Chapter 125 – Europa (3)

125

2033. 09. 04. Sunday.
MonacoStade Louis II.

Europa League final group stage 1st leg
Frankfurt (4-3-3) v AS Monaco FC (4-4-2)

GK Geralt Noark / GK Alex Soza
RB Fabian Fiedler / RB Joseba Yarramendi
CB Alexander Meyer (C) / CB Asier Salduba
CB Karl Heizmann / CB Montana Alvaro (C)
LB Bruno / LB Christian Merno
DM Halid Bulla Rouge / RM Carlos Fairman
CM Chicharo / CM Alex Richards
CM Sergei Barbirez / CM Eichen Menoz
RW Alberto Mondi / LM John Stones
WLF Minjun Hong / SS Ander Gerrera
CF Donald Cook / CF Robin Norban

“This is Stade Louis, the home ground of Monaco, where the first leg of the Europa League group stage between Frankfurt and AS Monaco will be held.”
“Both teams came out with full power without any leaks. In the pre-interview, manager Carl Hessen pointed out Hong Min-joon, right?”
“Yes, that’s right. It became a hot topic to say that Hong Min-jun was the core of Frankfurt’s attack. The important thing is that he praised Hong Min-jun while expressing his confidence that he could block it.”

The opening ended while the caster and commentator were exchanging words.
Players from both teams return to their seats.

Soon after, the referee, who was checking the time, put the whistle in his mouth.

“Okay, let’s start the game!”
“Frankfurt on the left, AS Monaco on the right. The game started with AS Monaco’s lead, and Monaco calmly turns the ball from behind.”

Ander Guerrera, who received a pass from Robin Norban, Monaco’s central striker in the 4-4-2 camp, sent a pass back.

Upon receiving the ball, Montana Alvaro, the ‘iron wall’ from Real Madrid, stopped, looked around, and connected the ball to left fullback Christian Merno, who started overlapping, and Merno, who ran away, posted an early cross.

“One beat quick cross! Straight to the penalty box!”
“Robin Norban and Alexander Meyer’s Heading Challenge!”

The ball bounced off the heads of the two people who jumped side by side, and it was Frankfurt’s defensive midfielder Halid Boulahrouz who caught the second ball rolling on the floor.

As soon as the friendly team catches the ball, Frankfurt’s three attackers jump out into the opposing camp without saying anything first.

“Red!”

Halid Boulahrouz sent a long pass to the left side as it was in line with the promised pattern play.
Right at the moment, the left fullback overlapped and headed towards Hong Min-jun, who dug into the left side of Monaco, where space was created.

“Oh! Great opportunity!! Good pass to Hong Min-Jun while Monaco’s overlapping left-back hasn’t recovered yet!”
“This is it! This is Frankfurt’s counterattack, which has a reputation for being scary!!”
“Ah… John Stones, who played as left midfielder, is blocking the empty space.”

Hong Min-joon, who was trying to break through the line, received the ball with his back to John Stones.
The ensuing fight. Hong Min-joon stumbled under the strong pressure of John Stones, who was of similar height but different in body thickness.

“No contest! You have to get out!”
“Ah, the Frankfurt players are slow to move. I have to go get the ball quickly. What am I doing!”

Hong Min-joon, who was dangerously staggering under John Stones’ strong pressure but never lost the ball, escaped the pressure with a momentary round and turn motion.

John Stones stumbled after the opponent he had pushed hard for disappeared, revealing an open space in front of Hong Min-jun.

“Fantastic decompression!!”
“This is it! This is it!! Do you run, Hong-min— uh, uh uh?”

The moment Hong Min-joon was about to run away, Alex Richards, who appeared like a thunderbolt, gave a powerful charge.
The caster raised his voice at the sight of Hong Min-joon falling from the shock of colliding with the same momentum as he was running.

“Foul! This is foul!!”
“Right! The referee blows his whistle! A card comes out… Huh? What? I think it just goes over?”

Hong Min-joon, who fell to the floor, spread his hands with an unfair expression, but the referee gestured for him to get up with a nonchalant expression.

—ㅅㅅ What is that bastard?
—Football dog dirty;
—Wakku is also a thug doing things like a thughaha
ㄴIt’s really impressivehaha
—No, isn’t that a real card? Are you running and holding it?

A burning chat window.
At that time, Alex Richards, who had been charging, reached out his hand to Hong Min-jun with an apologetic expression.

—I have a conscience
ㄴIf you don’t feel sorry for being a jerk, you’re not human.
—I’m really sorry. Your expression is “Real”?
ㄴYour way of speaking is “Really”, Fuck you
—But why did Hong Min-joon’s expression look so rotten?
I feel like I got a fever lol

* * *

A great opportunity that came shortly after the game started.
I was looking for an opportunity at the opposing team’s play, which was ignorantly pushing me with my body, and quickly overtook him. An opposing player who loses balance and falls due to the fluid turn action.

If I keep going like this— for an instant, I’m out of breath.
With the feeling of my body floating, my vision quickly rotated, and a shock came crashing down on me as if my whole body would break.

“Turn it off…”

What the fuck….
It was only when I regained my consciousness that I had been dazed for a moment that I realized what was going on.

‘Fucking ignorant… ‘

Lying on the ground, he grunted and glanced at the referee.
He didn’t even have to pretend to be sick. He was in so much pain that he wondered if he really had a bruise on his side.

Beep!!
Seeing the referee rushing towards me, I thought a yellow card would come out,

“What? Just a foul? Where did you look at this!”

Wouldn’t the referee simply declare a foul and walk away?
The fever stretched out at the sight of not even verbal warning.

“Referee!! Hey, Referee!!”

The chief referee, who had been staring at me indifferently despite my unfair shouts, gestured to me to get up quickly.

‘Fuck.’

The team members who came running late protested around the referee, and the opposing team also ran like crazy and had a great distance with their teammates.

“Levantarse, el mona.”

Spanish speaking with an apologetic expression.

I know this word and its meaning.
Since I haven’t learned much Spanish, I know at least the words I know.

Because, like the saying that the first word you learn in a foreign country is profanity, it was one of the many words that were shouted at me during my sluggish times.

The words that the racist bastards shouted every time.
Monkey el mona.

It’s not the masculine el mono, it’s the feminine el mona.
As I held the handheheld out, I unknowingly looked up at him and asked back.

“What?”

It was a reflexive Korean, but perhaps because of the tone peculiar to question words, the guy kindly spoke again.

“El mona.”

With an apologetic expression on his face.

“…Under.”

This fucking guy
He gritted his teeth and stood up. The pain in the side that is still stiff.

“Hey, Hong! Are you okay? Shall we call the medic?”
“No, it’s fine. I can run.”

After taking a few steps and moving my waist, it doesn’t seem to be a big problem.
I can’t live with regret.

Seeing the guy handing an apology to the referee with an apologetic expression makes me angry.
Inevitably win

The match was restarted after a foul by Monaco.
The distance was too far for a direct free kick, so Chicharo’s indirect free kick curled towards the heads of the crowd of players near the penalty box.

I’m 183cm tall, but I’m not bad, but I’m at the bottom of the offer, so I’m out of competition and wandering around aiming for the second ball.

I prayed for the ball to fall in front of me and watched the trajectory of the ball, so the refracted ball fell in front of me to see whose head was hit by the player who jumped high simultaneously.

‘Chance!’

I tried to connect with a shot right away, but there are too many players blocking the front.
The Monaco player had no choice but to grab the ball, dribble it a couple of times, and then try to shoot, but quickly blocked the front.

At a glance, the player who emphasized the need to be careful during analysis was Montana Alvaro, a famous ‘iron wall’ from Real Madrid.

If you try to shoot like this, you will be blocked by the guy blocking your way, and if you dribble to get through him and run out of time, you will be surrounded by Monaco players.

I faked it as if I was going to shoot in an instant, but Montana Alvaro did not go over.
I hit the shot with the intuition that I wouldn’t be able to hit the shot if I delayed any longer, but

“Clear!”
“Uh…! Stop it! Come back quickly!!”

As expected, the ball that was blocked by the guy’s leg bounced back.
Of course, to Monaco’s striker.

* * *

“Hong Min-joon shot!!”
“Ah~ Unfortunately, the shot from Alvaro of Montana. Huh? Monaco’s Ander Gerrera catches the bouncing ball! It’s dangerous! Frankfurt players need to get back to defense quickly!!”
“Ander Gerrera running fast! Attack and defense 3:3 situation! We have to take the time… Ah, Ander Gerrera’s pass goes to Carlos Fairman. Faces the goalkeeper… Goal. Carlos Fairman. It’s the first goal.”

* * *

I can’t say it was my mistake.
In that situation, it was better to finish the attack than to waste time and risk losing the ball.

It’s just a pity that my shot was blocked by Montana Alvaro, and it was connected to the opponent and became the reason for the loss.

Okay. Regret.
It should be just that much…

“Thank you, monkey.”

My teeth gnashed at the muttering of Alex Richards as he passed me by.
Shit.

The game that followed.
With our team’s promotion, we got several good attacking chances,

Puck!

“Kuh! Referee!”

Courage!

“Fuck you, referee!!”

I had to roll the ground several times due to Alex Richard’s rough play.
Each time, I gritting my teeth, stood up like a tumbler, asked my teammates for the ball, tried to break through again, and it took a long time to get blocked by fouls every time.

The first half was already over.

“It was fun, monkey.”

Hearing the referee’s whistle to end the first half, he grinned as he passed by me, who was standing in a daze.