Chapter 968: Snatching the First Goal in Style!

At first, no one took this attempt seriously.

After all, Morita was just two meters in front of the center line, way too far from the goal that Manuel Neuer protected.

Hell, even Hoppe and Fabian, the two players who were rushing to the frontline, stopped their run abruptly, looking at Morita with slightly annoyed faces.

They all thought the same thing here: "How could you pass the ball so sharply like that?! Can you not see that we are still trying to make a run?!"

Yeah, they initially thought that this was just a missed pass from Morita, and those two were ready to get back to their position in disappointment.

However, before any complaint could escape their mouth, the ball that Morita lobbed spun so fast that its route was longer than anyone expected, creating a crazy parabolic route in the air that went straight to the goal itself.

Manuel Neuer, who was out of position at first, still being so close to the penalty spot rather than protecting the goal line, rushed frantically, trying to prevent the ball from slamming into his goal.

Even he himself knew that if the goal happened, he would be the background of a crazy goal today, and the man definitely didn’t want something like that to happen.

Unfortunately, he was too late here.

Even with him gritting his teeth, diving in the air with one hand extended to deflect the ball, his effort was not enough to save him from his out-of-position blunder earlier.

Neuer could only watch the ball descend like a meteor before it fell violently to the back of his net.

BAM!

"OH! WHAT A BEAUTY!" Daniel Herzog’s voice boomed throughout the whole country from the broadcasting room the moment the ball went in. "Three minutes! It takes three minutes for Koki Morita to open up the scoresheet, and he did it in a style!"

"He knows Neuer is out of position! He knows he could take it! He knows where to send the ball to! And the most important thing is... He knows he has it in him to do it!"

"A half-court lob from Koki Morita! Shocking the whole Bayern Munich squad with an early goal!"

"What a beauty!"

"That is a pure mistake from Neuer." Michael Ballack shook his head in disapproval. "He looked down on his opponent, thinking that Morita wouldn’t dare to punish his reckless positioning. Now, he got punished by it, making his team lose the first goal of the game."

On the pitch, Morita couldn’t care less about anything right now. The boy rushed back to the penalty box, pointing at Higo excitedly before he hugged his Japanese compatriot with great enthusiasm.

"FUCK, RYUSUKE! I DID IT! I FUCKING DID IT!"

"YES! COME ON!" Higo laughed as well, hugging his friend tighter than ever.

The others joined the party as well, running at them and taking their sweet time slapping the midfielder on the back quite violently.

"Damn, Morita! I swear, you gave me a heart attack!"

"What the hell did you think earlier?! I was about to make a run, you know?!"

"Good job, Brat! That shot is the best one I have ever seen!"

Everyone was drunk with joy, celebrating the goal like it was the opener of the World Cup Final itself. Hell, even Frohling roared in front of the opponent’s bench, a clear provocation toward all the Bayern Munich players.

Well, their reaction was understandable, since they had not scored their first goal against Bayern since 2017, almost four years ago.

Still, their excessiveness only brought anger from the away team, and when Bayern started to get serious, that was when things got dangerous.

The quick goal was like a slap in each of Bayern’s players’ faces. It was enough to wake them up; their opponent wasn’t just an ordinary team that they could beat however they wanted anymore.

No, Schalke that day was a completely different team than the team that they beat a few months ago, and the sooner they realized it, the better.

That goal was also a pure humiliation for them.

They all knew that once the goal was over, this would be a highlight that would be shared with the whole world, and once again, they had to watch bitterly as they became a backdrop for someone’s greatness.

Just thinking about that was enough to make their stomach clench, and the best way to deal with that humiliation was to return the favor ten-fold, trying to score as many goals as possible to make people forget about the first one.

Hansi Flick, their head coach, also thought the same way, as he started shouting from the sideline.

"Joshua! Keep an eye on that Japanese boy, and make sure that he will not have a chance again later, okay?" He instructed Kimmich quickly. "Also, get Davies to break through the flank more often! Let Serge insert himself into the box again! Davies is still young; he should run more!"

The defensive midfielder just nodded quietly, knowing that this was the adjustment necessary to level the score.

Not only that, though, Flick also made a quick signal toward everyone else, asking them to increase the tempo. He knew that just a normal speed wouldn’t break Schalke’s defense, so he needed more speed to deal with them.

Once the kick-off started again, Bayern didn’t wait to encircle Schalke’s territory. No, they were in their berserk mode, wanting to bag a goal as quickly as possible.

"Omar! Don’t wander too far! Don’t leave your spot behind!"

"Nabil! Cover! Cover! Don’t let Benjy do it!"

"Fuck! Don’t let him cut! Shut him down!"

Higo was sweating bullets as he kept shouting, commanding the whole defensive line to block Bayern’s attack. Unfortunately, one panicked moment from Sebastian Rudy became a disaster, as he pulled Davies’s jersey from the back.

As a result...

BRUGH!

FWEEE!

The sound of the whistle rang simultaneously with the boy stumbling on the ground, before the referee pointed at the spot where Rudy made a foul earlier.

A free kick for Bayern Munich.