Shooting Trajectory is Visible - Chapter 267



Only Noblemtl

Episode 267 Ao Korsic

As time passed, the scheduled date approached.

A showdown with your home team. The Europa League, the most prestigious international competition in Europe after the Champions League. The final.

Today’s match will be held in Seville, Spain.

The stadium is called ‘Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán’, and if Sevilla had beaten Hannover in the semi-finals, the final would have been held at their home stadium.

‘If we beat Hannover, we’ll be the double champions.’

There was no reward for winning the EFL Cup, but the Europa League is different.

I understand that it is not a weight class that can be rewarded with a mere beer mug, but it is a different story when it comes to the most prestigious international competition in Europe, second only to the Champions League.

And once they win here, they will face the Champions League winners again next season in a single-leg match called the Super Cup.

‘There is room for compensation there too… .’

It’s only a single match, but it’s a cup competition after all.

Then, this season, we can aim for up to 4 crowns. Next season, we can aim for up to 5 crowns.

Maybe, I could be the player with the most trophies among Korean leaguers in a few years.

“It’s so nice to meet you, Kim.”

Someone puts a hand on my shoulder from behind, along with a familiar voice. I turn my head and see someone I know. A former running mate.

Dominic Corsic.

A key defender for Hannover and now a member of the Croatian national team.

Croatia also qualified for the World Cup, so we might see them in the US next month or the month after.

“How are you, Corey?”

“Do you know how much we’ve suffered without you?”

Oh, Corsic. Are you complaining because you said that as soon as you met?

“You came this far without me. Good job.”

“That’s why. If you were here, we would have been in the Champions League final instead of the Europa League.”

That’s true.

… Should I have stayed for another year? No. I was under a lot of stress when I came to Manchester United, but if I had stayed at Hannover, I would have been under twice as much stress.

“So Kim, give us the trophy. Then we’ll forgive you for running away and abandoning us.”

“What do you mean you ran away…?”

It wasn’t just Corsic. All the other players I played with at Hannover came up to me and said hello.

“Kim! I didn’t want to meet you under these circumstances.”

“How is life at a big club? Is it worth it?”

Ariumbi. Daniel Becker. Captain Fisher. Alex Scott. Toijert. And the transfer student Philippe Coutinho.

Everyone was happy to see me. No, I don’t know if they were happy or if they were treating me like a child, but they came over to me and patted my head or played with me.

“Wasn’t Coutinho the only one who didn’t come on the day I left?”

“… … Oh. Was that so?”

Coutinho smiles awkwardly.

Coutinho, who had a decent season after his surprise transfer to Hannover after staying in the Middle East league, has been in decent form this season as well.

Perhaps many football pundits never dreamed that Coutinho would make such a spectacular comeback.

Because I’m old enough now to be resurrected. So-called… … the fighting spirit of an old man.

‘And Coutinho was secretly good at taking free kicks, so I had many opportunities to score.’

Since joining Manchester United, I have never had that opportunity. The clubs knew that if they gave me a free kick opportunity, there was a very high chance that I would score a goal, so they didn’t even give me a free kick when I played against Manchester United.

If only we had a guy like Coutinho on the team at a time like this, we could have won a few more free kicks, so that was a bit disappointing.

Before the game, I was laughing and chatting with the Hannover players, and our captain, who found that uncomfortable, separated me from the Hannover players.

“I know you’re happy to see us, because we’re former clubmates, but we’re in a match right now. I hope you’ll be more cautious. Kim.”

A sharp rebuke to the argument. It’s not wrong, so there’s nothing to say. At times like this, the lower class protests, saying, “That’s not it…”

If that happens, it will unintentionally lead to an argument.

There is no need to do that, it would be cleaner if you just said ‘yes’ or ‘I understand’.

If you do that, you will be able to save the prayer of the claim.

‘It may be that the senior players on the national team are uncomfortable with Kang Im-hyung’s inability to do that.’

This was the wisdom of life that Yoo Jin-ho taught me.

It was the only useful thing he did to me… .

“Player Kim Min-woo!”

Oh, wait a minute. Sophie? I just heard something from you, so it’s going to be difficult if you start rambling again.

But Sophie seemed to understand my situation, and she just waved from afar. I smiled and waved back.

They say you have a very generous heart… .

* * *

Just before the finals, there was an opening stage.

A carpet symbolizing the Europa League is laid out on the ground, and dozens of people gather to perform.

We watched the opening ceremony quietly from the entrance. Even from the entrance, it looked very grand.

‘If Europa League is like this, then the Champions League….’

Suddenly, seeing it right in front of my nose, I realized what a great stage I had climbed onto.

And the story of facing off against his former team on this big stage was truly dramatic.

“let’s go!”

After the pre-game ceremony was over, each team moved to the field. The numerous spectators gathered at the stadium cheered for their respective teams.

I’ve always seen similar performances during matches, so I’m used to it now, but the pressure of the finals is palpable.

How long has it been since I felt this nervous before a match?

After a brief ceremony and handshake, we returned to our respective camps and prepared for the match.

The referee looked at his watch, and as soon as the hour reached its hour, he blew his whistle.

Although it was the final, the flow of the game at the beginning was not much different from other games.

The flow of building up while passing the ball and watching slowly.

If we were to play 10 games, 8 or 9 of them would usually go like this.

Why, if you look at baduk, when you make the first move, don’t you usually place it on the crater of each corner? It was similar to that.

It’s not mandatory, but the current flow was the most reasonable flow in the very beginning.

‘It looks plausible, but it’s the same as just turning the ball and not showing anything. As expected… .’

Nothing has changed!

Whether it’s Manchester United or Hannover, they’ve both been showing their best, but so far they’ve been at odds with each other.

I continued to monitor the situation from behind.

First half 3 minutes. 5 minutes. 7 minutes. Time passes silently.

‘The fighting in the Central Plains is fierce.’

It was so intense that not a single shot was made. If there was a chance of a shot, it was cut off by the defender.

In particular, Junyoung was moving around and catching the ball well in the front, and every time he did that, Corsic was able to cut it off well.

A fierce battle between the current running mate and the former running mate. Even just watching from afar, my heart feels pounding.

I occasionally went outside the box to take charge of distribution.

It doesn’t look like a good way to go deep forward, so I’ll stick to short passes.

Time passed, but the flow of the game did not change.

Just coming and going.

A game where only passes are exchanged without any shots being taken.

It’s supposed to be the finals, but the two teams are already showing disastrous performances.

And as the tension slowly drained from my body and I became lethargic, Hannover seized its opportunity.

On the flank, Henrik Fischer beat two of his own players and slid a low ball into the box.

Coutinho received the ball from Fischer and passed it back to the center as if he was going to shoot, and the next thing he did was create a trajectory.

‘It’s a shot coming towards the center.’

Toyhert’s ambiguous curling shot came to the center. I thought for a split second whether to catch the ball or to kick it, and made a decision in a fraction of a second.

phut-!

The ball that bounced off my hand was safely handled by Baran.

It would have been a super save for other goalkeepers, but for me it was just a routine save. Fortunately, he came to the center so it wasn’t too dangerous.

Once Hanover had struck, it was our turn next.

After my save, the boring flow continued until Bruno Fernandes’ pass to Kim Jun-young’s target.

It was a well-exchanged pass between running mates.

Kim Jun-young received the ball, ran to hit it, and kicked it―

“Oh. Is that blocked?”

Corsic caught up with Kim Jun-young with explosive acceleration and blocked the shot with his body. It was a defense that was like watching Kim Min-je.

‘Is it slowly getting better for both teams?’

Even for me as a goalkeeper, the first 20 minutes were a sleeper game, but now it’s starting to get interesting.

And 36 minutes in the first half.

I felt the same way when I was in Hanover, but my eyes were not wrong.

Philippe Coutinho has a genius for drawing fouls.

The referee blew for a Hannover free kick foul after Coutinho went down.

‘It’s a bit far, but… … .’

I’ve scored from a similar distance before, so I thought I’d give it a try. Of course, since I’m not in Hannover, they won’t try to shoot.

Hannover’s free kick taker is Alex Scott. He is a midfielder with a very good kick.

The referee blew his whistle to caution the players who were fighting for position.

I looked at the generated trajectory and briefly thought about how to handle this attack.

‘Got it.’

He did a good job of blocking the header that followed Alex Scott’s long ball pass.

It was clearly blocked well, but something unexpected happened.

The ball slipped out of my hand. I held it tightly, but my posture was weird and it slipped.

Then, the players from both teams, who had gathered like a school of piranhas, quickly got close to me and started fighting to somehow score or kick the ball that had escaped.

‘Fuck!’

They were crowded together in a small space, but all I could see were the legs of the players in their red and green uniforms.

There were so many legs.

And the various trajectories created between those legs. It’s not yet clearly visible, but one of them is real.

I tried to get up quickly, but there were so many players around me that it was difficult to get up.

“Fuck! Get out of here! Don’t block my path and get out of here!”

Who is this kid who is pressing my shoulder with his hand so I can’t get up?!

I looked up with an angry expression and my eyes met with someone who was pressing my shoulder. It was Korsic. This little bastard was grinning.

‘and…!’

What the heck.

Wait a minute. Can VAR catch a player with all these players bunched up like this?

I don’t know. Just get up or stretch your body somehow―

Boohoo!

And then the shot went off. My heart sank for a moment. At that moment, I really couldn’t do anything. If the ball went through the crowd of players and into the goal… … .

“Phew.”

I don’t know who kicked it, but it must have been Triangle Hair. How did the shot go to the right when it was kicked straight ahead?

And more than that.

“Hey, fuck! You son of a bitch, Corsic!”

I jump up and push away Corsic who is pinning my shoulder. Corsic screams and falls down.

If his teammates hadn’t stopped him at that moment, he would have stepped on the fallen Corsic.

Then, the referee came running towards me, honking his horn. I quickly shouted at the referee.

“This kid pressed down on my shoulder so I couldn’t get up!”

But the referee took out a card without even listening to my story. It was yellow.

Korsic doesn’t get up, as if he fainted during this. Wow. The blood pressure in the back of his neck is…

I held my breath because if I asked to see the VAR here, I could have gotten another card. If a player asked for the VAR, that could have resulted in a yellow card.

‘No. Let’s be calm. As Jan Rytl said in his interview, Hannover knows me best.’

Maybe this was also an advanced form of psychological warfare. They knew I was weak in this area, so they were deliberately provoking me.

The only thing I lack is experience in this area. If I lose control of my emotions and let my temper run wild, I could get kicked out.

And that’s exactly what Hanover wants.

‘This is some kind of advanced psychological warfare to provoke me? Korsic isn’t that smart.’

Is this Jan’s intention?

I don’t know.

But I’m so pissed off, I really want to give this little shit a real education.

And then Corsic gets up from his seat.

Corsic glanced at me, winked one eye, then turned around and ran away, grinning.

“Wow… wow… .”

I only knew how to do teabagging, but it feels really fun to be on the receiving end of it.

I gnash my teeth and vow to get revenge.

.

.

Yes, just before the first half ended.

The extra time was almost over and I was slowly getting ready to go into the locker room.

Beep!

‘hmm?’

It was too short to be called a final whistle.

When I looked forward wondering what was going on, I saw Kim Jun-young collapsed and crying out in pain, and Hannover players were gesturing at the referee and protesting.

Although it was slightly outside the box, it was clearly a free kick foul.

“Yar!”

I clenched my fists and ran forward.

He had set my heart on fire, and now it was time for Hanover to pay the price.

It’s not like a free kick will always go in, but I imagined how I would tee-bagger Corsic right after I took it.

Just thinking about it makes me feel dopamine rush.

First of all, just to the extent that you don’t receive any cards.

‘Exactly.’

As I gritted my teeth and ran forward, there was Corsic with a shit-eating expression. It seemed like Kim Jun-young had been competing with Corsic and a free kick foul had occurred.

I looked at Corsic and smiled silently.

Corsic also looked at my face, and a forced smile appeared on his dead face.

Let’s see if you can keep smiling even after getting hit somewhere.