My Girlfriend Wants Victory

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On December 16, 2011, at 12 PM, the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland held the draw for the Round of 16.

As the Dortmund players trained in preparation for the upcoming Bundesliga Round 17 match against Freiburg tomorrow, they paused for a light lunch in the clubhouse while watching the draw.

“Phew…”

The Dortmund players glanced at the TV screen with tense expressions. The Champions League group stage draw was about to begin.

“Who’s that guy talking on TV?”

Son Jinho asked Mario Götze, who was sitting beside him.

“They say he’s the chairman of the UEFA club competitions.”

“Quite a high-ranking person then.”

As the introductions of those conducting the draw continued on the TV, the commentator explained the draw method for the Round of 16.

[Next up is the seeded Winner group…]

In the Champions League Round of 16, the first-place teams that received seeding will face off against the second-place teams that did not receive seeding.

From the second-place teams, those belonging to the same group or the same football association are excluded.

“So Bayer Leverkusen and Arsenal, who were in the same group, are excluded?”

“Yup.”

Mario Götze replied to Son Jinho’s musing.

After excluding those teams,

“That means we’re up against either Lyon, Napoli, AC Milan, Basel, Moscow, or Zenit.”

Dortmund’s potential opponents were roughly narrowed down.

“Mario, which team would you prefer to face?”

“Basel.”

Hearing Mario Götze’s response, Son Jinho nodded. Human nature tends to favor the easier path rather than the more challenging one.

“What about you, Jinho?”

“I’ll also take Basel.”

Excluding Basel, there really weren’t any easy teams left. The teams were all worthy of the Champions League name.

At that time, since oil money hadn’t become widespread yet, the differences in strength among the teams weren’t as pronounced as they might be later.

While Son Jinho was chatting with Mario Götze, the draw continued.

The draw conductor, with a slightly nervous expression, pulled a ball from the mixed list of the second-place teams.

[Olympique Lyon!]

The first team drawn was Olympique Lyon.

The draw continued, excluding Real Madrid, which was in the same group as Lyon.

At the moment the conductor revealed the opponent team to the camera,

“… Huh?”

Son Jinho’s expression suddenly stiffened.

Things were different from before.

[Olympique Lyon vs SL Benfica.]

‘Wasn’t it supposed to be APOEL?’

Son Jinho’s return had begun to affect things beyond Asia and into Europe.

*

[Champions League Round of 16 draw concluded.]

[Son Jinho’s Dortmund faces FC Basel. Jürgen Klopp: ‘FC Basel is a renowned Swiss club with great abilities. They are definitely not an easy opponent.’]

└ LOL, Klopp’s expression is hilarious.

└ Wipe that smile off your face!

└ Seriously, laughing and saying FC Basel is a strong team is ridiculous.

[Park Juyong’s Arsenal faces FC Barcelona in the Fabregas Derby!]

└ WAH, HAHAHAHAHA

└ So this is how it ends, huh?

└ Seriously, did the totem’s performance drop? Why is Barcelona coming out now?

└ That’s why it’s an injury-prevention totem, LOL.

└ Honestly, if you brought Fabregas over with that DNA BS, then give us three goals to start off.

└ You guys poached our promising player in the first place.

└ Oh man, LOL. The match between the Gunners and the Spurs is going to be epic.

└ This match is probably the biggest matchup of the Round of 16.

*

After Dortmund’s training ended, I finally checked the group chat. Perhaps it was because I had been crying like a madman since the draw began, but my almost dead smartphone battery was impressive.

– Cheolmo: (Arsenal vs FC Barcelona. jpg)

– Hwang Gunner: Damn.

– Cheolmo: HAHAHAHA

– Hwang Gunner: Chelsea has been on a downturn too, can you really beat Napoli? ^^

– Cheolmo: Well, Napoli is way better than Barcelona anyway! ^^

– Cheolmo: We at least have a chance; Arsenal has zero with losing Fabregas!

– Gyeouri: Huh? What’s this? LOL Arsenal meets Barcelona?

– Hwang Gunner: Gyeouri, let’s not laugh.

– Hwang Gunner: Manchester United lost to FC Basel and didn’t even make the Round of 16. ^^

– Gyeouri: Why are you suddenly aiming that at me? I wanted to enjoy the Champions League too!

Amidst the festive atmosphere that everyone enjoyed, Gyeouri’s slightly excluded demeanor seemed so pitiful…

– Gyeouri: Arsenal, just experience another catastrophe like 8:2!

But I didn’t say it.

‘Wow. This is like casting a curse right away.’

*

It hasn’t been long since the season started, but the winter break is already approaching.

Dortmund, currently five points ahead of Bayern Munich in the league, will enter the winter break after their home game against Freiburg today and the DFB Pokal Cup match against Düsseldorf on December 21.

– Since we haven’t had much time to enjoy Germany while adapting, how about we all tour some spots during this winter break?

Since this was my first winter break after coming to Germany for soccer studies, I thought about going on holiday to a nice tourist place, just like the last international match break.

– Hmm… Germany has good spots but I want to go to England!

– England?

– Yup!

– So Gyeouri wants to go to England; how about you, mother-in-law?

– I think England would be great too. How about catching a football match while we’re at it?

– Mom! Then should we watch Chelsea in London and move to Manchester to see Manchester United’s match?

– That sounds like a great idea!

– …Alright then. Please stop acting already.

Due to the enthusiastic suggestions of my mother-in-law and Gyeouri, we decided to travel to England to see a Premier League match.

I had no idea when they planned this, but they were a fantastic mother-daughter duo who plotted this together.

‘Maybe they’ve been colluding to attack Chairman Hwang Geum-soon all along, hence their perfect teamwork.’

Well, anyway.

“Who’s the champions of Germany?”

“Borussia Dortmund!!”

The match between Dortmund and Freiburg started at Dortmund’s home ground, Signal Iduna Park.

The game was a bit one-sided.

Dortmund attacked while SC Freiburg hurried to defend.

“Focus! You piglets! Don’t let number 10 slip!”

But as expected of SC Freiburg, known for producing keepers, their main goalkeeper, Oliver Baumann, showcased remarkable skill and thwarted Dortmund’s attacks.

“Ohhhh!!”

Then, in the 20th minute of the first half, an opportunity arose for me.

“Clear it quick─!”

With Oliver Baumann’s incredible save, a second ball situation followed. Since it was still early in the first half, a Freiburg defender was focused and attempted to clear the second ball.

“Kiiiyooowww!”

In a tense moment of a great scoring chance, I unleashed the battle cry that had been sealed deep in my heart.

“D-Damn it! What the hell?!”

Surprised by my sudden battle cry, Freiburg defender Pavel Krmas stumbled.

Yet, with just that one battle cry, I created a scoring opportunity.

Bam─!

Calmly I struck the ball into the net.

Swish─!

The shot taken from close range shook Freiburg’s net.

“….”

“….”

“….”

The Freiburg players, the referee, the linesman, and even my own Dortmund teammates all looked at me as if to say, ‘Who the hell is this idiot?’

“Hoouuu─!”

Ignoring all those stares, I dashed to the corner flag and celebrated in front of the cheering Dortmund fans.

‘Ah, this is embarrassing.’

Of course, a bit of shame made my face turn red.

“G-Good job, Jinho.”

“…That was an amazing goal!”

Without feeling embarrassed alone, Ivan Perišić and Robert Lewandowski quickly ran over to celebrate the goal with me.

“You see? If the opponent isn’t making mistakes, you just have to force them into mistakes.”

I shared this gratitude with them as a tip.

Despite their somewhat ashamed expressions, I confidently declared to Ivan Perišić and Robert Lewandowski.

“The feeling of embarrassment is temporary, but records are eternal.”

And Ivan Perišić and Robert Lewandowski seemed to have an epiphany.

“Embarrassment is temporary, but…”

“Records are eternal?”

*

[Title: Live Hoou) Damn, LOL Son Jinho’s vocal range is ridiculous!]

(Clips of Son Jinho unleashing his battle cry .avi)

Hahaha, the Freiburg players looking bewildered is too funny!

└ That crazy dude, haha!

└ The battle cry’s epic!

└ His voice is so loud, LOL!

└ Isn’t that unsportsmanlike?

└ Not really? But they also yell like that in tennis, so it should be fine, right?

└ Damn, Klopp and Son Jinho make Dortmund a funny club!