Soccer System: All the Skills, One Player!-Chapter 210 - 209 - Champions League Final (Part 4)

The rebound fell to Nishida. He didn't even have to think about it. It was in his blood. Nishida adjusted his body and prepared his shot with the coolness of someone who knew the outcome even before the ball left his boot.

Anton's eyes widened, and he was desperate to stop the earlier goal, but he was out of position. The whole of Brighton seemed immobile, as if their fate had already been sealed.

Nishida was whole on the ball. Well, almost whole.

The impact of his shot came before the ball hit the goal. A figure appeared between Nishida and the goal, without hesitation, without fear, as if it had been waiting for that moment. Nishida's shot exploded against Aidan's body, who threw himself in front of the ball without worrying about the consequences.

Nishida took half a step back, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Aidan, still on the ground, looked up and gave a crooked smile as the ball sailed wide.

"Not this time."

He stood up slowly, massaging the spot where the ball had hit him. His body protested, but he didn't seem to care. His eyes were fixed on Nishida, who, for a moment, seemed to measure the scene in front of him as a fresh problem to be solved.

Raphael rushed to Aidan's side and slapped him on the back.

"Nice block," he muttered, trying to hide the relief in his voice.

But Lucas didn't allow himself to breathe a sigh of relief. He saw Nishida take a deep breath, absorbing the moment. It was a mistake to underestimate him. Nishida had always been the type to learn from every move, every reaction of his opponent. That wasn't a simple block for him; it was a piece on the board changing places.

Brighton tried to reorganize their defence while Bayern restarted the move with a throw-in and then rotating the ball from side to side, looking for a new gap.

Nishida kept moving, orbiting the game.

Lucas couldn't afford to watch him any longer than necessary. He had to act.

At some point, Brighton regained possession in midfield, with Felix stealing a crucial ball from Stiller. Without thinking twice, he pushed it out to Lucas, who was already turning his body before the pass even arrived. Nishida spotted the movement and advanced immediately, but Lucas had already sent a long pass to Miguel on the right.

Miguel ran as if he were fleeing a predator, feeling Angulo Stiller's footsteps behind him. He hesitated for a second, and that second was enough for the Bayern defender to brush against his shoulder, enough to mess up his balance. But Miguel didn't fall. There was no point in falling and trying to risk a foul... Wait... Was it worth it?

Until several weeks ago, there hadn't been a great free-kick taker in the Brighton team. Felix took a few, Miguel and Lucas too, but it was all about scoring.

However, in recent weeks and matches, Lucas has been offering more and more danger and even scored a goal in a recent match.

It was worth taking a chance.

Miguel exaggerated the impact slightly and collapsed to the turf. The whistle blew loud and clear.

"Foul for Brighton!" exclaimed the referee, who was quickly surrounded by Bayern players who tried to explain that the force used was not enough to bring Miguel down.

The referee, however, was undeterred.

It was in a dangerous position, slightly to the right of the edge of the penalty area.

Lucas walked slowly to the ball, feeling the weight of all the stares. He noticed Nishida further back, watching him intently, his dark eyes sharp as blades. Lucas bent down, adjusted the ball calmly, and inhaled deeply.

"Are you going to hit it straight or cross?" Raphael asked, positioning himself next to Lucas.

Lucas put a hand in front of his mouth, but didn't let it go too far. He wanted to fool his opponents.

"I'm going to cross..."

Lucas's eyes traveled over the goal, the two players at the barrier and also the people huddled in the area, the position of goalkeeper Früchtl, in the distance. He remembered all the hours he had spent after training, taking free-kicks alone, with only the artificial light of the pitch and Eddie's voice echoing from afar:

"If you want to be decisive, Tanaka, you need to take responsibility. The team needs to trust that you can decide when it's necessary."

He looked at Felix, who was a little further back, ready for any detour. He looked at Luiz Fernando, who was waiting attentively on the edge of the box, and at Arthur, surrounded by two defenders, just waiting for what would come next. All eyes were on him. It was his golden chance.

He took two steps back and closed his eyes for a moment. An old memory surfaced.

- Japan, Summer 2012 -

The sun beat down hard on their skin as Lucas and Nishida stood alone on the field after their elementary school soccer club practice.

The pitch still smelled of the morning's rain, and the shouts of classmates who had already left were lost in the distance.

"Lucas, if we played against each other one day, do you think you could beat me?" Nishida asked, settling a ball on the ground, ready to take a free-kick.

Lucas smiled. "Of course. I'm the brains of this team, remember?"

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Nishida laughed. "Then prove it to me." He shot the ball with a perfect arc, making it skim the crossbar before falling into the goal. "Your turn. If one day we're in a final, and you get a free-kick like that... Will you be able to score?"

At the time, Lucas felt he could never take a free-kick like Nishida. Controlling the force of the kick and accuracy seemed like a supernatural ability to him. But it wasn't.

- Back to the present, January 2018 -

Lucas opened his eyes and found Nishida staring directly at him from the middle of the barrier.

Nishida knew this move could decide everything.

The referee blew his whistle. Lucas went forward and hit the underside of the ball so that it would rise. In fact, it did and went into the top left-hand corner. However, for a few seconds, the ball looked like it was obviously going out. There was no way that such a high ball would suddenly come down, right? Wrong!

Thanks to the ball's rotation effect, it only fell when goalkeeper Frücht could no longer catch it. As a result, the ball hit the crossbar near the top left corner and went into the goal, which made the whole of Wembley Stadium tremble.