My Girlfriend Wants Victory

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*

[Lebanon 1 : 0 South Korea.]

[Shock in Lebanon! The national team suffers its first defeat to Lebanon!]

[A festival unfolds in Lebanon.]

[Shock! South Korea faces elimination in the second round of qualifications!]

[Football fans angry at the interim coach leaving an interview saying, “We were just unlucky!”]

[Civilians throwing eggs at the Football Association building.]

[Football fans begging Son Jinho to come back on his SNS.]

*

South Korean football fans gathered in two places after the match.

[The medieval clan shouts: “Get out of the Football Association!”]

[In front of the Korean Football Association building, the sheer amount of red flames lit by furious fans makes it hard to open your eyes.]

[“Just disband, you bastards!”]

[“Uh… please take your hands off the mic!”]

One place was the Football Association.

– Hoo-woo-woo-woo-woo─!

– “Let’s all repent! It’s our fault for listening to the stupid media and bashing Son Jinho! Let’s atone now!”

The other place was my SNS.

While not as desperate as Argentina, where the entire nation held up signs saying “NoTeVayasLio” begging Messi not to leave,

– “Please come back! South Korean football will be ruined without you!”

My SNS was filled with comments mixed with the pleas of Korean football fans.

Well, of course, it wasn’t that many comments yet. I was still a rookie making a name for myself in the Bundesliga.

But as my name spreads further, South Korean football fans will become more anxious and regret their past actions.

I nodded to myself.

“Not bad.”

Imagining the sight of them regretting and obsessing over me made me feel good.

“Well, that doesn’t mean I’ll return to the national team…”

After all, people who want to bash me will do so regardless of whether I return to the national team or not.

The people who like me will continue to like me regardless of my return.

So what I need to do is express gratitude to my fans who support me and repay them with the best fan service, which is ‘victory.’

I motivated myself and checked my upcoming schedule.

“Bayern Munich, huh…”

Dortmund’s next opponent was Bayern Munich, one of the strongest teams dominating the 2010s.

*

The match against Bayern Munich was approaching.

Dortmund moved to Allianz Arena, Bayern Munich’s home ground.

‘Is it a rubber boat?’

True to being the representative club of the Bundesliga, the stadium was quite grand and somewhat uniquely shaped.

Just before the match began, I recalled information about Bayern Munich once again in the player tunnel.

The current leader of Bayern Munich was Jupp Heynckes.

He had led Leverkusen to second place last season and, in a different timeline, was a genius who led Bayern Munich to the second-place treble this season and the next season’s treble.

Jupp Heynckes mainly used a 4-2-3-1 formation, employing strong pressing tactics and quick tempo build-up as his main weapon.

“Bayern! Pack ma’s (Let’s go!)”

Turning to the sound, I saw familiar faces.

Arjen Robben, Franck Ribéry, Philipp Lahm, Mario Gómez, Manuel Neuer, Thomas Müller, Toni Kroos, Jerome Boateng, etc.

These were names of players who either had shone in an era or were about to.

The fact that I was about to play against such great players made my heart race.

“Heja!”

I shouted, trying to hide my emotions as I looked at my Dortmund teammates.

“BVB!”

Then, I heard the response from the Dortmund players.

The atmosphere was heating up even before the match started.

*

[Bundesliga Round 13. We will provide coverage of the match between Dortmund and Bayern Munich.]

[First, the starting lineup for Bayern Munich. … Mario Gómez will play as the striker.]

[Next, the starting lineup for Dortmund. Similar to Bayern Munich, they also use a 4-2-3-1 formation. In goal will be Roman Weidenfeller. The back four will be Schmelzer, Hummels, Felipe Santana, and Lucas Piszczek.]

[And in the midfield, alongside Dortmund’s captain Sebastian Kehl, South Korea’s pride Son Jinho has made the starting list for the third consecutive game.]

[That’s right. At just 16 years old, Son Jinho has become a Bundesliga starter. Recently selected as a finalist for the Golden Boy, he is regarded as a top talent not just in South Korea but also globally.]

[I hope he will showcase a great performance in this match.]

Beep!

[With the referee’s whistle, the match begins!]

*

The match between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund was fiercely competitive without any retreat.

In the 6th minute of the first half, Toni Kroos delivered a penetrating pass to Arjen Robben, who was infiltrating from the right side.

With overwhelming speed and concise yet precise dribbling, Robben broke through Marcel Schmelzer’s back space, diving into the center and taking a curling shot.

Bam─!

Arjen Robben’s trademark macro shot barely missed the Dortmund goal.

“Scheiße!! (Damn!)”

As Arjen Robben lamented, Roman Weidenfeller received the ball from the ball boy and made a short pass to Hummels to handle the goal kick.

“Mats!”

As I lowered myself to receive the ball, Hummels promptly passed it to me.

Then, Thomas Müller quickly rushed to put pressure on me. I turned my back on him and passed the ball back to Hummels, pointing at Schmelzer.

There was no need to force the breakthrough.

Hummels checked my finger and immediately passed the ball to Schmelzer, who threaded a through pass to Mario Götze, who was starting as a winger after a long time.

As Mario Götze received the pass from Schmelzer, the Dortmund players began to charge toward Bayern Munich’s territory en masse.

Likewise, Bayern Munich’s players also rushed back quickly.

Mario Götze narrowed his speed while looking around and then lunged toward the center.

Swish─! Thud!

“Ahh─!”

Philipp Lahm’s tackle caught Mario Götze’s leg. Mario Götze, sprawled on the ground, raised his arms to appeal for a foul to the referee.

The referee, about to blow the whistle for a foul, declared an advantage as Shinji Kagawa managed to get the ball before Toni Kroos.

“Jinho!”

Shinji Kagawa passed the ball directly to me.

I struck a non-stop cross using my left foot from the outskirts of the penalty box.

Caught off guard by the sudden cross, the Bayern Munich defenders’ heads were cut through, reaching Lewandowski’s forehead perfectly.

As the ball hit Lewandowski’s head and headed toward the goal,

“Olé, jetzt kommt Der BVB!”

The Dortmund away fans leapt to their feet, sensing a goal.

Boom─!

But Bayern Munich’s guardian angel, Manuel Neuer, succeeded in deflecting the ball with beast-like reflexes despite being caught off guard.

“Wow…. Is that really a human? How do you stop that?”

It was a reaction that elicited genuine praise for his incredible reflexes.

*

Both teams exchanged chances early in the first half, but finished the first half without any significant achievements.

In the locker room of Dortmund and Bayern Munich, the only sounds filling the air were the rough breaths of the players.

The players quickly munched on bananas to fuel their energy in different ways.

Jupp Heynckes and Jürgen Klopp, instead of giving tactical instructions, merely encouraged the players to help restore their stamina.

Both coaches anticipated that the match would revolve around a battle of stamina rather than tactics.

Then came the second half.

[There hasn’t been a score yet, but an exciting match is unfolding.]

[It’s quite intense. Dortmund succeeded in pressing! But Bayern Munich immediately gets the ball back!]

The match between the two teams continued in a similar pattern to the first half.

[Jinho! Successfully takes the ball away!]

Then in the 70th minute, Son Jinho stole the ball from Toni Kroos with a sliding tackle.

“Referee!”

As Toni Kroos raised his arms claiming a foul,

‘Even the professor seems young still.’

Son Jinho, who sprang up from his seat, immediately threaded an accurate lob through pass to Roberto Lewandowski, who was breaking into Bayern Munich’s back space.

It was a difference in experience and also a difference in the era after VAR was introduced.

Since clubs educated players to complain only after the ball went out of play rather than during ongoing play after VAR was introduced.

Regardless, Lewandowski, receiving the pass from Son Jinho, pretended to shoot but passed to Götze, who was centrally positioned.

“Damn it!”

Upon seeing the ball pass by Jerome Boateng, Neuer quickly lowered his stance, preparing for the shot.

Mario Götze kept his eyes on the ball coming toward him and immediately took the shot.

Seeing the trajectory of the shot, Manuel Neuer lunged to the left and successfully deflected the ball.

“Nice! I blocked…!”

At that moment, as Neuer’s mouth curled into a smile after guarding the goal once more,

Neuer’s eyes began to fill with disbelief.

In his sight were Son Jinho charging full sprint from the halfway line.

“Phew! Did you think I’d let you through just like that?”

Son Jinho, without a chance to catch his breath from sprinting into the penalty box, stretched out his legs just before the defenders could clear the rebounded ball and pushed it into the net.

“Heja!!!!!”

At the same time, the cheers of the Dortmund away fans erupted.

Having successfully scored, Son Jinho ran toward the corner flag where the away fans were located, lightly smiling.

“Ughhhhuugh─!”

However, due to the exhaustion from sprinting since the halfway line, his voice did not come out properly.