My Girlfriend Wants Victory

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On the day of the match between Borussia Dortmund and FC Schalke 04.

“I can’t stand these stupid Schalke!”

Erwin Müller, who had supported Dortmund for 51 years without missing a day, showed up at Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund’s home ground.

[Here’s Schalke’s starting lineup. Unnerstall, goalkeeper….]

“Boooooo─! Go to hell, Schalke idiots!”

He unleashed a barrage of boos every time the announcer mentioned a Schalke player’s name.

“Scheiße! Schalke!”

The Dortmund fans mocked Schalke as one.

[Next, here’s Dortmund’s starting lineup!]

After the away team Schalke, the home team Dortmund’s player introductions began.

[Dortmund’s guardian! Roman!!]

“Weidenfeller!”

The announcer, who announced Schalke players like a robot, quickly raised the crowd’s excitement.

[The star of Borussia! Sooon!]

“Jinho!!!!!”

As player introductions finished and the players started entering the ground, the Dortmund fans stood up and began singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

“When you walk through a storm!”

At that moment, flames enveloped the stands.

“Of course, on a day like this, we have to let the flames roar.”

Nodding at the blazing flames, Erwin Müller pulled some flares from his pocket and set them off.

Though the German Football Association (DFB) imposed fines for using flares,

it was well-nigh impossible to eradicate the flare culture deeply woven into the fabric of German football fans.

And knowing this, Dortmund didn’t bother stopping the fans from bringing in flares.

They only apprehended fans who tried to enter the stadium while actively using them.

[We ask you to refrain from using flares for the smooth progress of the match.]

The arena announcer pleaded for them not to use flares.

“Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart!”

But there were no Dortmund fans paying any heed to the announcer’s words.

The announcer didn’t expect the fans to actually stop using flares.

He merely needed evidence that the club was trying to prevent accidents.

[Once again, we remind you to refrain from using flares for the smooth progress of the match.]

Jokingly, rumors floated on the internet that Dortmund and Schalke had already paid their fines to the DFB before the match began.

So everyday was like a session with flares in the Bundesliga, and the fines for the flares were seen as a sort of registration fee to the football association.

“You’ll never walk alone!”

As the cheering from the south wall of Dortmund, reminiscent of a thermal hell, ended, the flames began to die down.

“Extinguish the flames! We need to watch the match now!”

Having had enough fun, it was a cue to hint that it was time to begin the game.

Biiiip─!

Understanding the signal, the referee exhaled lightly and blew the whistle to start the match.

The Schalke striker Huntelaar gently nudged the ball forward, and Raúl González held onto it to pass it backward.

Due to the infamous derby nature, the match between the two teams was fiercely contested.

Raúl’s pass reached center-back Kyriakos, who delivered it to right-back Atsuto Uchida.

With Lucas Barrios, who returned to the starting lineup after a while, applying strong forward pressure.

Panicked by Dortmund’s fierce defense, Atsuto Uchida hurriedly dealt with the ball.

Reading Uchida’s pass timing toward Lewis Holtby, Son Jinho successfully intercepted one step ahead.

As Son Jinho cleared the pass, Dortmund launched a counterattack by giving the ball straight to Lucas Barrios.

Boom!

Perhaps it was because he had given up the starting striker position to Robert Lewandowski recently.

“Verdammt!(Damn!)”

Feeling anxious about losing his place, Lucas Barrios squandered a valuable chance by opting to shoot instead of passing to a teammate in a better position.

Schalke continued their attack.

“Booooooo─! Hooou!”

A shot that skimmed over the crossbar elicited a sigh of relief from the Dortmund fans.

“Damn it! That was close!”

The Dortmund fans let out sighs of relief, but only for a moment.

Once again, Schalke pressed forward.

Under the coaching of Ralph Rangnick, Raúl González, who played the role of attacking midfielder, slipped a pass into the space ahead of Julian Draxler.

At the start of the season, Raúl found himself in a challenging spot when Ralph Rangnick abruptly stepped down due to burnout.

However, recalling his days as an attacking midfielder at Real Madrid in his younger years, he excelled brilliantly in that role during the 11/12 season and became the backbone of the team.

At the forefront, Huntelaar drew the attention of Dortmund’s players, allowing Julian Draxler to cut back into the box.

“Stop Raúl, you idiots!”

Roman Weidenfeller’s panicked cry reached the Dortmund players, but,

it was unfortunately too late.

Thud.

Sway─!

Raúl González calmly placed his foot on the ball and shook the Dortmund net.

“Raúl González, he’s a Schalke legend!”

As the referee recognized Schalke’s goal, flames began to rise from the Schalke away section.

Once the Schalke celebration ended, the match resumed with a kick-off from Dortmund.

Dortmund launched a ferocious attack to equalize, but Schalke stubbornly defended against Dortmund’s onslaught, ending the first half.

Next was halftime.

Usually, most fans would casually wander off for snacks or drinks, creating a distraction.

But not today, during the Revierderby.

Aside from a handful of fans rushing to the restroom, most fans kept their places and sang cheers.

“Hoo…. Those Schalke dudes are doing alright?”

A man’s words directed a fierce glare from surrounding Dortmund fans toward him.

“Hey, you pig! Are you a Schalke spy or something?”

“Nein! What nonsense! You pig bastard!”

The unnamed man reacted violently as if his parents had been insulted.

“Shut up! Time for a belief verification. Who is the German champion?”

“BVB Borussia!”

“How many league titles do Schalke have?”

“Schalke can never lift the Meisterschale (Bundesliga trophy) in their lifetime.”

“Oh. Excellent.”

As Erwin Müller conducted the ideological verification of a fan in a Dortmund jersey, halftime ended.

The players returned to the ground.

The referee’s whistle signaled the start of the second half.

Not long after.

Bam─!

Son Jinho’s sudden long-range shot from just outside the penalty box tore through Schalke’s net.

“Jinho!!! Smash those Schalke!”

“Ah…. Mom, it’s embarrassing, stop!”

And at that moment, Erwin Müller saw an Asian woman cheering with flames in her hands while calling out Son Jinho’s name, alongside an Asian girl trying to stop her.