Became The Premier League’S Youngest Manager [EN]: Chapter 230

Whistle!

“Uaaaaah!!!”

The crowd roared, and the game began with the referee’s whistle.

2023/24 season, UEFA Champions League Final.

White is Real Madrid, the powerhouse of Spain and Europe.

Claret is Burnley, the protagonist of a fairy tale who has just won the English Premier League.

As it is the final match after a long season, the beginning unfolds with a slow probing.

Or rather,

It should have.

“Verdammt! (Damn it!)”

That crazy bastard!

Burnley’s captain, Nicolas Seiwald, desperately moved his legs, watching the number 9 on the white uniform getting further and further away.

Hey, you son of a bitch, you should at least show some respect when meeting your old team and colleagues!

Nicolas Seiwald gritted his teeth at the sight of his friend dribbling the ball and crossing the center of the field as soon as the game kicked off.

Burnley players and Real Madrid players alike wore bewildered expressions.

The only difference was that Real Madrid players looked like they had seen this many times, and Burnley players looked like, ‘Finally, this guy has gone crazy?’

However, the first challenge went in towards Real Madrid’s number 9, Karim Adeyemi, who had already crossed more than half of the midfield.

“Hiss!”

“Too late!”

Burnley’s vice-captain, Tomaso Pobega, made an elegant tackle, but Karim Adeyemi pushed the ball forward slightly to get it out of the tackle’s range, and at the same time, jumped up to get over his old teammate sliding on the grass.

The running speed hardly decreased, and he did not lose control of the ball.

Nicolas Seiwald tried hard not to reveal his absurdity in his voice as he commanded the defense.

“Anel, Anselmo! Protect the center! Be careful of penetration behind the side! Patrick!!”

“I’m already going!!”

As Burnley’s defenders moved in unison with the captain’s instructions, Patrick de Paula, who was also put in as a starter today, responded to the captain’s call while running at full speed.

Nicolas Seiwald glanced at the movements of the Real Madrid players.

Both side attackers, Vinícius Júnior and Rodrygo, are slowly moving up to a position where they can support the attack, and the midfielders are also slowly strolling up, but they don’t seem to have much expectation.

After confirming that it was not a planned counterattack, Nicolas Seiwald turned his eyes back to his defense.

In that short moment, Karim Adeyemi had already reached the top of the penalty box.

Unfortunately, Patrick de Paula, who is desperately chasing after him, is still far away.

Instead, there was a figure blocking Karim Adeyemi.

“Yo, Karim!”

Burnley’s experienced center back, Anel Ahmedhodžić.

“Hi, Anel. Bye, Anel!”

Karim Adeyemi, who greeted and said goodbye at the same time at a rapid pace, suddenly lowered his left shoulder and leaned his upper body to the left without slowing down.

“Huh?!”

As Anel Ahmedhodžić instinctively moved to the right, Karim Adeyemi slid to his right, breaking through Burnley’s center back in an instant.

“Crazy!!”

Anselmo Garcia McNulty, Anel Ahmedhodžić’s central defense partner, who had been watching the situation from two or three steps behind, rushed forward with a curse.

Anselmo Garcia McNulty was recruited in the last 2022/23 season when Karim Adeyemi was active for Burnley, but he was effectively facing him for the first time as he went on loan to Basel, Switzerland for just one season.

Against a young ace with an almost legendary reputation in many ways among Burnley players, the young but naturally talented defender instinctively took his position.

It is possible to continue to break through to the right, but that would only narrow the shooting angle as it moves further away from the goal.

And since goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell is waiting behind, if we narrow the shooting angle like this…!

“Tch!”

Karim Adeyemi clicked his tongue as he read his opponent’s thoughts.

But there’s no way around it.

Breaking through to the left was removed from the options against the defender who was fully prepared to block it unconditionally.

If he breaks through head-on, it will end with him just bumping into the defender standing in place and bouncing back.

In the end, Karim Adeyemi, who had no choice but to choose the path forced by Burnley’s young defender, who was even younger than himself, inevitably moved to the right and took a strong shot as soon as he saw the goal.

“Uaaaaah!!!”

Amid the cheers and lamentations of the crowd, Bailey Peacock-Farrell lightly reached out and caught the ball flying straight at him.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

The goalkeeper, who secured the ball in his chest, asked his old colleague with an incredulous expression.

“Oh, well. I wanted to say hello because I was happy to see you!”

At the sight of Karim Adeyemi smiling, Burnley’s defense sighed and shook their heads in unison.

“Hey, what do your manager and colleagues say when you do that?”

Anel Ahmedhodžić, who had recovered from the shock of being beaten, asked, and Karim Adeyemi shrugged.

“Well, everyone doesn’t say anything because I score a lot of goals?”

“Hmm….”

That’s true.

It’s true, but hearing it from the opposing team makes me feel….

“…It’s starting to get annoying?”

***

“Hmm….”

Hyeongmin, who was watching the game with his arms crossed in the technical area [the area near the field where coaches and staff can stand during a match], made a sound.

Karim Adeyemi’s surprise attack at the kick-off seemed to be solely the player’s own decision, and the other Real Madrid players did not show any particular movement.

And then Burnley’s attack came.

As expected, Real Madrid players retreated and solidified defensively, and Burnley, led by Nicolas Seiwald, Tomaso Pobega, and Patrick de Paula, took control of the midfield and began to gradually pressure Real Madrid with forward pressure.

But why am I so anxious?

Hyeongmin glanced at coach Carlo Ancelotti, who was watching the game with a calm face in the next technical area, and then turned his gaze back to the stadium to explore the source of the anxiety he felt in his heart.

I’m anxious.

I’m very anxious about something.

“What are you so anxious about?”

Hyeongmin was startled by the voice that suddenly popped out from the side.

“Damn it! You scared me!”

Burnley’s head coach, who came out to the technical area with her blonde hair fluttering, stood next to the manager with his arms crossed and watched the game, asking again.

“What are you so anxious about?”

“Hey, am I walking around with it written on my back? That I’m anxious?”

Carolina, who glanced at her friend and boss, chuckled.

“Hey, I’ve been looking at your back for two years now, how could I not know that? Paulo, Taejin, and everyone else knows. I can tell just by looking at your back.”

“Oh, is that so….”

Hyeongmin, who was about to let his emotions flow elsewhere for a moment, refocused his mind and turned it back to the game.

“Something feels uneasy….”

“So, what is it?”

“Hmm…. Everything.”

It is natural for Real Madrid to retreat and operate conservatively against Burnley, whose strengths are strong forward pressure and counterattacks.

But isn’t it too obvious?

In other words, because it is so obvious, Burnley would have expected this, but Real Madrid went with it as it is?

If the manager is simply a nice person and good at motivating, it is difficult to survive even in the youth team of a large European club.

Carlo Ancelotti, who was a midfielder with a genius sense as a player and is called a cunning fox as a manager, is just going to continue the game with his tactics all read like this?

Carolina, who heard Hyeongmin’s anxiety, slowly nodded.

“You’re uneasy that they used the same trick that we would have already expected. Isn’t it just that we guessed well?”

“Hmm… It would be easier to think that way, but… it’s too easy.”

Hyeongmin shook his head.

“Above all, we know Karim well too. He has a lot of jokes, but does that mean he would do such a unilateral action in such a big game without the manager’s instructions? Just for fun? There’s no way.”

Despite having such excellent offensive power, he is a striker who is more disciplined than anyone else in defense and pressing.

No matter how pleasant his natural personality is, there is no way that such a player would not approach the game with a serious attitude.

Especially in a huge game like the UEFA Champions League final.

“If it’s not that and it’s not this, then what is it?”

Hyeongmin tilted his head at Carolina’s question.

“I don’t know. I’m anxious because I don’t know.”

“Hmm….”

Carolina, who had her arms crossed next to him, also fell into thought.

And the anxiety of the two people revealed its identity less than 10 minutes after the game started.

***

“Vinícius!”

The start was a shout from Real Madrid’s defense.

Real Madrid, who had been crouching in their own territory and enduring the attacks that Burnley was pouring in, launched a counterattack in an instant.

Real Madrid’s left side defender, David Alaba, who succeeded in preventing Emanuel Vignato, who was starting as Burnley’s right side attacker, from penetrating into the penalty box, called his teammate’s name with a long shout.

Following the sound, a white ball fiercely spinning cut through the air.

The Austrian national teammate of Nicolas Seiwald sent a pass that crossed the field diagonally at once with elegant footwork.

The ball, which instantly pierced through the midfielders of Real Madrid and Burnley who were entangled, excluded Burnley’s attack team, Real Madrid’s defense team, and even Burnley’s side defenders who had participated in the attack from the game at once.

Could it be that they were unknowingly absorbed in beating Real Madrid?

With too many Burnley players up to the front line, a counterattack situation suddenly occurred with 3 attackers against 2 defenders.

“Ah!!”

Hyeongmin let out a cry mixed with exclamation and lamentation from the technical area, but it was already too late.

Real Madrid’s right side attacker, Vinícius Júnior, who received a long-range pass with the sideline on his back, immediately began to rush into Burnley’s penalty box.

“Block him!!”

With Burnley’s goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell’s resolute shout, center back Anselmo Garcia McNulty rushed out at full speed.

Anselmo Garcia McNulty is a much more instinctive and aggressive defender than Anel Ahmedhodžić, who boasts sophisticated defense and passing.

The young defender, who sensed that allowing the opposing team’s attacker to enter the penalty box would lead to a score, ran at full speed and tackled with both feet spread out as soon as he crossed the penalty box boundary line.

First of all, the best thing is to block the attack by catching the ball.

In the worst case, cut it off with a foul even if you knock down the opponent player.

However, the young attacker from Brazil betrayed the desperate expectations of Burnley’s young defender with a smile revealing his white teeth.

“Vinícius!”

The name is called again this time.

But the location is much closer.

Burnley’s young defender, Anselmo Garcia McNulty, who was sliding on the grass, looked at Real Madrid’s young ace passing by his right with a desperate look.

And the ball that left Vinícius Júnior’s feet drew a light arch, passed over Anselmo Garcia McNulty’s legs, and fell in front of Karim Adeyemi’s feet.

Thud.

Without slowing down, he lightly puts out his right foot to control the ball, and then pushes the ball forward again with his left foot.

Anel Ahmedhodžić, who has a desperate expression on his face, is approaching quickly from the front, but Karim Adeyemi was not in a hurry.

He had already checked the movements and speed of Burnley players in defensive situations as soon as the game started.

Thanks to David Alaba’s sharp pass, it will take a long time for Burnley players to come and support.

Karim Adeyemi, who faced Anel Ahmedhodžić with ease, smiled and lowered his left shoulder once again while tilting his left upper body.

“You son of a bitch!!”

Anel Ahmedhodžić, who was in despair, spat out a curse.

It’s a checkmate.

No, is it closer to a gamble?

Is the trick he suffered as soon as the game started being repeated, or is he really going to the left this time?

Anel Ahmedhodžić, who wanted to close his eyes tightly but was agonizing while fixing his gaze on Karim Adeyemi, chose to anticipate the trick again.

Only about one breath, no, half a breath of time.

“Just kidding!”

However, Karim Adeyemi really broke through to the left with a playful shout at Anel Ahmedhodžić’s choice.

First, his left foot pushes the ball to the left, and the already tilted upper body adds inertia to it and rushes forward.

Anel Ahmedhodžić, whose body was already leaning to the opposite side, desperately stretched out his right foot to stop Karim Adeyemi’s breakthrough, but the young attacker, who was once Burnley’s ace, lightly jumped over his old colleague’s desperate defense.

“Bailey!!”

While turning his body, Anel Ahmedhodžić desperately called out the goalkeeper’s name, but soon gritted his teeth at the desperate situation that came into his eyes.

Karim Adeyemi, who had already passed more than half of the penalty box in that short time he turned his body, was leisurely going around goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell, who was desperately throwing his body while pushing the ball to one side.

He passed by the goalkeeper’s desperate face sliding on the grass, and Karim Adeyemi, who faced the empty goal, gently pushed the ball inside.

“Uaaaaah!!!”

Amid the Real Madrid fans who succeeded in scoring the first goal with a counterattack in an instant, simultaneously erupting into a loud shout, silence lingered behind Burnley’s goal where Burnley fans were sitting.

Burnley fans silently watched Karim Adeyemi, who raised one hand and gestured to them that he was sorry while stopping his cheering teammates.

One of the Burnley fans, who was silently watching the ace who left the team, slowly raised both arms and started shouting.

“Karim! Adeyemi!”

“He’s the man!”

“Karim! Adeyemi!”

“Lead us to glory!”

“Karim! Adeyemi!”

One of the shouts that filled Turf Moor [Burnley’s home stadium] until last season.

A song and a desperate request for the ace who always appeared in times of crisis and saved the team.

One or two Burnley fans began to sing along with applause to the cheer that had not been sung for the past season.

“Karim! Adeyemi!”

We have not forgotten you, even though you are now a member of another team.

The fans were finally saying goodbye to the young ace, who said he would always leave half of his heart in Burnley on the day he left Burnley, by borrowing the biggest stage.

Amid the unexpected situation, Real Madrid fans became quiet, and Karim Adeyemi, who was standing silently with his head bowed as if his heart was full, raised his left hand and placed it on the right chest of his uniform where the Real Madrid emblem was not embroidered.

“Karim! Adeyemi!”

The fans’ shouts echoed even louder at the sight of the young attacker turning around quietly with his head bowed.

UEFA Champions League Final.

7 minutes into the first half.

The score is 0 to 1.

Real Madrid started to take the lead with a fatal counterattack, but Burnley fans were using this moment as a time to send off their precious ace.

“Karim! Adeyemi!”

“He’s the man!”

“Karim! Adeyemi!”

“Lead us to glory!”

“Karim! Adeyemi!”

“You are our hope!”