Chapter 971: Higo in Action! (III)

This was a risky approach, one that even Stambouli himself wasn’t sure he should take.

Well, how could he, when the opponent was the fucking Robert Lewandowski, the best striker in the world? It was as if Higo wanted to play with death, confident he could always escape at the last second.

If any head coach... Well, screw it! Even if it was Frohling himself, the man would have a heart attack if he heard what Higo was planning. This was beyond crazy, as if the boy was looking down on Lewandowski himself.

Still, in the end, Stambouli decided to follow the plan, knowing that Higo had his own considerations.

"Anyway, he has been the one carrying us the whole season, so why not trust him one more time?" The French defender thought inwardly.

Then, the next fifteen minutes became a strange scene to see, where Schalke’s defense, suspiciously enough, became so easy to breach.

The first one came from Serge Gnabry. He cut into the middle while still outside the box, and when he saw Lewandowski cutting from the right side, the winger delivered a through ball that pierced the space between Stambouli and Thiaw to arrive straight at the Polish striker.

However, Higo also arrived at the same time, shutting down the whole space and even snatching the ball with a dive on the ground, getting it first before Lewandowski could touch the ball.

After that, it was Leroy Sane who took action.

From his spot on the right flank, he saw Lewandowski had a chance receiving a ball on the right channel, so he didn’t hesitate to push the ball there.

This time, Lewandowski had a chance to deal with the ball himself, so he sent a powerful ground ball straight to the far post, trying to avoid Higo’s reach.

Unfortunately, this time, it was also the same case, as Higo had already anticipated that the ball would go there. He just extended one leg to deflect the ball, and as a result, it went into the middle before Malick Thiaw cleared it as far away as possible.

The third chance was the most dangerous one.

It all started with a one-touch pass combination between Lewandowski, Muller, and Gnabry. In the end, the Polish striker managed to get the ball behind Schalke’s defensive line, beating the offside trap that Stambouli tried to set up for him.

This time, he was closer than any chance he had to score a goal.

Lewandowski was alone in front of Higo, and the space was still vast for him to do anything before the goalkeeper could narrow the distance between them.

However, somehow, he hesitated at the last second, and in the end, his attempt was pathetic, trying to play it safe by whacking the ball as hard as possible. This approach was definitely the easiest one for Higo to deal with, as he just needed to brace himself for the impact.

In the end, after 40 minutes the game had been running, Bayern Munich had already had so many chances, and yet, none of them were close enough to the back of Higo’s net.

Even Daniel Herzog, the host of the DAZN live broadcast, couldn’t help but wonder, "What is going on here? I feel like all of Bayern’s offensive attempts are dangerous, and yet the end product is null, you know?"

"Oh, you are on point about it." Michael Ballack nodded, narrowing his eyes at all the Schalke players as if he just found something interesting. "I don’t know who comes up with this, but it is definitely a smart tactic. Risky, but it works well against them."

"A tactic?" Daniel Herzog asked.

Even though the man had been hosting this live broadcast for more than ten years, he was still far behind when it came to analysing a game compared to a former player, especially one who was as brilliant as Michael Ballack.

"Yeah, a tactic, and a crazy one, I tell you." Ballack nodded in confirmation.

"As you can see, Lewandowski always managed to escape from the right channel, getting behind Stambouli. And yet, Schalke didn’t pay any attention to this. If anything, it seems that whenever the man managed to escape, Higo would always be there instantly, handling everything with perfection."

"Wait, you mean?!’ The host gasped; something connected inside his head.

"Yeah, they deliberately open that spot for Lewandowski to get into, and in that death zone, Higo knows exactly everything that Lewandowski could do. This is just a death trap to kill Lewandowski and Bayern’s attempt, and while it is risky, so far, Higo has already proved that he could handle the best striker in the world."

The man couldn’t help but shiver when he thought about it.

This approach was risky, and yet, once it was successful like this, the gain wasn’t just the opponent wasting too much of their time believing that they had already found Schalke’s weakness.

No, it was more vicious than that, and he could see the effect directly on Lewandowski’s troubled expression.

"Somehow, this tactic plants a seed of doubt in Lewandowski’s head, enough to let him think that he has another one of his bad games. This would affect his confidence, and as long as he couldn’t get his mind straight, Schalke would basically be able to seal the best striker in the world easily."

Even Daniel Herzog also gasped here, not expecting the intricacy behind this scheming approach. He had to admit that Schalke’s coaching staff was so bold, caging the lion straight in front of their face without any fear that it would jump on them.

Honestly, if only Frohling could hear his thoughts, the man would have a heart attack, shaking his head quickly while also denying that this was his idea.

"Still, it wouldn’t work if they are not confident in their goalkeeper, right?" He asked.

Yeah, in the end, everything depended on Higo, as this approach put him in a one-on-one duel straight against Lewandowski over and over again, and that was not something that any goalkeeper could handle well.

"Yeah, but they are confident in Higo’s ability between the posts, so you can see, everything works well for Schalke right now..."