Whaaaaaaaaaa!!!
The moment massive cheers burst from all around.
It might sound ridiculous, but I feel alive.
“──!!”
Just like the tingling sensation in your throat when you drink a cold cola.
If that tingling sensation could be felt throughout my entire body, could it express how I feel right now?
Perhaps it’s like being electrocuted by a lightning strike.
I feel as though I could shoot a million volts from my body right now.
“···”
But I gulp, forcefully swallowing and suppressing that feeling.
In my heart, I want to run straight to the stands and throw myself into that roaring crowd right now, but this isn’t the time for that.
Tatatat-!
The place I need to run isn’t the stands, but inside the goal.
I sprint like I’m infiltrating the box, pick up the ball rolling around inside the goal, and tuck it under my arm.
I immediately turn around and run toward the halfway line.
Seeing me like that, the teammates who had been running toward me turn back to our half as well.
In the meantime, hearing strange things like, “Hey, you heartless bastard...” I can’t tell if they’ve grasped the situation or if they’re just trying to hold me back, but...
Anyway, feeling like I’ve become a rugby player, I sprint toward the center circle.
“Woooooah!”
“Auuuuuh-!”
“Ah, shit! Go back! You golems!”
Near the halfway line, I can see the captain struggling desperately.
It’s not like they’re zombies, but Nastasić and Milenković are screaming and trying to run over, and the captain is using his whole body to block them and send them back.
...The captain is having a hard time too.
Thwack-!
Anyway, touchdown.
I safely place the ball I brought back in the center of the center circle.
I turn toward the opponent’s half and backpedal out of the center circle.
“···Huu-”
Only then do I let out a deep sigh.
As I said, the most important things in today’s match are composure and patience.
The match has only just begun, so I mustn’t lose those two already.
But it isn’t easy.
Something hot keeps rising from the tips of my toes, trying to surge up my throat.
It’s so hot that the urge to spit it out makes me clench my fists tight.
This counterattack.
To make just this one play succeed, my teammates and I sweated bullets throughout training until we nearly retched.
I want to scream at the top of my lungs and wildly pump my fists at the sky right this instant.
...But I can’t.
It’s not time to celebrate yet.
There’s still a long way to go.
I have to maintain composure and patience until the match ends.
If it breaks this early... I won’t be able to make it to the end.
“···”
In that sense, Romero is impressive.
If it were any other day, he would have run over like a Labrador in water, going crazy and asking how his assist was.
Seeing him quietly returning to our half with his fists clenched, doing his best to hold it in, is nothing short of admirable.
Yeah.
He’s holding it in we... ll...
“···?”
...While I’m praising him internally, Romero, who was heading back to his position, suddenly changes direction and starts walking toward me.
And soon, the Romero standing before me had a face that looked incredibly strained.
How should I put it?
A face like an exorcist fighting a demon sealed within.
That demon was making his Adam’s apple bob as if it were hiccuping.
...Seeing that, even me, who had been holding back, felt my throat burn up again.
I guess this is why you should choose your friends wisely.
Without worrying about who went first, we yelled in each other’s faces and slapped our right hands together.
“Yeeaaaaah!”
“Haaaaaah!”
And then we even bumped chests like gorillas.
Damn it.
I was holding it in so well, but he ruined everything.
“Hurry up and go!”
“Ugh! Going!”
Feeling awkward for no reason, I roughly push Romero’s back.
In the meantime, the opponents already seem ready to resume the match.
“Huu-”
Still, after shouting once, my heart seems to settle down somewhat.
I let out a sigh and check the scoreboard.
05:48
FIO 1 : 0 MCI
As expected, the fastest path must indeed be the most accurate path.
That makes one.
Meaning that, I raise one finger above my head, and somehow another massive roar erupts from the stands.
That sound makes my chest feel hot once again, but—
Beeeeep-!
Now was the time to arm myself with composure and patience once more.
*
[De Bruyne, to the right. Bernardo Silva has come to the right. Looking for an opportunity, he passes back again. Fiorentina’s defense isn’t allowing easy ball distribution into dangerous areas.]
[The lines are incredibly tight. In static situations, it doesn’t look easy to break through.]
[It’s obvious that a two-line defense is hard to break, but isn’t Manchester City a team that does it every match? However, Fiorentina’s defense is good.]
The goal conceded so early.
Thanks to that, the stadium atmosphere was heated to a boiling point.
Manchester City, somehow finding themselves in a chasing position, circulate the ball in the opponent’s half as if aiming for a quick equalizer.
Thwack-!
Thwack-!
However, they can’t easily enter the danger zone and just keep circling around the perimeter.
Fiorentina’s central defense is positioned so tightly that the ball keeps being passed to the sides.
Because the midfielders and even both wingers are participating in defense, spaces aren’t opening up well on the sides either.
Thanks to that, the ball is tracing a U-shape, roaming only the outer edges.
[Speaking of which, while Ri’s presence is of course the number one reason Fiorentina was able to advance to the knockout stage, their greatly improved defensive strength cannot be ignored either.]
[That’s right. Although they conceded as many as 4 goals in the first leg, their record in the group stage was quite good. Fiorentina is also one of the teams with the fewest goals conceded in the league.]
[I suppose Coach Italiano’s defensive tactics have completely settled in with the players.]
[We should see it that way. Nastasić, Milenković—this center-back duo, and even Biragi have shown greatly improved skills.]
If we consider only attacking power, it’s no exaggeration to say there’s no team in all of Europe superior to Manchester City.
Just the existence of the monster striker Erling Haaland, who has already surpassed 20 league goals and is approaching 30, is enough to dismiss any objection.
On top of that, their tactical system where every player, even third-line midfielders and fullbacks, can score is truly overwhelming.
Since they are currently the team with the most goals scored in the Premier League, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that no team possesses firepower stronger than Manchester City’s.
“Keep the line! Center!”
“Don’t go out! Hold your position!”
The first leg was what showed that Fiorentina couldn’t emerge unscathed before that firepower.
Well, it did seem like they were holding up well until the first half.
But the first goal conceded after halftime seemed to trigger a domino effect, and they collapsed in a heap, conceding as many as 4 goals.
In that process, conceding 2 goals to Haaland alone raised concerns about how to stop the De Bruyne + Haaland combination.
It was true that Fiorentina’s noticeably solidified defense played a part in their advancement to the knockout stage, but against Manchester City’s attack, it seemed ineffective.
In the first leg, that is.
[De Bruyne, he threads it through! Ah, but Milenković cuts it out. Milenković safely clears it beyond the touchline. Manchester City’s throw-in.]
[Today, De Bruyne’s passing lanes seem somewhat readable. That needs to open up for Haaland to show his presence as well.]
[Today, Haaland’s presence is still lacking. It seems Fiorentina has prepared well.]
However, even so.
If you ask whether the Fiorentina players felt an absurd wall before Manchester City’s attack like that... it wasn’t exactly the case.
In short, they hadn’t felt that kind of wall where nothing they did could stop it.
Of course, in the face of the fact that they conceded 4 goals, this might sound like nothing but mental victory, but the players themselves thought so.
That as long as they kept their mentality in check and focused well, it wasn’t to the extent that they couldn’t stop them.
No, if I’m being a bit more honest...
In the first leg, while withstanding Manchester City’s attack after the first half began, Fiorentina’s defenders had even thought this.
That maybe they had been too scared for no reason.
Of course, it was clear enough that they could already feel early in the match that the Manchester City players’ skills were above their own.
But it wasn’t as much as they had anticipated while preparing for the match.
The truth is, they were really scared.
Haaland, De Bruyne, Silva, Grealish.
How were they supposed to stop these guys?
But when they actually clashed, they had no choice but to acknowledge that they were top-level players you couldn’t easily meet in the league.
Yet it was absolutely not enough to feel shocking.
So if you ask why they conceded 4 goals... well.
Their mentality crumbled as the second half went on, and from the start, maybe you could say they just failed to stop 4 out of 20 attempts.
Anyway, when the Fiorentina players first exchanged moves with the Manchester City players like that, there was indeed a reason they felt that they could somehow stop them.
[Silva has the ball on the right again. One-on-one with Biragi. He has to try a breakthrough!]
Right flank of the box.
Bernardo Silva, having received the ball, confronts Biragi, who has lowered his stance completely.
Though it might not look like it on the outside, Bernardo Silva is a top-class dribbler in Europe.
To the extent that most defenders known for their quick feet or outstanding physicality can’t even touch the ball when facing Silva one-on-one.
Tatat-!
As that kind of player approaches with his legs swinging, Biragi standing before him is unexpectedly unwavering.
He merely lowers his stance, stares at the opponent’s feet, and waits calmly.
And then...
Tatat-!
The moment Silva does a body feint and cuts to the left at the same time.
Tatat-!
Biragi reacts quickly, follows that direction, and stretches his leg.
That reaction speed is so fast that it feels more like anticipation than a pure reflex.
Thwack-!
Thanks to that, the ball touches Biragi’s toes and bounces far away.
Amrabat catches that ball, and though he ends up clearing it under the opponent’s immediate pressure, Biragi has stopped Silva’s breakthrough once again, succeeding on defense.
Looking utterly frustrated, Silva roughly scratches his head and moves back to the side.
Biragi watches Silva’s retreating figure and nods.
‘I can see it.’
That’s right.
It’s true that the Manchester City players are all monsters.
It’s true that they possess the best skills in Europe that you can’t encounter in the league.
But just because they can’t be met in the league.
Fiorentina’s defenders meet opponents of similar or even higher levels every day.
At the training ground, that is.
Biragi and the other Fiorentina defenders still couldn’t forget the shock of that day.
The day a brat who flew around in the U-17 was called up to the first team and participated in training.
The shock of when they all fell like autumn leaves before that kid with a slender body that looked like he’d fly away if tapped and a baby face.
Compared to the shock of that time, the feeling they got from the first leg against Manchester City couldn’t even be called a shock.
That’s why they rather thought that they might have been too scared.
[No one knows what will happen with a one-goal difference. There’s still quite a lot of time left, so Manchester City is pushing offensively as well. Fiorentina’s defense isn’t opening up easily.]
[The defense is good. Solid.]
Over the recent two years.
The reason Fiorentina was able to rise up so drastically was the stabilization of their defense.
That defense could develop so suddenly was largely due to Coach Vincenzo’s defensive tactics having completely settled into the team, of course.
But perhaps more than that, it might have been because they faced a genius every day at the training ground.
Because when you train with a strong opponent, you can’t help but grow stronger yourself without even realizing it.
“They’re frustrated now! They’re getting impatient! Let’s defend slowly!”
“We can do this! They can’t break through us!”
“Line! Pull a little to the left!”
At the sight of the opponent unable to enter the danger zone easily, the Fiorentina defenders shout to each other in voices brimming with confidence.
The more they do so, the tighter and more solid the defensive spacing between them becomes.
They’ve definitely seen it in the first leg.
That if they hold on and hold on like this, that guy who tormented them so much at the training ground will do it again.
Thinking that gives them strength they didn’t have.
An immense force was supporting Fiorentina’s goal.