that 5-0 thrashing of Stuttgart lol
└ These Munich bastards are shock and awe incarnate, for real lol
└ Just realized it.
└ What.
└ Union Berlin <<< This guy's the one who held Tuchel back lol
└ That's right lmao
Before long, the DFB-Pokal quarterfinal against Bayern Munich was right around the corner.
***
After the Stuttgart match, I had to endure a whirlwind of hectic days.
Interview requests from the media poured in alongside job offers from clubs that had gained some recognition.
Some of those clubs were the kind where you'd regret turning them down even if you couldn't join.
But I turned down all the offers, interviews included.
The season wasn't over yet, after all.
And even when it did end, I didn't plan on switching clubs.
I'd already invested way too much in Union Berlin.
In 2015, once the 50+1 exception clause was revised, owning a club would be possible with over 20 years of consistent investment and support—no need to look elsewhere.
That said, there were clear issues with the clause.
‘But it does worry me. Will the fans just go along with it?’
Union Berlin fans were the ones who'd hurled every curse imaginable at Hoffenheim and Leipzig.
On top of that, I had to consider the backlash from Bundesliga fans in general.
‘...Still, maybe they'll accept me.’
Still. I had a bit of hopeful thinking.
Union Berlin hadn't risen through the owner's lavish spending.
They wouldn't lump us in with Hoffenheim and beat us down together.
‘Fans sold their blood to build the stadium because the club had no money—if someone calls that owner's bullshit spending, I'd cry....’
Anyway. Even without outright owning the club, as long as Dirk Zingler stayed president and I remained manager, I could steer the club's direction my way.
‘Dirk Zingler is my biggest supporter, after all.’
It was possible because scouting me and Thomas Tuchel was his greatest achievement. In a way, the two of us were bound by fate.
[DFB-Pokal quarterfinals: Union Berlin vs. Bayern Munich.]
Anyway.
During training to prepare for the Pokal quarterfinals, I noticed the players' stiff expressions.
‘What... Can't be helped, huh?’
Our next opponent was Bayern Munich, the worst and strongest team in the Bundesliga.
['Home Fortress' Union Berlin poised for another upset?]
The silver lining was that it was at our home stadium.
Thanks to the fans' fiery support, it was hell for any away team—no exaggeration.
‘The new stadium under construction will really make it something to see once it's done.’
Especially the atmosphere from the east stand in the new ground. It was overwhelming.
It had the fans' donation slogans printed on it, and just looking at it swelled the chest with pride.
The other players felt the same, apparently.
- Thomas Tuchel: Looking forward to a good game tomorrow.
Anyway, the night before the match, I stayed up reviewing tactics.
‘Youth really is a wonderful thing.’
Truth be told, I'd been steadily managing my health all along.
I'd died from sudden cardiac arrest in my previous life.
No one wants to live short after regressing.
Living long is human instinct.
But facing Bayern Munich brought a different mindset than usual.
I didn't want to suffer a crushing defeat in my first official match against Thomas Tuchel.
In this life, he was my benefactor.
I wanted to show him how much I'd grown.
‘Winning's impossible, but let's give it our all.’
And above all.
The manager can't give up before the players do.
***
At the same time.
Thomas Tuchel was analyzing Union Berlin's tactics.
‘He's overlaid his own style on the framework I created.’
It didn't take long to dissect Union Berlin's tactics.
They were that familiar.
Overall, Union Berlin's current setup was built on the skeleton Thomas Tuchel had made, with Park Chan-hyuk adding his personal flair.
"Smart."
Thomas Tuchel nodded as he examined Union Berlin's tactics.
It was the right call by Park Chan-hyuk.
There simply wasn't enough time to fully imprint his own style on the squad.
And the league table proved his thinking wasn't wrong.
Union Berlin at the top of 2. Bundesliga was all the evidence needed.
‘Should've come with me back then.’
Even Thomas Tuchel hadn't imagined Union Berlin becoming a promotion contender before the season started.
Their league participation had been in jeopardy due to the stadium's deterioration.
But Park Chan-hyuk's leadership turned hardship into opportunity.
[Union Berlin holds preseason training at a construction site?]
[Eccentricities of an Asian manager... Is Union Berlin okay like this?]
Park Chan-hyuk had unified the team in a way no ordinary manager would think of.
‘That's not a leadership anyone can have.’
Park Chan-hyuk was always upbeat and trusted his players completely.
‘If he'd been there, life in Munich might've been a bit better....’
It was only after going independent from Park Chan-hyuk that Thomas Tuchel fully realized how comfortably he'd been managing all that time.
Park Chan-hyuk had shielded him from club conflicts as much as possible and handled the players' mental care in his stead.
‘Sigh...’
Anyway.
Park Chan-hyuk's tactics impressed even Thomas Tuchel.
"He's maximized strengths through player synergy and hidden the weaknesses."
Other teams might not notice, but Thomas Tuchel did.
He was exceptional, and these were players he'd directly coached.
Thomas Mayer had fully adapted to the midfielder role. Pairing his high work rate with Marcus Matzek's creative passes was highly effective.
"Still, it'll make for an entertaining match for once."
The preseason friendly against Union Berlin had helped him take control of the squad, but Thomas Tuchel had no intention of going easy on them.
Competition was ruthless.
Thomas Tuchel decided to field Bayern Munich's full starting lineup.
It was a statement of no complacency against Park Chan-hyuk's Union Berlin.
"Is it really right to go full starters instead of rotation against a 2. Bundesliga side?"
But Munich's legends immediately pushed back against using the starters versus Union Berlin.
In a league with owner-controlled clubs, the legends wouldn't have this influence in the locker room.
Unfortunately, the Bundesliga's 50+1 rule made it possible.
Legends filled the positions that decided club policy.
And their politicking to protect their spots was beyond imagination.
Club internals leaked to the outside through the 'legends' to check rival factions.
Most managers had respected the legends up to now.
No good came from souring relations with club legends.
"Stuttgart, who won the Bundesliga last season, were a pushover?"
"...Our opponent isn't Stuttgart right now."
"Correct. They're the team that beat a full-strength Stuttgart 2-1."
"We can't understand it."
"Of course you can't. You're not the manager responsible for results."
But Thomas Tuchel's temperament was on another level from past managers. He relentlessly mocked the legends.
"Do you know Union Berlin better than I do? Then you direct. I'll step down as manager. If you have superior tactical ability and judgment, just take the job. Surely you don't want the responsibility of wins and losses while only backseat driving from behind?
Oh. If that's the case, I have to question if you truly care about this team."
It was because Thomas Tuchel was full of resentment toward the Bayern Munich legends' behavior.
His relationship with Bayern Munich was already on the verge of explosion.