Chapter 19: Chapter 11: Hat-trick

The 1-2 scoreline at halftime had thoroughly infuriated Bayern!

As one of the top clubs in Germany and even Europe, the Bayern Munich U19 team had lost games before this season.

But those losses came when they weren’t truly giving it their all.

The moment they started to get serious, they immediately went on an unstoppable winning streak.

Yet now, in the midst of their unstoppable streak, Mainz—a team as insignificant as an ant—was actually standing in Bayern’s way.

Worse, they had even breached Bayern’s goal twice with surprise attacks in the first half.

How could anyone at Bayern stand for this?

So, as the second half began, this Bayern Munich U19 team, composed of Germany’s most elite youth talents, seized the initiative and unleashed a furious barrage on Mainz.

They were well and truly enraged!

Kramny had already realized this during the halftime break.

Mainz immediately adopted a posture of resolute defense at the start of the second half.

Even Wang Shuo, Schürrle, and Medinitz, who were positioned up front for counter-attacks, took turns dropping back to participate in the defense.

But even so, Bayern still managed to score against Mainz.

Thomas Müller was skilled at finding space, but getting into physical battles with defenders wasn’t his strong suit.

Against a team with a tight defense like Mainz, he found himself limited.

But Ekić, who held dual Turkish and German citizenship, capitalized on a late run from midfield. He unleashed a long-range shot from outside the penalty area, piercing the goal guarded by Mainz U19’s Turkish goalkeeper, Volkan Tekin.

2-2!

The match was all square once more.

After equalizing, Bayern didn’t settle; they pressed their advantage.

Relying on their formidable strength, the German giants continued to launch fierce attacks on Mainz.

Passing and controlling the ball in midfield was already one of Mainz’s weaknesses.

Facing an opponent as powerful as Bayern, Mainz was completely suppressed, forced to passively absorb the onslaught.

This made the disparity in strength between the two teams painfully clear to everyone watching.

But Mainz was no pushover, either.

As the team with the best defense in the U19 league, Mainz faced one close call after another against Bayern’s waves of attacks, but they just barely managed to hold them off.

In the 58th minute, Niedermayer made his first substitution of the match.

The talented forward with dual Peruvian and Italian citizenship, Diego Pizarro, came on for midfielder Taygun Kuru.

Kuru also held dual German and Turkish citizenship.

After the substitution, Diego Pizarro was pushed up to the front line, forming what was essentially a two-striker formation with Thomas Müller.

In practice, however, Thomas Müller’s role was more about making runs and roaming freely.

Diego Pizarro, meanwhile, was tasked with playing as the target man up front, drawing the attention of the Mainz U19 defenders.

Just three minutes later, after a series of coordinated passes in midfield, Diego Pizarro drew the defenders’ attention up front, and Ekić sent a diagonal pass from the edge of the penalty area.

Thomas Müller astutely ran into position and slid to meet the ball, sending it into the Mainz U19 goal.

3-2!

Just three minutes after the substitution, Bayern scored again to complete the turnaround and take the lead!

The match was a true spectacle, full of thrilling twists and turns.

More than 2,000 fans had now gathered on the sidelines to watch.

They were all cheering for Bayern’s spectacular performance.

“They’re just too good!”

“This Bayern team is simply unbeatable!”

With his substitution having paid off and the score now reversed, Niedermayer made a second change.

The talented youngster with dual German and Italian citizenship, Gianluca Smaili, replaced Yannick Kakoko.

“Niedermayer isn’t satisfied with a 3-2 lead. He wants to keep attacking Mainz.”

“Mainz is in real trouble now.”

“Tell me about it. Bayern has already made two substitutions, but over on the Mainz U19 side, Kramny doesn’t even dare to make one.”

…

“He has no one to bring on!”

Among the chattering crowd on the sidelines, a tall, middle-aged man with a full beard spoke to his friend beside him, who had long, center-parted hair.

The bearded man’s tone was filled with a sense of helplessness and lament.

“Pull any random kid from the Bayern youth team and he’s a prodigy. But us?” The man with the center-parted hair shook his head with a wry smile.

“Kramny and his players are already giving it everything they’ve got!”

The reality of the situation was that Mainz U19 didn’t dare make a substitution.

They were afraid of disrupting the team’s defense and conceding a string of goals.

Bayern’s advantage in sheer talent was obvious.

“Isn’t that Asian player the one brought in through the South Korean corporate sponsorship?” The bearded man had been watching Wang Shuo for the entire match, but he didn’t recognize him.

“Doesn’t look like him,” the man with the center-parted hair replied, shaking his head. “I spoke with Kramny before, and he didn’t rate that South Korean player very highly.”

The bearded man could tell that Kramny held this Asian player on the field in high regard.

In that case, he couldn’t be the South Korean player.

’But when did the U19s get another Asian player?’

’Could he be another player sponsored by a Japanese or South Korean company?’

“I’ve probably just been too swamped with the first team lately. I haven’t had the mental energy to pay attention to the reserves or the U19s.”

The bearded man was none other than the head coach of the Mainz first team, Jurgen Klopp.

The man with the center-parted hair beside him was his trusted assistant, Zeliko Buvac.

“This kid’s something special. His awareness and movement are incredibly intelligent.”

Buvac, who had been a playmaking midfielder in his day, had an exceptional tactical overview of the game.

So, he immediately picked up on the intelligence of Wang Shuo’s movement on the pitch.

“Yeah. I used to be a right-back, so I can completely sympathize with how helpless Badstuber looked trying to defend that,” Klopp said with a smile, making no effort to hide his admiration for Wang Shuo.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep