287_A Long Misunderstanding -5
[The kicker is Lee Ji-an. The keeper is Andriy Lunin. Will Manchester City’s hero be born, or will Real Madrid’s guardian deity save his team? The whistle has blown.]
[A one-on-one that determines the fate of both teams.]
[Here he goes, Lee Ji-an!]
[Shoot—!]
[Gooooooooooooal—! It’s in!]
[Lee Ji-an has won! Real Madrid is sinking!]
[Lee Ji-an becomes Manchester City’s hero!]
The penalty kick that decides the fate of Manchester City and Real Madrid.
The moment Lee Ji-an’s shot shakes the back of the net.
Wembley is likewise shaken by the roars of Man City fans.
Real Madrid players and fans are devastated as if they have lost the world, while Manchester City players either cheer or fall to their knees, overcome with emotion.
It is the goal that defeats Real Madrid.
At the same time, it is the goal that confirms the Champions League title, the goal that secures back-to-back Champions League victories.
And it is the goal that puts the final stamp on the unprecedented record of back-to-back trebles.
In short, it is the goal of the moment when history is born.
The number on the scoreboard is no different from any other goal, merely worth one.
But to the Man City fans and players, the meaning of that one is close to infinite.
Lee Ji-an created such a goal and even shouldered the responsibility for it.
[Amazing, Manchester City!]
[Lee Ji-an, truly amazing. How can a player like this exist?]
[He is an 18-year-old player. For such a player to step up willingly to a gamble with the team’s history and fate on the line would already be incredible, but he even succeeds at it perfectly!]
[He really has nerves of steel. Look again. He just hammered it straight down the middle. He didn’t even look and hammered it straight down the middle.]
[At this moment, how many people have the heart to take that penalty straight down the middle?]
[I think Lee Ji-an’s greatest strength, above all else, is his mentality. It is not the mentality of an 18-year-old. I have never seen a player this solid.]
Would it be to the left, or to the right?
In that brief moment, Real Madrid’s goalkeeper Lunin had agonized over it nearly hundreds of times.
It was inevitable that he fell deeper into torment, because the player who came out as the kicker had no penalty kick data.
Still, it was a fight of five against five regardless.
Left or right.
The middle was excluded.
Because he could not even imagine that someone would shoot down the middle in such a moment.
Therefore, Lunin could never stop it.
Lee Ji-an planted it right in the spot where Lunin had been standing.
Right in the center of the goal.
A bold penalty kick that made a fool of Lunin, who had dashed to the right after hundreds of deliberations.
[It is a moment that closes a page of history this season, but it also feels like the moment a new history begins. I dare say, that is how I feel right now.]
[What kind of feeling?]
[The feeling when I saw Messi in 2009. Back then, Messi also led Barcelona to a treble, shedding the label of a promising prospect and ascending to the throne as king. And with that, he heralded the dawn of an era. Seeing Lee Ji-an now gives me that same feeling.]
[Predicting the future is an impertinent thing to do, but I cannot help but agree. It seems like the moment another era is opening.]
With great difficulty.
The camera catches Lee Ji-an alone, having escaped the baptism of congratulations from his teammates.
His uniform is dirtied here and there, and his sweat-drenched hair is a mess, but.
He seems to be shining strangely.
With that very refreshed face, Lee Ji-an looks toward the stands occupied by Manchester City fans.
He faces the fans sending tremendous cheers toward him.
He does not seem shy, nor does he look burdened anywhere.
He is simply dignified.
“···”
Having looked around the stands for quite a long while, Lee Ji-an pressed two fingers to his forehead and then sent a salute toward the stands.
*
Beep, beeeep, beeeeeep—!
[The match is over! Manchester City! Champions League champions! They achieve yet another treble, the feat of back-to-back trebles!]
Time delayed by the penalty kick decision, time delayed by the lengthy ceremony.
Even if they scraped together every bit of added time, Real Madrid was not given time to redeem their mistake.
With three blows of the whistle, all Real Madrid players fell to their knees on the spot.
Manchester City players shouted hooray toward the sky.
“YEAH—!”
“COME ON—! COME ON—!”
“WE DID IT!”
It had not been an easy road.
To others, it may have looked easy, like Manchester City won again, like they won as a matter of course.
But there can be no such thing as an easy victory.
If someone appears to accomplish something very easily, it is because of effort made where no one could see.
Nothing in this world is a given.
Where there is a result, there is a process; where there is joy, there is also sorrow.
Results without a process and joy without sorrow cannot give any real emotion.
Manchester City players embrace one another and share their joy.
There are players who smile brightly, and there are players who shed hot tears.
They all seem to be shining.
It is only natural, as they are players who have received the most splendid spotlight in the world at this moment.
But even players who only appear so splendid each have their own darkness.
They have merely climbed to this point by overcoming it.
It is because there were such premium supporting actors that they can be this happy.
As I said, results are overwhelming because there is a process.
Joy is sweet because there is sorrow.
Overcoming can only exist because there is crisis.
One victory, and dozens, tens of thousands of victories, fill the pitch with joy.
“Congratulations.”
“You worked hard.”
At this moment, Real Madrid could not become the protagonists, but they showed the dignity of the defeated.
Even in the midst of frustration, they offer congratulatory handshakes to their opponents and approach their disappointed fans to offer apologies and thanks.
The fans who send applause to such players likewise show the dignity of the team called Real Madrid.
At any rate, today’s protagonist is Manchester City.
Wembley is filled with Manchester City’s chants, and in one corner of the stadium, the name Manchester City is being engraved on the Big Ear in real time.
The second time following last season.
It was the moment Manchester City became the master of the Big Ear.
*
Boom, boom, boom—!
Along with the noisy sound of celebratory cannons.
Die Meister,
Die Besten,
Les grandes équipes,
The champions—!
The Champions League anthem rings out powerfully.
“YEA—!!!”
“WHOA—!”
And in the midst of it.
Manchester City players stand on a podium fluttering with confetti, hopping up and down and reveling in joy.
What captain Kyle Walker is holding high up to the sky is the Big Ear.
The symbol that Manchester City has defended its place at the very top of Europe is being shown to the heavens.
“Ohhhh—”
“YEAH—!!”
They each take turns one by one enjoying the joy of the trophy.
Without a single person being left out, the players with winner’s medals around their necks are called out to the center, lift the trophy, and taste being the protagonist.
“Come on, Jian!”
“Ohhhhhh—”
“YEAH—!!!”
Lee Ji-an likewise lifts the trophy powerfully.
Just before, until the whistle blew signaling the end of the match.
The appearance of a genius who would lead a new era of European football is nowhere to be found.
All that can be seen is simply the appearance of a shy and innocent boy.
Lee Ji-an, who had enjoyed the spotlight with an awkward expression, quickly passes the trophy to the person next to him and slips away to hide among his teammates.
Wembley has long become Manchester City’s alone.
Real Madrid fans have all left their seats, and only Man City fans remain, turning Wembley into the Etihad Stadium.
Players who finished the trophy ceremony step off the podium and bring the Big Ear close to show such fans.
As they circle around following the stands.
They proudly show what they have won.
In response, the fans pour out all the cheers they can muster so the players can feel even prouder.
The party continues for a long time.
The joy remains as an aftertaste showing no signs of disappearing, continuing into the afterparty.
While the fans sing their chants in turn, family and acquaintances of the players enter the ground one by one to share in the joy.
Among them are Kim Ji-woo and Lee Won-hoon.
Both look as if all their energy is drained, but it is clear they are drained from expressing joy.
Their faces are full of smiles.
“Ji-an!”
Kim Ji-woo calls Lee Ji-an’s name with all her strength.
Then, from afar, Lee Ji-an, who had been mixed in among his teammates, turns his head.
When their eyes meet, both Kim Ji-woo and Lee Ji-an smile.
Especially Lee Ji-an’s smile is brighter than when he lifted the trophy, the most refreshed smile in the world.
“Ji-aaaaan!”
Kim Ji-woo runs toward Lee Ji-an with her arms wide open.
Lee Ji-an also runs toward such a Kim Ji-woo.
And the two meet almost as if crashing, embracing each other.
Though both are a mess with sweat, they do not care at all.
“Uuuuaaaah! Ji-aaan! Uuuuaaaah!”
Kim Ji-woo, snugly embraced in Lee Ji-an’s arms, begins to burst into tears like a baby.
At this, Lee Ji-an seems momentarily flustered, but soon chuckles and pats Kim Ji-woo’s back.
Originally, since they were young, Lee Ji-an was the one who cried and Kim Ji-woo was the one who patted.
Now it is the opposite.
But nothing has changed.
Whether it is Lee Ji-an or Kim Ji-woo.
They are still simply by each other’s side.
“Hic, hic···”
Kim Ji-woo, who had buried her face in Lee Ji-an’s chest and cried, barely calms down, hiccups, and looks up at Lee Ji-an.
Lee Ji-an looks down at such a Kim Ji-woo, smiling.
How long did their eye contact last?
That eye contact soon becomes a kiss.
“···Ahem.”
Lee Won-hoon, who had been watching that sight, cleared his throat and slightly turned his head away.
*
“We will now conduct an interview with the protagonist of the Champions League final, the player selected as Man of the Match. Congratulations!”
“Thank you.”
“First, could we hear your feelings and thoughts right now?”
“Uh··· well, first···”
A microphone shoved in front of his mouth.
He wants to say something cool, but his mind refuses to organize itself and the words will not come out.
It is simply blank.
His current feeling is like···
“···It feels like I’ve been reborn.”
“What do you mean? That you’re that happy?”
“Yes.”
He nods his head.
It feels like he has gained the whole world, while at the same time, like he has let go of the whole world.
A feeling that something has finally been completed.
It feels like being reborn, but also like having given birth to something.
I did not bother adding this, since it would feel strange for a man to say such a thing.
“Honestly, it would be a lie to say there was no burden. You came to a team that had already achieved the treble, and with an enormous transfer fee at that. People must have expected moments like today, and while it turned out that way in the end, it must have been a tremendous burden all this time. How were you able to overcome it?”
The burden, was severe.
Tremendously.
But now, it feels like it was nothing.
So he merely shrugs his shoulders.
“I think I overcame it with faith. No matter how things turned out. Thinking of the people who believed in me.”
“In the end, it was support.”
“That’s right. Support gives you strength you didn’t even have.”
“Wonderful.”
Without support and faith, he would have collapsed long ago.
But because it was there to support my back, I was able to not fall backward.
Everyone only looks at my front, but in fact, my back might be the real me.
“At any rate, it is truly an incredible victory. A treble, no less. Back-to-back trebles at that. You scored two goals in the final that completed such a feat and were even selected as MOM. I dare predict, wouldn’t today seem like the happiest day of your life?”
A slight smile flows out at the question.
It really is a happy day.
As happy as when he first played for Fiorentina, as when he scored his first goal in front of Ji-woo.
“That’s right.”
He nods his head.
I think it is correct that it is the happiest day of my life.
However, if asked if it is because of the treble, it is not.
The reason today is the happiest moment of my life is purely
because I received a kiss from Ji-woo, that is all.
“It may be quite an early question since you must not have been able to fully enjoy the joy yet. But since this is a place to wrap up the season, I must ask. You have achieved almost everything achievable in one season. You won the league, the FA Cup, and even the Champions League. To the point where one might wonder if there could be any more goals.”
Looking back now, it really was an absurd year.
“Do you have a next goal? Having achieved everything now, what is your next goal?”
Hmm, well.
It is not that difficult a question.
“Winning the opening match of next season.”
Now that he has solved the most difficult homework and feels refreshed.
All misunderstandings have disappeared.
Thanks to that, from now on, my life’s goal had simply become very easy.