GOAT: All Football Talents Are Mine

170. The upcoming decisive battle day (3)

Friday, December 12th, Barcelona 1st Training Center.

A day before El Clásico, Pep Guardiola was looking at the training ground field with his arms crossed and looking dissatisfied.

"Why is everyone so excited the day before the game?"

"It's almost Christmas. "My heart melts without me even realizing it."

The person who answered next to him was head coach Tito Vilanova.

The two, who had a close relationship beyond their official relationship, were like sworn brothers and were perfect partners who were always of great help to each other.

Villanova, who knew Guardiola to his core, spoke straight away.

"I'll go and talk to you, so stop worrying and stop thinking about it. "It seems like there is a lack of preparation for Woo Ho-young."

Now, one day before the final battle.

Guardiola's mind was still full of worries.

It was none other than Woo Ho-young.

In fact, the general opinion was that Raul, who is ranked among the top scorers, and Robben, who is ranked among the top scorers and assisters, were more dangerous, but looking at their recent actions, this was not the case again.

It was a foolish idea to consider Woo Ho-young as a lifelong prospect.

Of course, he is still a promising player, but he was already a key player for Real Madrid.

For example, like Lionel Messi.

Therefore, it was necessary to respond thoroughly.

At least Guardiola thought so.

"I know it well because I've been watching it since last year. That guy is an amazing guy. "He shows unbelievable dominance against weak teams, but also plays without being intimidated by strong teams."

Well, that was the first problem.

There are almost no ups and downs.

And the second is…

"Up front build-up and playmaking. "If we don't stop that, we won't be able to easily defeat Madrid."

I don't know how many times I've seen Woo Ho-young's performance as an attacking midfielder in the King's Cup early last month.

I was impressed no matter how many times I watched the game at that time, when I was in charge of both forward build-up and playmaking.

"The synergy effect with my team members is tremendous. There is no trace of discord. Everyone believes in Woo Ho-young's talent, and he is doing his part to maximize the team's offensive power. "He's a guy who has the DNA of a helper and a protagonist at the same time."

He is the licorice of the team and is indispensable to the team.

That's exactly what Pep Guardiola thinks Woo Ho-Young's current status is.

"Pep you're right. Still, if he has a flaw, he is too young. Besides, Asians have relatively slow development, right?"

"You're welcome. Woo Ho-young's biggest weapon is 'age'. At that time, all possibilities are open. Just like putting fruit in a juicer and spinning it, young people can squeeze out all their talents. If I had taken charge of him, he would have already reached Messi's level. "If you have that level of talent, it should be enough."

"Are you saying you're going to bring that kid to Barcelona? "Why don't we just hope that one day Perez gets dementia?"

"Who knew that Luis Figo would move to Real Madrid? "You don't know what people do."

Guardiola had a strong desire to coach Woo Ho-young one day.

Because he was such an attractive player.

Since ancient times, any director would have wanted to work with Woo Ho-young.

But this time, it was a target that had to be defeated.

No, breaking it wasn't enough.

We had to stop them from threatening Barcelona again.

Guardiola spoke again.

"Schuster is most likely to come up with a strategy centered on Woo Ho-young."

"Then we should focus on him as we prepared."

"But there is relatively little information about it."

The report on Raoul was extensive enough to be published as a book, but the information on Woo Ho-young was incomparably small.

So the answer was fixed.

"We suppress our opponents with our play."

Guardiola, who went straight to the training ground after the conversation, watched the players' movements and pointed out any mistakes one by one.

Whenever I saw players not running with all their might, I immediately scolded them.

He seemed closer to a teacher than a director.

But few people were dissatisfied with this.

This is because the team's current performance was verifying Guardiola's skills.

It was difficult to find distrust among them.

widely.

It was then that Guardiola caught something unsatisfactory.

It was Lionel Messi attempting to penetrate into an empty space.

At that moment, Guardiola urgently called out his nickname.

"Leo! stop!"

"yes?"

"Try to stick to your position except when you have to switch. Our offense cannot end with passing and movement alone. Positioning is the most important thing. Did you understand?"

"Oh, I understand."

Guardiola instilled his football philosophy into his players in that way.

That was what they would do in El Clasico.

next day.

Early in the morning, a phone rang at Hoyoung's house.

Lucci, who happened to be sitting on the sofa, received it.

-It's a club. Did Woo Ho-young wake up?

"yes. "I just went to take a shower."

-All right.

It was a call from the club to check on Hoyoung's condition.

In order to be in optimal condition in time for the game, the club even set bedtime and wake-up times.

El Clásico was such an important match.

Isn't this a rare rivalry in which many factors such as society, culture, politics, war, and history are intertwined?

If Real Madrid and Barcelona fought with guns and swords decades ago, they are now fighting with soccer balls.

It was natural to manage special soldiers who would participate in the war.

Crash.

After finishing his shower, Hoyoung went out of the house and lightly warmed up.

The moon in the night sky looked particularly bright.

'El Clasico.'

Who knew this day would come so soon?

Little by little, the dream I had kept deep in my heart grew bigger and eventually became a reality.

The best stage of the Spanish league.

The world's greatest rivalry stage.

I was able to stand tall in the middle of it all tonight.

I was thankful for everything in the world.

The cold wind cooled my warm heart.

"Whoa!"

Now the night air is cold.

And that was the moment I entered the house again.

"Hoyoung-kun called. "It's a cell phone."

"At this time?"

When I answered the phone, a happy voice rang in my ears.

"Oh, you're Monica?"

-huh. I called to tell you to cheer up.

"How at this hour? "It's bedtime, right?"

-I'm doing it secretly. You have to get in quickly. I will be cheering you on, so you have to cheer up. Don't get hurt. Then I'll go!

"Wait a minute, Monica. At Christmas time…

– Wow. He's a security guard.

Dudu….

2 o'clock in the morning.

After saying those words, Monica disappeared like the wind.

Although the conversation was short, it was valuable.

"Then let's leave now."

3 o'clock in the morning.

Hoyoung arrived in Valdebebas and participated in the last dawn training.

It was around 10 a.m. when the team bus carrying Los Blancos left for Madrid Airport.

And their private plane was headed to Barcelona Airport in Catalonia, an hour away by plane.

While about 2,000 Real Madrid fans who came early in the morning warmly welcomed the team, the players waved and boarded the team bus prepared in advance.

Everything was excellent.

Until we reach the parking lot of the Juan Carlos Hotel, where we will take a nap.

But the problem arose from there.

Cough! Kang!

"Holy shit. "What is this?"

Pepe, who was leaning his head against the window, let out a curse.

There was a loud banging sound on the bus, and the windows began to crack.

That's right!

Paang!

Barcelona's extreme fans, disguised as madridistas, were throwing stones all at once.

The inside of the bus was truly chaotic.

It was right then.

"right! "Bow your head!"

Zidane, who remembered Hoyoung leaning against the window, raised his voice.

Hoyoung, wondering what kind of situation this was, was already crouching down.

The situation was immediately brought under control by security guards.

In the process, members of Real Madrid's security team were injured, but fortunately, none of the players were injured.

"You crazy bastards!"

"You damn bastards."

The bus was filled with swear words.

This wasn't the first time this had happened.

It was a very rare accident that occurred not only in Barcelona but also in away games against other clubs such as Sevilla and Valencia.

Malicious fans exist in every team.

Depending on the severity of the situation, a prison sentence may be imposed, but usually such people are banned from entering the stadium for several months and fined 5 million won.

But to malicious fans, that was nothing.

They were satisfied as long as they could break Real Madrid's morale.

As expected, the confrontation between the two teams was quite severe this season.

Real Madrid and Barcelona are fighting for one point.

Real Madrid's Woo Ho-young threatens Barcelona's symbol, Lionel Messi.

Moreover, since it was a game taking place before the Christmas break, more attention was paid to it.

When the situation was somewhat settled, Casillas, who was crouching right next to me, asked.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Oh yeah. thank you."

Hoyoung calmed his shocked heart.

There were no injuries, but the real problem came afterward.

1:00 pm.

Some of the players who lay down on their hotel room beds after lunch couldn't sleep.

Even if I closed my eyes, I couldn't sleep.

Sleep was necessary to adjust the body clock to optimal conditions, but the players, who were shocked by the previous incident, were unable to sleep easily.

In the end, the coaching staff quickly brought in skilled sleep therapists to help the players sleep better.

It was two hours later when Hoyoung fell asleep.

And it was in the distant darkness that Real Madrid's team bus arrived at Camp Nou, Barcelona's home stadium.

Bang!

Motorcycles and large police vehicles opened the way, and Real Madrid's white team bus passed through the narrow passage, honking its horn.

This place, filled with so many people, was literally the scene of a riot.

"Hey Puta!"

"Prostitutes who sell their bodies to the dictator!"

"Go out and search, Futa Madrid!"

Many people were raising their middle fingers and swearing as if they had made a group promise.

To say that he surrendered to a dictator or that he sold his body.

Regardless of whether it was true or not, Real Madrid was just something to be disparaged.

And at that time, all the players on the bus were covering their ears with earphones.

While some players listened to calm classical music, there were also players who improved their mentality by listening to rock music.

Among them, Hoyoung was sitting in the middle of the back seat with his eyes closed.

It was consideration of the seniors who did not want to let us sit by the window.

'Whoa.'

The time sitting on the bus felt painful.

'Let's not worry about it. 'This is nothing.'

Hoyoung pounded his chest.

I had to overcome the pressure.

All you have to do is face it boldly.

Afterwards, as the bus entered the control line, Real Madrid officials entered the stadium under tight security.

The coaching staff, including Bernd Schuster, and the players silently passed through the passage and headed to the locker room without saying a word.

And when all the players gathered in the locker room, there was a moment of silence.

Afterwards, Director Schuster's serious voice continued.

"There will be some players who are playing El Clásico for the first time, so listen carefully. If we lose today, this will become our grave. However, if we win even just one point, we can walk away proudly with both feet. This is El Clásico and this is the fate we must endure. Accept it. And fight. ¡Vamos."

"¡Vamos."

The moment of decisive battle is just around the corner.

Soon after, Schuster, who brought the final selection list, stared at the players and opened his mouth.

"Casillas Carlos Cannavaro Pepe Ramos Diarra Zidane Raul Robben van Nistelrooy Woo Ho-young. Get ready."