Chapter 837: The End of the Game
In fact, anyone who watched on television would be able to see that Higo moved right before Lewandowski whacked the ball, having already covered the left side of his goal two steps ahead.
It was clear that the boy managed to read where the Polish striker wanted to send the ball, and the prediction was correct, as the ball was sent there.
However...
BAM!
The shot was way too powerful, and the aim was straight at the top bins, a spot that was almost impossible for Higo to reach. The goalkeeper gritted his teeth, diving to that side with one hand extended far.
His effort was so close here, as the boy himself felt pressure on that hand. However, with only one hand to block that kind of rocket, Higo couldn’t hold it for too long, and as a result, he failed to deflect the ball away from the goal. If anything, he got pushed back by its power, and the next thing he knew, the ball was already inside the goal, giving Lewandowski what he yearned for most today.
"OH! FINALLY!" The Polish man roared, running straight to the corner spot with great enthusiasm. "COME ON! MY FIRST GOAL!" He screamed; a thick vein could be seen popping on his neck.
Honestly, no one knew what he celebrated here: his first goal in the season or his first goal against Higo. Nevertheless, all the Bayern players followed the celebration, hugging the man while also laughing along to share their excitement.
"Nice, Lewy! It takes a penalty, but you have finally done it, huh?" Thomas Muller grinned while slapping the man on the back of his head.
"Hah! As expected of the best player in the world! It shouldn’t be this hard, but finally!" Jerome Boateng followed with boisterous laughter.
Even their head coach, Hansi Flick, also joined the celebration from the sideline, giving the Polish striker a round of applause. It seemed that the man also knew how hard the striker worked today, so the man definitely deserved to have one.
Meanwhile, Higo just stared at the ball helplessly while also letting his tired body fall to the ground. The others might not know since they were too far from his spot, but he was just so close to stop that penalty shot.
’If only I could be there faster, maybe I could use both hands to stop that shot, right?’ The boy couldn’t help but question himself.
"Come on, Higo! Don’t dwell on it too much." Omar Mascarell came and helped the boy get up from the ground. "If anything, it should be me who is depressed, right? Why are you trying to blame yourself?"
The other defenders also came and gave the boy a pat on his shoulder. Higo himself just grunted, nodding along without saying anything. Still, with only 14 minutes to go, everyone else knew what this goal meant.
It was one that sealed the deal for the home team, as now Schalke would never have a chance to fight back.
Even Frohling himself realized it, as the man just sighed tiredly from the sideline. He tried to make a change, but even when Bayern players were so desperate to score, his team failed to gain even a single chance from the counterattack scenario that he planned, so how could they do it when the home team was way more relaxed and wasn’t in a hurry?
True enough, just as everyone expected, the game slowed down instantly after that second goal, with Bayern Munich deciding to play the tempo and hold the lead until the end of the game. They might still send one or two attacks that could threaten Schalke’s defense, especially from Jamal Musiala and his youthful drive, but Higo didn’t make a mistake for the rest of the game.
Schalke also tried to attack once or twice, with the pressure from Bayern being decreased by miles compared to earlier. Still, their offense failed to create a threat good enough to make Neuer move, let alone sweat.
Hell, they couldn’t even get a shot on target today, showing how bad the team’s offense was.
In the end...
FWEEE! FWEEE! FWEEE!
The referee finally blew the whistle, and the moment Higo heard that, all of his strength finally ebbed away, as he just threw himself on the ground as if his bones had just disappeared. All the adrenaline that kept him awake earlier dissipated instantly, getting replaced by the exhaustion and frustration for losing today’s game.
He was the only one who reacted like this, though. The other Schlake players, while dejected, accepted the defeat easily, having never thought that they stood a chance in this game.
’Yeah, well... What can I expect from a small team like this?’ Higo smiled bitterly. ’No wonder Kumiko-chan and the others always say that I cannot always stay here. Being trapped in this environment and starting to get used to this feeling will be horrible.’
Soon enough, someone—well, two people, to be more exact—suddenly approached him. When Higo turned around, he saw Thomas Muller grinning, while Robert Lewandowski was topless, offering Higo his jersey.
"I win this time." The Polish striker said shortly.
Higo snorted a little, but took off his top immediately. "Don’t get cocky. You know that you are lucky with that penalty, right?" He asked back with a little bit of heat in his tone while also exchanging jerseys here.
𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖
"Well, a goal is still a goal; you cannot deny it." Lewandowski retorted with his heavy accent, being quite stubborn here.
"Yeah, and I also won our last encounter. Remember that penalty that I blocked?" Higo asked back.
Thomas Muller just laughed his ass off as he watched the interaction between those two, finding this to be way more entertaining than any soap opera on the Internet. It was not often for him to see his teammate lose his coolness like this, and yet, Higo always managed to push the right button here.
"Oh, well, you have done your bickering and exchanging jerseys, right?" He smiled playfully, snapping them out of their little banter. "Anyway, good game, Higo. Damn, you are definitely one of the best goalkeepers in the world right now. Keep it up; maybe you will have a chance to play with us in the future!"