Chapter 97
***
“Chan-hyuk, then shouldn’t you come over to Munich? We are Bayern Munich, after all.”
Philipp Lahm just laughed and brushed off my suggestion.
Well, we had tried to sign him once, but there was basically no chance Lahm would come to Union Berlin.
For German players, Bayern Munich was practically the dream club.
Unfortunately, there was still a clear gap in stature between Bayern Munich and Union Berlin.
'If he was going to another team at all, he would have left long ago.'
Besides, Jürgen Klinsmann would be sacked from the Bayern Munich manager's job before the season ended anyway....
Tweet─!
Anyway, the referee's whistle blew, and the match between Union Berlin and Bayern Munich began. Klinsmann was all smiles.
'Well, if I were managing a team like Bayern, I'd be smiling too.'
Klinsmann sat on the bench as relaxed as could be.
I found myself getting a little nervous.
Since Thomas Tuchel had taken charge of Bayern Munich, Jürgen Klinsmann's tactical approach might have changed a little.
And in the first place, Bayern Munich was a club that bullied others simply by virtue of its sheer size.
Because under Jürgen Klinsmann, they had recorded a whopping 25 wins and 9 draws in 44 matches.
Klinsmann had been sacked because they suffered ten losses.
Bayern Munich were a team that was supposed to dominate the league and win it outright.
'......I'm a little nervous, though.'
But not long after the match began.
I started to get nervous in a rather different way.
'......What kind of tactic is that?'
Because I couldn't make sense of Jürgen Klinsmann's tactics.
***
Bayern Munich's current tactic was simple.
Boot it long from the back, let Luca Toni battle up front, and let Klose and Ribéry create the goals themselves.
It was the classic "just make it happen" football.
'At least there's no U-shaped buildup, so I guess that's a relief.'
For the record, Jürgen Klinsmann's Bayern Munich had problems not only with their attacking tactics, but with their defending as well.
'Come to think of it, didn't Philipp Lahm say in his autobiography that there was no tactical training at all and they only did fitness work?'
Seeing Bayern Munich's current tactics, I could fully understand the shell-shocked look on Lahm's face.
From Thomas Tuchel to Jürgen Klinsmann.
'This is... kind of rough.'
Well... not everyone looked gloomy. Some players even looked relieved.
Tuchel probably wasn't exactly on good terms with the squad, since he wasn't the friendly, easygoing type.
***
'......What is this? It's more manageable than I expected.'
The Union Berlin players, who had been tense at the thought of Bayern Munich last season, strangely started to feel like this match was manageable as it went on.
Union Berlin's Brazilian connection shut down Bayern Munich's attack like an iron wall.
Union Berlin's midfielders dominated the battle in the middle through tactical numerical superiority.
And Union Berlin's forwards kept unsettling Bayern Munich's defenders and creating good chances.
The tension in the Union Berlin players began to ease little by little.
The flow of the match also naturally swung toward Union Berlin.
Yannick Voigt, who had received Luka Modrić's through ball, looked toward the goal.
With Oliver Kahn retired at the end of last season, Michael Rensing was wearing the goalkeeper gloves instead.
Michael Rensing didn't have any of Oliver Kahn's intimidating aura.
He swung his right foot as calmly as he could.
But just as he was about to strike, the ball took an irregular bounce.
Tick─
The ball grazed his foot and flew straight at the goalkeeper.
'Ah...! I hit it wrong.'
The moment Yannick Voigt realized his mistake and clutched his head.
Ripple─.
The ball flew almost straight at the goalkeeper, but still tore through Bayern Munich's net.
Bayern Munich goalkeeper Michael Rensing made a mistake while trying to catch it.
As the ball slipped away from his hands, Rensing shoved it straight into the goal himself.
It was such an absurd mistake that it was hard to believe he was a Bundesliga goalkeeper.
'......Th-this goes in?'
So much so that even Yannick Voigt, who had scored, felt more bewildered than happy.
“Hoooooo─!”
Yannick Voigt, who had stood in front of the goal like a stone statue for a while, only came back to reality after hearing Park Chan-hyuk's “Hoo!”
“......My celebration!”
***
I succeeded in stealing the season's first reaction, or rather, celebration.
The Allianz Arena crowd gave my reaction a donation—no, cheers.
“Boooooooooo─!”
“You bastard!! Are you pouring oil on the fire right now?!”
Honestly, I hadn't expected to succeed at stealing the celebration either.
'......He actually fell for that?'
After Yannick Voigt's goal, I had just stared blankly at the goal for a while.
I couldn't even process the fact that that had gone in.
'......Wait, Yannick didn't celebrate, did he?'
But at that moment, I snapped to attention at the fact that Yannick Voigt hadn't celebrated.
I immediately ran to the corner flag and let out a Hoo!
My obsession with celebrations reacted faster than Yannick Voigt did.
***
“Goooooal─! Yannick Voigt! Yannick Voigt scores the opening goal!”
The moment Bayern Munich's net shook, I burst into cheers.
Because, for Union Berlin, a good record was practically a homonym for their bonuses.
“Ah... this is a fatal mistake by goalkeeper Michael Rensing.”
“That's right. Luck is favoring Union Berlin!”
And at the same time.
The comments section on Naver's overseas football article was heating up too.
[Union Berlin strike first against Bayern Munich. The scorer is Yannick Voigt!]
└ Hell yeah!
└ Wow lol, I thought Munich would just crush them, but Union Berlin scored first?
└ Bundesliga's current No. 1, hell yeah!
└ What the hell is that goalkeeper doing? Did he grease his gloves?
└ I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw him drop the ball.
└ I honestly thought it was match-fixing.
└ Guys, why isn't Son Hong-min in today's squad?
└ He's resting after being called up for the Beijing Olympics.
└ Ah, so that's why the Japanese players aren't here either.
└ But what's with this Park Chan-hyuk personality scandal?
└ I heard Park Chan-hyuk used informal speech to the Oseong Red Wings players after the match.
└ ? Can't a manager at least speak informally?
└ Park Chan-hyuk is way younger than those guys....
└ Huh...?
└ Park Chan-hyuk is 23. He's basically the youngest of the bunch lol.
└ WTF;;;
└ Damn, if Park Chan-hyuk had gone to the military, he'd have gotten the crap beaten out of him.
└ Why didn't Park Chan-hyuk go to the military?
└ Not Park Jeong-ah: He got exempted because he blew out his ACL while doing a celebration.
└ ......Is he a moron?
└ Not Park Jeong-ah: I can't argue with that.
For the record, Park Chan-hyuk using informal speech was just a minor incident caused by him mistaking his own age.
***
The match between Union Berlin and Bayern Munich went on.
This match was one that made it clear why football is a manager's game.
The Bayern Munich that had dominated the league, Champions League, and Pokal last season was long gone.
After conceding the opener, Bayern Munich's players tried to play the way they had last season, but.
Unfortunately, it didn't work on Union Berlin at all.
“Switch to Plan B!”
Park Chan-hyuk spotted Bayern Munich's formation, gave instructions from the touchline, and broke it apart immediately.
At this point, Park Chan-hyuk understood Thomas Tuchel's tactics better than anyone else.
In the first place, Thomas Tuchel's tactics were built on Park Chan-hyuk's future knowledge.
Naturally, Tuchel's tactics carried traces of Park Chan-hyuk's own football philosophy too.
Because it was Park Chan-hyuk who passed those future tactics to Thomas Tuchel.
Anyway.
Park Chan-hyuk turned the Bayern Munich players' own tactics against them.
Fifteen minutes later, Union Berlin succeeded in adding another goal.
Yannick Voigt drew the Bayern Munich defenders out with a dummy run.
That opened space for Robert Lewandowski to slip in.
Luka Modrić's lofted pass went to Lewandowski.
Lewandowski calmly brought it down with his chest, then scored with a low, quick shot.
[Goooooal!! It's in! Union Berlin pull ahead by two! Union Berlin force Bundesliga powerhouse Bayern Munich to its knees!]
└ Wow, holy shit, Union Berlin are absolutely wrecking Munich? What is this? Shouldn't we reevaluate Union Berlin?
└ At least the Oseong Red Wings only got wrecked 10-0, fuck lol
└ It was 10-1.^^
The smile began to fade from Jürgen Klinsmann's face.
***
Meanwhile, at that moment.
Park Chan-hyuk, who had been sitting on the bench, sprang up at Robert Lewandowski's goal.
Daniel Teixeira looked at him and let out a helpless sigh.
“......! Chan-hyuk!”
Suddenly, Park Chan-hyuk collapsed onto the pitch.
“Are you okay? What happened....!”
The Union Berlin staff on the bench rushed over, their faces drained of color.
Park Chan-hyuk gave an awkward smile and spoke to the staff gathered around him.
“I-I got a cramp.”
“Damn it! If you cramped up, at least yell out! I thought you were having a heart attack!”
“If I screamed, I'd look like a girl.”
That day, the Union Berlin players felt the urge to stomp their manager flat.