Lazy Genius Striker [EN]: Chapter 155

< 154. Special Assistant >

‘What is this?’

The Juventus players were bewildered upon arriving at London Stadium on the day of their Champions League Round of 16 match.

They were confused whether this was London Stadium or a Johan exhibition.

“This is too blatant.”

“There’s no player greater than Juventus, but there is a player greater than West Ham. It just shows West Ham’s status is only this much.”

“Are there no pictures of other players? Are they admitting they’re a one-man team?”

“Haha!”

It’s hard to tell if this is a soccer club or a fan club.

The Juventus players, wearing smiles of ridicule, passed through the corridor noisily towards the away team’s dressing room.

Then, the players paused briefly as they passed one side.

It was a display case exhibiting Johan’s Ballon d’Or.

“What a precious treasure it must be to display something like that at the stadium.”

“It must be precious. It’s the first time in history.”

“How many do we have? Was it seven?”

“Eight, you idiot. Why are you reducing it by one?”

“There are so many, it’s confusing.”

The players soon burst into laughter again.

In fact, five players have won the Ballon d’Or while playing for Juventus.

Among them, Michel Platini won it three times, bringing the total to eight.

That’s one more than Lionel Messi.

Juventus is one of the few clubs with more Ballon d’Or awards than Messi.

The players laughed as if they found it amusing that the club was showing off with just one trophy.

“…”

However, there must have been a reason why they paused when they saw the trophy.

Juventus has eight Ballon d’Or awards, but none of the current players possess any of them.

The last award was in 2003 by Pavel Nedvěd, a whole 26 years ago.

On the other hand, the protagonist of the trophy on display is playing in today’s game.

Just like the phrase written on the display case.

Tch.

That’s ridiculous.

The Juventus players scoffed.

However, all the players heading to the dressing room couldn’t help but have one thought on their minds.

‘We have to stop Johan. We only need to stop Johan.’

It would be a lie to say they weren’t afraid of the 17-year-old Ballon d’Or winner, and the striker currently in the best form in the world.

Perhaps because they had plastered the place with his image, Johan’s scoring scenes seemed to flicker before the players’ eyes.

*

I was confident that wouldn’t happen, but as the game day approached.

The West Ham players had rather nervous faces.

West Ham is a team with a relatively young average age.

Of course, Johan lowers the average a lot, but even without him, most of them are young.

Naturally, they lack experience.

Moreover, it’s their first time in the Champions League knockout stage.

It would be stranger if they weren’t nervous.

Before the game, Coach Schmidt said various things to ease the players’ tension.

The core of those words was one thing.

Don’t think about anything else, just focus on this moment.

It was a story that coincided with the phrase engraved by the club owners.

Juventus is a traditional powerhouse.

However, what we’re facing today isn’t the Juventus of the past and the West Ham of the past.

It’s the current Juventus and the current West Ham.

If you think about it that way, there’s no need to be nervous or intimidated at all.

“Who are we!”

“The undefeated Premier League leaders!”

“Who do we have at West Ham!”

“The Ballon d’Or winner, the best striker in the world!”

“Good! Let’s go!”

“Let’s go!”

The players shouted, their fighting spirit high, and went out to the stadium, where the atmosphere was electric.

“…It’s the tournament.”

“If we win two games, we’re in the Champions League quarterfinals. We’ll be among the eight strongest teams in Europe.”

Listening to the Champions League theme song echoing in London Stadium, Ban Seok-ho and Rohan swallowed hard.

West Ham had already played a tournament-level group stage.

However, the feeling of a real tournament is bound to be different.

The opportunity is only twice.

In those two games, the winner and loser are decided, and only one team can go to the quarterfinals.

At such an important crossroads, they happened to meet Juventus as their opponent.

The fact that players they had only seen on TV or in games were standing on the field at London Stadium was surreal.

Of course, it would be even more unrealistically ecstatic if they beat those players.

“We have to win at home no matter what. That’s the only way there’s a chance.”

“Let’s cheer even louder today.”

“I’m forever blowing bubbles!”

Along with the Hammers’ [West Ham’s supporters] thunderous cheering,

“Beeeep-!”

The game started.

*

‘This is annoying. Really.’

As soon as the game started.

Johan felt considerable annoyance.

To be more precise, it was bothersome.

Even though the ball was far away, in a situation completely unrelated to the ball, the opposing players were rubbing against him.

Even the fans aren’t this annoying.

Tuk-!

See?

They’re doing it again.

He’s looking towards our goal, but he subtly taps me from behind.

In the meantime, he’s afraid of getting caught by the referee, so he pretends to walk past forward and then turns back.

“…”

Johan looked around.

There were four players loitering within a 20-meter radius around him.

Of course, the two opposing center backs, Barzagli and Marchisio, as well as the left and right backs, were leaning towards the center, standing narrowly.

Thanks to that, the left and right spaces were wide open, and Bailey and Buckley were standing in those spaces, seemingly not paying much attention.

It’s quite blatant.

Of course, this wasn’t an unfamiliar experience.

Rather, it was a familiar situation.

The team had anticipated this and had been training for it.

It wasn’t a bad thing.

However, while it might not be bad for the team, Johan himself was just annoyed.

‘Well, this is good.’

Well, let’s try to think as positively as possible.

In this situation, it would be easy to grant Capello’s request.

Capello wanted to score a goal himself.

If I create a few goals for Capello, he’ll grant my request too.

And I might be able to get these sweaty old men to leave me alone.

“Hmm.”

But, to do that, receiving the ball is the priority.

It’s not easy to receive the ball while standing among these old men.

I can physically block one or two of them and compete, but the rest are the problem.

There’s no way to stop them from jumping out and cutting off the pass during the competition.

In the end, I have to move a bit.

It seems unavoidable, though it’s annoying.

If I hadn’t eaten the donut, I wouldn’t have had to do this.

But I ate it deliciously without my dad knowing, so I can’t just wipe my mouth clean.

“…”

He subtly moves to the left.

Then, the sweaty old men also slowly follow.

Then who’s going to block the center?

‘Hmm.’

As the two center backs lean to the left, the opposing defensive midfielder is seen coming down.

Is that guy filling the empty spot?

Then, his original spot is empty again.

That empty space,

“…!”

Capello seemed to have caught it.

Tata tat-!

Slowly passing the ball around, Capello suddenly speeds up and dribbles the ball past the halfway line.

Nevertheless, the defenders surrounding Johan didn’t seem to have any intention of returning to their original positions.

As if they were determined to stop Johan even if it meant leaving the most important stronghold, the front of the arc [the semi-circular area in front of the penalty box], empty.

As if Capello’s choice was to make a killer pass to Johan anyway.

‘I like it even more.’

Capello, who was dribbling the ball, glanced at Johan, and their eyes met for a moment.

Johan nodded slightly, and Capello looked straight ahead after averting his gaze, and then,

Buh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-!

He tried a long-range shot as it was.

Shooooooooong-

Paah-!

Ah, too bad.

It was a well-kicked shot with his weight on it, but it was blocked by the keeper’s save.

I know that goalkeeper’s face too.

The keeper I met in the game against the Italian national team.

Perhaps because he had played with Capello on the national team, he seemed to have read the direction of the shot in advance and ran.

“Beeeep-! Corner!”

Because Capello’s shot hit the keeper’s hand and went out of the goal line, the game continued with a corner kick.

*

“It’s tricky.”

“It’s quite blatant. Today, Bolerović is almost a stopper [a central defender] rather than a defensive midfielder.”

“In defense, it’s practically a five-back.”

“They’re not worrying about balance and just trying to stop Johan.”

Watching West Ham’s corner kick chance go astray and the game resume with a goal kick.

Ban Seok-ho and Rohan stroked their chins.

“To be honest, that’s right.”

“If I were the Juventus coach, I would have done that too.”

Certainly, Juventus is not an easy team.

Especially in terms of defense, it would be difficult for most of the strong teams in the Premier League to keep up with Juventus.

It seemed that how Johan would overcome that would be the key point.

Whether he would ignore all tactics with his monstrous individual ability and stubbornly score a goal as usual.

Or whether he could show other methods as well.

“From a team perspective, it would be nice if a goal came from the other side.”

“Yes. That would be effective. It would complicate the opponent’s mind. But I also want to see Johan overcome it alone.”

“Then Juventus’s mentality will also collapse. Like, ‘Can’t we stop him even if we do this?'”

Either way is fine.

As long as the first goal comes from West Ham’s side.

Like all games, today’s game seemed to have a particularly significant meaning for the first goal.

The stage is the Champions League Round of 16 first leg.

The opponent is the historic Serie A champion Juventus.

If they could score the first goal in this situation, the tension would be greatly relieved and confidence would soar.

Conversely, if they conceded the first goal, the exact opposite would happen.

“No, you can’t let people get away!”

“Phew- Thank goodness. That was dangerous just now.”

In the ensuing Juventus attack, a sharp shot was fired by Juve’s striker, Vlahović, who received a pass from the deep-lying playmaker, Bolerović.

Fortunately, it went wide of the goal, but it was a scene where the defense was not perfect.

If Johan had gotten that chance, they would have conceded a goal without a doubt.

It’s a relief that it’s Vlahović.

“Certainly, Juve isn’t just a team with defense.”

“Maybe it’s the attack that’s feeding Juve these days.”

Of course, Vlahović is not a bad striker.

It’s just compared to Johan, Vlahović is rather a top-class striker.

Juventus’s attack is by no means weak.

Therefore, if they want to get the first goal on this side, it seems that there won’t be much time given.

If possible, it would be nice if Johan could quickly score a goal.

*

‘It seems more comfortable on this side.’

Johan scratched his head.

Indeed, Grandpa’s words are worth listening to.

Perhaps because I’ve been scoring goals diligently so far, the defense automatically sticks to me even if I just stand still.

Thanks to that, empty spaces were opening up for my teammates even if I didn’t do anything hard.

I’m helping my teammates even though I haven’t done anything.

In the process, there were several shots from Capello.

But the precision of the finish is disappointing.

In addition, Capello seemed to lack the breakthrough ability to get past the last defender alone.

All of the shots so far were shots close to long-range shots, taken with one defender in front.

If he could just get past one more defender, he could have a more certain chance.

‘Do I have to help with that too?’

Hmm.

It seems like I’m helping enough just by doing this much, but it seems like Capello needs to be completely spoon-fed.

Then, shall I try doing that?

Paah-

Paah-!

Teammates passing the ball around near the halfway line.

Johan was standing on the left side from Juventus’s perspective, and on the right wing forward position from West Ham’s perspective.

Then, when Capello grabbed the ball and started trying to advance again.

‘Now.’

Johan ran.

The direction was towards the halfway line.

It wasn’t a rush towards the goal, but a reverse direction.

With that movement, which was the opposite of the general concept, the defenders who were sticking to Johan were seen hesitating.

They seemed to be wondering whether to follow or keep their positions.

Thanks to that, Johan became free for a moment.

“Hey!”

“…!”

When Johan shouted, Capello looked that way.

In a fleeting moment, Capello understood what movement Johan wanted and passed the ball.

Paah-!

The pass is delivered to Johan.

Johan received the pass and dribbled the ball towards the center.

At the same time, the opponent midfielders’ fierce pressure is applied to Johan.

However, it was not easy for the midfielders to stop Johan, who even ordinary defenders could not stop.

Johan protected the ball with ruthless physicality and soft technique, and crossed the field, thanks to which the eyes of all Juventus players were drawn to Johan.

That’s what Johan was aiming for.

Buh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-!

The pass from Johan’s foot stretched out towards the front.

Capello was continuing to run towards the penalty box. Capello accurately understood Johan’s intention.

Johan’s lobbing through pass flew exactly there.

Shooooooooong-

It was exquisite.

The timing of the kick, the direction, the height, and the strength, even the spin.

Tuwoong-!

The pass, which exquisitely passed over the head of the opposing defense whose attention had been taken away by Johan, fell inside the box, and the backspin caused the speed to drop sharply, stopping in a way that was ambiguous for the keeper to come out and handle.

A perfect meal was prepared for Capello.

Buh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-!

No other control was needed.

Just like putting a spoon on a ready-made table, all he had to do was kick the shot.

Capello kicked a shot that was laid down towards the left corner of the goal,

Chwaaaaaaaa-

Thud-!

Juventus’s goal was opened.

“Waaaaaaaaaaaat-!”

A huge shout erupted from the stands.